Somewhere I Belong

[Tainted Bushido]

Aein, another specter of the past. Taka was tired of his past shackling his actions, even as he looked upon his former comrade in arms. His eyes hovered on the sword held ready before him as he spoke firmly, “<You look good old friend.>”

Aeins reaction was what he expected, “<You aren’t Taka, do not pretend to be him. He died in Akashima fighting the Kuroi Taiyo!>” A finger pointed accusingly at Taka before he once again resumed his stance. The ronin sighed as he took up an Iaijutsu stance, preparing to strike first and hard. Aein looked upon the Ronin before he sheathed his own Katana and spoke furiously, “<And now you mock me by this duel. You are not him, do not pretend to be him. He was far above these petty acts.>”

“<You keep saying that, as if I died Aein, I am still here, as unceasing as the ocean. I will not be stopped by anything. If you will not let me pass then we shall duel for that honor,>” Taka replied firmly.

The others look as a small fight broke out amongst the others. Aein and Taka were in their own world as the Dark blade moved, carefully dropping his mask upon the ground. The Samurai looked upon the Ronin before he spoke finally a sense of their old relationship seeping through, “<You look horrible. You are succumbing to the taint, throw yourself upon your honor and end this farce Taka. Do not force me to kill you.>”

“<I ended up in this manner a year ago Aein, if anything I have only grown stronger and the taint has begun to lose the ground it was gaining on me. I can fight it, and I will prove it to you, no tricks, and no ruses. I will fight you as I am today,>” Taka replied simply.

Aein shook his head before he spoke, “<And what is this I hear of you calling a Gaijin master? No one born of outside of Akashima should be your Lord.>”

“<His cause is noble and pure. Which is more than I can say about yours…was I truly so lost that you felt a need to execute me like a common bandit?>”

Aein’s face became a mask at those words before he spoke firmly, “<Show me your stance and let us end this ridiculous twist of fate Ronin.>”

Taka took up his position as the two squared off, all else emptying in the world even as his eyes narrowed. The two of them watching the other for signs, Taka saw the subtle shift that indicated an imminent strike and moved with fluid grace, bringing his sword from within its sheath out. Aein smirked as he deflected the blow and carefully brought his blade tsuba first into his gut. The hilt of the sword wasn’t much, but with the strength of Aein and the weight of the hilt it was enough to catch Taka off guard, who was not wearing armor. As he was winded he saw the specters of his past taking on his current ally.

Guardians damnit! Not again!

Aein raised his blade to decapitate taka even as he shook his head, “<It was a good ruse Oni, but Taka would not have fallen as such. He was faster than this, smarter than this. Such crude swordsmanship was beneath him.>”

Taka coughed, as he shook his head, realizing something was off. There was no way Aein had grown that far ahead of him, not with the daily training the Ronin put himself through. Something was horribly off. Had his focused been shattered so completely? He carefully lifted himself even as Lilith’s words filtered through the fight. Taka merely shook his head trying to regain his focus before Aein moved in again. The katana flashed in the days light, slicing deep across Taka’s chest, and displaying the black blood upon it for all to see.

Taka watched as Aein came in again, with the intent of a killing blow, and taka barely managed to divert the blow aimed for his neck to one side, sending a similar stripe across his neck. He flinched in pain from the wound, as he locked eyes with his former classmate. He could see the anger the rage and the betrayal in the man’s eyes as he hissed, “<Die! You have no right using that body anymore!>”

“<I can’t, I have a duty to fulfill,>” Taka said somberly as Aein came in with another blow and the Dark blade again barely deflected it. This time he used his armor to take the brunt as he forced himself to his feet. He focused on his opponent even as his Ki flooded through the area, the first time in perhaps forever that he had done so, only to feel the wave stop cold when it came to Aein who shook his head.

“<You’re clouded, you can’t even focus properly, what manner of beast have you become Taka that you’d fall so low?>”

“<No beast, only a tired beaten warrior who came home in the hopes of seeing his family one last time…>” Taka replied as he deflected another blow, and another. As he resolved into action the deflections became cleaner and cleaner, showing more of the form he had been taught. No longer was this rote repetition of a defense kata, but was Taka taking stock of what was going on. He couldn’t attack and kill Aein, but he didn’t need to, only get away from the man. That was until Aein spoke once more;

“<I tire of this, he’s no warrior and they aren’t either. Kill them all and subdue Lady Kazumi, we’ll question her involvement with the tainted after the bodies have been properly disposed of…>”

At that moment a Priest stepped forward, the colorful robes done in reverence to the kami. A bolt of green lightning flew from her fingers as it struck Sachiko full in the back, causing the tainted woman to cry out in shock and pain. She hit the ground, smoke rising from her burnt flesh from where the light made contact a moan of agony leaving her lips. The priest merely nodded as she spoke, “<That’s one of them. I’ll kill that creature and move onto the next, any that resist should be treated as tainted as well…>”

Aein took up a ready stance his blade held at eye height even as his feet shifted farther apart. Taka recognized the half-moon death, a stance designed to give him multiple chances at feinting while forcing Taka to be wary of the counterattack. Taka carefully pulled the Wakizashi from it’s saya as he said softly, “<I am sorry my friend, but I can’t let you kill us all yet…>”

[Lillith]

To say that Lillith was shocked when her opponent dropped dead was an understatement. It was, despite their enmity, no way for a warrior to die. Sachiko passed on to the ever after in a heartbeat. The priest left no opportunity for self-defence, no chance at a final word, and no moment of reflection. She spat unceremoniously, a gobbet of blood mingled with her phlegm. She was glad of her own immortality, but the thought of death regardless of how it reared its ugly head struck her in the heart.

“She was mine!” she roared.

The spirit warder parted her legs, flexed her arms, and prepared her blades for a charge that was as much elegant as it was primal. She forgets, for perhaps too long, who was friend, and who was foe.

“<Lillith, be wary!>” Taka offered, as he took to a more calculated flight into a resurgence of conflict with his own personal demons.

A bolt of green energy flew from the priest’s fingertips, lacerated a guard who tried to flee, and scattered ash, flesh, and seared soul to the winds that rolled through the ruined harbour idly. The robes of their new common enemy fluttered in an unseen updraft. His eyes began to glow. His heartbeat so loud in his mortal, feeble, and withered frame Lillith heard it over all other noises.

“I am tainted only because I saved your kind!” was all she could scream as she darted across the rubble cobblestones in a flurry of fervour, rage, and wrath. The sound of katana clashing against katana echoed behind her as Ronin and Aein continued to tussle through their blood feud.

The truth, despite its irrefutable nature, did nothing to faze the priest. When she locked eyes with ‘Lady’ Kazumi, she resigned herself to acting first, and trying to ask questions later. There were ways and means to make the dead talk, though she seldom liked to utilise them.

“<I warned you,>” the priest muttered. Her fingers began to glow with green fire, deep and umbrae, and lacking in warmth. “<You can walk away, or let us deem you worthy…>” she raised her hands, her fingers splayed as her limbs extended towards the charging assassin. In the last moments before Lillith’s tanto cut the hand from the limb into a stub, the priest’s words echoed in the tense air.

The fingers remained splayed even as the severed hand bounced unceremoniously over the rock.

She stumbled back, screaming and cackling, and raised her own feeble blade.

“Look at what you see,” Lillith heckled, her voice carrying to the city guard with ease, “and ask yourselves if it is we, the saviours of Yanbo, or they, your so called ‘protectors’ that is the enemy?”

The priest jetted a bolt of fire, which slipped easily into nothingness and erupted into a cone of fire about Lillith’s unprotected body.

“No,” the assassin said flatly.

The fire lingered for a few moments, but when it died, Lillith was nowhere in sight.

The priest mouthed her surprise. “<What in the name of,>” she spluttered blood. She swallowed death. She widened her eyes.

In that exact moment, the vigil of the priest’s bodyguards ended. They burst into life, aflame, enraged, and as powerful as their mentor did. Before the guards could make up their mind, and before Lillith’s rage could subside and she saw the world clear again, they descended upon them, danced into the fray, and renewed their intent to slay the tainted and capture the pure.

Katana clashed, tanto swirled, and screams rose into the Yanbo sky. Smoke lingered. Rain began to fall.

Lillith snarled. She roared. She charged. She would not let her friends die when they had given so much to protect these lands. As she clashed with priest and guard alike in a confusing whirlwind of aggression, a thought crossed her mind…her eyes widened, she ducked, and she sliced.

“Listen to me Taka!”

She did not know if the Ronin could hear her, or if he would listen to her clunky Tradespeak, but she had to try.

“Your form…your concentration…it broke long ago!”

It had broken when Cassandra Remi had decided it fit to break. All the same, Taka fought on, as strong as ever.

“You do not need it!” she added, spiralling under gout of spiritual fire and driving her blade on the axis of her spin into an exposed neck. The guttural sound was almost too pleasing.

“None of us do, the Kami and the taint are all false, just like Sei’s supposed heroism!”

[Tainted Bushido]

The rain began to fall between the two. It immediately matted the warriors hair, and brought a sense of ease to the Ronin’s soul. He had always enjoyed the rain, and its caress upon his skin was a welcome reprieve in the storm that was swirling within his head. Aein was continuing his assault, but the ronin was artfully deflecting the blows as he relished the rain and the way it seemed to bring a clarity to his inner demons.

“Are you going to attack me? You are doing nothing but taking the cowards way out! Your fear has gripped you with a desire to see a bloodless way out of this,” Aein hissed as he slashed again, and Taka neatly parried the blows.

“It is raining,” the ronin said plainly.

Aein took a step back and frowned at the words, even as Taka carefully reached down, picking up his mask. His face tilted to the sky to enjoy the rain some more before it was carefully fitted upon his face and Aein responded, “You always did enjoy the rain more than the others.”

Taka nodded as he looked at Aein from behind his mask before he spoke, “Forgive me friend, but I could not kill my heart to end this fight faster. I will no longer hold back, you do not deserve such a disservice.”

He once against assumed his stance, both blades held at the ready as Aein brought his blade at level with his eyes. Aein immediately noticed the difference, as taka stood confident and ready. He had flashbacks to the many spars they had done with wooden bokken, testing and prodding each other in an effort to be the victor in front of their sensei. Taka had always won when he adopted a similar pose, and it was unsettling to the Samurai of the Port Guard. He moved to strike only to find Taka had neatly pirroutted the blow and brought both elbows deep into his gut. The plates that covered his chest allowed the blow to bounce off, but the strength of it was such that it caused his chest to contract suddenly, causing a wracking bout of coughing as he had been inhaling when it occurred.

Blade was brought to throat and stopped at the ronin looked upon Aein. His voice heavy, “I have won, but I won’t kill you. When the time comes and my duties are fulfilled, I will commit seppuku and you shall be my second. That day is not today Kochako-sama.”

“That is too bad Taka-san,” Aein said softly, “Because your friends will die to the others and I will not stop this fight until you kill me. You are fast, faster than me, as we both just saw. You are not that fast.”

Taka saw Kasumi rip apart the priest as she spoke of his shattered focus. His eyes looked down upon Aein as he nodded softly, “You are right about one thing Kochako-sama, you will not stop fighting until you are dead. You are wrong about one thing however…”

“What is that?” Aein responded.

“That I need to kill you to stop you…” Taka replied as a fist punched Aein in the face. The Samurai’s nose spurted blood as he rocked Aein’s head back. The samurai slumped to the ground unconscious as he saw the nearby gaurds, sensing the duel had finally ended come for him. Taka shook his head as he heard thought he heard something softly whispering to him, much like when he would pray at the altar to his ancestors those long years ago.

Move!

Taka moved as swiftly as he could and in a moment he had reached the first Samurai. His slash so fast it seemed to cleave through his armor as the first guard dropped with a mortal blow to his stomach. The other guard faltered to a halt as Taka already began movement again and sliced, this time bringing the hilt of his sword with great force upon the wrist of the other guard. A pop resounded through the air as the man dropped his blade, gripping the wounded hand and crying out on agony.

He moved swiftly one last time and brought tip of blade once more to a slender throat as he stopped short of a killing blow on Lillith. When he spoke his voice held a calm that seemed mirrored in his eyes as he spoke in tradespeak, “You insulted my lord, which was your first mistake. You killed my comrades in arms, that was a second. Pray you do not test my patience again little geisha.”

Taka thought he had just been swift, and moved fluidly from fight to fight. What he had not noticed was each movement from opponent to opponent, had happened in a heartbeat. One second he had punched Aein, knocking him out, the next he had moved so swiftly as to teleport, and ended any fighting going on. He felt exertion and was panting behind his mask, while maintaining that composure. He never moved the blade as he spoke, “Now collect yourself Kazumi-san, we need to move, and our best bet would be to make use of the protections these people are using so we aren’t hunted down again.”

He looked at the man who had yelled at him early and barked in Akashiman, “Let’s go, collect your dead and move, leave the guard here. Another patrol could arrive any minute.”

[Lillith]

Though suffering high temper at blade’s tip, Lillith could only break into a wry smile. Her attempt to garner a rational response from the Ronin had been risky, but it was successful. Come sunset, she would know her place, she was certain, but for now, they were still alive, and the light of possibility quashed the darkness within Taka.

“Please,” she spat. “I’ve not been a geisha for at least four years.” She had ‘lost her prime’, as the mothers of the okiyas had told her, clearly. She was bemused the man would stoop to such petty insults to try to get her to fall in line. Respect alone did all that for him. “But I agree,” she pointed over Taka’s shoulder to the others. She switched to Akashiman, though her accent and dialect was marred by long periods of misuse, “<Follow him!>”

The group broke into a run, half-urgent, half reserved. They swerved a corner, feet and heavy boots pattering against the salt stained stone of Yanbo. Nobody was entirely certain why they were travelling in a particular direction, but they ventured inland, away from the craterous ruin of the Crab’s onslaught, towards the suburbs, and the distant rolling grasslands that connected settlement with Sahara, and sands with summer meadows and the Jagged Peaks beyond.

“<Kami’s skin and kami’s heart,>” she whispered, as they slowed along a boulevard and strolled mundanely past a huddled group of refugees. The flickering flames of their makeshift fire illuminated pallid, sickly faces. Lillith shook her head in disgust, but remained distant.

“Now is not the time…,” Taka, said softly.

Lillith shook her head. “Whatever taint remains here will seep into the fabric of the land. There is no surprise hunters are here, corruption is everywhere, and if a singular oni deems himself worthy of ascension, he will be a mighty opponent to the weakened guards…”

When one tyrant fell, history told of a desire in the lieutenants to take his place. Yanbo was no different. The gods of Akashima were no different.

“Stop…,” Lillith, said. “<Stop!>” she said a second time, practically roaring. She held up a hand, black hair flailing in the breeze, and sweating brow muddied and sodden. “Whatever protections they use to hide, we need to use as well.” Taka nodded, turned to the others, and gestured.

“<May we share your sigils, brothers?>”

They ushered Lillith and Taka out of the sight of the refugees, and down an alleyway, strewn with red wood rafters and refuse, they gathered into a circle. Taka stood next to Lillith, and then in order of oldest to youngest, they formed a ritualistic ring.

Lillith drew a kanji in the air, as her brother, Neko, had shown her. Though he had fallen in the battle with the Crane, he would forever live on in her heart and her mind, protecting her long into death.” It hovered out into the chants and mantras, and offered protection from the Crab’s aura, as well as to hide their respective taints from those that wished them harm.

If the group were to escape Yanbo alive…if they were to satisfy Taka’s need to see what became of his kin…they would need every trick and guile on the route to somewhere they could finally belong.

They were all refugees now.

Short post to bridge into your next grand epic.

[Tainted Bushido]

“There is no doubt in my mind, Taka has returned to Yanbo Port, and it is Taka, not the Oni that shares his blood,” The report was solemn, seeming to carry a weight that seemed unfair to be shed in such a manner. Aein looked up to his lord from his kneeling position, the Duke’s desk standing between them as a castle edifice, protecting the noble from the words that seemed directly aimed at the heart of the matter.

“You look troubled Kochako-san, is there something wrong with your report? Is there more you wish to say?” Duke Asaraki held his hands steepled before him as he looked upon the Samurai, seeming to magnanimously weight his words. His hair pulled tightly into a warriors knot. The sleeves of his kimono had slid down to his elbows showing the musculature of a man who had not seen battle in a long while, but had participated. They were the muscles of one willing to shed blood, but unable to find the glory of battle once more.

The samurai looked back down as he closed his eyes and spoke, “It has been a year my lord, a year since we betrayed the ronin to his fate. He still retains control; can we not give him back his name?”

The duke’s gaze took on a steel quality before a sneer lifted on his lips, “Is that desire that taints your wishes Kochako-san? He is tainted, there is but one course of action. He is an affront to the gods themselves and to say otherwise is a farce of all we stand for. It cheapens the sacrifice Taka made of protect Haramura-Hime, and it cheapens the destruction of the Kuroi Taiyo aboard the Junyo. The only way that Taka’s works will be given the honor they are due is if he dies and sates the honor of one who has become Tainted, every day that he lives he tarnishes that honor a little more. It matters not if he has retained control, it only matters that one day he will not.”

Kochako Aein pressed his forehead to the ground as he muttered his agreement on the matter. The Duke dismissed him with a wave before he spoke up once more, “And Kochako-san, not a word of this to my daughter. She need not know her pet ronin has returned to port…”

Aein stopped, looked back at his lord before he nodded dumbly and bowed deeply for the dismissal. He hurried down the hallways oblivious to the form a young man wearing a sky blue kimono. Cranes danced upon hems of his outfit, showing a decorative taste that marked him also of the nobility. He looked back upon the Duke’s office before he shook his head and muttered, “So you want to kill the Ronin…we’ll see about that Saraki-sama…”

~*~

The group had managed to huddle up at the rendezvous point. Dozens of bodies sitting in the abandoned warehouse, looking for some sign they had finally reached safety. The body of Sachiko lay a few feet away as someone set about trying to find a torch to stop the oni from possessing the dead body. Wrapped now in the bedrool she had come with the peasant was the solitary concern of the Ronin who watched it wondering just what had brought her back in her life, only to be cruely taken away so fast. Taka was beginning to wonder if the fates did such things out of capricious cruelty or if there was some grand design in such acts of deprivation.

He looked upon body even as he felt the eyes of the Geisha, his own refusing to match the gaze. He could almost feel her presence, close enough to strike, but hovering back for kami knew what reason. He looked back over his shoulder before he muttered in trade speak, “As the Lavinian Demon once said, ‘paint a picture it will last longer…’”

He could hear the smile in her voice before she spoke up, “Why did she matter so much to you?”

It was the loaded question he knew was coming. Without bothering to look at her he closed his eyes and spoke up about the incident that had shattered his unity with Bushido, “A few months back, I returned to Akashima to fulfill a mercenary contract we had received from Lady Kachiko to the west. A small village was being used as a resupply point for a local bandit group, and had begun waylaying imperial tax collectors. I set about fortifying the peasants and the small village, and had taken the tea house as the base of operations. Sachiko was the daughter of the tea house’s owner, and had taken an interest in me for some frustrating reason. “

“You were a Samurai of some standing Taka, I could see why a peasant girl might fall in love with the romanticized cliché of the caste,” Lilith offered up, “Especially when you carried yourself as a rather noble member of said caste until recently.”

“How time loves to destroy the idealism of youth,” Taka offered. The silence was a little more comfortable as taka continued his tale, “The leader of the ronin band was a man named Akihiro. I had forgotten him, but he surely remembered me. He had tried to conscript me into his group claiming that Ronin should stick together. I knew it was his attempt to tell me to join him, for he was planning on something far bolder than mere banditry. It turned out the man was trying to raise money to rebuild his destroyed family, a family that had abandoned me not too long ago…”

“He was a cousin to you?” Lilith asked concerned.

Taka nodded before he spoke up, “We repelled him, and I was forced to take a more conservative role with how badly I pushed myself. I had strained myself to the point of passing out, and so the next time they came I waited for Akihiro to expose himself. He did, hoping to draw me into a duel after he had tired me out. The end was not so pretty.”

“What happened?”

“I was not the easily fooled cousin he remembered, and when his tricks failed to stop me he resorted to a hostage situation. He took Sachiko into his arms and held a tanto to her throat, threatening her life. I had been cut and my blood ended upon the katana, when I struck true, through Sachiko and into Akihiro’s heart. He died cursing me for destroying the Benjiro name twice, only now do I understand the mystery such a curse held.”

Lilith remained silent, and so Taka continued, “As was customary for such a problem, I gave the father a bag of gold, equivalent to a dowry he would no longer be able to collect. Never, until that moment, had I felt such disgust for handling money. To look a father in the eyes and tell him I apologize for the inconvenience and treating a life like it was nothing more than something that could be replaced at a store. It was only then, that the grief almost overwhelmed me…”

He turned and looked upon the Geisha before he spoke, “And here she is, laying before me, lost to me again. The Kami have surely cursed me for they seem unrelenting in removing everything that I held even a modicum of care for Lady Kazumi. I sit here a Ronin whose house was destroyed, whose family name is nothing more than a pleasant memory, hailed as a failure. I came looking for some sign that things were okay, and here I am, as storm tossed as the day I awoke to the shattering of my Katana, and the beginning of this taint upon my soul!”

[Lillith]

The geisha saw herself in Taka in a haunting manner. His tale was all too familiar. She remained silent for a while, watching the man come undone in his own skin. In another life, her Sachiko had been Arden. The perverse irony for her, a fate worse than death, was that the swordsman barred from her: reborn a sibling from another clan, divided by hatred aeons old.

“Forego the Shogun’s parables, decrees, and edicts for a moment,” she said pensively. She raised a finger to her chin, reflecting on the days gone and the days to come. “My sister has advice in times like these.”

“…Ruby?” Taka asked bemused. He sat on an upturned crate, its shattered edifice a throne for a broken king.

“’When a man has nothing left to lose, he has everything to gain.’”

The Ronin could reclaim his home, love, and legion ad be stronger for it. He would have fought harder for those things he held dear, and fight harder still to prevent anyone from daring to challenge his ownership. Akashima would buckle beneath his blade, broken or not. Softly, Lillith approached his left side and pressed her palm gently onto his shoulder. A caring gesture, a calming motion.

“No matter how hard I fight, I cannot ‘earn’ Sachiko’s life anew.”

Lillith could not be sure if it was Taka’s negativity that swooned or something darker. Swoon she did, backwards and clockwise and on a delicate, aching heel. Her left cheek smashed into the dusty floorboards of the crumbling warehouse. The backdrop of war, ruin, and revelation served as a reminder to the duo those recollections aside, they were far from danger yet.

“Lady Kazumi!” the Ronin bellowed. He made to stand and rush to her aid, but rebuked by a lash of night abyssal and vermillion in hue. Its energy felt immediately familiar. Like his own nightmare, a kami’s touch sent him backwards over the crates in roil of kimono and katana hilt feebly reached for.

Sachiko’s body convulsed. The lash circled over Lillith, extended from her spine. It stared, inhumanly at the corpse, and darted down. For a few tortured moments, the Jurugumo within the geisha was triumphant. Drawn to the shadows in the ninja’s soul, it channelled a fragment of her power into the dying limbs, and gave Taka, or at least the kami in the man’s body its wish. Lust. Loving. Lethargy. Demons dancing in eternal vie for power.

When Taka rose, the warehouse’s crumbling rafters came to life in bolts of halcyon. Dust streamed like mist through the ruin. His eyes settled on Lillith first as she pushed herself bloodied and upright. They drifted calculatingly to Sachiko, who, now at least, was mumbling in half-sleep, half-saturation of pain.

“What did you do?” he asked.

Lillith wiped her chin. Her jaw ached, and her eye socket along with it. She cursed herself for not recognising the signs sooner, and wobbled to Taka’s side. Skin moistening with sweat, heart racing, she gave him good news drab with portent.

“You are not the only one cursed, Taka. The Greater Oni within my heart has deemed it fit to taunt you a while longer,” she trailed off to point at the stirring Sachiko. “Perhaps to see you lose her again, and again, and again.” She tied her hair back into a half-knot. She checked her geta with a slam against the floorboards, left right, left right. “They are coming.”

Taka’s eyes widened. “Who?”

“The people who would see us denied the chance to fight for that very ‘everything’ we have yet to strive for.” She unsheathed the Crab, its lethargic blade salty with brine and putrid with the smell of rotten fish. “Are you going to show Sachiko that by your side, she’ll have somewhere to belong after all?”

Not waiting for an answer, the geisha shed her dancing duty, and as ninja, turned to the distant exit and braced herself.

[Tainted Bushido]

Immediately the Ronin was beside the waking woman. A cough caused congealed blood to leave her lips even as Taka carefully steadied her, having died from similar wounds once before. His voice was steady and calm looking at her for any sign of injury. He could see what he suspected, her body was clean of any marking that would belie what she had suffered prior to her death. To those not sensitive to such things, she would look like she had never died.

Her eyes locked onto his before she spoke, “<Taka-sama->”

“<Now is not the time. Now is time for running,>” He said softly.

“Nani?”

“<Tsukai Tsugasu, they've found us if Lady Kazumi is to be believed,>” Taka offered.

Sachiko shook her head before she spoke, “<We cannot evade them, if our wards do not deter them, then we will be caught. It is the hare being chased by the hounds. We cannot evade them forever and it is only a few moments before the hunter finishes us when we do hide from them.>” Taka closed his eyes as his head hung. He felt her hands gently hug him closer before she whispered, “<Thank you Taka-chan, for helping this little peasant girl live a life worth remembering.>”

He shivered at the intimate mentioning of his name. He had cared about this women. She had opened her heart to him, despite knowing what a damning thing that was. In a world were Taka was content to never know that fierce emotion, he had discovered it. It had been stripped from him twice, and while he hid the first time in the trappings of duty, it did not change the truth. He had fallen for the peasant girl that had barraged him with affection from the moment she had realized what he was.

She felt the tremor in his frame before she kissed his cheek and whispered, “<I am no warrior, but I know you need to fight. Please Taka, for me, fight one last time. To see that one last time, before I go, would be a blessing.>”

Taka slowly untangled form her as the shouts of the port guard echoed through the warehouse. He looked down at the awe struck women before he turned his gaze from the guards. His sandals scraped over the floor each step taking him closer as the other peasants scuttle back. Soon the only ones left on the front line were Lilith prepared her soul for battle. He could feel the void pulse within her, absent of the other elements, she was a being of pure mystery to him. He had never encountered one who did not align with the more traditional elements, and was glad that he was not fighting her.

“<Stand down, throw down your weapons and accept the mercy of execution! You are tainted by Jigoku->”

“No,” Taka said softly. The word carried authority with it.

The man who was shouting stopped as he looked upon the ronin. Taka then continued, “You are Kojiro-san are you not?”

“<You insult me with your familiarity ronin->” He was cut off as Taka continued.

“<We sparred only once, I remember because the teacher commented he had never seen someone break their boken deflecting a strike before. We never got to finish it, but we both know how it was going to end, neither of us wished to inform our instructor of it. You are as the flame, passionate but consuming. You cannot win a fight if it goes for too long.>”

Another guard stepped forward, “<Daisho on the ground, and stand down Taka.>”

“<You, you are Akio. You were a year behind me, but occasionally sparred with us as you were fast catching up to us. Have you made Gunso yet?>”

The guard seemed taken aback before he narrowed his eyes, “<Do not assume because you know us we will not attack you Taka. What are you playing at?>”

“<I play no games, those that know me, understand I never had a head for Go or Shogi. I was never able to think on such a tactical level...>” The words held a wry tone, even as he carefully slipped his mask into place. The dull echo it gave forced emotion from the words, “<If it is your decision to come at me, shall we do this all at once, or will you come but one at a time?>”

No one stepped forward.

“<Kojiro is as the thunder, loud and impressive but lacks substance. Akio lacked restraint as well but had the talent to back it up. I see Mamoro who while good on defense, leaves himself too open when he attacks. Who else is hiding outside the doors? I don't think anyone in this room is capable of a fair fight and I might hand you to the Lady Kazumi so she could get a decent warm up since I fought Aein earlier.>” Each insult caused the man who was spoken of to flinch. Taka's tongue lashing harder than any other before he took a step forward. One of the men immediately jumped back showing his mental state as the others drew steel. Taka looked upon them before he spoke, “<Do not draw steel unless you plan to bloody it. Do not insult me with such petty threats. If you sheath your blades I will forgive the slight.>”

“<You are the ronin!>” Kojiro roared as he pointed at Taka, “<You are a ronin, you are tainted, you are nothing. You are less than nothing, a samurai in name only. You have no honor, you have no master! You are to stand down and submit to the justice you should have years ago! Do not insult Asaraki-dono with your antics anymore!>”

“<Who so speaks in rash anger makes his anger known, and his words forgotten,>” Taka replied as he looked at Kojiro. The samurai seemed to tremble at the scrutiny of those eyes behind a mask. The mask was unnerving, hiding his face's features even as the kanji of the warriors code shined at them. It was then that a voice barked for the others to stand down.

Aein stepped in as he looked upon Taka his head tilted at a direction. When he spoke his voice was strained, “<Do not force me to kill you Taka. Submit, don't make it come to our blades. You are my friend...>”

“<As you are mine,>” Taka affirmed with a nod, “<I cannot do that though. I have a Mushi Shugyo to complete. I have duties which draw me back to the Coronian Empire. I have people I need to see to safety.>”

“<Don't force me->”

“<When the time comes and I complete my duties I offer you the honor of being my Second, but not a moment sooner,>” Taka cut off his friend. His hands never moved from beside his waist, but until those words had been spoken, no one could believe they were idle.

“<What?>”

“<I know I bear the taint, and I must commit seppukku to restore the honor to my family. I know what I must do but I have tasks that require me to complete them. No one else can Kochako-sama. When I have completed my tasks you will be my second and I will fall upon my honor, but not a moment sooner!>”

Aein sputtered at the words before he shook his head in disbelief. Finally he spoke his voice hoarse, “<I wish I could wait, but Asaraki-dono has made an edict, you are to be killed on sight->”

It was then a louder voice spoke, its tone that of final authority, “<Then you didn't see him, did you Kochako-san?>”

The final ghost of Taka's past, that of the Rikugunshokan Hantei Jubei, had finally come to haunt him.

[Lillith]

Lillith saw the newcomer before Taka did, but made no attempt to stop him from interrupting the swordsman’s bittersweet revelations. She brandished her blades in an obvious manner to show that any brash action would be met in kind. Enough heart ache had been inflicted on them both already. There would be no need to add insult to injury.

“Taka…,” she erred.

“<It is okay, Lillith-sama,>” he replied.

Hands still by his side, he moved to face Hantei. The two stood opposite, ten feet apart and eyes burning tales of sadness. Lillith took the opportunity to approach Sachiko and set a hand softly on the woman’s chest. Fingers in her congealing blood, the assassin drew on the energy in her blade. She still had time.

“<Today is a day for conversing with ghosts,>” Taka said with a polite nod.

“<But, Master!>” Kochiko objected.

Hantei did little more than shake his head. A stubborn beard and a scarred face told a story of war and hardship that perhaps rivalled Taka’s own troubled life. Broken men were the keen edge of Akashima strength. Strong women were the swing behind its blade.

“Would turning the other cheek be a mistake, Taka?” Hantei broke protocol so that his subordinates would struggle to understand him. Lillith raised an eyebrow for a moment, but continued to tend to the wounded Sachiko. “Would we live to regret letting you go?”

Taka was not sure how to answer at first.

“To restore honour I must repay my debts.”

[Tainted Bushido]

“How shall we repay it Taka?” Hantei Jubei asked.

The ronin looked upon his former master as he spoke, his voice steady. His heart hammered in his chest as he looked upon the general. While Taka held his hand over the hilt of Rengoku, ready to strike, he saw the cupped hand Hantei Jubei used when dueling over his. If there was to be a fight Taka knew he would not win, for Judei was as the air, fluid and everywhere at once. They merely held posture standing there for guardians knew how long.

The ronin remained silent for a little longer before his voice, gravelly from the sudden outbreak of cotton in his mouth, “The blood of innocents need not be spilled today.”

Hantei nodded before he spoke his voice firm, “<I owe you Taka. You did not know this, but when you had been exiled as a Ronin, I turned my ire on your family. The Benjiro clan was destroyed on my order, as punishment for a son that should have keep my beloved safe. One day, we will need to satisfy honor on that mistake. Today I wish to make a partial payment...if you would be so kind as to forgo your need to avenge them…>”

Taka nearly drew steel there with the bold declaration. His eyes widening behind his mask before they narrowed to slits. He was fortunate to have the porcelain to hide the full range of emotions that fought behind it. FInally he spoke, a single word not trusting his voice with more, “<Speak.>”

“<You and the tainted will leave the town immediately. They will never return, and they will tell their collective the same. In return I will grant you safe passage after a year's time to come seek your vengeance against me. I need that year to make sure that I have completed any and all tasks necessary to make the transition to a new Rikugunshokan seamless. Can I have my year?>” Hantei Jubei asked.

All eyes were on Taka as the ronin took a steadying breath behind his mask.

He made the choice he knew to be right, even as he knew that the bloodshed would begin in a year’s time, “<You have your year, do not dull your edge Hantei-dono. I will not let you escape justice that easily.>”

Hantei looked at Taka before his hand lowered and he spoke, “<Spend that year well Taka, you would have lost had you tried to draw today.>”

“<Be prepared to dig two graves then,>” Taka returned as he gestured to the tainted, “<Gather your wounded, we will not get a second chance.>”

[Lillith]

Lilith listened discretely and carefully. When the tension in the harbour eased, she relaxed. Taka gestured to his companions and quickly, the stand-off turned into a tactical retreat. She had no intention of encouraging him to fight his demons here and now. Akashimen warriors were notorious for their ability to hide talents beneath frail frames and tradition. She had no idea who would come out alive between the two. She had no call to find out.

“We must take care, Taka. Yanbo is still a dangerous place, even with the Crab defeated.”

She approached a fallen Ronin, hand clutching his forearm, eyes glistening, and helped him to his feet. Though the Greater Oni was felled, the ruination left in its wake made walkways pitfalls and the calm waters shark infested bays.

“<Let’s go,>” she whispered to her charge.

“<Than you, Tigress-sama,>” he replied feebly. Though the injury was small, the threat to life from bloodless should they delay their retreat further was all too real.

Lilith smirked. She spends so much time in Scara Brae, anywhere but her true home, that she forgets there was a life for her here. Though she would have preferred to not have seen the death of her mentor, the weight of responsibility pressed on her just enough to bring her bac to familiar, if turbulent shores.

“Where are we going, Taka?”

She slowed her advanced when she reached the end of the street, lingering enough to await direction. Eyes ever watchful of their surroundings.