Chapter 2

Ryo tried to concentrate as he browsed through the goods at the market. He had been staring at empty cupboards for weeks and knew that he needed some essentials, but his mind kept wandering back to Kasai.

After much deliberation, and about a week of debates between friends, the guys decided to train Kasai. However, no decision would have to be made in regards to a new Ronin Warrior until they were all in agreement on how well Kasai was progressing. The training schedule that they worked out would not be easy for either of the Ronin Warriors to adhere to. They all lived separate lives and neither of them could allot any time to train Kasai together. As it was, Sage and Cye could only manage to free up the third day of the week. So, Ryo had struck up a deal with Kayura that she would accompany Kasai to a small dojo in the city where the boy would spend the latter part of three days during the week training with the guys on an individual basis and, if need be, they could always schedule an extra session on weekends.

With a small bag of apples, and a jar of milk in hand, Ryo considered his shopping sufficiently done for the day and returned home.

Kasai walked out of the teahouse to go his regular route to school the next morning. School would be another mundane day of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but what awaited him afterward would be something entirely new. He was weary about his training, and that his grandfather had consented to it. Ookami Sozo had always kept Kasai under close surveillance, especially when it came to fighting. Before, Kasai had suspected that his grandfather simply needed someone to pass on all of his trade-winning secrets to, but perhaps there was more to the old man's methods than he originally supposed. Then again, how could Ookami have known that his grandson would one day be training to be a Ronin Warrior? These were questions that Kasai vainly attempted to answer on his own.

He was excited and scared about what he would be working toward during his training sessions with the legendary Ronin Warriors. The Ronins were known throughout Japan, but seldom talked about. Business matters and everyday life were more important issues in the eyes of the public, but by chance whenever a crisis happened, the Ronin Warriors were suddenly not forgotten. If anything, the position as a warrior for justice seemed thankless, but "It is not something one does for praise," as Kasai's grandfather had told him. Kasai was not sure what he was getting himself into, or if it was he who had gotten himself into it was in the first place, but he was willing to go through with it, if not for himself, than for his grandfather.

Ryo walked to the dojo where he would meet Kayura and Kasai. He had two wooden katanas slung over his back and a bo staff in his hand. When he reached the appointed place he took a moment to stare at the building, it looked like it was going to fall down any minute. The wooden posts holding up parts of the roof looked dry. The paint was a faded green and peeling away from weather damage. There were two dragons perched on either side of the roof over the entry way, each had their left talon raised. One of the dragons, however, had lost its talon over the years belittling it as a threatening presence proudly guarding its domain. Everything about the dojo seemed ill-cared for. The eaves of the roof were fraught with spider webs and even the air around the place smelled musty.

"This can't be right," Ryo thought to himself.

He checked the address again and confirmed that he was in the correct place. When he walked forward toward the entrance he noticed that the door was ajar. Thinking that it was possible the place had been abandoned before he got there, he pushed it open and walked inside. Ryo was a little surprised as he walked and saw in a middle-aged man in a gray kimono, sitting on his legs, snoozing away. The man hadn't a speck of hair on his head and was in a deep sleep from what Ryo could tell, someone might have mistaken his state of slumber for meditation had he not been snoring so loudly.

"Excuse me," Ryo said in a normal tone of voice.

The man stared up and looked at Ryo for a moment with a startled expression. He opened and closed his eyes a number of times before reaching into his pockets and drawing out a pair of large-rimmed glasses, sitting them on his nose. Though he felt his intrusion into the building was serious, Ryo could not help but suppress a chuckle when he saw how much the man's glasses magnified his small beady eyes. After getting his bearings and sniffling a few times, the man began to speak.

"Hello there," he said cheerfully. He was a plump little man with a round face, the tint of his puffed cheeks suggested he'd had a bit too much to drink that afternoon before dozing off.

"Welcome to Hana Dojo. You must excuse me we're not used to many visitors."

Ryo looked around the room to try and see who the "we" was that the man was referencing.

"As you could probably tell, I usually take this opportunity for an afternoon nap, ho ho. My name is Nabe Hana. How may I help you then?" He asked.

Mr. Hana was a very lighted-hearted man, whose dojo had seen better days, but he was a natural optimist and a drop in business never discouraged him.

"I'm here to meet a couple people. I hope you do not mind, I just…" Ryo paused as he looked around, he didn't see anyone else in the building, no students or instructors. The only thing about the dojo that resembled a martial arts hall was its structure, and that wasn't saying much. The building seemed completely empty aside from him and Mr. Hana, he heard no noises coming from anywhere.

"Is there a room that I may make use of?" Ryo ventured to ask.

"Well, let me see now." Mr. Hana said as he rubbed his bald head. "The only person we had planned on seeing today was a woman named Kayura."

"Yes, that's who I am here to meet."

"Oh, well then that's just fine. If you would just follow that hallway there's a room at the end for you."

There were four hallways leading away from the reception area, three across from Mr. Hana and one straight across from the doorway. Ryo was sent down the fourth one, the darkest of the three. There was nothing ominous about it, but Ryo stumbled a few times as he looked through the doorways of some of the empty classrooms he passed. Upon reaching the end of the hallway Ryo slid open the door to his room and looked around. There were a few mats laid out across the floor and desks that looked as though they were hastily pushed against the walls.

The windows were all opened, letting in a pleasant breeze and a number of insects as well. Ryo had expected Kayura to be there before him, but from the moment he arrived he figured that he would be the one to wait.

Ryo dropped his things and surveyed the room a bit more. The room was a decent size with three low windows on each wall apart from the doorway, two of the windows looked out directly into a vale of trees.

Ryo looked through the window seated across from the door and, through the trees, saw a large open area that was empty except for a small wooden stand with two steps. When he turned back around he saw Kayura and Kasai standing in the doorway. Kayura was dressed in long robes and Kasai wore an outfit suitable enough for physical activity.

Ryo bowed and suggested that they proceed. Kayura sat down in a corner of the room to observe quietly.

"First I would like to ask you a few questions, Kasai." Ryo said.

"Yes, sir?" Kasai asked.

"There's no need to call me sir." Ryo said lightening his tone.

"Okay." Kasai said allowing a small smile to cross his lips.

"I'd like to get an idea of where you and your grandfather left off. To see how much you already know."

As Ryo spoke, he picked up one of his Katanas and began to play with it. Kasai answered directly.

"Well…Ryo." Kasai stuttered. He was not used to addressing a teacher so informally. "I'm not exactly sure how to put it, my grandfather taught me many things, but from what I have seen at the tournaments…"

"I thought you weren't allowed to go to the tournaments." Ryo said, stopping his sword play.

"Grandfather let's me go to watch in order to gain an understanding of the craft, just not participate. So, when I measure what I see the boys doing in tournament fighting against what my grandfather has taught me, I would say I'm pretty well along. I am proficient if that's what you need to know."

"Maybe it would be better if we spared a bit, then you could show me." Ryo said.

Kasai looked nervously at Ryo's Katana, he was still unarmed.

"We won't be needed this at the moment." Ryo said dropping his sword in response to Kasai's expression.

The two took their stances and began to spar. They went on for quite a while. Kayura, not unfamiliar with battle herself, watched them contentedly. She thought that Kasai was doing rather well.

"You're not doing too bad." Ryo said. "Let's try something else besides those warm up exercises."

Kasai steadied himself for the next phase. He would be lying if he told Ryo that he was not already feeling a little tired. Not being able to fight in a tournament did nothing for his stamina. And though his grandfather was an experienced trainer, there was no doubt that he had slowed down in his old age. Only a few times during their training had Kasai ever gotten a glimpse of what his grandfather must have been like in his heyday, and one occasion was purely accidental.

Kasai's grandfather had been talking about the old days when he would fight for money to support his family, before he opened his teahouse. He was telling Kasai about an opponent named Zetsumei who liked to fight dirty. Zetsumei was an extremely sly person who made it a point never to be caught in the act of cheating.

"I managed to beat him every time, Kasai," his grandfather told him, "but I always had to spend a week outside of the ring afterward, your grandmother and I had a difficult time those many years." Ookami was not a belligerent man, but he became so engrossed in his story that, as he continued to train his grandson, he forgot himself for a moment and sent Kasai sailing across the room with a swift blow to the stomach. Kasai knew that his grandfather never meant to hurt him, and so in an odd way he considered himself lucky that he was momentarily pummeled by the great Ookami Sozo.

"Are we going to use the weapons now?" Kasai asked Ryo.

"We may not even get to those today." Ryo said taking a fighting stance.

Kasai responded to Ryo with a nod and took his stance as well. The two continued to work for another hour, Ryo would stop Kasai repeatedly to give him instruction or correct his movements. Kasai listened attentively as he knew a good student should. However, to Kasai's frustration, the interruptions became more frequent as the session grew longer. And after a while, Ryo could see aggravation building up behind Kasai's eyes, not ignoring this, he decided to keep going. For what seemed like another time in one thousand Ryo stopped Kasai again.

"Alright let's try this exercise again, slowly." Ryo suggested. "I think you're doing okay up until the third time you try to block me, let's try to fix that."

Kasai tightened his muscles and proceeded to comply with Ryo's request. The two began to continue their exercise almost in slow motion. When they came to the point where Ryo had stopped Kasai before, they stopped.

"There's your mistake," Ryo said. "You're trying to predict where I'm going to hit you. Sometimes trying to sense out a pattern in a fighter may work, but more often you'll be up against someone who will know better than to fight predictably."

Kasai only nodded to show that he understood.

"Now, let's speed it up," Ryo said.

They repeated the exercise, faster this time. Kasai blocked everyone of Ryo's moves successfully this time.

"Again, faster," Ryo said.

They repeated it again.

"Faster." Ryo echoed.

They repeated the exercise many more time after this, each time faster than before. Kasai felt he was gradually improving. After a while Ryo stopped prompting Kasai to start again and the exercise became a silent routine. When Ryo stopped and put his arms down, Kasai followed suit, he figured that they had finally quit the exercise. As he stood waiting for more instruction, breathing heavily, he gazed over Ryo's shoulder for a moment to look out the window to see how dark it had gotten outside. In the split second that he turned his eyes away from Ryo he found himself being knocked onto the floor. He lay on the floor, unmoving as Ryo stood over him.

"I didn't say we were finished." Ryo said smiling.

Ryo may have been in good humor over the incident, but Kasai was thoroughly embarrassed. Was Ryo trying to make him angry, he wondered? Ryo had stopped advancing on him, what else was he to think? Kasai saw it as Ryo deliberately taking advantage of an opportunity to make him look even more stupid than he already felt after repeating the same stupid blocking exercise over and over again. Why he would do this was beyond Kasai's comprehension, but his mind was now racing to fast to put any more thought into the matter.

After seeing that Kasai was not getting up right away, Ryo offered his hand. Kasai jumped up on his own, his eyebrows lowered, and immediately got into a fighting stance. Kasai's thin frame and bedraggled hair, mangy from the day, made him looked less than threatening to Ryo, who was a little perplexed at the boy's sudden change in attitude. Ryo shot a glance at Kayura, who looked at him questioningly.

"We're done for today, Kasai." Ryo said turning around to gather his things.

Kasai stood speechless for a moment, he wanted to finish what he started, and he felt Ryo was ending the session before he could regain what semblance of pride he had left that day.

"Wait a minute…" He said a little more sternly than he had intended to come across.

Ryo turned away from Kasai to pick up his bo and slung his katanas over his shoulder.

"I'll see you next week." He said he said lightly, then he turned, nodded to Kayura, and left.

As Kasai and Kayura walked out of the dojo, Kasai sighed heavily.

"You shouldn't be so disappointed in yourself, Kasai," Kayura said. "You did well."

As much as he desired encouragement, Kasai didn't agree with Kayura.

"Thanks, but I feel like I could do better," he said.

"We all do when we're first starting out," she said. "Everything else will come to you in time."

"I know," he said. "And I'm willing to wait."

Kayura was pleased by this statement. If one positive thing could be said about this young man it was that he was willing and ready to learn. He didn't seem like the type of person who would rush into things, a vast contrast to Ryo's form of handling delicate situations when he was Kasai's age.

"I leave you here, Kasai," Kayura said when they had once again entered the busy part of the city. "I'll see you tomorrow, just try to remember everything you learned today."

"I won't have any trouble remembering, Lady Kayura, it's putting it into practice that I need to work on. Good night," Kasai said.

The two figures turned away from each other with a bow and parted ways for the evening. Kasai walked down the streets past various store fronts, with everything from pet fish to rat poison, thinking about how he would do the next day. He still had yet to meet the other men who would be training him for however long it would take to deem him ready for whatever it is they were planning with him. Kayura had attempted to explain things to him, but even she seemed doubtful about where he fit into the picture of these four men and their plans.

He chuckled to himself, it seemed odd. "I wonder if they have really thought this all through?" he pondered jokingly. He was done with being serious for the day, he put it on when he was around Ryo and Kayura, and he knew that he would have to resume his somewhat austere attitude once he walked in the door at home. It wasn't that his grandfather didn't allow lightheartedness, he was just a very serious person most of the time, and this was quite understandable in Kasai eyes. "You inherited your silliness from me," his grandmother would tell him on occasion when his grandfather wasn't listening. "There's nothing wrong with it, just keep it between you and I though. Your grandfather can only handle so much laughter because he's such a bad jokester himself! He'd get jealous." Kasai wasn't sure what his grandmother meant, but it made for great conversation between them when nobody else was listening. He wouldn't dare talk about his grandfather in such a way with anyone else but her.

His pleasant thoughts were interrupted when he felt an onslaught on hunger lurch into his stomach. His first thought was too get home as quickly as he could. He put his hands in his pockets to guard them from the cold as he hurried his pace and was glad to find that he had some money left over from the last time he had worn that same pair of pants. With any luck, he wouldn't have to eat his aunt Yumi's cooking, it was always her night to cook on Mondays and he wasn't too fond of the food she usually produced when she arose from the smoke ridden kitchen. He had to admit, she was giving it her best effort though.

He stopped at a cart along the side of the road that had bags of rice sitting on a few wooden shelves stacked at least three bags hugh, it was manned by a boy who looked a couple of years younger than he was leaning with one arm on a crutch, his free hand holding what appeared to be a comic book. There was a small table to the boy's left with a steaming pot of rice set on it and set of bowls piled next to the pot. Kasai approached the cart. The boy looked up from his reading and smiled.

"Hello," he said.

"How much for a bowl of rice?" Kasai asked holding out all of the money that he had in the palm of his hand.

"About half of what you have there," the boy replied.

"I'll take one then," Kasai said handing him the money.

He watched as the boy set the crutch off to the side and turn to fill his bowl with a good portion of rice. He handed the bowl to Kasai along with a pair of chopsticks. Kasai looked towards the sky as the sun was beginning to set.

"Sorry, if it's cold," the boy said handing him the bowl.

"That's alright, do you mind if I return this to you tomorrow?" he asked taking hold of the small bowl.

The boy seemed a little hesitant to answer.

"I'll buy a whole bag of rice too, I promise," Kasai added.

The boy nodded and Kasai thanked him, turning homeward.