Chapter 13

Somewhere in the land of fire, a man could be seen travelling across a road, a straw hat to cover his eyes from the sun, a cloak to protect him from the cold nights, and a bag carrying the essentials.

The sky was a pleasant sight to the eye, the clouds flying through the air, the wind cooling down the heat of the sun, and the songs the birds would sing were pleasing to the ear.

As the straw hat walked down the dirt road, he noticed a town began to appear in the distance.

"When there's a town, there's a bed to sleep in." The straw hat said, cracking the kinks out of his neck.

When the straw hat arrived at the town, he felt a tug on his pants.

"Mister, who are you?"

The straw hat turned around, seeing a little girl, with black hair, and green eyes in a pink kimono.

"I'm a traveller." The straw hat said plainly, as he continued to walk away.

The little girl walked alongside the straw hat, looking up at him curiously like he was a strange creature.

"Are you heading to the tavern?" The little girl spoke up, beaming the straw hat with her emerald eyes.

The straw hat glanced at the beaming child, then back up, realizing that he has no idea where the tavern is, he turned to the girl.

"Do you know where the tavern is?" The straw hat said, talking like he was seeking forgiveness.

The girl stopped and so did the straw hat, the girl jumped into her superhero stance, fist on hips, chest out, chin to the sky and with a big smile.

"Of course, I know, but what are you going to do for me?" The child said with pride, enjoying that she has power over the straw hat.

"Now, if you can't over 2000 ryo, I will point-" As the little girl tried to hustle the straw hat, the straw hat looked over at one of the buildings where a few people were going and saw a bartender, so he started walking over, leaving the girl behind.

"-I think that's fair." The girl opened her eyes, not feeling the man's presence when she saw the walking away, she stormed after him.

"Stop!" The little girl demanded as she stood in front of the straw hat with a pout.

The straw hat took a deep breath.

'I'm too exhausted for this.'

"I was talking to you and you walked away!" The girl yelled as she crossed her arms, puffing out he rosy cheeks.

The straw hat took off his hat, revealing his clean-shaven face, and black hair that glided over his shoulders. He tied his bag onto his hip and tied the straw hat on the small of his back. The man then proceeded to lift the kid into the air.

"Aaahhhh! What are you doing?!" The little girl covered her eyes as she screamed for dear life, flying threw the air.

The man then placed her on his shoulders, grabbing her feet to help support her.

Once the girl sat on the man's shoulders, she peeked through her fingers. After seeing what was in front of her, she removed her hands from her eyes, she stared into the distance as she saw the sunlight dancing upon the nearby lake.

"Wow." the girl said, mesmerized by the sight.

The man could feel the girl's hands drop to his hair.

The girl began to grip the man's hair slowly, the sight she was seeing was so beautiful, she couldn't explain it, it just felt nice.

"You enjoying yourself?" The man said softly, smiling at the girl's innocence.

The girl wrapped her hands around his chin, resting her head on his hair.

"Yeah." The little girl said quietly, cute, barely a whisper.

"Can we go there?" The girl whispered, still staring at the lake.

"Not right now, but we can go tomorrow." The man said, slightly saddened that he couldn't go with the girl today.

The girl didn't protest, she just said.

"Promise?"

"Promise." The man responded with.

From in the tavern, the bartender was looking around, trying to find her daughter. After searching the tavern, she concluded that she must still be outside, so she walked outside to ask her mother who sat on a rocking chair out on the porch.

"Have you seen, Ina, mother?" The woman looked at her mother who was rocking away on her chair, smiling while looking somewhere in the distance.

"Mum-" The woman said, crouching next to her and putting her hand over her mother's.

"-Have you seen, Ina?" The woman asked. As she looked at her mother, she was seeing her genuinely smile for the first time in a while, as the mother turned to see what her mother was looking at, she stood up in surprise but soon leaned up against one of the support beams for the roof, smiling at the sight of her daughter.

The man continued to smile as he could feel the girl's good feelings radiate off her body.

The girl let out a yawn and cuddled up against the man's head.

"You tired, little one?" The man asked, bumping his shoulder up.

"Mmhh." The girl said as she started to relax into the man's soft hair, taking a deep breath before drifting off into sleep.

The man began to walk over to the tavern with a smile on his face. As he approached the tavern, he saw an old woman rocking away in a chair, smiling sombrely at him. There was also a woman leaning against one of the roof supports, also smiling.

The man pointed at the girl, then back at the woman, asking if the girl is hers.

The woman nodded and gestured for him to come into the tavern, and he obliged.

The man followed the woman upstairs of the tavern, walking into one of the rooms with two beds, one big and one small. The woman motioned towards the small one as the man entered.

The man carefully took the girl off his head and laid her in bed, pulling the blanket over her.

The woman and man made their way back downstairs where they sat at the bar.

"So, stranger, who are you?" The woman said with a smile, a genuine question rather than an interrogation.

"I'm a ronin, I was on my way back to the land of Iron, but I remember how cold it is." The man said as he put his hat on top of the bar.

"A ronin? That's a first. So what brings you here, Mr-" The woman dragged the mr, indicating the man to answer with his name.

"Jin." The man answered.

"Jin, well, nice to meet you Jin, you definitely know how to make an entrance."

Jin glanced at the woman, she was pretty muscular, and her arms were evident of that, he eyes were sharp like she hunted for a living, and she had two scars going down her cheeks, but that didn't take away the beauty her face gave. Jin smirked before talking.

"You were a shinobi," Jin said, expecting the woman to act surprised, but she just gloated.

" I'm still a shinobi, I'm just acting as reinforcement for the area, should we get attacked, most people in this town are." The woman said, plainly.

"You allowed to reveal that?" Jin asked, raising a teasing eyebrow.

"Well, you are a ronin, and the land of iron is neutral ground, so I'm more lenient around you." The woman said, smiling kindly at Jin.

"How can I repay you?"

Jin raised an eyebrow confused, glancing at the woman.

"You made my mum smile, you saved me endless hours of trying to find my daughter and was able to put her to sleep, so I'll repay the favour." The woman said, shrugging her shoulders.

Jin squinted his eyes and made a kissing face, thinking about what he wanted as payment.

"Emm... What?" While thinking, Jin caught the woman looking at him, chuckling to herself.

"I'm sorry, your face is just funny is all." The woman said, waving her hand at Jin to carry on.

Jin ignored the insult and concluded.

"Has anything happened that would grab the attention of the world?" Jin asked, teasing her, but expecting an answer.

"How does, a samurai defeats the Hokage of the hidden leaf in a fair fight sound?" The woman said, smirking, knowing that it would surprise Jin.

Jin furrowed his brows, a bit suspicious at the information, but he was still surprised.

"How do I know you're telling the truth? Miss-" Jin leaned towards the woman.

"Momo." The woman responded.

"Momo." Jin followed up.

"Well it's a pretty valuable piece of information, if you believe it or not is up to you, but I just wanted to repay you for your help." Momo shrugged, playing on Jin's heartstrings.

Jin sighed internally as he didn't want Momo's gift to be for nothing.

'Damn you Momo and your silver tongue, playing with my guilt.' Jin grumbled in his brain.

After a few more hours of talking, Jin paid for a room and went to bed, but before that, he summoned a hawk and tied a letter to its ankle.

"Off to the shogun."

The hawk screeched before flying away.

Jin hit his pillow and fell asleep instantly.

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Sup, Author again.

I kinda went on auto-pilot during this chapter, so I don't know if it's good, but this was my attempt at furthering the plot, rate my efforts.

Ps: I would like feedback about my writing as a whole if it's not too much trouble