Without warning, the gates of the fortress swung open and a strong breeze went through them. “CITIZENS OF THE EMPEROR….BEGONE! FOR YOUR LEADER IS DEAD, AND YOU MAY NOT FOLLOW THE GLORIOUS SHOGUN!!!” Okuri shouted. He exhaled, sending the civilian part of the crowd flying out the open gates. Inuko felt her feet swept out from beneath her. Finally able to move, she thrashed her limbs about, trying to grab onto something. She felt something grab her, and she was pulled out from the wind tunnel. She looked over her shoulder to see that it was – surprise, surprise – Kiba. The doors closed themselves, and Okuri spoke again. “AND AS FOR THE REST OF YOU….SUMMON YOUR SAMURAI, AND HAVE THEM SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO ME! THE SHOGUN DEMANDS IT!!” Inuko struggled herself free from Kiba’s grip and, kicking him in the face as she did so, leaped over the walls.
Find Urashima. Find Urashima. That was all that Inuko could think to herself. Mom and Dad were bound to kick the bucket sooner or later, her friends could handle themselves, but Urashima was nothing more than a soft city boy. Locking onto his scent, she ran, passing others that had been blown away by Okuri’s wind tunnel. She only slowed down when she saw him in a clearing ahead of her. But she stopped entirely when she saw that he was kneeling over another woman.
“Mariko…...MARIKO!!”
“Relax, Urashima, I’m fine.”
“You’re not injured in any way?”
“No, I’m FINE.”
The couple stood up together, and Inuko felt the emotions welling up inside her.
“We shouldn’t stay here any longer. It’s too dangerous with that maniac running around….”
“Just run and leave Inuko to the wolves, huh?”
“Feh. She’s one of them, they’ll probably take her in. I was only seeing her to get another woman jealous anyways….”
Inuko couldn’t take it anymore. There was nothing else Urashima could say that she would ever want to hear. She ran away, far away from that clearing, deep into the snowy woods. She sat down under a big pine tree and, once she was sure nobody could hear or see her, began to cry. The tears flowed from her eyes like melting snow from a mountain top in the spring. Except in this land, there was no spring, but Inuko kept crying.
