Samurai Awakening Read online

  “That’s it, let’s go,” Natsuki said fiercely, the fiery gleam back in her eyes. With a wink to David that Natsuki completely missed, Grandpa called the beginning of another round.The ensuing battle was ferocious, with Natsuki venting her anger and embarrassment. In reply, David gave everything he had, and used every trick he had learned, both in practice and from watching Takumi and Natsuki spar. Neither of them was willing to give up as they rained heavy blows, attempting to find an opening. Their match pitted Natsuki’s experience against David’s unorthodox moves and Kou’s help.

  Finally, with a shout, Natsuki and David attacked at the same instant. The bamboo swords shattered as they met, the force of the blow breaking the bindings and sending pieces flying. The sudden lack of resistance sent Natsuki and David hurtling into each other, leaving them in a heap on the floor.

  “I guess we call this a draw?” David was the first to extricate himself. Pulling himself off Natsuki, he sat back and looked at the bit of bamboo still clutched in his hand.

  On the floor, Natsuki began laughing uncontrollably. She continued so long that David stood up, staring at her. Finally, Natsuki raised an arm for David to help her up. Jerking up, she rocked in close and in a whisper said only “Thanks,” before pushing him down.

  “That’s for breaking my favorite sword. I’m going home before that obake shows up again. You can explain what you had to do with that later.” Natsuki turned and walked out, dropping armor along the way.

  “I guess it is time for you two to switch to wooden swords when sparing,” Grandpa said soberly, watching Natsuki leave. With a laugh he turned, leaving for the main house.

  “And I thought you were hard to understand,” David said as he put away the gear.

  ‘Females are an interesting species.’

  Birthday Presents

  July,

  Who knew all it would take was a fight to finally break the negativity between David and Natsuki? I should have gotten them to fight earlier, but even with the breakdown of their animosity, she still could not hold the Seikaku…

  Takumi finished the blade of his first sword late Sunday night. His crow of triumph echoed through the Estate. He had withdrawn his blade from its final quenching and it had not cracked. With the hardest part done, and approved by the Matsumoto elders, Takumi was finally able to relax. For him that meant joining Natsuki and David for practice before school on Monday.

  “You look like David during his first week of training,” Natsuki said.

  “Yeah, I’m tired, but I did it,” he said, his eyes bright. “Now I can start building my own reputation as a smith. Now I can work towards becoming a master. I passed a test so much more important to me than the ones at school.”

  “Don’t let Yukiko hear you say that,” David said with a laugh.

  Although neither Natsuki nor David brought up the previous day’s incident, things had changed. Without Natsuki’s usual verbal jibes, he had nothing to play off, so David was sure the quiet was why Takumi kept glancing between them. Takumi kept his peace until they were alone.

  “Hey, so what was up with you and Natsuki today at practice?” he asked.

  “I dunno. It was weird. I think it’s because she ran into Ryohei yesterday. She’s uncomfortable with ghosts,” David said. For some reason he felt the need to explain more than usual. “I kind of distracted her after the attack and we ended up busting two of the bamboo swords.

  “Really?” Takumi asked, staring off into a wall.

  “Hey, have you seen Rie this morning?” David asked. He immediately wished he had not. Takumi’s whole bearing shifted as his muscles tightened. David recognized it as in control Takumi.

  “My sister,” he spat, “Decided not to be present for the most important event in my life. We used to do everything together and now she’s let the one other person…” His jaw locked as he stomped toward the kitchen.

  ‘It’s probably about as easy for him to talk about as it is for you to talk about your problems with Jessica.’

  Yukiko was there waiting for them when they made it to the main room.

  “Natsuki ran home,” she said. “She forgot some of her homework. Hurry up and eat.”

  “So did Rie leave for school already?” David asked after settling into his rice.

  For the rest of the meal Takumi stared broodingly into his bowls as he wolfed down his rice and soup.

  “You know… I did not see her get up or go out, though when I was coming in from the kitchen I saw her out front of the Estate meeting that Chul Moo boy. She must have gotten ready and snuck out early.” Yukiko frowned, as if trying to remember something just forgotten. Unable to grasp the thought, she busied herself with clearing dishes instead.

  ‘I wonder if she even came back to the Estate yesterday.’

  ‘Who knows? At least she’s still going to school.’

  David finished breakfast well after Takumi had left the table. Giving his thanks, David said goodbye to Yukiko and went off to finish getting ready for school.

  As in schools all around the world, the last week before summer vacation was essentially just for show. Even though there were a few tests, everyone, teachers included, was already mentally on vacation. Summer homework was passed out and ignored, and conversations revolved around plans.

  The news of Misaki’s disappearance spread quickly throughout the school. The homeroom teachers gave long speeches about the need to help locate her, and the dangers of running away. After second period, most of his classmates were in the back of the class. As David switched out his books, a sudden fiery pain that nearly unleashed Kou, raced up his foot.

  “You’re out,” Naoto said with a grin before he went to try to step on Tsubasa’s foot. He only made it one-step before their wiry classmate caught him. David recognized the game. The last student without being stepped on won. The challenge was everyone was trying to step on each other’s feet at the same time. His own concerns forgotten for a while, David joined in the next round.

  A warm feeling of acceptance stayed with him throughout the rest of the morning. As each test was finished, Class 2B’s excitement grew. David decided that instead of badminton he would check out a few books from the library. Reading would be a convenient and believable cover so he could sneak out at night to try to find out where Rie was going.

  ‘I bet she’s helping Misaki.’

  ‘Yes, we should hunt them down ourselves.’

  To get to the library, David went behind the lunchroom to a usually secluded walkway squeezed between various buildings. Still high on having the end of semester tests over, David turned the corner.

  A young girl stood there, a first year from the look of her, short even for her age. Across from her, Koji stood alone, tall and threatening, but with a blank look in his eyes. David looked to the girl, she was nervous, one knee bent, the other straight. Her hands clasped tightly in front of her as she eyed the ground.

  ‘What did he do to her?’

  Then Koji saw him standing there and his whole body tensed. The girl turned, and seeing David shrunk against the wall. Koji took a step towards him, his eyes ablaze.

  ‘Now’s your chance to show him you have grown some claws.’

  ‘I can’t use what the Matsumotos taught me… I’ll just make sure she’s alright.’

  “Are you OK?” David asked the girl. The question stopped Koji cold. Her eyes met David’s and she shook her head just enough to tell him she was all right. “Oh, I’ll just slide by you Koji-kun.”

  ‘That’s the suffix for equals and people below you!’ Kou yelled within as David attempted to get by Koji. Kou must have sensed the punch coming because David’s head jerked out of the way just in time. Koji’s hand slammed into the concrete, so close to his ear, David could hear the bones pop. Whirling, David turned to block a second blow. The girl was gone and Koji was balling up to cradle his broken hand. David ran.

  Before school was even over, classmates from 2B were asking him about how he had broken Koj
i’s hand. No matter how often he told people that he had not done it, they did not seem to believe him. It was as if they had completely forgotten Koji’s stories about how the weakling gaijin had hurt himself at the beginning of the year. Somehow, they thought him completely capable of taking out Koji.

  ‘Have I really changed that much?’ he thought. Then another thought coursed through David’s mind. ‘I wonder if Koji could be one of the ōkami Ryohei told me about.’

  “It’s a possibility,” Takumi said when David brought it up after school. “He’s always been especially mean. If he is an ōkami then the pack has been here for years. I’ll ask dad.”

  Later in the week, David learned that Koji had confessed his love to a first year. The rumor was she had rejected him and in his anger, Koji had attacked but David had beaten him.

  ‘Koji must have thought you had overheard the confession, and your slip, using kun instead of san must have sent him over the edge. When he comes back to school, he will want your blood.’

  ‘But if he was trying to seduce the girl… Isn’t that one of the ways ōkami feed?’

  The uncertainty stayed with them as they spent every night trying to track Rie without success. No matter where they followed her, she always disappeared. Even more frustratingly, she never took the same route, so that David lost an entire night trying to ambush her.

  “You know, I don’t think we are going to be able to figure out where Rie is going on our own.” David was so frustrated he spoke aloud as Kou slinked along the trees outside the Matsumoto Estate.

  ‘It is time to bring what we know to Grandpa. If anyone knows what to do, he does. She might be training, but if she is hiding Misaki, then Rie is not making good choices.’

  ‘Well with an ōkami pack out there somewhere shouldn’t she be more careful?’

  ‘Especially if Koji is involved.’

  Sliding under the wall, they changed back into their human form. David groped under a nearby tree for his clothes. Before he made it past the main house, Grandpa emerged from the shadows.

  “Grandpa! What are you doing here? I was just coming to find you.” David jogged closer, bowing to the elder Matsumoto.

  “That obake of yours suggested I go outside,” Grandpa said. “It is strange talking to someone you cannot see, but then we cannot all be a Jitsugen Samurai’s Partner. Let’s go to the dojo to talk. I doubt anyone else will be there, and we can get a little extra practice in since you are already up.”

  Wincing at the thought of no sleep, David followed Grandpa in the deep darkness of early morning to the dojo. Grandpa sat, looking at David with an appraising eye, and then said, “I suppose you’re going to tell me why you’ve been sneaking out of the Estate every day this week?”

  Standing respectfully, David outlined everything he knew about Rie. Kou jumped in to add his perspective and memories.

  “We’ve spent all week trying to find out where she’s been going,” David said. “I think she’s helping hide Misaki. If it wasn’t for Chul Moo I might have been able to try and talk to her more, and because of Koji, it’s been an… interesting week at school.” David waited as the minutes passed without a response from Grandpa.

  “Grandpa? Are you alright?” Kou asked aloud.

  “What? Oh, right… I… I need time to figure this out. David, forget about practice today, go get some sleep, you look terrible. Let me worry about Rie.” Grandpa’s smile was betrayed by a twitch in his eye that Kou interpreted as deep concern. Confused but knowing better than to ignore Grandpa, David stood to leave. Before he made it out of the dojo, Grandpa’s words halted him.

  “David, Kou, thank you for telling me all of this. I will take it from here. If you are right, well… never mind.” Grandpa dismissed David with a wave. David looked back just once more. He comforted himself with the familiar image of Grandpa meditating, and then left to find his way back to the main house in the dark.

  The rest of the weekend was frustratingly normal. David did not see Grandpa again, but the rest of the Matsumotos went about their routines as if nothing was amiss. Rie left a note with Masao and Yukiko telling them that she was spending the weekend training in the mountains and Takumi was already at work on Natsuki’s sword. Yukiko glided around the house and out in the garden as usual, and Masao oversaw Takumi’s work and their normal training. The only change in routine was the absence of Grandpa at their evening training practices. Masao took over those lessons, focusing on exploring the potentials of the wood form of David’s Seikaku.

  Several trees from the Matsumoto forest were sacrificed for his training as David made them explode. At first unable to control the destruction, he was soon able to make the trees attack a specific target without destroying the entire tree. Though Grandpa was a tough taskmaster, Masao was brutal. He gave David tasks and drills that made his mind feel as sore and beaten as he had felt during the first weeks of training.

  Natsuki spent most of the lessons sitting in a new chair grown for her by David from one of the trees. Since she was unable to hold the Seikaku for more than a minute, most of her time was spent merely watching David work. A task she enjoyed far too much for David’s taste. She even turned his princess jokes on him. Instead of getting angry at the flourishes in the chair that made it look more like a throne, she took to it immediately, giving David orders from her perch.

  With school done, the month long summer break stretched out before them. For the Matsumotos, this, like Golden Week, was a time for training, sword making, and contemplation. David got up at the usual four in the morning Monday to run and train with Takumi and Natsuki. Their run turned into more of a race. David and Takumi ran the full five kilometers, all the while egging each other on to increase the pace. On the last leg, Natsuki joined them, having already completed most of her run around her own house. While David was fit enough to complete the run, he still had to fight past his own body’s limitations. After the first kilometer, running became more difficult for him, and it was only by pure determination that he was able to push himself to work through the pain and soreness. It helped that since his possession he knew he could recover quickly after his ordeal was over.

  The last stretch was through the trees of the Matsumoto Estate, a task that would have left David with a broken ankle just a few weeks before. Back in the dojo, Takumi excitedly pulled Natsuki towards the back room.

  “Close your eyes.” Takumi smiled mischievously. David stood off to the side. He had a pretty good idea what Takumi was up to, even though Takumi had not told him anything.

  ‘I do not get the human fascination with closing your eyes in order to surprise someone. Why not just ambush them from some tall grass?’

  ‘We depend on vision more than you do. Imagine if you were blind and deaf.’

  After ensuring Natsuki’s eyes were firmly closed, Takumi went into one of the back rooms. He returned holding a long object in a velvet bag.

  “Hold out your hands,” Takumi said, throwing a hesitant glance at David before turning his attention back on Natsuki. Natsuki complied, trying to hide a smile that twitched at the corner of her mouth. With a huge grin, he placed the bag in her hands.

  “OK. You can open them,” Takumi said, his voice was so awash in relief that even David caught the undertones.

  ‘You still need to work on your observational skills. Look at the color in his face. And if we had my ears we could probably hear his heart beating twice as fast.’

  Natsuki opened her eyes, peering down at the bag. Suddenly understanding what she held, her face betrayed every bit of the surprise she felt.

  “It’s a scepter for your throne, princess.” David’s deadpan joke was completely ignored by both Takumi and Natsuki as she stared at the bag in her hands, mouth agape.

  “How, when? Is it…” Natsuki’s words were lost in her own surprise as she examined the weight and form within the bag.

  “Go ahead and open it,” Takumi said beaming with pleasure at Natsuki’s reaction. Natsuki un-cinched the
bag, slowly pulling it back to reveal a thin, barely curving, unfinished blade.

  “I just finished it this morning. Happy Birthday, Natsuki,” Takumi said. Natsuki threw her arms around him, completely catching him off guard, and nearly impaling him with her new blade.

  ‘So that’s why he spent every ounce of free time this weekend in the forge… It’s her birthday…’

  “I’m sorry it’s not finished yet. I just finalized my first sword last week and got permission to start yours. I can polish and finish the scabbard and handle this week. I think David can help with that,” Takumi said as she finally let him go. He turned toward David with a hopeful, inquiring glance.

  “Well normally we would be obligated to make things more difficult for Natsuki, but since it’s her birthday, I guess we could make an exception,” David said. His head shook and eyes turned orange as Kou asserted himself.

  “Speak for yourself,” Kou said primly. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Well I was hoping you two could use the Seikaku to help make a scabbard and handle so that Natsuki’s sword would appear to be nothing more than just a wooden practice sword. I could do it, but it would probably take weeks and would not be as good as if you would do it.” Takumi’s tone begged while his eyes screamed you owe me one. With mock exasperation, David agreed to try. With both Natsuki and Takumi in great moods, they began morning practice.

  Missing

  July,

  We could not bring ourselves to be as happy and carefree as everyone else around us seemed. Rie’s behavior and Grandpa’s absence made us feel as if somehow we were the prey…

  After Monday morning practice, Yukiko surprised Natsuki with a huge birthday breakfast. It took David a few minutes to realize why his host mother kept looking towards the mountains every time she came into the room.