Desert Rose

Time spent in the desert had reverted Emiko back to her old self - appearance wise at least. Long hair was a pain in the ass to deal with, and keeping sand out of it in such a place was impossible. So, once more her red hair was short and spiky, with longer pieces around her face. Her gray eyes were lined in black, and her skin had a nice tan to it. She was dressed in a black body-suit of sorts, with a purple sash holding her trademark gorde upon her back with the kanji for Life and Death on them: an unspoken warning - you walked away or you died.

Every day had been a fight for survival, if the desert conditions didn’t kill you those who called this place home certainly would. It’d been a nice change of pace, not having to hold back, being able to fight. Shukaku certainly enjoyed being let loose, and the more Emiko trusted him off the reins the better their relationship seemed to build. No longer enemies forced together, but friends who could coexist and balanced one another nicely.

Today was like any other day, and she could still remember the first day she’d come here, taking pictures for Junior of what was going on on the cellphone he’d provided. She’d ended up coming back - there were more than enough people keeping an eye on things back in Makkura, and it wasn’t like she couldn’t be reached if there was trouble. No, this had been therapeutic.

With her usual “resting bitch face” in place, Emiko stood on top of one of the sand dunes, arms folded across her chest as the wind blew the sash at her waist. Her gray colored gaze took in the desert around her. Something had been bugging her for a bit and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. ”I feel it too, Emiko.”, came Shukaku’s voice inside of her head. So he was sensing things, too.

”I wonder what’s going on… what do you think we should do?”, she muttered, knowing he would’ve heard her even if she’d thought it. They’d definitely come a long way if Emiko was asking Shukaku’s opinion on things rather than ignoring him. ”Perhaps it’s time to check in?”

Emiko couldn’t happen but to agree. They’d been out of the loop far too much, and this nagging feeling wasn’t disappearing anytime soon. She’d have to sate her curiosity before she’d be able to relax again. She had a few choices of course. She could leave the desert altogether and head either back to Edge City or Makkura, check in in person and see how things were going. Or, she could use the cellphone Junior had given her to call him, or the comm system to contact anyone who was reachable back in Makkura.

”I think we should go back. I’m sure we’re overdue for some Artemis hugs.”, Shukaku suggested, causing Emiko to grin. ”You’re not wrong, though Artemis isn’t as little as she once was. Still, it has been a while since we’ve been back and seen our friends.” Chances are they’d likely be surprised at how well Shukaku and herself were getting along. She might still sport her usual resting bitch face after all, but she’d come leaps and bounds with all of the anger issues she used to have too. These days things couldn’t get under her skin pretty much at all. She was always calm, she just tended to always also look unapproachable for people who didn’t know that was just her usual face. Not that it bothered her, or Shukaku, neither really cared about the opinions of anyone other than their friends.

Saying goodbye to the desert would be bittersweet for both of them. It’d been fun getting to mess around, fight and battle almost daily, and constantly be in a state of training. They hadn’t had to worry about causing any kind of destruction this far out. Then again, the villagers who called this place home seemed to be leaving them alone for the most part. Dead loved ones, or those with crushed or missing limbs certainly painted a picture. At first Emiko had just wounded them. But then they had kept coming, so she had to start killing them. Eventually, the attacks against her had started to peter out. Now, it was just more and more of a rare occurrence. Of course, all of this training, fighting, and killing had made the smell of blood that clung to her that much worse - both fresh and new.