"Otosan, I need to speak with you."
"…What is it, Kei?"
Distant murmuring into the man's ear. He seems surprise at first, but nods and murmur something back.
"That is all."
"Kei…"
"Yes?"
"Don't let this bother your relationship with him. Almost everyone of us has a look alike in Japan."
"…meaning…?"
"Promise me, Kei, that you will continue to live your life as you choose after I die. If possible, find a man that will bring you happiness and vice versa. Live the life you choose."
A sniff.
"I will, Otosan."
I bustled to and forth in the house for the whole afternoon. Masses of ronins had been transferred to our house in the early afternoon after the lack of rooms at Matsuya's inn. Father had gladly accepted the plan his superior made and promised that he would take care of it. Lately, according to Father, his superior had been immensely satisfied with the assignments Father had done. Kichisaburo contributed most of it, and therefore received, at his superior's request, 10 pieces of gold. The man had took the gold without as much as a thank you, and had disappeared for the whole day. I growled lowly when a drunken ronin yelled at his dinner to be served quickly. Though I was used to it when I sometimes visited the Matsuya inn as a servant girl, but really, this was my home!!
I went to the kitchen and blew at the fire underneath. A big bowl of soup and rice was cooking stimulately at the so call stove, and taking down one of the knives, began to cut the vegetables.
Why do I have to do this all by myself?? That was the question I asked myself repeatedly throughout the day. Well, Father is having a meeting with the some of the representive ronins and his superior here, so he could be excluded. I'm working here. That leaves him. And aren't bodyguards supposed to help their client too? So where the hell is Kichisaburo??
Suddenly, I heard a roar in the west side of the house, followed by a series of shouting and yelling which sounded like cheering. Oh no, not a fight.
The lid of the soup rattled and I darted towards it. I dipped a spoon in to taste and smacked my lips. Perfect. Meanwhile, the shouting and roaring was still ensuing. Storming out of the kitchen, I went to the west side of the house.
Where the hell is that guy!?
Kichisaburo was bored. He lied with his hands behind his head, a stalk of weed stucking out at the side of his mouth. A canopy of trees provided an amount of shade against the rising sun, the air cool with a touch of humidity.
He chewed at the end of the weed and came to a conclusion. Mountains were the worst place to be stuck in if you were a bloodthirsty killer. No mission to complete. No people to kill. No blood to be seen.
The pieces of gold he received now were packed into a small cloth, which made a weight on his chest where they were kept.
He did not fancy anything much after killing, but there was something he had not done in a long time.
Straightening up, he spit the weed out and one hand took out the white fan from his waistband. Gracefully opening it, he assumed to relaxed stance the dance he did now required. The hand with the white fan rose up, with the other hand beside it, signaling the first step. The rest of the moves surfaced instinctively: quick thrusting moves, wave-like motion with the fan, a salute to the sky and earth…
Even in a trance-like state, he noticed them immediately.
"Oy, oy! Look what we've got here!!" a gruff voice yelled not far behind Kichisaburo.
The mood broken, Kichisaburo snapped out of the trance-like state and straightened, his back to the four drunk ronins. His fan was still in his grip, displaying the pure whiteness inside out.
"Dare?" he coldly asks, mouth already set in a thin line that curved down and eyes slanted. He hated interruptions during his practice.
"Hoho, it's a pretty girl there! Who would thought to find one here in this wild mountain??" Another voice shouted, words slightly slurred.
"We're in luck! Hey, pretty girl, want to come and play with us??" The first voice again, and there was a pause when the sound of liquid being drought. "Hey, come on! Don't be such a cold bitch!" Kichisaburo could hear the excess sake spiting out from the man's mouth. In their drunken state, they had mistaken him for a female.
The ronins continue drinking from their sake bottles and sprouting foul words.
"…cold? You're just in time for it." Smirking, he turned half-way around. The open fan dropped to the ground.
"I just love the warm blood turning cold." Smirking wider and revealing his barred teeth, he charged.
He took out the first one easily; the sake bottle fell and broke into pieces, liquid pooling on the ground. The second one fell while his hand was moving to the sword at his waist. The third one had gotten his sword out, but was so drunk and clumsy it couldn't even kill an ant. He dug his sword into the man's stomach, savoring the familiar soft resistance of the flesh. Tremors ran through the dying man's body and he yanked the sword out. The man doubled over and fell, no longer moving.
"Saa, there's only one left." The remaining ronin took one look at his dead fellows and at Kichisaburo before running back the way he came, shrieking all the while. He "Hmph" and brought his sword that had rivulets of blood dripping close to his lips. He licked the blood on the cold steel off.
"Hmm, it's not quite cold yet," he licked his lips. He looked around at the bodies sprawled in a sort of pattern on the forest ground and smiled. He bended down to wipe his sword clean on one of the dead's clothes.
It was not a fight. I reached the scene only to find the men crowding at the back door, around one in particular, who was branishing his sword and making muscles motions. Country samurais, I gritted my teeth. The bunch of idiots…
"What's going on here?" I shouted as loud as I could. It was barely audible over the noise. They were so busy cheering they hadn't heard me at all, I thought. My temper, which had been kept in check for the whole afternoon flared up. Adrenalin rushed through my veins as my kunai's flew past the man they were crowding around, narrowly missing both of his ears by inches.
The whole group, catching the brief attack, was silent for a moment before going into chaos and confusion. Some looked around the roof warily, swords already drawn. A few had noticed me, but paid no attention since I was wearing kimono. The man in the centre shouted, also looking at the roofs.
"What is going on here??" I repeated my question, finally getting their attention; not literally anyway. My anger went unnoticed. One finally answered me.
"There was an attack on Inoue-sama." I assumed that was the guy who was making the macho postures.
"No, before that. What were you cheering about?" I asked impatiently.
Another flashed me an irritated look that he managed between looking at the rooftops and around him.
"Our comrades were killed when they went out to the forest a while ago. One of the men who was with them came running back here, shrieking about hitokiris." He cast a look at the rooftops before gesturing at the man in the centre.
"We're going to send him to bash whoever that killed our comrades out there. That's was before Inoue-sama got attacked."
"Kei, what's going on here?"
I turn to see Father came out of the meeting room with some of the representatives behind him. His face registered mild surprise at the chaos scene of the ronins. The men behind him wore the same expression. I ran and whispered in my father's ear. He nodded before turning to the man behind him and murmured something to him. He murmured back to Father, who nodded his head in agreement and turn to shout at the group, his voice carrying over easily.
"Oy!! Comrades!! Let's not fight over such petty matters!! We have more important things to do! Machida-san here has agree to solve the matter for us!" He gestured at the solemn Father. "Let's not waste our energy and come inside!" His voice rang authortively across the yard, and by the looks of the men, even if they were unsatisfied they would have to follow his orders.
One by one they went into the house, some shaking their heads and muttering. I stayed at the fringe of the crowd with Father.
"Kei, you said that they were murdered in the forest?"
"Hai, that's what they told me." Father's expression was thoughtful.
"Well…" he began slowly. "…I think I have a place in mind where our bloodthirsty Kichisaburo might have gone…" he gaze pointedly at the opened back door. I picked up the hint.
"Hai, I'll go after him immediately when I've finish serving dinner." So that's where the bastard went. Eyes narrowed, I clenched and unclenched my fists as I flounced to the kitchen. So instead of helping out, he went and butchered country samurais!!
Kisamatsu gaze after his daughter's retreating back fondly, a small smile playing on his lips when he saw her fists clenched. His superior, who watched the whole episode rather amusedly, caught the gaze.
"You have a very able daughter, Kasamatsu-san," he commented.
Kisamatsu laughed gently. "Indeed. Thank you for the compliment, Miyabe-sama."
"…You should guard her well. It would be a pity to lose another able shinobi." With the last warning, his superior left, his hair tied up in a ponytail flowing with the breeze.
"Aa, I would do so." He said quietly after him.
It was late when I finally managed to escape the madness. Light was fading outside and twilight was upon us. The remaining light cast weakly on the trees, creating tall shadows behind them.
I strode purposefully, intent of wringing the stupid bastard's neck when I found him. Didn't he even wonder why country samurai's were up here at this kind of forsaken mountain?? Of course it was for some reason or another! I wriggled my hands in front of me.
…or maybe he did and killed them anyway out of fun, a voice said in my head. Probably. I rolled my eyes. Kami-san, I was totally pissed off.
My head looked sideways, and I tried to feel his presence. Kichisaburo still hadn't returned--neither for lunch or dinner, I thought. Did he had lunch somewhere? Maybe he went to town, and he's there eating his dinner now. Either way, I still had to make a few things clear to him. Father was handling the ronins back there, and since he was quite ably in these sort of things, I could wander down to the town if I couldn't find him here.
My thought's drifted while I searched around. It was certainly getting dark here, I thought. Slowly, slowly, without even realizing it, I thought about my new bodyguard.
My mind flashed back to the night I first meet him. Elegant lashes and strong cheekbone, Kichisaburo certainly was handsome, though a bit femenine. His attitude however, I thought, was anything but feminie.
His build…My eyes were on the road, but in my mind I remembered his build while handing him his clothes. Not too muscular, just right. And his hair…it looked kind of silky and soft, and he always drapes it in front of him. He looked kinda cool like that.
I realized that I was smiling thinly now. With a jolt, I snapped back to reality and silently cursed myself for thinking such thoughts. The man resembles the murderer of your mother, the voice says in me. And now you're actually starting to like that face??
The man, I corrected. I did not say that I like the murderer of my mother.
As soon as I thought that, a fuzzy feeling spread through me and I flushed slightly. Shit, what was I thinking?
I trudged on, more forceful than before. Have to find him before I think about those things again. I looked around me a few times.
Wait. I stopped and stared at the direction where I thought I found a presence. I walked towards it without stopping. There couldn't have been anyone up here at this hour, I was sure that it was him, but the presence was oddly—
--I don't believe it.
The so called bloodthirsty Yogotoya-no-Kichisaburo, who killed for fun, was dancing. I blinked. I wasn't wrong; he was dancing. And in his right hand, was the white fan I saw him bought a few days ago.
As I looked on, still not believing this at all, he turned and made a wave-like movement with his fan. It was slow, and somehow—calming. I felt my eyes softened and my anger was miraculously gone. Nani?? A dance has that kind of effect on me? As long as I have lived, I had saw numerous dances a lot of times, mostly when I was spying. Father and Mother rarely had time to watch these kind of things, and my childhood was largely spent on brushing up my shinobi skills.
His movements were slow and steady. Each step he took, each swept of the fan, was done elegantly. As sudden as my anger dissipated, the fuzzy feeling rose in me again. The voice warned me softly, but I pushed it away. The scene before me was too memerising.
He froze suddenly; the hand with the fan was pointed upwards, with the other hand beside it. The dance ended. My mouth was parted.
He closed his fan and inclined his head to the side. I heard a low throat laugh.
"…so, brought anymore people with you? I don't mind another fight; in fact you just came in time. I finished practicing." He turned around, the fan disappearing inside his waist strap. Deep violet eyes widened slightly when I stepped out. His malicious smile faded and his face went blank.
"What do you want?"
"…do you know who you killed just now?" The instant his face went blank when he saw me, my anger surged back in full force. What's with the stare upon seeing me anyway?
"Who I killed just now? That's funny; I didn't exactly get their name when they died." He smirked.
My eyes narrowed. "Those country samurais you killed just now are rebels staying at our house! They arrived this morning! But I suppose you don't know that at all, since you were out here all day." I crossed my arms on my chest.
"Sou? Well, I guess they were short of luck then…" he carelessly said. My eyebrow twitched.
"I don't care if they are out of luck or whatever. The point is, they'll be staying here for a while and I expect that you do not act impetuously." I said icily.
"That was not written in my job proposal. My job was to only assassinate people and be your bodyguard." He said, starting to walk away from me. I followed him heatedly.
"Oh? And where have you been the whole day? Not protecting me, that's for sure!"
"Do you need protection in your own house?"
"That's not the point. I expect you to carry out the jobs Father gave you well. And I know that you did a good job on the assassination part." I added.
"Then I don't need to listen to you anymore."
I sighed. This was getting nowhere. He brushed off everything I said. Falling in step beside him, there was a silence between us.
I felt his eyes on me when I didn't lecture him anymore, but it was fleeting and he looked elsewhere again. Looking at the ground beneath us, then did I realize where we were going.
"We're going to town??" I asked, broking the silence. He grunted in reply.
"Why can't you go back to the house?"
"As you said; the house is crowded by those country samurais. Judging by your tone, neither of us wants to go back there." He said coolly in his slightly arrogant voice.
There was another silence—until I couldn't help but wonder what he had been doing just now.
"…What were you doing back there?" I slowly asked.
"Practicing." He answered shortly.
"Practicing your dance?" I probe.
He paused and looks at me. "What else does it look like?" he asked, and continued to walk.
"…I didn't know you could dance." I said softly, admidst the rhythm clack clack clack of our shoes on the ground. I felt his walking change at bit and his eyes on me again.
"…It was necessary to learn that back there." I heard him say, much to my surprise, since I thought he wouldn't answer at all.
"Back there?" I echoed.
There was a pause, as if he was weighing if he should answer that.
"…Back at the Boy's Teahouse."
Teahouse?? I thought incrediously. He came from a teahouse? Well, that would explain some things…such as his art skills…
The path came to a set of stone stairs. Two statue of monkeys stood at either side of the stairs, mouth curling into a smile, staring blankly forward.
He's a killer from the boy's teahouse…a killer who provides his service to whoever pays him I suppose, I silently mused.
"Why do you kill, Kichisaburo?" I wondered absently.
"For fun, of course. I just love to see blood." A cruel smile graced his features, and he raised his hand. "Blood is such a beautiful thing." He turned his hand over and inspected it.
"…You do ask a lot of questions." He lowered his hand and continued descending the stairs. "Is it considered a needed policy that you have to get information about me too?" he smirked.
I snorted. "We had better walk faster; or else the shops will be crowded with people." I changed the subject. I did not consider it a policy; but Kichisaburo was a complete mystery to me.
He laughed after hearing my words.
"Oh? Okasina…"
Perched on top of the roof of the deserted house, a figure surveyed the couple coming down the mountain stairs. The wind howled; a black cloth flowed with the wind as it stirred up the leaves. Blonde hair trapped in the cap the figure was wearing, it caressed the face which bright blue eyes peered out.
"Oh? Seems that the little ninja has got herself an interesting bodyguard…" she giggles softly, her lips twitching up into a smile. "…I wonder if she knows it…"
Suddenly, the figure sprang up and vanished; just as the girl turned her head to look at the roof. The man beside her stopped and looked at the roof silently too.
It was a few minutes before the girl turned and walked on, saying something to violet haired man beside her.
Okasina: Weird
Ronin: wandering swordsman