The Oyabun

It was a relatively quiet night at the Black Water hall, just a small group of off-duty bushi playing cards and a couple of giggling peasant girls tossing the dice. Yukemori felt the familiar rush in his blood as he heard the dice rolling. He had always loved gambling and the world revolving around it. He had learned, the hard way, to keep his urge to dance with Lady Gyou in bay. Now that he was a bakuto he got to enjoy the very special magic created by playing for money, and still not being one of the unfortunate victims falling too hard for Lady Gyou.

He did feel a little apprehensive. His Oyabun had called personally for him, a newly made bakuto. He went through a long underground passageway and emerged at the private garden of the Oyabun, knocking at the door. The guardsmen took a suspicious look at him, but recognized the familiar Two Gates tattoos in his arms.

- "Come in," said the voice of an old man. Yukemori entered, and saw a man with wrinkled skin, drooping eyelids, and eyes that seemed to already watch beyond Ningen-do. Still he knew that this was one of the most influential men of Dojyu, even though recent events had diminished his power.

- "Yukemori."

- "Oyabun-sama."

Yukemori knelt next to his yakuza father, bowing his head in respect.

- "Share some sushi with me, kobun."

Yukemori relaxed a little, regarding the old man in front of him. He didn't know his father's real name, he always called him by the honorific. This was the one person he had sworn a life-lasting allegiance to, the person because of whom he had hope in this life. He, like any other yakuza, knew the price. It was worth paying.

The Oyabun picked a piece of nigiri-sushi, feeling very old. He remembered putting many a man to death in his youth, with strong hands, sure blade, quick ruthlessness. Not so anymore. Not in decades. The preying in dark alleyways, consorting with the ninja and wako, had changed to sitting in the peace of his well-guarded compound, working on his calligraphy, composing poems. The young men reported to him, the older ones losing their physical strength negotiated with him. Still he could put a man to his death. But now it would not be his own hand carrying out the deed.

He took a look at Yukemori. The man had long cheekbones and a sly grin, his dark hair tied up in a ponytail, perhaps in an unconscious mockery of the samurai hairstyle. He had a good heart, which was not always good for a kobun. But he was loyal, and he was bright. He knew how to find things out, and that was exactly what the Oyabun needed now.

- "You have been a bakuto for a while now. How do you like that?"

At first Yukemori was surprised that he remembered so well. But then he understood that the old man must be very well aware of him if he indeed was wanted personally here.

- "It is a great honor, and I have enjoyed serving the Two Gates in that position," he replied sincerely.

- "I hear things. The Emperor, may the Fortunes bless him, does not invite me to his audiences, but... I hear things, young Yukemori."

Yukemori nodded. Of course he did.

- "Something large is setting on the move, Yukemori. I hear that in Renkyu a tsunami has wiped out a shipyard and two villages... but there is more than that. I believe the spirit world is involved."

Yukemori waited, his bite of sushi frozen in the air held by his chopsticks.

- "What is most important for yakuza, kobun?" the Oyabun suddenly asked.

- "Contacts. And information in general," Yukemori replied instinctively.

The Oyabun was pleased. He had not replied anything stupid, like skilled fighters or a lot of money.

- "Quite right. I know you have talent in establishing and using contacts. Find out about this. We need to know what is happening so that we can make a plan. You know that Two Gates has enemies."

- "I know."

- "Go now, kobun."

Yukemori bowed respectfully and walked away, deep in thought. He knew he was young and had all his life ahead of him, and already he had got personal attention from the Oyabun. In other words, there was a chance that his life would improve, that he would be much more than what his lot in life promised him by his birth. For this he owed his life to Two Gates, and the Oyabun personally. His sire he barely recalled. A tanner from a filthy city, in a small village nearby Dojyu... as he joined Two Gates, gritting his teeth at the tattooing, he had to sever all the ties to the family of his childhood. He had felt like crying then. Now he barely recalled their faces. For all he knew the hard work had killed them already. Sometimes he had thought of visiting them. But his oto had said a long time ago that it was not a good idea. It only ripped one's soul. Probably so.

But one thing bothered Yukemori especially. Why did the Oyabun look frightened?


Lady Gyou = Lady Luck

oyabun = yakuza boss, "father"

kobun = a yakuza member of lower status, "child"
oto = 'brother', yakuza member of similar position