Fan Fiction ❯ The Forest of Eternal Evil ❯ Along Came a Padman ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Mitsurugi: Samurai
Chapter III

He sat, near the edge of a cliff, his legs crossed over one another and his eyes closed shut in thought. The grass around swayed with each other and pressed their tiny beings to Heishiro's legs as the gentle winds commanded them. the sun was setting and the it warm glow had now become a mere light passing through his eyelids.
He came up here to meditate and think only when he needed to, and now he did. He was to choose a new name to call himself, as his father commanded. But he didn't want any name, he wanted the name of a warrior. A name that would well suit his new life. His eyes quickly opened and his lips uttered a single word, "Mitsurugi."
He had went up the cliff Heishiro, but now he quickly but carefully climbed down Mitsurugi. When he had reached Master Shonto's house, he opened the door and removed his shoes.
"So, what shall I call you, young disciple?"
"Mitsurugi, Master."
"Well suited. It is appropiate it took you such a time to find the name. You have trained for a year now. You quickly have learned the way of the sword, quicker than any samurai I can remember. Even faster than Musashi. It is only your sixtenth summer and I make such predictions. It is truly amazing. Soon enough you shall be a strong samurai."
"Master, there is something that has greatly troubled my mind."
"Yes, what is it?"
"It is, it is that when I saw my father fight those men. His sword was so quick and his blows so deadly. how could a farmer learn the way of the sword like that?"
"Yes, it is strange, isn't it. I suppose it is time I told you the truth about your father. Come, sit in front of me while I tell you," Mitsurugi sat in front of his master and looked into his old and weathered face. The wrinkles were like the mountains on a map. The wandered all around, but were still all connected to each other. His hair was ancient and grey and fell down his back in a long ponytail. He, unlike the other samurai, now had his sword placed above his fireplace and not by his side. He knew his time for war and battle was over and it was time for him to realize the fifth circle. "Your father is dead."
"Yes, I know."
"No, not the father you saw die, but the father you never knew. Your true father. Before you were born, and while your sister was but a tiny girl your father was ill. But he owed two-thirds his harvest to a cruel samurai. So, he did his farming. He sickly cough filled the fields as he plowed and tended to his harvest. His curling fingers could hardly wrap around the sikle when it was time to reap. Your mother begged with him to rest and let her finish the work, but he told her it was his debt. After he had completed two-thirds of the field he paused to rest. His wife told hi it was enough to pay the samurai, but your father insisted he must feed her and his daughter. So went back to work, and as he bound the last sheave, he looked into the sun and collapsed, the last sheave still grasped in his hand. Your mother mourned for hours until the samurai came. He rose up off his horse and saw the mourning woman. He walked up to her and then saw the dead man and realized what his selfish demand had led to. His guilt so convicted him, that he marrried your mother and relinquished his samruai title to farm and provide for your fathers family. And soon, the two came to love each other and bore a child, and called him.......Heishiro. But neither knew whether the child was his or your father's. But, they most cloely believed it belong ed to the samurai father."
Mitsurugi sat silently. His eyes were set on his wide eyes set on the in front him. His hands were clenched to together tightly as a single built up in the corner of his eye. The truth had been revealed to him, and his entire life had been realized. He then quickly pushed back the tear and looked up to his master again.
"Does that mean, I am of samurai linuage. Of a samurai family and can righfully become a samurai?"
"Yes it does.Your father gave me his linuage in case you would ever need it."
"May I see it?"
"When your training is complete, I shall give both it and your sword to you."
"But I have my sword."
"No, thats my sword. Your sword is your father's sword, Korefuji."
They both sat silently for a moment, Mitsurugi at the ground and Shonto at Mitsurugi.
"It is late, go to sleep."
"Yes, Master." All that night, Mitsurugi lied in bed, imagining the events of his father's last day.

In the morning, Mitsurugi was at the cliff side. This time he was not meditating, but practicing his swordsmanship. The glint was golden in the rising sun. His movements swift, the strikes hard and quick. His mind was lost in the work, until he heard screams. He looked down over the cliff to see the bandits riding into the town. He ran back to the house and looked around, then grabbed his kimono and began to walk out the door.
"You are not strong enough yet."
"But you called me a prodigy. You said I was to be the greatest."
"To be, not am."
"I will avenge my father!"
"In time.."
"No! Now!" And, with those final words, he ran out of the house towards the village.
"Foolish anger."

The village was in terror. Women and children running about trying to hide themselves. Some men also tried to hide themselves while others took up their sicles to faace the bandits only to be met the end of of a sharp sword.
Mitsurugi rushed into the main street to be faced with this terrible fight. His eyes grew wide and his lips parted far from each other as if they were enemies. He almost dropped his sword, for this was the first time he actually realized what evil these men committed. One of the bandits noticed Mitsurugi and charged his horse to him. Mitsurugi regained composure and raised his sowrd. They two charged each other, and at the last second, Mitsurugi ducked down and sliced the horse's two side legs bring ing the horse down in a heap of flesh and metal. He then ran over to the recovering bandit and slashed his neck.
It did not take long for the other bandits to notice this act. There about twenty of them, all dressed in a mix of samurai and peasant armor and clothing. All of them were on horseback, and their horses seemed feeble, probaly stolen from peasants. Their leader, who's face was hidden under his helmet, sent three of his men over to the samurai.
The three charged. Mitsurugi stood his ground, his sword in front of him.When they met, Mitsurugi sliced one leg of each of the first two horses who rode side by side. Then, when the third came, their blades met, but the force behind Mitsurugi's overpowered that of the bandits letting the blade escape the bandit's hand. The two whose horses were injured returned, running towards Mitsurugi. mitsurugi's blade moved quickly and hard, slicing one of the men's stomach, then turned around and stabbed one man in the bottom of his chest. When he turned back around, the other man's horse ran fast towards Mitsurugi in an attempt to run him over. Mitsurugi stabbed the sword into the horses chest, but when he tried to retract it, the blade was stuck. He turned around to see the horse fall and the rider roll over to trampled by another horse, a horse belonging to their leader.
The bandit leader slowly trotted his horse over to the unarmed samurai while his men reaked chaos on the village behind him. He stopped his horse half a yard from Mitsurugi.
"Well, young samurai, seems you no longer carry a weapon. So, where shall your strength come from now?"
"From courage. The courage to u[hold justice, the courage to reek revenge, the courage to show my face."
"Really?" The bandit leader laughed loud and hartily, "I used to believe in such ideals. Until my family died from starvation. You see, righteousness does not repay itself."
"Yes, but evil will bring another to kill you and make you pay for your actions."
"Not if your the strongest." He slowly pulled out his sword and stretched it out to his side. "And I am the strongest, boy." The horse slowly began to trot. A bead sweat stung at Mitsurugi's eye as he saw his unfinished life life flash before him. The shame of not completeing his revenge, the shame of dying to his enemies blade, the shame if....
"Show some honor, bandit," It was Master Shonto. His old, but sharp, blade extended before him. "Step down off your steed."
"Fine, old man," The bandit jumped and landed with a squat on the ground and walked over to the old man, "I assume this boy is your disciple?"
"He is."
"He's a fine swordsman, killed four of my mounted men."
"I'd expect as much from him."
"Well, do you pan on killing me?"
"I do."
"But I beg of you, spare me, Master." The bandit removed his helmet and revealed his face. The man had a long scar on his face. His eyes a dark and inset from lack of sleep and his features were weathered from many battles. But Mitsurugi recognized it. It had lacked the scar before, but it still had the evil as it ever had. He would never forget the face of his father's killer.
"Yomomitsu?"
"Yes, master, it is I."
"Do not call me master. My disciples do not turn on the code of Bushido."
"Yes, well, I have. And I also have the luxury of running away. So that is what I shall do. Good-bye." He returned to his horse and rode off into the middle of the village calling his men together and riding away from the village.
Mitsurugi stood stunned for a moment. The symbol of his revenge had just ridden off, and he had no power over any of it. As he looked around, he saw his master, putting his sword back in its scaarab. He an over to him and kneeled bowing his head.
"Forgive me, master, and thank you. You have saved my life."
"Yes, yes, get up. Let us return home, and you can tell me of your battle. Then I can tell you some stories of old students."

"And so, he abandoned the way of the samurai and left to join a rogue clan. And you say he is also tha man who killed your father? It is shameful. Well, it is time yo eat. Then after, We shall begin studying again. You will know of all the samurai and of all the most important battles."
"Then what after that?"
"Oh, your studies will last you beyond your training. But, soon, you will finish studying the sword. Then I will teach you to use other weapons, such as a shamshir, a tulwar, two katanas. Then you will learn to fight with a spear and then your archery training shall begin. And all this while you shall be taught tracking and logic."
"How long will this take?"
"Many years, but I doubt as many as others. Most samurai are trained from birth. You are fifteen years behind. But, by the time you are twenty-one, I predict you will be as a army of one hundred men shelled in the hands of one man. Then and only then will I allow you to exact your revenge."
Mitsurugi looked up over the fireplace at his master's sword again. Then his eyes wandered outside to Shonto's gardens. The noon sun shone directly on them, leaving no shadows beneath them.
"Someday, I shall make the world stand still at noon, and the evil wll not be able to lurk and hide from me in shadows."
"I pray you do, boy, I pray you do."