Ch 3:
Dirty Methods
"Gaaah!" Blood sprayed everywhere--like when you place your thumb over a hose nozzle--as Ochimusa's blade stabbed into the heart. He twisted the blade, letting out one last burst of blood before smiling at Taro's dead expression. "Now move to the side so you don't get killed." Taro stood petrified, but moved as soon as he felt a wet weight on his shoulder. The dead swordsman fell to the ground in a puddle of blood. Ochimusa looked over Taro and swung his sword behind Taro's head. Taro heard an arrow shatter over the blade and he realized he needed to move. He looked about, not sure of where to go, before settling for a cabin in the distance.
"Come on! This way!" Ochimusa looked up as Taro ran. "Ha, looky there!" Ochimusa cut a down a few more arrows before giving chase. Taro made his way into the cabin and Ochimusa was quick behind. The cabin had only one room, and was void of all furniture other than a toilet and sink. "Dammit, well, hide under the sink or something. That's pretty lame…" Ochimusa left the cabin and went to face the swordsmen. They appeared through the trees, some carrying blades, others carrying drawn bows. "There he is! Kill him now!" A woman's voice boomed. Ochimusa leapt off a tree as a few arrows stuck into the trunk. He slashed down the last arrow and darted toward archers.
He ducked underneath the defending swordsmen's swipes and made his way to the archers behind them. Cutting them down, he spun around to face the swordsman again. "Oh no you don't!" He ducked once he heard how close the voice was, and sure enough, a woman came screaming out of the tree next to him and to the grass before him. She landed sloppily and turned around to faced Ochimusa. "You little fucker! You killed my husband! You had better give me that damned headband before I get real pissed!" Ochimusa took a step back and smiled.
"Ok ok! Calm down! Now, just saying I killed your husband isn't good enough. I've killed a lot of people you know! You gotta be more specific. Here, um, let's narrow the search down. Let us see…was your husband a man?" The woman screamed and pointed her sword toward Ochimusa. "Cut this prick down!" Ochimusa smirked and lifted his blade. As the first swordsman came close enough, Ochimusa shot his blade out, slicing him in half. His body fell, revealing the other four. He ducked under a swipe and came up with his own cut. The man's head split in half and opened to each side, erupting in a fan of blood.
He kicked to body forward, smashing it into the woman. He quickly cut down the other men and made his way to the woman as she crawled out from underneath his corpse. He stepped on her hand holding the sword and she screamed and clawed at his ankle. "Hey! Hold up beautiful, I'm not gonna kill you! I try my best not to kill girls."
"I don't give a fuck! Just kill me!"
Ochimusa sighed and crouched down, lifting his foot off her hand. He picked up her sword and jabbed it into a tree. "Miss, you're lying, and I can tell. Now I won't lie, but you're very lucky you're a terrible actress…" She looked up to Ochimusa through her tears. He stared firmly into her eyes and she soon gave up and hid her face in her arms. Taro came out from the cabin and looked down to the woman. "Who's she?" Ochimusa sighed and stared down at the sobbing girl. "A sob story i'm sure..."
The woman sat, her arms wrapped around her knees and a blanket wrapped around her body. Ochimusa placed more rocks around the fire to contain it. The sun was just about set, and the girl was close to sleep, exhausted from crying. She leaned against Taro, her eyelids creeping closer and closer together. "Ah, I'm on fire! Fire!" Taro and the girl snapped up and looked to their right at Ochimusa. He smiled and blew out his invisible fire. "Lets at least stay awake long enough to hear a bedtime story." The girl stared for a moment, but then giggled and looked into the fire. "Um, I guess I got one." Ochimusa smiled and tossed a woodchip into the fire. "I was hoping…"
The girl scooted closer to the fire and shivered out her last wave of cold. "Where should I start?"
"How about with 'once upon a time'?" Taro said.
The girl laughed again, slowly growing comfortable with the strangers, and began her story. "Well, once upon a time, there was me. My name is Alexis, and I haven't got the happiest story to tell."
I guess didn't expect it to be happy. Ochimusa thought solemnly to himself.
"It started two months ago, on the outskirts of a bamboo forest northeast of here, when the Number One captured my husband and my daughter…"
~~~~~
Iran as quickly as I could through the bamboo forest. I could hear my baby screaming, my husband's sword clashing with someone else's, and I needed to know my baby was ok. I burst through the reeds and found my husband, holding our baby girl, blocking strike after strike from a man dressed in black. His dreadlocks shook about in the moonlight with each attack, and his smile never left his cheeks, even when his swipes came dangerously close to Ellen. I then looked down to the ground and saw my brother-in-law dead on the ground, his belly split open. "Niall!" I screamed to my husband. He looked over from his battle and gently rested Ellen on the ground. He then faced the attacker with both hands on his blade. "Take Ellen and run! Now! Head to the family shrine!"
Ochimusa fell back hard onto the floor of the cabin, interrupting Alexis. "What's wrong?" Alexis asked. Ochimusa sighed and sat himself up again. "Nothing, I've just heard a story that kinda started like this before. Carry on, carry on." Alexis stared at Ochimusa for a few more seconds, confused, but then continued her story.
~~~~~
My husband threw a kick, hitting the man in black in his stomach. I ran like crazy for Ellen and lifted her off the ground carefully. As soon as I had Ellen wrapped in her blanket and in my arms, I ran as fast as I could into the woods, hoping to reach my town. I listened as the sword clashes echoed into the woods, that is, until one clash ended with the wail of metal splitting metal. I picked up my pace, frightened out of my mind and trying to calm my screaming baby. I myself couldn't stop crying, and so I just hoped Ellen would cry herself to sleep. Sure enough, a minute later, Ellen nuzzled deeper into my shoulder, signifying she was spent. I had smiled, so happy to see something so precious and innocent while I was running for my life, but then I realized I too was completely worn out from running and crying. I couldn't seem to find my breath between sobs, and so sat for some time, trying to catch my breath.
"Then he finally caught up." Alexis said gravely.
~~~~~
I stood up from the ground and looked up to see a black shadow standing before me in the clearing. His skin was dark, and only his eyes and teeth reflected the moonlight. There was something bigger standing behind him, and as my eyes strained to tell what it was, I realized it was my family shrine. The shadow stepped out from the shrine's own shadow and walked casually over to me. "Yeah, it actually wasn't too hard to find. A big stone archway thingy into the middle of a bamboo forest? It's either a toilet or a shrine!" The man zipped up his fly and smiled. He held out his hand to me. "My name is Isaac." My stomach fluttered so hard that my eyes fluttered as well, not sure if the horror holding out his hand was real or not. "Don't worry, I washed them. Cleanliness is next to Godliness…" I was about to scream, when Isaac's hand shot toward my mouth.
He quickly swung around behind me and wrapped his other arm around my chest and Ellen. "Hey hey whoa! Don't wake the baby now! Look at her sleeping so contently…" I looked down to see Isaac's sword in his hand. Though it was nowhere near Ellen now, if I hadn't seen him draw his blade, he would have no trouble in doing what he wanted if I screamed. I physically relaxed, as did Isaac's grip. "Well, ok now, what I do is, I take your husband and your baby-" I tense up again--this time in anger--as did Isaac's arm around Ellen. "…and I send you out on a job. Don't worry, the hours aren't terrible, and the pay is pretty good, one husband and one baby, I'd say that's good pay for someone a young as you." Isaac chuckled and took his hand off my mouth, gently sliding it underneath my breast and underneath the baby. He pulled Ellen from my frozen hands and cradled her gently in his arm.
"Aw, she's got her father's nose, such a cute little round nose…" I stared at my family shrine through a pool of tears, so distraught and horrified, and felt Isaac leave my side. "All you gotta do missy, is find the Number Two, I heard he was around these parts. I'd go find him myself, but I have a little game I'm playing. You lure him in, with your words or those breasts of yours, and lead him into this bamboo forest. I'll be keeping your husband and daughter in a cabin near here, so you can head there once I attack the Number Two." His voice seemed to fade away, and I so spun around, peering through the bamboo forest. Isaac was gone, as was my baby Ellen.
Ochimusa stared into the fire. Taro's arm was wrapped around the shivering Alexis as she cried heavily into her knees. "And here I am, in the cabin, and my husband and daughter aren't here…." Her body shook as she struggled to take in air. "I knew my husband was already dead. I knew Isaac had killed him back in the woods, but I was hoping my baby would be here, hoping strangely, that Isaac would be holding her and truly leave us be to go and kill the Number Two. But when I saw that you two were in this cabin…" She leaned harder onto Taro and Taro himself seemed to be fighting back tears. Alexis though, let her crying continue until she fell asleep by the fire.
"Ochimusa." Taro said in a broken voice. "What'll we do?"
Ochimusa looked down to his left, as Alexis slept, curled into a cold ball.
"I go and face Isaac. Make sure I get her kid."
"Do you think you'll be able to?"
Ochimusa removed his kimono top and placed it over Alexis.
"You just stay here with Alexis and wait for me. If I don't return by afternoon tomorrow, you followed the river back, and you'll come upon a small town by nightfall. It's a fishing community, so there'll be plenty of fighters who might at least defend you while you get on a boat."
"A boat?"
"Yeah, if you can sail off, Isaac should have no hope of finding you. Make sure they take you somewhere far away. Just mention my name; my sword and I did some big favors for them the other day when I was stopped there, so they should be willing to take you just about anywhere. I'm also assuming she's from that same village, so that'll make things even easier."
"And what about when you kill Isaac? What do you say we at least escort Alexis safely somewhere? With both headbands on you as the ultimate body guard?" Ochimusa laughed and untied his headband. He wrapped it around his blade and sat against the nearest wall. "Yes. That's what I plan to do. She needs a fresh start. A pretty young twenty year old with a baby won't make it far without being attacked in this day and age…"
Taro scooted slightly away from Alexis to lie down, but kept protectively close.
Ochimusa threw woodchips into the fire every so often, keeping it bright and warm for Alexis, watching her face, which continued to cry in sleep.
It's all over tomorrow Isaac, Ochimusa thought irately to himself.
It's all over.