The next half hour passed in a long conversation. Aya told Kenshin about herself—how her parents died when she was little, victims of the Third Shinobi World War. Though civilians were usually spared, her parents traveled in a caravan with several Konoha shinobi, and the whole caravan was wiped out by a sabotage squad from Iwagakure.
Little Aya was raised by her grandparents. Her grandmother was a seamstress and taught her the trade. Her grandfather was a carpenter who often worked in Konoha, bringing his granddaughter sweets and exciting stories. Aya's grandmother died two years ago, and her grandfather half a year ago, leaving the young girl an orphan.
Hearing the touching story, Kenshin pulled her close and hurried to comfort her, seeing two small tear tracks.
He ran a few experiments to gauge his control over her and found her personality unchanged, but she was ready to fulfill any request or order. Horrified at the prospect of unknowingly harming her with a misinterpreted command, Kenshin discussed the basics of her submission, assuring her she could challenge his words or opinions but must obey immediately if his tone turned icy and deadly serious. The young man decided such boundaries were the only way to maintain a semblance of normal life.
While they talked, the vegetable soup on the stove finished, and the pair ate breakfast. Kenshin made a mental note to find at least a local map, ideally of the whole world. Sadly, Aya didn't have one.
As soon as they finished eating and Aya started washing dishes, a loud knock sounded at the door, followed by an impatient shout: "Aya, open up! The old hag at the shop blabbed she saw you with some guy! Who is he? Open up, damn it!"
Rage boiled in Kenshin's chest, and he headed to the door in just pants, shirtless.
"Get lost, Aya's busy and doesn't want to see you," Kenshin said, opening the door and seeing a sweaty-faced fatty. The man gaped in shock, frozen with his hand raised for another knock.
"You slut!" Kaito yelled, trying to step inside, but got a fist to the nose and stumbled back, falling off the porch onto his ass.
The fatty stared at Kenshin in shock, unable to speak, blood streaming from his broken nose down his lips and chin.
"You... You! You're done for! Do you know who you hit?! Just wait, you and that slut will regret this!" Kaito spat angrily, then seeing Kenshin approach, scrambled up and ran off in a random direction at full speed.
"Damn, just what we needed..." Kenshin muttered with a sigh, going back inside and closing the door. He realized they needed to accelerate moving plans to the max, and entering the kitchen, told Aya to pack for the road.
The girl didn't resist, just asked where and for how long. Kenshin said forever, and told her to pack light things while he loaded bags with a few days' provisions—but all the salt and spices, plus the first-aid kit.
He knew he'd forget something valuable, but there was no time. He didn't want to be the "clueless patriarch" beaten to death by a few peasants. He wasn't superhuman and realistically assessed his odds against a mob with even improvised weapons.
Half an hour later, Kenshin and Aya finished packing two large backpacks and slipped out unnoticed through the backyard in an "unknown direction."
Another half hour, and Aya's door was kicked in as five thug-like men burst inside. After ransacking the house, they questioned neighbors but found no leads on where the young girl and the "enemy village spy" who kidnapped her, brainwashed her, and raped her had gone. That's how Kaito spun the story to justify the coming massacre.
Outside the village, Kenshin stopped and asked Aya: "Is there any hard-to-reach uninhabited area nearby? The more inaccessible, the better!"
The girl thought for a few seconds and said: "Mmm, east of the village there's a big forest that turns into huge impassable mountains, but it takes hours to reach the forest..."
"Excellent, just what we need! Lead the way," the young man replied enthusiastically, pleased with even this small stroke of luck.
The young man and the girl headed in the right direction, carrying large bags of belongings on their backs, but to their good fortune, no one spotted them. After three hours of walking, they approached the forest and sat down to rest in a thicket. Kenshin berated himself for not bringing more water on the journey. The waterskin he'd taken was practically empty, and it was still two hours to the nearest mountain.
He was greatly surprised when Aya said she didn't know about the existence of plastic bottles or technologies like televisions or refrigerators. He pondered why the anime he'd watched in his teenage years differed so much from reality.
"Maybe Kishimoto somehow gained knowledge from this world, or managed to glimpse its history, and added technologies known to our world himself? Or maybe this world isn't real, and I've ended up in a fictional one by someone's cruel will... Or maybe I'm asleep and dreaming all this... Or perhaps..." Trailing off unfinished, Kenshin interrupted his musings, deciding not to clutter his head with nonsense.
Kenshin pulled Aya to him and settled down to rest, leaning his back against a large tree. He felt that this young beauty could recharge his energy just by her presence, and he loved embracing her immensely, inhaling her delicate floral scent, and caressing her small, fragile body. The girl purred softly and fully surrendered to the loving embrace of her man.