Turning Swallow

Summary:

OR, One morning, four-year-old Sasaki Kojiro remembers a life not yet lived, and decides to do something about it. History changes. SI!Sasaki Kojiro. Expect general lightheartedness, but dark topics when the time comes.

CH. 14 START

All in all, Kojiro stayed in the town of Ono for three weeks, rather than only one. He'd underestimated the time it would take for Suzue to learn to handle her new sword, though he recognized that she was progressing astonishingly fast, considering she'd never so much as seen a sword a few weeks ago. After that first morning of exercise, Suzue had walked with a measure of self-confidence that hadn't been there before. Kojiro was glad, happy that she'd found that bit of inner steel. It was obvious from the way she walked. Whereas previously she'd walked with her head down and the body shrunk in on itself, now she held her head up high and was able to look him right in the eyes without flinching. Beyond Suzue's improvement in attitude, she'd also grown in physical capability, having grown increasingly athletic, given that she was now able to eat well and was training constantly. He glanced at the sky, hand shielding his eyes from the sun, to estimate the time. It wasn't yet noon, but soon enough it would be.

Kojiro called out to Suzue, saying, "Finish this lap. I have something to show you."

She finished off the last part of her run and came to a stop in front of him, only lightly sweating, which was impressive given that she'd have been on the floor panting mere days ago. He stepped back into the house and Suzue followed him, and told her to clean herself off, before changing into formal clothing. She went to change, and Kojiro waited patiently. She was wearing her new clothes when she exited the room, one of a few sets that he'd purchased for her from the local tailor. He smiled at her, before asking her to follow him. He stepped out of the house and away from the town square, towards a small chunk of land sectioned-off by stone walls and a thick wooden gate. He fished a key from his kimono and tossed it to Suzue. He tilted his head towards the door, indicating that she was to open it with said key. She did so, and upon opening it, tears pooled in her eyes. This was the place where Kojiro had had the mayor place the remains of Suzue's parents. Their bodies, fortunately, were intact. He'd told the mayor to give them the best treatment, having the bodies placed in wooden coffins before sealing the coffins into a small stone chamber. He adorned the graves with engraved tombstones that listed their names.

Suzue turned to him in shock and he just smiled, before waving her into the private cemetery. The sheer disbelief in her eyes told him just how badly the experience had traumatized her, having already written off her parents' bodies as unretrievable.

In spite of the evidence before her, Suzue had to confirm it, asking in a shaky tone, "Sasaki-sama, these are my…?"

"Yes," was all that Kojiro said.

The girl rushed towards the graves, before coming to a stop in front of them and dropping to her knees. Kojiro turned away before he could eavesdrop on something so private. Once he was far enough away, he simply leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. Approaching footsteps woke him from his sleep, and the sky told him that roughly an hour had passed. Suzue ran at him, all but launching herself, to grab him tightly around the waist. She thanked him fervently, speaking through joyful tears.

Suzue whispered, "Sasaki-sama, thank you so much. I am in your debt, once more."

A weight seemed to have been lifted off of her shoulders and she skipped ahead of him, as if to tell Kojiro he was moving too slowly. He made his way to the house, where he'd already packed up the supplies necessary to make their way to the next town, which was Ikeda. With the horse he'd gotten from the merchant, he could afford to bring some luxuries too, like soap and rice, which would have added too much weight previously. After tying the luggage to the horse, Kojiro pulled Suzue up behind him and began to make his way to Ikeda. The horse made what would have been a tedious journey through winding roads and dense forest into a much more reasonable two days of travel. There were no incidents at all during the way there, but the moment they'd gotten into the town of Ikeda, they'd been confronted by a ronin. He claimed himself to be the lord of the town, and that they needed to pay him to pass through. This was bullshit, since the Toda were the masters of all the towns within Echizen. The ronin, angry at being ignored, lashed out with his sword at Suzue, who leapt backwards to avoid being cut.

Kojiro grimaced. If a man like this, unkempt and unsightly as he was, could claim, would dare to claim, lordship over any of Toda territory was a bad sight. Seigen's death had obviously destabilized the Echizen Province far more heavily than Kojiro would have ever assumed. After this was over, he needed to write to Kagemasa and tell the man to stop grieving and start cleaning up his territory. It wouldn't be any good if the province crumbled under his control, after all. The man stepped forwards again, sword slashing down, but Kojiro just stepped to the side and brought his fist into the man's face. A man like this wasn't even a ronin, more a jumped up bandit. Likely, the man had dropped out of samurai training, too lazy to work hard, and had bought a cheap sword to play with, before discovering the way that people treated him was different when he claimed to be a samurai. The man's sword fell to the ground and he blustered something fierce, but Kojiro tuned out the words. The man charged again, and this time, Kojiro showed no mercy, gutting him like a fish dispassionately.

He spoke, asking, "Suzue. What did he do wrong?"

Suzue replied immediately, saying, "He dropped his weapon, failed to diversify his attacks to avoid being countered, and attacked an obviously superior opponent despite all of his disadvantages. He didn't leverage anything to help him."

Kojiro nodded in approval before speaking to the small crowd that had gathered.

He announced, "The town of Ikeda is, and has always been, the territory of the Toda Clan. I am Sasaki Kojiro, samurai of the Toda Dojo. For now, an envoy is to deliver a letter from me to Toda Kagemasa. A group of samurai will return with him, to ensure that no more unpleasantness happens. Disperse/"

With those words, the crowd scattered. He saw a man nervously walk towards him, presumably the man in charge, to greet him. The man who was supposed to be in charge scampered towards him, desperate to gain his favor. Borrowing ink and paper to write a letter, Kojiro informed Kagemasa of just how severely Seigen's death had messed Echizen up. He recommended a show of force, to show that the Dojo was still strong. There was no time to grieve, when Seigen's legacy was being tarnished by outsiders. That was a surefire way to get the Toda Dojo and the Toda Clan into action. He sealed the latter and sent it off with the appointed envoy, waiting until Kagemasa sent a confirmation message back. He received a reply within three days, along with a request asking him to deliver a message to the ruler of Kyoto, informing them of Seigen's death. He read Kagemasa's other message and smiled, for the Toda Clan was preparing for war, once more, ready to reclaim its territory. He tucked both messages into his pocket before hopping onto his horse and making his way towards his next stop, a port town named Tsuruga. They made good progress, though they stopped for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. During the morning and nights, Suzue and Kojiro trained, each doing their own thing. At least, until Suzue realized that she needed help to progress, asking for proper sword training so she didn't need to be defended like she had been in Ikeda. Kojiro agreed readily enough, and the already relaxed pace slowed even further. The journey to Tsuruga, originally only three days, became a week as the two of them began to spar.

Kojiro took the time to break Suzue of several bad habits. For too long, whenever she was about to hit something or get hit herself, she always flinched back and shut her eyes. That was something that needed to change now. Thus, on the first day of practice, Kojiro used the flat of his blade to smack her whenever her eyes snapped shut. He knew for a fact that the impact of the flat of a blade still stung like hell. Eventually, Suzue seemed to realize that when her eyes were open, she could use them to avoid attacks and even strike back. After that, Suzue's eyes remained laser-focused throughout their battles. The next bad habit that Kojiro had to get Suzue to drop was that habit of letting go of her blade. Everytime she dropped her sword, he made her do one more pushup. Suzue got to fifteen, before she finally fixed her grip, managing to hold onto her sword more often than not. On the last few days of their journey, Suzue was skilled enough that the fighting could begin in earnest. Of course, Kojiro couldn't use his sword, so he used a stick that was roughly his odachi's length instead. Since he couldn't meet Suzue's sword with his stick, he'd taken to pushing and redirecting attacks. The old adage was true apparently. One only learned how far they still had to go when they were teaching. He'd been far too used to quality blades, confident in them not snapping, but with a tree branch, such a thing wasn't possible. Once he combined that skill with his sword skills, his blade turned from a blunt hammer into a rapier, able to force and take advantage of small gaps in defense, whereas previously, he'd relied on the Toda-ryu to smash defenses wide open. Against a good warrior, that just wouldn't work. Case in point was like now, when he launched a blow at Suzue's head, and by either reaction or instinct, her blade was perfectly placed to let him break his own weapon. The stick snapped in half and the girl cheered, something that Kojiro swiftly put an end to, by lightly smacking her across the head with the remainder of his stick.

"A duel's not over until your opponent is unable to move, Suzue. A severed blade is still capable of cutting." Kojiro warned.

The girl nodded in understanding and he turned to look at the map again. He was on the outskirts of the Echizen Province now, but even here, tales of his duel with that jumped up fake-samurai were being repeated. He was met by the group of local samurai, who surprisingly enough, had been traveling to the Toda Dojo until they realized that Seigen had passed. The group of samurai saw him as an easy way to gain some amount of fame, which he didn't mind, since he thought them to be a good source of money.

"You will duel the girl first," Kojiro stated.

Suzue looked at him like he was insane but he just smiled at her, before turning to the group of samurai.

He asked, "Surely you do think so lowly of the Toda Dojo to challenge me so directly? I will attribute this insult to enthusiasm, rather than deliberate disrespect. Be warned."

They took it as an attempt at mockery, but could do nothing about it because it was true. Though they'd been friendly enough, they'd obviously wanted something from him.

Aloud he stated, "Let's have a little wager. I'll bet fifty coins that the girl will be able to defeat each of you. I'll double the fifty everytime she beats one of you. What say you?"

They'd taken it as an attempt at mockery, before Suzue had pulled out her blade. The duels began swiftly, and though the samurai were of some skill, they lacked the smoothness of constant practice and effort. These were men who'd only fought in battle. Suzue being used to fighting him, such an inferior opponent had little chance. Suzue wiped the floor with them, ending the first duel in a familiar move, stepping to the side before bringing her blade to rest against the neck of the first samurai. The second samurai was dealt with just as fast, Suzue ducking under a horizontal slash to bring the back of her blade into the samurai's stomach. Had that been with the blade, the man would have been disemboweled. He yielded quickly. The third was more cautious, now that his friends had been defeated and made sure not to overextend. Suzue exposed her flank in feint, before shoulder-checking the man when he swung. His sword bounced onto the floor as he fell and the match was called. The fourth was more aggressive, lashing out with furious swings than Suzue just waited out. When he tired himself, Suzue stepped towards him and brought her blade across his arm, leaving a thin slice. The fifth was obviously the leader, and the most skilled, but he too found himself outmatched. A flurry of blows reminiscent of his own swordplay broke the man's guard. He surrendered immediately.

The bet was over now, and Suzue had proven that her training hadn't gone to waste. He was handed to money and turned to make his way to the markets before the leader spoke up.

"Sasaki-dono, I have a request." he stated.

Kojiro raised an eyebrow, turning around.

The man explained, saying, "I'd like you to duel all of us at once, in exchange to doubling the sum you won from the bet."

Bluntly, Kojiro said, "You'll lose."

The fourth swordsman looked angry and made to move but the leader grabbed his friend's shoulder, chuckling.

The leader of the five samurai nodded, saying, "I know. I just want to see who trained such a terrifying woman."

Kojiro acquiesced, mostly for the money. Eight mon stings, a hundred coins per string, from a few duels was a lot, since one of the coins could feed a family for a week, if they ate nothing but bread for each meal. Most commoners didn't even use the coins, choosing to use local currencies to supplement the bigger one.

The duel began when Kojiro unsheathed his odachi, putting it to immediate use by cutting diagonally at one of the samurai. He wasn't prepared for the heavy slash, and his sword was knocked from his hands. Two rushed at him, but he jumped back before capitalizing on the missed swing but kicking the left samurai's knee out. The man collapsed, having lost his support, and Kojiro brought him to the floor. The man voiced his surrender and the other samurai cut at him, but he forced a bladelock, before hewing his blade up to bring it to rest next to the third's neck. That was three surrenders and Kojiro spun to meet two cuts with his sword. He stepped into the guard of the fourth samurai, before swinging the back end of his odachi in the leader's chest at full force. The man flew back. Grabbing the fourth samurai's sword arm, Kojiro forced him to drop his blade. That was a surrender. He moved to deal with the leader, only to find that he'd given up too.

The leader of the five samurai laughed mockingly, not at Kojiro, but at himself, "I was blind. I had thought us five masters already, and yet, we were defeated by that girl. Worse, her master is more akin to a force of nature than a man, despite being so young."

He handed over the money, before bowing and leaving as fast as he could. His men followed him and as they left, he caught snatches of conversation containing the words 'Sasaki,' 'Ichijodani,' and 'Dojo.' They left in the direction of Ikeda, presumably going to join the Toda Dojo. Once the men were gone and after staying in town for a night, Kojiro and Suzue made the longest stretch of the journey, heading straight towards Kyoto. They followed the western edge of Biwa Lake, the body of water serving as an excellent landmark to compare with the map. The journey took perhaps two weeks, given the slow pace they took as they trained. Once they reached the point where the lake turned into a river, they turned west, heading straight for Kyoto. Another half-day passed, and a temple came into view. Except, something was wrong. What was the damn thing doing on fire?