Inspired by a Get Backers fic I read. I'll never be convinced it's as good because it's...(mildly?) copyrighted, but I felt I just had to try writing something like that. Especially about Kyuzo. The stoic ones are always the best to write about.
I do not own Samurai 7 or any characters. Pity.
Shall We?
"I can't believe Kyuzo-dono agreed to it." Katsu was very openly surprised. He'd been doing goldfish imitations for the past 24 hours.
"Does he even know what he's up against? He'll never make it alive!" Heihachi was also very worried. The group couldn't do without their trump card. It would never do for Kyuzo to die now.
"He didn't...agree. It was his honor as a samurai. He promised Lady Kirara he would, after she helped mend his coat. Of course, he didn't know this would happen." Well, Kanbei seemed to be taking this calmly. Who'd have thought it? They'd expected him to be frantic at the thought of losing Kyuzo. But that was just Kanbei.
"I tried to hypnotize him with my latest trick but he just tried to kill me..." It was hard to tell if Gorobei was sniffling about his first 'entertainment' failure or about the fact that Kyuzo had tried to kill him. Probably both. But there was a first time for everything.
"DON'T DO IT KYUZO-DONO!!! NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN THE SAME AFTER THAT!!!" Kiku was surprisingly concerned about the samurai he'd always claimed had learned sword skills by copying him.
"Few have even survived. My family was completely destroyed..." Katsu was getting all emotional and this wasn't good. At least he'd stopped the goldfish act.
And then Kyuzo spoke.
"I'll be fine. It is my riskiest mission yet, but I am a samurai. I will not die like this." He's got to have lost it...
As Kyuzo made his way toward his impending doom, everyone else simultaneously wiped away their streaming tears. It was too awful to watch.
On reaching the destination, Kyuzo's insides churned with dread and he would have fainted if he didn't have a reputation to upkeep. On the outside, however... "Please go ahead."
"With pleasure. Now that you're ready, shall we?"
Kyuzo sat himself down before the table and watched as the knife was revealed. With a few slices and cuts it was in pieces, and Kyuzo shivered for the first time in his life, but what must be done, could be done. And this must be done. For the sake of his honor. Samurai had to keep their promises.
But it was straining on his usual composure, especially seeing Kirara's exhilarated face, and the downcast expressions of his comrades. What could he do now, anyway? Nothing for it. He closed his eyes and hardened his resolve as he raised Kirara's handmade sashimi to his mouth.
A/N: That didn't turn out so bad. I still feel a bit guilty that I got the whole "the best fighters can't do the simplest things" idea off someone else, but guilt passes. Time heals everything, no? Hope you liked the fic!