Furui Okami

Junichiro opened his eyes, he felt the many aches and pains of age but he wouldn’t trade them. He went through his daily routine around his property. All and all it was a quiet day that he would likely spend dozing by the river and fishing, the spoils he had earned with retirement. He knelt down for his morning meditation, then he heard the screams. It was a queer sound, Junichiro had chosen this town because it was so small, because time had forgotten it, this warranted investigating. Junichiro rose again, cursing the soreness in his joints. He put on his cloak, gathered his walking stick, and departed. Junichiro pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders, the morning frost was still on the air. Perhaps it was an omen, though Junichiro never took stock in such things, he believed in facts in what was tangible the only omen he needed that something was wrong were the screams on the air. Whatever this was, he wanted it over quickly so Junichiro quickened his pace.

As he crested the hill overlooking the town. Junichiro’s eyes widened he saw the many plumes of smoke as much of the town was a smoldering ruin. This was a poor vantage, Junichiro knew he needed a closer look. Quickly moving off the hill as to not give away his position Junichiro ducked into the nearest house, before he could gather himself, Junichiro heard muffled whimpering, punctuated by a loud slap

“I told you not to scream, if you disobey again your children will die!” said a man harshly.

Junichiro  couldn’t tell by the voice, but the man sounded young, and his pronunciation marked him as someone from the lower class. Junichiro inched ever closer to the voices. As he entered the bedroom Junichiro assessed his surroundings, a father butchered, a mother violated, three young children whimpering in a corner, and the soldier responsible for it all. With the speed of a tiger, Junichiro was upon him. Snapping his neck before he knew what was happening. Junichiro dropped the corpse unceremoniously. He looked at his hands, where once he felt the aches and pains of age he now felt refreshed. He remembered the bloodshed, the carnage he had wrought. Maybe it wasn’t the age that pained him, but peace itself. He didn’t have the time to dwell on it, there was still business to conduct here. The woman made to thank Junichiro, but he shushed her and instructed her to care for her family. Junichiro investigated the soldier’s corpse, the money he had, Junichiro gave to the woman and told her to wait till nightfall then take her family and flee.

He went back to the soldier; his armor was of particular interest to Junichiro. It was garish and painted in the most lurid of colors, and the symbol, the daimyo’s symbol, it was one Junichiro recognized. He hadn’t seen it in two decades. This was no random attack, Junichiro needed answers, he left the woman to her own devices. He would need to find another soldier, a living one that he could interrogate. At first, he thought it would be difficult, but these boys were sloppy and easy to follow, it seemed to be a combination of a lack of discipline and the wanting to make a spectacle. Junichiro just followed the bodies, then sure enough he found a large cadre of soldiers drinking and cavorting around a massive bonfire, his was a celebration for them, in Junichiro it conjured up a deep revulsion. He had felt the searing heat of an ugly rage, he wanted so desperately to slaughter all of these men. But he had made a promise, so for now he restrained himself.

Junichiro settled in and waited, eventually one of the soldiers would need to relieve himself. That was when he would strike. As he sat in his hiding place Junichiro watched the flames, his mind wandered to another time

This last mission had been taxing on Junichiro, even now he was barely on his horse. He found himself in a field of cherry blossoms.

“This will be as good a place as any to die I suppose” Junichiro said to himself before collapsing off of his horse

The blossoms felt good on his skin, he didn’t deserve it the peace he felt, not after all of the lives he had taken but that was a million miles away. Now he could drift away.

Junichiro woke up sometime later in an unfamiliar house, the first thing he noticed was that his sword was gone, he tried to sit up then he heard something wonderful

“Stop moving you idiot, it took me days to close your wounds, id like my work not to be undone thank you!” said a young woman

“Where am I? where is my sword?” asked Junichiro hoarsely

“Hm, that’s some gratitude. I save his life and the first thing he asks about is a hunk of metal.” The mystery woman responded haughtily

“I, I’m sorry. My name is Junichiro…”

Before his mind could wander any further, Junichiro bought himself back to the mission at hand. As he suspected one of the soldiers stumbled off to relive himself, Junichiro stalked after him silently. As he relived himself, on corpses no less, Junichiro made his move. He roughly grabbed the man, when Junichiro looked in his eyes even through the drunken haze there was fear

“If you scream, or make any sound other than what I tell you, you will die. Do you understand me? Nod if you do.”

The soldier nodded feverishly before Junichiro continued

“Why are you here? What was the point of attacking this village? Speak, and quickly.”

“Lord Hamamoto, meant this to serve as a show of strength to the other three daimyo to show that he can be as cunning as they are. They mean to overthrow the shogun.” The young soldier blurted nervously

“Overthrow the shogun? Naruhiko always was too ambitious for his own good. Well, if he wants strength? I’ll show it to him. But first? You take off that sword, you don’t deserve it, you’re no samurai you’re a mongrel dog. You have no honor.” Said Junichiro spitting

“Please sir, it’s my grandfather’s.” said the soldier clutching the sword tightly

Annoyance flashed across Junichiro’s face at having been defied, before he could reign himself in his hands closed around the soldier’s throat. As Junichiro squeezed the soldier clawed desperately at his face, as he watched him struggle a mad glee filled him, a feeling that he had long forgotten. Junichiro had tried so hard to be what she wanted, to be a peaceful man, but for him? Peace was a lie; Junichiro was a killer born. All loving her did was mask what he was, then it was her memory that had kept him honest. In thinking about his late wife, Junichiro loosened his grip. He let the body drop before looking at his hands, where once he had felt a mad glee in the ending of a life, now he was filled with shame and revulsion. Junichiro stumbled clumsily out into the main road and he was quickly spotted by the other soldiers.

“Look! One we forgot to kill!” Barked one of them, likely the leader he confidently sauntered over to Junichiro

“Well old man, where were you hiding?” he sneered

Junichiro paid him no mind still staring at his hands, still conflicted about his nature. This angered the soldier who kicked Junichiro hard in the face

“Don’t ignore me! Why are you out here?” he spat angrily

Junichiro stayed crumpled up on the ground

“What do I do?” he repeatedly asked to no one in particular

The soldier flipped him on his back and mounted him raining down punches on Junichiro’s face It didn’t take long for the blackness to take him, when he awoke, Junichiro found himself back in the field of cherry blossoms. He knew this place, he hadn’t been here since, there under a nearby tree sat his wife. She beckoned him over

“Inari? How are you here? How am I here? Am I dead?” he asked her

“No Junichiro, you’re not dead, you will be though if you don’t defend yourself.” Inari mused

“But I made you a promise that I wouldn’t be violent anymore that was what we agreed to when you accepted my proposal” said Junichiro

“Junichiro, I wanted you to find balance. To control your violent nature, you chose to wall it off entirely, you made yourself incomplete. You have to find the balance. You’re a good man, not a soulless killer.” Said Inari trailing off

Junichiro was losing her again, waking back up. When he did he scrambled to knock the soldier off of him. Junichiro looked around the town with a new light. Those townspeople were innocent and these men had needlessly butchered them, Junichiro had found his balance, at least for now anyway. He got up and looked down at the soldier who quickly scrambled to his feet to meet Junichiro’s gaze

“Hm, what’s your name boy?” asked Junichiro sizing the soldier up

“You will refer to me as Lord Hammamoto!” shouted the soldier

“Ah, Lord Hammamoto. The Daimyo’s boy? Let me guess you bought your friends down to the town for a bit of fun and to impress daddy, right? Well, the fun is over. Take your men and leave. Do it now and you get to live.” Said Junichiro plainly

“How dare you disrespect me this way!” shouted Hammaoto the younger

“Oh, so you want to do this the difficult way? I guess if that’s what you want, I’ll oblige you.” Said Junichiro taking a combat stance

Hammamoto rushed Junichiro. He was strong, a brute of a man, but he was sloppy his attacks were easily dodged or blocked. And Junichiro was swift to punish any openings that were left to him. He was disappointed in truth Naruhiko was never the soundest of fighters, he always used underhanded tactics to cover his shortcomings. But at the very least Junichiro had hoped he would have at least trained his son. Almost in response to this Hammamoto threw a sloppy kick in Junichiro’s direction, and Junichiro snapped the leg like a twig.

Hammamoto’s men surrounded Junichiro, drawing their weapons. They waited with baited breath for Hammamoto’s command or for Junichiro to make too sudden of a move. The old warrior looked around for a way to even the odds, then he saw it. A particularly ornate katana still jutting out of a corpse, that must have been one of the boys personal kills. Junichiro wondered how he’d be able to get to it, unfortunately he didn’t have enough time

“Kill him now!” Hammamoto the Younger shouted

After that it was chaos, too bad for these men? Junichiro thrived on chaos. The first one tried to rush him, and this was the one, that gave him a weapon. Junichiro disarmed him and cut off his arm. With a blade in his hand Junichiro felt complete, and he quickly erupted in a frenzy of exquisite violence, limbs were lopped, off men were beheaded, and when it was over Junichiro was awash with gore. As he surveyed the damage, he saw Hammamoto trying to drag himself back to his horse, Junichiro casually gave pursuit, he caught up to the boy and helped him onto his horse.

“Don’t worry boy, you live today. Run home and tell your father, tell him his old friend Junichiro is coming to visit.”