Chapter 4: The Face of a Murderer

The sun dawned bright and early the next day, and with it, the palace servants. The newly christened Bankotsu awoke gradually as a ray of sunshine streaked across the room through the only window. Bankotsu blinked several times and wondered why he felt so sore. Then he remembered his bruises. Then with another nasty shock, he remembered the events that had happened yesterday in sickening detail. How Kanaye had started teasing him about his parents, or his lack of them. How he, Bankotsu, had punched him and how he had run away from Kanaye and met Jakotsu and how they had successfully pulled a prank on Kanaye and his friends, a prank that had resulted in the death of a little boy, and of the strange sensation of power he felt every time he thought it. He shook his head and looked around the room as if he were held prisoner. He looked out of the window and saw that the top of the sun's orb was appearing in its frame and he wondered where Kameko was. She's usually here by now, he thought curiously. Shrugging away this thought he got dressed and headed outside.

He went to the women's of the building and straight to Kameko's room, which she shared with other women and found that she had already cleaned up her bed things and was not there. Getting worried about Kameko's absence, he searched about the house for her until he reached the dining area where he saw Kameko sitting alone by the smoldering remains of the fire in its grate. Bankotsu raised his arm in greeting and was about to call out to her when, of her own accord, she turned her head and stared right at Bankotsu. But to his immense surprise, she neither greeted him in her usual manner or even bother to make a move toward him. Instead, she gave him an almost terrified look and scrambled out of her seat toward the door behind her.

Utterly baffled at he reaction toward him, Bankotsu made to follow her when a girl about his age coming toward him. He had seen her around but never talked to her before and was therefore shocked to find that she stopped right in front of him, blocking his way, her face alight with a smile.

Getting angry, Bankotsu was about to tell her to move when she muttered, "Hello . . . um . . . the Lord has said to give this to you."

She reached out the neatly folded letter to Bankotsu, who took it automatically and stared at it. On the back, the name 'Kiyoshi' was written in black paint and for some reason, he felt a little prick of anger. He looked up from the letter and was surprised and a little incensed to see that the girl was still standing in front of him and staring at him avidly.

"Is there something else he wants?" Bankotsu asked, as politely as he could through gritted teeth.

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to s-stare. It's just I've heard of you."

"Pardon me?" Bankotsu asked mildly.

The girl nodded and was about to say something else when another girl said in a giggly voice, "Hisa, c'mon!"

"Alright I'm coming. My name's Hisa, by the way." She said, blushing a deep crimson.

Feeling his patience dimming faster than ever, Bankotsu said gruffly, "Bankotsu."

"Oh? I thought it was-"

"They were wrong." Bankotsu interrupted and thinking that Hisa wouldn't be leaving of her own accord even if her friends had her tied to five hundred horses, he said, "I'm going to go to my training now, so excuse me."

"Oh. N-no problem."

As Bankotsu left, he could feel not only Hisa's eyes, but everyone else's eyes on him. When he got under the light of the early morning sun, he felt relieved and free and immediately began reading the Lord's letter:

Kiyoshi, I know that you are not on the best of terms with the advisor's son but I must ask you for your assistance in this matter. There has been a death of a boy your age; one of the advisor's son's friends, Yasashiku. I am sure that you know of the details for the details of the story have spread quickly within the town. In order for justice to be served, we need you to help identify some people who may have done it. I have it from your elder, Kameko Shinta, that you were about the town when this incident occurred. I implore you to come down.

Fujita Shigekazu

Bankotsu looked up from the letter with a frown. Could this be why Kameko had run away from him this morning? Was it because she thought that he was the one that had killed the boy? Was he merely overanalyzing things? Wasting no time in following the pleas of the Lord of the City, he started off at a quick pace toward the mansion that the lord's family lived.

Bankotsu could only remember being in the Master's house once before, and that was a couple of months before, when the Lord had asked him if he would like to study and learn how to fight properly under one of the Palace trainers. Upon his entry, the house seemed different. Almost gloomy. It was an elegant room, usually bustling with servants tidying up, but today, like the other day he was here, it was empty save for the Lord who sat regally on a lifted seat at the other end of the hall and the advisor who, compared to the Lord, looked miserly and old. Bankotsu scanned the rest of the room and found, to his immense surprise, Aiko, who was comforting a sobbing Kanaye in of the sides of the rooms. Bankotsu felt a surge of pleasure at finding Kanaye so distressed but it was immediately followed by a pang of guilt at feeling the former.

He reached the throne just short of where Lord Fujita and his advisor who Bankotsu knew as Hiroshi Sanosuke. They were deep in discussion of things that were of undoubted importance. Bankotsu gave a deep bow as was custom and Lord Fujita took notice and said, "Ah, Kiyoshi! I see you have gotten my message. Alas, you are early. I did not expect you here so soon. I was under the impression that you had more pressing matters."

Pressing matters? Did he know about Kameko's lack of greeting toward him? Or worse: did he know about Jakotsu? Feeling slightly sick, he kept his mouth closed for fear of creating a mess.

To Bankotsu's relief, Lord Fujita did not press the matter and said, "Please, take a seat. The officers will be here shortly with the possible suspects."

Gratefully, Bankotsu took the offer and sat on the far corner of the room closest to the door and took a seat on the cushion there. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply and laid his head on the wall to rest. Suddenly the doors burst open and in came ten soldiers, five of which were busy restraining people, all of whom, Bankotsu realized, were from the village. Their faces were all contorted in panic and confusion and they were all dressed as if they were hastily taken away from their homes. None of them really looked like murderers and if Bankotsu were to pass them by, he would not take a second glance at them. He scanned the small group to see if he saw anyone he knew; namely Jakotsu although he did recognize the lady who was behind Kanaye and had pushed Yasashiku over. He scanned a bit further and his heart sank to see Jakotsu standing amidst the group, though he was very subdued. But there was something different with the way he wore his yukata . . .

Bankotsu did not bother with these petty details and quickly tried to gain eye contact with Jakotsu. Fortunately at that moment, Jakotsu looked up and immediately caught sight of Bankotsu. Bankotsu widened his eyes in warning and Jakotsu gave the tiniest nod. Lord Fujita stood up then and said, "You all have been brought here because you are tied to the death of Yasashiku Tokiko, either directly or indirectly. No harm will come to you if you do not resist the soldiers who are presently, er, watching over you."

Then he beckoned to Kanaye and Bankotsu who followed his orders and walked up to where he stood. Whispering to the boys, Lord Fujita said, "Now, can both of you see who you think maybe have caused the death of Yasashiku?"

Kanaye gave Bankotsu a deep look that seemed to accuse Bankotsu who would have liked nothing better than to give him a hard punch. But instead Kanaye looked over to the group of people and pointed to the lady who had gotten her share of the garbage, an unfamiliar man and, to Bankotsu's great surprise, Jakotsu. "Those people," He said simply.

Bankotsu felt a deep flare of hatred at Kanaye. He was sure he had picked Jakotsu for no reason but to pick him. At this point, Lord Fujita turned to Bankotsu said, "And how about you, Kiyoshi? Who do you think did it?"

Bankotsu turned covertly to the 'suspects' and jabbed his finger at the same lady Kanaye had pointed to. "Her." He grunted, for fear of saying something that would get him into trouble.

Lord Fujita looked up at the crowd and said in a weary voice, "Very well then. You may take them back to the house."

At once the soldiers all forced their captives toward the door with rather more force than was necessary. Once they had left, Lord Fujita sighed and sat back on his throne and said, "Well, now that that has been taken care of, you both may go to your studies. I'm sure your sensei will be quite pleased at how fast that had taken."

"So, what will happen to the accused people?" Bankotsu blurted out.

"You needn't worry about that." Lord Fujita said with a smile, and he quickly ushered Bankotsu and Kanaye out.

As usual, Sensei was standing outside in their training area under the sun but he looked much more grave. It surprised Bankotsu very much that even though there was a death in the city that they still had to train. Especially since he and Kanaye were both involved in the death. But it wasn't as if Bankotsu wanted to do anything else, which, he thought, was really sad considering how much he hated training. But he was glad, for once, to have to focus his mind on his task rather than having to constantly think of Kameko's anger, Jakotsu's predicament and the death of a boy who had long since tormented him since early childhood.

A/N: Much of this chapter was written while listening to Tajiya Sango, which is basically Sango's theme in the anime. It really does add to the mood of things. Perhaps this is why this story is so sad . . . anyway, I have no clue how the Japanese convicted people of crime in the feudal era, and I figure that the feudal era meant that Japan wasn't unified at the time which means there was no set judicial law. So if I'm wrong bear w/ me please. I am so clueless about these things.