The Tale of Akinori: The Runner

It had gotten easy I suppose, gotten easier to run, gotten easier to move from place to place. Than to turn and face my problems head on. My name is Akinori, and this is my story.

I’m what you’d call a ronin, a masterless Samurai. The thing is, I had a master. An old man who saved my family and I, then let me follow him around when I was nothing more than an annoying whelp. He took me under his wing and molded me into a deadly weapon. And what did i give him in return for his shelter and guidance? I had gotten him killed. His death is one of the reasons I wander but not the only one.  So it was that I found myself in a brothel. Staring at the ceiling, I don’t sleep much anymore. When I do I only see their faces, begging me to save them. Even now the mere thought bought tears to my eyes.  Then I heard the sound of tiny bare feet quickly coming towards me,  before I could react a small child burst into the room.  

“Mr. Aki! Mr. Aki!  Wake up!” Shouted a little voice, with a slight lisp

“I’m awake, and you shouldn’t be in here. You’re too young for places like this? What if I was with a lady?” 

“You’re never with a lady!” 

The kid was right, I rarely ever was. But it didn’t matter. It was a simple arrangement, I protected the girls when johns got too rowdy and in turn they let me stay here when I needed it.  I sat up and stretched, and looked at the kid. Her name was Mizuho, she was a skinny little waif of a thing, no family, and primarily got by thieving, and through what little charity she could muster from others.  I had met her when she stole from the wrong mark and ran afoul of a gang, I could have gone easy on them but people that pray on kids are scum, so I made them suffer. Little Mizu had been my shadow ever since.  I could have easily told her to leave me alone, that following me was dangerous, but I saw something in the kid, maybe it was the same thing that the old man had seen in me.  I watched her run around the room then she stopped in awed reverence as her eyes fell on my sword.  I tensed myself for the inevitable question

“Mr. Aki? Will you train me to be a Samurai like you? I promise I’ll be a good student!”

“Not yet, you’re still too young. Maybe when you get older. Now out into the hallway, I have to get dressed.”  

This got easier too, lying to people. I had no intention of ever training that girl and I planned on being long gone before she’d ever accept that truth.  Mizu was innocent, and I refused to take that away from her by making her a killer like I was.  She deserved better than i was. I tried to tell myself that, but the one person I could never lie to was me.  I knew that without me here to keep her safe chances are that she’d, be a cutthroat, a whore, or something worse.  The thought filled me with a deep revulsion, it was so profound that felt it crawling up my spine.  But for now, like so many other things that kept me up nights, I suppressed my feelings about Mizu’s future and pretended that I was happy with my life.  I burst out of the room blustering with a pretend joviality and smiled at Mizu. She would never know about my stress, or my pain, the kid was innocent. And I planned on keeping that illusion alive for her for as long as I could, no matter how much sleep I lost. Or how much blood I had to spill. 

“Ready to go?” I asked as I walked out of the room

“Yeah, can we go get some breakfast? I’m so hungry Mr. Aki”

“That’s fine, lead the way.”

I followed Mizu as she bounced around, as carefree as any child unburdened by the many stresses that the world had to offer her. As we walked I looked around at the townsfolk, most of these people were poor, but to me it didn’t matter. In my life I’ve discovered that poor people are the only kind ones. As I’ve wandered I’ve rolled in numerous circles, I’ve dined with the young, old, the rich and the poor alike.  With the poor people you at least knew where you stood. But those rich ones, in high society? There was a sickness about them, and I had seen enough, and done enough working for them that just being near them always made me grip my sword a little tighter.  Mizu weaved her way through the growing throng of people with the steady and practiced steps of a thief Always careful enough as not to draw attention to herself. But I knew the kid and had dealt with pickpockets before, so she was never really out of my sight.  I already knew where she was leading us, Sadakuno’s place. I loved eating there. The man was some sort of savant when it came to food, and his portions? He always made enough for a small army, the kid had good taste.  Mizu beat me in the door, and judging by what I heard Sadakuno was less than enthusiastic about her patronage. I had to get in there and diffuse things. 

“You little thief! You get out, you make customers not want to eat here!” 

“Sadakuno, the kid is with me.  Now tell me what the problem is.” 

“She’s constantly stealing food!”

“She’s got no parents, and she’s living on the street. She does what she does to survive. Did you consider that?”

“No, I suppose I didn’t.”

“Why not give her a spare room, let her work around the restaurant to pay off her debts?”

“Hm, I’ll think about it. My wife has always wanted a child.”

“I didn’t know you were married, Sadakuno.”

He seemed to bristle a bit when I said that,  it was subtle, practiced but in a fight the slightest movement can mean life or death so despite his efforts to hide I saw him. He hastily went back to his kitchen and suddenly I was on edge. I was leery but I didn’t want Mizu to worry so I played along. I played with my food and drank from my flask while the kid gorged herself. By her demeanor I could tell the food wasn’t poisoned, but as soon as she drank some of the water, Mizu was already starting to look drowsy.  Just then Akio a local street rat burst into the restaurant.  He was harmless, but he kept his ears to the ground so I kept him around.  As I watched him, he looked terrified.  He was babbling like an idiot and I couldn’t even begin to understand him. 

“Akio, calm down and tell me what’s wrong.” 

His words were still incoherent but I could make out two words: “War Dogs.”

It all made sense now. Sadakuno and the War Dogs had laid a trap for me, and they used Mizu as bait. To involve an innocent child in all this was horrific. But I was all too familiar with how the War Dogs operated. The Emperor would point them at someone then the War Dogs would destroy anything in their path until they got who they were looking for.  They had been chasing me for a year now.  I usually don’t stay in any one place for too long in any one place because of them, but I got sloppy because of Mizu.  I checked on her, luckily the kid was still breathing, but if I didn’t get her help soon she wouldn’t make it.  I grabbed her up and bolted for the door.  I had taken to long and I ran headlong into Takuma.  I’d say that he was the War Dogs’ muscle but at this point they didn’t really need it. All five of them were human in the loosest sense of the word. Takuma stood about nine feet tall, seemed to be carved out of a mountain, and could easily tear a tree out of the ground roots and all.  About my only saving grace here was that whatever demon was wearing Takuma had spent so much time making him physically strong that he was as dumb as a sack of hammers.  I kicked the table towards him and as he set to tearing it apart I jumped out of the window.  As soon as I landed the ground, started swallowing my ankles.  I made an effort to dislodge myself but it was taking too long, and Takuma had found me. 

“I’ll take this.” He took the kid from me and handed her off to another of the War Dogs, Hisaya. I didn’t know much about Hisaya, they never took their armor off. All I did know was that they were well versed in magic and that they led the emperor’s assassins.  I shuddered to think of what they’d do to Mizu.  But I didn’t have too long to think about it.  Because Takuma hit me, right through the wall of Sadakuno’s shop.  He hit me so hard that I didn’t feel it at first, I didn’t feel anything. Then when the pain finally hit it crashed into me like a tsunami.  Luckily I didn’t feel it for too long, but as my vision started to swim I heard a voice it was that of Tsuramatsu, the leader of the War Dogs and an all around vicious son of a bitch.  

“They’ve seen us, put them to death. All of them, every man, woman, and child. If the masses think that we leave survivors, then they’ll no longer fear us. When we finish, all that is to be left is blood and ashes.” 

After that, I heard screaming and I blacked out. When I woke up I was still in pain. It grew worse as I looked around and saw that Tsuramatsu had been true to his word. There was nothing left of the town. Nothing but ashes, blood, and corpses. But I could see something else, a bunch of spirits that were in pain and confused as to why they were in the afterlife. If I didn’t want to content with a town full of demons and vengeful spirits I’d need to act fast. I made my way back to the whorehouse that I had a room in, I took my time I was still feeling the after effects of Takuma’s punch.  Walking through town was eerie, all around me there was spirits some continued to go through their normal routines  in an effort to hold onto what little humanity they remembered. The longer you stayed dead without moving on the worse your chances of becoming vengeful or a demon  got.   I found the whorehouse. Or more what was left of it.  It looked like a crater and I had a sneaking suspicion that Takuma had been here personally. As most of the spirits I saw seemed to be traumatized, as though they had been put through extreme trauma before the died.  I’d need to be particularly careful here.   I got to work sifting through the wreckage, I had to find my sword. As I worked I heard a soft weeping, I looked over my shoulder and saw Yatsumi. For all intents and purposes, she had been the leader of the brothel. She had protected the girls.  She was also too intelligent and beautiful for the lot that life had given her. As she wept she kept saying the same thing over and over again 

“Why did he do that? Why did he make me watch? Why, why, WHY?” 

She wasn’t talking to me, not really but all that she had left to hang onto was the particularly ugly feeling of being forced to watch as all that she built was destroyed around her. I knew where this was going. And I started to work faster.   There was an unshakable silence just before apotheosis.  As though  all the sound has been sucked from the world.  And then when the sound came back Yatsumi screamed so loud that I thought I’d go deaf or be driven mad by the sound.  I watched as every girl that had once worked at the brothel in life give themselves to Yatsumi, she had been their shield in life and now in death they would become her sword.  Speaking of swords, I had spotted mine.  It sat there in its scabbard waiting for the dark business at hand.  I reached for it, and not a moment too soon. The now demonic Yatsumi had noticed me. 

“You!” She roared in the voice of every single woman that once lived there. 

“Wait Yatsumi , just think for a second.”

“We are, this is your fault Akinori.  Those animals came here because of you. The town is gone because of you. We’re all dead because of you!  Everywhere you go death follows you, we’ve heard you talking in your sleep.  There’s so much blood on your hands, how do you even live with yourself anymore? “ 

“I ask myself the same question every day when I wake up. I look at my reflection and hate what I see.” 

“Well then, do us all a favor, Akinori. Kill yourself.” 

I was silent, it’s no lie. I had thought of killing myself. Of taking a Tanto and opening my gut. If I’m being honest, it’d be easy. But I know what was waiting for me when I died.  There was something else now too,  the kid. It was my fault she got taken and I wouldn’t rest until she was safe. 

“I can’t, Yatsumi .” 

“Why? Is it cowardice? Or in your addled mind do you somehow think you’re a benefit to the world? Despite the cemetery that follows you everywhere you go?” 

“It’s Mizu. It’s my fault that she’s in this mess. I have to save her. I can’t rest until she’s safe.”

“The safest place for Mizu is far away from you, I’m sure your mother, sister, and master would all say the same.”  

She was right, that’s a misconception about demons. People think they lie to try and convince you to commit evils. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. A demon will always tell you the truth. The truth that you won’t even tell yourself.  Then when they show you just how dark your soul really is, it gets much easier to get you to take that last leap into true darkness. It never worked for me because I was already enveloped in the dark. Instead of rising to the demons charges, I stayed calm and prepared myself for what I had to do. What happened next happened quick. I dove for my sword,  Tatsumi lunged for me, digging her razor sharp talons into my chest, and I took the hilt of my sword and placed it on her forehead. As soon as it made contact Tatsumi roared in agony. 

“What did you do to me?” 

“I exorcised you. I took your pain into myself, so that you can move on unburdened into the afterlife.” 

“But why? Why would you put yourself through that sort of agony?” 

“Like you said, I carry a cemetery with me.  I need to atone somehow.”

“I said that?” 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m going to head out. You see to the girls and close up for the night.”

I was gentle with her, as she was already starting to forget about her time as a demon.  Of course I’d never forget. I staggered out of  the brothel.  The wound that Tatsumi left on me started stitching itself back together and it was agonizing.  But that wasn’t the worst of it. Since I absorbed Yatsumi and the other girls pain, I no longer had to think about what Takuma did to them before he killed them. I could see it, I could feel it, Takuma was an animal.  As soon as I found him i would make him suffer for this.  But finding him was easier said than done, as I had no leads. I moved towards the center of town to draw the sigil and summon the Shinigami so they could help these people pass on. It was then that I saw Sadakuno’s restaurant, his very intact restaurant.  I hastily drew the sigil and headed there. Maybe finding the War Dogs wouldn’t be so difficult after all.  Walking there felt surreal it seemed like years ago since I had walked these streets with Mizu. But judging by my vision from the working girls I had been out for at least a month.   Getting closer to the restaurant snapped me back to the real world, I smelled burning food.  I quickened my pace and entered the restaurant, there was smoke everywhere.  Through the haze I saw Sadakuno’s silhouette in the kitchen. Which was odd. Spirits don’t usually leave shadows.  My grip instinctively tightened around my sword as I moved forward.  I was surprised to find that he was still alive. 

“Sadakuno, why didn’t the War Dogs kill you? What did they offer you?” 

“I just wanted to see my wife.”

“Well, I don’t see her! So was it worth it? All this blood is on your hands. 

“They made me watch. I just wanted to see my wife.” 

“You sacrificed an entire town, just for your wife? I’m sure she’d be thrilled.”

“They bought her back.  Takuma, killed her in front of me. He made me eat her. I just wanted to see my wife.” 

He kept mumbling incoherently about his wife. If what he said was true. They forced him to watch as they drowned the town in blood. Then as payment for his good work they killed his wife in front of him and made him eat her remains. The stress of the situation had clearly shattered his mind. I was doubtful that I’d get any useful information out of him. It was funny, at first I was furious, I came here ready to murder Sadakuno, to hurl every insult I could at him, to beat him, to carve him up with his own knives, then after I was satisfied I’d finally kill him. But now? All I felt was pity. The world had utterly destroyed this man, and all I could do was offer him a final kindness. That was the last thought I had as my hands closed around his throat.  He struggled of course, whatever animal instinct was left in his mind wanted to survive, but the man himself was already gone.  Still though, after I killed him all I felt was remorse. The demon was right. Death clung to me and everyone around me suffered for it.   There was nothing else for me here. Nothing except pain, It was time for me to leave.   I had no leads, no clues, just a hunch really. The War Dogs work for the royal family, which meant that they were likely taking Mizu to the capitol. It was a place that I actively avoided, there was too much pain there, but deep down I always knew that’s where all of this would end.  

I offered one last forlorn look at the town that had been my home for three months. They didn’t deserve this. None of the places I had been did.  I started this by saying it was easy to run, but it was time to stop and face what I had coming to me.  I took one last deep breath and steeled myself for the long road ahead.