Ch 44
V 1.0
Chapter of Omakes!
Yes, I was bored.
Yes, I kept writing.
Yes, I made it up as I went along.
Except the silly omake at the end, that's been in my head for while.
The first two omakes are canon to the story, the third one is not.
Omake 1 – Taro and Yukiko
Ten kilometers off port of Nathon,
Koh Samui Island,
Surat Thani Province,
Gulf of Thailand
Early July
Daybreak
(third day after pirate attack)
"Nyamo-chan, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Nyamo Namo looked up from the duffle bag she was sorting through. The young islander girl was not the sort of person to accumulate many possessions; all of her clothing fit inside an old GI duffle bag, with some other items scattered throughout her boat. It was not a function of a lack of money; Nyamo just did not need much to get by in life. Food was provided by the sea and the forest, shelter could be built with her own hands, and transport was done across the ocean. It was a solitary life, especially now that she had no living family, but it was something she had become accustomed to. For a long time her only companion was the giant tortoise Gidget, but now some others had gotten close to her, and it was something that was causing her heart to ache, although for different reasons. Some had become trusted companions, others friends that were no longer in this world, and now the one that was causing both feelings of loss and slight fear was speaking to her.
The girl stopped what she was doing and faced the young man standing a short distance from her on the boat, in fact farther than usual. Normally he would stand just out of arm's reach from her, but now he was almost twice that, as though he did not to get too close to her. After a moment she realized why; Keitaro Urashima knew that she was scared of him now, and did not want to spook her by standing too close.
"Do you have everything ready? Are you sure there is not anything more that we can do for you?" Nyamo was getting ready to leave on her own. After Gaz and Keitaro had returned to Koh Tao they had simply told the islander girl that they believed Sarah was en route to Roanapur and that they were going after her. She did not try to insist on going with them; while skilled in self-defense fighting, Nyamo was in no way suited or trained to accompany them and she knew it. Instead, she was going to make herself scarce in case anyone on either side of the law came looking for survivors of the pirate raid on the island. Gidget was going with her, as the men were getting ready to leave from the airport for Chumphon once they left the Higgins boat with the shipyard on Koh Samui that had leased it to them for the expedition.
"Everything ready. Just checking to make sure. Have food and water in boat already." Nyamo answered in her customary laconic style, gesturing toward the sailboat tied up alongside; Seta had once joked that the dusky girl made Clint Eastwood seem like a chatterbox in comparison. In reality Nyamo was savant level intelligent, at least with languages, but she spoke in broken English as part of her façade as a simple islander girl,
"I wish you would take more money, Nyamo-chan." At Seta's insistence and over her protests, the young girl was given her whole year's pay even though the expedition had come to such an early and abrupt end. Even so, the $500 American she had received seemed like a pitiful amount for what had happened and what had almost had happened to her.
"Can live for two years on money you and Mista Seta give me. Don't need more." And that was the truth; given that Nyamo mostly lived off the land and the sea, the only times she spent money was to replace broken essential items, or on the very rare luxury, like chocolate or new (or truthfully, used good condition) clothes. She usually bartered for most items with fresh fish or tropical fruit. She had to be very careful though; spending too much time in the local towns left her vulnerable to criminals, both male and female, that would find a use for a young child, let alone a blossoming teen girl.
The closest call Nyamo had ever had was when she had accepted a piece of chocolate from a friendly woman at a marketplace. A minute or two after eating it, she began to feel tired and sleepy, almost falling to the ground as she was walking away. Moments later the woman and a young man grabbed her by the arms and tried to drag her into a darkened alley. The only thing that saved her was adrenaline; panicking, Nyamo drew her fishing knife from her waistband under her loose sleeveless shirt and slashed blindly, catching the young man just behind the knee and cutting deep. Swinging away from the now screaming man, Nyamo instinctively slashed again at the hand rushing toward her face and lopped two fingers off the woman's hand. Gushing blood and shrieking, the woman fell back and Nyamo took off running, looking like a drunk after downing a six-pack, but she was able to get clear. Barely making it to her boat, she drank almost a liter of sea water and then forced herself to throw up, trying to purge the drug from her stomach. After only a few moments to try and keep her head from spinning, she untied her boat and took off for the ocean. Luckily the tide was going out, so it did not take any great boating skills to get as far from that port as possible, but the gods were smiling on her that day. After that very close call, Nyamo made it a rule not to consume any food or drink that she did not open or prepare herself, and she never went near that port again.
"I'm sorry, Nyamo-chan." Blinking, the girl watched as Keitaro lowered himself to his knees before her and bowed. "I know now that I frightened you with what I did last night, and that has ruined what friendship we had. Please forgive me for my thoughtlessness."
"Not for me to forgive, Mista Taro. You no hurt me, must say sorry to spirits you offend. Summoning very dangerous, to peoples around, to summoner. Can cause great harm, sometime monster or demon come out, many people die." Nyamo had a bit of a haunted look appear on her face; one of the worst memories of her life was when she and her grandfather had stumbled on the aftermath of a summoning. The spirit was long gone, but the bloodshed they had found still troubled her dreams.
"This wasn't like that. And I am not just saying that. This spirit and I have a certain history together." Disbelief was now the reigning emotion on Nyamo's face. "Do you mind if I tell you a story? It will take a few minutes, you may want to sit down." Nodding, the girl closed her duffle bag and sat on it, while Keitaro moved from his knees to the seiza position.
"A great many years back in my homeland, there was a samurai named Taro. He did not come from a noble family, in fact his family was rather poor. But his family believed in doing their duty protecting others, and Taro himself loved learning. He would rather read and do calligraphy and even write poetry instead of drinking or fighting like other bushi, low rank samurai, and of course the others did not like him for it. This was not to say that Taro was not a warrior, in fact he was a fairly good fighter, but he would rather read than brawl, and the other samurai thought him weak for it. His captain did not like him either, but because Taro could write and do math and do impressive calligraphy the captain used him as a scribe for their battle group, having him do things that he thought were below the dignity of a real warrior.
One day the captain sent him on an errand to deliver a message to their daimyo, the feudal lord at his castle a couple of days ride away through the mountains. Normally he would have sent had one of his lieutenants do this, but there was going to be a festival in the nearby town that night, and he was better friends with his officers than with his scribe, so he sent Taro instead.
Since he knew this trip was going to take a while, Taro prepared for the trip, taking water and some rice as well as a heavy coat. The other samurai laughed as he rode out of the camp since Taro was so bundled up, and he was a poor rider to boot. But the truth was that Taro was a kind man, and he did not drive the horses he rode to exhaustion like the others did, so he would ride slowly. Since he was riding slow it would take him three days to reach the castle, but the captain did not care, he would be drinking with his officers at the festival and not out in the cold nights with just a horse for company.
The first night was not bad. Taro tethered his horse securely and bundled himself in his coat and slept under a tree. The next day he continued riding and this was where the first disaster struck; he was attacked by bandits. It was three of them, and they had only spears and clubs, but they thought they could make short work of him. But Taro was a skilled fighter wearing light laminated leather scale armor, and was able to fend them off with his sword, killing them all. But this is where the second disaster struck; during the attack one of the legs of his horse was broken, and Taro had to put the poor animal out of its misery. This meant Taro was now two days ride from his camp, on foot, in the mountains with the weather getting colder and colder, and possibly more bandits about. But Taro would not fail to complete his duty. He packed as much rice as he could in his coat pockets as well as the message tube and the scroll inside, took one of the spears of the bandits, and started walking toward the lord's castle. Since he was on foot it would take twice the time it would have taken him on horseback, but Taro kept walking.
The second night was much like the first, Taro was able to sleep bundled in his coat under a tree next to the road, but then he heard something to strike fear in the heart of any man; wolves howling in the night. They had been drawn by the spilled blood of the bandits and the horse, and now they were following Taro. Rather than wait for them, he started walking on the road again, since there was an almost full moon out and he could see well enough. And he did so for the next three days and nights, walking on the road until he was too tired to walk straight, then nap for a bit in a tree or on top of a boulder before continuing.
It was on the sixth day that the storm came in. At first it was just a light snowfall, but then it got thicker and thicker, with the winds getting stronger and stronger, until finally Taro could not see in front of him further than arm's reach. He had to guide himself with his spear, poking the ground to make sure that he stayed on the road, because he knew that if he got lost in the woods in this weather he would die. His rice had run out the day before, he could still hear the wolves behind, but still he walked.
On the seventh day, Taro kept walking, not stopping anymore because he could hear the howls get louder and louder. He didn't know if it was the wolves or the winds, but he knew he had to keep moving, because to stop was to die. He could hardly walk in a straight line, he could no longer feel his feet, his hands were half-frozen around the shaft of the spear, but he kept walking.
It was on the evening of the seventh day that he saw the figure on the road. It took him a few moments to make her out, as she was wearing a white robe, and it looked like there was snow covering her hair. But finally he got close and saw that her hair was actually white, her youthful face was pale, and her eyes had the only color visible; a deep dark red.
"You look lost, samurai-san. It is much too cold to be out this night, come to my home and rest a while," the woman said.
"I cannot, fair lady. I am on a mission for my captain and I cannot stop. It is only once my duty is complete that I can rest." Taro was exhausted and half delirious, but he knew who was standing before him, and he knew what would happen if he were to accept her offer.
"You look sick and exhausted, surely you will die if you continue like this," the woman replied. "Rest a while, then continue on your journey. Surely your captain would understand."
"I am afraid my captain is a stern and unyielding man. He gave me this mission to complete, and it is my duty to go on. I believe it is not much farther that I need to go on, then I can rest." Taro was wavering on his feet as he stood before the woman; he needed to start moving soon or he would not be able to keep going.
"Would you die to continue on this mission? Knowing that should you die the mission would not be completed, that your comrades would not mourn your passing, that your captain would mock you?" The woman stepped closer to him, inside of arm's reach now.
"My duty is my honor, and my honor is my duty. Without one I cannot have the other. Even if I should pass on, I would do so knowing that my honor is intact, and that is what matters." Taro was starting to tremble; the cold was passing through his coat now that he was standing still.
The woman stared at him for a long moment, then stepped to the side. Taro started walking again, but paused when the woman raised her hand to his face and stroked his cheek. "Know this, honorable warrior. Duty and honor is important, but not more so than life. Life is a gift from the kami themselves. Life without honor is not life at all, and honor alone can be used to hurt lives. Remember, one day you will be held to account for your actions, and you cannot use the excuse of honor or duty to hide behind." The woman leaned forward and kissed Taro on the cheek she had stroked, bringing a slight sensation that went throughout his entire body. "Until we meet again," the woman whispered, and when Taro turned to look at her she was nowhere to be seen.
On the clear morning of the eighth day, the sentries posted at the castle watched as a ragged figure slowly walked up the road to the gate. His coat and hood were covered in snow, he was using a spear to help him walk, and his pace was such that they wondered if he was going to topple over. Finally the figure reached the gate, and after looking at the gate for a long moment, tilted his head back and cried out, "Open the gate! I bear a message from my captain for the daimyo!"
Once the sentries opened the gate, the guards and their sergeant could hardly believe their eyes. The man before them had a face gaunt from hunger; his cold darkened hands were clenched around the shaft of his spear, his robes below his coat were torn and muddy from walking on the road, and he was swaying on his feet. The sergeant, not an unkind man, walked up to Taro and said, "Let me take the message to the lord, you can rest here." But Taro looked at him with a hazy expression and said, "My duty is not complete until I hand this message to the lord. Please show me the way."
Seeing that the man before him was serious, he turned and guided Taro toward the castle. By this time, all the samurai and the common soldiers and the servants had heard about this ragged messenger, and were standing in the courtyard and the windows and fell silent as the man slowly limped toward the door of the castle, where the lord and his officers were standing. The sergeant walked alongside him, keeping him in sight so as to assist him if needed but otherwise letting him be.
Finally, Taro stopped in front of the lord and his officers, and to everyone's surprise and shock, slowly dropped to his knees on the snowy muddy ground and bowed deeply. Reaching into his coat everyone tensed, thinking he was drawing a weapon, but instead he pulled out a message tube, marked with his captain's family crest, it's seal unbroken.
"My lord, I come bearing a message for you from my captain. Please accept my apologies for being so late; I will accept any punishment you give me." Taro raised the tube with both hands toward the lord, but kept his eyes cast down to not look at him directly.
Slowly moving forward, the lord took the tube and then stepped back. And it was not a moment too soon; once he let go of the message tube, Taro's arms slowly lowered to his sides, and then he fell face forward to the ground. With a shout, the surrounding guards rushed forward and turned him over. The sergeant dropped down beside him and tore open his coat, revealing his armor and swords beneath it. The surrounding crowd was shocked; given his behavior and deference, everyone had though he had been a commoner messenger, not a bushi. The sergeant unbuckled the armor and pressed his ear to Taro's chest and after a moment announced, "He still alive, my lord. His heartbeat is there but weak."
The lord looked up and toward his chief lieutenant. "Summon my healers, do all that you can for him. Treat him as an honored guest, put him in the officers' quarters. Move!" At that command, the guards picked Taro up and took him to the officers' quarters at a run, while others ran off shouting for the healers. Everyone else wandered off, leaving only the lord and his officers in the courtyard.
"My lord, was it an important message?" one of his lieutenants asked, watching as the lord opened the tube and read the message scroll inside. After a moment the lord closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly before raising it again.
"Yes. Very important." The lord handed the message to the lieutenant, turned and walked into the keep. After quickly going through the scroll, the lieutenant shook his head in disbelief before turning and following after his lord.
It took Taro almost two weeks to recover. Thanks to the healers he did not lose any fingers or toes from the frostbite he suffered, and he was underweight for a time after that. Once he was on his feet again and starting to train so as to regain his strength, he was summoned to appear before the lord.
"I have a mission for you," the lord told Taro shortly after he had entered the room, lowered himself to his knees and bowed deeply to the daimyo sitting before him, only the sergeant of the guard nearby. "You are to carry my response to your captain's message back to your camp. Since time is of the essence here, you will be provided a horse and an escort. Your captain will then give you further instructions. You will leave at daybreak tomorrow. Any questions?"
"My lord, my armor seems to have been misplaced. Could you have your men ask around to see if it can be located?" After Taro awoke in the officers' quarters, he found himself dressed in a light clean sleeping robe. Once he was able to move around, he was given replacement robes, since his own were too stained and torn to be of use anymore. His two swords and tanto had been on a rack in his room, cleaned, polished and sharpened to an inch of their existence, but his armor had disappeared.
"I will tell my men to look for it. Meanwhile, I will loan you a set of my guard's armor, once we find yours it will be sent to you. Anything else?" the lord asked.
"No, thank you my lord." Bowing deeply, Taro awaited his dismissal.
"One more thing. Draw your family crest, I will have it applied to your shoulder piece." The lord gestured to some paper and a brush and ink set on a table beside him.
"You honor me, my lord." Shuffling on his knees to the table, Taro quickly drew the crest and turned back to the lord.
"Dismissed," the lord said curtly. Watching as Taro left the room, the lord picked up the paper, noting the elegant brushstrokes before handing it to the sergeant to take to the armory.
The next day, still settling into his new armor, his family crest freshly painted at the junction of his right shoulder and upper arm, Taro was surprised to see at the gate the sergeant and four other men, all low rank bushi, all armed and armored and on horses. In turn, the assembled men were surprised to see Taro walk up wearing his old coat over his armor, his spear in his hand. Two other horses stood nearby, one with an empty saddle and the other loaded with supplies for the assembled men.
"Good morning, I was told you would have a horse for me?" Taro asked mildly. The troop of men looked at each other in surprise; most samurai in charge of a mission would demand the best horse and try to establish dominance over those of lower rank. Instead this man acted more like an apprentice scholar or even a monk than a warrior.
"Yes sir," The sergeant gestured toward the rider-less horse. "If I may, I will hold your spear for you." Taking hold of the spear, the men watched as Taro swung onto his horse and took the weapon back. "Why a spear, sir?"
"Because when you are fighting it is better that you touch your foe before they can touch you." Taro replied in a deadpan voice. "Besides, that spear and this coat saved my life." The two men stared at each other for a long moment before Taro spoke again. "Aren't you going to lead us out, Sergeant?"
The sergeant blinked twice before responding. "Your mission, your command," his voice suggesting that it should be obvious.
Taro blinked as well. "You out-rank me, Sergeant."
"Your mission, sir." The other man raised an eyebrow as he replied.
"Fine. And don't call me sir, I am not an officer." Turning before the sergeant could respond, Taro called out, "Fall in, two abreast, supply horse in the middle, Corporal, you take charge of the supplies." The next ranking samurai moved alongside the pack horse, tying that animal's long lead rope to his saddle. Two troopers set up ahead of the pair, and the last two behind, all spaced a couple of lengths between them. The sergeant moved to the head of the group and moved over slightly to the left, leaving the lead spot open to Taro. As he waved to the guard to get them to open the large gates, the sergeant pulled something out of his pack and handed it to Taro as he moved alongside him.
"If you are going to be carrying that spear sir, you may want put this on it." Taro looked down to see that he was holding a pendant with the lord's crest, the same as the crest painted on the front of all their breastplates. Tying it to the shaft of the spear just below the blade, Taro set the butt of the shaft next to his left foot in the stirrup, leaving the pendant to wave freely just above his head.
"Escort, attention." Although the order was softly given, all the men snapped to a straight sitting posture on their horses. "At a walk, on my lead, forward." Taro gave a soft tap with his foot into the side of the horse, and the trained animal started walking, at about the speed of a man on foot. The other horses followed and soon the procession of men made its way through the gates, everyone's eyes on them, unused to seeing mounted samurai riding at less than a gallop.
Once they were clear of the gate, Taro looked over at the sergeant. "How much time were we given to complete this mission, Sergeant?"
"We need to return no later than a week from today, sir." The sergeant looked at him sideways.
"Very well, no need to tire the horses needlessly. Hold speed at a canter." Most samurai on missions rode at a gallop, about three quarters the speed of a full-out run. A canter was half a gallop, while a walk was a quarter of that. Taro had seen too many horses ridden almost to death by unfeeling samurai to do so if he had a choice. "And don't call me sir."
"Yes, sir, of course." Now it was Taro's turn to look at him sideways as they rode down the road, gradually leaving the sight of the guards posted in front of the castle, as well as the figure watching them from a window near the top of the keep.
After three days ride the group reached the camp. The sentries cried out a challenge, bringing the troop to a halt. Recognizing the crest on their armor as that of the personal guard of the daimyo, they hurriedly pulled aside the barricade blocking the path and let the men pass. By the time the troop had reached the captain's tent, half the camp had come out to witness the spectacle, unused to seeing elite warriors such as these, all wearing matching crimson and gold trimmed armor, all emblazoned with the lord's triple hollyhock crest. All except for one samurai, who for some reason was wearing an old ragged coat open over the armor, a hood covering his head rather than a helmet while holding a spear with the lord's pendant attached.
The captain came out of the tent and looked expectantly toward the head of the group in front of him. "You have something for me, Sergeant?" directing his attention to the warrior with rank markings on his armored shoulders, his voice gruff but marginally polite; it was not a good idea to insult men who spent their time in close proximity of the lord. To his surprise, it was the man next to him who answered.
"Good morning, my captain," The hooded man passed his spear to the sergeant and slid off his horse gingerly. Walking up the captain, the man gave the abbreviated bow given when in full armor or on the battlefield. It was only until the man straightened after being acknowledged and pushed back his hood that everyone present recognized Taro under the old coat.
"We thought you were dead, what became of you? And why are you wearing that armor?" asked the captain, both anger and disrespect in his voice, visibly not happy to see his scribe again.
"I was attacked by bandits on my way to the lord's castle, I managed to fend them off but my horse was badly hurt, and I had to give it the gift of mercy. I continued on foot, but it took longer than expected since there was a snow storm for part of it. Eventually I reached the castle and gave your message to the lord, completing the mission you gave me. Our lord graciously let me rest at the castle and then gave me the mission to bring his reply to you, and loaning me this armor. He awaits your reply." Reaching into his coat, Taro pulled out a message tube and with both hands passed it to the captain, who rudely snatched it from him. Cracking open the seal, the captain pulled out the scroll and read it, his face quickly becoming red with anger and embarrassment. Crumpling the scroll in his hand, the captain made to turn away when a sound stopped him, the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Turning back, the captain looked past Taro and saw that the sergeant of the escort was looking steadily at him, the sound having come from him. His head tilted slightly, the look on his face let the captain know that the sergeant knew at least part of the orders in the scroll.
Opening the scroll again, the captain began to read the message inside out loud, his voice carrying to all those present. "To Captain Hiashi Aoyama, commander Fourth Battle Group, Army of the East. Receipt of your message regarding your groups winter food supply acknowledged. Request for leave to spend winter months with family acknowledged and denied." Here there was a slight shifting of the collected troops around them. While it was not uncommon for officers to be given leave to visit their families, to do so to presumably avoid spending the winter in rough field conditions while their men were out there was not looked upon kindly.
The captain continued speaking. "Attention to orders, first part: Bushi Taro Urashima is hereby detached from his position as scribe of the Fourth Battle Group and attached to the Main Army Headquarters Group." The stir these words caused was nothing compared to what came next. "Bushi Urashima is hereby appointed to the Main Army Command Staff." It was everything that could be done to not shout in disbelief; Taro was now to work in close proximity to their lord, in his central headquarters, and accompany him in battle along with his command staff and his personal guard. But the captain was still reading the message.
"Attention to orders, second part; while on a mission to deliver a message to his daimyo, Bushi Taro Urashima fended off a bandit attack without injury, but losing his horse in the battle. Continuing his mission on foot through the mountains in freezing cold weather, Bushi Urashima continued walking for six days, running out of food and with little rest, part of that during a heavy snow storm. On the eighth day of his mission Bushi Urashima reached the castle of his lord and, refusing assistance, personally presented the message to the lord before collapsing from hunger, exposure, and exhaustion." The crowd stirred again; this account of Taro's mission was much more detailed and descriptive of the hardships he had endured than his own account.
"For his great dedication in completing his assigned mission above what was expected, and for doing so without complaint or desire for reward, Bushi Taro Urashima is hereby appointed to the position of junior adjutant on the Main Army Headquarters Command Staff. His rank shall be raised from Lance Corporal, Cavalry, to that of…" here the captain paused, visibly not wanting to say the following words, "Subaltern, Command Staff, with a stipend of fifty koku a year." Here everyone did shout; Taro had just been promoted from a lowly cavalry soldier and scribe to junior officer, although the lowest rank, with a tenfold increase in pay.
"Upon receipt and public reading of these orders, Subaltern Urashima is to collect his personal effects from his former unit and return to the Main Army Headquarters to take up his new duties. By my hand, and with my seal, Lord Ieyasu Tokugawa, commanding general, Army of the East."
After the captain lowered the scroll, visibly making an effort not to crumple it again, he and Taro stared at each other for a long moment, the rest of the men silent around them. Finally speaking first, Taro asked, "Is there any message you wish for me to carry to our lord, my captain?"
"Message received and acknowledged. Nothing further." The captain's lips were pressed so thin they were nearly colorless.
"Yes, my captain. With your permission, I will go and collect my possessions, then leave for our lord's castle." Taro had a polite smile on his face as he spoke.
"When you didn't come back after two weeks, we presumed you dead. Your possessions were split up among the men." The captain's lips curled up the tiniest bit. "Your pay was put into the officer's mess account." Otherwise known as the drinking fund.
The slight smile on Taro's face slid off. Expressionless the two men looked at each other. "And my books and scrolls?" Taro asked politely.
"Burned." The captain's lips curled up a bit more.
Taro looked at the captain for a long moment. All the while, a cold wind started blowing around them, swirling around the two men until the younger man spoke again. "Then it looks like there is nothing left for me to do here. By your leave, captain?" Taro asked flatly The more observant of the men around them noticed that he did not use the polite term 'my captain' in his question.
"Granted." The captain watched as Taro gave the battlefield bow again, only this time he did not wait for a response before straightening and turning toward his horse, which was about as rude as a bushi could be in this situation and get away with.
"Urashima." At the captain's rude call, Taro stopped and turned his head slightly to look back. All around them, the mounted escorts and the surrounding men's hands started reaching for weapons, the feeling of impending violence in the air. "Until we meet again." There was an unspoken promise in those words, ones that everyone around them understood.
"We will, Captain Aoyama. We will." Looking forward again, Taro walked to and mounted his horse, taking his spear back from the sergeant. "Corporal, take one man and the pack horse, go the supply stores and draw rations for three days. Meet us at the front gate." Even though Taro spoke in a soft even voice, the hair on the back of everyone's neck started to stand. "And Corporal," the bushi paused in the midst of wheeling his horse around. "Do it at a walk." The trooper gave a sharp 'hai' and got his horse moving, the other bushi and pack horse following.
Looking over the silent men around them that he had served with yet had not won the respect of, Taro clicked his tongue and nudged his horse with his heel, getting it in motion with the other horsemen following. Wheeling about he and the rest of the troop made their way to the entrance of the camp; minutes later the two men and the pack horse rejoined them. Taro silently rode out of the camp, the other men falling into formation with him, and then increasing speed to a canter once they were on the wide path.
After they came to a winding downhill path the troop reduced speed to a walk, and as Taro rode with no expression on his face, the sergeant rode a bit closer to his side so they could talk. "You know, men that won't bid you farewell aren't friends." The sergeant said laconically.
"I thought I had a friend or two." While there had been one or two men that nodded to him as he rode out of the camp, no one said anything aloud.
"Maybe you do. Someone passed this to me as we were leaving. Escort, halt." As the troop stopped in the middle of the road, the sergeant gave Taro a medium sized cloth sack. Tucking his spear into the crook of his arm, Taro opened the bag and froze for a moment before reaching in and taking out a scroll from the dozen inside, recognizing it as one of his, the ones that the captain had said had been burned. Seeing a small tied off bag inside, he took it out and felt some coins inside. "I'm guessing those are yours?" The sergeant asked.
"Yes, they are." Everything was there, his letters from his family, his poetry, even his copy of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'. Seeing a small slip of rice paper tucked into the top of the coin bag, Taro pulled it out and read the very crudely charcoal drawn ideograms aloud. "Save stuff when burn. Will steal your money from drunk officers, you buy new men round. Be better officer than them." The note was unsigned.
"I guess I did have a friend or two." The smile on Taro's face was much more genuine now than the one he normally wore, the sergeant realized.
"You know, I saw a sake shop on our way here that's a couple of leagues ahead of us now. You can buy us a round there." Looking over at the sergeant's half smile, he then saw the full smiles on the other men of the escort.
"One bottle. For all of us. We're still on duty." Taro watched as the sergeant chuckled and nodded his agreement. "By the way, I don't think I caught your name, Sergeant?"
"No, you didn't. Hideo Horaki, Sergeant of the Life Guard, at your service." The sergeant gave a short bow from atop of the horse.
"Aren't you a little senior to be traipsing around the woods, Sergeant?" The Life Guard was a daimyo's private bodyguard, some of his most trusted men. With his rank, Hideo was hatamoto, allowed to be close to the lord with weapons.
"I merely do as my lord commands. He says go, I go. He says fight, I fight. He says jump, out the window I go." Taro gave a startled laugh, while the sergeant grinned and the other men shook their heads, having heard this joke before.
"Taro Urashima, Junior Adjutant, Command Staff. A pleasure to meet you, Sergeant." Taro gave a bow in return, matching the one he had just received, which surprised the men; it was a bow between equals, not of a superior to a lower rank.
"You're a Subaltern, you don't have to match bows." Hideo was surprised by the answer.
"I'm a scribe, not a combat officer." Hideo turned to look at Taro incredulously.
"Our lord didn't give you your new job just because you have pretty calligraphy, sir." Hideo knew this better than almost everyone; he had been the one to question Taro about his trip through the mountains to Lord Tokugawa's castle. The fact that the bushi had been not quite lucid when he first woke up after medical treatment meant he had been more honest and forthcoming about his hardships than he would normally be. All of this had been reported to the daimyo, who had then given the orders detailed in the just delivered message.
"Don't call me sir." Taro decided not to argue about the point.
"Yes sir, of course sir." The new subaltern looked at the older sergeant out of the corner of his eye.
"Just for that, you get to drink from the bottle last, right after the pack horse." Clicking his tongue and nudging his horse, Taro started ahead, the other men of the escort laughing uproariously, the sergeant chucking sheepishly.
That night once the troop had bedded down, Taro sat beside the campfire, poking it randomly with a stick to keep it from dying out and to keep the chill back. No one had gotten drunk from the bottle they shared, but it certainly did not make it hard to fall asleep that night. Everyone took turns staying awake for an hour on watch, and now it was Taro's turn, who's insistence on sharing this duty surprised everyone, especially after his promotion.
"Was it what you expected, samurai-san?" Taro's head snapped up to see a woman sitting across the fire, a woman with long white hair, white robes, and dark red eyes. "Was the rewards for completing your duties to your liking?"
"I don't do my duty for rewards, fair lady. I do it to protect those I care about and for honor." Taro was surprised to see the snow spirit across from him; while it was cold this night, it was not snowing the way it was the last time he saw her.
"Ah, but what is duty? What is honor?" The spirit picked up a small branch from the pile of wood next to the fire. Rubbing her finger slowly across one end lengthwise, Taro could see strips of wood start peeling off, just from the contact of the pad of her finger, not the nail.
"Honor is rules people live by to help protect the weaker from the stronger. Duty is the roles people take on for a cause greater than themselves." Taro had decided to answer the questions as though the spirit was serious about asking them.
"But there are many people that use honor as a shield. And a shield can be used to harm as well as to protect." Having sharpened the branch to a point, the spirit flipped it around and started on the other end. "And even more people forsake their duty for their own selfish reasons."
"But I know I am honorable and dutiful. That should be sufficient." Taro watched as the spirit looked at him steadily.
"And what if that honor and duty cause you to hurt people? Those that are innocent, those that cannot protect themselves?"
"Then I pray to the gods above for guidance, make a decision, and follow through. In the end, I answer only to my lords, both on earth and in the heavens, and I hope that I will be judged and found correct," Taro replied.
The spirit looked at the young man across from her. Too many men at arms in this land used their strength and privilege to hurt others, to slake their desires, to simply destroy for its own sake. But this man was different, he had almost no desires of his own but to help other people and to make them happy, truly a man out of his time.
"You are very interesting, Taro Urashima. I will be watching you." Taro stiffened slightly; that generally was not a good thing.
The spirit tossed the stick into the fire and stood up, and Taro realized she was about to leave. Without thinking, he called out, "Wait!" Seeing the spirit pause, he continued. "What is your name, fair lady?"
Hesitating for a moment, the spirit thought about it. If he knew her name, her true name, he would be able to summon her. But she decided to answer anyway.
"You may call me Yukiko no Yamamiya." Meaning 'Snow Child of the Mountain Palace.' "Until we meet again," With that the wind swirled around the fire, causing the flames to leap up into the air, and once they settled, the spirit was gone.
"We will, Lady Yukiko. We will." With that, Taro picked up his stick and started poking the fire again,
Keitaro stopped speaking, looking at the sun now a fair distance above the horizon. It seemed like he had spoken for a lot longer than he had planned. Looking back at Nyamo, he could see that she had been enthralled by his story, her eyes still fixed on him.
"What happened with Taro after that?" Nyamo asked.
"Taro continued serving Lord Tokugawa as an adjutant, accompanying him on his campaign. Since he was attached to the Headquarters Group, he did not see a lot of combat himself. Eventually he married and had a son, but then he died shortly after the Battle of Sekigahara. His son inherited his rank and title, and continued serving the Tokugawa. I really don't have time to tell you the story about that, you should have already left by now." The original plan was for Nyamo to sail off before her boat could be seen with the Higgins boat, but it was full daylight now.
"And the spirit lady?" Nyamo was most interested in her, since she was the reason Keitaro had started telling her this story.
"Lady Yukiko has been a part of the Urashima family ever since." In fact it was much more complicated than that, but that was a story for another day. "When in times of need and for a righteous reason, she will assist us. That is why I called on her last night, to help me break my chi blocking seals." He finished saying.
"Chi seals?" Nyamo watched as Keitaro raised his arm so the inside of his forearm was visible. After a moment, seals began to glow on the skin, but unlike the night before the seals were not interconnected and solid, there were various breaks on the lines, which now resembled stylized chain links.
"When I was training to control my chi, we realized that I had too much to easily control, especially when I was doing things that only required small amounts of energy. The seals were put on to restrict the amount of chi I could use. The problem is they have to be fairly solid to work, so they are not easy to take off, at least quickly." That was not the only reason for the seals, but Keitaro did not want to spook Nyamo with the full story.
The young girl nodded, then looked up at the sky herself before looking back. "Time for me to go." Nyamo stood up from her seat on the duffle bag, then picked it up and carefully dropped it in her sailboat.
Gaz stepped up from where he had been leaning against the control panel of the Higgins boat. "It was good to know you, Nyamo. Hopefully we can meet again." The British merc reached out and clapped the girl on the shoulder, only to be surprised when she briefly hugged him.
"Good to know you, Mista Gaz." Nyamo turned at looked at Keitaro, who was creakily standing up after sitting for so long in the seiza position. With him she gave him a full hug, laying her head against his chest for a moment. After she stepped back, she could see that the young Japanese man was holding a book that he passed to her.
"I know you liked reading my books, that is one that survived the fire. I want you to have it." Turning the book over Nyamo could see the English title along the spine – The Old Man and The Sea.
"Do book have happy ending?" This was a running joke between the two, since most of the books that Keitaro read in his studies for the Todai exams were serious literature, which mostly did not have happy endings, which the otherwise hyper-serious girl preferred in her reading.
"Not exactly. You want me to spoil it?" Seeing the girl nod, he continued. "The old man comes across the biggest fish in his life after three months of not catching anything, and fights it for three days and nights. He finally catches it, but he is followed by sharks on his way home and they eat most of it."
"Sad story. Why not old man let fish go, why fight three days? Lose fish anyway." Nyamo drummed her fingers on the cover of the book, which had an illustration of a marlin leaping out of the water.
"The old man's got to be the old man, the fish has got to be the fish. We have to be who we are in this world, no matter what." Nyamo could see the double meaning in what Keitaro had just said, and nodded solemnly. Seeing a small card sticking out slightly from between the pages of the book, she pulled it out, seeing a phone number written on it as well as some words in English.
"If you ever get in serious trouble and you need to get away, call that number and ask for Hina Urashima, or call a Japanese consular officer and say you are a friend of the Urashima clan. You have to use those exact words. Tell either Granny Hina or the consular officer that you need to get out and where you are. They will send out someone to get you." Both Nyamo and Gaz's eyes widened; what Keitaro had just said was a fairly large promise.
Stepping up Nyamo hugged him again, this time squeezing him tight. After a moment she stepped back and gave him a bow, which he returned and matched. "You good man, Mista Taro. Never forget." She said simply before turning and sliding over the rail into her sail boat next to Gidget, who was already on board.
Moving next to the rail, Keitaro reached out and stroked Gidget on the head, causing the giant tortoise to purr in response. "It was good to meet you, Gidget. Keep an eye on Nyamo-chan, will you?" The turtle 'myuh'd in response, sounding almost insulted that he would doubt her. "And thank you for helping last night." Gidget 'myuh'd again, this time sounding much more solemn.
Stepping back from the rail, Keitaro looked over at Nyamo, and seeing her nod, released the knots of the ropes holding the sail boat to the larger one. Once the smaller boat had floated clear, the girl deployed the sail on the mast, and soon all the two men on the boat could see was the silhouette of the boat as it sailed toward the sunrise, the shape of both the girl and the tortoise's head barely visible.
"How much of that story was true, Keitaro?" Gaz's question finally broke the silence.
"About as accurate as a four hundred year old family story involving legendary historical figures can be." Keitaro moved over and sat in the gunner's tub next to the control panel.
"Even the spirits and demons?" Gaz put his hand on the ignition key but did not turn it yet.
"Especially them. After what you saw last night you doubt them?" Seeing Gaz shake his head reluctantly, Keitaro continued. "And Lady Yukiko does not like to be called a demon. You might want to remember that for the future."
Gaz opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it without saying anything. Turning the key, the engine started, and with a spin of the steering wheel, the Higgins boat started on it's way toward Nathon and the other mercs waiting there for them.
Omake 2 – 25 centimeters
Omake A/N: 25 centimeters is about 10 inches.
Voron Technical Group (Nikolai's Company)
Chumphon Airport,
Chumphon Province, Thailand
early evening
(fourth day after pirate raid)
Noriyasu Seta really should have been in a hospital. Even though the bullet wound in his chest did not seriously damage his organs or lungs, he needed better treatment than could have been found in a converted aircraft hanger. But he had insisted in staying put with Nikolai's merc group, saying that he wanted to help with the mission planning, and since the hanger was much more secure than a public Thai hospital would have been, the resident merc medic Sue reluctantly agreed. She did insist that Seta be taken to a clinic to have his broken leg checked, reset and a cast reapplied that morning, which as a result of the rather good drugs he had been given caused the Todai professor to be in a rather silly mood.
While Seta and Sue had been at the clinic, Keitaro and Jerry had gone into nearby Chumphon to do some clothes shopping. Most of Keitaro's clothes had survived the pirate raid, but they were decidedly too casual for what they had planned. The burly Russian volunteered to go with him since he was familiar with the town, only for Sue to throw a beer can at his head, yelling that he was familiar mostly with the bars and whorehouses. Jerry deftly caught the full can and popped it open in one motion, drinking it down before flipping it into the trash and waving goodbye with another motion, Keitaro following behind him. Gaz and Nikolai stayed behind at the hanger to make some phone calls and brainstorm mission ideas.
Sue and Seta had gotten back to the hanger first, so they had been hanging out with the other two men on the battered couches in Nikolai's office. Seta had been telling some story about an expedition in the Philippines when the door to the office crashed open and a figure dressed in a sharp dark blue suit and tie wearing black shades stepped inside, only to stop when he saw three handguns pointed at his head. Slowly raising his hands, the man just said one word, both a question and a statement; "Friendly?"
"Who the hell are you?! And how the hell did you get in here?!" Nikolai growled.
"Well, your door sticks, so I had to tap it with my foot to open it. And Jerry told me to come in, he had to grab something from the trunk of the car." Raising one hand to his face, the man slowly removed his shades to reveal bloodstained eyes. "Do I really look that different?"
"Ronin! Don't do that! Especially around people with guns!" Gaz lowered his pistol, and the two Russians followed suit. He would have said more, but the sound of giggling made everyone turn toward the door. Jerry was leaning against the doorframe, holding a liquor bottle in one hand and a twelve-pack of beer in the other.
"You should have seen the looks on your faces, all of you!" Jerry giggled again, only to have a full beer can bounce off his forehead and stagger him back; with his hands full he had been unable to catch or ward off the can like last time.
"Mudak! We could have shot him!" Sue turned from the now wobbly merc to Keitaro. "And you! What the hell happened to your eyes?"
The younger man shrugged. "I strained my chi system a couple of days ago, they have been like this ever since. Gaz looked at them, we figure it will clear up in a few days," Keitaro answered.
"Chi system?" Sue looked from Keitaro to Gaz.
"Show her." Gaz said shortly, taking another beer from the cooler and cracking it open.
Keitaro raised his hand and held it flat in front of him. After a moment a blue sphere of light formed and started to spin. "Chi is the life energy produced by all living beings, animals, plants, and humans. When it is outside the body like this and visible it is called ki."
The Russian had taken a step back at the light show, but now Sue stepped up to him, her hand up and index finger extended. Seeing Keitaro nod, she touched the sphere with the tip of her finger, feeling a slight tingle that went from her finger through her hand and up her arm before she pulled her hand back.
"Chi and ki are used in martial arts, but if you have too much of it when you start training to use it messes up your fine control, sometimes they put seals on you to act as either a partial or a full block. I had to strain my seals the other day, and that massively stressed my body, including my blood pressure, I guess. That's probably why my eyes bled.
"What does this do in martial arts?" Sue was still staring at the rotating blue sphere.
"Makes you stronger, faster. And sometimes you can do stuff like this." Jerking his hand to the side, away from Sue, the sphere flew off his hand and popped with a slight paf, sounding much like a weak firecracker. "I thought you would have known about this already."
"Why?" Sue looked back toward Keitaro's face.
"Because of your strength and your training as a medic. Do you think it's normal for you to pick up a full grown man like Seta-sensei like he was a two year old?" Keitaro watched as Sue froze in place. "You are probably an unconscious chi user, that is not so uncommon. One of my girlfriends is like that, she can go up a rope wearing a full pack using only her hands to pull her up."
"Wait, *one* of your girlfriends?" Sue locked onto one part of his sentence and was starting to become visibly upset.
"I was dating two girls at the same time. And yes, they knew about each other." Keitaro could see the anger leave the busty blonde's face, although she was visibly not happy.
"You dog! Two girls at the same time and they knew!? Tell me your secret!" Jerry had put the beer and bottle down, and was now saluting him with an open beer can.
Looking toward the white haired Russian, the young ronin thought for a moment before replying. "A 25 centimeter dick," Keitaro said in a deadpan voice, causing Jerry to spit out the beer he had just drank and the other Russians and Seta to roar with laughter.
"That being said, I should do a full physical on you to see if you strained anything else. Let me grab my bag, you go into your room and strip." Sue turned to go get her medical bag, only to freeze at the sound of Nikolai's voice.
"You lucky swine! Having our lovely Sue order you to get naked!" Hearing the men laugh again, Sue clenched her fists, but otherwise did not do anything else; it would not be a good idea to brain the man that signed her paychecks. Grabbing her bag, she stormed out of the room with Keitaro slowly following after her.
Silly Omake – Ten Thousand Men
Silly Omake A/N: Since I see Sean Bean when I think of a live-action version of Gaz, this totally makes sense to me.
"So how do we get to Roanapur? I doubt we just walk in on our own." Keitaro asked, surprised to see all the mercs turn and stare at him.
"One does not simply *walk* into Roanapur." Gaz responded, his British accent suddenly thickening. "It's black gates are guarded by more than gunmen. There is evil there, and it does not sleep. The Great Eye," here Gaz formed a circle with his right thumb and forefinger and held it up to his face, "is ever watchful."
"It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire, and trash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume of diesel and rotting fish." Gaz shook his head in dismay. "Not with ten thousand men can you do this. It is folly." The Brit finished speaking and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ronin and professor seated across from him.
A few seconds passed before the silence was broken by Keitaro clapping his hands together. "Okay, a boat trip it is!"
A/N: Yes, I went there. With all the grimdark plot that has been going on, I thought this could use some lightening up. :) And Mordor has *nothing* on Roanapur.
Like I said at the beginning of this page, I just kept writing. I guess I got into a groove with my last chapter, so I decided to keep the momentum going. I doubt anyone is going to complain about that.
I guess there are some that might complain about the addition of the Taro/Yukiko plot, but hey, I wanted to introduce the yuki-onna in the Urashima's life and I didn't want to just handwave and say 'Hey, this spirit has been a part of the Urashima clan for the last four hundred years!' Plus, you are getting to see the beginning of the Urashima/Aoyama relationship, and boy is it not going to be pretty. For those wondering what Captain Hiashi Aoyama has against our boy Taro, it more along the lines of the Urashima bushi actually walking the walk instead of just talking the talk that a lot of samurai did in feudal times. Plus Taro just violated the first rule of boss/worker interaction – he made the boss look bad to his own boss. And yes, it will have repercussions later on.
For those that are going to complain that Nyamo called Keitaro 'Mista Taro' she has always called him that…all the way back to where she showed up along with Gidget at the Hinata-sou with Seta and Sara. It's not because she confused Keitaro with his ancestor Taro Urashima. I even explained why she speaks the way she does.
For those that want to get back to the Hinata-sou, don't worry, it's getting there. However there are still a couple of omake I want to crank out, as I don't want to leave threads hanging until I come back to the Operating in Roanapur arc. This may even include lemons, as I have been itching to write one again… or it might the glass dust I may have in my hands after cleaning up a broken window. Hmm… Anywho, I think you might be able to figure out who the lemons would involve from this chapter. *hint hint, nudge nudge*
I threw in a partial scene from a movie trailer in this chapter; I came across it when looking for movies that also used the 'Vengeance' song I used in the last chapter. I have some white chocolate macadamia cookies for those that figure out the movie where they were talking about the Old Man and the Sea.
As of today I have a little less than 700 reviews for this story; I want to drive it over the 1,000 mark like I did with Alerts and Favorites. Only you the reader can help with this! Someone pointed out that I get roughly one review for every thousand readers… You can do much better than that! Tell me what you like, what you want to see, what questions you have! I don't mind answering questions, and I will tell people spoilers for the story (so long as they are not major surprises). Then again, I've posted quite a few spoilers at my TV Tropes story page *plug plug plug…*
How ironic is it that I went over the 10k word mark in this chapter writing omakes?
As always, many thanks to my beta readers, PCH and that magnificent bastich AZ MII. If you guys could read what he snarks when he goes over my chapters… well, it might drive the rating into MA territory. :D
Winner for Most Unusual Place reading my story this month is Albania. Runner up for this month is Bangladesh. BTW, do you know how many people have read how many chapters of my story in Japan? Three readers, thirty chapters this month. :(
As of 0000 17Sept05 there are 238K words in this story, 618K views, 695 Reviews, 58 C2 Listings, 1156 Favorites and 1054 Story Alerts for this story. Thanks again to all my readers. *victory sign*