Chapter 7

Jin had assembled a couple dozen students in front of the shrine for the following attack. It had been a few weeks since Dan and Sara had gone missing and the tension among the villagers continued to mount. Not a soul was certain whether or when they would be out on patrol again. He stepped ahead of the pack and past Rei, who had been standing by the front.

“Today, we have come to a crossroads,” Jin spoke, finally breaking the silence, “our way of life has been faced with another trial.”

Jin began to walk towards the collection of soldiers with his head held high. His thousand-yard stare that could cut flesh. He continued, “Several of you have been chosen because of your proficiency, and several of you probably have no idea why you’re here.

“As we all know, we’ve had a couple of our fellow villagers disappear. We have yet to discover any traces of them. Some of you may know them,” Jin had stepped in front of Rei who had refused to make eye contact as he loomed over. “Some of you may have never said a word to them in your lives.”

Rei kept her hands tucked between her legs as she sat forwards. She had spent a few nights thinking about what had happened to Sara. The thought of her dying over wanting to spend the day writing had lingered so long that it had since worn out its welcome. She knew better now, not a thing could have been done to prevent it. Jin continued with the monologue to get everybody worked up. The truth was that everybody was so disconnected that the pain of losing somebody had no real weight. It happened to be something unfortunate, nothing more.

A voice called out from the crowd, “Do we even know who or what even took them out? How do we even know if this is an enemy clan or just a pack of dogs that ate them?”

“I saw them myself,” Rei was quick to interrupt. “There’s about four or five of them and they’re really strong.”

The revelation had sent some shockwaves through the gathering, leaving a few of the villagers to chatter among themselves. Hideo and Toki watched from the back end of the crowd. They had been unaware of what exactly the threat was or what it was capable of. This had remained true for Rei as well. She had seen them and survived one of Yuuma’s powerful strikes, but she had no idea what the others were able to do.

“The few of you that are gathered here tonight are going to be our last hope,” Jin spoke again, “You may not be as skilled as the rest of us, but we have no choice. We cannot risk sending us all, and I will need five of you to battle with me, and another six as an auxiliary force. Do we have any volunteers?”

A few bursts of whispers from the crowd had been heard. Rei was the first to volunteer. Soon, another hand rose, and soon after another. Jin and the elders watched as hands slowly began to rise, filling the needed slots steadily. He immediately chose Rei for his team before going through a few of his top troops. While passing through, he had noticed Shugo at the end of volunteers.

“You,” Jin said before pointing to Shugo, “What brings you here?”

“Who, me?” Shugo asked as he lifted his hand over his chest, trying to keep composed, “To do my part.”

“Why now? What made you brave?”

There was some laughter from among the students and the other troops still gathered. Hideo glared over at him, disappointed seeing him as part of the pack. As the chatter began to settle, Shugo quickly coughed nervously into his fist.

“Well, uh,” He lifted his head, barely making eyes contact, “my dad used to be a warrior, and I wanted to try it too.”

“I don’t think you’ll be good for the main force, you’ll be on the auxiliary patrol.” Jin started to speak before Rei had intervened.

“He’s fought them before, we both did. If anybody, he should be on this team,” Rei interjected as she stepped in between them.

Hideo finally spoke, “That’s enough, it is not your place to challenge him.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now,” Shugo quickly replied before looking over to Jin, “I have fought these guys before, I’m with Rei on this one.”

“And I am the Daimyo,” Jin added quickly to take back control, “it is still my call, and I can handle this.”

“I agree, and that’s why you need me.” Shugo said arrogantly as he rolled his shoulders back to look stronger.

“Nonsense, he does not need you.” Hideo spoke out again. As the two continued back and forth, Rei stood by watching as she continued to think about her encounter with Shugo earlier. Just as the arguing had boiled to its head, she finally stepped forward.

“We should have him in,” Rei tried to keep calm as she spoke. “I know what they’re capable of, just like him. I’m one of the best warriors in the village, my word should matter just as much.”

“I think you should give him a chance too,” Toki had decided to chime in, feeling intrigued to see her trying to stand up to Hideo. He stepped forward, “I don’t think even the great Hideo-Jin-Ni would be against somebody who is willing to volunteer, no, not you.”

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Hideo looked back to him, slowly going pale as Toki had started to ramble. Before he could continue, the others had already started to jump in.

“I know he’s not a warrior like us, but I’ve trained with him, and he knows enough to put him ahead of some of the others.” Rei continued quickly, not to let Hideo interrupt her, “I know you gave me a chance.”

“That I did.” Jin said firmly as he nodded in agreement.

“Why not leave it up to duel?” Shugo suggested, causing Toki to become further captivated. His eyes lit up to the idea, causing him to stroke his beard once more.

“It is part of the initiation, why not?” Toki asked, still towering over them as he stood tall. Hideo held his tongue.

“That it is, you have a point,” Jin said with little thought. Rei’s face had lit up with excitement as her hands began to tremble. Hideo had tried with every bit of his mental fortitude to encompass his boiling rage hearing Jin starting to consider Shugo. Jin stepped towards Shugo, continuing with, “Three points, simple enough?”

“That won’t be a problem.” Shugo said confidently as he smiled back to him.

“I’d hope not. I was half tempted to say ‘no’,” Jin said while turning to face Toki, “but if somebody wants to try, I will afford them that opportunity.”

As the spirits began to rise, Hideo began to become more reclusive. He had tried to keep Shugo out of the battle. Deep down, he could not help but feel that the decision would be catastrophic. There was the constant thought that Shugo had been slowly starting to undo the years of training. Whether or not his suspicions were correct, they had plagued his mind without halt.

“I promise that I will not let you down.” Shugo said again. Jin nodded approvingly to the young man before turning back to the group to make the final arrangements.

“Everybody not on a team, you may leave. For my two teams, we will regroup tomorrow at sundown,” Jin said aloud. He immediately faced Shugo and Rei before speaking again, “There’s a few of you that still need to prove yourselves to me.”

◆◆◆

Following the meeting, Rei had told him to plan for a crash course. Shugo had then chosen to cut his sleep short that night so he could make it to the same tree as early as possible. He had already beaten the sun as well as the rest of the village to rise. While trying not to waste any time, he then began a series of warm-ups to get his body prepared for the oncoming session. He felt his knowledge of the techniques would be enough to give him an edge in the upcoming battle, but Rei had volunteered to try and get him up to speed.

There was much in a soldier’s way of life that he had yet to learn. He continued his training solo through the morning, brushing up on what knowledge he had with a sword. The shinai he had been trying to practice with slowly began to feel heavier by the minute; each attack was becoming less violent as he had started to feel fatigued from the constant practice. Over by the monastery and out of sight, Rei had been watching for some time.

“Come on now, don’t get burnt out before the fight,” she finally said, trying not to laugh as he flailed through the air with his weapon.

“I’m trying not to,” Shugo panted before tossing the stick to the ground. Rei clenched her fists out of disdain of seeing the weapon bounce across the dirt and quickly stared back to him.

“So you want to be a warrior and you throw your weapon on the ground?” Rei asked him with a much harsher tone compared to before. Shugo could only stare on as she approached him.

“What?”

“It means, ‘pick up your weapon’,” Rei said louder and more agitated. Shugo hesitated to grab the weapon. He could feel his palms starting to get wet as he started to feel confused by this new side. She quickly yelled, “I said, ‘pick it up’.”

He was in a tussle as Rei continued the pressure. Just as he raced for the shinai, Rei had already managed to draw one of her own and swing it towards his back. The surface of it made a loud snap as it encountered his upper left side. Shugo’s jaw ripped away from his body as his eyes shrunk into his skull. He had initially been wound up, but just seconds later a massive roar screamed across the village as exploded in pain.

“What the heck was that?” Shugo screamed.

“The first rule you should know is to never drop your weapon. Second, never turn your back on your opponent!” Rei drew the weapon once more, striking without warning. Despite his thoughts being a mishmash of conflicting emotions, he had grasped onto the handle of his shintai to parry as Rei swung horizontally towards his face. Just as he had deflected one strike, she would follow up with more, continuously forcing him to defend. After feeling the wooden sword constantly strike his flesh, he finally backed up before shouting, “That’s enough!”

“You don’t really handle pressure that well.”

“No kidding! I didn’t expect you to get a cheap shot in.”

“Did I say you could speak?” she interrupted him. Shugo’s teeth immediately locked together as he froze in place. Rei only gave him an ominous glare that brought him to attention. “If you want to be one of us, you have a lot to learn.”

Shugo only stared on blankly as she continued with the monologue. His body trembled from the short clash, the hair on his scalp already dampened with sweat. Rei cautiously circled him, searching for any flaw or irregularity.

“Permission to speak?” Shugo asked her. Rei’s eyebrows had jutted upward in shock. She leaned in, peering over his right shoulder with a menacing glare.

“Who said you could speak?” Rei asked with a hiss.

It was too late. Shugo had only wanted to learn enough to get by. At this point, the warrior side of Rei had already been released. The revelation had been unsettling to him to say the least.

“Keep your stance, and don’t lose balance,” Rei shouted, giving him another tap across the back of his leg with the weapon. “Keep your center. That’s what will keep you alive.”

“Ok, calm.” Shugo muttered. Rei stepped in front of him with the same look on her face before striking again.

“Say it.”

“Keep your balance,” He uttered before Rei had struck again. “Keep your stance, and don’t lose balance. Find your center.”

“Do you know what that means?” Rei asked before giving him as wave, “You can talk now.”

“It means ‘stay alive’?”

“Acceptable.”