Experience

Part III

The Motto and the Sword

Three days passed as they normally did and no suspicion had arisen about Shishio's presence. Sojiro returned to the backbreaking labor that was forced upon him and he carried another barrel of rice across the property. Yanosuke was smoking his pipe and talking with Tengu in the backyard as they watched Sojiro suffer.

"Hey did you here the news?" asked Yanosuke.

"You mean about that anti-Meiji rebel in our area, right? Yeah, I head of him" answered Tengu. "A cop came by a few minutes ago to ask Pop about it."

"To think, no clues showed up after they searched the entire mountain."

Sojiro overheard them and remembered the gruesome job Shishio told him to do three nights before: bury all of the police officer's corpses on the mountain so not to arise suspicion. Their faces still twisted in agony.

"Hey, Sojiro!" Sojiro looked up to see Tengu staring angrily at him.

"Yes?" he replied full of fear they would make him give up information through horrible means as they usually did.

"You've been sleeping outside the last three nights, haven't you?" Tengu continued. "You haven't seen or heard anything funny, have you?" He picked Sojiro up by the collar and looked him straight in the eye. "If you see anything, I better be the first to know. You better not lie to me if you know what's good for you." He threw Sojiro to the ground and unsheathed his sword. "This is the perfect chance to show how good I am. I'm gonna kill that rebel! Dead!" Tengu slashed his sword straight through the barrel of rice, leaving Sojiro with a look of shock and terror on his face.

"Shouldn't have done that, big bro," said Yanosuke grinning. "You should really do something about that bad habit of swinging swords around." He looked over to Sojiro, still in shock, and chuckled. "Uh-oh. Looks like Sojiro broke another barrel of rice! What a klutz!" Sojiro gasped and looked up, only to see the house door slide open and Nomisuke step out.

"What was that?!" he screamed angrily. "Sojiro! Another one?" he stepped out of the house and walked towards Sojiro. "Do you know how many barrels of rice this makes?! I've had it up to here! Come here, boy!"

Sojiro had nowhere to run. Nomisuke came up to him and kicked him in the stomach, forcing Sojiro to the ground. Sojiro was powerless as his step-father continued to kick him as his brothers watched. He was in agony and knew there was only one way out. Sojiro looked up at Nomisuke with a smile on his face. Nomisuke stopped, stunned, and then kicked him extra hard in the stomach and turned around.

"Get back to work, Sojiro. And clean up that rice!" he said going back into the house. Sojiro lay there, covered in blood, catching his breath.

"Well this is no fun anymore," Yanosuke said as he turned to leave too, his older brother following. Sojiro lay on the ground for another minute, then got up, cleaned the rice and went back to work.

That night, Sojiro brought Shishio's meal and bandages to the rice shed. Shishio welcomed him, and noticed his injuries.

"It's normal. I get blamed for things all the time and then get beaten for it. I guess I've grown accustomed to it now," Sojiro explained.

"I see," Shishio responded. "It seems that your family is pretty evil, themselves. So are you going to tell me why you keep smiling like that? Even when they beat you?"

"Huh?" Sojiro couldn't find the words at first. "Um, well, you're right. It's strange. But it wasn't always like this. When I first got here, when I got angry or upset and I did cry when they beat me. But the more I got angry or the more I cried they would just say I was being selfish and noisy and it upset them even more. And it got even worse. When I just put up with it and kept smiling, they'd get sick of it and stop. Even if it hurt or if I hated it as long as I kept smiling…I can't help it. Even though I'm their brother I'm not a member of this family so that's why it's my fault."

"They're wrong"

Sojiro was surprised by Shishio's response but listened to what he had to say.

"This has nothing to do with how you were born. If anything, it's because you are weak. My motto is 'In the end, only the fittest survive. If you're strong you live and if you're weak you die.' No matter how good you get at hiding behind a smile, you can't escape this one truth."

Sojiro was captivated by Shishio's words, even though he didn't want to accept it, Shishio was right and he was weak. Shishio's words repeated in his head.

'If you're strong you live. If you're weak you die.'

Shishio stood up and pulled out a sword. Sojiro gasped and looked up at him.

"I'm giving you this Wakizashi.1 It'll be my payment for staying here."

Sojiro looked up at the sword with terror, knowing of its capability, and wondering if Shishio's logic was correct and the sword would be necessary for life. Sojiro took the sword and for the first time in his life, he felt strong.

Part IV

The Tragedy of a Stormy Night

The night passed and Sojiro returned to working the next day. He hid the Wakizashi under the porch, still pondering over whether or not to use it. Shishio's words remained in his head, "If you're strong you live and if you're weak you die." While climbing the stairs that led up to the rice yard, Sojiro saw a dragonfly being eaten by many ants that had become stronger that it was. Sojiro couldn't stop seeing this everywhere and hearing Shishio's words in his head. Somehow he felt as if the words were true, that they were law. And yet, something still did not seem right.

Later that night, Yokoshima came to the room where the family (except of course for Sojiro) had been.

"Hey boys, do you know what happened to all of the bandages?"

"What?" Tengu replied, cleaning his sword. "Beats me. How should I know?"

"That's strange. Where could they have disappeared to?" she asked. "I'm sure that rice missing from the pot must be Sojiro filling his own belly. But why the bandages?"

"We do bang him around a lot," Yanosuke reasoned. "Maybe he took them for that purpose?"

"But then why would all of the extra bandages be gone?" Yokoshima asked again.

Suddenly, Tengu remembered something.

"Hey, Pop? About that rebel? Didn't the police say something like that he had burns all over his body?"

"Yeah but what does that have to do with…" he stopped and everyone in the room knew. "Damn that Sojiro to Hell."

Inside the rice shed, Makoto Shishio sat up against a rice barrel trying to sleep. Suddenly, he felt a twitching on his hands and all over his body.

"My burns are tingling. There will be a storm tonight."

Outside, dark clouds were coming in and the wind blew very violently. It was very cold and Sojiro sat outside of the rice shed trying to warm his raw and dirty hands. His feet were covered in dirt and dry blood from walking around barefoot all the time. He shuddered from the cold and blew into his hands to keep them warm. Still, despite being cold, the thoughts of using the sword filled his head.

"I'm sure…that if a sword were used to kill me, it would probably be very painful. After all, I know how much it hurts to get hit. So…I think I'll go return that sword. I'm just not a strong person like Mr. Shishio. I know I'm weak, but I prefer the way things are." Sojiro got up and walked over to the porch where the sword was hidden, only to be stopped by his family. They all had angry looks in their eyes and Tengu had his sword in hand, still in the sheath.

"Sojiro!" he cried, brandishing the sword. "How dare you try to make me look like a fool!" Tengu smacked Sojiro in the face with the sword, bringing him down and spraying blood from his nose. Sojiro fell in a state of total shock and lay on the ground groaning.

"Hey Sojiro!" screamed Nomisuke. "I can't believe you'd do something that goes against the will of the government! You little pig! You want to ruin my business or something!" He pulled out his own sheathed sword and began beating Sojiro with it. "You no good ingrate bastard!"

"Out with it! Where's the rebel?!" said Tengu, joining in.

Sojiro could hardly move, barely speak, as he was in so much agony. A pool of his blood was splattered around him as he tried to catch his breath. Tengu drew his sword slowly and pointed it towards Sojiro.

"You little pig! I've had it up to here with you! I'll kill you!"

Sojiro despite his agony looked up at them, total terror in his eyes. Kijo spoke up.

"Hold on. As much as I'd like to see it would it look bad for us?"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Yanosuke said in an obnoxious tone. "There's a dangerous criminal hiding around here. If something were to happen, surely we would be blamed at all. I don't see a problem as long as we tell the police our version of the story.

"That's very true," Kijo responded. "And since we'' give information to the police, we'll probably get around. This just keeps getting better."

"I won't let you destroy my business!" Nomisuke screamed.

"How could you do such a thing after we worked so hard to raise you, you ungrateful little brat!" Yokoshima yelled also.

"Go ahead and do him in brother!" Yanosuke said with a chuckled.

"You got it! One dead brat coming up!" he replied taking a step towards Sojiro.

All of these words kept replaying themselves in Sojiro's head, and despite the pain and natural instinct, Sojiro could not smile. Instead, he found himself in a state of total terror. And then those words came back to him: If you're strong you live and if you're weak you die. He screamed as a bolt of lighting came down in the distance and he started to run towards the rice shed.

"You can't get away from us, you little pig!" Tengu screamed as he chased after Sojiro.

"Someone help me!" Sojiro cried out as he tried to escape. "Anybody! Somebody! Anybody! Someone help me!"

"Damn, where'd he go?" Nomisuke grumbled as they had lost him. Yanosuke, however, had spotted a set of tracks leading under the porch.

Sojiro sat hunched up under the porch, clutching the Wakizashi and trying to catch his breath. He could feel his heart beating inside his chest.

"They're going to kill me!" he said quietly. "Mr. Shishio help me!"

"There you are!" a voice said calmly.

Sojiro looked up to see Yanosuke crawling towards him.

"I never would've expected you to hide here."

Sojiro backed away, still tightly clutching the sword.

"Say, where'd you get the expensive looking Wakizashi?" Yanosuke said crawling closer. "Was it in the rice shed?" Sojiro ran out of room. He was trapped. "Let's have a look at that sword." Yanosuke grabbed the sheath and pulled it off. Suddenly, Shishio's words returned to Sojiro once more, and he began to think them at the same time and at last he realized the full potential of the sword.

"In the end, only the fittest survive in this world. If you're strong you live. And if you're weak…"

A high pitched scream came from under the shed. The Seta family looked over.

"Guess that's the end of him," said Nomisuke.

"What a pathetic scream," Kijo added.

"What else would you expect from that little swine," Yokoshima gloated.

Suddenly, there was the sound of something soft hitting the ground. The family looked over expecting to see Sojiro's bloody body. A bolt of lighting came down as the two women screamed. The body was that of Yanosuke.

"Yanosuke!" Nomisuke said full of surprise and sadness. Then another sound came. The family turned around to see Sojiro emerge from under the porch, covered in blood and holding the sword.

"In the end, only the fittest survive in this world," he said solemnly as lighting came down again. "If you're strong you live…"

"You brat! We'll kill you!" Tengu and Nomisuke said as they charged at him.

"If you're weak…" Sojiro concluded with a crazed look on his face. As another bolt of lighting came down, he slew his step-father and step-brother just as easily as he had killed Yanosuke.

Inside the rice shed, Makoto Shishio heard their anguished cries and the cries of Yokoshima and Kijo as they died as well. He thought nothing of it and continued to eat a rice ball.

It began to rain. Shishio stepped outside to see Sojiro holding the sword surrounded by his family, totally soaked and water pouring down his face.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

Sojiro had made his decision to return the sword, but now that had changed forever. The sword is what saved him, and now he knew that Makoto Shishio was the one who was correct. It was at this moment that Sojiro Seta sealed all of his emotion away. Sojiro lifted his head to the falling rain and turned to Shishio with a smile on his face.

"No sir."

Shishio stared at Sojiro for a moment and then smiled himself.

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Sure." Sojiro said nodding.

Later that night, Sojiro Seta left with Makoto Shishio a different person.

"Say, Mr. Shishio? You think I can be strong, too? Like you are?"

"Indeed, Sojiro. You will be strong. Second only to me."

-End

1 Wakizashi: A sword smaller than a katana used when a katana is not available. Usually the two are worn together, known as daisho.