As I have said a few times at the RK and GB sections here, writing these little stories keeps me sane. Of course, doing this does have some detrimental effects on the exam scores, but it helps keep the panic down while studying, or it keeps me awake when I'm getting bored. If it tells you anything, I learned to first like the Samurai 7 series last year during removals (last-chance exams) season.
S7 ain't mine, neither are the 2 guys that this story uses. This is all what-if based on somebody's incredible sketches. Second of three chapters.
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Gorobei was not able to leave the inn at all, the day after he saved his little friend. Hei had a firm hold on his arm, while he slept through a slight fever. "I like kids, but I'm not getting kids of my own," the young man swore to himself, stuck to either sitting or lying on the floor that day. "Too much trouble…"
No one from the authorities came asking about a redhaired boy. Gorobei himself went asking around on the second day, without results. He returned to the inn that afternoon with a heavy heart. He did not know what would happen to his little friend after his leave was over.
The little boy waved to him from the second floor window when the returned. He also ran down to greet him. With a happy grin he showed him a little wagon he had just made. It was made out of a broken bento box, the lids of old cans, and used sticks. But the workmanship was more than what was expected out of a boy who said he was seven years old.
Gorobei gave him a spinner, a small propeller attached to a stick. "Thank you," the boy grabbed for it, held it between his hands, sent it flying and happily ran after it around the inn.
Such a smart and sweet little boy, given another chance to live. The young man wanted to make sure it was a good life.
"Have him scanned, you have to know," the innkeeper suggested the next day.
Gorobei was seated cross-legged on the floor, deep in thought, while the redhaired boy played with the small wagon near him. The innkeeper was telling him to bring the child to the authorities, and to have an iris scan done on him.
"Is that okay with you?" the young man asked the little boy.
"Will it hurt, Katayama-san?" the boy asked.
"Gorobei, my friend, everyone calls me that," he said. "No, it won't hurt."
"Okay." And that was that.
The only thing they discovered with the scan was that the boy was indeed the son of parents originally of a faraway land. As he was born in the region he was currently in, he was named Heihachi. But his parents were ordinary merchants of imported goods in the region, neither poor nor rich. Further inquires told the young man that the town Heihachi came from had recently been razed to the ground. That was why he had no mommy, or daddy, not anymore.
Awful memories for such a young child.
Memories that were hurting the boy at that moment. He was looking down at the wagon, and sullenly turning the wheels. He kept quiet, as they walked back to the inn from the precinct.
The young man knew that this was not the time to use slight-of-hand tricks. He stopped the little boy, and sat him down on his lap.
"When things want to pull you down, the best thing to do is to laugh," he said, then began to laugh heartily, long, and loud. "At least, that's what my dad said. You have to laugh at your problems, and tell the problems that they can't beat you."
Little Hei was not convinced.
"Come, my little friend. Let's clear our heads with a little entertainment, aye? Let's go watch the acrobats tonight, then we'll go back and think about this situation you're in. I'll even get you some cotton candy!"
The boy frowned and shook his head.
"No candy?"
Hei suddenly perked up. "A cruiser!" Then he raised one hand and flew an imaginary toy cruiser over his head, complete with little flying sounds.
"A cruiser it is, then," the young man chuckled. "Go on and get the innkeeper's wife to give you a bath."
The boy nodded and went running into the inn.
"Very nice boy, aye?" Gorobei smiled at the innkeeper, who greeted him at the door. "I still wonder why he was on that ship, though. I wonder where he was headed in the first place."
"There's a safe haven for little children that I hear about," the innkeeper offered, "Maybe the ship was headed there. I hate to think a foreign child was taken by slave traders…."
"Slave traders?"
The innkeeper lowered his voice. "There's an organization picking up orphans and wanderers, offering them a chance to work or to live elsewhere, but they send them to work for some of the other clans, the more cruel ones. They feed batteries and coal to the Honmaru. Very dangerous work, especially for children."
"Very cruel of them."
"I agree," the innkeeper said. "Keep a close eye on the redhead while you're at the night shops. Who knows who might pick him up."
"I'll remember, thank you. Isn't there really anything I can do to repay you?"
"Having that little happy thing running around but not breaking our plates is payment enough to an old couple like us," the innkeeper chuckled.
The little boy tugged at his sleeve. He now smelled of fresh soap and water, plus the scent of the warm rice ball he held in his hand.
"Go on and have dinner," Gorobei patted him. "I'll go get ready myself."
"Okay."
For now, the boy's problems were all forgotten.
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The first thing the young man did that night was to buy his little friend that toy cruiser he wanted. He was pretty sure the boy with take the little plane apart once they got back to the inn, considering the way Hei even tried to get to the inn's good-luck cat, to find out how it kept moving its paw up and down. But that was alright. As long as Hei-chan was happy, he was happy, too.
As soon as the acrobat show finished, Gorobei knew he had made the right choice to take Hei along that evening. Hei was clapping and laughing happily at the performance. He was having a good time. It was as if he had already forgotten about why he was with the young soldier in the first place. The boy had forgotten to think about the future as well.
"Goro-san…" the boy tugged at his sleeve.
"Yes?" He smiled at how quickly he was given a nickname.
"This is the best night I've ever had!" Hei smiled at him, as he clutched the toy cruiser.
"My pleasure, little friend," Gorobei patted his head.
That was the point of this, anyway. Little children should not have to think about sad thoughts and unknown futures. Grownups thought about that for them. As the grownup, the young man partly ignored the sights, smells, and sounds, keeping his eyes and ears up for any rumors and signs of where the safe haven was, or who could be talked to about it.
He had heard a few things here and there which made him confident of the safe haven in the current district. That was a major relief. There was a place he could eventually leave his little friend, and be sure he would be cared for. But he still did not know where it was, and no one could tell him.
Frustrating, somewhat. He had wanted to spend his very first service leave for himself, enjoying what he wanted to enjoy. Now here he was thinking hard about what to do with a boy he had just met.
Furthermore, a rumor was passing through the crowds in the night shops about a confiscated vessel. It was a confirmed slave ship. The people inside were rescued, and the children brought to safe havens. The leaders on the ship, however, had escaped.
Descriptions of the slave ship eventually came around. It was relatively small and passed by the ports 2 days ago. There was no mistaking it. That was the ship little Hei was on, before he fell into the water.
Mixed emotions of relief and anger swelled in the young man. The notion that the boy had been set to serve the rest of his young life as a cart pusher. The realization that circumstances prevented that awful future from happening.
It was as his father had said once. Sometimes a chance meeting creates a lasting friendship. Sometimes fate lets a person cross paths with someone's life, changing it for the better.
Why him? Why little Hei? And why at that particular time?
Did it even matter?
All the thinking suddenly made him realize that he was no longer holding onto a little boy.
"Hei-chan?"
He looked around at the surrounding shops, hoping the boy was just awestruck at some scene and had forgotten to walk along with him. "Hei-chan? Where you, my little redhead?"
But still no answer.
"HEI-CHAN!"
Still no answer, and no little boy running to him.
He walked the long street up and down for many meters both ways, and did not find a speck of red. He kept calling out, but no little boy waved back at him. He started asking random passersby about a redhaired boy with a toy plane. At first he got shrugs and shaking heads, but finally more and more people began pointing in a certain direction.
The direction of the ports.
He swore under his breath as he started running. "I'm NOT getting my own kids!"
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Argh, it's still not long. Oh, well. I do hope you liked it, all the same.
narrizan – A mother of 2 kids, why are you reading my work? (LOL) Thanks for liking the Kyuzo oneshot, and you're welcome. Your explanation to why I do this during exam season is at the start. Samuraiko – Yeah, the war is only an incidental thing in this story, hehe. Anonymous reviewer (me) – Thanks much for liking. Motokonobaka – Thanks for thinking it's cute.
