Disclaimer : Samurai 7 and all its wonderful characters belong to the great Akira Kurosawa and of late his estate. I only play in his playground and not for profit.
Spoiler warning: For Eps: 15, 16, 25 & 26.
Thanks go to EK for permission to use some background from her story 'Sword & Satff'
Nothing happens here, I am afraid, only quiet conversation. Now move along, move along.
Realisation by Zan
The wood was quiet and peaceful which, unfortunately gave him time to think. He should be sleeping or resting at least. He did not want to be thinking. Indulging in such a pursuit might bring him to answers he did not want scrambling the order; he shelved thoughts in his mind. He was here, now and that was all there was to it. He leant, back against a tree, crossed his legs and shut his eyes. Slowing his breathing; tensing and relaxing his muscles in groups working his way from his toes, up his calves, legs, his lower trunk, upper body, then he worked the ones in his arms and finished by flexing his hands and fingers. In a cross-legged position and to an onlooker he still looked to be unmoving. Inhale; exhale. He tensed his abdominals tensed slightly and supporting his midsection with breath and a straight spine. Relaxing yet not giving up awareness. In a location such as this, the flora, fauna and even the movement of the air were his tripwires to his senses. However, here was someone approaching without bothering to be quiet about it. He smiled to himself. Of course, it was on purpose because the joker knew better than to try to sneak up on someone like himself. He had not met anyone who could come up on him unawares. The 'sleeping samurai' spoke.
"How may I help?"
"It isn't how you may help or not. I just came to talk."
"…" The eyes remained shut although there was the slightest turn at the corner of the lips if you were fast enough to catch it.
"I've known him a long time."Shichiroji paused to give the other mana chance to interject. He continued when he did not get a response, "I may not have seen him since the War. I still know him."
"You fought side by side." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes. I do not think he was entirely impressed with me on our first meeting though," chuckled the man with the impossible up-do.
"Oh?"
"I was young and foolish, thought I could take on the world and him too." Shichiroji remembered wistfully.
The seated man tilted his head to look up at the other samurai, "I am not undisciplined as you were obviously then," he said matter-of-factly.
"Quite so, quite so. He may be the oldest of us except maybe for Goro-san, but in some ways he is still very much the idealist that Katsushiro is."
"Yes there is that," Kyuuzou acquiesced.
"Be careful with this thing you seek. The hearts of men are dark things. Be mindful of this dance and be sure you know yourself in this. For I have been there before and it is no easy task to let go."
"Is this advice or warning?" the low voice as if afloat on a breeze caught Shichiroji off guard.
"Ahaha! A little of both I guess." Shichiroji laughed quietly. "I thought I had left any notions of fighting for the side of right in a metal casing. It could have been my coffin but for the grace of a young woman." He continued quietly.
"…" The resting man raised an unseen eyebrow, features hidden and schooled. Looking at the man standing in front of him, he chose then to speak again.
"Why then did you choose to join?" came a question in unison, as both asked as one.
"You heard my answer to Hyogo in the desert." Kyuuzou moved, stretching his legs in swift and silent motion. "More I was tired of following those without honour. Those who would as soon sell their souls to the devil if it would get them advancement."
"I had thought that I would be content to play bodyguard and bouncer." Shichiroji shifted to make himself comfortable against the tree, his staff held loosely in the crook of an arm. As relaxed as the man next to him. "When Kanbei-sama appeared again after all this time, I guess it stirred in me those feelings… the battle-urge, the need to feel again that adrenalin rush as much as that need for purpose." Shichiroji trailed into silence uncertain of his choice of words.
"The need to feel alive again." Kyuuzou finished for him.
"When I first met him, he was as much a leader as he is now. The man was a natural leader, even if his fighting skills needed a little practice." Shichiroji continued with a smile.
"I have never followed a taisho before. I had at most two others as a last contingency. This is new to me."Kyuuzou never voiced the thought that the backup was to make sure he never made it out alive if he failed in his assignments. That it was actually 'nice' not to be ever wary of the assassin behind the assassin. The only worry was the foe within the ranks and they tended to be slightly more obvious, therefore making them easier to dispatch. That it felt 'good' to have someone tell him what to do and not hate the man who gave the orders. These thoughts were not given voice, but it did not matter.
"You could not do better than to have Kanbei-sama to be your first leader." Shichiroji said thoughtfully. "Maybe I did not have anything useful to say after all?" The man started back towards the village proper.
"I wouldn't say that," the man in scarlet gave the merest hint of a smirk under the cover of darkness.
With a slow backward wave of matt black metal, "Rest well then Kyuuzou-dono."
Kyuuzou nodded his assent. He settled himself and tried to still his mind.
…
He could not. More thoughts ran through his mind. It was not enough to give him a headache, but enough to make him give up any notion of rest or sleep. Very well then, he would just go along with the thoughts, for resisting them would doubtless tire him more.
He said silently to the night air, "I do wonder that for someone who does not take betrayal well, Hei-san has accepted me with more grace than the Mikumari." He understood the feeling but had not the option of giving in to it. Trust was not something he would give; it was something that could get him killed.
"Not many people can appreciate that cutting wood precisely takes a lot of skill and focus." The resting man spoke again to the night air. Perhaps just a touch louder, but still managing that tone of voice that seemed to be part of the forest itself.
A shadow revealed itself from the trees. Contrast to the quieter man. Bundled as he was in clothes that held pockets, which held tools, which turned various bits and pieces into weapons or domestic help. The stocky next to the lithe, the compact next to the larger than life. Still the wildness of all the gear was as much the same as that which hummed underneath that clean of movement scarlet, and as much as one hid from the world behind a cap and a pair of goggles the other hid beneath the unruly bangs of blond.
"Thank you, I think," the cheery voice piped.
"After ten thousand cuts one may think that they begin to understand the meaning of mastery of the katana, after one hundred thousand he will understand that the road to that mastery is a long and arduous one. The rare swordsman that makes a million cuts will acquire a perception of all that surrounds the mystery of the skill. The Wood cutting school should be proud to have you as a student. Even if you think that your cuts are shabby." Was the sagely reply.
"Again I thank you."
"None needed," was the quiet answer.
"I meant for the souvenir earlier, it will help a lot in boosting our defences more."
"As I said, none needed."
"I also wished to say that it was good of you to agree with me earlier, of my take on treachery."
"It is a natural step to take." Kyuuzou stated and then hesitated. "You have accepted me without question."
The gear-head looked at Kyuuzou and remained silent.
"You have had issue with the question of trust, I believe?"
"So, you want to know why I do not question your presence." Heihachi asked of the other. "I myself do not know," he sighed before continuing. "It could be because you are samurai; it could be because I do not see you as a traitor, because I can feel the kinship that emanates from you that marks us all somehow as a brotherhood. Though you may seem to be here for purely selfish reasons, you came; you have proved yourself where you do not need to and you knew before us all that Manzo would sell us out." Heihachi paused to take a breath.
"It could be for all those reasons or none of them at all."
Kyuuzou looked at the gear-head and did not say anything at all.
"I am sorry, you need your rest. I intrude."
"No apology needed."
Heihachi disappeared into the wood, back to his gears and pulleys. Kyuuzou felt strangely liberated for having had the chance to speak to the two men. Still, he knew he would have at least onemore visitor, before being called into action. He smiled wryly as a twig snapped underfoot; he slid out the left-hand sword from the upper section of his scabbard and in a lightning move held the sword point under the chin of the one idealist.
"Do you want to die by my sword?"
…
Not less than a week would pass by when the scarlet samurai would seriously regret not slicing the young man in two. Still, he managed to maintain dignity, even as blood poured from his side and trickled out the side of lips so economical with words. He felt his body go cold and the strength left him. Someone though did not let him fall unceremoniously to the ground. That was funny; still he was grateful for small mercies. It was strange; he could not remember when the last time anyone held him. Of course, it was not strange, if he was not feeling so weak he would laugh. He did not trust anyone enough to let them get so close. And laugh? He had not laughed in a long time. Odd were the things that come to you at the end of life. The sounds of battle were becoming muted and far off. He felt whole again, although he thought he had hurt an arm earlier. He could not remember if it was the left or the right. Kanbei cradled him. Damn, he was all the more angry that he would never find out who the better swordsman was. He thought he saw Gorobei standing behind Kanbei and just out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the top of a cap and goggles. Wait a minute, that could not be right,Gorobei was dead, was he not? The entertainer was grinning at him with some kind of strange look. Kyuuzou ignored the man with the death mask for the moment.
"Hurry and get the job done. Don't forget we have a score to settle." He was finding breathing difficult now. He had to remember that he should only breathe sixty percent of his lung capacity. "I will wait for you at the village." He found his own words to be absurd. How was he going to get to the village? That was alright, Goro-san could show him the way.
"Do not worry. I will join you soon enough." Kyuuzou could not be sure if he actually heard those words from Kanbei or if it was something he dreamt just as everything went dark.
…
Owari.
I am not sure how much time actually passes between the first battle at the village and the final battle, so I have counted round about a week.
I also apologise for the fact that really nothing happens here.
Iwould like tosay thanks to ff for letting me make friends with some really cool folk. On these pages as well as on the Saiyuki pages.