Chapter 1: The Black Raven
Two hundred years ago in feudal Japan, utter war broke loose upon two opposing political groups. Their arguments led to an all out war. Their battles and soldiers were blind. Nobody was safe. Not the women, not the children, not the old, not the feeble, nobody. To ensure victory in battle, each side hired samurais for hire or they would find yakuza that they could hire cheaply. Most fighters like that didn't care what side they were on, so long as they got paid their money in advance.
In those times, female samurai were almost unheard of. One woman, nicknamed the Black Raven for she was what people saw before they died, was a master swordswoman. She always fought for justice and what was morally correct, regardless of what others might have thought about it. In the time of war, she entered it herself and forced both parties to come to an agreement so that the fighting would end. It was odd for a woman who claimed to fight for justice and what was morally correct to be nicknamed the Black Raven.
You see, she had fallen in love with a young man. He, too, was a swordsman and they both had the same ideals. After a heavy battle, one of the men told her that he had died in battle. She was broken hearted. Here she was in love with a man whose name she didn't even know and he was dead. She let anger build inside her heart, leaving her morals behind and slaying without reason or payment. Little did she know that it was all merely a trap to lure her into becoming a murderer and to draw the two apart forever. After three years, the Black Raven disappeared and no one has heard of her location since.
Two hundred years later…
Three young men ran through a set of wooden gates, running to the dojo that lie ahead and throwing open its doors, shutting them behind them. They fell to their knees, trying to regain their breath. A woman stood in the middle of the room arms folded across her chest, eyes closed. She wore a light blue floral kimono, a pink butterfly obi belt, a pink cloth that she used to tie her hair up with and white gloves that adorned her hands. She stood a tall 5'8". She had long, straight black hair and blue eyes.
The woman spoke, "Boys. I know you wouldn't be so rude as to enter my dojo so rudely. Tell me what is going on."
One of the young men was about to speak when the dojo's doors flew open once more as five police swordsmen rushed inside.
The captain spoke, "We wish to speak to the master of the dojo. Woman, get him now!"
The woman opened her eyes, revealing her sky blue eyes to the swordsmen, "I am Asaki Yakamoto. How may I help you gentlemen?"
The captain raised his voice to her, obviously upset, "Woman I will not tell you again. Stop this defiance and bring us the master of this dojo at once!"
Asaki sighed, "Obviously you men are too blind to see that I am the master of this dojo." she pointed to the thin wooden slates which were hung on the wall written in Japanese. It formed an off pyramid, with one slate at the top and three at the bottom. On the top were the words "Master: Asaki Yakamoto" and below it were the other three which read "Student: Yakami Itari, Student: Xiyan Nicara, and Student: Miage Watabe."
The swordsmen looked at the slates, still in disbelief that a woman could be in charge of such a huge and well kept dojo such as this.
She spoke again, "I will ask you once more gentlemen, what is it I can do for you?"
The captain spoke once again, "Hand over these boys. They are under arrest!"
Asaki looked to the three young teenagers and then to each of the policemen, "And what, may I ask, is their crime?"
"They left Iko Restaurant without paying their bill."
Asaki sighed, looking to her students as they nodded in confirmation, "I see. And may I ask how much it is that they owe?"
"Fifteen hundred yen" (note: 1500 yen is roughly 14 US/American dollars….so it isn't that much)
"You swordsmen sure do get angry over such petty money. Very well." she turned, walking over to a small, golden container with dragons engraved on the top and along the sides pulling some money from the tin. She closed it and walked back over to the men, "Here you are. This is about twenty-five hundred yen. That should be more than enough to pay their bill." She held out her hand so that the men could take it but they merely hit her hand, knocking the currency to the floor.
Asaki sighed, "I see that you swordsman really want to pick a fight. Please, I'd rather avoid having to fight. Take the money, apologize for so rudely entering my dojo and for your behavior toward me and my students, and leave."
One of the swordsman smirked, "Hey captain, why don't we take her as payment instead? We could all have a lot of fun with her."
The men laughed and the captain smiled, putting his hand on Asaki's shoulder, "Alright. If you come with us Miss, we'll let these boys off the hook, what do you say?"
Asaki closed her eyes, sighing to herself, "Sir, I would advise you to take your hand off of my shoulder."
"Aw c'mon, we're just looking to have a little fun. So come on unless you want these boys to go to jail for their crimes."
Asaki sighed aloud, "Please keep in mind that I did warn you and that you were completely aware of the consequences at all times." She slid her hand down to the right side of her kimono and unsheathed her katana quickly, slicing off the captain's arm at his wrist before sheathing the blade once more.
The captain yelled in pain, "Y-you bitch! You'll pay for that! Men! Attack her!"
Asaki sighed once more, "I would highly suggest that you don't act upon your captain's orders." She looked, seeing them still coming at her. She unsheathed her blade once more, taking them down with one quick swipe of her blade, once again sheathing her now bloody blade.
"Captain you still have a chance. Please take the money and leave my students in peace."
"Never! You're gonna rot in Hell for what you did!"
The captain, using the one arm he still had left, unsheathed his blade. It was only then that he saw that she had duel blades. He had only heard of two people having two such blades, both of which were said to be dead for hundreds of years.
Asaki walked over to him and looked into his eyes with a cold, narrow-eyed glare, "I did warn you. Always remember that captain." She shoved her sword into the captain's stomach.
The captain looked at her, seeing not blue eyes but black, "T-those eyes. You're the…the…"
She removed her blade from his flesh, allowing him to fall on the floor, unable to finish his sentence.
Her students were cowered in a corner. They fixed their gaze upon her, unsure of what really had happened. They were barely able to blink, not completely believing what it was that they had just seen.
"Get up boys they won't harm you."
She blinked, seeing them coming only about an inch closer to her.
"Boys say something…"
Silence.
"I didn't kill them, relax."
The three students looked at the swordsmen who, strangely, weren't dead but were all badly wounded.
"You should know that I would never kill anyone. Let this be a lesson to you all, my students. Always knock before you enter a dojo and never be rude to its master. Always allow a person to right the wrongs of others and above all else, never take a life no matter how drastic the situation may be. Never…take…a…life…" her eyes seemed sad as she repeated those last words. Perhaps it was out of remembrance of her past or perhaps it was simply because she despised having to fight and injure others when it wasn't really necessary.
Xiyan, being the most courageous of the three students, walked slowly to Asaki. "What was that man about to say sensei? He seemed pretty scared."
Asaki smiled, "Tell me Xiyan, if you thought you were about to be killed you would be frightened too would you not?"
"Well I suppose so but you weren't going to kill him right?"
Asaki nodded, "But he did not know that and so the fear remained. Now then, you three help me with them. We must make sure that their wounds heal."
The three blinked, not knowing what to do. Yakami spoke, "But sensei, that's pointless."
"Oh? How so?"
"You just injured them and now you're going to help them to heal?"
"Yes that's right."
"But why?"
"It is not my job to decide who lives and who dies. If I have no compassion for the suffering of others, then I am not a samurai at all. Samurai have to have something they want to protect; something that they will remain loyal to and give their life for. Do you understand now?"
The boys nodded and, though still unsure, helped her tend to the wounds of the police swordsmen. They merely brought her the supplies and watched as she delicately wrapped their wounds with ointment and cloth. Once she had finished with the swordsmen, she had Xiyan, Yakami and Miage take the men to the doctor to be properly treated.
Asaki filled a bucket full of water and got a cloth, cleaning the blood from her floor. She thought about what she had said to her students, the speech repeating in her mind. It is not my job to decide who lives and who dies. If I have no compassion for the suffering of others, then I am not a samurai at all. Samurai have to have something they want to protect; something that they will remain loyal to and give their life for. Do you understand now? She laughed and stopped cleaning for a moment, remembering she had heard these words from someone else before. She had remembered what words had followed when she was at the receiving end of the speech. I will go now and enter the war, not for those that have hired me, the money or doing what's right. I will go and end the war quickly so that I can prevent more bloodshed; so that I can protect…you. A tear fell down her soft cheek. Her past was catching up to her. The sorrow was built deep inside her heart. Though none could see or feel her sorrow directly, they could see it through her actions. This man had created her morals and beliefs; he taught her how to be a proper samurai. She wasn't his student; she merely learned by his actions. She was doing the same with her students, hoping that maybe they would learn by her actions and not become so hungry for power or money. She knew she had taken many lives in a mad rage before. She knew that others would know she would do it again and so she faked her death, leading all to believe that the monster was dead.
She remembered what the captain had said, rather what he was about to say before she impaled her blade into his flesh. "It seems people are still fearful of me and what I have done. Don't they realize that the monster is dead?" she said this as though to prove to herself that what she was saying was correct. "They shouldn't fear what is no longer living; they shouldn't fear…me." More tears streamed down her cheeks, remembering what she had done once again. She knew the captain was going to say she was indeed the Black Raven. How she despised being called the Black Raven now; the so-called "bringer of death."
Words rang in her mind in a continuous stream, the same words being repeated over and over again and in the same order: "Black Raven! Murderer! Killer! Monster!" These words echoed through her mind and she couldn't get rid of them. She closed her eyes tightly, holding her head, "No! I am not those things anymore. I have changed. I am not that way anymore. Get out of my head! Please, no more!"