DISCLAIMER: We both know I don't own Soujiro, ShiShiO, Kenshin, or any of the other characters that are making Watsuki Nobuhiro rich. If I did, I would not have to worry about where all the money to pay for my Christmas shopping will come from. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If not ... chikushou, aku baka!
That reminds me ... my Japanese is next to nonexistent. Don't fault me for it. At least I'm trying.
Happy reading!
SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: To Kenshin TV ep 61, "Remaining Ju Pon Gattana, Choice of Life."
* * * * *
CHAPTER 2:
THE ROAD TO ICHIBOU
Soujiro actually enjoyed his first several hours as a merchant's guard. He sat smiling on the back of the wagon as the horses plodded northward, watching as the ground slowly and constantly receded into the distance. Sitting on the back of the wagon meant he didn't need to look at Ichibou drawing ever closer; the scenery in the valley behind them was much more appealing to the eye.
Karachi and Sasaki didn't talk much, but that was perfectly fine with Soujiro. He didn't feel like talking. For one of the few times in his life, he felt like thinking. He had a lot to think about.
Eventually, however, his concentration was interrupted. The sun was well past its zenith, and a light breeze was beginning to swirl around them from higher up in the mountains, but the noise was no barrier to Soujiro's awareness. His hand was on the hilt of his sword several moments before the wagon lurched to a stop. A look of concentration entered his eyes. He didn't feel the sensation he usually felt when there was trouble--but then again, that sense of his was almost always dormant, because there really hadn't been more than a handful of people on this planet that could give him trouble. Lightly, he leapt down off the back of the wagon as it came to a full stop, and quickly jumped into a nearby ditch. The landscape here was rocky and tangled with undergrowth, meaning that there was more than plenty of places to hide. Most fighters did not share his views on stealth, but he never generally asked for their opinions.
Soujiro crouched low so that he was below the level of the roadway, and let his awareness spread out until he zeroed in on what was happening in front of the wagon. Risking a momentary glance over the lip of the ditch, he saw his employer and his guard surrounded by what appeared to be half a dozen men, two actually in the road and four more on elevated positions to either side. All of them carried familiar spears, such as ShiShiO-san's base infantry had carried. Soujiro guessed that there was a glut of such weapons in the area now; then again, these people might even have been ex-soldiers under ShiShiO.
"That's right, no cargo gets through to Ichibou without our approval," the leader was saying. "We're the perimeter security squad."
"Perimeter security squad?" Karachi rebutted, though he was careful not to put too much heat into his voice. "Under whose authority?"
"Master Senkaku-sama, Lord of Ichibou!" the other replied grandly. Soujiro's eyes widened. There was a name that he had not expected to hear in a while. Hearing someone refer to him as "Senkaku-sama," however, was a little amusing.
"Senkaku?" Karachi replied. "I've never even heard of that name before. And even if he does exist, I somewhat doubt that you're working for him."
"You don't believe in us, fine," the leader of the band stated flatly. "But believe in these." He made a menacing motion with his spear.
Soujiro had been flitting from cover to cover as all this was going on, from the moment Senkaku's name was mentioned, and by this time he was within striking distance of the two men on the east side of the path without having to use his Shuku-chi. He decided that it was not that much of a risk, and whoever these people were probably deserved it coming more than many of the people he had killed. He remembered that he wasn't supposed to kill anymore, but Battousai managed to hurt people all the time and still keep peace with himself.
He was almost six feet below the level of where the two highwaymen stood, but it was not a problem for him. His katanas made absolutely no noise as they slid free of their sheaths. With one fluid motion, he sprang free of the boulder he had been hiding behind, crossed the intervening few yards between there and the roadside boulder that the highwaymen stood upon, and leapt. As he leapt, he crossed and coiled his arms in front of his chest, katanas pointed at the sky. When he reached the level of the brigands' legs, he uncoiled all at once in a blinding blue blur. He took out both of them at once just below the back of their kneecaps, two with his new sword, two with his old. They both fell backwards with sudden cries of pain and crashed off the boulder.
Soujiro made sure that he crashed into the back boulder, and actually had to climb up to the summit. His legs were certainly powerful enough to propel him all the way to the top, but that was more than he was ready to give away yet. Even as he scrambled onto the smooth surface at the top, he sheathed his new sword as well. Once again, there was no sense in giving away too much too soon.
The men in the street were still recovering from their surprise as Soujiro stood up on the boulder and look down at them, and across at the other two men on the far side of the road.
"Conichiwa!" he called to them, a twinkle in his eyes. He quickly jumped down and put himself in between Karachi and these 'perimeter security' people, just in case one of them would recover enough to feel that the perimeter was more secure with a spear or a knife to Karachi's throat.
"Sumimasen, but I don't think it matters if you're here under Senkaku's authority or not," Soujiro said when he was in position. "I don't think he even has that much authority."
"Who the hell are you?" the leader demanded incredulously.
"Just a Rurouni," Soujiro said with a smile. He was amazed at how easily that word came to his lips, considering he had never called himself that before. "How about you?"
"What the hell does it matter to you, boy?!" the man demanded right back. "Kill this punk!"
Soujiro gave a wistful sigh as he tapped his right foot lightly on the ground. "Yare yare," (1) he murmured, and set his sword for the attack. "How does Himura-san do this?"
It was very tempting to use his Shuku-chi and just rap all of them across the backs of their heads with the hilt of his sword before they knew what hit them. On the other hand, he did not want to reveal so much when he had only just started to fade from the national radar--and he had no need of the Shuku-chi against highway bandits like these.
The first of the 'perimeter security' agents fell to a disarming trick that ShiShiO-san had always used on him in practice; Soujiro turned the point of the man's spear aside with the blade of his sword, then rammed the hilt into the man's throat. Trying to avoid killing forced him to be a little more creative.
The leader was next. Soujiro ducked under the man's swing with his spear--the man should have known better than to put all his weight behind a first attack. His momentum carried him off balance, and Soujiro came up again with a lightning slash of his sword, splitting the spear in the middle. As an added insult, he continued the circular slash and took the tip of the broken end with the point. To finish him off, Soujiro planted his foot in the man's now-unprotected stomach, and used that as a springboard for a hurricane kick to the man's jaw. Soujiro was a lot stronger than he looked, especially in his legs, and while not using the Shuku-chi, he was not exactly slow either. The leader fell and did not get up.
The third highwayman was already in the air, leaping for Soujiro from the elevation of the rock on the far side of the road. Soujiro calmly spun and took him out of the air with the longest piece of the leader's spear that remained. He smiled. That move was his own, not ShiShiO-san's; he had been using it almost every day to get birds out of the air. If he could hit birds, he could hit morons.
The last remaining thug had not tried to jump all the way to Soujiro straight from the rock, but had dropped down to the road first. Seeing what this smiling, innocuous little boy had just done to his five companions without taking so much as a scratch, however, he plainly regretted it. With an oath, he turned and leapt from the road, trying to leap the underbrush next to the boulder he had just jumped down from. He failed miserably, tripping over the crown of the scrub, and fell heavily on the other side. Soujiro heard him lurch into motion again, but decided not to go after him. He probably wouldn't be back. He turned and smiled innocently at Karachi and Sasaki, sheathing his katana as he did so.
"Thanks for all your help, Sasaki-san," he said warmly. "I appreciated it." The other guard could only glower in sullen silence.
The merchant was staring at him with a decidedly different look on his face than Soujiro had seen before. Soujiro guessed that he was revising his opinion of the blue-clad assassin, but he didn't really care that much. He calmly resumed his place on the back of the wagon, and moments later, it lurched into motion again.
Soujiro had even more to think about now, and he wanted some time to think before they arrived in Ichibou. They were less than an hour from the town.
How in the world had the Battousai beaten him? Fighting without trying to kill was hard! Soujiro had been fighting without rules, without limits, without conscience. Himura had sworn not to kill anything. Maybe it was easier with a sakaba, a sword not designed for killing, but that shouldn't really make that much of a difference. And yet, Himura was strong. Even constrained by his oath not to kill, he had still been stronger than Soujiro. Where did the man get his strength? Where had he found his answers? Who had helped him? Who had taught him? Skill like that was not untrained. What had happened to him in that ten years where he faded into the mists and vanished? What had he done, or what had been done to him? Would the same thing happen to Soujiro? Would the same answers work for him? Soujiro covered his face with his hands. Too many questions, too few answers. Yumi-san was right. He was ignorant.
"Are you all right?" a voice asked behind him.
Soujiro turned to see Karachi standing on the crates behind him, looking at him. He did not seem particularly concerned about the answer, but at least he was asking.
"Anou ... I think so," Soujiro said. "Just give me time. I'll be fine." The merchant nodded and returned to the front of the wagon.
*Just give me time* Soujiro thought wryly to himself. *How much time? Ten years is a long time.* He had said that he was thinking about wandering around for ten years before he found something to believe in, but it looked like that estimate might turn out to be a little small. There was no end in sight.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 3:
ICHIBOU
It was almost dark by the time the wagon arrived in Ichibou. They had actually made surprisingly good time, considering that they had to stop because of the trouble on the highway and the terrain was not very friendly to wagon wheels. Soujiro had thought that they wouldn't make it until well after nightfall, though only a small part of his mind was concerned with such thoughts at the moment. Most of Soujiro didn't even notice the change in the light. Darkness, light, they all ran together for him.
Soujiro returned to himself when the wagon came to the gate of the town, and the guards strode forward from the rickety gatehouse to meet them. He didn't bother trying to go into hiding this time; the ground in front of the gatehouse had been cleared, and the gatehouse itself was not the kind of thing stealth would get through--well, it might get him through, but not a wagon. He would have to play by the rules this time.
The guards at the gate seemed somewhat more professional than the nominal 'perimeter securtity' band, but not by much. Soujiro moved forward with Karachi to meet them, but the merchant motioned him back. Soujiro complied, puzzled. The merchant could not possibly be going to fight them all himself. There had to be almost a dozen of them, likely with more waiting inside the gate. The merchant exchanged a few words with the captain of the guards, and a small purse changed hands. Soujiro whistled to himself. He had witnessed murders beyond number--many committed by himself--but this was the first time he had been witness to a bribe. ShiShiO-san had always frowned on such things. It made him consider how naive in some areas he still was.
He took his now-familiar position on the back of the wagon again, and the wagon passed through the gate without incident. Soujiro saw that he had been right that more guards lay in waiting behind the gate, though there did not seem to be as many as he would have guessed. Apparently the majority of their force went out to meet any incoming arrivals, perhaps for intimidation, perhaps to make them believe that even more troops lay within the gatehouse. Soujiro shrugged. It probably wasn't going to matter. It was just the kind of thing he had been trained to notice. He had already subconsciously noted several different ways he could have gotten past the crude setup on his own, either through the gate or over the meager wall. Ichibou was not as well fortified as a town of its importance should be.
The strategic importance of the town was obvious even though the actual iron mine itself was out of sight of the south gate. The town rang with the sound of smithies and iron-wrights, and a foundry the size of a small palace dominated the southwest corner of the town. Noise and smoke seemed to emanate from every door.
The town was even dirtier than Soujiro had feared it would be. The streets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years, and it seemed there was a junkyard on every lot where a small park might once have stood. The people were no better; their clothes were shabby and threadbare, their faces unwashed, their hair untended, and their eyes downcast and dull. Many, including women and children, went barefoot. There was a general atmosphere of sorrow.
Soujiro took all this in stride. It was by far the most unkempt environment he had ever been in, but human misfortune did not trouble him. He didn't like seeing people like this--he liked to see strength, and he was definitely not seeing it here--but there wasn't anything he could do about it. So he let it all wash over him. ShiShiO-san would have gone as far as to say that the people deserved what they got, because they were weak. Soujiro no longer believed that, but he did not believe that it was his mission to defend them because they could not defend themselves.
A troubling thought came to him then. Wasn't that what Himura-san did, though? He protected the weak and helpless, and somehow he had found a way to make peace with his past by doing so. Soujiro desperately wanted to make that peace as well--if nothing else, so he would never have to endure another episode like Himura put him through at ShiShiO-san headquarters--but what could he defend these people against? The greatest warriors ever could still only fight what they could see. There didn't seem to be any army here. He had heard that the Yakuza held power in the area, but he couldn't pick them out of the crowd. Their leaders would be far better dressed and better fed, of course, but they probably wouldn't be out and about on the streets. He had heard that Senkaku was in the area, perhaps having fallen in with the local Yakuza as well. Soujiro would not put it past him. But neither Senkaku nor any of his cronies, if he had any here, were out and about openly oppressing these people. They simply acted as though there were someone with their foot on the backs of their necks anyway. How was he supposed to protect these people if he didn't know or couldn't see what he was supposed to protect them from?
Soujiro realized that there were soldiers and guards in the village. He occasionally saw groups of two or three of them lounging in the streets or in restaurants as the wagon rolled through town on the way to whichever inn Karachi had in mind. And yet, most of those soldiers looked like they enjoyed almost no training with either sword or spear. There weren't even all that many of them, and most of them were concentrated at the gatehouses. Soujiro guessed that many people could go an entire day without seeing more than one or two groups of them, and they had to outnumber the soldiers by almost twenty to one. With those kinds of odds against men that could probably barely handle their weapons anyway, the people shouldn't have been reduced to this state by military force.
The wagon reached the Iron Dragon Inn, the second best of three in town, without mishap. Karachi went to check in, while Soujiro and Sasaki helped secure the wagon within the stables in the rear. That was the real reason Karachi had chosen this place, not out of any desire to scrimp on the ritzier Golden Eyrie a short distance away. The stables here were more secure, and had no windows. For the first time, Soujiro wondered what it was that was in the crates he had been guarding for several hours now. When he asked Sasaki about it, however, his response was a sharp "Shut the hell up, it's none of our business as long as we get paid." Soujiro shook his head sadly, and his mouth tightened imperceptibly. He was not angry, he was never angry, but he knew ShiShiO-san would never have tolerated such shallow-minded incivility.
Excusing himself, he went to find the merchant, which did not take long. The merchant had already put down roots in the common room of the inn, and was enjoying a double-sized flask of sake with a hearty meal of scallops and rice pilaf. The room was not that crowded, as only half the tables were full, but it was noisy, as merchants from north and south discussed the prospects for their wares and destinations. The inn was run by a small extended family, and the two daughters, no older than Soujiro himself, were both busy working the tables, while their father ran a small bar in an alcove in the back of the room. The merchant gave a small guilty shrug when he saw Soujiro, even perhaps a bit annoyed, as the sight reminded him that he had promised the smiling lad food and lodging equal to his own, but Soujiro was not after food.
"Excuse me, but will you be needing me for the rest of the night?" Soujiro asked.
"Well, probably not for a few hours, anyway," the merchant replied quickly, relieved that Soujiro was not about to ask for scallops as well. "But I've heard that the streets aren't particularly safe here after midnight, and the inns aren't immune either, so I don't want you to be out too late. I'm paying you for protection, not sightseeing, remember." Nonetheless, even with the warning, it was plain that Karachi was not about to try keeping the boy here; sightseeing was cheaper than scallops.
"I'll be back well before midnight," Soujiro promised.
"And stay out of trouble," the merchant warned as Soujiro turned to the door.
Soujiro's mouth tightened a little at that, too, though he smiled right over the top of it as he always did. Trouble? When had he ever gotten into trouble?
* * * * *
(1) Oh well
COMING SOON: Chapters 4 & 5, "The Streets of Ichibou" and "The Yakuza." The more Soujiro looks, the more he understands the silent suffering of the people. The more he thinks on them, aside from making his head hurt, the more he understands his own silent suffering over the years spent with ShiShiO.
Senkaku is indeed back in town, and Soujiro discovers that he is not the only one who has changed since ShiShiO's defeat. However, Soujiro suspects there is something more dangerous in town than the ex-autocrat of Shingetsu.
Please leave your comments, and thank you for your praise of the prelude and chapter one! Sorry to keep you waiting with this. I hope you like it as much as the first part. Viva Soujiro!
That reminds me ... my Japanese is next to nonexistent. Don't fault me for it. At least I'm trying.
Happy reading!
SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: To Kenshin TV ep 61, "Remaining Ju Pon Gattana, Choice of Life."
* * * * *
CHAPTER 2:
THE ROAD TO ICHIBOU
Soujiro actually enjoyed his first several hours as a merchant's guard. He sat smiling on the back of the wagon as the horses plodded northward, watching as the ground slowly and constantly receded into the distance. Sitting on the back of the wagon meant he didn't need to look at Ichibou drawing ever closer; the scenery in the valley behind them was much more appealing to the eye.
Karachi and Sasaki didn't talk much, but that was perfectly fine with Soujiro. He didn't feel like talking. For one of the few times in his life, he felt like thinking. He had a lot to think about.
Eventually, however, his concentration was interrupted. The sun was well past its zenith, and a light breeze was beginning to swirl around them from higher up in the mountains, but the noise was no barrier to Soujiro's awareness. His hand was on the hilt of his sword several moments before the wagon lurched to a stop. A look of concentration entered his eyes. He didn't feel the sensation he usually felt when there was trouble--but then again, that sense of his was almost always dormant, because there really hadn't been more than a handful of people on this planet that could give him trouble. Lightly, he leapt down off the back of the wagon as it came to a full stop, and quickly jumped into a nearby ditch. The landscape here was rocky and tangled with undergrowth, meaning that there was more than plenty of places to hide. Most fighters did not share his views on stealth, but he never generally asked for their opinions.
Soujiro crouched low so that he was below the level of the roadway, and let his awareness spread out until he zeroed in on what was happening in front of the wagon. Risking a momentary glance over the lip of the ditch, he saw his employer and his guard surrounded by what appeared to be half a dozen men, two actually in the road and four more on elevated positions to either side. All of them carried familiar spears, such as ShiShiO-san's base infantry had carried. Soujiro guessed that there was a glut of such weapons in the area now; then again, these people might even have been ex-soldiers under ShiShiO.
"That's right, no cargo gets through to Ichibou without our approval," the leader was saying. "We're the perimeter security squad."
"Perimeter security squad?" Karachi rebutted, though he was careful not to put too much heat into his voice. "Under whose authority?"
"Master Senkaku-sama, Lord of Ichibou!" the other replied grandly. Soujiro's eyes widened. There was a name that he had not expected to hear in a while. Hearing someone refer to him as "Senkaku-sama," however, was a little amusing.
"Senkaku?" Karachi replied. "I've never even heard of that name before. And even if he does exist, I somewhat doubt that you're working for him."
"You don't believe in us, fine," the leader of the band stated flatly. "But believe in these." He made a menacing motion with his spear.
Soujiro had been flitting from cover to cover as all this was going on, from the moment Senkaku's name was mentioned, and by this time he was within striking distance of the two men on the east side of the path without having to use his Shuku-chi. He decided that it was not that much of a risk, and whoever these people were probably deserved it coming more than many of the people he had killed. He remembered that he wasn't supposed to kill anymore, but Battousai managed to hurt people all the time and still keep peace with himself.
He was almost six feet below the level of where the two highwaymen stood, but it was not a problem for him. His katanas made absolutely no noise as they slid free of their sheaths. With one fluid motion, he sprang free of the boulder he had been hiding behind, crossed the intervening few yards between there and the roadside boulder that the highwaymen stood upon, and leapt. As he leapt, he crossed and coiled his arms in front of his chest, katanas pointed at the sky. When he reached the level of the brigands' legs, he uncoiled all at once in a blinding blue blur. He took out both of them at once just below the back of their kneecaps, two with his new sword, two with his old. They both fell backwards with sudden cries of pain and crashed off the boulder.
Soujiro made sure that he crashed into the back boulder, and actually had to climb up to the summit. His legs were certainly powerful enough to propel him all the way to the top, but that was more than he was ready to give away yet. Even as he scrambled onto the smooth surface at the top, he sheathed his new sword as well. Once again, there was no sense in giving away too much too soon.
The men in the street were still recovering from their surprise as Soujiro stood up on the boulder and look down at them, and across at the other two men on the far side of the road.
"Conichiwa!" he called to them, a twinkle in his eyes. He quickly jumped down and put himself in between Karachi and these 'perimeter security' people, just in case one of them would recover enough to feel that the perimeter was more secure with a spear or a knife to Karachi's throat.
"Sumimasen, but I don't think it matters if you're here under Senkaku's authority or not," Soujiro said when he was in position. "I don't think he even has that much authority."
"Who the hell are you?" the leader demanded incredulously.
"Just a Rurouni," Soujiro said with a smile. He was amazed at how easily that word came to his lips, considering he had never called himself that before. "How about you?"
"What the hell does it matter to you, boy?!" the man demanded right back. "Kill this punk!"
Soujiro gave a wistful sigh as he tapped his right foot lightly on the ground. "Yare yare," (1) he murmured, and set his sword for the attack. "How does Himura-san do this?"
It was very tempting to use his Shuku-chi and just rap all of them across the backs of their heads with the hilt of his sword before they knew what hit them. On the other hand, he did not want to reveal so much when he had only just started to fade from the national radar--and he had no need of the Shuku-chi against highway bandits like these.
The first of the 'perimeter security' agents fell to a disarming trick that ShiShiO-san had always used on him in practice; Soujiro turned the point of the man's spear aside with the blade of his sword, then rammed the hilt into the man's throat. Trying to avoid killing forced him to be a little more creative.
The leader was next. Soujiro ducked under the man's swing with his spear--the man should have known better than to put all his weight behind a first attack. His momentum carried him off balance, and Soujiro came up again with a lightning slash of his sword, splitting the spear in the middle. As an added insult, he continued the circular slash and took the tip of the broken end with the point. To finish him off, Soujiro planted his foot in the man's now-unprotected stomach, and used that as a springboard for a hurricane kick to the man's jaw. Soujiro was a lot stronger than he looked, especially in his legs, and while not using the Shuku-chi, he was not exactly slow either. The leader fell and did not get up.
The third highwayman was already in the air, leaping for Soujiro from the elevation of the rock on the far side of the road. Soujiro calmly spun and took him out of the air with the longest piece of the leader's spear that remained. He smiled. That move was his own, not ShiShiO-san's; he had been using it almost every day to get birds out of the air. If he could hit birds, he could hit morons.
The last remaining thug had not tried to jump all the way to Soujiro straight from the rock, but had dropped down to the road first. Seeing what this smiling, innocuous little boy had just done to his five companions without taking so much as a scratch, however, he plainly regretted it. With an oath, he turned and leapt from the road, trying to leap the underbrush next to the boulder he had just jumped down from. He failed miserably, tripping over the crown of the scrub, and fell heavily on the other side. Soujiro heard him lurch into motion again, but decided not to go after him. He probably wouldn't be back. He turned and smiled innocently at Karachi and Sasaki, sheathing his katana as he did so.
"Thanks for all your help, Sasaki-san," he said warmly. "I appreciated it." The other guard could only glower in sullen silence.
The merchant was staring at him with a decidedly different look on his face than Soujiro had seen before. Soujiro guessed that he was revising his opinion of the blue-clad assassin, but he didn't really care that much. He calmly resumed his place on the back of the wagon, and moments later, it lurched into motion again.
Soujiro had even more to think about now, and he wanted some time to think before they arrived in Ichibou. They were less than an hour from the town.
How in the world had the Battousai beaten him? Fighting without trying to kill was hard! Soujiro had been fighting without rules, without limits, without conscience. Himura had sworn not to kill anything. Maybe it was easier with a sakaba, a sword not designed for killing, but that shouldn't really make that much of a difference. And yet, Himura was strong. Even constrained by his oath not to kill, he had still been stronger than Soujiro. Where did the man get his strength? Where had he found his answers? Who had helped him? Who had taught him? Skill like that was not untrained. What had happened to him in that ten years where he faded into the mists and vanished? What had he done, or what had been done to him? Would the same thing happen to Soujiro? Would the same answers work for him? Soujiro covered his face with his hands. Too many questions, too few answers. Yumi-san was right. He was ignorant.
"Are you all right?" a voice asked behind him.
Soujiro turned to see Karachi standing on the crates behind him, looking at him. He did not seem particularly concerned about the answer, but at least he was asking.
"Anou ... I think so," Soujiro said. "Just give me time. I'll be fine." The merchant nodded and returned to the front of the wagon.
*Just give me time* Soujiro thought wryly to himself. *How much time? Ten years is a long time.* He had said that he was thinking about wandering around for ten years before he found something to believe in, but it looked like that estimate might turn out to be a little small. There was no end in sight.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 3:
ICHIBOU
It was almost dark by the time the wagon arrived in Ichibou. They had actually made surprisingly good time, considering that they had to stop because of the trouble on the highway and the terrain was not very friendly to wagon wheels. Soujiro had thought that they wouldn't make it until well after nightfall, though only a small part of his mind was concerned with such thoughts at the moment. Most of Soujiro didn't even notice the change in the light. Darkness, light, they all ran together for him.
Soujiro returned to himself when the wagon came to the gate of the town, and the guards strode forward from the rickety gatehouse to meet them. He didn't bother trying to go into hiding this time; the ground in front of the gatehouse had been cleared, and the gatehouse itself was not the kind of thing stealth would get through--well, it might get him through, but not a wagon. He would have to play by the rules this time.
The guards at the gate seemed somewhat more professional than the nominal 'perimeter securtity' band, but not by much. Soujiro moved forward with Karachi to meet them, but the merchant motioned him back. Soujiro complied, puzzled. The merchant could not possibly be going to fight them all himself. There had to be almost a dozen of them, likely with more waiting inside the gate. The merchant exchanged a few words with the captain of the guards, and a small purse changed hands. Soujiro whistled to himself. He had witnessed murders beyond number--many committed by himself--but this was the first time he had been witness to a bribe. ShiShiO-san had always frowned on such things. It made him consider how naive in some areas he still was.
He took his now-familiar position on the back of the wagon again, and the wagon passed through the gate without incident. Soujiro saw that he had been right that more guards lay in waiting behind the gate, though there did not seem to be as many as he would have guessed. Apparently the majority of their force went out to meet any incoming arrivals, perhaps for intimidation, perhaps to make them believe that even more troops lay within the gatehouse. Soujiro shrugged. It probably wasn't going to matter. It was just the kind of thing he had been trained to notice. He had already subconsciously noted several different ways he could have gotten past the crude setup on his own, either through the gate or over the meager wall. Ichibou was not as well fortified as a town of its importance should be.
The strategic importance of the town was obvious even though the actual iron mine itself was out of sight of the south gate. The town rang with the sound of smithies and iron-wrights, and a foundry the size of a small palace dominated the southwest corner of the town. Noise and smoke seemed to emanate from every door.
The town was even dirtier than Soujiro had feared it would be. The streets looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years, and it seemed there was a junkyard on every lot where a small park might once have stood. The people were no better; their clothes were shabby and threadbare, their faces unwashed, their hair untended, and their eyes downcast and dull. Many, including women and children, went barefoot. There was a general atmosphere of sorrow.
Soujiro took all this in stride. It was by far the most unkempt environment he had ever been in, but human misfortune did not trouble him. He didn't like seeing people like this--he liked to see strength, and he was definitely not seeing it here--but there wasn't anything he could do about it. So he let it all wash over him. ShiShiO-san would have gone as far as to say that the people deserved what they got, because they were weak. Soujiro no longer believed that, but he did not believe that it was his mission to defend them because they could not defend themselves.
A troubling thought came to him then. Wasn't that what Himura-san did, though? He protected the weak and helpless, and somehow he had found a way to make peace with his past by doing so. Soujiro desperately wanted to make that peace as well--if nothing else, so he would never have to endure another episode like Himura put him through at ShiShiO-san headquarters--but what could he defend these people against? The greatest warriors ever could still only fight what they could see. There didn't seem to be any army here. He had heard that the Yakuza held power in the area, but he couldn't pick them out of the crowd. Their leaders would be far better dressed and better fed, of course, but they probably wouldn't be out and about on the streets. He had heard that Senkaku was in the area, perhaps having fallen in with the local Yakuza as well. Soujiro would not put it past him. But neither Senkaku nor any of his cronies, if he had any here, were out and about openly oppressing these people. They simply acted as though there were someone with their foot on the backs of their necks anyway. How was he supposed to protect these people if he didn't know or couldn't see what he was supposed to protect them from?
Soujiro realized that there were soldiers and guards in the village. He occasionally saw groups of two or three of them lounging in the streets or in restaurants as the wagon rolled through town on the way to whichever inn Karachi had in mind. And yet, most of those soldiers looked like they enjoyed almost no training with either sword or spear. There weren't even all that many of them, and most of them were concentrated at the gatehouses. Soujiro guessed that many people could go an entire day without seeing more than one or two groups of them, and they had to outnumber the soldiers by almost twenty to one. With those kinds of odds against men that could probably barely handle their weapons anyway, the people shouldn't have been reduced to this state by military force.
The wagon reached the Iron Dragon Inn, the second best of three in town, without mishap. Karachi went to check in, while Soujiro and Sasaki helped secure the wagon within the stables in the rear. That was the real reason Karachi had chosen this place, not out of any desire to scrimp on the ritzier Golden Eyrie a short distance away. The stables here were more secure, and had no windows. For the first time, Soujiro wondered what it was that was in the crates he had been guarding for several hours now. When he asked Sasaki about it, however, his response was a sharp "Shut the hell up, it's none of our business as long as we get paid." Soujiro shook his head sadly, and his mouth tightened imperceptibly. He was not angry, he was never angry, but he knew ShiShiO-san would never have tolerated such shallow-minded incivility.
Excusing himself, he went to find the merchant, which did not take long. The merchant had already put down roots in the common room of the inn, and was enjoying a double-sized flask of sake with a hearty meal of scallops and rice pilaf. The room was not that crowded, as only half the tables were full, but it was noisy, as merchants from north and south discussed the prospects for their wares and destinations. The inn was run by a small extended family, and the two daughters, no older than Soujiro himself, were both busy working the tables, while their father ran a small bar in an alcove in the back of the room. The merchant gave a small guilty shrug when he saw Soujiro, even perhaps a bit annoyed, as the sight reminded him that he had promised the smiling lad food and lodging equal to his own, but Soujiro was not after food.
"Excuse me, but will you be needing me for the rest of the night?" Soujiro asked.
"Well, probably not for a few hours, anyway," the merchant replied quickly, relieved that Soujiro was not about to ask for scallops as well. "But I've heard that the streets aren't particularly safe here after midnight, and the inns aren't immune either, so I don't want you to be out too late. I'm paying you for protection, not sightseeing, remember." Nonetheless, even with the warning, it was plain that Karachi was not about to try keeping the boy here; sightseeing was cheaper than scallops.
"I'll be back well before midnight," Soujiro promised.
"And stay out of trouble," the merchant warned as Soujiro turned to the door.
Soujiro's mouth tightened a little at that, too, though he smiled right over the top of it as he always did. Trouble? When had he ever gotten into trouble?
* * * * *
(1) Oh well
COMING SOON: Chapters 4 & 5, "The Streets of Ichibou" and "The Yakuza." The more Soujiro looks, the more he understands the silent suffering of the people. The more he thinks on them, aside from making his head hurt, the more he understands his own silent suffering over the years spent with ShiShiO.
Senkaku is indeed back in town, and Soujiro discovers that he is not the only one who has changed since ShiShiO's defeat. However, Soujiro suspects there is something more dangerous in town than the ex-autocrat of Shingetsu.
Please leave your comments, and thank you for your praise of the prelude and chapter one! Sorry to keep you waiting with this. I hope you like it as much as the first part. Viva Soujiro!