The Story of Ryujin

Kiyoshi nodded. "This is one thing that I will leave in her capable hands. Give her all the herbs she can. Spare her leg......if she perishes from it; then it was her choice anyway."

"She didn't choose to have a tree land on top of her," Tatsu commented.

Kiyoshi looked up at Tatsu hard. "You just met her.....you don't know her as well as I do."

Something stirred in Tatsu's mind as he thought about the situation. He had a flashback of some sort. He thought about Haru and about her wounds. He felt that she would be ok. In fact, not only should she be ok but that she shouldn't worry about it. The question was, why? Why did he feel that way? This was a woman that was in horrible shape at the moment. He had to shake off his thoughts but decided to let his distant, lost memories provide some judgment to him. Perhaps time was the answer to his thoughts.

"I think she should be allowed to keep her leg," Tatsu told Kiyoshi.

"Almost sounded like you were not sure at first, but now you made up your mind in regards to this. Very well.....she can keep her leg," he sighed. "I hate to lose her, though. All because of a tree....."

"Thank you for allowing me to stay here at this peaceful village," he told Kiyoshi as he bowed a little bit to him.

"I will be around you if you wish to talk to me. I will do my best to give you what knowledge I have. I am assigned to minister here from the castle of Kumamoto east of here. There are plenty of small villages all scattered around this area and Kyushu in general. This one just has to be a small village. Feel free to ask the people around here what they know to help that memory of yours."

With that, Kiyoshi turned around and went back to his home. He seemed satisfied that all was said and done as Tatsu turned his attention back to the home where Haru was at. Before he could do anything else, there was an older man that walked up to Tatsu. He came up to the tall man and bowed his head slightly to him. Tatsu replied with a bow to him as well. This man looked to be in his forties. He had some gray hair to his frame and was a bit staggered. Tatsu himself was catching on to how humans would age when compared to Musashi, the more and more he saw them. The man wore a black and white kimono. He had some gray on his small amount of facial hair, but his demeanor seemed to be friendly.

"Hello, my name is Noritaka. I am Haru's father. I wanted to thank you for rescuing my daughter and bringing her back here."

"I was happy to help. My name is Tatsu. I am a traveling......"

"I overheard some of the conversation between you and Kiyoshi. I heard that you might need a home. I wouldn't mind having you for company or if you need a place to rest. My daughter is going to be moved to my home to be taken care of."

"I would be happy to spend time in this village. My memory is gone, and I don't know who I was or what I was. I am on a journey to try to retrieve my memories."

"Well, I can tell you this, at least," Noritaka told him. "You do not come from this village. We would have remembered a boy or man of your height walking around us if that was the case. We do have some connection to the area, though, information we do have."

"Right now, the only locations that I know are east of here. I will be making trips back in forth for a little while as I try to learn more of the place."

"Such a tragedy.....," he commented. "To lose one's memories......, you must be a ghost that can't find his way around. I was happy that you found and rescued my daughter, though. Curious as to why she was that far out from the village......but I will not worry about it at this time."

"She does not normally travel that far outside the village?"

"No," Noritaka replied. "Let's not worry about it for now, though. Are you hungry? We can provide a meal for you."

Tatsu thought about it. Strangely he never really felt the need to eat food. These humans were curious creatures, indeed, and so much time was dedicated to this one thing. He did have a chance to eat some of the food before, and it was alright.

"It would be my pleasure."

A villager came out of the house and notified Noritaka that his daughter was ready to be moved. He nodded and looked at the tall frame of Tatsu.

"Would you please move my daughter to my home?" he asked him.

"I would be happy to do so."

Tatsu walked back in the home to see Haru that was being given some medicine and herbs. Her leg was put in a splint to help stabilize the broken leg. It looked a little bit better than it was, but it was apparent that her situation was not good. She was stable, though, at least. The Japanese practiced the concept of Kanpō medicine involving imported Chinese ideals and practices on how to treat the body. This usually meant the idea that the mind and body are one and that both are treated together. Herbs, teas, and other forms of medicine were traditionally used to help treat people as well.

"How are you?" Tatsu asked her.

"I am well.....," she seemed hard to answer the question.

"I agree that you should try to keep your leg and fight this."

"I don't want to lose it. Even if it costs me my life."

"I do not sense that you are in danger," Tatsu told her. "I will need to bring you back to your home. Are you ready for me to move you again?"

She nodded her head. There seemed to be some hesitation in her inflections but seemed ready, at least.

Outside of the most significant home of the village, Kiyoshi watched the tall stranger and rescuer carry Haru back to Noritaka's home. His head and eyes, after a while, showed some hesitation towards this Tatsu person. The two bokken swords still waved about on his belt like some token reminder of the mystery of this person and where he came from. Perhaps as he indicated, time was the answer to these luring questions in his mind.

Chapter 4: May 5th, 1645

It was the next day in the remote western village, and all was well. The ocean waters continued to splash on the coastline as the villagers fished peacefully. The few farms were being tended to as life seemed to continue normally.

The private home of Noritaka's house was amazing and beautiful. It was the sign of how homes were being constructed in Japan at the time. Sliding doors were being used now. A small porch resided where the door was at. It was not the largest of the homes, but it was pretty nonetheless. The internal layout was large and sparse. Tatsu even learned quickly to take his sandals off when walking inside as a gesture of goodwill to the inhabitants. If anyone were observing closely, they would have noticed the sandals disappear in a puff of smoke as he took them off, the trickery of the illusion that Tatsu was using in creating his human form.

It seemed that the human form was holding out well for Tatsu, although sleeping at night was hard. The longer he was maintaining the form, the harder it was for him to keep it. Perhaps he could only manage it for a day before needing to go back to his original form, but he knew that he had to get away from the village to see more of the area.

Noritaka and Haru treated Tatsu well obviously. He was allowed to sleep in the home obviously away from Haru, as she recovered from the initial shock of the injury. She seemed to be improving, though. Despite the injuries, treatment did seem to have an impact even in the lightest. People would come and go to help keep an eye on her and provide any assistance they could offer to her. Tatsu was becoming a source of talk in the village of the tall stranger that wandered into the village. He did get a chance to talk to some of the people and learn of the surrounding area a little bit, but nothing triggered any form of memory for him. The night had nothing for him. He had no detailed dream as he had a couple of nights back. Anything that provided some clue as to what he was or who his identity was seemed mute for him.

He needed to revert back to his form, and there was only one way he could do that. He remembered Musashi back at the cave in the high hill. It was not a far walk, even for him. He did not feel exhausted in the long walk even after rescuing Haru and carrying her. The long walk was an excellent idea to find a spot to sit and relax comfortably. There were not many humans around, if any, to see him go back to his true form in the forest.

He began to start feeling sick and even in pain as the hours grew for him. The longer he kept his human form, the longer it was becoming painful for him. Was this common for dragons or any other creature that did this? If only there were more like him to provide some sort of answer for him. Was he the only dragon that even existed?

"I will need to go and explore the area some more," Tatsu explained to both Noritaka and Haru. "I have to find anything that can tell me more of who I am and what I did that caused my memory loss. Not to mention I just need to learn about my surroundings. Somebody must have the answers that I am looking for."

"Will you return?" Haru asked as she rested on her bed. Her leg was bruised in the splint, but it neither showed any signs of healing or further damage.

"Yes, in a day or two. I like this village. I have not had a chance to talk to everyone. I haven't even had a chance to talk to Kiyoshi yet since yesterday."

"Yes....." Haru replied as her eyes looked down. She looked back at him as she nodded her head at him. "I look forward to seeing you again."

"Is there anything I can try to find to help you when I return?" Tatsu asked.

"Maybe....you could find a flower for me," she told him.

"A flower?"

"Yes......," she blushed a little bit. It was the first time he ever saw a human do that. Her face turned red a little bit.

It was a curious reaction for him to see. He felt tempted to ask her more about this, but any odd sort of question could raise suspicion of what he was. He needed to have some space. His answer was the best he could make at the time.

"I will see what I can do," he smiled to her. Again it was the first time he felt the ability to express his emotions now. He also felt some joy in his heart, doing it as well.

As he was about to step out of the room, he felt tempted to stop and look at her one more time. Something was drawing him to look at her. He had not felt these emotions before. She was looking at him and smiling at him as he made a final nod to her and decided to leave. His journey was back to the place where he fell from.

*******

Halfway on his long trip back to the cave where Musashi rested, he found a comfortable place to rest by a tree. There was nobody in sight in the long winding path uphill. The forest was thick, and the birds and animals were still making their series of noises and sounds.

A light radiated from his body as he returned back to the dragon that he was. He felt as if he shed a massive amount of weight from his body. The feeling of being sick and uneasiness was gone almost instantly.

"There are limits after all," he said out loud to himself as he looked at the blue scales of his body. "I was able to hold my form longer this time, though. Musashi might be right. If I keep holding the human form longer and longer, I can be able to stay in it longer and longer without feeling the pain and sickness from it. If only there were others out there. How do I find them?"

The dragon straightened his black kimono as he sat cross-legged in the dirt. His back and tail rested on a large tree as he looked up at the sky. He put his hands to his whisker and thought of the things he saw.

"Who am I?" he asked himself. "What was it that I fought and lost to? Who were the others I saw in my dream? They were shadows......I could not see their forms.....only the voices were what I could hear. Other gods.....I remember their words. Other gods and beings that were being wiped out. The humans.....they are weaker than us, and we were losing to whatever it was that we fought....."

He looked up at the sky. He saw the night sky before and tried to keep his mind active.

"The night sky is like what I saw before. It was a vast emptiness of space. Speckled light so far away that I could never touch them. This world rests in this blackness of the vast area of space. There was no end to this thing. The humans do know the concept of dragons, though, and that is what I am."

He looked at his clawed feet and even played a little bit with one of the sharp claws with his finger.

"If the humans know of the dragons, then I do come from this world. The question is, where?"

Suddenly something triggered in his mind. It was an explosion. In the vast darkness of space, he saw an explosion so large that it flung him. He remembered getting hit by the shockwave. The pain.....it was the hardest hit he ever took.

"What was that?" he said as he searched his mind. "I remember something.....I was in space, and it exploded? The explosion was enormous, whatever it was. It was so quick too. That is all I see....just a bright light and nothing more. Whatever I or we fought, it was destroyed. At least I hope it was. I am sure we would have encountered it by now whatever it was that was wiping us out. That thing was powerful enough to hurt me like that; it would have laid waste to this world."

Tatsu tried to focus more as he sat there resting. His wooden bokken was still resting on his belt as one of his hands went to them. He closed his eyes as he began to think of the environment around him. He thought up of all the people he had met so far. He was happy that he made his choice to go westward instead of the city. He turned his head as he looked west again from the dirt path. His thoughts went to the village and the ocean. It was like a calling to the place. There were brief moments as his thoughts went to Haru. There was a certain beauty to her that the other humans did not. He saw the other females in the village. Some looked at him with a glare that was indicating....

"She is.....attracted to me?" Tatsu said out loud. "I suppose that is natural since I helped her. She did not want to talk about her relationships, though, when I brought it up. Perhaps that will be a discussion for another time," he sighed. "What about my family, though? Do I have a wife? Something deep down tells me that I don't, but again I have nothing to base it off. Dah....."

Tatsu got up from the ground. His tail swished the dirt and grass as he turned his head towards the path, eastward towards the hill and low mountainside. Another hour of walking and he would be at the cave. He opened his wings and examined his wounds. The wing had mostly healed up by now. If it weren't for the humans in the area, he might have taken flight. He still did not want to bring any alarm to the area that there was a dragon in the area.

"I feel better now. I should go back to my human form in case another human eventually comes along."

The light beamed from his body. Once the light faded, he was back to his human form again. He was getting natural at this by now. His kimono still gave off the black radiance of his self. He got back on the path again as he began to continue his walk towards the cave where his instructor was at.

*******

Tatsu stood looking up outside of the cave where the Kensei resided. He was happy to be finally back at the cave where he was with the first human that ever found him. With the loss of his memory, even remote locations like this were a source of nostalgia for him.

He placed his left hand on the handles of the bokken. He began to think about the location of the two swords. They were haphazard on his belt. While he kept the belt tight, the swords would still flail about as he walked. Occasionally he would have to reset the swords back on his belt as they would threaten to get loose and fall to the ground.

"Hmmm.....," he thought out loud. "I will need to talk to Musashi about this and how I can have the swords better arranged."

He shook off his thoughts as he made a step forward. Just before he made it to the steps, a voice stopped him. It was directly behind him.

"How was your journey?" a familiar voice was heard. Almost startled, Tatsu turned around to see a monk staring at him. It was the same monk that he saw yesterday dressed in the same robes that addressed him.

"How?.....I did not hear you come up from behind me," Tatsu reacted.

The Buddhist monk was calm and friendly as before. He had his hands clasped together as the day before. Tatsu himself calmed down quickly in the presence of the bald monk.

"Forgive me for startling you," the monk told him. "I am told I am often silent when I approach people."

"It is alright," he replied. "I had a good journey. I had a chance to explore the countryside a little bit. I wanted to check up on a friend here."

"The key to helping yourself is to see the beauty of this wonderful place. There is goodness everywhere. Even the most evil of people have some good in them."

"I suppose you are right. I just wish.....I just wish I remember who I am."

"Keep exploring the world around you, and most likely, the world that you had will come back to you," the monk said calmly.

Tatsu looked at the monk carefully. As he looked at his facial features closely, he began to note that his face didn't look like the people that he had seen so far. His skin was a little bit darker but only slightly.

"Mind me asking.....but is this place your original home?" Tatsu asked him.

"One answer will lead to many questions, my child. Come to the monastery, and I will answer everything that you have to the best of my abilities."

"Very well...." Tatsu sighed. "I will leave you be." He made a polite bow to the monk as the monk himself made a smile and bowed politely. He turned around and proceeded to walk up the steps of the cave.

A few seconds later, for some reason, Tatsu felt tempted to turn around and look back at the monk he just spoke to. When he did, he noticed the monk was gone.

"How?.....," he remarked. He looked around but saw no way that the monk could disappear so quickly. He needed to see the temple nearby eventually, but he decided to go ahead and go back to walking up the stairs. Whatever had happened, he would have to come back later to investigate it.

When he reached the entrance to the cave, Tatsu quietly knocked on the side of the cave entrance to indicate to Musashi that he was there. It was hard for him to see at first, but his eyes adjusted well in the darkness. He stepped inside the cave as he found the older man resting in his one knee propped up position. He had his cane propped up as well on the other side to support him. He was looking at the paper in front of his table. He was using a utensil to write something on the paper.

"Yes.....that will do," Musashi commented as he put the pen down on the table. He looked up as he saw Tatsu enter the cave.

"Kensei, I have returned to see you again," Tatsu said as he bowed to him.

"I see you have returned a little bit wiser knowing your surroundings dragon. How are you? Has your memory returned?"

He shook his head no. "I am afraid I only see blips of memory here and there. I cannot make much sense of it. I did get a chance to see the village southwest of here. I even saved a woman that was crushed by a tree."

Musashi nodded and coughed a little bit. "It is good that you helped others. You are using the abilities that humans or, in your case, nonhumans, are capable of doing when they focus in the right way."

"What is that you are writing?"

"It will most likely be my last paper the way it is for me. It is the Dokkōdō, the Way of Walking Alone. It will be my last words on this Earth. It will go to my favorite student Terao Magonojō, who has mastered my fighting style completely. I already gave him the early transcripts of the Book of the Five Rings too. The formalized paperwork of the Book of Five Rings will go to him. This is my will once my time ends...."