Kaoru/Zelgadis: Personality Match?

[Carthrat]

Sanae smirked. "Later, perhaps. For now, I must leave.

Travel along the coastline towards Kyoto, if that is where you're headed. Alone or with friends is up to you. I will contact you later."

Sanae reached into her robes, pulled something out, and tossed it to Zelgadis. It was a small purse.

"That should see to your basic needs. Remember, there's no hurry..."

Sanae chuckled.

"I think this arrangement will be quite beneficial for both of us. Any final questions?"

[Bean Bandit]

Bean shrugged wearily. "I DID offer, Yahiko. If we're going to change plans, we should at least have a reason, right?"

Bean ran a hand through her hair again, pulling it away from her face as she tried to think. They WERE monsters...but even so, what Yahiko says makes me worry a bit. 'Zelgadis' is an unknown quantity...Why do I have to make a decsion like this???

She looked up at Yahiko. "Well, we have nothing left for supplies, Yahiko...and that man said he'd replace my clothes. We'll go with him, and if Zelgadis follows us, he follows us. At any rate, If we travel with them for a bit, we can watch him carefully without worrying too much, right?"

[Shukuen]

"Well, why the coastline particularly?" Shukuen asked curiously, placing the purse in a safe place for the moment. "Not that I'm arguing against it, I'm merely curious on you choice of path."

[Carthrat]

"The coastline is one of my.. less 'populated' areas, you might say. I've neglected it for too long, when it could be the key to furthering my efforts. The shipping that flows between it and Europe provides many links to contacts throughout the world...

Having a free agent moving across it may be quite helpful. Thus, your positioning. And now.. I must go. I have other matters to attend to..."

Sanae reached into her robe and pulled something out, tossing it to Zelgadis. It was a small, well-made purse.

"My initial... retainer, you might say. I will contact you in a day or two... until then, adieu."

Sanae turned and strode off, dissapearing..

<->

Yahiko grunted in obvious disapproval, but didn't say anything more.

[Shukuen]

Shukuen watched Sanae leave, blinking in slight confusion. "Why did she give me two purses?" he muttered, pocketting the extra money. "Ah well, nothing to complain about, I suppose."

Shrugging, he surveyed the area to see where the path she mentioned started.

[Carthrat]

The path started by going up a cliff. It was not a steep inclination, but did look like a hardy walk.

From his position at the bottom of the cliff, and on the beach, Zelgadis could make out what looked like a flattish plain, but he couldn't accurately judge it from his location.

[Carthrat]

While Zelgadis was contemplating walking off and up the coast, everyone else was busy getting their stuff together, and preparing to walk to the nearest town.

From the conversations she overheard, Kaoru managed to judge that the town lay on the coast, a ways towards the east.

Handily, this was the opposite direction to Kyoto.

Yahiko pointed this out, along with a couple other things;

"Kaoru! We gotta find Kenshin fast! We can't waste time at a town just 'cos it's maybe a mile closer than some other town!" he proclaimed, managing to completely miss Kaoru's current state of dress...

[Bean Bandit]

Bean glared at Yahiko, pushing her hair out of her eyes, yet again. Dammit, I never thought I'd ever say this, but I REALLY need a ribbon for my hair...

"Yahiko, if you can tell me how I can get a new set of clothes WITHOUT going that way, I'd like to hear it," She snapped. "If I try to walk to Kyoto this way I'll get arrested!"

[Carthrat]

Yahiko shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, ok." he said, a little sheepishly.

"We'd better get going, now! Everyone else is leaving!"

And they were, as a few people were trudging up the slope on the side of the cliff...

[Bean Bandit]

Bean nodded and looked around for the man who agreed to help them out. Strange that he hadn't mentioned he was leaving...

[Carthrat]

The man was talking to a young boy wearing European clothing: possibly a servant?

Pretty much everyone was standing up, now, and starting to follow the few who had begun walking up the side of the cliff. A few walked past Zelgadis, murmuring thanks for defending them earlier...

[Bean Bandit]

Bean frowned thoughtfully on catching sight of Zelgadis.

"Yahiko, go to him and tell him I'll be a minute." She said, gesturing to the man. "I'm going to go talk to Zelgadis. I'll be right back."

[Carthrat]

Yahiko blinked, then mumbled something about not knowing how to speak English, before going off to try and talk to the foreigner..

[Bean Bandit]

Bean walked up to Zelgadis, a wary expression on her face.

"Who's your friend?" She asked bluntly, gripping the sword in one hand, and holding her kimono closed in the other.

[Shukuen]

"Hmm? Oh, you mean that woman talking to me earlier?" Shukuen shrugged indifferently. "She apparently wanted to hire me for something."

Turning to face her fully, he asked, "Did you need something?"