Chapter Thirteen: When Once Were

There was a time when every breathing moment of Matsuura Kiyohito's life had balanced on the edge of sword. When he was a younger man, he could imagine no life without his daisho at his side, but now as an older man, that life seemed but a fanciful tale and he no longer recognized the man he had been.

Once he was a soldier in the service of a notable lord. He policed the lands and kept the peace all on the tip of his blade. But that was a long time ago.

No longer able to bear the weight of his swords, he and Shiori traveled throughout the countryside seeking what work they could until they arrived at Torikorosu and were taken under the wing of a kindly old village doctor looking for a successor.

Decades later, after long since shuffling off the skin of Matsuura Kiyohito, he was just Seijun now, a small village doctor. Never once had he regretted becoming old Kozoburo's student. He had enjoyed the simple life of Torikorosu and its kind people. With Shiori always at his side, it had been a fulfilling life.

There was nothing he would trade it for.

Voices from deep within the jail brought him from his thoughts to the moment. He was alone in an administrator's office. A subordinate had gone in search of the Yohada captain that had seen to Mugen's arrest.

He could honestly say it was the first time that he had ever been within a jail. He had often passed by and certainly never had the occasion to be incarcerated.

Glancing about, he looked out the window that stared out at another window of a neighboring building. Sunlight splashed across the floor and along one of the walls, giving the three yellow banners hanging from it a warm glow. Even the desk before him was neatly organized, though he would not expect less of Ikuei, Kozoburo's son-in-law.

He was confident Ikuei would understand and set the young man free.

A sound from the corridor drew his attention, but with the screen drawn across the opening, he could not see what was happening. He wished Ikuei would hurry and arrive. He was eager to see to Umeko and make sure that she was all right.

Thoughts of his companion faded as he spied a wooden rack on the same wall the door shared. Laid across two rows, was an elegant daisho. The saya of the wakizashi and the katana were polished blood red.

Rising slowly, his joints creaking, he crossed the room to stand before the displayed weapons. Along the varnished body of each was written: I make awareness my home. The line was finished with a circle with three black diamonds bursting it, the Sono crest.

"Beautiful, no?"

Seijun turned to find Ikuei standing in the opened doorway. He was shocked that he had not noticed the man's entrance. "Forgive me," he said, retreating slightly as he lowered his head.

"I can't fault a man for appreciating fine weapons. It may be the only time you'll see one like it," he added.

"Oh?" Seijun asked as he turned to follow Ikuei back to desk.

Settling behind the desk, Ikuei explained, "An old drunkard wandered in about two years ago. He was trouble; never sober long enough to be worth anything but a laugh. No different than a dozen men we have locked up now, except," he motioned toward the swords, "for those."

Seijun looked back at the swords.

"That's not something anyone in their right mind would flash around."

The words drew the doctor's attention back to Ikuei. He had never known the man to mince words and waited.

Ikuei laughed. "Tell me, you don't know about that?"

Waving a hand before his face, Seijun said no. "We are fairly isolated in Torikorosu."

"This has been sixteen or seventeen years since the quelling, maybe more, I'm not sure."

Quelling.

Ikuei just looked at him. "I thought everyone had heard."

"I would be interested in hearing about this quelling. It has been many, many years since I passed through Sono domain. It used to be very beautiful."

"The land is still the same," the captain replied. "It is everything else that is different. I heard things had long been going downhill for years, ever since the old lord's daughter was flung off of a cliff by her kidnapper."

The words slipped past Seijun, he had suspected he and Shiori's deaths would be told in a much more cruel tongue, he as her murderer and she his victim, but suspecting and hearing were two different things.

"Sono had half the men whom he had sent to rescue his daughter put to death, the price for their failure. Then he became paranoid about the others, accused them of conspiring with the Nishi to take control of the domain. He declared war against the Nishi, even accused the shogun of conspiring to destroy the Sono."

Seijun frowned. "I had not heard about this." The benefits of ignorance, he thought.

Flipping through some records lying on the desk, Ikuei went on, "As I understand it, Lord Sono had gone mad. There was infighting and the clan fractured between those loyal to Lord Sono and those loyal to his nephew, who would have succeeded him."

"Ujimura," Seijun said, remembering the tall boy.

"That's the name. I thought you didn't know—"

"Names I had picked up when I last was there, decades ago."

"Ah. Yes, old Sono just had that one daughter." Ikuei pushed the records off to the side as he looked Seijun over. "I guess Sono struck a deal with the Okata and the Fuwara clans to help bring order. Anyone declared disloyal were put to death along with every member of their immediate family. He also had villagers killed and I hear even burned the temples that had protected family of those who had sided with Ujimura. By the time the shogun had stepped in… well, let's just say there are more dead than living in Sono domain now."

"I see."

"No one carries the Sono crest, at least not in this part of the country. The name is like poison."

Seijun wondered if things would have been different if he and Shiori had not run off, but that was a question no amount of pondering could answer. Still, it did not settle well knowing that his actions could have resulted in so many lives taken, even after he had sworn that he would take no lives and had been careful during their escape to not inflict mortal wounds.

Yet, he understood that even the smallest of scratches could become infected and kill.

"Is it me, or has Kozoburo grown more crotchety these days?" Ikuei asked, breaking the pall that had descended over the room.

Seijun smiled. "I thought he was always like that." Quiet reality crept into his voice, "He refuses to die, but I wonder if this will not be the last chance I will have to visit with him."

"That too, is what I fear," Ikuei said.

"It reminds me that I, too, am getting old."

"Aren't we all?" The captain laughed then fiddled with a ring of keys hanging near the desk. Pulling them from the hook, he asked, "And this man, Mugen, we arrested?"

"He was all that stood between us and those three thugs."

"Still," Ikuei said as he stated to stand up, "I don't like unauthorized killing in my city."

"He will leave with me and I promise he will not return." Seijun rose and followed the captain toward the door, but paused one last time to look at the daisho displayed on the wall.

"We might not have been so rough on him if we had known he was your man."

Entering into the maze of halls and chambers, Seijun quickly found himself in a narrow corridor lined with cells. He followed a few steps behind the yellow clad man, glancing into the various cells. When he spied Mugen stretched out uncomfortably across the floor, a smile drew across his face. Any man that could take binding and imprisonment in such stride was just the kind of man he was looking for. "Something tells me he can handle the abuse just fine."

"Keep it down," Mugen grumbled before kicking his feet out and rolling uncomfortably over on his side. His bound arms were red with an impression of the rough floor. "Some people are trying to sleep here."

With a dower look, Seijun folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, this young man is certainly under my watch. Will he get his weapon back?"

"In your care until you both leave the city limits," Ikuei said. "Try to keep him from killing anyone the next few days. I may not be so kind the next time."

"Understood."

Mugen's eyes slid open but he otherwise did not move as the captain unlocked the door. "You owe me, old man."

Seijun grinned. "I always make good on my debts. Let them unbind you and we will head for the nearest teahouse where we can talk business."

roterriter - See? I got a chapter up:p
Next Chapter - Wonderings and Memories.