Blade Of The Immortal Fan Fiction ❯ Abstinence Education ❯ Part Thirty-Seven ( Chapter 37 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

They say that the best role in a play is the guy that all the other characters talk about for a long time before he finally appears onstage... so Anotsu must be sitting damn pretty right now. :) Let me know how it strikes you!

Aid from an enemy comes clothed in unfamiliar garments...


The characters and universe of Blade of the Immortal/Mugen no Junin are copyright by Hiroaki Samura and do not belong to me. Not one sen will come into my hands in consequence of this story.

Warnings for sex in various forms, including quasi-incestuous themes and a sixteen-year-old female paired with an adult male. (Yeah, this also applies to future chapters!) Violence and dismemberment are legally required in any BotI fic... and more of that stuff is coming as well...

Thanks to Amberguesa for help with transliteration, among her many talents!

Note: Rin doesn't address her bodyguard as "Manji-san" within the English translation, but in the original Japanese, she never omits the honorific. I've settled on a mixture of the two for various reasons of my own.


Abstinence Education
by Madame Manga

Part Thirty-Seven



“Danna!” Magatsu rose to his feet. “We’re too late!”

Anotsu Kagehisa’s head-scarf fell back with a brush of his hand, fully revealing his face. His beauty, like the flash of a drawn blade. Rin gripped her sword so tightly it shook, though she tried to suppress her trembles. A month ago, Anotsu had looked clammy and frail, his voice reduced to a creaking whisper. Now his color was healthy and his posture upright, though lines of fatigue drew around his mouth. She’d saved her enemy’s life, probably, and had pitied his human weakness. Here he stood restored to strength, a double-edged reward for her pains.

He didn’t do more than glance at Hebi’s body, where Magatsu pointed an accusing finger. His eyes turned to Rin again, a crease pulling between his brows. “Too late?”

“Hebi’s dead! That bastard killed him!” Magatsu followed Manji, who stalked past Rin and aimed straight at Anotsu. His shido dripped with the dismembered bandit’s blood. “Watch it – he’s gone fucking nuts – ”

“What happened?” Still Anotsu looked only at Rin, his voice as clear as his eyes. “Will you tell me?”

Rin bolted. She dashed for her advancing bodyguard and shoved her shoulder against his breastbone, keeping hold of her sword. The outcome of a single combat seemed all too obvious – Anotsu might feel a little weary after his hasty ride from the town, but even Manji’s immortal body could have almost nothing left to give. Anotsu’s ax still sat casually on his right shoulder, the wide blade also streaked with the bandit’s blood. Rin pushed Manji to a halt and braced her feet.

From a few paces’ distance, the two men measured each other over Rin’s head. Anotsu with a slight frown, scanning Manji’s bloodied nudity: Manji with eye burning and teeth set in an aggressive grin. His fist whitened on the shido’s hilt. Rin took her sword in both hands and turned to put her back against Manji’s chest, staying between the men. Though she brandished it in his face, Anotsu didn’t seem to take much account of her weapon. Neither did Manji – he elbowed her aside as if breaking through the forest undergrowth and circled to the left.

Anotsu tilted his head back and shifted the ax on his shoulder to follow Manji’s movement, obviously ready to defend himself if necessary. Whether he might welcome the opportunity wasn’t clear. Simply deflect a blow and back off, like Magatsu? No – if Manji started the fight, Anotsu would accept it as a challenge to the death. She had seen the terror that ax wielded in his hands...

She dropped her sword on the ground, ran to Manji again and embraced him in desperation. He let out a grunt at the impact of her body against his.

“You – you’ll have to kill b-both of us...” She quavered to a stop, realizing how absurd that sounded. No one paid any attention.

Long, tense moments while Manji stood still in Rin’s embrace and held Anotsu’s gaze. He briefly looked at Magatsu, who also stood ready with sword in hand, and smirked at him. Then Manji glanced down at Rin. He didn’t seem to accuse her, though he probed for confirmation of some idea or suspicion. She pressed her cheek to his chest and gazed up at him, her lips trembling; he raised his brows and turned to Anotsu once more. His lips curled back, broadening his grin. He slowly shook his head.

Rin felt a vibration in his body, which grew to a quake; he began to laugh.

Everyone stared at him. Manji threw his head back and let out short, ragged guffaws. An absurd karma – ridiculous for all its inevitability. Rin gasped when he freed himself from her arms. He shook his head again and pivoted with his blade swinging out to the side. For a blow? To put it away? He seemed to be heading for the side of the path, perhaps to sit, but he had barely taken a step when he stumbled and dropped the shido.

Rin tried to support Manji from behind as he went down. His weight slipped from her grasping hands. Anotsu again let his ax fall and darted forward. He caught Manji’s shoulders in time to keep him from smashing his face into the dirt, but Rin’s bodyguard still measured his length on the ground. Anotsu guided him to lie on his back and stood up, dusting his hands.

Rin cried out and dropped to her knees beside Manji. His eye remained open, but unfocused and vacant; Rin cradled his head and lifted it to her lap. She stroked his face with shaking fingers, weeping too hard to speak. Relief, in a way, and gratitude – he’d given everything he had to her defense, mistaken or not. But sorrow for his agony overwhelmed every other emotion.

Anotsu hunkered down opposite her. Rin’s falling tears splattered cleaner spots on Manji’s dirty, bloody cheek; his eye closed and he turned his face into her stomach with a slight moan. Hissing on an intake of breath, Anotsu passed a hand above Manji’s mutilated arm and examined the wounds. He frowned at Magatsu over Rin’s shoulder.

Magatsu spread his hands in an exasperated shrug. “Hey, he was like that when I got here. Don’t look at me.”

“He’s killed Hebi?”

“Stabbed him right in front of me, danna! I guess he thought they were all in it together. Just like you said... they ought to act.” Magatsu slammed his sword into the scabbard and turned away. “Ask the damn sailor – I guess he’s still alive.”

Anotsu gave a careful look to the sobbing Rin and stood up. “Mado-san?”

“Toshu.” Mado sat by the dead Hebi’s side, sounding subdued. “Sorry... if I don’t get up.”

“How badly are you injured?”

Mado grimaced and held his midsection. “Damn good question... hey!” He surged to his feet, dashed into the woods and dragged out the bandit’s boy by the collar, kicking and yelping. “Where you think yer goin’, ya little turd?”

The boy twisted and fought, but couldn’t slip out of his jacket or break Mado’s hold. He snatched his knife from one hand to the other and made a frantic backward stab. Mado casually caught his wrist in midair. Then he let go of the boy’s collar, flicked his own clasp knife open with his teeth and made a quick horizontal gesture.

Rin looked around in time to see the boy’s body collapse in a spray of blood, his beardless throat slashed to the spine. She shuddered when his head lolled at an unnatural angle and his face turned towards her, eyes and mouth wide open. So young to die that way – any way at all.

Mado shoved the corpse off the path with one foot, closed his knife in his fist and dropped it into his sleeve. “Worms make weevils,” he said to no one in particular. He took a backward step and sat down hard on a log. “How bad? Well...” Pain distorted his face for a moment. Anotsu looked inquiringly at him, but Mado waved away concern.

Anotsu turned and gestured at Manji’s wounds. “Who tortured him like this? Not the young hatamoto?”

Mado slowly nodded. “Yep, he’s the one who made that hash... friggin’ amateur. Then... his woman took over.”

“His woman?” Anotsu seemed almost amused. “A runaway courtesan?”

“Turns out she had some history with th’ bodyguard.” Mado grinned slightly and indicated Rin. “She wanted us to gang-bang this kid in front of him. Then she made to geld him, but she settled for shuttin’ him up permanent instead. That is... she ripped out his insultin’ tongue.”

“You’re joking.”

“Take a look for yerself. Sure holds a grudge... that little lady does.” Mado laughed and felt the shallow slice on the side of his neck. He half-crawled back to Hebi’s side, eased the scarf from the dead man’s throat and wrapped it around his own to keep the wide flap of skin in place. The shoulder wound that Manji had inflicted seemed to hamper his movements.

Anotsu stared down at Rin, his eyes widening; he looked far less amused now. “You were ordered to assault...?”

“Th’ other three were willin’ and able... an’ she didn’t give up the notion real quick, let me tell you. We got the kid out of there soon as we could.” Mado sighed and eased himself down to lie on the ground. “Mission accomplished... Toshu.” He made an odd gesture, touching the edge of his flatted hand to his forehead and snapping it a short distance outwards.

“You have not been touched?” Anotsu hunkered down again to meet Rin’s gaze. “My men preserved you from violation?”

Rin flushed hot and glared at him while cradling the semi-conscious Manji. “You! You... planned this?”

The corner of Anotsu’s mouth quirked. “You believe I was behind the ambush?”

She quivered and clenched her lips. “You seem to know an awful lot about it!”

“Yes... and so does every tavern-goer in the town from which we set out.”

“Hah?”

“The fugitive Tsukue Ryonosuke spent hours yesterday attempting to hire followers. He was not discreet.”

“...Oh.”

“By evening, he was an almost universal laughingstock – though no one doubted that he had grounds for his grievances. Your bodyguard... was not entirely discreet either.”

Rin stared at him. Anotsu’s eyes crinkled slightly; he dipped his head, letting his long unbound forelock brush over his face, then glanced up at her again with his lips curved in a smile. Did he only mean Manji’s loud displays of public drunkenness and conspicuous overprotection? What had Makie told him? Or anyone else who had seen them together yesterday, for that matter? Tremors jerked through her. What was Anotsu going to do with her helpless bodyguard? With her?

“Are you afraid of me?” His voice was soft, not quite mocking. Rin gulped hard, then tightened her jaw.

“Should I be?”

He looked at her for a moment, the expression of his eyes opaque though oddly penetrating. “That wasn’t my intention. Are you all right?”

“I... I wasn’t hurt. Not really.” Rin clutched Manji’s head to her breasts and bowed over him, unable to meet Anotsu’s gaze any longer. “Just... just Manji-san...”

“I understand. Excuse me.” He rose, moved around them and approached Mado. While Anotsu spoke to the foreigner, Magatsu took Hebi’s vest and covered the corpse’s face. He looked around for the dead man’s severed arm, fetched it from where it had fallen and laid it in the pool of blood by his side in roughly the correct position. Then he stomped off into the woods with his broadsword, where Rin heard him chopping at something and cursing in a low, harsh voice.

What should she do now? With Manji not likely to revive soon, Anotsu held her entirely in his power. If he had heard of the plot and sent Mado and Hebi as infiltrators... and then ridden on ahead with his companion... Her mind whirled. Makie’s intimation of his intentions towards her... confirmed? But if he’d wanted Manji out of his way, how better to do it than let someone else take care of the job? Anotsu couldn’t have meant to aid them out of the goodness of his heart!

Rin’s breath came in irregular pants. She longed to flee, to lose her enemy in the dark woods, and somehow escape the situation that pursued her like an army of ravishers, but Manji’s dead weight in her arms anchored her to the spot.

Manji moaned again, ruffling her clothing over her stomach; his lips looked cracked and dry. She had to get him some nourishment, if he could manage to swallow it. He’d never heal without food and water, even if he regained his missing body parts. How were they going to return to the clearing to find those? They had run so far! The sun would set completely in no more than an hour, and even if Anotsu let them go free, she couldn’t possibly drag Manji all that way by herself. Could she even locate the place again in the deepening twilight? In the dark?

Until she tried, she wouldn’t know. First, to do what she could for him. At least she had a few supplies with her, if they’d survived the trip. Rin raised her head and scanned up and down the path. She didn’t see her bag where the boy had dropped it – where had it gone? Something intruded at the corner of her vision and she glanced over. Anotsu held her bag by the strap; he set it on the ground where she could reach it without getting up.

“Will his injuries heal? I don’t know the extent of his abilities.”

“Uh... maybe. If he gets back his hand and, er... “

“His hand? Where did that fall?” Anotsu glanced into the woods.

“N-no, it wasn’t anywhere near...” She didn’t meet his eyes when he looked back at her, but rummaged in her bag with her free hand. Her water container was nowhere to be found; she reached deeper into the bag and bumped against the harigata’s carved wooden box. Rin blanched and grabbed the squashed packet that held the remains of her long-ago lunch. Some pickles and cold dumplings: she hoped Manji could get them down. When she unwrapped them they looked battered and tough.

“Manji?” She softly patted his forehead. “Manji-san? Can you hear me?” He muttered and shifted his head. Rin swallowed a hard lump that choked her. “I have a little food – you must be so hungry! Could you eat anything with that wound?” Her own stomach rumbled loudly. His lips moved slowly, then repeated the silent word. “Water? You want water? Uh... I’ll have to find some, I’ve lost mine.” She started to lift his head from her lap, but another object moved into her field of view. A bamboo canteen, in Anotsu’s hand. Rin stared at it.

“I have more, if you need it.” He set the canteen on the ground next to her bag. “I’ll, ah, loan him a garment – I have some spare clothing.” Anotsu turned towards his horse.

“But – I didn’t ask you for – ” Anotsu looked at her; she found it difficult to control her fear and anger. “Why are you offering me charity?”

“I won’t force it on you.” He glanced down at Manji. “Do you refuse on your bodyguard’s behalf as well as your own?”

Manji moaned. Rin bit her lips and looked at Anotsu’s canteen.

“I hold an obligation towards you, Asano Rin-dono.” Anotsu slightly inclined his head to her; Rin’s skin prickled at his respectful yet almost intimate tone. “In the mountains of Kaga, you aided me of your own free will, though you could have left me to live or die as fate determined. Will you allow me to repay some part of the honor you showed me?”

“Uh...” Put like that? Rin flushed and slowly picked up the canteen. She tried to prop Manji up a little and worked the stopper out of the spout. After a moment, Anotsu walked to his horse and unstrapped a saddlebag.

From what she could tell when Manji opened his mouth to drink, about half of his tongue was gone – O-Hama hadn’t ripped it out by the roots, only cut off the end at a shallow angle. But that big raw wound must hurt him terribly! An acid sensation stung inside her cheeks at the sight. Manji coughed and choked, barely able to swallow. Rin realized he couldn’t lick his lips, and rolled a fingertip on her own tongue to gather saliva. She patted the moisture over Manji’s cracked lips, smoothing the contours of his wounded mouth. The mouth she had dreamed of kissing... that he’d so often used for her pleasure and his.

A slow quiver of fury crawled over her body and ground in her belly; she gritted her teeth and tenderly wiped Manji’s face with her sleeve when water dribbled down his cheek. If she’d had that vicious woman and her idiot boyfriend at her mercy just then, Rin could have returned injury for injury without a thought.

Anotsu returned with a stack of clothing and towels, unrolled a reed mat and set everything down. “I’ll assist him.”

“Assist him? What with?” Rin looked blankly at Anotsu; he knelt and pulled a folded length of fabric from the pile he’d brought. A clean fundoshi. Involuntarily her gaze dropped to Manji’s bloodstained loincloth, his sole remaining garment.

“With washing and dressing, of course.” He motioned Rin away, as if she must be too innocent to realize that a man’s body differed from her own. “It’s hardly a job for a young woman.”

“But... but I should... you?” Rin held Manji closer, almost guarding him. “He needs me!”

“As I also needed your help, not so long ago... yes?”

Rin felt a jolt in Manji’s body. His teeth rattled on the spout of Anotsu’s canteen and his eye half opened. Anotsu glanced down at him with a raised brow. “But – but I never did anything like – !”

“No.” Again Anotsu gave her that half-secret smile, as if they shared a confidence. “As far as I’m aware, you did not.” He seemed to anticipate more reaction from Manji, but though his lip drew back in a snarl, Manji sagged again into Rin’s lap and closed his eye.

Rin’s cheeks flamed. She meant to insist again on nursing Manji herself, then caught a strange glance from Magatsu as he emerged from the trees. Of course she would have given Manji’s cruelly battered body all the care and tenderness she could if they had been alone – but under the eyes of other men? “Why do you want to help him clean up?”

Anotsu slightly twitched his nostrils; Rin registered Manji’s stench of blood and sweat, and made a grimace. “The sooner, the better, I think. Please, allow me.”

In silence she helped Anotsu shift Manji onto the reed mat, laid his head down and stroked his hair out of his face. Anotsu’s eyes followed the motion. Rin pulled her hand away and shuffled backwards in a crouch. Before she rose and turned her back, she saw Anotsu dampen a towel and wipe through the crust of blood and grime on Manji’s bare chest with careful efficiency, holding his mutilated right arm out of the way.

“Danna.” Magatsu approached, thrusting a slender secondary blade back into the hilt of his broadsword. He carried a roughly whittled piece of wood under his arm. He nodded in the direction of the sun, which had descended below the treetops. The path lay in shadow now; the air had grown cooler. “We hanging out here till dark, or what?”

“We’ll remain here until I’m satisfied with the outcome.” Anotsu spoke with a hint of forced patience as he worked over Manji; Rin had the impression that the two had already argued this point to exhaustion. He gestured with his chin at Magatsu’s wooden tool. “A shovel?”

“Least I can do is bury the poor bastard. Hebi was... a nice guy.” Magatsu’s sharp jaw knotted. “Not the brightest lantern on the street, maybe, but...”

“He was a good swordsman, and a loyal follower.” Anotsu bowed his head, then returned to his task. Magatsu chose a spot of soft earth near the path, cleared it of leaves with a few sweeps of his sandal and began to dig.

At loose ends now that Anotsu had shooed her away, Rin took a few steps down the path. Mado lay near her; he looked at her from under his hand. Rin stared back for a moment; his freckled face resembled a sheet of white paper made with bits of red-brown bark for contrast, and the lightness of his eyes unsettled her. She clasped her hands in front of her, self-consciously pulling at her fingers. Knowing what she did now and thinking over her captors’ actions, she wasn’t sure yet whether to feel angry or grateful for what they had done. She ventured a look at the silent, lanky body to Mado’s left and remembered the way Hebi had smiled at her. At least he had tried to offer a little comfort. “Um... I’m sorry about your friend...”

Mado vented a snort, reminiscent of Manji in a cynical mood. “Them’s the breaks.”

“Manji-san didn’t realize that you – what WERE you doing, anyway?” Rin’s voice rose despite an attempt to control it; her throat felt tight. “What did your boss tell you?”

Mado glanced at Anotsu’s bent back. The leader of the Itto-ryu finished scrubbing his patient’s left leg, discarded a filthy towel and wet down another. He seemed oddly comfortable with the job; there was something almost womanish in the care he took to wipe away every trace of dirt. Manji muttered with a sour, resentful expression, though his eye remained closed and he let Anotsu roll him over to wash his back. “What do you figure, kid?”

“To... to go hire on with Ryonosuke... and try to keep me safe? Why didn’t you just take care of him and the others, if you were so worried about my... my...”

“Stab ‘em in the back before they got the chance, ya mean?” Mado ran his tongue over his teeth, leaving them filmed with a pink stain.

“Uh... well...”

“We’re Itto-ryu, not a bunch of frickin’ highwaymen. We weren’t even sure the hatamoto kid had enough of a sack to get it up for the ambush.” Mado chuckled. “Now his little lady, on the other hand...”

“I thought you said you weren’t even really a member!”

He raised his brows at her. “I kind of stick out in a crowd... even when we’re talkin’ a motley crew like this one. So I gotta fade into the background a lot of the time – not like we ever stood regular watches.”

“But you follow Anotsu’s orders?”

“Kid, you can run an’ hide, you can wish all you want that you were anywhere but where you are, like a snug berth on a homeward voyage. But wishes ain’t horses... or ships. You can mourn for yer dead an’ for what you’ve lost, or you can thank God there’s one guy who’ll at least make use of yer particular talents.” Mado grinned. “A man’s got to have his work, or life ain’t nothin’ but scroungin’ the next meal.”

“Why him?”

“Some skippers I’ve sailed with couldn’t navigate their way out’ve a tart’s petticoats. This guy...” He pointed at Anotsu. “This guy could track a gray-painted ship in a pea-soup fog on a moonless night, and board and scuttle her alone with a dull handspike an’ a coil of moldy rope. When a guy like that says he’s got a cause an’ needs a crew? You sign on, that’s what you do.”

“Anotsu’s... made use of you? Do you mean your weapon?”

Mado hawked and spat, then wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. “You ever wondered about the outside, girlie? Like, what’s over the sea from this little string of shitball islands you ain’t never gonna leave?”

“Over the sea? There’s the mainland... China and Korea...”

He sneered at her. “That’s about as far as you’ve ever heard of, I reckon. The rest’s all that big gray fogbank, hey?” He pointed at Anotsu again. “This here’s a seein’ man. He wants to know, which ain’t much like a Jappo. He ain’t satisfied with what he’s handed an’ how things always got done before. He don’t settle for less than he wants, an’ he gets it any way that works.”

“I suppose he does – like murdering innocent people!”

“Hah?”

“M-my parents! Anotsu Kagehisa had both my parents killed – and my mother raped next to my father’s dead body! Is that a guy you respect? A guy you follow?”

Mado frowned and looked across the path at Magatsu, who had paused in his digging for a moment to listen. Magatsu shrugged, then attacked the dirt again. Mado pursed his lips and echoed the shrug. “Never known him to waste an effort for nothin’.”

“That’s easy for you to say!”

“Not as easy as...” A rictus of agony stiffened Mado’s blunt features, dreadful to watch in the shadowy light. He clutched his abdomen and half reared up, gasping.

“Oh!” Rin’s surge of concern disconcerted her. “Are... are you OK?”

“Better... dig that hole big enough... for two, Magatsu-san...” Mado sank back and let out a groaning chuckle; Magatsu stopped work again and turned to stare at him.

“Mado-san?” Anotsu glanced up from tying Manji’s loincloth for him. Rin put her hands to her mouth. Another death on the toll of this terrible day? How many more?

“Hey... them’s the breaks...”

Anotsu got up, brushed Rin aside and went to Mado. She backed away towards Manji, who was now clean and covered with a dark-indigo kosode as a blanket. Anotsu leaned over and parted the foreigner’s bloody clothing. Rin heard a low gasp from Anotsu, and Mado grunted in pain. “God! Why didn’t you say...?”

“Aw... nothin’ to do about it anyhow. Fuck it, Toshu – I’m killed by a damn Jappo!”

“I’m sorry.” Anotsu carefully wrapped Mado’s jacket again.

“Tell me about it.” He snorted.

Anotsu sat down by him, his brows creased; he looked sincerely regretful, even stricken. “I... I wish I’d heard more of your tales of the oceans, and of your native land...”

“Don’t remind me. Seen the freakin’ world from a whaler’s deck... but I never even once hauled my ass around Kapa-Kodo to look at Boso-ton.” Mado gave a low laugh, punctuated by another groan of pain. “Much good may that do yer crowd of little yellow bastards... when fuckin’ King Joji the Third sails into Edo harbor with his whole fuckin’ navy. Shit... wish I could be here to see it!”

Anotsu smiled and shook his head. “So you’ve often told me.”

On the mat next to Manji, Anotsu had left another canteen and a packet of food. Manji’s face twitched; he opened his eye and blinked at Rin as she knelt by him again. Washed, he looked much better, though still pale and moving weakly. She helped him sit up part way with her thighs as a prop.

Magatsu flung dirt to the sides of the enlarging grave and bared his teeth at Manji and Rin. “We were damn short-handed already, danna – and now he’s killed both of ‘em? Both?”

“Wasn’t the bodyguard... not that he didn’t try. It was that ronin bastard took me through the belly, right when the fight started...” Mado choked and retched up a dark mouthful of blood. “Well, I served him.” Magatsu didn’t seem to hear him, though Anotsu nodded. Rin ignored Anotsu’s food and tried to coax Manji into eating some of hers. He turned away from the salty pickles, which she realized would probably hurt his wound, and labored to get down a cold dumpling.

After he had spat out the third mouthful in a row, Rin finally ventured a look at the packet. Fresh steamed buns and ripe persimmons, looking far more appetizing than the remains of her lunch, not to mention easier to get down. She stared at Anotsu’s food for a few moments, her jaw clenched. She felt as if he had personally orchestrated every detail of this situation just to triumph over her in the smallest ways as well as more obvious ones. Though it seemed now that he’d had little hand in it. Just as Mado had claimed, this wasn’t Anotsu’s deal. Other than taking extreme pains to ensure that she suffered no harm... and suffering great losses as well. She located a little knife in her bag and peeled a persimmon.

Manji had to take small bites and struggled to swallow, but as Rin fed him, his color slowly began to return. Mado grew paler still, visibly sinking. Anotsu stayed at his side and kept talking, as if to distract him from his pain. A lump grew in Rin’s throat. Why did dying have to be so hard?

“You and Hebi trusted your bravery and service to the Itto-ryu cause...” Anotsu sighed. “You’ve succeeded in the task I asked of you... and paid the ultimate price for victory. I apologize for my miscalculations.”

“Naw, ain’t your fault, Toshu. That would be me.”

“What?”

“The hatamoto kid couldn’t get anybody to sign on... till he thought of offerin’ the girl as pay. Don’t reckon that was his idea... hell, the whole damn business wasn’t his idea. I shoulda twigged... the whore had to be behind it.”

The driving force – O-Hama. One woman’s grief and rage. Even if she hadn’t foreseen the violence of her longed-for revenge, her hatred had brought them to this pass, and destroyed so many lives.

Rin shuddered. Only one woman’s?

“I admit I don’t understand. Why would an escaped courtesan plot to capture an outlaw?”

“One of his hundred... was her daddy.”

“Was he?” Anotsu’s voice was neutral. “Ah.”

“That complicated the deal... to put it simple.” Mado forced up another clot of blood and cleared his throat. “Look, uh, Toshu, you say we succeeded, and I reckon we did, technically speakin’, but there’s somethin’ you maybe oughta hear – ” He glanced at Rin and spoke from the side of his mouth. “Speakin’ of complicatin’ the deal...”

“Yes?”

Mado paused and blew out a long breath. “You ain’t said much about why you sent us on this job. I gather there’s a stake in it somewhere – ?” Anotsu didn’t reply. “Uh... I ain’t sayin’ I hanker to poke my long nose in where it don’t belong. Nor do I like t’ pass tales. ‘Specially when they might, er, reflect... on a young lady’s, er...”

Rin’s spine stiffened. The foreigner’s booming voice had diminished to a whisper, but her own hearing seemed to sharpen in response. Manji didn’t show any obvious reaction to the quiet conversation a few steps behind them, though he seemed a little more vigorous now; he swallowed what he was chewing and grunted when Rin hesitated before continuing to feed him. She tore off a chunk of steamed bun and stuffed it between his lips.

“I beg your pardon?” Cold, formal: Rin shivered a little.

Mado put up both hands. “Hell, Toshu... she’s just a wee girl, an’ I’d figure it’s all on his side anyhow... but I don’t want to go to my Maker thinkin’ that I neglected to give you a heads-up. Even when I ain’t so sure of yer personal interest in the business...”

“You have something to say? Then say it.”

“Well... I dunno how to put this...” Mado drew a deep breath that caught in his chest; he coughed for a moment before speaking. “Ah... we were all set up in plenty of time. Point of fact, it was gettin’ pretty late before we spotted ‘em – we were a mite concerned that they’d stopped, or taken another way. But coming towards us... he was stalkin’ along by himself with a face like a thunderhead. She didn’t come into view for a while after that, an’ she was chasin’ to catch him up. He wasn’t lettin’ her.”

“What?” Anotsu’s obvious astonishment made his voice carry; Manji’s eye opened.

“Yep, an’ she looked madder’n a wet kitten. It beat the pants off me why her own bodyguard would want to lose her on the road... but hell, it was an openin’, and he was handin’ it to us free of charge. So we took it.”

Manji obviously heard that – he clenched his lips and wrinkled his nose. Rin shook her head at him, tears welling in her eyes. Perhaps he’d allowed anger to make him reckless, but how could she lay any blame on him now? His wounds spoke for him. Nothing she could give him for his pain seemed too much. Nothing at all...

“He didn’t defend her? Then how – ”

“Didn’t defend her?” Mado’s chuckle sounded spotty and frail. “He came at us like a crazy man. We had to stop an’ fight when he caught up, and it all snowballed from there. But, see, about that...” He had to master another coughing fit.

“You fought?” Anotsu stooped lower to hear the foreigner’s response, which wasn’t audible to Rin. They spoke for a little while she caught only a word here and there, punctuated by coughs. Mado was either weakening rapidly, or had belatedly realized that she could hear him.

“Eh? Said what?” Anotsu’s voice rose again. He listened in silence for several moments, then let out a hard breath. “Are you certain?”

Rin strained to detect Mado’s mumble. “...no mistake there. The whore figgered it the same... an’ whatever else she might be, she ain’t dumb. Wonder what’s become of that pair...”

“That’s why she gave the men that order in his hearing?”

“Right you are. He practically tore the freakin’ tree in half.”

“Mado-san, before you speak another word of this...”

“Hah?”

“Please be utterly clear on this point. You say Rin-dono was not harmed today – but that her treasure may already have been... claimed?” Rin could hear him a little more distinctly on the last phrase, as if he had turned his head over his shoulder to look in her direction. Or at Manji. His voice had gone cold again.

She huddled over her bodyguard, her heart beating fast. Manji looked up at her, his expression nearly blank. They were still at Anotsu’s mercy, both of them, no matter how solicitous he might have meant to be. If she’d feared O-Hama’s wrath...

“Naw, naw... nothin’ doin!” Mado sounded as if he saw something startling in Anotsu’s face. “I guess it might seem like – but you shoulda seen her! She got free a little after that, and the first thing she did? Grabbed a blade and held the bastards off, then got ready to throw herself on it.” Anotsu made a sharp intake of breath. “Well, me an’ Hebi headed her off... as ya can see.”

“She would have carried it through?”

“Aw, ya could read it like print in her little face – she’d rather have died. Kinda touchin’...”

Anotsu was silent for some time, as if the picture touched him in some way as well. She hoped he felt a flicker of guilt, or at least the prodding of a memory. “Then her own actions prove her honor...”

“You might say. That’s why their little tiff on the road – I’m figgerin’.”

“This very day... ah. “ Anotsu sounded positively gratified, and fingered his chin in thought. “How... suggestive.”

Mado snickered softly. “One an’ one make two all round the world...”

“Indeed.”

Manji shook his head, gave Rin an unfathomable look and closed his eye.

“Say, yer musician lady... I know she said they dueled over him callin’ her names, but he was drunk, for crap’s sake. She tell you any more about that business in the garden? Like after we left?”

“...I thought you said you didn’t put your nose where it didn’t belong?”

“Right you are, Go-Toshu-sama.” Rin had the sense that they smiled at each other. “Damn, that’s a load off my mind at least... but I swear, I actually started feelin’ sorry for the poor bastard.”

“Hmm?”

“I dunno, all else aside... that immortality shit, that’s gotta be hell.” Mado laughed painfully. “I can kinda see the use of it – lyin’ here with my belly full of blood – but damned if I’d want to get killed a hundred times over in one lifetime. Anyhow... I’m goin’ home at last...”

“Do you need something? A drink?”

“Naw... unless yer carryin’ a keg of shôchû on that horse. Which you ain’t a tippler, worse luck for me.” Mado shifted position and sighed. Anotsu rose after a moment and turned to Rin.

“The day grows short – you will have to hurry.”

“Wh-what?”

“Didn’t you say your bodyguard needed his severed hand back to heal properly?”

“Um... yes. But I don’t think he can walk yet...” Anotsu moved past her. Rin watched him take a folding wood-framed lantern from behind his saddle. He flipped open the lid of a charcoal holder, blew lightly on the coals to check that they were still live, and closed the holder again. Then he took a paper-wrapped bundle of candles from his saddlebag. “What are you doing?”

“Magatsu can watch over the wounded while we’re gone. Yes?” He directed the question at Magatsu’s bent back and got a grunt for an answer. “Do you recall any landmarks that can point back to the spot?”

“You... you... I didn’t ask you to come with me!”

Anotsu slung a few more items into a furoshiki and tied it over his shoulder. “Manji-san is in no shape to move, as you say. You can’t head off into the woods by yourself – you’ll lose your way at nightfall, if not sooner. Unless I accompany you now, I’ll have to search for you in the dark instead.” He looked straight at her. “If you wish to restore him to health, I have to lend you some assistance.”

Rin gritted her teeth; he was right, and yet again she had no real choice but to accept. Anotsu passed her again, carrying the lantern in one hand. He stooped over Mado. “Can you tell me where to find the place he was tortured?”

Mado opened his eyes and blinked at Anotsu, his features slack. “Uh? Where?”

“How far? In what direction?”

“Bear south... and by west. Twenty cho, give or take.” He slowly licked his dry lips.

“Are there markers, or any beaten path?”

“Nope... follow the busted branches, I guess. There’s a few... here and there.”

Anotsu pulled in his lips and looked up the embankment with a slight frown. “No other guides?”

“Sorry... look, Toshu... beggin’ yer pardon...”

“What is it?”

“I took His name in vain every goddamn day of my life... but my old mam beat the fear of the Lord into me. I’m lookin’ Eternity in the face now, with all my sins weighin’ heavy. The last words... that He hears from my lips... ain’t gonna be this blasted weasel-tongued, inside-out, mincin’ prancin’ sodomitical heathen jabber.” Mado managed a faint grin.

Anotsu looked down at him with an air of familiar indulgence, as if he’d often heard this string of insults to Nihongo; perhaps he’d had a hand in teaching Mado to speak it well enough to tell him of the world. “Then I’ll bid you farewell, faithful comrade.” Mado raised a hand to him, then folded his arms over his chest. Anotsu turned to Rin and nodded.

Gently, she lifted Manji’s head from her lap and laid him down on the reed mat. He seemed at least half asleep; she put the remaining food and water in his reach and touched his shoulder. “Manji-san... I have to go for a little while. To find what you lost. I’ll be back soon, promise. Are you going to be all right?”

“He’ll come to no more harm tonight – don’t worry.” Anotsu approached and offered her a hand up. Rin avoided him and stood by herself, then picked up her bag and retrieved her sword. She had to hunt a little while to find the scabbard, dropped in the woods up the path. “Will you need to bring your weapon?”

She glared at him, stuck the blade into the scabbard and settled the strap on her shoulder. Passing Mado, she stopped at his feet and gazed in silence at his ugly freckled face. His lips moved slightly. When he opened one eye and looked at her, she put her palms together before her chest, made a deep obeisance to Hebi’s still body and held the pose for several heartbeats. She turned a little and honored Mado with the same gesture. The foreigner gave her a solemn nod, as if to say he’d only done his duty, and closed his eyes again.

Anotsu watched her with a thoughtful expression. Rin moved down the path the way the party and their pursuers had come: past the scattered chunks of the bandit, past Magatsu’s growing pile of grave-dirt, past the pitiful sprawled body of the throat-slit boy. She turned and started up the embankment, Anotsu following a few paces behind her with the lantern, as yet unlit.

As she parted the rustling ferns at the top of the slope, Rin looked back at Manji, who hadn’t moved. Mado slowly chanted in guttural syllables: his own peculiar language. “Yei, do ai woku suru da bari ofu da shiado ofu defu, ai wiru firu no iibiru: fuo dou aruto wido mii; dai rado ando shitafu, dei komafuruto mii...”

She hoped, with an awkward heaviness in her own breast, that the foreigner’s gods could still hear a prayer spoken so far from home, on the other side of the vast and mysterious world.



Continued...