8 days until Christmas! I don't own Basara.
Chapter 13: The Dangers of Complacence
Too stunned by the appearance of my sword, I didn't put my usual filter in place, allowing the words to flow freely. "Oda put me on the battlefield for the first time when I was young. The first man I killed was scared to die. I didn't just see it in his eyes, the mist around him told me. So when my sword finally went in, the mist turned dark and began attacking me until I killed another and then another. When I tripped and fell into a puddle, the shadows vanished. Just cleared as thought they'd never been there."
"Had it happened before?" He asked in a gentle voice, not pushing for the information.
I nodded, too preoccupied with wiping the tears away, "When my grandmother died. She'd been ill a very long time and when I'd gotten up for water in the night she was already…" I took a shaky breath, looking to the skies for a second before continuing, "When I told Oda about the shadows, he told Gracia to give me the marks so I wouldn't see them or the mists anymore. But recently around dead people, they come back."
"I think I know why. Did she use jutsus while applying them?" When I nodded, Sasuke gave a small scowl "That type of jutsu is supposed to be used for a ninja's first kill. It numbs their empathic senses, so that when they do it again, they don't feel how their victim does. It's why ninjas are said to be emotionless killers."
I chose not to mention that the only other ninja I really knew was an emotionless killer. Even so, Sasuke carried on talking, "But some people are more empathic than others. Those mists you see are people's auras, Sayomi, telling you how the person feels."
"Like battle auras?" I gulped, giving my eyes another defiant wipe.
"Exactly. They appear when a person is so engrossed in the fight that their emotions run wild, enough for everybody to see."
Digesting the information, I asked my final question, my voice coming out in a shy whisper, "Can you take the marks away? I don't want to be scared any more."
Sasuke smiled, nodding kindly. "I'll see what I can do. Now come on, your foot's still cut and there's a Right Eye down there ready to get us home."
After dropping me off in the doctor's room, Sasuke left for his night patrol, promising to find the herbs he needed to remove every trace of my marks.
Before leaving though, he apparently reported in with Lord Takeda, because the giant man himself came by, nodding to the doctor as my foot was bound up. "Did you complete the challenge?" He asked, taking a seat by the door.
In answer I picked up the sword to my side, waving it a little. The room filled with the Tiger of Kai's laughter, the doctor shaking his head at his Lord's eccentricity. "You're clear to go, young lady. Come see me in the morning and I'll change the bandages if it needs it. In the meantime," Here he cut off, sending a very pointed look at Lord Takeda, "I recommend resting and keeping the foot elevated."
His meaning couldn't have been clearer, but all the same, Lord Takeda helped me to stand, making sure I wasn't likely to fall back down before moving away. The doctor frowned, but didn't do much more than shoo us out, intent on cleaning the cloth I'd managed to bleed over until he'd started cleaning the wound.
This just left me alone with Lord Takeda, which worked to my advantage. "I apologise for my harsh words at Nagashino. They had no pillars on which to stand."
"To you they did, which is why you spoke with true loyalty." Lord Takeda sighed, "It is a shame Oda didn't recognise that."
Nodding sadly, I remembered something else, and I turned, bowing low, "Thank you for allowing me to participate today. I learnt a lot."
"I'm glad to hear." Nodding again, I went to ask my leave, but was confronted by the Tiger's next observation, "You didn't try to get out of climbing the waterfall, or get the ninja core to do it for you."
Blinking in shock, I shook my head hard, "Of course not, the challenge was mine to complete." The smile on Lord Takeda's face grew larger, and I laughed quietly to myself, finally realising. "It was a test, wasn't it?"
"Yes, but what you take away from it is far more important then the test itself, you understand?"
"A little." I admitted, then nodded more forcefully, "Definitely."
Returning my nod, Lord Takeda let me leave, heading off to attend to his business. As I walked along the decking, right foot doing most of the heavy lifting, I sighed contentedly. The sun was just setting, giving everything a pretty, orange tint that not even the hottest fire could achieve.
Deciding to spend a little more time in the garden, I stopped outside my room, swinging my legs over the decking and leaning back on my hands. Part of me wondered if my attempt at seppuku had actually worked, and that this was just the afterlife, but I doubted it, if only because I hadn't been holding the fee for the ferryman at the time. But if this was limbo, I didn't mind staying.
My eyes lingered on my scabbard, a sudden melancholy feeling coming over me. A tainted blade, that's what I'd called it, why I'd refused to call it mine. As far as Oda or anyone else was concerned, the title could just refer to me just as adequately. Extending a hand towards it, I flicked the hilt upwards slightly, staring at the eye reflected in the blade.
One day Tadashi, it will be your duty to wield this sword and protect our family name. Retain this honour in all you do.
Eyes furrowing together, I let the hilt drop, relaxing at the slight click. Maybe when they were free to leave, these ghosts would finally leave me alone. Or at least stop patronising me so much.
"Now what's a pretty lady doing out here all by yourself?" The voice is near, and for a second, I believe they're addressing me, Daisuke pulling out his dagger in preparation for an attack. Following suit, I have no sooner begun looking round before another voice joins in, this one coarser, and further away,
"Looks like a rich one, eh Boss?"
"Got that right."
Flashing a worried look to each other, we leap upwards, finding the road just as Master Sarutobi does, his back resting against another's. The young woman the ronin had been hoping to ambush shrank into him, clutching her basket tightly. "You okay?" He asks her, pulling his shuriken free.
"Now that you're here I am." The woman titters, suddenly dropping into a scream when one of the ronin grows a pair and swings his sword for her neck.
Before we can even drop down to offer him assistance, Master Sarutobi throws the woman behind him, flinging his weapon at the same time.
Leaping from our hiding spots, we surround the woman as a guard, Noburo drawing first blood practically the second his feet touch the path. Not to be outdone by him, Daisuke and I dispatch as many as we possibly can, some non-lethally, and some without prejudice. By the time it's over, and Daisuke and I are unlooping a length of rope to deal with the conscious ones, Noburo has switched his charm on, and is kindly helping the woman back to her feet, constantly asking if she's okay and if she needs anything. But she has eyes only for Master Sarutobi, and resigned, Noburo slouches off to town to get a set of guards to deal with our captives.
Ignoring her gaze, Master Sarutobi passes his satchel to Daisuke, along with a list, "We're just one plant short, see if you can find a patch of honeysuckle and collect as much as you can."
"Sayomi will suffer a fever?" I ask, worry entering my tone. Although she admits to nothing, and has given no indication to trying anything like it again, I would rather she not survive a dark moment like that, only to succumb to a high temperature.
Spotting my expression, Master Sarutobi hurriedly shakes his head, "Hopefully not, but if she's had those marks as long as she says, then who knows what removing them could do?" Breaking into a smile, he indicates the weapons dropped by the ronin, "We should take these into town as well, just in case there's any more."
"Wait!" We both turn at the woman's yell, my eyebrow rising high. "Please, can you take me as far as the castle town? I'd feel safer in a group."
"Uh, sure." Master Sarutobi finally says. Giving him the merest hint of a shrug, I turn my attention back on the woman, eyes narrowing slightly as he issues more instructions to Daisuke. There's something strange about her, something I can't quite put my finger on until she turns to look at me, flashing a smile that she probably thinks is charming. Her eyes…I've never seen a brighter shade of green.
Even so, I keep my queries to myself, the whole way into town until outside the guard outpost, she turns, bowing low, "I am in your debt. I hope this covers part of it." Before either of us can stop her, she's leaning closer to Master Sarutobi, gently pecking him on the cheek and scurrying away with a bright face.
Watching her leave, I turn back to him, a frown on my face, "It appears you have an admirer, sir."
Kasumi Hayashi, aged 22
