Post by rockydublin on Dec 10, 2019 15:20:00 GMT -5
Author's Note: The names presented are written in the order of household name and then given name for example; Honda Junichi instead of the Westernize Junichi Honda.
Please let me know what you think.
"Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself!" Junichi heard Beni yell. He figured the youngest of the two boys was trying to move about. It was surprising to say the least given that the five year old was stabbed a few nights ago, though he imagined if he saw his parents get murdered in front of him he wouldn't want to stay in one place for long let alone at a stranger's home. Honda Junichi knew Kiyonaga Hitoshi since they were children, they were in different classes, Junichi a samurai and Hitoshi just a farmer; the two did not interact a whole lot as children, but when the two had become men he found himself getting help from Hitoshi. Whether it was food or shelter or even listening to the other complain, Hitoshi was always willing to help him, it was this kindness that potentially made him become a ronin and leave the service of his lord. Much to the sadness of his lord and fellow samurai, what surprised him more was that Beni and her brother, Sanosake, had joined him. A few weeks later they ran into the fox spirits, Shiho and Lumoi; bit by bit the group had grown in size until there was at least twenty of them. He remembered hearing about the other marrying a beautiful maiden, even meeting the couple only once the two were perfect for each other, both were kind, helpful, honorable.
* * * * * * * * *
He should have known that his former lord, Kato Kenta would retaliate against him. The lord rarely gave things up, why would he, Kento's greatest warrior be any different? Junichi thought that the lord would burn down his estate or publicly shame him, but no. Instead of purely going for Junichi and his small group he went after two peasants, two farmers, Kiyonaga Hitoshi and his wife. Beni had alerted him that they were needed at Hitoshi's home. He didn't know how she knew, but he wouldn't question it until later. He brought Beni, Sanosake, Kenshin, and a few other warriors with him, they were unfortunately too late. Before them lay a scene of tragedy, two bodies lay on the ground Junichi had known what it meant. It was for him, a numbness seemed to fall over him, unlike anything he had experienced while fighting for Kento. He'd seen dead bodies before, soldiers and peasants alike, but there was something different in the faces of Hitoshi and his wife; there was not fear, nor was there regret, instead the faces they wore were that of anger, he was unsure if the anger was directed at him, he could only imagine the look of betrayal Hitoshi and his wife felt in their last moments, so deep was Junichi in his stupor he missed the blade that was coming for him, fortunately for him Kenshin noticed and deflected the blade from his friend.
"Junichi, focus!" He heard him shout. He nodded quickly drawing his longsword. The battle was quick much to Junichi's relief. Beni was the first to approach the bodies. It was then that the group realized that there was another smaller body in the slaughter; a small boy, clinging to his dead mother as he too was bleeding out, a small shovel in his hand, but in comparison to the boy it looked larger, he tried fighting Kato's samurai. Without a word Beni lifted up the boy and moved him away from his long dead parents.
"Sanosake, I need cloth to stop the bleeding." She ordered. Sanosake simply nodded and went to look.
"Kenshin, you and Hanzo go look around the house for anyone else..." Junichi was ordering before he found himself blocking a sickle that was slashed at him. He looked to his attacker seeing it was a mere boy, older than the one lying down, but a boy all the same. The boy froze, an understandable look of fear on his face.
"What is your name?" Hanzo questioned, resting a hand on his shortsword.
"K-Kiyonaga Yoshiyuki, son of Kiyonaga Hitoshi, sir." Yoshiyuki replied "Where are my parents, where is my brother?"
Sanosake had re-entered the room with a fresh kimono for the boy along with a bowl of water and cloth. "Aoi? Aoi?!" Yoshiyuki backed away as he released the sickle before attempting to go over to his brother. Kenshin caught him. "Let me go!" Yoshiyuki yelled at the man, trying to break free.
"Listen to me, boy! Your brother is injured and you going over there will do more harm than good. You want him to live don't you?" Yoshiyuki nodded his head as he stayed still for moment. After what felt like eons Beni rose, holding the boy close.
"I have done what I can. Goemon will have to do the rest."
"Can you walk?" Junichi asked. The boy nodded. "Good, go with your brother." Yoshiyuki gave no reply, simply nodding again and following after Sanosake and Beni. He would tell them of their parents after he buried them.
* * * * * * * * *
"You're burning up, Aoi, please lie down."
"Reminds me of the time I was sick as a child, she'd pin me to the ground if I tried to get out of bed when I should have been resting." Junichi laughed at the memory of Beni sitting on her brother.
"I doubt your sister will be sitting on this child." He spoke after the laughs died down. "What kind of Lord sends samurai to kill a family of defenseless farmers?" He asked after a long silence.
"I do not know, my friend."
"If he wanted to hurt me why did he have to orphan those boys as well? They had done nothing to offend Lord Kato."
"You were friends with Hitoshi, no doubt he blamed him for our sudden desertion, yours most of all. Doesn't make what he did right mind you, but you understand what I'm saying."
"Sadly I do. If only he saw the irony of it all. I left his service because I was tired of seeing those below us suffered while the lords and us ate well. How we were the ones that had to worry about living or dying on the battlefield, while Lords have bodyguards willing to throw themselves on top of them just to ensure their safety. He has proven the point I was trying to make when I left his service. Who will mourn for these two besides their children?"
"We will mourn with them. Beni and I have known Toshiko for a while, she was good friends with our mother. She didn't deserve to die the way she did, neither of them did."
"Who will be their voice in this?" Hanzo questioned in the doorway. Junichi sat in silence for a moment. Since separating from his lord he and his group were unsure what to do with themselves, all most of them knew was how to be samurai, save for the two fox spirits with them, it seemed to naturally fit into place.
"We could be a voice for the voiceless." Junichi hadn't realized he'd spoken until Sanosake and Hanzo both nodded their heads.
"It would make sense." Sanosake nodded his head still.
"Well, now that we have a goal in mind, what are we to do with the boys?" Hanzo questioned. Another good question. Sanosake was the one to speak this time.
"They're to be raised by us; among Toshiko's clan when the parents die, whether it natural or not whomever finds the children first, are the ones to raise them."
"That's messed up." Hanzo spoke.
"Seppuku is no different yet there have been many men before us who did it."
"The difference here though is that we have a chance to give the boys a real chance at living, a chance to survive. Seppuku is an end to this world, this would be the beginning for them. Would you deny them this chance Hanzo?" The man shook his head.
"Let's go help Beni, I imagine two boys are a lot for just her and Maki." Sanosake replied before rising. Junichi followed in suit as the three went to check on Beni and the others.
Maki was a young girl, a runaway the group had taken in, she was under Beni's care as were the boys for the time being. She was currently trying to pin the younger boy down without hurting him or reopening the wound Goemon spent hours patching up the few nights before. Aoi had taken a katana to the side, it was a shock he wasn't dead, but they decided it best to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Aoi was trying to push the older girl off of him with little success.
"You are sick, you idiot, hold still!"
"Maki, that isn't how you get someone to hold still." Beni spoke. They were trying to change out the bandages for clean ones as the movement caused his wounds to reopen again. Yoshiyuki looked on in concern, he'd never seen blood before, not like this anyway. "Everything is going to be alright, dear boy." Beni tried, sweet words seemed to do the trick for Aoi, or perhaps it was something that reminded him of his mother, whatever the reason Beni kept speaking to the boy in a calm, sweet voice, eventually the bandages were changed and the boys were allowed to be near each other.
"Why did they kill Mother and Father?" Aoi spoke sadly as his head rested in his brother's lap. The first words they'd heard him speak since that night.
"The Lord Kato Kenta was angry with my people and me for leaving his service. To him your father was to blame for this." Junichi explained, kneeling across from the two.
"Did he?" Yoshiyuki questioned.
"It matters not, your mother and father did not deserve the fate that ultimately killed them." He answered. The two watched Junichi a bit surprised and a bit concerned.
"You are samurai?" Yoshiyuki asked them. Junichi shook his head and smiled.
"No, not in the sense you know, we are samurai without Lords or Masters."
"We are ronin." Sanosake explained.
"What are your names?" Junichi asked. Though he was probably told already, he was never good with names.
"I am Kiyonaga Yoshiyuki, this is my brother Aoi Ren."
"I am Koga Sanosake, this is my sister, Koga Beni."
"I am Nishi Maki."
"Sanjou Hanzo, brother of Sanjou Goemon." As the other members of his clan that were in the room introduced themselves Junichi thought about whether he should keep his name or not. Something in him felt that in order to truly be free of Lord Kato, Honda Junichi would have to die, but who would come in his place?
"What is your name, sir?" Yoshiyuki's voice brought Junichi out of his head. Just as he decided that they were to be the voice for the voiceless, so too did he decide his new name, one that would remind him of why he did this. And to honor fallen friends.
"I am Musei Kiyonaga."
Please let me know what you think.
"Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself!" Junichi heard Beni yell. He figured the youngest of the two boys was trying to move about. It was surprising to say the least given that the five year old was stabbed a few nights ago, though he imagined if he saw his parents get murdered in front of him he wouldn't want to stay in one place for long let alone at a stranger's home. Honda Junichi knew Kiyonaga Hitoshi since they were children, they were in different classes, Junichi a samurai and Hitoshi just a farmer; the two did not interact a whole lot as children, but when the two had become men he found himself getting help from Hitoshi. Whether it was food or shelter or even listening to the other complain, Hitoshi was always willing to help him, it was this kindness that potentially made him become a ronin and leave the service of his lord. Much to the sadness of his lord and fellow samurai, what surprised him more was that Beni and her brother, Sanosake, had joined him. A few weeks later they ran into the fox spirits, Shiho and Lumoi; bit by bit the group had grown in size until there was at least twenty of them. He remembered hearing about the other marrying a beautiful maiden, even meeting the couple only once the two were perfect for each other, both were kind, helpful, honorable.
* * * * * * * * *
He should have known that his former lord, Kato Kenta would retaliate against him. The lord rarely gave things up, why would he, Kento's greatest warrior be any different? Junichi thought that the lord would burn down his estate or publicly shame him, but no. Instead of purely going for Junichi and his small group he went after two peasants, two farmers, Kiyonaga Hitoshi and his wife. Beni had alerted him that they were needed at Hitoshi's home. He didn't know how she knew, but he wouldn't question it until later. He brought Beni, Sanosake, Kenshin, and a few other warriors with him, they were unfortunately too late. Before them lay a scene of tragedy, two bodies lay on the ground Junichi had known what it meant. It was for him, a numbness seemed to fall over him, unlike anything he had experienced while fighting for Kento. He'd seen dead bodies before, soldiers and peasants alike, but there was something different in the faces of Hitoshi and his wife; there was not fear, nor was there regret, instead the faces they wore were that of anger, he was unsure if the anger was directed at him, he could only imagine the look of betrayal Hitoshi and his wife felt in their last moments, so deep was Junichi in his stupor he missed the blade that was coming for him, fortunately for him Kenshin noticed and deflected the blade from his friend.
"Junichi, focus!" He heard him shout. He nodded quickly drawing his longsword. The battle was quick much to Junichi's relief. Beni was the first to approach the bodies. It was then that the group realized that there was another smaller body in the slaughter; a small boy, clinging to his dead mother as he too was bleeding out, a small shovel in his hand, but in comparison to the boy it looked larger, he tried fighting Kato's samurai. Without a word Beni lifted up the boy and moved him away from his long dead parents.
"Sanosake, I need cloth to stop the bleeding." She ordered. Sanosake simply nodded and went to look.
"Kenshin, you and Hanzo go look around the house for anyone else..." Junichi was ordering before he found himself blocking a sickle that was slashed at him. He looked to his attacker seeing it was a mere boy, older than the one lying down, but a boy all the same. The boy froze, an understandable look of fear on his face.
"What is your name?" Hanzo questioned, resting a hand on his shortsword.
"K-Kiyonaga Yoshiyuki, son of Kiyonaga Hitoshi, sir." Yoshiyuki replied "Where are my parents, where is my brother?"
Sanosake had re-entered the room with a fresh kimono for the boy along with a bowl of water and cloth. "Aoi? Aoi?!" Yoshiyuki backed away as he released the sickle before attempting to go over to his brother. Kenshin caught him. "Let me go!" Yoshiyuki yelled at the man, trying to break free.
"Listen to me, boy! Your brother is injured and you going over there will do more harm than good. You want him to live don't you?" Yoshiyuki nodded his head as he stayed still for moment. After what felt like eons Beni rose, holding the boy close.
"I have done what I can. Goemon will have to do the rest."
"Can you walk?" Junichi asked. The boy nodded. "Good, go with your brother." Yoshiyuki gave no reply, simply nodding again and following after Sanosake and Beni. He would tell them of their parents after he buried them.
* * * * * * * * *
"You're burning up, Aoi, please lie down."
"Reminds me of the time I was sick as a child, she'd pin me to the ground if I tried to get out of bed when I should have been resting." Junichi laughed at the memory of Beni sitting on her brother.
"I doubt your sister will be sitting on this child." He spoke after the laughs died down. "What kind of Lord sends samurai to kill a family of defenseless farmers?" He asked after a long silence.
"I do not know, my friend."
"If he wanted to hurt me why did he have to orphan those boys as well? They had done nothing to offend Lord Kato."
"You were friends with Hitoshi, no doubt he blamed him for our sudden desertion, yours most of all. Doesn't make what he did right mind you, but you understand what I'm saying."
"Sadly I do. If only he saw the irony of it all. I left his service because I was tired of seeing those below us suffered while the lords and us ate well. How we were the ones that had to worry about living or dying on the battlefield, while Lords have bodyguards willing to throw themselves on top of them just to ensure their safety. He has proven the point I was trying to make when I left his service. Who will mourn for these two besides their children?"
"We will mourn with them. Beni and I have known Toshiko for a while, she was good friends with our mother. She didn't deserve to die the way she did, neither of them did."
"Who will be their voice in this?" Hanzo questioned in the doorway. Junichi sat in silence for a moment. Since separating from his lord he and his group were unsure what to do with themselves, all most of them knew was how to be samurai, save for the two fox spirits with them, it seemed to naturally fit into place.
"We could be a voice for the voiceless." Junichi hadn't realized he'd spoken until Sanosake and Hanzo both nodded their heads.
"It would make sense." Sanosake nodded his head still.
"Well, now that we have a goal in mind, what are we to do with the boys?" Hanzo questioned. Another good question. Sanosake was the one to speak this time.
"They're to be raised by us; among Toshiko's clan when the parents die, whether it natural or not whomever finds the children first, are the ones to raise them."
"That's messed up." Hanzo spoke.
"Seppuku is no different yet there have been many men before us who did it."
"The difference here though is that we have a chance to give the boys a real chance at living, a chance to survive. Seppuku is an end to this world, this would be the beginning for them. Would you deny them this chance Hanzo?" The man shook his head.
"Let's go help Beni, I imagine two boys are a lot for just her and Maki." Sanosake replied before rising. Junichi followed in suit as the three went to check on Beni and the others.
Maki was a young girl, a runaway the group had taken in, she was under Beni's care as were the boys for the time being. She was currently trying to pin the younger boy down without hurting him or reopening the wound Goemon spent hours patching up the few nights before. Aoi had taken a katana to the side, it was a shock he wasn't dead, but they decided it best to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Aoi was trying to push the older girl off of him with little success.
"You are sick, you idiot, hold still!"
"Maki, that isn't how you get someone to hold still." Beni spoke. They were trying to change out the bandages for clean ones as the movement caused his wounds to reopen again. Yoshiyuki looked on in concern, he'd never seen blood before, not like this anyway. "Everything is going to be alright, dear boy." Beni tried, sweet words seemed to do the trick for Aoi, or perhaps it was something that reminded him of his mother, whatever the reason Beni kept speaking to the boy in a calm, sweet voice, eventually the bandages were changed and the boys were allowed to be near each other.
"Why did they kill Mother and Father?" Aoi spoke sadly as his head rested in his brother's lap. The first words they'd heard him speak since that night.
"The Lord Kato Kenta was angry with my people and me for leaving his service. To him your father was to blame for this." Junichi explained, kneeling across from the two.
"Did he?" Yoshiyuki questioned.
"It matters not, your mother and father did not deserve the fate that ultimately killed them." He answered. The two watched Junichi a bit surprised and a bit concerned.
"You are samurai?" Yoshiyuki asked them. Junichi shook his head and smiled.
"No, not in the sense you know, we are samurai without Lords or Masters."
"We are ronin." Sanosake explained.
"What are your names?" Junichi asked. Though he was probably told already, he was never good with names.
"I am Kiyonaga Yoshiyuki, this is my brother Aoi Ren."
"I am Koga Sanosake, this is my sister, Koga Beni."
"I am Nishi Maki."
"Sanjou Hanzo, brother of Sanjou Goemon." As the other members of his clan that were in the room introduced themselves Junichi thought about whether he should keep his name or not. Something in him felt that in order to truly be free of Lord Kato, Honda Junichi would have to die, but who would come in his place?
"What is your name, sir?" Yoshiyuki's voice brought Junichi out of his head. Just as he decided that they were to be the voice for the voiceless, so too did he decide his new name, one that would remind him of why he did this. And to honor fallen friends.
"I am Musei Kiyonaga."
