Daughter of Battousai
In 1838 I was playing a game with my father. I heard a knock on the big wooden door. There was a man with a beard dressed in a white robe with the word Aku written on the back. Aku means evil.
My father talked a while with this man. Soon my father called my mother and told her he needed to go to the Royal Court for a while. That was the last time I saw my father.
It is now 1848 and I'm a young woman 18 years old. I live alone in the house were I grew up. I work at a local restaurant which is owned by some friends of my father's. I work as a waitress.
One day I serve tea to a man who works for the Emperor in the Royal Court. Another day I serve tea to a man with long hair and he is wearing a white coat. He orders dumplings and asks for sake to drink. The man looked at me in a way that made me feel like he thought he knew me—like maybe he had seen me somewhere walking down the street.
The man in the white coat asked me if I knew a samurai—a remarkable samurai because he has a red "X" on his left cheek. I could not think of anyone I knew who had any marks on his face, let alone someone as special as a samurai with a red "X" on his cheek. I told the man in the white coat that I knew of no one who fit his description.
After I leave work for the day I practice sword skills. I practice my father's ways, for he was a very skilled swordsman; some people the very best in the land. I have mastered some of his techniques. I only wish my father were here to teach me himself.
When I am through practicing I start to prepare dinner for myself. I hear a knock on the door. I rarely have visitors so I am surprised by the noise. I am even more surprised to see the man in the white coat standing in my doorway.
He asks me again if I know a man with a red "X" on his cheek. I feel embarrassed and a little ashamed because when he asked me this same question earlier I lied to him. Now I finally answer truthfully and I admit that I do know a man with a red "X" on his cheek. This man is my father.
The man in the white coat tells me that he was my father's sword master. He is now here to teach me the code of the samurai.
The man in the white coat became my master. He told me that I needed to know all of his lessons before I could be as good a samurai as my father. I trained for over a year with my master. During my training my master tells me things about my father.
It is now 1849 and my training is complete. My master says it is time for me to go to the Royal Court, and time for him to leave me. He tells me that he knows who killed my father when he traveled to the Royal Court many years ago. He tells me that when I reach the Royal Court I should tell them that I am the only son of the Kenchai family and that I want to meet the Royal Court staff and even the Emperor himself. He stresses how important it is to not let anyone know that I am a woman.
My master tells me to put on a purple robe and then hands me two swords. He tells me my father's samurai name—Buttousai—which means man killer. I am shocked because ever since I was a little girl I have listened to people tell the legend of Buttousai. Buttousai was supposed to have killed 1,000 men in one battle alone. I always thought it was just a legend and now I find out my father is Buttousai.
I dress myself in the purple robe and white pants after my master leaves. I pull back my dark brown hair into the ponytail of the samurai. I look like my father once did. My education is complete.
I arrive at the palace. I tell the guards who I am and that I am here to see the Emperor. The emperor is surprised to see me.
After meeting the Emperor I decide to walk home. As I am walking I feel a light breeze against my skin—but there is no wind that day. I turn around and see a man dressed as a police official with a sword that has the eye of a wolf on it. He says that his name is Saito Hajime, an official from Tokyo. I tell him that I am Yukiyo Sasaki Himura, daughter of Kenchai Himura. The official then takes off his police uniform and is wearing a white robe with the word Aku on its back. He says that if that is true that I am the daughter of Himura, then there still is a member of the Himura family alive and he then pulls a sword and tries to kill me! I use the two swords that my master has given me and fight like I have never fought before. Saito says that it will give him great pleasure to kill me just as it gave him great pleasure to kill my father! I use all of my power, for my father's memory gives me strength.
I struggle with Saito, but finally he slips and falls to the ground as I strike him the fatal blow. His final words are that he did kill my father. I looked at the blood on my sword and, washed it clean and then just walked away.
I am happy to have avenged my father. I now travel in peace.