Three Years Ago

If I had any choice in the matter, I would have said no. not that I don't like the life Nii-chan has created for me; we're no longer living on the street after all. But I don't like the consequences of those choices, the now warm feel of steel against my skin, along with the knowledge that at any moment a man or woman could and would make an attempt on my life, and that I would be forced to defend it with everything I am.

Kaemon nii-chan actually isn't in charge of that grand a scale yazkua company, within the Huroshi Family. He runs a slightly large trading city-Tusua- a port city on the coast of Shrangi-la only a few miles from Japan that welcomes any and all travelers...as long as they have money. Many of the peasants and lower middle class here try to get away from their rank in Tusua, because if there's one thing this city does, it reminds you of your place. All "poor" people (those unable to support themselves, a beast of burden, and their family which should include at least three children) are designed to wear dull, earthy colors and required to bow low before someone of higher status. While Kaemon and I are no longer poor, we still have to deal with the murmured death threats, the piercing glares of betrayal, and the malicious requests from the Huroshi family.

I gently pulled on the reins, causing my brown mare to slow to a stop. In front of me sat Kaemon on a gorgeous white stallion (supposedly imported from the far west, a place called Italy), mouth pressed into a firm, thin line. Our guards on horseback pushed the crowd aside, giving us at least four feet of leg room if we were to dismount. The foot guards likewise created a semi loose circle around us and our latest victim: Usagu Tamasine, the local proprietor of Usagu Sprits. According to the Huroshi family, one of their informants had caught the man skimming money from them and it was up to us to get it back.

Usagu-san caught my eye, dropping to his knees with a loud thud, throwing his head down onto the cobble stone streets: a dogeza. The ultimate form of a bow one could perform. "Have mercy on me Shinamori-domo," he cried, his pale form shivering in the loose fitting baby blue kimono he wore. "I had no choice!"

Kaemon sat up straighter in his sliver trimmed straddle, urging his stallion with his thighs to block Usagu-san's view of me before speaking. "Do not dare talk to my sister," Kaemon said, pronouncing each constant with a slight clip to his voice. He'd spent hours studying the way Western businessmen worked and sounded, in order to appear "cultured". Really, to me he sounded like a pompous ass.

"Kae-nii," I whispered, "maybe we shouldn't do this."

In response I got a backwards glance; the ever legendary Shinamori determination shining in his eyes. Kaemon was going to do anything to make the Huroshi family happy…right down to public executions. "Because of the crime appointed to you by the Huroshi Family, I, Shinamori Kaemon, hereby sentence you to death!" he raised one arm, the crimson silk sleeve of his new kimono slipping down his arm to reveal a pale arm. One foot guard, a heavily muscled man around the age of thirty if I had to guess, unsheathed his sword, stepping forward.

Murmurs of protest arose from the crowd; my mare neighed, shaking her mane before side stepping to the right a couple paces. She was nervous. So was I. I may not be the brightest lantern in a festival, but at least I know when killing people in public have finally gotten on people nervous. My throat felt dry, too dry.

"You can't kill that man!" one man called out.

"He was just trying to support himself!"

"Yeah! Yakuza scum!"

The people pressed forward, the guards struggling to keep them at bay, even with the use of their spears and swords. Many of the people drew their own weapons; daggers, homemade knifes, a couple rounding the corner of the street totted shotguns. Kaemon's stallion reared at the charging people, Usagu-san rolled away just as the stallion's black hooves came crashing down where he had once been kneeling. "Shit," He hissed and yanked the reins to the hard left. His horse responded dutifully, letting loose a flurry of vicious back kicks that could easily kill a man. One woman dressed in a dark brown, mud stained kimono, got hit in the face, and her neck making an audible snap as the hoof came in contact with it. "Akari! Run!"

"Yah!" It came out in a ragged gasp, my heart pounding wildly as I kicked my mare with my heels. She tore through the crowd after my brother, people scurrying to get out of the way. One man wasn't fast enough and fell under her hoofs, the audible sound of bone cracking and blood splattering everywhere ringing loudly in my ears.

"Get the bitch!"

"Kill her!"

A dirt encrusted hand shot out of the crowd, grabbing my mare's reins so that she spun around in a forty-five degree angle, trying to back up. The owner of the hand was a middle aged man- someone's father probably- staring up at me with dull brown eyes. "We can use her as a randsom," He yelled, his voice booming over the bloodthirsty crowd.

This is for your own safety Akari. This gun is only to be used in the direst of emergences.

But how do you use it?

Take off the safety, this lever here, aim, and pull the trigger.

I threw the reins in his face, my hands flying into my obi to pull out my gun. The lever flew back. I aimed it point blank at the man's face, and pulled the trigger. He dropped to the ground, blood flying everywhere; my clothes, the mare, the people around us, me. People screamed, my mare reared and instinctively my numb arms threw themselves around her thick neck as she tore off down the street, this time no one grabbing the reins. His blood felt sticky on my skin: dirty. My hair flew into my eyes but we didn't crash. Just because I was blinded by my own tears and hair doesn't mean my horse was.

Where was Kaemon? Surely he would have turned around once he noticed I wasn't behind him. Kaemon would never have allowed me to kill someone. He always tried his best to shield me from the life of the yakuza. So where was he? "Nii-chan," I whimpered, burying my face into my mare's billowing mane. "Oh dear God…what's going to happen now?"