The Hand of Death Ch. 09

He had his staff bring us tea and food. It was exquisite. It was the best damned food I had ever tasted! I know I have said that before but I seem to eat "damned" food quite often. It was particularly true that day as I had nothing but bland rice, bland fish and water for the last seven months so what did I know. Or care.

The conversation was very good as was his tea. We spent half an hour talking and getting

caught up on things. I was in school and did not know that Yoshio married Nihonto recently. Then he adopted little Wajima as his heir. Whatever anger the old Wajima troops had been harboring was dissolved with those two actions. Usagi's two boys had been living here since the war. Yoshio had taken them in as his wards. Having heard all of this, I really wanted to see how Yoshio and his family were doing.

Once we were well past the half hour mark I made our excuses and said goodbye to Taiki.

Shingan asked, "Where to now?"

I replied, "To see Shotoku Yoshio apparently."

And I started walking towards the castle. I assume they were stunned as it took a few moments for me to hear them running to catch up to me.

Sanuro said, I assumed to Shingan, "This show-off is lying and going to get us killed."

I smiled and kept walking. When we got to the castle gate I spoke to the sergeant.

"Gunso sama, I am Shotoku Hiro." I bowed and he returned it. "I am here to see my friend, Shotoku Yoshio."

"Oh I remember you, Hiro san."

I was a little concerned by his tone of voice. I think he was one of the men Grandfather used to have me practice my tailing on. But he quickly called for a servant to lead us to our Daimyo. It did not take long. A servant in fine kimono came sprinting to us to escort us to the Daimyo. My friends were very quiet as we walked to the top floor of the castle to Yoshio's personal suite. The weather was cool so the windows were closed and the braziers were going. We found Yoshio and Nihonto playing with Wajima in the main room. They looked very happy. He motioned for us to sit once our introductions were completed.

"Well. It did not take love long to blossom with you two after all I see." I stated.

They both gave a small laugh before Yoshio replied, "I knew it! This was your plan all along."

I smiled. "I see Wajima-ko has mastered walking now." They had been rolling a ball to each other and Wajima would walk after it. He still could not talk but he was very good for a three year old. Yoshio rolled the ball to Sanuro who caught it and waived it at the baby.

"Yes. He looks to be very capable." Yoshio said sarcastically in an almost baby voice.

Nihonto asked, "And you Hiro sama, how have you been?"

I saw my friends look up with mild confusion while I gave a small grin. "Nihonto sama, I think after your marriage you can start referring to me with a more accurate title."

She acted as if she was thinking a moment before saying, "I do not agree, Hiro sama."

Shingan being rude by nature said, "OK. I have to know. What is that all about?"

"It is an ugly story." I said.

"Not that ugly." stated Nihonto. "During the War of the Wolf, Hiro sama, spared the life of myself and my son here. I am in his debt."

"Oh! You are that Nihonto." said Shingan.

"Is it really so common of a name?" asked Nihonto.

Shingan bowed quickly. "Forgive me, lady. My father is a poor samurai from a far island. I am not used to actually meeting nobility."

Yoshio returned her bow. "Shingan, you would have to try much harder than that to offend either of us. We are both very much in Hiro's debt. Me more so than my wife." He smiled. Shingan sat up and relaxed a little. He looked at me. "What is it I owe you now, Hiro san? Two?"

I nodded. "Two..." I quickly pointed at him. "No, three!" He looked at me questioningly. "The Nihonto thing."

"You are counting that for both of us?!" He exclaimed.

I nodded. "Absolutely. And you should be grateful it is not four, for Wajima there."

Nihonto had just kissed the baby and rolled the ball to Shingan. "Hiro sama, I gave birth to the boy and I do not even count him as another debt."

"Well that is too bad because your debt just went up to two, my lady." I replied.

Yoshio shook his head. "Now I remember why I do not like you," He said to me.

Sanuro chimed in with, "We do not actually know him, my lord."

We all laughed. We visited with them the rest of the day. Nihonto showed us around the castle and introduced my friends to the people we met. Though a little too cool in the evening, the gardens were still lovely. When Yoshio rejoined us, after some business he had to attend to, I pulled him aside.

"I wanted to ask you for a favor."

"Anything. How can I help."

"Have you ever been to the 'Loyal Koga?'" He shook his head, no. I smiled. "Good."

We had a great visit but when it finally became late enough, we made our goodbyes. We had some more drinks in town before returning to school where we handed our sensei the apron.

"Was it a difficult task children?" she asked.

"Shingan replied to her, "Yes. It took us all day, Sensei sama."

The sensei smiled. "I heard. Go take up practice with the others. Based on what happened on your last mission I know there will be more coming."

The training continued for another week before we got word our next mission would be a

distraction at the capital, Teikoku Toshi no Kyoto. The sensei told us to distract the guards of the

Palace, nothing more. We had no idea of what the distraction was for. There were 44 of us left in my class. All of us were going.

We packed our things and left in small groups. From what I could tell the groups would range in size from three to five. We were chosen for our teams based on who we worked best with. Friends basically. So mine was Shingan, Sanuro and me. We pushed it and got to the Toshi walls on the third night. Each team located their own entry point and waited until the next night to go in.

That night, Shingan, Sanuro and I moved into position and awaited the signal. Once we heard the sound of an owl from our sensei, we slipped over the wall. The city walls were easy. They were very old and had many holes with few sentries to guard them. This was the peasantry's part of the city. The castle walls however were in perfect shape and had guards everywhere. And they were wide awake.

We scouted the area and Shingan found a corner where the heimin had built their homes

against the wall. She threw and hooked her grappling hook to the top of the wall and motioned us over. We scaled it in the shadows and slipped on top of the wall. Then it was an easy matter of sliding down the inside to the ground. We realized we were in the merchant area of the palace. So we moved over to the royal sector of town where relatives of the Emperor lived. We found a large home belonging to the Toba family with many samurai on guard. Good enough.

Sanuro decided to play bait. He took off for the main entrance while Shingan and I waited. When he came running back we saw he had pulled about seven mononofu with him. We threw shurikan at them; I hit mine in the arm while Shingan killed hers. Sanuro hit his in the neck, the man wasn't wearing any armor. The others charged us and we lost them in the shadows of the courtyard. Sanuro dropped some caltrops to slow them down. Soon we heard the alarm sounding and more guards were coming. We threw smoke bombs, mostly to get rid of them.

After that we slipped over the dividing wall to the next home and did it again. We kept this up until the fourth house looked to be ready for us. We instead fought two Imperial guards atop the wall of the palace and sneaked through the outer city to another location of the palace. We scaled the wall to the servants' section of the palace and crossed it to the palace itself. Once there we located some Tenno samurai and assaulted them with more shurikan. They were the samurai of the Imperial family.

The alarms were already sounding and this really brought trouble. Shingan thought he saw some shinobi maneuvering towards us. He had never claimed that before so Shingan and I looked at each other.

"We need to go," we said together.

We hopped out of the palace and back across the merchants' sector of town. None of us saw anymore ninja so we began to harass samurai there. We attacked and retreated until we were down to nothing but our ninja-to. This game of cat and mouse had gone on for an hour, and we were exhausted.

Shingan said, "When is he going to give the signal?"

I replied. "I don't know. Keep running."

We had just turned a corner when twenty samurai of the Asuka, a family of the Emperor's

House, came up fast from the other end. Sanuro threw his manriki-gusari chain from his ninja-to, as we turned to run the other way. I didn't hear the tetsubo war club being thrown or it's hitting him in the head. He must have been knocked out, because when we found a hide spot Shingan noticed he wasn't with us.

"Where is Sanuro?" she asked.

I looked around; I could see some very happy mononofu near the corner. "They have him."

She just looked at me. I signaled for her to follow me but she grabbed my sleeve.

"They said we leave captives behind. The assassins will deal with him."

"He is our friend."

"I know but we have orders."

"Then go."

I left thinking she wasn't coming. I was slipping along the wall of the inner city when I noticed her behind me. The main bulk of the Asuka went past without seeing us. When we got to the door where they had taken Sanuro we found only two guards there. That's when we heard the signal horn to return. Shingan looked in the direction of the horn. I looked at her trying to read her emotions.

"You coming?" I asked.

She thought for only a moment and then nodded. I had her follow me down the shadows of the wall, then across the short distance to the house whose courtyard we were in. We crept slowly back towards the samurai without a sound. Once there, I shoved the nearest one into his friend knocking them down. I jumped to the far one and crushed his exposed throat with my hand, as Grandfather had taught me. Shingan had driven her ninja-to up under her guard's helm, they both died quietly.

We slipped into the door and closed it behind us. We were standing alone in a kitchen. We listened for any noise. When none came we moved across the room and through the door on the far wall. We entered a hall and headed towards its end. Soon we heard them questioning Sanuro. He hadn't talked yet. There were eight guards around him in the main hall. Some Asuka stood in front of him asking questions; they had removed his hood. Shingan whispered to me.

"There are too many."

"We have to free him. If he talks..."

"He won't talk."

"I have seen torture. They will make him talk."

She nodded her consent so we slid to the back of the room and came up behind the samurai at the back of the room. We had put these mononofu between us, and their lord, who they faced. We took a deep breath together and drove our blades under the shikoro of two of the armored men. We had enough time to kill two more before the remaining four noticed their comrades falling to the ground. Their lord screamed the alarm and started to run from the room as the samurai turned to fight.

"Ninja!"

Two of the Asuka still held Sanuro with his arms behind his back. The man closest to me swung his katana for my head. I rolled forward under his swing, bringing my ninja-to up under his thigh guards and through his groin to his abdomen. The man made a gurgling sound as he collapsed. Shingan had pulled her shogue and thrown for the retreating nobleman. As the hook sailed past his neck she pulled hard on the rope. She had to cartwheel quickly to her right to avoid the rushing samurai. She fell onto her back in mid roll; the weight of the lord's body had jerked the rope from her hand causing her to be flipped backwards. I stepped towards her man and put my blade into his kidney. He fell screaming. I had just enough time to hear the lord choking to death on the blood in his throat before I had to duck an attack from another armored Asuka. This man had let go of Sanuro's arm to attack me.

Shingan had rolled away from her last assailant and gotten to her feet. When my attacker swung for her head she stepped into his attack, blocking his unarmored arm with her sword, and then drove her elbow into his neck. As he fell choking, she turned to the guard who held Sanuro's right arm. Sanuro pulled his left leg back, and kicked the knee of the guard in front of me. I heard the snap of the joint as the man fell screaming. I took the opportunity to drive my blade through the samurai's face.

They had managed to dislocate Sanuro's arm when they captured him. Shingan had finished off the one she hit in the neck while I was 'fixing' Sanuro's arm. I grabbed his hand and lifted his arm until the joint popped back into it's socket. It made a disgusting thunk kind of sound and Sanuro looked as if he might pass out. He was not happy as I bound his hurt arm.

Sanuro's gear was in a pile on the floor so Shingan collected what there was and we all ran for the kitchen door. We managed to clear the house wall just before the reinforcements came.

"Why am I the one to get hurt every time?" Sanuro asked.

"Shut up and run." Shingan replied.

"Every single time."

"Shut - Up."

Next was a simple matter, ha ha, of dodging through a large city to the walls. We were almost caught more times than I can count but we did manage to weasel our way through and around until we made it. We had to fight two guards when we were passing through the last dilapidated wall of the heimin quarters, but the three of us managed to out-maneuver them as a team. We slipped out of town and into the fields to our sensei.

He came up to the rally point soon after we did. He watched us for a long time as we took care of Sanuro's arm.

"I did not expect that, children." he said.

I looked up at him. "A Koga is the best of friends."

It took him a moment but then he laughed very hard.

We started the long walk back home. It took us a few extra days though. The Emperor was looking for us with determination but our sensei led us through his forces to safety. I never mentioned how Shingan didn't want to help Sanuro. I figured she had made up for it. After that we were informed that the two shinobi we had killed in the Shikoku lands had been of the Iga House. Because of this our Daimyo had twelve spies waiting outside of their palace the night of our distraction. The Emperor himself was deemed as being in danger, and all of the Iga had rushed to the palace to protect him. This allowed our spies the time they needed to raid the Iga's home for information.

The last month of training came soon after. We all looked forward to it because we did not know what happened in the last month.

It was filled with ancient ceremonies meant to infuse our bodies with special 'talents.' How well you performed in the Bei-oshi determined how many of these talents you were given. All of us had our wrists, ankles, forearms and calves tattooed in the old script of Giapan to help our chi increase the strength of our attacks as well as improving grappling and climbing. That one was granted to anyone who graduated the class.

If your performance was better than "just survived" then large chunks of flesh were removed from your back and replaced with what looked like quicksilver wings to grant you the ability to fall as light as paper. And if your performance was exceptional then you had the soles of our feet branded to grant you the ability to walk on water. Finally, if you went above and beyond anyone's expectations then scarification was performed on your back, chest, arms and legs to allow you to turn into a black mist.

All of these gifts could be acquired by any Koga ninja over time.

We did not know it but the moment we not only survived the two Iga but actually defeated them, my friends and I were guaranteed the full smorgasbord of delights that the Bei-oshi had to offer.

It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I'm pretty sure the Gaijin Khan could hear our screams on the mainland and they no doubt made him smile. Once that hideous experience was over, the sensei trained us in how to use our new given abilities. But eventually the last night of the Bei-oshi was upon us. Before graduation we said our goodbyes. We told each other where our families lived and how to get in touch with each other if needed. In the back of our minds we thought we would not see each other again. It was a melancholy night. I remember thinking how funny it was that I thought as "We" now instead of "I." Shingan found me before the night was over.

"Domo arigato, Hiro san. For everything"

Then she kissed me again. She always was a little taller than me but I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close anyway. I went to bed with many new thoughts that night. The next morning, when the new class arrived, we all walked out with our ninja gear to give to them. The last 44 of us did make it to the end of the course. As I walked out to the new class with my friends I saw a boy about my build. As I walked up to him one of the new boys spoke up.

"I don't think you are going to make it, little one."

He was speaking to me? I didn't have time to respond as one of the sensei hit him across the face, as they had done to us so many times before.

"You do not speak!" I continued to walk towards the boy as the others watched me, shocked.

"Here Shotoku san, if I can pass, you can pass." He bowed and accepted my gift; he was too scared to go through the formalities of the giving. It was then that I saw Grandfather. I went and collected what little I had. I kept my Ninja-to, one should remember who one is, and I walked to my master.

"Have you eaten rice today, Hiro san?"

"I have not, Grandfather."

He smiled.