BROKEN, part four: Ronin
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Had Geki tried to draw Mekkimaru again? No, that was somewhen else. With a guttural growl, though the inferno raged in her mind and vision, Taki forced Mekkimaru into its binding sheath far away. Immediately, the flames subsided and she saw Geki fall backward to the ground, holding his re-injured stump where the sword-arm had been just a moment earlier. Taki saw the now ruined sword clattering some meters away. The weapon he'd had in his good hand was nowhere to be seen.
Taki let go of the sheathed Mekkimaru, breathing heavily at the nearness of the duel's end. With all her willpower, she'd been able to bend her wrist so that instead of slicing Geki's body wide open, Mekkimaru had instead only caught and destroyed the housing that secured his prosthetic sword-arm just below his elbow.
Now she saw Geki sitting and staring mutely at his ruined arm, which was not as badly wounded as she had initially feared. Geki looked up at Taki with sudden fear as she approached to make a closer inspection. But the fear quickly gave way to a calm defiance.
"Now what, witch-woman?" he said. "Taking my arm once wasn't enough for you?"
"Do you not, even now, sense the evil power of this blade?" Taki said, her breath still rasping. "It took all my power to not kill you."
"Why bother to spare me?"
Taki paused before answering, reaching out with her senses. There was no threat she could perceive. She smiled slightly, bittersweetly. "You are not nuke-nin, Geki-kun. I would not want to have my friend's blood on my head."
Geki's face softened, as if considering her words, then hardened in sudden alarm. "I cannot sense the others," he said. "Why...?"
She turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Geki said as she strode for the temple's exit. "What do you intend to do with the blade?"
Taki did not answer.
Outside the temple, Taki was stunned to see half a dozen Fu-Ma ninja lying dead or unconscious. Geki's squad, she supposed. She sensed that their assailant was still nearby. She looked to the west. Yes, there was a fresh trail. She began to hurry in pursuit, then slowed almost immediately when she saw that her quarry was barely 70 meters ahead. The man had stopped in his tracks and seemed to be waiting.
Could he be a survivor? she thought. Or is this another trap? She recalled the sheer exhaustion of her just-won duel and doubted if she could handle a third one so soon. Nevertheless, she continued on.
As she drew nearer the man resembled some common ronin rather than any ninja. Then he turned to face her completely, and she stopped, struck by sudden recognition which was mirrored in his face as well. Immediately she recalled a brief duel from a few years back, just prior to her earlier journey west. She had been in search of a lead to the cursed blade she would later know as the Soul Edge, and had infiltrated some thuggish daimyo's castle. There she'd met his hired guard, led by a particularly strong swordsman who'd driven her off with contemptuous ease.
"You're that mercenary," she said in a low voice. Then, more loudly, she added, "Mitsurugi."
The long-haired, unshaven ronin smirked at the sound of his name. "Glad to hear you haven't forgotten it, kuni-chan." Taki saw that despite the fact that he held his sword lazily on his shoulder while absently scratching himself somewhere under his hakama, he nevertheless had left no possible opening. Truly, this one had lost none of his skill in the years.
But Taki, too, had grown in ability since their last meeting. And tired or not, she wanted answers. "Are you responsible for that, back there?"
"What, those ninja?" Mitsurugi sniffed. "I was going my own way when I heard a woman scream from this direction. Guess that was you, because all I found here were those goons. They didn't give me so much as a chance to introduce myself before trying to kill me. Typical ninja. No honor." Mitsurugi peered intently at Taki, who did not react to the slur.
"If they'd known who I was," he continued, "it might've gone easier for them. At least they'd have known when to quit." He allowed himself a faint grin before continuing. "Friends of yours?"
"Fellow clan members, yes," Taki said. "They were hunting me. I have been declared traitor."
"Nuke-nin," Mitsurugi said. Noting her surprise, he added, "Yes, I know a little something of the ninja society. It seems I may have helped you out of a real jam." Relaxing a bit, he sheathed his sword.
"Yes. You have my gratitude." Taki said. "What brings you to this province, Mitsurugi? I sense you are not simply out for a stroll."
"Not exactly." He turned and began to continue walking on. "I travel to the barbarian West."
A chill of foreknowledge ran through Taki's being.
"You seek the evil sword of the West," Taki said. Mitsurugi stopped but did not turn. "You must not pursue this path."
"I must have a weapon mightier than the rifle," he said flatly. "I do not know for certain whether this 'Sou-ru Edo-jo' is that weapon...." Mitsurugi glared back at Taki over his shoulder, a threat plain in the glint of his eye.
"But nothing will stop me from obtaining it!" The mercenary turned and continued to walk away from the exhausted Taki.
Taki was torn. She likely owed Mitsurugi her life. But she knew firsthand how terrible Soul Edge's power was over its victims. If a warrior of Mitsurugi's strength gained the cursed sword, it could mean untold disaster.
She had to stop him, and she might not get another chance!
Taki surreptitiously reached back for her Rekkimaru. She began a silent step approach to Mitsurugi's back. Once she reached within a couple of meters of him, she would unsheathe Rekkimaru and charge full power for a debilitating stab. She intended merely to wound him so he would lack the strength for his quest, but her exhaustion was affecting her usual control. A fatal mistake was possible. And yet, to save Mitsurugi's soul from enslavement, it was worth the risk. Only a few more steps to go.
Now, Taki thought. In an instant, smooth motion, she unsheathed Rekkimaru, held it at gut level, and lunged forward with all her might.
But Mitsurugi, sensing danger, reacted even faster. He pivoted on his left foot to sidestep her attack, blocking her blade with his saya while punching with his right fist directly on her lowermost rib. Taki felt it snap an instant before collapsing to her knees with pain and exhaustion.
"Dirty ninja," Mitsurugi growled, drawing his blade. "Honorless. Pay with your life!" Without hesitation, the mercenary brought his sword down with intent to cut Taki down from collarbone to hip.
But in that brief instant, her hand found Mekkimaru and unsheathed the blade in a flash of eldritch fire. Through the evil mind-flames, she felt the blade catch on something, then shear through with a explosion of sparks and shards.
The mind-flames subsided once again, and she felt her hand again on the re-sheathed Mekkimaru. Mitsurugi was staggering back, staring in amazement at his sword; it had been broken less than a handspan from the hilt.
"Korefugi," he breathed, invoking the sword's name. He looked back at Taki with alarm and a hint of fear, focusing on her hand upon Mekkimaru's hilt. Taki did not press the attack; her broken rib pained her left side greatly, especially after her Mekkimaru-driven counterattack. Breathing was difficult.
Seeing that Taki was in poor fighting condition but wary of her mysterious blade, Mitsurugi relaxed and did not continue the fight. "I see that you have acquired a mighty sword of your own," he said. "Afraid that a simple ronin is more than a match for you in a fair fight?" Mitsurugi began to stride past her, back toward the temple. Taki was sure that had she not been armed, he would have kicked her savagely.
"You don't want this kind of power," Taki gasped through the stabbing pain of her rib.
"I'll be the judge of that, ninja. In any case, you've stopped me for now. I can't very well go West with a broken katana wearing a lousy ninjatou. Guess I'll have to visit that smith again after all..."
"You samurai," Taki called back as Mitsurugi strode into the gathering dusk. "So arrogant. You lust for power without considering the cost!"
"I see that you find the power worth the cost," Mitsurugi said before disappearing completely from sight.
Taki knelt there, holding her wounded side for a long while. This night had been costly; she would have to go to ground to recover from her broken rib before leaving Nippon for the West. Assuming she could avoid Fu-Ma forces long enough to effectively heal, the delay would allow Soul Edge to grow that much stronger.
And then there was Mekkimaru, which now lay deceptively quiet in its scabbard. Although she felt that she was gaining incremental control of Mekkimaru with each touch of the blade, she could not be sure that it wasn't Mekkimaru gaining control of her.
[It cannot be helped,] Taki told herself before painfully rising and continuing on her journey West. But deep in her heart, Mitsurugi's final words echoed hauntingly.
[Is this power worth the cost?]
--Fin--
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Had Geki tried to draw Mekkimaru again? No, that was somewhen else. With a guttural growl, though the inferno raged in her mind and vision, Taki forced Mekkimaru into its binding sheath far away. Immediately, the flames subsided and she saw Geki fall backward to the ground, holding his re-injured stump where the sword-arm had been just a moment earlier. Taki saw the now ruined sword clattering some meters away. The weapon he'd had in his good hand was nowhere to be seen.
Taki let go of the sheathed Mekkimaru, breathing heavily at the nearness of the duel's end. With all her willpower, she'd been able to bend her wrist so that instead of slicing Geki's body wide open, Mekkimaru had instead only caught and destroyed the housing that secured his prosthetic sword-arm just below his elbow.
Now she saw Geki sitting and staring mutely at his ruined arm, which was not as badly wounded as she had initially feared. Geki looked up at Taki with sudden fear as she approached to make a closer inspection. But the fear quickly gave way to a calm defiance.
"Now what, witch-woman?" he said. "Taking my arm once wasn't enough for you?"
"Do you not, even now, sense the evil power of this blade?" Taki said, her breath still rasping. "It took all my power to not kill you."
"Why bother to spare me?"
Taki paused before answering, reaching out with her senses. There was no threat she could perceive. She smiled slightly, bittersweetly. "You are not nuke-nin, Geki-kun. I would not want to have my friend's blood on my head."
Geki's face softened, as if considering her words, then hardened in sudden alarm. "I cannot sense the others," he said. "Why...?"
She turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Geki said as she strode for the temple's exit. "What do you intend to do with the blade?"
Taki did not answer.
Outside the temple, Taki was stunned to see half a dozen Fu-Ma ninja lying dead or unconscious. Geki's squad, she supposed. She sensed that their assailant was still nearby. She looked to the west. Yes, there was a fresh trail. She began to hurry in pursuit, then slowed almost immediately when she saw that her quarry was barely 70 meters ahead. The man had stopped in his tracks and seemed to be waiting.
Could he be a survivor? she thought. Or is this another trap? She recalled the sheer exhaustion of her just-won duel and doubted if she could handle a third one so soon. Nevertheless, she continued on.
As she drew nearer the man resembled some common ronin rather than any ninja. Then he turned to face her completely, and she stopped, struck by sudden recognition which was mirrored in his face as well. Immediately she recalled a brief duel from a few years back, just prior to her earlier journey west. She had been in search of a lead to the cursed blade she would later know as the Soul Edge, and had infiltrated some thuggish daimyo's castle. There she'd met his hired guard, led by a particularly strong swordsman who'd driven her off with contemptuous ease.
"You're that mercenary," she said in a low voice. Then, more loudly, she added, "Mitsurugi."
The long-haired, unshaven ronin smirked at the sound of his name. "Glad to hear you haven't forgotten it, kuni-chan." Taki saw that despite the fact that he held his sword lazily on his shoulder while absently scratching himself somewhere under his hakama, he nevertheless had left no possible opening. Truly, this one had lost none of his skill in the years.
But Taki, too, had grown in ability since their last meeting. And tired or not, she wanted answers. "Are you responsible for that, back there?"
"What, those ninja?" Mitsurugi sniffed. "I was going my own way when I heard a woman scream from this direction. Guess that was you, because all I found here were those goons. They didn't give me so much as a chance to introduce myself before trying to kill me. Typical ninja. No honor." Mitsurugi peered intently at Taki, who did not react to the slur.
"If they'd known who I was," he continued, "it might've gone easier for them. At least they'd have known when to quit." He allowed himself a faint grin before continuing. "Friends of yours?"
"Fellow clan members, yes," Taki said. "They were hunting me. I have been declared traitor."
"Nuke-nin," Mitsurugi said. Noting her surprise, he added, "Yes, I know a little something of the ninja society. It seems I may have helped you out of a real jam." Relaxing a bit, he sheathed his sword.
"Yes. You have my gratitude." Taki said. "What brings you to this province, Mitsurugi? I sense you are not simply out for a stroll."
"Not exactly." He turned and began to continue walking on. "I travel to the barbarian West."
A chill of foreknowledge ran through Taki's being.
"You seek the evil sword of the West," Taki said. Mitsurugi stopped but did not turn. "You must not pursue this path."
"I must have a weapon mightier than the rifle," he said flatly. "I do not know for certain whether this 'Sou-ru Edo-jo' is that weapon...." Mitsurugi glared back at Taki over his shoulder, a threat plain in the glint of his eye.
"But nothing will stop me from obtaining it!" The mercenary turned and continued to walk away from the exhausted Taki.
Taki was torn. She likely owed Mitsurugi her life. But she knew firsthand how terrible Soul Edge's power was over its victims. If a warrior of Mitsurugi's strength gained the cursed sword, it could mean untold disaster.
She had to stop him, and she might not get another chance!
Taki surreptitiously reached back for her Rekkimaru. She began a silent step approach to Mitsurugi's back. Once she reached within a couple of meters of him, she would unsheathe Rekkimaru and charge full power for a debilitating stab. She intended merely to wound him so he would lack the strength for his quest, but her exhaustion was affecting her usual control. A fatal mistake was possible. And yet, to save Mitsurugi's soul from enslavement, it was worth the risk. Only a few more steps to go.
Now, Taki thought. In an instant, smooth motion, she unsheathed Rekkimaru, held it at gut level, and lunged forward with all her might.
But Mitsurugi, sensing danger, reacted even faster. He pivoted on his left foot to sidestep her attack, blocking her blade with his saya while punching with his right fist directly on her lowermost rib. Taki felt it snap an instant before collapsing to her knees with pain and exhaustion.
"Dirty ninja," Mitsurugi growled, drawing his blade. "Honorless. Pay with your life!" Without hesitation, the mercenary brought his sword down with intent to cut Taki down from collarbone to hip.
But in that brief instant, her hand found Mekkimaru and unsheathed the blade in a flash of eldritch fire. Through the evil mind-flames, she felt the blade catch on something, then shear through with a explosion of sparks and shards.
The mind-flames subsided once again, and she felt her hand again on the re-sheathed Mekkimaru. Mitsurugi was staggering back, staring in amazement at his sword; it had been broken less than a handspan from the hilt.
"Korefugi," he breathed, invoking the sword's name. He looked back at Taki with alarm and a hint of fear, focusing on her hand upon Mekkimaru's hilt. Taki did not press the attack; her broken rib pained her left side greatly, especially after her Mekkimaru-driven counterattack. Breathing was difficult.
Seeing that Taki was in poor fighting condition but wary of her mysterious blade, Mitsurugi relaxed and did not continue the fight. "I see that you have acquired a mighty sword of your own," he said. "Afraid that a simple ronin is more than a match for you in a fair fight?" Mitsurugi began to stride past her, back toward the temple. Taki was sure that had she not been armed, he would have kicked her savagely.
"You don't want this kind of power," Taki gasped through the stabbing pain of her rib.
"I'll be the judge of that, ninja. In any case, you've stopped me for now. I can't very well go West with a broken katana wearing a lousy ninjatou. Guess I'll have to visit that smith again after all..."
"You samurai," Taki called back as Mitsurugi strode into the gathering dusk. "So arrogant. You lust for power without considering the cost!"
"I see that you find the power worth the cost," Mitsurugi said before disappearing completely from sight.
Taki knelt there, holding her wounded side for a long while. This night had been costly; she would have to go to ground to recover from her broken rib before leaving Nippon for the West. Assuming she could avoid Fu-Ma forces long enough to effectively heal, the delay would allow Soul Edge to grow that much stronger.
And then there was Mekkimaru, which now lay deceptively quiet in its scabbard. Although she felt that she was gaining incremental control of Mekkimaru with each touch of the blade, she could not be sure that it wasn't Mekkimaru gaining control of her.
[It cannot be helped,] Taki told herself before painfully rising and continuing on her journey West. But deep in her heart, Mitsurugi's final words echoed hauntingly.
[Is this power worth the cost?]
--Fin--