Yuri thumbed through the scrolls of painted landscapes and portraits of birds and his family. Odd how so many were of the short-winged thrush. The species of bird was local to Jakain Islands, but only in temperate forest environments. To find one in any city was rare. How did Jin know what they looked like without ever venturing out into the wild? Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her finger on its pulse. The legends said that the thrush was one of the first animals gifted with the ability of flight. It was then cursed by the gods to stay grounded for half its life. When the bird matured, it was able to fly. The first bird to mature was also the youngest, according to the storytellers. Maturity could come at any point in time. It had nothing to do with age. The bird was also endangered. The chances of Jin finding one was slim. Impossible even.
Someone tapped on the shoji. She couldn’t hear it at first. The tap was quiet and timid as if someone didn’t want to disturb her.
“Come in,” Yuri said.
The door slid open and a guard bowed in respect, extending his hand. He didn’t look up; their eyes never meeting. He wore messenger garb and his hand held a letter. Yuri took the letter and read. Her eyes widened in horror.
The letter was addressed to Kaito from Jin. Attached was a painting of a thrush. One Yuri had never seen before.
Chapter Eleven
There was a door in front of Kaito. Beads and nuggets of wood blocked his view to the other room, where a pair voices continued to argue.
The female one sounded … familiar, but it couldn't be her. Could it?
The beads jingled as someone parted them. Kaito couldn't believe his eyes. Mayumi was here. She looked different. Her hair was bound and she wore a white kimono with light red flowers on it. They looked stitched on, rather than woven. Kaito stared at her dumbstruck, betrayed, and above all angry.
"What is wrong with you!" he said.
Mayumi turned around and spoke to the man behind her. "Could you give us a few moments?"
Kaito heard the man scoff, but couldn’t see him. Mayumi turned back to face Kaito and hit him on the head, hard. He resisted the urge to rub the pain away. He stood there, looking her in the eyes. Her gaze did not falter upon meeting his own. Kaito looked away, unable to take the hostile nature of her glare.
"What are you doing? You still want to get to Yoshino in one piece, don’t you?”
He nodded, unsure of what was going on.
"I'm trying to get us safe passage to Yoshino," Mayumi said. "That man is the only one willing to risk his life for yours."
Kaito still didn't know what was going on or how to respond. Someone tapped their foot to get their attention. Both of them turned. Naomi stood, a look of betrayal on her face.
"When were you going to tell me you planned on leaving?" she asked.
Mayumi looked at her and sighed. "I did tell you, you just weren't listening."
She pouted. "No, you didn't. I would've remembered you saying something like that, Aunt Mayumi."
Aunt, Kaito thought.
"My sister made me your guardian for a reason," Mayumi said, "to keep you out of trouble. I've already broken that promise by letting you help. I don't want to do it again, now leave."
Naomi looked down at her feet, ashamed, and walked off without saying a word. Something told him, she’d be back. The girl he’d met years ago was gone, replaced with someone much more spontaneous and free. The Naomi he knew didn’t joke around as much as this one did. He liked it. Part of him did, anyway. The other missed her ability to listen to anything and give solid advice. Something he needed ever since learning the truth.
“What am I going to do with her?” Mayumi said to herself.
“So you're her aunt?” Kaito asked.
She nodded. “My sister was jealous of me. Always trying to one up me. She … lost her life trying to follow in my footsteps. If only I had known about her, I could’ve protected her. I won’t make the same mistake with you.”
Kaito lips trembled and his eyes grew moist, but even with Naomi gone he dared not show weakness in front of anyone. It made him come across as emotional, fragile. The last thing he wanted was to have Mayumi refuse to train him because he couldn’t handle a sad story. He sniffled, rubbing his eyes with the dirty sleeve of his kimono.
“Seems the one thing your father taught you, you refuse to learn from,” Mayumi said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You and Naomi are a good match.”
Kaito felt his cheeks grow warm and his throat clam up. Did Naomi feel the same way as he did about her? They’d been friends since childhood, like Mayumi and Jin—but they were so different in personality … it couldn’t possibly work out, could it?
His stomach fluttered and his heart beat faster as he thought about Naomi. A cold sweat came over him and he nearly passed out from the uncomfortable sensation coursing through his body. Mayumi looked at him with worried eyes. It was like she knew what he was going through. It made sense. She knew his father: the man who raised him. He wondered if Jin and Mayumi's relationship was akin to Naomi and his own.
There he went, again, making assumptions based on desire. A warrior shouldn’t trust his heart. It would lead him astray and get him killed. On the battlefield, those who succeeded had mastered the art of preparation before the battle even took place. Execution was nothing without planning. Yuri taught him that. So did Jin. However, he still didn’t understand it. The whole idea behind thinking before acting was counterintuitive. In the heat of battle, a warrior didn’t think about their plans beforehand. More often than not the plan was moot the moment the fighting started. Instinct. That’s what mattered.
Mayumi nudged him forward and walked beside him as they made their way to a small wooden dock by the water. A lone candlelight was lit, illuminating half the wooden frame. The light glistened off the water along with the reflection of the moon. As he got closer, he noticed there was symmetry in the water. The moon's reflection was on one side of the dock and the stars were on the other.
Kaito glanced at tsuki no ha-ken, tied around Mayumi's waist. Only it wasn’t sheathed. As she walked, the sword came dangerously close to cutting the skin not covered by her kimono. Kaito looked away, then back to her belt. The fact he could see skin troubled him. It meant something cut her. If he looked closer, he thought he saw a scar half-healed on the area between her lower and upper body. Where did she get that?
The dock creaked and swayed under the feet as they stepped onto the wood. A man in clothing Kaito had never seen before hunched himself over a pole used to keep the dock in the water. When he saw them he stood upright and, instead of bowing, he motioned them to walk faster. Kaito felt insulted. The man clearly knew who he was, but showed not the slightest bit of worry he might offend him. Who was this man? Upon closer inspection, their ship’s captain was a foreigner. Not the ones from the West. In fact he appeared similar to Kaito, in terms of facial structure and placement of the eyes.
“Get on,” the man said.
Kaito tapped Mayumi on the shoulder and whispered in her ear, “What does he want in return?”
“I’ve already payed him. Don’t worry about that. Just focus on what you’re going to do when you arrive.”
“What I’m going to … wait, what do you …”
But Mayumi was gone, aboard the ship with the man. They looked at each other with contempt. Wonder what that’s about, Kaito thought and hopped aboard. The boat rocked back and forth, waves splashing on his ankles. Was water normally this cold out here?
"What are you doing here?" Mayumi asked. "I was told your brother would be the one making the journey with us."
"Yeah, well, he was busy. So you're gonna have to make do with me."
***
Ocean waves rocked the boat back and forth, always seeming to send them farther back than forward. At this rate, Kaito wondered if he’d see Yoshino before the year was over. He could still see the Reikutaun dock if he squinted hard enough.
Mayumi and the ship captain weren’t speaking,
but clearly they had a history. The captain mentioned a brother who died recently. His crew found the body nearby. How nearby, Kaito did not want to know. Fear of the man he killed over the fire plagued his thoughts once more. It was like the Enlightened One was telling his subconscious something. Could he have killed the man's brother? Another thing that's my fault, he thought. Father's death, the ship captain's brother? And now Mayumi was barely speaking to anyone.
He looked over at her. She said not to disturb her as she was doing something important. He wasn't sure how "important" the task was. The fact her eyes remained closed for a good while made him suspicious.
“Kaito,” she said.
He turned his head and faced her, raising an eyebrow.
“Today we begin your training.”
“You mean with tsuki no ha-ken?” he asked, walking toward her.
The water’s movements against the boat made him stumble a bit as he got up and moved around.
She shook her head. “If you’re going to survive, you need to be unseen, invisible. The best way to do that is by training to become a ninjobi.”
“A ninjobi? You mean like you?”
“Yes, and that man over there was my master.” She pointed to the ship captain.
Kaito looked at him. His stare lingered on the captain for too long as the man turned his head. Kaito immediately glanced the other way, embarrassed. For what reason, he did not know. The ship captain seemed like a nice enough fellow, but Mayumi’s lack of empathy for him made Kaito intrigued. Add in the new knowledge of him being Mayumi's teacher and he became much more interesting to him.
“Did he wield tsuki no ha-ken before you?”
She nodded. “His methods are a bit too … orthodox for my taste. I doubt he’s changed his ways. He’s stubborn that way. We will be doing things differently than I was taught, but the end result should be the same. By my calculations, we have a month before we reach Yoshino. In that time, you will need to know this stuff like the back of your hand.”
She took out a large tome with the word “Koga” on the top page. He’d never seen so many papers bound together in such a way. It looked Western in nature, but the word was definitely Jakain. How many other things has Jakai outsourced, he wondered.
“You will memorize every word and apply it to your life on this boat.”
Kaito nodded and got to work. He opened the bounded scrolls, tracing his finger along the paper and soaking in as much as he could before he realized how abstract the writer's of this text were. How could he apply something like: "Fidelity means having only truth but nothing false or wrong in the mind" to a more practical level. He didn't even know what fidelity was.
He skimmed the pages before, but found nothing helpful. Fidelity was apparently the dedication a ninjobi had for their lord. They must be unwavering and committed to the point of inhuman ability. Again, nothing super helpful, simply more abstract concepts.
The task before him seemed insurmountable now. He looked over at the ship captain, wondering if his way was easier. It couldn't be harder. He was certain of that already.
Once Mayumi was out of earshot, he walked over to the captain. Kaito tugged on the man's clothing. The ship captain ignored him, despite looking directly at him. What was he doing?
The man blinked, his face showing signs of frustration. "What is it, boy?"
Kaito's mouth hung open, but no words came out. His eyes widened in terror. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
"You want to know if my methods will be any easier than Mayumi's, right?"
It took him a few moments to snap out of his frightened state, but eventually he nodded.
"The school she learned from is fundamentally different from mine. In order to succeed as a ninjobi, one must be ruthless. It's kill or be killed. The way Mayumi will be teaching you, you'll be dead the moment you set foot in Yoshino."
"What are you doing?" Mayumi asked, appearing from thin air. How long had she been listening to them?
"I was just …”
"Not you. Him." She pointed at the ship captain. "I can't leave you alone for two seconds and you're already filling the boy's head with lies."
"Lies? How is scholarly work going to prepare him for the real world of a ninjobi? Why are you even teaching him? The only reason I tried teaching you was …"
"Don't give me that same excuse. You wanted to train my sister, but you got stuck with me. You had to take an apprentice or else you'd lose your title. Why didn't you just re-marry? I'm sure the women lined up to be with you. If not for you, then definitely for the money."
Kaito blinked. He wondered how much he know about this woman? Everything these past few weeks, seemed to not even scratch the surface of her past. And now this ship captain's past was creeping up in interest for Kaito.
"You know why I couldn't marry."
"Didn't, yes, but there's always a choice. You just chose not to make it, because of your stupid, idiotic …"
"Enough!" he shouted. "If you want your apprentice to die, be my guest. You two aren't even worth my time. You aren't fit to learn the true ways of the ninjobi."
Mayumi grabbed Kaito by the arm and dragged him away from the captain. The two of them left without saying another word. Kaito could feel the tension between them. His body shook in anticipation as he half-expected one of them to attack the other. When neither did, Kaito relaxed. The fear remained, however, masked by a thin layer of hope as he remembered his father's advice on being a good ruler.
"Why do you hate him so much?" he asked.
"Because he wanted me to the kill the one I loved. Said it would …" She swallowed. "Complete my training. I don't want you to have to live with a decision like that."
Kaito turned away and looked at the man. He agreed with both Mayumi and the ship captain. Of course he did so on two different points. On the one hand he understood Mayumi's lack of empathy for the man, but to limit himself to her way of training? And she was the one who said he was stubborn. Hypocrisy aside, he didn't have much choice. It seemed the ship captain wouldn't help him, regardless.
"What did he mean 'not worthy?'" Kaito asked.
"It means he thinks he's better than us."
"Us?"
"All of Jakai. You see, he's not from here. His name is Eiji and he's the former Emperor of Chaiku."
"Chaiku."
The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't think of where. The inkling probably came from one of Yuri's history lessons, trying to work its way back to the forefront of his mind. She always did have a knack for studying the past. If only there was a better way to teach it.
"Listen, Kaito, it's very important you don't tell Eiji who you are. His … culture doesn't take too kindly to what the Jakain people have done in the Kachaku's absence."
Of course, he thought. Jakai was a colony of Chaiku.
"Kaito, promise me?"
There was worry in her voice, but it didn't all come from this particular set of circumstances. Something else bothered her. It appeared to be eating away at her from the inside.
"Is there anything you want to tell me, Mayumi?"
She wiped a forming tear from one of her eyes and sniffled. "No, I'm fine. Just promise me you won't tell Eiji who you are."
Kaito nodded and wondered, in the back of his mind, why telling Eiji who he was mattered in the first place.
Chapter Twelve
Yuri was half-awake. The meaningless chatter around town would have driven her mad, but she found herself not caring about it, mostly due to lack of sleep. News of Jin’s death spread quick. Worried whispers and bold statements of murder came soon after. Faster than expected.
She walked along the central market street, gripping the painting of the thrush in her hand and the note Jin left for Kaito in the other. Right now she was going through the motions. One foot after another. She didn’t care about the latest rumors surrounding Jin’s death. All she wanted was some answers. There was one man in town who knew the thrush better than anyone: Sesshu T
omo. Word was he was back for a few days, and if anyone knew about Jin’s life outside of the city's walls it was him.
The door to the inn was open. All the windows were boarded shut from the outside. And no light dared enter inside. The attendant on duty was an old friend of Yuri’s. Good, she hated talking to her boss. She approached the counter. Her friend smiled and asked her how long she would be staying. It seemed the room was dark enough where the scar over Yuri's chin didn’t attract so much attention and give her away. When she didn’t respond, the girl leaned in closer. She squinted until … She gasped almost knocking a cup of sake on Yuri.
“Lady Kanrei,” she said, bowing. “Apologies. I didn’t recognize you at first.”
“It’s fine.”
“What can I do for you? I mean, I assume you came here for a reason.” She placed a hand to her mouth and gasped. “Does this have something to do with the shogun’s death?”
Yuri arched her eyebrows. “What makes you say that?”
“Then the rumors are true?”
Gossip and half-truths were what Sakuko fed off of. She claimed it even saved her life at one point. Yuri didn’t believe a word of it, but humored her. She always had information. Perhaps it was a lie, perhaps not. The only way to know was to ask her outright.
“What can you tell me about him?” she asked.
Sakuko leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. “Jin’s a Tzensu.”
Yuri leaned back and looked down at the crumpled painting of the thrush and frowned. Steeling herself, she looked her friend straight in the eyes and demanded to know who started the rumors. The girl pointed to a room.
Moon and Star: Book One Page 8