Chapter 9
? time, ? location, mountains
Ayame groans when she sees the unfamiliar landscape. She is on a mountain path surrounded by pine trees. Down, in the end of a long valley she can see a village. A river snakes its way along it, full with boats. `Let's go back to training then`, she thinks and jumps. Her descent is quickly and violently arrested. She looks up in confusion and sees a kid, his face screwed up in concentration, holding her obi for dear life.
`Let me go`, she shouts at him.
`Don't throw your life away!`, he shouts at her. `Take my hand and climb up!`
`You better let me fall, kid!`, Ayame yells back at him. `You're going to fall with me!`
`So what, do you feel responsible for my life?' he retorts, breathless. His hands are shaking from her weight.
`Are we seriously having this conversation right now?` Ayame bites out incredulously. `Let me go, I'll be fine`, she promises him.
`Lies`, the boy grits out. His bun has some stray hairs and his forelocks are plastered to his face, damp from exertion. `Start climbing back up or you'll kill me`.
`So bossy`, Ayame replies, displeased, but the boy is indeed slipping so she grabs some handholds and eases up, aided by the kid. Up on the path again, she takes a better look at him. He's a kid of no more than twelve, judging by his hairstyle, which is caught in a warrior's bun, but with his hime locks still covering his forehead and flowing at the sides of his round face. She tries to put some distance and try again but the boy sticks to her hand like a limpet.
`You can let go of my hand now`, Ayame tells him.
`You'll just try and jump again` the boy replies indignantly. `I'll escort you to the village and they'll take you in`,
`Are you the local hero?` Ayame asks him, irritated. She wants to get back. She is already in an unfamiliar place, and unfamiliar places are hard to return from. She expects a few other side trips and she's not in the mood for entertaining wannabe heroes.
`Life is precious`, the boy tells her again.
`All life? Do you defend all life?`, Ayame asks him again, idly. If she finds his grip slackening even a little bit, she won't care about any trauma he might get from this. She'll take her chance and jump.
`I defend those who cannot defend themselves`, the boy replies. His grip gets even stronger. `The animals, the little kids…`, he trails off.
Ayame glances at him. `Aren't you a little kid as well? And I see you put the animals in the first place`.
`Of course`, the boy replies.
`I am neither of those. Why did you save me?`
The boy looks at her pityingly. `You look like a startled rabbit`, he tells her. `Usagi-nee!`
`At least you have the courtesy to call me older sister`, Ayame murmurs. `Where are we?` she asks him. Maybe she can get some coordinates and try and aim for a specific place.
The boy turns his head up to her and smiles. `The Bear Valley`, he says. His voice is musical. `But there aren't any bears here`, he adds mischievously.
`Bear Valley, Bear Valley`, Ayame repeats, trying to remember if she had seen any place like that on the maps. She hadn't.
In the end, they get to the valley and she hadn't been able to shake him off. She found out his name `Call me Shinsuke`, but that was it. No clan name was given despite obviously having one.
On the wide path next to the river she sees another person coming towards them. It looks like a travelling warrior, with a kusarigama at his belt. Shinsuke finally lets go of her hand and goes forward.
`Fight me!` he cries, his voice surprisingly strong and resonant. `I put my name on your challenge strip and yet you refused it, you coward!`
The man sneers at him. `Go away, kid! Your uncle begged me to ignore your foolish request and I forgave your stupidity. Do not test my patience`.
`I will beat you and become a true warrior`, the boy declares. `I will be able to leave for training then. You`, he adds forcefully ` are my stepping stone`.
The other man looks pissed. He nods once and takes off his luggage, and his hands creep to his obi where his main weapon is held. But Shinsuke doesn't give him time to draw. He launches himself at the man, a fist sized rock in his hand and hits his temple. The man goes down, dazed, and the boy starts bashing his with the rock. It has jagged edges, Ayame observes distantly. She looks on dumbly, hearing the muffled sound of stone striking flesh and bone. Finally, after twenty or so strikes, when the man's head has become a mess of splintered bone and blood, he turns to her. His face is glowing from a fine layer of sweat. The blood splatters do not hide his excited expression.
There are others, she sees realises then, witnesses to that murder. Fishing boats, and a man in a dark robe is now running on the path, shouting Shinsuke's name. So Shinsuke is his child's name, Ayame realises as in a dream. He'll surely change it now, after his first kill.
Then Shinsuke starts walking towards her and Ayame finally remembers how to move and starts running back. Shinsuke shouts after her to stop, to stop trying to waste her life, and she feels hysterical screaming bubbling in her chest. She feels him, close on her heels and she runs wildly, veering off the path into the undergrowth. She runs blindly, stumbles and rolls down a gentle slope, stopping forcefully in something warm. She sees a blur of orange and black, an acrid smell hits her nose and a great paw throws her ten paces away.
`So there's no bears but tigers`, she thinks wildly. She tries to stand but she loses her footing immediately. The tiger jumps on her back and just as she feels the pressure of its teeth closing on her neck, she switches and arrives on top of a mountain.
The air is crisp, the landscape is wonderful. A silver lake winks down in a valley. She sighs and steps in the void. Soon, the rush of air and the rapidly approaching lake do not seem so fairy-tale-like anymore and her muscles freeze painfully in fear. Just before the impact she falls hard on her silver-blue futon. She rolls around for a bit, relieved, laughing and crying hysterically and checks for injuries. A sprained wrist and a pulled muscle in her leg seem to be the worst. She gets up grimacing and goes outside to report to Sato.
After hearing her report, he starts her on memorisation exercises and fuinjutsu theory.
`No rest for the wicked`, she murmurs, and daydreams while watching Mizumachi and Masanobu spar together.
A sharp rap to her head wakes her up. Looking up, she sees Sato's disapproving face looking down at her.
`Are the characters too difficult for you?` , he asks her, nodding towards the theory scroll.
Ayame nods despondedly, trying to look as pitiful as possible. Saito frowns then sits next to her.
`I'll explain the main points and more difficult characters. Which ones do you not know?`
Ayame gestures vaguely towards the scroll. `Most of them?` she tries.
Sato gives her a look and she flushes. `Hanae told me your level and I chose this text based on his evaluation. Concentrate`
Ayame lets her head fall to her chest then sneaks a glance at him. He is as usual, hard to describe and instantly forgettable. The lines of his shoulders are straight and relaxed, no vulnerability or tenseness showing. He seems...purposeful and radiates inexorability like an incoming tsunami. Or a volcanic eruption. If you are caught in it, you can only go along to your death.
Ayame looks back at the scroll in her lap and starts reading out loud.
End of May, South-western part of Fire Country, close to Ishigaki
The early summer rains have already begun. Three people dressed in muddy colours walk between the rice fields. One of them has their head covered in a dark red scarf whose ends hang wetly on its sides.
Ayame trudges on between Hanae and Tadanobu, wet and miserable. Her headscarf does not help that much against the sudden rain. Hanae looks back at her and offers her an encouraging smile for her benefit. `Dripping water shapes the stone`, he says. `This is going to be over quickly`.
`Please stop talking about water`, Ayame grits out. `I've had headaches since Uduki. First spring rains, now Samidare, who, as the name implies, really puts me on edge mentally, and then we'll have one month of rain during Tsuyu. Joy`.
`It will be a short rain`, Hanae assures her.
`Don't be so sure`. Ayame replies gloomily. `We could find ourselves into heavy rain`.
As if in answer, the clouds part and the rain now sparkles in the sun. Hanae grins. `See, it's a fox's wedding as well. An omen perhaps?`, he continues on blithely.
`Let's hope it's not a fox's funeral`, Ayame mutters darkly. `Stupid rice riots`.
`Please don't talk about this anymore`, cautions Hanae. `We're getting close to Ishigaki. Tomorrow meet our contacts to relay the date and then we leave for Konoha`.
During night, Ayame wakes up confused. The normally dark room is washed in a muted orange light that brightens erratically, with dancing shadows moving quickly on the screen. It looks like some weird shadow theatre.
She automatically snatches her survival kit and rushes outside to meet the others. When she opens the screen, she sees people running, hears shouts and screams. Bewildered, she asks Tadanobu, who flew out from the next room, what happened.
Hanae appears at their side, face grim. `Someone put to fire all warehouses and most important buildings`
`Tero?`, Tadanobu asks, bewildered.
Hanae doesn't ask what the word means, but tells them to follow him and keep low. They have to get out. This was not supposed to happen.
Soon, they get to fighting. Apparently the attackers haven't used the darkness to cover their tracks. A rumble of earth almost sweeps them off their feet and a fire jutsu almost hits Tadanobu. Hanae kicks him out of the way and retaliates, screaming at them to take cover. The problem is, they have nowhere to hide. Every building surrounding them is burning or has an enemy. There's only a straight road, surrounded by burning buildings.
A searing heat comes from the right. Ayame turns her head and sees a column of fire coming straight at her. In the fire jutsu's path Ayame automatically concentrates, briefly feels searing heat and light and almost falls on top of a man bathing in an onsen. He looks up and she recognises his features from Shinsuke's sketch. She stretches her hand to catch something of him and he jumps and moves in to strike her, eyes red. The imminence of mortal peril seems almost comforting. She grins and manages to catch some strands of wet hair as he closes in and they both continue falling.
They fall and roll on hard earth, the impact knocking them away from each other. The air is full of smoke and ash. A huge ornate building is burning along with other smaller ones. It is night. Ayame tastes the smell of burnt flesh and ash in the back of her throat, gags and coughs. She has lost her survival kit either on the first trip or on the second one.
People in various pieces of armour lay dead, spread out the courtyard. Still laying down, she sees a corpse with his head split open. Izuna rolls on his feet and as he she croaks `I'm with your brother`, and shows him Madara's seal. Izuna freezes, then nods and starts searching the corpses for something to wear and weapons.
She gets up, rips a clean piece of cloth from her jacket and puts it around her nose and mouth. She gives another one to Izuna and looks around trying to ignore the contorted corpses fallen in fighting. They are in a sort of interior courtyard, surrounded in three places by burning buildings. The way out is full of smoke and partially blocked by some barricades that have been ripped apart. The ground looks like a giant has punched great holes in it. Parts of the buildings have been destroyed by some great force, leaving gaping holes.
She sees one kneeling dead soldier, still clutching at a ripped flag. It flutters gently across his face. Other two are almost locked in an embrace, one with a dagger in the throat and the other with a sharp piece of wood protruding from an eye.
On her right, another one seems to be half laying down on some makeshift barricade. His empty eyes stare at the burning rooftop in front of him. An arrow shaft sprouts from his neck, others from his shoulder. In front of the steps to the right she seen one corpse with a mountain of others dead at the foot of the stairs, with detached limbs littered everywhere. It looks like a toymaker's shop spare limbs. The defender still has a naginata clutched in his hands.
`There have been two separate attacks here` she thinks. `One with normal weapons, the second one with jutsu users. The tide of the battle changed immediately`.
`Where are we?` Izuna asks. `I assume you had a reason for calling me. What jutsu did you use? How did you infiltrate the compound? How would my brother send you if he's there with me?` He advances on her and she shies back. Her eyes are scratchy from smoke. The building cracks and groans, a portion falls in a shower of sparks and a wave of heat that makes her feel she got in a boiler. Some sparks land on her and she bats at them to stop them from catching on fire. Izuna slaps violently at one on her right shoulder.
`I, don't know`, she coughs. ` I came to find you from further away. In time. Your brother needs you.`
`Does he?` Izuna says. `Then why send you and not ask directly? Are we estranged?`
`Umm...dead. Unfortunately.`
Izuna stills. His naginata goes point down and he shoves her behind an upturned cart and crouches next to her, activating his sharingan. His hair is still mostly wet, with steam rising faintly from his drying hair, giving him a ghostly appearance. Ashes are caught in his hair. They slowly make their way towards the exit. `Take care, they might wait for survivors`, he tells her curtly.
Ayame stays as close as possible to him, trying to keep a hold on him. Izuna waves her off. `I need to touch you`, she whispers. There's no telling when an arrow will fly towards her, or a jutsu, or a knife so she hovers as close to him as possible. She can't imagine what will happen if she goes back without Izuna. She'll definitely not find him again. And there's no way to predict what is going to happen if he disappears before his time and does who knows what who knows where. This is their only chance.
They pass more corpses of fallen attackers and defenders. Some people moan in pain, most are dead. The worst corpses are those that are still burning or smoking gently. The smell makes her vomit.
They get out of the first courtyard and see themselves in another bigger one with five exists, three of which seem to lead towards burning buildings. Two have been destroyed by some jutsu. None of them seem a great option.
After a bit of hesitation, Izuna takes them to one destroyed. They inch along walls, skirt around, up and under barricades and fallen pieces of buildings and corpses. Always corpses. Izuna sometimes stops and takes some weapon, or a piece of armour. She tries to help him put it on. Her fingers feel stiff. The armour pieces are dirty, most with blood as well as ash. Izuna also makes her put on some protection. It doesn't fit her too well. It jostles, makes her feel clunky. The pieces of lacquered wood are splattered with blood and mud and they clink with every movement. Izuna manages to remain silent in his. She feels she's wearing a corpse. The orange grey light and the taste of ash becomes the only constant. She tries not to think too much and focus on Izuna. Not losing Izuna is what's important right now.
Izuna stops and motions for her to stay low. She approaches him and sees they are almost out of the complex. There are live soldiers, who stand by and watch the burning. Izuna gives a small sound of recognition. The firelight plays on their covered faces, distorting the sneering war masks even more.
`If my brother needs me`, he says, `this is a strange way to go about it`.
Izuna points to three warriors with yellow and green knotted ropes on their armour. They are kneeling defiantly. Another one, with white and red ropes stands in front of them. He is saying something, and although the sound is muffled a bit by the distance, the words are quite clear. Ayame feels her blood drain from her face. He sounds archaic. She has read some Old Japanese with the aid of dictionaries and modern translations, but the written language is much easier than the spoken one. She can't understand a thing he's saying.
A look to Izuna confirms he is in the same predicament. He hisses once and tells her to stay still. The one standing has taken a sword out and cut the two kneeling people's heads. Ayame finds it familiar.
`Masamune` hisses Izuna. `This must be the Taira general`.
`So that means…`
Izuna looks at her, a maniacal glint in his red eyes. `We are in the middle of the first riots in the imperial capital, at the burning of the Imperial Palace. That's 伏見乃紅帝`. The words are lost in the horror of the spectacle.
'Who?' Ayame asks again.
`Fushimi no Bentei`, Izuna hisses. The name doesn't ring a bell but Izuna motions for her to stay silent.
`We need to try and leave the other way. We'll never get away from here unnoticed from the front`, he whispers.
They leave and Ayame looks back again to the group. And impossibly, her gaze meets the general's. He shouts, a call so loud she feels it like a physical blow. Izuna curses, takes her arm and drags her away at a sprint. She stumbles but Izuna simply continues bodily dragging her on.
Ayame knows she should not look back. But she knows they had started chasing them.
Izuna stops suddenly and rushes in behind her, blocking a killing blow with his naginata. There are five people after them. The fight starts in earnest and Ayame realises that Madara never showed them what he could really do. Despite allthat happened, despite the mismatched clothing, armour and weapons, Izuna keeps them all at bay.
She desperately tries to both stay close to him and get away from the melee, acutely aware she is hindering his movements. His eyes are glowing red, she sees, but she can't see what they do. Genjutsu? But the others do not seem very affected if that's the case.
She has a horrible thought. What if he was chakra exhausted before this trip?
She looks around again to see if they can lose the others when she freezes. The bloody general was there, his sword drawn, the black blade shining dully. A red mane flows on his back from the top of his helmet.
No, no no nonono, she thinks desperately. It makes no sense. Are they that afraid of survivors? Whose palace was it anyway? We must get away. Get Izuna. Get away.
The thoughts clamour in her head. The general advances and rushes in exactly after Izuna parries a strike from a nodachi and twists to avoid being hit by a club. His sword pierces Izuna's side and she screams in horror.
The general turns around and searches. Izuna manages to jump away and rushes on top of a burning building, trying to get to her from above. He is followed by two attackers, who move silently and agilely after him. The rest fan out to block any exit points, effectively creating a bottleneck.
The general advances on her and she is forced to take her eyes off Izuna and skirts behind some rubble and upturned carts, watching the way in. There are corpses there as well. Some seem to be of children.
`鼠我居留乃菓名菓苦礪他居乃菓名' she hears him say. His voice is clear, his tone mocking.
He arrives behind the cart as well, three paces away from her. Well into killing distance, she realises with a shiver of fear. Death is not an option here. She cannot die here, but she doesn't always have the certainty she will merely move in another location. Right now she is quite certain she will die. And if Masamune kills her, she has a sinking feeling she will die for real. Forever.
The war mask looks at her with a sneer. His eyes aren't visible. Only his voice is clear.
`鼠夜理兎妥根`, he tells her.
Seeing her confused expression, he briefly puts his hands together and makes the Rabbit seal.
Ayame startles visibly at that. At the same moment, a naginata comes flying down, burying into the place the general had occupied seconds before, followed by Izuna himself.
Ayame feels a moment of relief. Izuna had managed to get closer. Maybe they'll have a chance so leave together soon. She stretches her hand towards him, when the general rushes in to meet Izuna and her optimistic thoughts are blown away.
Notes:
First part, with the kid is inspired by the story of Miyamoto Musashi, who at the same age, duelled and killed a warrior (by attacking with a bokken- wooden sword, and then bashing the guy's head in with it. Not a rock)
The second part has, again, quite a lot of expressions with rain, translated from Japanese. Yes, the dialogue concerning water and rain is mostly from translated expressions or words concerning rain. Japanese have more than 50 words for rain….
The last part is inspired by Heiji Monogatari, an epic which discusses some revolts in the imperial capital in Japan towards the end of the Heian period.
The dialogues during that era, as well as the name of the general are written for authenticity in kanji, phonetically. This is how they wrote at first. One kanji, one sound. Of course the same sound could be written in multiple kanji so trying to read something was a lot of fun….
The general says something along the lines of `Is there a rat hiding there, I wonder`, then he says `rather than a rat, looks like it's a rabbit (usagi).` - sounds so much better in Japanese….
The characters for his name are also significant and tell quite a lot about him, but I'll leave that for another time.