Glad to have finally joined a pack, the dark-coated wolf couldn't help but wander the areas near the territory. It was a vast place she'd never explored before, and the idea of learning more about it interested her. What really taught her attention, though, was when she heard the legend of wolf spirits haunting a particular area on the wind. Sen was never one to spook too easily, but rather found stories of ghosts and ghouls to be entertaining. In her mind, there was no way that such things could actually exist, and the lack of sightings she'd experienced only made her rebuke the idea further.
Her lack of fright had ended up carrying the she-wolf all the way to the Otatso Wetlands, where she now wandered about aimlessly. She was dead set on laying the legend of the ghosts to rest, and her eagerness to do so was eating away at her. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary as she moved about, though the mysterious atmosphere the area held caused an uneasy feeling to grow in the pit of her stomach. The rational side of her mind forced the feeling away though, knowing well it was just a trick of the senses. Without any further hesitations, Sen continued her trek through the area, keeping close to the many shadows provided by the trees.
The man was still affected by that cowardly bear's assault. He still bore the scars, and they festered do to his inability to clean them properly. He tried dunking his head in water, but sometime in the days that he took to walk north, it had gotten infected. The samurai trudged through the marshes, trying to keep himself from giving into fever.
Kizuato wandered through the marshes, his gaze blurry, his gait wobbly. The ronin blinked, starting to see apparitions in the mist. There was a wolf in the shadows of the tree, and in his feverish brain, he thought it was the kami of his dead lover, though it was someone else entirely. "Ayame, watashi no ai wa... Anata wa watashi no tame ni kite iru, shin'ainaru?"
The sudden voice that broke the silence made the she-wolf pause where she stood, her amber eyes turning to find the source. As they landed on the lone wolf, her hackles raised and she watched him with cautious eyes, unsure of his intentions. His movements seemed off, unable to walk straight, leaving her to think of him as no real threat. Still, Sen did not approach, but did turn herself around to be better prepared if her deductions had been wrong, or perhaps if she was being tricked. With the thought of tricks in mind, the memory of the haunting story flashed through her mind, making her legs stiffen. The chances of this wolf actually being dead were slim to none, but those chances were not ones she'd take so lightly.
"Who are you?" she questioned, her voice further disturbing the previous silence.
If the wolf were to answer, then he was alive, but if not, he was a lost spirit. It seemed irrational for Sen to think that, of all the wolves out there, she would be the one to actually come face-to-face with a ghost. The idea still lingered in her mind though, no matter how many times she tried to push it away.
The blonde wolf shook his dead, not recognizing the voice that responded. It was not Ayame. She was dead, he was not. And it was not his time, not yet. For now, he had to address these wounds that were affecting his already scarred brain. The samurai blinked, clearing his vision temporarily. The fog threatened to climb back into his eyes again, but he shook his head to counteract it.
He tried to decipher what the female asked. You, was all he got. She must be asking his name. "Ki-kizuato." He stuttered, trying his best to keep from delusion. Already Ayame's eyes were replacing those of the woman's. He was really feverish, wasn't he.
The fact that he answered her question told the lupine one thing; he was definitely alive. Ghosts and phantoms weren't known to speak, but make noise and cause trouble instead. Her amber orbs narrowed a bit, examining the brute's form. She'd never thought to consider that he may not be able to fully understand her, nor did she think to ask what might be wrong with him since he was clearly unwell. No, those types of questions evaded her cranium entirely, leaving her only with ones that probably wouldn't matter to the brute.
"What brings you here?" Sen inquired, a cold edge to each individual word. "Looking for the 'ghosts'?"
The questioned was enough to bring a smirk to her face. Her voice was cocky and like ice, but she didn't see it that way. To her, her words held only sarcasm, nothing more or less.