Merchandise For Sale
Hiraku and I rested on the grassy cliffs above Sei-an, close to where the cows grazed. The sun creeped over the hills, slowly spreading light on the city nestled in the lake below. I'd barely slept, too concerned for sleep with Jun's prophecy on my mind. "fall to darkness?" What did that mean, death? Or worse, corruption? Was I destined to somehow become an instrument for the very forces I sought to quell?
Hiraku, seeing the dark thoughts behind my eyes, hastened to try and cheer me up. "Oh! How could I forget?" He exclaimed, looking down into the city, and I followed his gaze to see bright banners and a bustle of activity. "Sei-an's Market happens this time of year, and today is the day!" I was surprised at the level of excitement in his voice. "Hiraku, it's just a market." I felt exhausted from yesterday's endeavors and wasn't sure if I was in the mood for a day full of shopping.
"Are you joking, Akime?" Hiraku asked, sounding astonished. "This is the biggest market day through the whole year! People flock here from all over the WORLD to sell and buy goods in Sei-an!" He tugged at my ears. "Come on! We have to go!" I shook my head, so he'd release them. "Alright, alright. Maybe for a bit." I turned to walk down the hill towards the city. "You say that now." He remarked. "You'll see, I bet you'll get swept up into the wonders and not want to leave."
And he was right. I'll forever be grateful to him for dragging me to Sei-an that day. We spent the whole day laughing and looking and the merchandise. My worries quickly vanished, as I was willingly distracted by all the fantastic things to see. I wandered through the streets, looking at all the marvelous things on display. Beautiful, exotic flowers decorated the stalls. We played a strange game called 'chess' from a far-away country. I was a bit clumsy, moving the pieces around with my paws, but I won most matches in the end. Hiraku was a good sport, but pouted after I beat him in an end-all tiebreaker match- which also happened to be in front of a gaggle of pretty girls. "Just like Hiraku, always grouchy." I chuckled with a smile as he grumbled and crossed his arms off to the side; mumbling things like "must be rigged."
"But we all love him anyway!" I bent down and gave him a big, sloppy lick. The girls giggled. "Eeew! Stop that you big fuzzbrain!" He said, looking over his tiny slobber-covered arms, but when he looked up there was a smile on his face again.
Around midday I saw Miss Eiko shopping, she looked happy. "Hello there wolf!" she said cheerily as she paid some money to a fruit-seller. "It seems the emperor and the king have come to an agreement! Those rowdy kingsmen should be no problem to the people anymore! The city is back to normal!"
"Good news at last." Hiraku commented. "Nice turtleshell hat by the way." He complimented, and she ran her fingers over the rim. "Oh thank you dearie, it's actually tortoiseshell." She said, then bustled away to talk to a friend waiting at a different stall. I smiled, it seemed a little conversation with the king could go a long way! Hiraku also seemed to be in a good mood, and hopped down off my back, glowing brighter than normal. "Come on Akime! Let's do some bargain shopping!" And so we did.
Ah yes, that was a day of bliss for all, and a day of yen being spent. Luckily for me, Hiraku had the mind of a merchant, and wouldn't let me buy anything expensive that we didn't need. He saw through all the sellers' honey-sweet talk about their items, and he wouldn't buy anything unless he'd bargained it down to at least half-price, but we did have the time of our lives. His bargaining definitely came in handy. As I wandered past a weapon shop, something caught my eye, a glistening, white sword! Curious to see why we'd stopped, Hiraku followed my gaze and let out a whistle. "Wow-ee that's one fine-looking sword! I bet it could cut through anything!"
"You betcha it could!" The old and scarred salesman rasped. "Made of the finest metal, forged of divine material that fell from the plains itself! This sword is as ancient and as powerful as the gods themselves! It actually once belonged to one!" This caught my attention further. I was mesmerized by the sword, though I preferred rosaries, this glaive was a weapon that would definitely come in handy!
"Yeah, ok." Hiraku said, taking on his business tone, and I closed my mouth- it had been open when my gaze was on the sword. "How much is it?"
"170,000 yen, little soldier!" The tan-skinned man said, the wheel of weapons clinking on his back as he spoke. Both of us were taken aback, my mouth fell open again, that was pricey! Even for a rare-metal sword! Hiraku was so enveloped in his dealing mind-set, he ignored being called 'little soldier.'
"Umm, ok… Maybe we'll come back later!" Hiraku said, testing him with that sentence, which everyone knows really is a polite way of saying: "Goodbye forever".
"WAIT!" The man said as we started to turn away. "Erm... What I meant to say was, uh, 70,000 yen! Don't want to cheat you, soldier! This sword is only for decoration, you see, it can only be wielded by gods! And though it's sharper than anything in the world, it's too heavy for mortals to swing about." Hiraku narrowed his eyes, but winked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I winked back; time for him to work his magic!
"That still seems expensive for a petty decoration!" He said, waving his hands dismissively. "How can you even prove it's the weapon of a god?"
"It's in legends, little soldier!" The man whispered, leaning over the counter to speak closer to Hiraku. "Hikari no tsurugi no kami? Does that ring a bell? That's the proper name of this sword, although I call it Silver Lining because of its gleam." He pointed to the sword behind him, and I tilted my head, it didn't look silver to me, a purple gemstone mixed with pearl is what it looked like to me! But Hikari no tsurugi, that was a sword I'd heard about! "He's telling the truth!" I barked to Hiraku and he turned around. "Let's buy it!"
"Hold on a second!" He said, gesturing to me to settle down.
"70,000... That still is pretty steep," He said, looking back at the weapon-dealer. "I'm willing to go to 50,000." The poncle said, crossing his tiny arms. "What!?" The man exclaimed, astonished. "No way! 70,000 at least! No deal!"
"Ok, 60,000!" Hiraku said in a challenging tone. "And no higher."
"70,000!"
"60,000!"
"70,000!"
"60!"
"70!"
"60!"
"70!"
"60!"
"70!"
"70!"
"60!" The shopkeeper shouted, not realizing what he was saying. "Done!" Hiraku said with a finality that couldn't be reversed. The shopkeeper crossed his arms looking victorious, though the emotion only lasted a few seconds before it turned to shock. He pulled himself together, and took the yen Hiraku had out before passing over the sword- showing he would honor his word, even if it was an accident. The sword was beautiful, its pearly white metal had a royal purple sheen, it was so sharp that the broad side could probably still cut you. Hiraku thanked the weapon-seller, trying hard to hide his smug pride, and I admired the blade. It was nice and light, and incredibly balanced, as all swords should be. We walked away from the stall so I could equip it, and I barked: "I'm sure glad I brought you along!" I looked at Hiraku. "Who else could have bought a such an amazing sword for only sixty thousand yen? I am in awe, my fine poncle."
"Yeah you'd be completely wiped out of cash without me." Hiraku said, who had been looking behind us. "Now hurry up and equip that weapon! I want to see how it looks paired with a true god!" I did, replacing my rosary with it, and it glowed brighter to compete with my fine coat. I vowed to use it in battle, 'at least once.' I thought to myself sheepishly. Because, I really do prefer rosaries. Hiraku would probably make me use it, since he'd worked for it.
After that, it was just a normal market day, for the most part. I talked to a man with a strange spotted pelt across his back, and he spoke of a far-away place from across the sea, with spotted beasts with necks that could reach the tops of trees! Also of humongous yellow cats with roars louder than tigers! It seemed a little fantastical to me, but I sensed the man meant every word he said, and I was captivated by the tales he told as he stood in line. After we said goodbye, I padded down another street, filled with sweet-smelling fruits and nectar-filled flowers. An old man sat near a cherry-blossom covered house, he was fawning over a lovely green plant nearby. We met very strange people that day, one including a man called Yamen. As we walked down a street, that one figure caught our attention, Yamen. He wore noodles, everything about him was noodle-y. He had a bowl of it on his head, he had a tunic that was blue with squiggly noodle-like designs, and he even had thin noodle-y arms. He told us his life-long dream was to open up a noodle-museum. Hiraku told him good luck with that.
After that, we had the luck of running into a fish-selling stand, a live koi-fish-selling stand. We bought a fish to give to Ren, one the seller promised us was a 'Showa'. It was covered with black scales and dotted with orange and white spots. The koi fascinated me, and I was keen to learn more about them, but Hiraku couldn't care less. We raced over the great bridge to deliver the Showa, and when we returned, it was back to shopping; by that time, it was late in the afternoon. Both Hiraku and I harassed innocent shopkeepers into giving us free samples. Well, he harassed, I just gave puppy eyes- which worked every time.
We both watched the evening show with full stomachs that night. The show started at sundown, and fires lit the way. Exotic dancers spun their scarves around their bodies in hypnotizing dances and one man breathed fire. One part of the performance was centered around a tame tiger. Shilo was his name- a fat old tiger who entertained the kids. The gentle tiger was introduced as a fierce wild cat, and was a part of a comedy show with his trainer. The trainer put on a mock-fight where the chubby tiger preformed tricks, and at one part, fell on him. I wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not. When I talked to him after, told me that he had been raised by the circus since he was a cub, and didn't mind it at all. I couldn't imagine being someone's pet, like Shilo, Gina, or Shisa, but it seemed to be a happy life for them.
My favorite thing was the fireworks, after all the others shows were done. The sky was pitch-black and behind the backstage curtain I could see the familiar face of Tama lighting the fuses, along with another person who was buzzing around like a tornado with a lit candle on her head, the two were apparently in the middle of a heated argument. "Face it Tama, you're not the best anymore!" The other person teased as she grabbed up a bundle and smirked at him. "You should just give up your fireworks now and throw them in the trash! You're yesterday's news; old man!" She had short, shoulder-length hair the color of coal with a lit candle atop her head, and a creative purple kimono decorated with fireworks. She looked a couple years younger than Tama, but they were still about the same age. "Never! The creative spark of Tama the Flaming Pyrotechnist shall never die!" He seized up an ignited circular bomb in his arms and raced after her. The resulting dueling fireworks were spectacular when they flew into the sky. Purple flowers, red dragons, and white wolves whirled across the sky alongside giant explosions of green, yellow and blue. I rose onto my hind legs many times, trying to catch the sparks in my paws for the fun of it as they fell down around us...
Yes, it was a wonderful day.
(AN: Dang weapons-guy, you fell for the oldest trick in the book! Well, Hiraku is a very good bargainer, perhaps he worked some sort of magic on the poor guy with his yen tongue. And sure Akime, tales of giraffes and lions are too fantastical to believe… When you're a wolf-god accompanied by a tiny bug-person hunting demons. XD
And Tama's rival is named Kigaya, another pyrotechnist. A rising star, and the two often compete to show who has the best fireworks. There may or may not be some something between them. ;3)