"Easy enough. How much do you have?"
"A little over 500 silver." He whistled. "What is your usual share?"
"I take the Emperor's standard, like most merchants." I thought a moment.
"I am not familiar with that term, Anaido san."
"The Emperor takes 90% of the crops from any Daimyo as his. In this case you, being the Emperor, would get 90% of whatever I made for you."
"That sounds fair. I will still monitor your progress and check the books from time to time."
He grinned. "I should hope so. I did not train you to be an idiot."
We ate and drank with him for another half hour before I had to get some rest. I was feeling well enough to make it home. He said I could find him here any day of the week. I nodded to him and left with my family. The walk home was nice. We stopped and spoke with many of the people I knew as a child. They honestly missed me. It was like I was back from the dead, and it felt great! We made our way home where Grandfather and Cho stayed to have dinner with us.
Mother introduced me to Himeko the maid, and Jeru the gardener. Himeko was the daughter of Eju the blacksmith, whose life I saved as a child. He had apparently told her the story judging by the way she acted around me. She was a good maid none the less. The other two maids, Chiyoko and Hotaru were young but very nice. My uncle Tozasu and aunt Pe were waiting for us on the porch so mother invited them in when we arrived. It was a great meal, though I ate it laying down. On pillows.
I felt better every day of the next two weeks but neither Mother nor Sensei would allow me to do any training. Instead I would read and sew with Mother. I did continue to receive many visitors. Even Daimyo Daiki stopped by for one of his visits. His wife Akiko was doing well as was his daughter Ketsumempo. He had heard nothing but good things about my success with the Bandai. I took this time to speak to a few carpenters I knew from my childhood to build individual rooms for the maids. My mother had mentioned it to me one evening while we were sewing and I thought it was a nice thing to do. So, why not?
When the two weeks ended and I was finally allowed to resume my normal schedule, I sought out Brother Yuri. I had heard the old monk was still in town. I found him on the edge of the city in his old spot. He was still instructing the Heimin in the art of Kara-Te. I watched until the end of his day just before he started his lessons on the Dao. I walked onto the practice field barefoot, which is the tradition.
He looked at me and said, "The student thinks he has mastered enough to take his old sensei?"
The peasants were watching with some concern. Many of them did not know me.
I smiled. "I had thought you did not recognize me, Yuri sama." I took my stance.
He smiled and met me on the field. "Your aura stands out, Hiro sama."
We stood studying each other for a few moments until it erupted quickly when he yelled,
"Kaiya!"
He lunged with a low kick. I lifted my leg to step over the swing and stepped in with a punch to his midsection. He easily slid to the side before I connected. The fight only lasted a few moments. But we were both getting exhausted. I had spent my young life learning many very dangerous things. Brother Yuri however, practiced Kara-Te, studied the Dao, ate and slept. So he was very focused and an expert martial artist. I was not sure which of us would win until I managed to slide him into an arm lock and was about to force him to the ground when I realized my mistake. I released the hold and stepped away.
"My apologies, Sensei. It just came naturally."
He nodded and smiled at me as he rubbed and flexed his arm. "That is fine, Hiro sama. You would have won. You should be happy."
"No Sensei. I should have not used another art when fighting you."
"Well I was impressed. Ju-Do, I think?"
We bowed to each other. "I have picked up a few things in my travels."
"That is good. One should always be learning."
"I agree. But now I must await a rematch to prove I am the greatest Kara-Te master!" I looked off into the distance and made an overly serious face when I said it.
He smiled and laughed. It was just so ridiculous. I spent the next hour talking with him. I had not had the chance to see him in years and he was still strong and fast. He had a full life, he said. Teaching the poor to defend themselves and the enlightenment of the Dao. It did not hurt that our Daimyo was very supportive of his cause. Before I left I made sure he knew that if he ever needed anything to contact me. I still felt very much in his debt.
Grandfather came for me the next day. Apparently I had more training to complete. He spent two months with me teaching me how to kill someone with my death touch. How to bend shadows to work with me or confuse my opponent. How to blind temporarily. On top of that he also went through endurance training for me to lengthen my mist-state. We practiced it until I could do it for an hour. I practiced my 'light fall' until I could hop against the wind without it affecting me and carry another person. It was impossible to water walk holding another person but using it in conjunction with the 'light fall' you could hop across a lake with another person on your shoulders.
After I had completed these lessons, my next assignment came in. It was an easy sabotage operation. All I had to do was to sneak into the Honshu Hall of Ancestors, in Shiro no Utsunomiya, and place a copy of the Bandai manual for training courtiers. The insult here was that no one from another House is allowed into the Hall of Ancestors. It is sacred ground and no other House has
ever
seen the inside. In reality our spies conduct business there every day as it is a safe place when dressed as a Honshu, but the Honshu know nothing about that.
I packed my backpack, with a change of dark clothes, a shogue, some caltrops, and food. I packed a disguise, Honshu samurai. Sensei came to see me before I left. We met alone in my mother's garden behind her home.
"Our Daimyo has given me a gift to pass on to you, Hiro san."
I was a little concerned when I asked, "What
gift
, Grandfather?"
He handed me a box. I accepted it and removed the lid. I was not sure what I held. It looked like something's...
"Grandfather, is this an oni's face?"
He nodded. "Yes. One of
your
oni's faces actually. It is called an Oni Masuku." I looked at him confused. "Kajiru does not know how to make these but he knew enough to skin the three you killed, discretely, and hold onto them until he could speak with Masao."
"What does it do?"
"Once the right incantation is spoken over it, the mask grants the ability for the wearer to look like anyone he wants. Real or imaginary."
Then he motioned for me to try it. I was a little put off by the thing as it looked like... Well it looked like the skinned face of a demon. He just kept looking at me. So I went ahead, took breath and put it on like a hood. When I opened my eyes and looked at Sensei he leaned back a little in mild shock and then bowed to me.
"Tetsuya sama. It is a pleasure to see you again."
I returned his bow and said, "Domo arigato, Saibankan san."
The voice I heard was that of our old Daimyo, Masao's father. When I looked down my clothes were the same but I was larger and stockier like Tetsuya.
"This thing is amazing, Grandfather!"
"Yes, but be discreet with it."
He motioned for me to remove it. I complied and concealed it in my kimono. We spoke for some time, but evening was coming and I would have to leave soon. I explained to my mother I would be gone for a week or two but I would return. She was concerned but I reassured her it was not a difficult job. Just a little time consuming. With that she hugged me goodbye and I picked up my pack and left. The trip to Shiro no Utsunomiya was interesting. I decided to stop off to visit Daimyo Daiki. His castle was on the way and I had several friends there I wanted to check up on. I traveled at night, as usual, but the nice part about traveling now was using 'light fall' to bound my way through the landscape. I was able to hop about 40 feet at a time so the trip only took me an evening instead of the usual couple of days.
I had planned to report to the city gate in the morning but as I neared my destination I noticed a small fire in the woods. I went to mist and headed towards it to investigate. What I found was a party of four ronin. One was on guard standing with his back to the fire so as not to ruin his night vision. The other three slept in their bedrolls. I misted to a large tree limb a few feet off the ground and solidified in a squatting position on the limb. The guard did not notice. He just kept slowly walking his circle.
