Note: The line "If a chick cannot break its eggshell, it will die without being born" is borrowed from the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime.
Warning: Some strong language
"Kanbei… why?" the old ronin could almost hear Kyuuzou's voice echoing in his mind as he took the east road from Nakatsu to Kougakyo.
Shimada Kanbei attributed this strange feeling to his own tortured imagination.
"Why?" Kanbei asked in return. "Why did things have to happen this way?"
Day after day, the tall ronin strode resolutely in the southeast direction, never looking back. Yet the vision of the slender young samurai standing in the arch of the temple courtyard kept coming back to him. Kyuuzou looked almost lost at that moment.
"I should not think about him anymore," the 41-year-old samurai told himself as he walked unflinchingly into the biting night wind. "It does neither of us any good. The best thing for Kyuuzou now is to forget that I ever existed. I hope he finds some degree of peace and happiness with that golden-eyed woman. Perhaps she can make him forget about me."
The old soldier sighed sadly as he journeyed on alone.
--
Kyuuzou had been asleep for a week in Mount Kei'an Dojo.
"He's going to die of thirst and hunger if we let him go on let this." Yasue said to Kazumi as the two students of Mount Kei'an Dojo knelt down beside the sleeping Kyuuzou.
Kazumi sighed. "Saa…" Then she asked. "Did Sensei get a reply from Ayame-sama yet?"
The 20-year-old swordfighter answered, "No, the letter was sent by fast turtle courier three days ago. It might just have reached Hokuhei by now. Then it will take us at least another three days to get a response from Ayame senpai."
"Does Sensei think Ayame-sama can help? Will she come to us?" her pale-skinned junior wondered as she gazed at the cloudy sky outside the bedroom window.
"I don't know…" Yasue admitted, "But we can't wait for her to get here, that is, if she's even coming here. Sensei did not say anything about summoning Ayame senpai; she only said that Ayame senpai may know something that might help Kyuuzou. But whatever the case is, Kyuuzou senpai might have wasted away by the time 'help' comes, if help comes at all."
Tashiro Sensei's two students sat in silence on the reed floor mat, peering at Kyuuzou's emaciated face.
"How about giving him some rice soup?" The senior student finally ventured. "You hold his mouth open while I pour the stuff down this throat."
"What if the stuff goes down his windpipe? We're going to drown Kyuuzou senpai!" Kazumi protested.
"Saa… the venture is not without its risks." Yasue answered her junior, "If we try to feed him, he might die. But if we don't feed him, he will die."
"Sensei is going to kill us if we cause Kyuuzou senpai's demise!" The 16-year-old stated matter-of-factly. The sole sign of Kazumi's apprehension was her twitchy fingers picking at the fibers of the reed floor mat.
At this reminder, her ebony-skinned senior blanched.
"Are you willing to take responsibility for Kyuuzou senpai's accidental death?" Kazumi asked Yasue bluntly.
The two young maidens stared at each other for a long time, their ears tuned to Kyuuzou's barely audible breathing. Then the older student said decisively, "I'll bring the rice soup"
--
It was a sunny day in Kougakyo. Shichiroji started work early that morning. Right after breakfast, he scrubbed and polished the wooden corridors of Yukino's inn. "It helps to have a mechanized arm," the former aide said to himself. After his first task was done, the blond picked up a broom and went outside to sweep the threshold of the House of the Fireflies.
While the former samurai was engaged in this mundane task, his mind could not help wandering to other matters. "I wonder where Kanbei-sama is now?" he asked himself.
Two months ago, Kanbei had bade farewell to Yukino and Shichiroji. The tall ronin did not speak of where he was going, but Shichiroji knew his old friend was going to meet with Kyuuzou. He wondered if this was the last time he would see Kanbei, but the war veteran understood it would be futile to try to dissuade his former commander. The dark man had said to the blond just before he left, "I will return to see you, if all goes well."
But as the days dragged into weeks, Shichiroji's hopes started to dim. "Did the two fighters duel? Was Kanbei killed?" the former aide could not help tormenting himself with these questions as he worked his way down the wooden steps with his trusty broom.
It was then he heard a familiar voice say, "Shichiroji!"
The pale man looked up from his work. Kanbei was standing in the courtyard of Yukino's inn.
"Kanbei-sama!" Shichiroji cried out with relief as he came down the stairs to meet his friend. "Please come in! You look tired."
He ushered the long-haired ronin into the inn and sat him down in a pleasant guest room. As the blond eagerly set food and drink before his old commander, he waited for Kanbei to give an account of what had transpired these few weeks. But the older man said nothing. He just tucked in his large bowl of broiled eel and steamed rice in silence. Shichiroji set his elbows on the tabletop and leaned forward expectantly, hoping that Kanbei would take the hint and fill him in on his adventure. But all the old samurai finally said to him was, "So, how have you and Yukino been doing over the past couple of months? Anything new in Kougakyo?"
"We have been doing fine. And nothing unusual has happened around here." Shichiroji was no longer able to contain himself. "But what about you? What have you been doing over the past two months? Is all well with you?"
"Do I look like I'm not well?" The dark man asked in an unreadable tone.
The blond paused for a moment. Then he queried. "Is Kyuuzou-dono…"
Kanbei answered slowly as he set down his bowl, "He is still alive." Beyond that, the old commander did not say more. It was all very unsatisfying to the curious Shichiroji.
After Kanbei had finished his meal, he said to Shichiroji. "Thank you for your hospitality. I am in your debt."
"Don't mention it," the blue-eyed man replied with a smile. He poured Kanbei another cup of koucha. Shichiroji's commander had always preferred red tea to green tea.
"I will leave Kougakyo tomorrow," the dark-haired samurai stated as he picked up the porcelain teacup.
"Where will you be headed, Kanbei-sama?"
"Back home, to Akashima Province," came the almost sad reply.
"Oh???" Shichiroji was surprised. For Kanbei, the memory of home had been so full of sorrow at loved ones lost. So full of the shame of failure and frustration at deeds not done. As far as Shichiroji knew, the old ronin had not been back to Akashima since his last unhappy visit at the end of the Great War. Shichiroji did not think Shimada would ever return home. But it seemed that he was wrong. The blond shot his friend an odd look.
"It is time for me to face my past." The former commander said cryptically. "I wish to pay my respects to our deceased clan members. I wonder if their swords still stand in the shadows of Reiji Castle as I last saw them, or if their graves have been moved. Or perhaps their graves are still there but their swords have been stolen. Whatever the case may be, I wish to see for myself and set things right if I can."
Shichiroji gave his friend a small, pained smile. "Please give them my regards when you see them," he said softly.
Kanbei nodded. "I will."
--
Yet Kanbei had only been gone for a week when Shichiroji received another unexpected visitor at the House of the Fireflies. This one was much less welcome. When the thirty-one-year-old came to the door of the inn one afternoon, he caught sight the former enemy combatant who was last seen in Kyuuzou's company. The dark warrior wearing double katana was marching into the court of the House of the Fireflies with what Shichiroji interpreted to be a fierce, murderous look in her topaz eyes. The blond noticed that Kyuuzou's so-called sister brought a lot of baggage in addition to her twin swords – a backpack, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows.
Shichiroji also had a lot of baggage – but of a different kind.
"She's armed to the teeth! Is she here to murder me?" the blond samurai cursed silently. "That yellow-eyed demon from the Great War! I will die fighting this time!"
"What are you doing here?" The Allied Forces veteran snapped at the Confederated Army veteran when Ayame reached the foot of the stairs leading up to the inn's entrance.
The unsmiling visitor went right to the point. "I'm looking for Kanbei."
"He's not here anymore!" Shichiroji said with more than a hint of impatience. "Please leave!"
Shichiroji had unwittingly given his foe more information than she started out with. All that Ayame knew until this point was what Kyuuzou had told her – Shichiroji was living in the House of the Fireflies, and he and Kanbei were close associates.
"Ah, so Kanbei was here…" The dreadlocked woman thought. "I didn't know that." Kyuuzou's Third Sister was more certain than before that she could drag information on Kanbei's whereabouts out of Shichiroji. And now she was twice as determined to do so.
"I will leave," the golden-eyed war veteran answered the blond uncompromisingly, "after you've told me where Kanbei is."
"And why should I?" Shichiroji replied uncooperatively. "What business do you have with him? How do I know you will not harm him?"
"What do you take me for?" The dark beauty's ire was rising. "I already told you, the Great War is OVER! I have no intention of killing anyone who does not threaten me and mine. Just tell me where to find Kanbei! I need to talk to him!"
"He's not even in Kougakyo anymore, so forget about it," The pale man said evasively.
"So WHERE can I find him?" Ayame demanded. "This is urgent. It concerns Kyuuzou."
"I'm still not telling you," Shichiroji declared firmly. "How do I know if I can trust you?"
Ayame's eyes narrowed as she recalled the words Haruko wrote to her. "If a chick cannot break its eggshell, it will die without being born. Kyuuzou seems to be trapped in a strange dream. The dream is his shell. Our kouhai will die without waking if he cannot break his shell. I pray that he would have the strength to break free of this state. But in case he does not, please make haste…"
The visitor's desperation quickly congealed into fury. Kyuuzou's Third Sister finally exploded into a string of expletives. "You #$ piece of ----!" She screamed at Shichiroji, "So you would let my brother die just because you have something against me personally! You're SO asking to have your a-- kicked and your nose broken!"
Ayame threw her backpack and her archery equipment down on the stone courtyard floor. Her hands went to her sword hilts as she stepped forward. "Tell me where Kanbei is!" The former samurai commanded. "He might be the only one who can help Kyuuzou!"
The blue-eyed man started slightly but he pressed his lips together stubbornly and remained silent. He wanted to ask what was happening with Kyuuzou but his entire being revolted against speaking further with this hated enemy who was a living reminder of the trauma and the grief of the war.
"Bloody #$!!!" Ayame swore as she drew her swords. "Do I have to start TORTURING you to make you talk?"
Shichiroji shifted into fighting stance as he reached for the walking stick he kept tucked in his belt. With one quick flick of his wrist, the innocent-looking short stick extended into a three-pronged spear.
Just then, a woman's anxious voice spoke from behind the unfashionably-dressed hotel employee. "Anata, what's happening?" Yukino had just stepped out of the inn's door.
Shichiroji was about to say to his employer, "Dear, please get back into the house," when Ayame, who sensed that the new arrival did not have the ki of a fighter, shouted first. "Get back into the house! For your own safety!"
The dark-haired fighter was not looking at the woman who had just stepped up behind Shichiroji. Ayame's golden eyes had not left her opponent for a second. But Yukino understood those words were meant for her. It was this outburst from the unfriendly stranger that led the innkeeper to think that maybe the fighter confronting Shichiroji was not exactly a villain, that perhaps there was a misunderstanding.
The pale-skinned woman resolutely stepped in front of Shichiroji, firmly pushing his spear out of the way, much to the outrage of the blond man. "Please, good guest, can we sit down and talk about the business that brings you here?" The incredulous Shichiroji heard Yukino address the dark beauty.
"Talk?" Ayame's personal policy had always been "Kill first, talk later." But a dead Shichiroji would be a useless Shichiroji.
Kyuuzou's Third Sister cautiously eyed this black-eyed stranger whom she did not know if she could trust. After all, this kimono-clad lady was apparently Shichiroji's woman. But there were no other options besides incapacitating and torturing Shichiroji, and the success of violent tactics was not guaranteed. Some samurai would rather die by biting off their own tongues than give up information about their comrades.
The golden-eyed warrior lowered her twin swords.
--
Shortly later, the black-haired innkeeper was seated with the golden-eyed woman in a private tearoom in the House of the Fireflies. Shichiroji was not there with Yukino. He was stewing in the next room, doing breathing exercises to control his angry shivers.
"Tea?" Yukino asked Ayame.
"No thanks," the dark-skinned woman replied. "No disrespect intended, but I'm in no mood to eat or drink while my younger brother lies wasting away unto death." In reality, Ayame was too practical to deny food and drink. She was only wary of being poisoned by a stranger.
After having heard the warrior woman's story, Yukino said. "I'm sorry to hear about the condition of Kyuuzou-dono. This is indeed urgent… If you can wait a moment, let me try to speak with Shichiroji and find out exactly where Kanbei is."
The woman with dark dreadlocks curtly nodded her assent. The innkeeper rose quietly and left the room.
Ayame counted the seconds that passed as she heard a man's raised voice and a woman's gentle implorations drifting in from the next room. All hope now lay with the persuasive abilities of Yukino.
Author's Comments:
- As to why Shichiroji ended up having so much baggage from the war, see companion fic Price of Mercy, Cost of Honor.
- Kanbei's last visit to Akashima is described in "The Shadow of the Sword" chapter of Price of Mercy, Cost of Honor.