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Sword Of the Stranger 2: Reforged
By Edward John Millard
Chapter 1: The Concerned Emperor
The Chinese Emperor from the Ming Dynasty was usually a calm, calculating man. However, right now, he was agitated and confused. This was due to the news he had recently received that Bai-Luan and his loyal subordinates, who had been sent to Japan to obtain the Xian medicine for the Emperor, had failed. The Emperor’s spies had found their fortress in Japan destroyed with all his men, including Bai-Luan, slain as well as a number of deceased Japanese soldiers. This was where the ritual to create the Xian medicine was supposed to take place.
At first, the Emperor had thought that the Japanese had betrayed them, slaughtered the Emperor’s men and taken the medicines key ingredient for themselves. Now he was not so sure, especially when he observed that given where their bodies were found neither Bai-Luan nor several of his subordinates could have been killed by the Japanese soldiers who served Lord Akaike. This was because their bodies were found too far away those of the Japanese soldiers meaning their involvement was impossible. The more likely explanation was that some third party had interfered and taken the boy, who was needed to be sacrificed to produce the Xian medicine, for unknown reasons.
To reassure himself, the Emperor had recently sent a smaller group to Japan with express orders to not work with the Japanese. This was he no longer trusted the Japanese and did not want a larger force to draw any unwelcome attention. “I hope the Jianling brothers succeed.” said the Emperor in resignation. “Otherwise, I fear my time is near.”
Chapter 2: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.
The two bandits were really having a bad time recently. Firstly, they had recently attempted to rob a travelling young boy accompanied by a Ronin (Rogue/Lordless Samurai) and a dog. To their utter humiliation they had been beaten up and robbed by the travellers. They had since had no luck in robbing anyone else to recover their losses.
Now fate had thrice delt them a bad hand as they were now standing rooted to the spot, like an upright tree, as two strangers had snuck up behind them and were holding blades to their throats.
The strangers spoke poor Japanese to the bandits. “You see a travelling boy? He with anyone? Where he go?” asked one of the strangers. Thinking quickly the smaller bandit blurted out “Yes, we have, he was with a Samurai. I have no idea where they went.” The strangers spoke to each other in another language and then addressed the bandits. “We go now, you lie, we come back.” The blades were removed from their throats and by the time the bandits dared to turn around, the strangers had disappeared. “Phew” sighed the larger bandit “That was scary, it’s a good thing we told the truth.” “Not quite” thought the smaller bandit. He had not told the strangers about the dog accompanying the Samurai and the boy.
The strangers it turned out were the Jianling brothers. They were now both hiding in the trees some way away from the bandits they had just interrogated. They spoke in hushed tones “So brother.” whispered the younger brother called Gao. “The boy we are looking for is accompanied by a Samurai. I suppose that is the unknown third party the emperor speculated about.” “That seems to be the case.” noted the older brother called Tian. “Alright, I’ll perform reconnaissance, find the boy and kill the Samurai alone,” decided Gao Proudly. “No brother,” retorted Tian, “You should keep an eye on them, relay your location to me via carrier bird and I will join you to complete the mission. Remember the Samurai was skilled enough to take down Luo Lang who was our strongest swordsman. You are not ready to take on such a person alone.” “Fine.” Replied Gao reluctantly. “Well, I had better set off” He proceeded to leave while Tian also set off to find a safe place to camp.
A few days had passed since the brothers had parted and Gao was excited as he was found his quarries trail. Fresh horse tracks in the forest. The horse tracks matched the ones he and his brother had found leaving the fortress. As he carried on, he noticed a plume of smoke rising from some distance away in the forest. He wondered if this was the boy and the Samurai’s camping spot and proceeded to approach the smoke more stealthily. He soon arrived at a small clearing where there was a campfire. Here he found the boy he was looking for, a young man with long black hair tied back in a loose ponytail who must be the Samurai, a horse tied to a small tree and what looked like a small pile of supplies covered in a thick cloth near the boy.
He listened in on their conversation before they went to sleep, making sure to note their intentions of where they were heading. Then he sent a letter via carrier bird to his brother relaying their location and intentions. However instead of waiting for his brother, he decided to kill the Samurai and take the boy. Just as he was about to unleash his poison darts at the Samurai from a safe distance, the wind shifted and the small pile of supplies under the cloth began to move.
Chapter 3: A New Name
A few hours earlier, a young boy named Kotaro, the dog called Tobimaru, their horse and the Ronin (Rogue/lordless Samurai) known as Nanashi had been making their way through a forest, in the Ise province of Japan. They were looking for a good place to set up camp. Finally, they settled in a small clearing, got off their horse and tied it to a nearby tree. Nanashi took care to make sure the horse was calm and content before helping Kotaro with the campfire.
Soon it was burning and crackling merrily as they ate their rations. Suddenly Kotaro spoke up as a thought struck him. “I just remembered, I once said I would come up with a new name for you and that it would a good one.” “Nanashi” meant “No-name” in Japanese as the Samurai had not been named at birth due to being the sole survivor of a ship wreck when he was younger. He had also been called Red Hair or Red Demon due to his red hair that was now dyed black so that he remained inconspicuous in Japan. However, he preferred not to be called by those names. “That’s true.” replied Nanashi “Have you thought of any good ones?” “Give me a minute to think of one, I can’t promise it will be good” answered Kotaro sheepishly.
“So, a liar and now an oath breaker. You are quite the companion, Kotaro.” Nanashi noted smiling. Kotaro blushed a little as he blustered back “Well you said yourself that the stone I gave you was priceless as it saved your life.” Nanashi nodded in acknowledgement while doing some thinking of his own as he waited for Kotaro to come up with a name for him. He was wondering how he was going to defend Kotaro now that his single edge Katana sword had broken in his final battle at the fortress. He had kept what was left but it was now considerably less useful for defending Kotaro. Although he was initially against the idea as he did not want to put Kotaro at risk, he had begun to teach Kotaro how to sword fight at the boy’s suggestion.
While he was making good progress as a swordsman in training and Nanashi did have some spare Tantos (Japanese daggers) from the fortress, Nanashi felt he could not relax until he had a replacement for his sword especially as he was still recovering from his wounds from his fights in the fortress. Having thought for a while now Nanashi spoke up. “So have you thought of a name yet?” Kotaro had thought of giving him a name related to swords but then remembered the secret vow Nanashi had made. To never draw his blade in a fight. This he had comprehensively broken while defending Kotaro at the fortress so Kotaro reconsidered.
Kotaro then recalled the other skill that Nanashi had taught him that Nanashi seemed to really enjoy. Horse riding. He also recalled how Nanashi had said that riding a strong horse felt wonderful, like riding on clouds. “Hmm…how about Kuraudo Raida, Cloud Rider, or Kura for short. I think it suits you well.” “I agree” concurred the newly named Kuraudo Raida, smiling slightly at the childish imagination of Kotaro. “Now Kotaro I think we should discuss our plans of where we are going. Unless you have any other ideas. I suggest we keep going through Ise province until we get to the Shrine of Kagu Tscuchi who is the Kami, spirit/God, of fire and patron deity of Blacksmiths. There I hope to meet with an acquaintance called Muramasa who should be able to make me a new sword. Next, I suggest we continue to the Southern part of Ise which is under the rule of a Daimyo or Feudal/local lord, called Kitabatake Tomonori. He is a friend of a Lord I used to serve so he should provide us with shelter for as long as we like.”
“No complaints here.” commented Kotaro. “I still like the idea of going abroad” “Maybe the Daimyo will give us safe passage one day” Replied Kura. “As things stand, it would be very hard to travel abroad. Now shall we turn in for the night.” “Alright.” agreed Kotaro. Looking over at his dog Tobimaru who was already fast asleep under a heavy cloth. He was tired out from running alongside the horse they had been riding on. They both followed his example, covering themselves in heavy cloths for the night was chilly and lying down to sleep.
A couple of hours later, the wind direction changed and Tobimaru began to move under the cloth having caught a whiff of something dangerously familiar. The thought made him burst out from under the cloth and start to bark loudly. As he did so, Kura woke up from the noise and instinctively rolled sideways into a standing position. A split second after he began rolling, poison darts thudded into the ground where he had been lying asleep. “Kotaro, wake up, we’re under attack.” He bellowed having seen the darts.
Kotaro woke up and seeing his companion’s alertness as well as the horse panicking from the sudden noise quickly grasped the situation. “Whose attacking us?” he wondered aloud. Silence followed in which Kura drew one of his daggers out and realised he had left his broken sword where he had been sleeping. The silence was broken by a rustle of bushes and then a Chinese man walked into the clearing holding two curious looking weapons.
Chapter 4: Fight and Grudge
Gao Jianling cursed quietly as the darts thudded harmlessly into the ground where the Samurai had been sleeping. Now he had two options. Retreat and regroup with his brother in shame for failing to kill the enemy and taking away the element of surprise or defeat the Samurai now and retrieve the boy. He chose the latter, clambered down from his vantage point, and made his way to the clearing. As he did so, he took hold of two unusual looking weapons, holding one in each hand. They each looked like two crescent moons overlapping with a handle on one curved side and a sharp blade edge on the other. They were called Deerhorn knives, also known as Crescent moon knives or Duck Blades and were wielded in Chinese martial arts.
As he entered the clearing, he saw the Samurai holding a dagger, the boy standing behind the Samurai, a horse that was starting to calm down and that damn dog that ruined his surprise attack. Gao was wary of the dagger as the weapons he wielded worked best against weapons with an extended reach e.g. long swords and spears. This was because his weapons were like direct appendages to the hands, thus they had a greater speed and precision than long reaching weapons. The Samurai drew a second dagger.
Gao suddenly leapt forward and clashed with the Samurai. They exchanged several blows, evading, parrying, and blocking. The boy backed off, holding the dog to stop him attacking Gao and the horse resumed panicking. After a few more seconds Gao and the Samurai locked weapons bringing the fight to a standstill. The Samurai was struggling due to his recent injuries. Noticing this, the boy ran to the spot where the Samurai had been sleeping. He picked up the broken sword of the Samurai and charged Gao. The dog followed suit, reaching Gao before the boy to bite into his lower left calf. Gao yelled in pain but stood his ground as he got rid of the mutt with a kick of his left foot.
However, he was too distracted by fighting the Samurai and the pain in his calf to stop the charging boy who plunged the broken sword into Gao’s lower back. This made Gao let go of his weapons as he tried to get rid of the boy. Before he could do so, the Samurai took advantage of this by slashing Gao’s throat, severing his windpipe. Gao slumped to his knees, blooding dribbling from the gash as he clutched manically at the wound and gasped for air. The Samurai ended his suffering with a quick upward thrust that entered Gao’s neck, under the chin and stabbed into Gao’s brain. Gao’s body collapsed. The Samurai set about cleaning the bloody daggers after checking Gao was dead.
“I guess that moves up our schedule.” sighed Kura, breathing heavily as he cleaned the blades. “I guess so” agreed Kotaro, who was checking that Tobimaru was okay. He was, having landed safely a small distance from the fight. “Well then” concluded Kura “Off to Kagu Tscuchi shrine we go.” A few days later, a Chinese man came to the same clearing, finding the corpse of his brother. “You fool.” he muttered and proceeded to bury the body in a discrete spot nearby. He then sent the Emperor a message via carrier bird to update him on the situation. His eyes were blazing with vengeful anger the whole time.
Chapter 5: Mamoru
“It looks like the Chinese are still after you Kotaro.” noted Kura, as they approached the steps leading up to Kagu Tscuchi shrine. “True, the Ming Emperor must still want to sacrifice me to gain the immortality medicine.” Concurred Kotaro sadly. “I’d rather not be on the run for the rest of my life.” “Once we reach the Daimyo, you won’t have to be on the run anymore.” Kura said comfortingly.
They left the horse tied to a wooden post just outside the Torii Gate which they then passed through. This was an act of transitioning from mundane to the sacred. After reaching the top of the steps. They moved along the Sandō, the approach to the shrine, before turning off to the left to purify and cleanse their hands and mouths at the Chōzuya, (also known as the Temizuya, a water basin). They continued along the Sandō, passing by rows of Tōrō, decorative stone lanterns, and the Kaguraden which is the building dedicated to the Kagura dance. They turned off again to inquire where Muramasa was at the Shamusho, the shrines administrative office.
They were told by a friendly monk at the Shamusho that Muramasa was currently at the Haiden, the hall of worship. Moreover, that it would be best to wait for him between the Ema, where wooden plaques bearing prayers and wishes were located, and the Komainu, the Lion-Dog statues that are guardians of the shrine that sit outside the Haiden. Behind the Haiden was the Honden, the main hall holding the Kami of the shrine which is off limits to the public.
They had only been waiting a few minutes when a man, who looked not much older than Kura, exited the Haiden. “Good morning, Sengo Muramasa, it is I, the man for whom you forged the sword called Takemi Kazuchi Muramasa.” Kura greeted him. “Greetings owner of Takemi Kazuchi Muramasa or should I say Nanashi. Apologies, I have a bad habit of only remembering people by the name of the swords I forged for them rather than their faces or names.” Muramasa apologetically clarified. He observed Kotaro’s raised eye brow at the strange exchange of greetings. Kotaro lowered his eyebrow and replied “Hello Muramasa, I am the traveling companion of Nanashi whom is now called Kuraudo Raida or Kura for short at my suggestion. My name is Kotaro and this is our companion Tobimaru.” indicating their dog.
“Greetings, Kotaro and Tobimaru. So, what brings all of you here?” Muramasa inquired. “Admittedly, it is that the sword that you forged for me is broken and thus I am in need of a new one.” Kura answered sheepishly. “No need to be ashamed Kura, if swords were unbreakable, I would risk running out of work as a swordsmith.” Muramasa kindly noted. “That’s quite the mouthful of a name for a sword.” Kotaro rudely interjected. “Well, young man” Muramasa replied politely. “I always name the swords I make after myself as a sort of immortalisation of my life through my work as well as another name to help individualise them and as a sign of respect for that specific sword. Takemi Kazuchi refers to a deity of Thunder and the Sword. Given Kura’s god given skill in swordsmanship it seemed a fitting name. Speaking of which, I will need to give the new sword a new name to separate it from the broken one.”
“Indeed” agreed Kura. “How about something humbler and reflecting my new companions. Preferably something not to do with swords or horses.” “I see, you have turned over a new leaf Kura. What is the nature of your relationship with Kotaro?” Muramasa wondered aloud. “I protect him while we travel together.” Kura simply stated. “For money?” Muramasa asked. “Initially yes, but I do it now because I want to protect him for his sake.” Kura replied “Unconditional protection, eh?” Muramasa mused to himself.
Muramasa knew Kura quite well so he suspected it was also to help Kura redeem himself for his past actions but wanting to keep the mood amicable he decided not to press Kura further on the matter. “I am feeling a bit rhymical today so how about Mamoru Muramasa as Mamoru means defend or to protect and is typically a boy’s name. “Sounds good.” Kura replied. “How long will it take to make?” “Normally it would take a few months for a novice smith but as I am quite the expert. Moreover, I have little other work right now and I am willing to work overtime for an old friend, it should only take about a week. Now I do expect some payment for my work.” Muramasa concluded “No problem.” Kura responded and handed over a bag of gold he had been saving up throughout his travels.
“Well, I suppose it is time we get to my smithy. You will be guests at my residence until the sword is ready.” proclaimed Muramasa. “I’m intrigued to know more about the process of sword smithing.” Kotaro spoke up curiously. “Nice going Kotaro, here comes a lengthy lecture from Muramasa-Sensei ,teacher, about his craft.” Kura thought laughing to himself.
Chapter 6: Forging
As they made their way down from the temple to Muramasa’s smithy, they picked up up the horse on their way out. Muramasa gave a detailed explanation of the process of sword smithing, much to Kotaro’s interest and Kura’s boredom as the latter had heard it plenty of times before. The process starts by smelting Iron Sand which contains Iron ore into steel which is performed for over 72 hours to a week within clay vessel called a Tatara which is heated by burning charcoal.
The steel bloom, called Kera, made from the smelting varies in carbon content and three types of steel make up the blade that vary depending on the amount of carbon content they have. Very low carbon steel, called Hocho-tetsu, is used for the core of the blade which called the Shigane. The high carbon steel, called Tamahagane, and the remelted Pig Iron, called Nabe-Gane, which also has a high carbon content, are combined to form the outer skin of the blade, called the Kwagane. The heated steel is then removed from the Tatara, folded, hammered, quenched, and reheated repeatedly. The smith does this to give the different steels of varying carbon content differing hardness. The high carbon steel has higher hardness than the low carbon layers and this combined with the ductility of the of low carbon steels forms the swords toughness.
The folding also removes voids in the metal and homogenises the steel’s carbon content to avoid weak points in the steel as well as removing impurities in the steel which are called slag. Once folding is completed and the shape of the blade parts are formed, they go through a process called differential heat treatment where the single, sharp edge of the blade is coated in little or no clay layering while the rest of the blade is coated in a thicker layer of clay. The blade is then cooled, having been heated, and the lack of clay layering causes the sharp edge to become hard and rigid as it is cools. The rest of the blade, because of the thicker layer of clay, cools more slowly resulting in a more flexible and less brittle blade that has better shock absorption without breaking as easily.
The heat treatment has two side effects. The blade curves and there is a visible boundary line between the hard and soft steel the runs along the middle of the blade, lengthways, often in a pattern. Muramasa noted that the blades he forged tended to have a Hamon, ripple or a wave, pattern for the boundary line. He would then etch the name of the blade on it just above the Habaki, which is a collar for the blade that extends slightly beyond the handguard to stop the blade rattling.
When the rough blade is completed, it is then polished to refine its shape and sharpness. Once this is finished its mountings are attached. These include the Saya (Scabbard), Tsuba (Handguard), Tsuka (Hilt), Kashira (pommel) at the base of the hilt, Tsuka-maki (hilt wrappings) and menuki (ornate decoration attached to the Tsuka, under the Tsuka-Maki.) A bamboo peg called a Mekugi is slipped through the Tsuka and the Tang (part of the blade inserted into the hilt) of the blade. This anchor’s the blade to the hilt.
“Usually, multiple people are needed to perform each bit of the process but I am able to do the entire process single handedly.” Muramasa concluded proudly. By now they had reached the smithy. Muramasa led them to his residence where he made sure they had shelter, food, water, and a place to sleep. He then spent the rest of the following week in his smithy forging the sword while Kura, Kotaro and Tobimaru whiled away the hours horse riding, practicing sword fighting, hunting, strolling, and chatting with passersby. By the end of the week Mamoru Muramasa was forged. After testing the blade, paying Muramasa and thanking him for his service, the three of them along with their horse, moved onwards to Southern Ise province.
Chapter 7: Confrontation and Incoming Storm
About a day after setting off from Muramasa’s Smithy, they were galloping along an open path with trees on both sides when they suddenly found their path blocked by a Chinese man. The horse stopped and whinnied in surprise at the person blocking his path. It seemed he had been waiting for them. Kura calmed his steed and after dismounting, he drew his new sword. The Chinese man drew his weapons, a single edged Dao (Chinese sword), and a Ji (Chinese spear). Kura knew he would be at disadvantage in both range and versatility as the spear had better reach and he only had one weapon while his opponent had two. His advantages would be strength given he could hold his weapon with two hands, and mobility, as wielding one weapon is less cumbersome than wielding two different weapons.
Their duel began with Kura trying a quick, rush attack to try and close the distance between them so that the enemy could not take advantage of the spears reach. However, the enemy saw it coming and fended off Kura’s approach with his spear before he got too close. Occasionally the Chinese man would leap forward to engage in close combat with Kura using his sword. Each time this happened they would exchange blows. Kura was very careful not to lock blades with his opponent’s blade as this would leave him vulnerable to the spear.
Kura decided to deal with the spear first. He waited until they were in relatively close range then kicked dirt into his opponent’s eyes. This distracted the Chinese man long enough for Kura to slice the spear into several useless pieces and kick the spear head away. The Chinese man dropped the useless remains of the spear and engaged Kura in close range combat with his sword. Kura then feinted causing his opponent to use an overhead swing. Next, he locked his opponents descending blade to the ground with his own blade and proceeded to kick the side of his enemy’s sword hard so that it broke into two pieces.
The Chinese man proceeded to drop his broken weapon and charge Kura presumably to try and grapple with him unarmed. Before he could do so, Kura gracefully side stepped his charge and as swiftly as a stooping falcon beheaded the Chinese man. Mamoru Muramasa had done well in its 1st battle. As Kura and his companions carried on to Southern Ise, the Chinese Emperor had to make a difficult decision as he suspected his men had failed having heard no word from them since Tians last message. Either give up chasing the boy and lose his chance at immortality forever or Invade Japan with an army to find the boy once and for all.
The earlier choice was highly undesirable as he had long sought immortality, on the other hand Japan was a prosperous maritime trading partner and he would rather keep relations with them as amicable as possible. Moreover, warfare was costly in terms of human life and resources. He decided to compromise and go to war but to be slow in his preparations to give Tian time to return with the boy.
Meanwhile Kura, Kotaro and Tobimaru had reached the residence of the Daimyo Kitabatake Tomonori, hoping for a warm welcome.
Chapter 8: Old Friend
Their hope was rewarded. They arrived at Lord Tomonori’s fort and after waiting a short while at the gates they were swiftly brought to the Daimyo who greeted Kura like an old friend. “These are my travelling companions Kotaro and Tobimaru.” Kura explained. “I see, it is very nice to make your acquaintance, Kotaro and Tobimaru. I suspect there is quite a story for you to tell as it had been a while since we last met. I believe it was at one of our last battles with our old ally, the now ousted Owatari clan.” Tomonori replied. “I was sorry to hear the news of their demise and I feared for your survival Kura. How happy I am to see you alive and well.”
“The feeling is mutual, Kita.” Kura replied in a familiar fashion. “I can go into more detail later, for now all you need to know is that we are being pursued. Some shady Chinese individuals who serve the Ming Emperor are after Kotaro. Thus, I humbly request shelter and protection for the time being.” “But of course, Kura, it would be quite discourteous to refuse. I look forward to our time together. I will go further by sending spies throughout Japan and China to gather any news of these agents of the Ming Dynasty. Now I have only one request in return.” Tomonori confided. “Let me guess” Kura said, unable to swallow a smile. “A duel?” “Indeed, as a man trained by the famous swordsman Tsukahara Bokuden, how could I miss the opportunity to cross swords with your impressive sword skills?” Tomonori proudly stated. “I accept your challenge” agreed Kura.
Lord Tomonori and Kura had several duels with wooden practice swords over the next few weeks. The matches were close in terms of who seemed to be wining. Meanwhile Kotaro busied himself with continuing his swordsmanship and horse-riding training which were easier to do with the fort’s facilities.
Occasionally they also did leisure activities such as bathing, swimming, fishing, and falconry. At the end of this peaceful time, a spy came to Lord Tomonori with grave news. The lord summoned Kura and Kotaro at once to tell them of the dire situation. “The good news is that there currently does not seem to be any Ming forces in Japan pursuing Kotaro. The bad news is that the Ming Emperor seems to be planning a full-scale invasion of Japan to achieve his objective of taking Kotaro.” Tomonori explained and response to their shocked faces. “Yes, I know, I would not have believed it if it was not for my most trusted spy relaying the information. Now we have a decision to make. How do we protect both Japan and Kotaro? Especially since I doubt anyone in this room is willing to give Kotaro up to save Japan but we simply cannot just let Japan be invaded as Kotaro will likely be found by the Chinese anyway if that happens.”
“So, I have a proposal. It is incredibly risky but it will ensure the safety of Japan and Kotaro if it succeeds. We need someone to assassinate the Ming Emperor and put an end to all of this.”
Chapter 9: Assassination and Goodbye
“Assassinate the Emperor?” Kotaro asked sounding dumfounded. “Indeed” confirmed Tomonori. “How can it be done?” Kura inquired. “Put simply someone needs to infiltrate China with the aid of my spies and kill the Emperor.” elaborated Tomonori. “Of course, it will likely be a one-way trip as the Chinese will chase down their Emperor’s killer. Furthermore…” He paused as though it pained him to say this next part. “…the assassin must look like a non-Japanese person, preferably a Westerner so that China cannot pin the blame for the Emperor’s death on Japan.”
“What if he actually was a Westerner, wouldn’t that be more convincing?” Kura suggested. “You’ve caught on to what I’m saying Kura.” Noted Tomonori with a pained expression. “Do not worry Kita, I am quite willing to do it if it means keeping Kotaro safe. I bear you no ill will for suggesting this plan. Disagreeing now would be pointless.” “What are you talking about?” Kotaro asked puzzled. “Kotaro.” Kura said calmly, putting a hand on Kotaro’s shoulder. “Do you remember what I said about my hair and my origins?” “Of course, your hair is dyed black but is actually red and nobody knows where you come from as you were the sole survivor of a ship wreck.” Kotaro answered and then gasped as he realised what was being suggested
“Kotaro” Kura spoke firmly. “I need to be the one to carry out the assassination as they will think I am Westerner with my naturally red hair. I may need to let them capture me to throw off suspicions of Japanese involvement.”
Sometime passed during which Tomonori and Kura prepared for the assassination attempt. Kotaro had of course been distraught upon learning Kura’s fate but eventually he came to accept the reality and tried to enjoy the time they had left together. Tomonori called off the duels with Kura under the pretence of not wanting to injure Kura before the assassination attempt. Kura knew it was really because Tomonori hated the idea of sending a friend off to die.
At last, the fateful day arrived, Kotaro and Kura a had final conversation before Kura departed. Kotaro was once again glum. “Chin up Kotaro, I have some important last words to say.” Kura said comfortingly. “First, I am giving you my sword, Mamoru Muramasa, as the spies assured me it will not be needed for the assassination and I am sure you will grow into a fine swordsman. Second, I thank you for giving me name I am proud to be called by.” Kotaro felt a twinge of happiness upon hearing that “Finally, I confess that you have changed my life for the better. Before I met you, I was in a dark and aimless world. I was ashamed of myself. Now, I can leave this life with my head held high because of you.” Kotaro hesitated then gushed out “Thank you for teaching me horse riding, swordsmanship, and for protecting me for so long. I enjoyed our time together.” Kura hugged Kotaro then turned away to depart. “Goodbye Kotaro and Tobimaru.” The last thing he heard before departing from the fort was Tobimaru’s whine.
About a month later, the news came from China of a red-haired Westerner assassinating the Chinese Emperor and who was then killed by the Emperors’ men. The Chinese blamed the Westerners thus leaving the Japanese free of suspicion. Only three individuals were saddened by the assassin’s death. A Daimyo, a dog, and a boy under the Daimyo’s care.
End.