Vocab: oni –demon

Kyuuzou and Ayame thanked Sayoko for her help. Ayame wanted to pay Sayoko but the former samurai would not hear of it. For a while, they stayed with Sayoko in the scientist's Kougakyo apartment. Third Sister had entered another state of prolonged meditation to restore her lost ki. After using up nearly all her ki to revive Kyuuzou, Ayame needed to recover her strength before she could make the journey back home to the north.

Kyuuzou too, was still in a rather uncoordinated state after his resurrection. Dr Sayoko put the younger samurai through some physical therapy exercises to condition his new body. But the busy scientist had to work during the daytime. For most of the daylight hours, Kyuuzou had to work through the exercises on his own. Nor did he wish to impose too much on their host in the evenings. After all, Sayoko also had to attend to Ayame, who came out of meditation once a day to eat.

In about a week, Kyuuzou had gotten used to the daily motions of walking, running, jumping, gripping and sitting. He then took his swords down to the nearly always empty parking garage of Sayoko's apartment building and started to practice his sword work. (The parking rates in Kougakyo had become so exorbitant it was prohibitively expensive to own an iron-ox carriage!) Sayoko was right – the new body did not have the muscle memory of his old body. All those years of training and conditioning were lost. "Too slow!" he thought as he went through a series of straight-down and angled strikes.

The limber warrior tried to do a few running jump-flips against the building wall, but found that he did not quite have the abdominal muscle strength to pull off those acrobatic feats. Kyuuzou sighed with frustration. "I have to do more work on physical conditioning!"

He remembered how he and Ayame used to run from the town of Kawara all the way back up Mount Keian carrying sacks of rice on their backs. When he was still a novice at Mount Keian, Ayame was already carrying the 50 pound sack. Little Kyuuzou started with 20 pounds of rice but that was coming close to killing him. Over time, the training paid off. Within four years he was running at full speed with 50 pounds of rice on his back and 10 pound weights strapped to his legs. And when the boy set his burden down, he felt as if he could soar. That was how Sensei trained her students to achieve those gravity-defying leaps. But how long is it going to take his new body to reach the same level of conditioning? The frustrating thought ran obsessively through his mind.

There were other obsessive thoughts that came to him whenever his mind was less guarded. Thoughts of the time Shimada Kanbei embraced him possessively in the forest outside Kanna. Memories of how the dark man had forcibly kissed him in the House of the Fireflies. Rather unwanted visions that left Kyuuzou feeling bothered and irritated.

Before entering her meditation session, Ayame had warned Kyuuzou about the effects of 'excess testosterone' – increased irritability, aggression and yes, sex drive. And she had lectured him on how he must now work hard to control the 'baser impulses' of his new body. Kyuuzou was not sure if he entirely agreed with Third Sister's evaluation. "If heightened levels of irritability and aggression are due purely to testosterone, then Ayame must have excess testosterone," the young man smirked to himself. Then Sayoko had said women have testosterone too.

"Still, Ayame was right about some things," Kyuuzou thought. "This new body is annoying."

When the weekend came around, Sayoko put Kyuuzou through some speed and strength drills. Kyuuzou was grateful to have another samurai around to train him as Third Sister was still in meditation. The young man needed to reach top fighting form as soon as possible. He knew he was far from ready to defeat Kanbei in his current state. "As soon as Ayame leaves Kougakyo," the silent samurai made his plans, "I will go to Kanna to seek Kanbei. I hope he is still there. But if he isn't, perhaps the villagers can tell me where to find him."

Ayame came out of self-imposed isolation just in time for dinner every evening. Over dinner, Sayoko would entertain her two guests with gossip about the strange things that happened in Kougakyo after the Capital fell. "Well, as you know, the Prince of Kougakyo succeeded the old Amanushi last year as Emperor," the purple-haired ex-soldier was saying, "But there was no information in Kougakyo as to when our governor Ayamaro would be back. Some said he was staying with his son in the Capital. But still, it seemed unlike him to leave the government to the running of others without sending word about an expected date of return. Then there were rumors that our governor had been seen around the city after Ukyo came back to Kougakyo for the public execution of that what's-his-name?" Sayoko waved her chopsticks absent-mindedly as if that would jog her memory.

Kyuuzou of course knew the name of what's-his-name. In fact, he witnessed some of the events Sayoko mentioned, but the silent warrior let the ex-samurai known as "I-kill-people-but-I-don't-eat-animals"-dono do all the talking. There were probably some events she knew about that he did not, considering that he had been dead for about half a year.

Sure enough, the vegetarian veteran continued dishing out bits of informative gossip between bites of tofu: "Not long later, there was news that the Capital had crashed and burned near Kanna Village in Tanba Prefecture. There were no survivors. That was when Ayamaro reappeared out of nowhere – some say he had been hiding out in Iyashi no Sato – and returned to the governor's palace. He changed the Constitution of Kougakyo to make the governorship an elected office instead of an inherited position. It seems that our lord had lost interest in ruling the city. He appointed Chieko, head of the Social Services Department, as the interim governor. Municipal elections are scheduled to be held in the fall. So far, Chieko has been doing a decent job. I think she might get to keep her seat after the Fall Elections."

Kyuuzou had never seen Chieko. But he had heard of her. The elderly woman was an efficient bureaucrat, or so it had been said. One of the few who actually got things done. Kyuuzou's pink-haired colleague Nose Band Guy had worked for other city governments before. Nose Band Guy once said the social services departments in other cities were much worse – they self-sabotaged their programs out of fear that success would mean their own oblivion. So-called "helping" professionals deliberately avoided dealing with the root causes of the problems that kept people coming to social support services. In fact, they sometimes even tacitly contributed to them so that they would always have clients and never lose funding. But according to Nose Band Guy, Kougakyo's government had somehow avoided falling into the same trap, partly because Ayamaro had no patience with inefficiency. He always wanted to stamp out the root causes of problems, though Kyuuzou was forced to admit his old employer went a little far with the samurai hunt. Or rather, misidentified the 'root cause' and targeted his efforts at the wrong people. Still, the former governor had dealt well with 'successful programs' – departments that were no longer needed were given new mandates instead of being dismantled. So his civil servants had no fear of doing their best.

"So how is Ayamaro doing now?" the quiet samurai finally asked.

"Oh, he left Kougakyo. There are rumors he is taking some time off in Shikimori Land," the vegetarian ex-samurai said between mouthfuls of gluten puffs, "Supposedly, old Maro is helping the Shikimori with municipal planning in the capacity of a consultant. I've heard that Chieko can still get in touch with him if she has questions concerning the transition of duties. By the way, are you still in contact with your old boss?" Sayoko turned to Kyuuzou.

The scarlet-eyed samurai shook his head. But this conversation reminded him he needed to return to his old quarters in the governor's palace. He had personal property there he needed to reclaim. That is, assuming Ukyo's thugs had not trashed his room and thrown his stuff out after he left Ayamaro's service without giving notice. His blood pressure rose at that thought but he mastered his anger with some effort. There was no point getting upset over what may or may not be. Still, Kyuuzou planned to visit his old quarters as soon as he felt more confident about his combat abilities.

Sayoko continued rambling, "Seems like the new Kougakyo Government has a lot of work. After the Imperial Court was destroyed, the prefectures and city-states are now basically independent realms and each state governor fears the expansionist ambitions of other states. All city governors and daimyos who have the means are organizing self-defense corps, or to use an unfashionable term, armies. Kougakyo too is following the trend."

"If we're 'lucky', we will descend once more into another Warring States era, the age of the samurai. It seems a 6-year break from war is too long." Ayame quipped, "The northern states have formally declared their secession from the Empire, calling themselves the Northern Bloc. At least their daimyos have sworn not to fight each other. We'll see how long those promises hold."

Kyuuzou pondered these strange events.

--

By the end of the second week, Ayame was nearly well enough to travel. She was planning to leave Kougakyo for Hokuhei in a few days. Third Sister told Kyuuzou that he was welcome to follow her back to "From Swords to Sewing Machines". But the crimson samurai politely declined. He said he had other business to settle first.

By now, there was hardly any food left in Sayoko's apartment. The vegetarian ex-samurai had been too busy to go shopping and there were two additional mouths to feed. The two guests told their host they would go grocery shopping to replenish her supplies. Ayame also needed to take some food with her on her return trip anyway. Before the two left the apartment for the market in downtown Kougakyo, Ayame produced a paper package out of her traveling bag.

"Look what I brought you!" Third Sister beamed as she handed him the box. Kyuuzou controlled the urge to roll his eyes. Ayame was addressing him in the tone that grownups used on pampered children. It was a good thing Sayoko had already left for her office and was not around to witness this embarrassment.

Kyuuzou unwrapped the paper package. Instantly his irritation evaporated. The package contained an elegant long dress exactly like the one he used to have. "Courtesy of 'From Swords to Sewing Machines' again," Ayame declared proudly. "Made by our most recent batch of graduates."

"Thank you, ne-sama!" Kyuuzou said as he put the red dress on.

--

Early summer found Rikichi in Kougakyo. Some of the Kanna peasants had brought their produce to the city to sell. Rikichi came with them to set up his stall. He had gone to a public restroom and was on his way back to the stall when he saw Shichiroji, Kanbei, and Katsushiro sitting in a teahouse across the street. So he called out to them. "Hey, Kanbei-sama, Shichiroji-dono! And isn't that Katsushiro-dono?"

The three turned and looked at him in surprise. Rikichi made his way over to the teashop. "Fancy finding you all here. I thought you three samurai had split up and gone your separate ways."

"That was indeed the case when we left Kanna," said Shichiroji, "But all roads pass through Kougakyo, I guess. We unexpectedly ran into Katsushiro here. Katsushiro was just telling us he had found work in Kougakyo's newly organized self-defense corps. So we decided to enjoy some tea together before our paths diverge again. Do join us."

"I would love to," the farmer replied, "But I really must go soon to help Sanae set up our stall at the Farmers' Market. Now that the Nobuseri are gone, there's enough for the villagers to eat and even some produce left over to sell. Thanks to you." Rikichi bowed deeply.

Shichiroji smiled weakly. The price had been high.

"By the way, a strange thing happened a few days after you and Kanbei-sama left." Rikichi added, "A woman came to Kanna asking for Kyuuzou-dono. Carried twin swords too, like him. But she wore one across her back and the other in her belt."

"A woman?" Kanbei asked, frowning slightly. The dark samurai remembered the lock of dark hair found in Kyuuzou's pocket, and the strange package that had arrived in Kanna after they buried Kyuuzou.

Rikichi continued his tale, "Yes. It was a woman. But that's not the strange thing. She said she was Kyuuzou's sister. I don't know if I believe her though. She looks nothing like him. Dark hair and dark skin. Very beautiful… But that isn't the strange thing either."

"Oh?" said Shichiroji. His curiosity was piqued.

"We had to tell her the bad news, of course." Rikichi continued. "The dark woman then asked to visit his grave. We were happy to oblige her. She told us she was the person who sent Kyuuzou that box we placed in front of his grave. The woman retrieved her box - or whatever was left of it - and left Kanna. We thought nothing more of the matter. Until about two weeks later."

"What happened?" Kanbei broke in. Shichiroji glanced sideways at his former commander, a little surprised at Kanbei's seeming impatience.

"Komachi and Okara went to offer rice at the graves and they noticed that Kyuuzou's swords were gone. They ran back to the village and told the rest of us. Some of the men and I went to the gravesite and we saw it was just as the children had said. And it looked like the earth on Kyuuzou-dono's grave had been disturbed! So we opened the grave, and found that the body was no longer there!"

"But where…" Katsushiro began.

"That's what we'd like to know!" Rikichi exclaimed. "My guess is that woman, his sister or whoever she is, took his remains with her. But this happened more than two weeks after we'd seen her leave. She might have returned later of course, but one would think that she should at least have the courtesy to let us know she was back to move Kyuuzou-dono's remains!"

Katsushiro looked over to his Sensei. Kanbei's expression seemed to have grown darker. Just then, Rikichi, who had been staring at some distant point over Kanbei's shoulder, stood up and pointed, "There's that woman I was talking about! Over there!!!"

Kanbei whipped his head around and saw her, a woman wearing double katana, in front of the fruit stall across the street. She was picking through a pile of fruit, seemingly oblivious to the three samurai and one farmer staring at her from across the street. Kanbei's eyes narrowed as he studied her. The dark-skinned woman was probably a little older than Kyuuzou. The stranger wore her dark hair in slender dreadlocks. Kanbei's mind immediately went to the beaded lock of hair Kirara had found in the pocket of Kyuuzou's red robe. There were no beads in this woman's hair as there were on the lock found on the dead man, but Kanbei noticed similar blue and white beads hanging from the pommel of her swords. It must be her. The woman in Kyuuzou's life. "Rikichi was right," Kanbei thought with a pang of jealousy. "She is conveniently gorgeous." The dark woman had bold, beautiful features; her form held the perfect balance between delicate and strong.

The dark ronin was not the only one staring at the dark-haired woman. Shichiroji's expression had turned grim. He remembered the desperate sky battle the year before the Great War ended – the attack against the enemy's Sky Fortress over the skies of the Northern Front.

The fighting was fierce and desperate as the defenders tried to intercept the attacking aircraft. Kanbei had jumped out of Shichiroji's flying cannon and was fighting his way towards the Pavilion, using the enemy's flying mecha as stepping stones. Since the fortress's firepower was focused on the attacking aircraft and mecha, a human samurai outside a machine stood a better chance of breaching the enemy's defense line undetected.

Shichiroji kept an eye on his commander while trying to steer his aircraft out of the line of enemy fire. Then he saw that Kanbei was not the only one with the idea of using flying robots as stepping stones. An enemy officer was making her way through the sky on the shoulders of her Red Spider comrades. Only her progress was much faster since the mecha were working with her, and not against her. She would soar from the shoulders of one mechanized comrade to land on an approaching Allied aircraft or Raiden. With a flash of her twin swords, she would incapacitate the metallaic enemy, and then leap off the falling aircraft onto the shoulder of another passing robot. Her twin blades were already stained black with grease and red with the blood of Shichiroji's comrades.

So their intelligence had been right. The Confederated Aerial Assault Squadrons were carrying members of elite infantry units into sky battles. Human samurai could conduct sneak attacks more easily than the large mecha. Shichiroji had also heard of the Confederated Army using ninja commandos, but he did not think this enemy soldier was a shinobi. She was a samurai in full uniform.

The aide saw the enemy samurai turn her head in the direction of Kanbei, who was still leaping from mecha to mecha. The samurai said something to the mecha she was standing on, and they flew towards Shichiroji's commander. The aide flew his plane right at the enemy samurai to cut them off. One blast from his plane's cannon cut the Red Spider in half at the waist. The explosion threw the woman on its shoulder into the air. But as the metal samurai fell from the sky, its human comrade flipped into a mid-air somersault and landed right on Shichiroji's plane. That was when he stared Death in the face. She was dark as the night and her cold eyes glowed a strange yellow.

The aide had heard a legend of a samurai on the other side; a nameless berserker of surpassing skill. According to the rumors, perhaps that thing should not even be called a samurai. His comrades said it was a demon warrior who respected no rules. On Shichiroji's side, there were no clear accounts of what the oni might have looked like, partly because their enemy the Confederated Army had the policy of keeping the identities and if possible the very existence of its best warriors, strategists and operatives unknown, or at least out of the limelight. Shimada Kanbei had been a legendary warrior in the Allied Forces, and many samurai on Shichiroji's side had aspired to be called 'legends'. But the Confederated Army had few if any known legends, though it certainly had within its ranks warriors who had the might and character of which legends are made. Perhaps the samurai of the Allied Forces learnt too late that raw courage, individual heroes and the quest for glory do not win wars; sound strategies and seamless cooperation do.

There was another reason why no one in the Allied Forces had a good account of what the war demon looked like. Those Allied soldiers who had the misfortune to get a close view of the oni warrior did not survive. At that moment, the blond man wondered it he was looking at the legend. But a samurai could not waver, even if he saw only defeat in his path.

Shichiroji grabbed his spear as he heard the demon's swords sing through the air.

That was more than 5 years ago, but how could one forget? Now Momotarou had found the oni again. The former aide was about to speak to Kanbei when he saw the woman casually put down the apple she was holding and walk briskly away from the stall, apparently having abandoned her shopping plans. As if on cue, the two men rose from their seats and dashed out of the teahouse. Katsushiro hesitated for a moment and then ran after them.

Notes:

The 'demon-warrior' that Shichiroji heard of might not have been Ayame. It could just as easily have been Kyuuzou. Or it could have been both of them conflated as one legend.

In the timeline of this fic, Kyuuzou was no longer in Ayame's battalion by the last year of the war, so he was not present at the battle against Shichiroji and Kanbei's regiment. For timeline details, see my profile page.

- The idea that the Confederated Army kept its best human assets 'secret' and discouraged quests for personal glory came from Sun Tzu's Art of War and an accompanying commentary that included battle case studies.

- As to what was in the box that Ayame sent to Kyuuzou, see Chapter 15: Return to Kougakyo.

- As for why Ayame no longer wore beads in her hair, see Chapter 2 of companion fic Happy Endings.