Akatsuki no Yona - The story of Ishi

Ch. 1
Meeting in the Moonlight

The fire festival was in full swing. While the other woman danced, Ishi busied herself by helping with other things; preparing food, passing out drink, helping to get fire wood, anything she could do to avoid participating.  Every year at this time, she felt out of place.  While the purpose of the fire festival was to soothe the spirits of those who had been killed in the war between the Kouka and Kai empires, long ago, her family hadn’t been a part of it.

Usually, the old man who had taken her in would encourage her to dance, but tonight he had other guests – the group of traveling entertainers.  Ishi wasn’t so certain that they were what they claimed to be, though.  She’d heard the old man talking to the young “pretty boy” earlier, about the Iza seeds and became curious about their true purpose for being here.  Unlike Aro and the other woman of the village, she wasn’t rendered completely oblivious by a few handsome faces.

While a couple of the travelers looked harmless enough and seemed to act like perfect gentlemen, there was the man with the large, deformed hand whom she’d noticed seemed uncomfortable with all the attention that the women were giving him.  One man carried a gigantic spear and she couldn’t help but to feel curious about the one with the mask, whom she noted, carried a sword.  Lastly, there was the one and only girl who traveled with all of these men and who had been armed with a bow and arrows.  Rather than entertainers, could they be a militia group, like the one that killed her mother and father?  Most importantly, with the exception of one man, their clothing was not from the Kai Empire… she recognized the styles as being from Kouka Kingdom, where she had lived for the first ten years of her life.  

Later that night, after a sword dance was performed by the young lady of the traveling group and the festivities died down as dumpling soup was served, Ishi slipped away.  She left the village in order to find a quiet spot where she could offer up her own silent prayer for the souls of her parents.  The moon was high and bright when she found her usual spot in a grove of trees, high up on a thick, sturdy branch. She’d lost track of how much time had passed when she heard someone coming.  It was impossible not to recognize the silhouette of the horned mask.  Ishi watched the traveler in silence from her hiding spot.  He seemed to be looking for something.  

“Ao?”

Ishi barely heard him speak.  Was he hurt?  What was he doing?  She heard something small run passed him and up the tree that she was in before she saw the squirrel.  The squirrel that now sat watching her on an adjacent branch, without fear.  

There wasn’t any time to think.  She heard the man’s footsteps and knew he was about to discover that his little friend wasn’t the only occupant of this tree.  

“Ao?”

He was a man of few words.

The squirrel’s eyes met with her own and it almost seemed to be encouraging her to do something.  

“Come down, Ao.”

He was directly below her, now.  Time seemed to stand still.  That mask made it impossible to know whether he saw her or not.  She had to use the element of surprise and quickly act before he did.  What would he do when he found her?  This was a strange man that she didn’t know, after all… and if he was part of a militia group now was her chance to prove it and warn the village; maybe they planned to attack when everyone was asleep.

Without another thought, she hung upside-down from the branch and snatched his mask from his face.  She intended to make a distraction by throwing the mask, expecting that he’d run to retrieve it, giving her time to flee.  Instead of finding the scarred or deformed face that she’d suspected he had, though, she beheld the most beautiful pair of golden colored eyes she’d ever seen.  All thoughts of her escape were forgotten as she stared at him with awe.  

Breaking the spell, the man covered his hands over his face.  Ishi blinked out of her daze and frowned with disappointment.  He didn’t look anything like she had imagined, he was gorgeous!  She thought that she could understand why he wished to cover his face.  If the other women of the village had seen him like this, they wouldn’t have left him alone.  

“Pukyuu…”

Ishi looked to find that the squirrel was now sitting on his shoulder.  Clearing her throat, she let herself fall out of the tree, flipping to land in a crouched position on her feet.  The man hadn’t moved.  She could easily drop the mask and run… but… he seemed harmless.  Surely he could sense her.  He had to know where she was.  She slowly stood to look at him.  He hadn’t even spoken, meaning that he didn’t feel like he was in any danger.  “You don’t have to worry, I won’t tell the others.  Your secret is safe with me,” she spoke softly, referring to his handsome looks, while bringing her hands up to place the mask against his chest.  “Your…,” she stammered, not sure what she was going to say.  “Your eyes are beautiful…”

His hands slid from his face, and for a moment Ishi thought she might get another chance to see his eyes, but he kept them closed as he took the mask.  Her stomach flutter with the sensation of butterfly wings when his hands brushed against hers, making her aware that she’d been holding her breath in anticipation.  She took a deep breath and felt the racing of her heart.

“They’re cursed…” his quiet, deep voice reached her ears, making her look at him again.  He donned the mask once more.

“Excuse me?”  

He didn’t reply.  He just stood there and seem to be staring at her.

“Umm…,”  Ishi shifted from one foot to the other and looked down.  She wasn’t sure how to take his silence, it felt overwhelming.  “I’ll just… leave you be, then…,” she took a step back.

“Pukyuu…”  

Ishi had forgotten about the squirrel.  She was glad for the distraction that it seemed to provide.  “You’ve found your little friend, so…”  What was she doing?  She was supposed to be analyzing the situation to find out what motive this man and his group had in being here.  “You can, uh…”

“You don’t belong here.”

“Excuse me?”  Was he talking to her or to the squirrel?

He tilted his head, as if he was the one who didn’t understand her question.  He was the one talking strangely.  “I belong here more then you.  What are you doing out here, anyway, snooping around?”

“You’re not originally from the Kai Empire.”

Ishi wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or insulted by his minimal use of language.  “Well, neither are you or your group.  You’re not traveling entertainers at all, are you?  What is your purpose in being here?”  

If her sudden defensiveness or observations surprised him, he didn’t show it.  “No, we’re not.”

Getting annoyed by the lack of information his answer gave to her, Ishi narrowed her eyes and took another step back, prepared to run back to the village with her warning.

“Wait,” he raised an arm out towards her, but stopped when she looked ready to dash away.  “I’m Shin-ah…  We’re looking for something.”

The moonlight seemed to pool around him, as if giving a testament to his name.  Wearing that mask, he looked more fearsome then he seemed.  Something about him made her wait for him to continue.  

“For a food source that will grow in the lands of the fire tribe.”

Well, that was the longest sentence he had spoken, yet.  “So that’s why that pretty boy was snooping around the Iza seeds…,” Ishi spoke more to herself then to him.

“Yoon meant no harm.”

“You are trying to improve living conditions in Kouka?” Ishi observed.

Shin-ah nodded.  “That is why we follow Yona.”

Yona?  Was that the girl’s name?  Something about the name sounded familiar, something from long ago that she couldn’t place.  “May I join you, then?”  The question was out of her mouth before she had even thought about it.