Rioichi Cooper - 1590
The words of my cherished forefathers give weight to the circumstances that led to me becoming the man I am today. Thieving has been my birthright, but only I can offer a ninja's perspective on bringing honor to the Cooper line. May my ancestors welcome my story among their own.
Rob MacCooper was my father, having married my mother under Japanese tradition. He had fled the western world some time after the later events of my grandfather Slaigh, stowing away aboard a Dutch trading vessel. Finding his way to Japan, he took up a new life and did away with thieving, deciding to settle down with a family. However, he still insisted on teaching me the skills of the Cooper Clan from an early age. I was at first reluctant.
My father taught me how to move and fight like a Cooper thief, climbing the bamboo and using a wooden cane to duel. But I had little patience for such pointless instruction; I felt no connection to this European knowledge. All I wanted to do was learn the esteemed art of sushi, catching only the freshest fish and delighting my people. My father stressed that I learn from this book to preserve the Cooper ways. But I only wanted to pursue my dream.
By the age of eight, I had become frustrated with my father's commitment to teaching me to become a thief. One night, while my parents slumbered, I took the Thievius Raccoonus and ran to my fishing spot by the river. I was ready to cast the book into the water, being rid of its nonsense forever. But something distracted me. A strange aura trailed from a band of riders up the road. I turned and followed the aura surrounding the mounted men curiously, sticking to the shadows. Upon closer look, I recognized many valuables from my house latched to their cargo. My heart sank and I hurried home.
I was devastated to find our house in flames, all of our belongings either destroyed or taken. I watched as the last of the riders, heartless bandits, captured my terrified mother and rode away with her. What haunted me the most was seeing my father lying dead in front of the burning house, gashes dug into his back. Though the bandits were armed, these cuts were made by no sword I have ever seen. I cried for my slain father, feeling guilt-ridden for leaving him when I could have helped him fight somehow. All I could do was keep the Thievius Raccoonus close and wander the land, doomed to live with no family.
But I would not be alone for long. A kindly monk soon found me along the road and learned of my troubles. He took me into his home and my fortunes changed. However, he was not an ordinary monk. He led me to an abandoned temple inhabited by ninja warriors who practiced their art day and night. The man who took me in explained that his travels as a monk was merely a facade for his services as a ninja. He and his cohorts were once loyal to a noble shogun who was defeated at the hands of a dastardly rival. Now masterless, they lived as bounty hunters on the fringe of the law. This was not the home I expected, but it would serve far better than an orphanage.
Soon I began to learn from the group of ninja, known as the Blue Sparrows. I grew through my adolescence practicing their ways, balancing on dizzying heights and gaining accuracy with small weapons, all while keeping more silent than a light breeze. It occurred to me that the ways of the ninja were quite similar to the techniques perfected by the Coopers. Eventually I began infusing my ninja training with the knowledge of the Thievius Raccoonus, honing my thief sense and further improving my mobility. By eighteen, my masters treated me as an equal.
The time had come for my first mission. We were to infiltrate and rob the castle of the evil shogun who robbed the Blue Sparrows of their master. Outside the castle wall that night, a few of the Sparrows diverted attention from the public while posing as musicians. This allowed me to scale the wall unnoticed and I began to make my way up to the central pagoda, leaping from point to point with little sound. I soon broke into the highest corridor, expecting to face the shogun immediately. Instead, I encountered a tearful reunion.
My mother was there, dressed in a handmaiden's robe and scrubbing the floor. Against the way of the ninja, I let my emotions show and embraced her. She told me that she had been forced into servitude by the same bandits who had kidnapped her ten long years before. They had been loyal to the shogun targeted by the Blue Sparrows. The endeavor had now become personal; my thief senses showed me an opportunity to avenge my father.
Sneaking farther into the castle, I found the corrupt shogun and challenged him to a duel. He waved his katana, a sign that he possessed the might of a samurai. But he did not have the cunning of a ninja. I handily defeated the shogun with my bamboo canes and thief reflexes. Now disarmed, he begged for an honorable death and told me that he was ordered to have my father killed by a "mysterious advisor". I was hesitant to believe him, and so I left him to wallow in his humiliation. I had succeeded in rescuing my mother and bringing fortune back to the Blue Sparrows. At last I was prepared to live in peace. I considered finding a wife to raise a family with, and continue the Cooper ancestry. But peace was still beyond my grasp.
One day I found a horse riding up to my home. Slumped over its saddle was a lifeless body which I soon recognized as the shogun I had defeated not long before. His back was lacerated with large claw marks, the same wound I had found on my father's body. It was clear that this was a message. Whatever dishonorable shadow who had killed my father is still out to exterminate the Cooper line. My home is no longer safe to carry on my lineage. I fear raising children knowing this threat is abound.
Fortunately the Cooper line does not have to end here. My father mentioned his sister Suzanne who stayed behind in Europe while he moved to Japan. At that time she had already begun to bear a child. She and my other distant relatives will have to inherit the Thievius Raccoonus in my stead. To prevent leading the enemy to them, I am sending one of the Blue Sparrows to deliver the book overseas; I would trust no other than a fellow ninja as a courier.
Before I send away these sacred texts, I will impart in its pages my own thieving knowledge along with my story thus written. I will continue to live out my days in hiding. Perhaps I will finally perfect my sushi craft, and live a quiet life as a local chef. But out of respect for my father, and his fathers before him, I will uphold the techniques of this book, keeping sharp my skills as a thief and as a ninja under guise of night. The Cooper line will survive as it has for centuries. Though the bamboo forest may be thick, water flows through it without effort.