Ronin's Revenge

Beneath the waxing crescent moon, Himiko mourned the death of her parents at the hands of demons. The lunar presence shifted its way across the entire length of the sky almost before the shrine maiden calmed down. She lifted herself up off the ground and said, “Ryoma, Yuki, I have a request.”

Ryoma groggily returned Himiko’s gaze as he had nearly fallen asleep while waiting for her to recover. It wasn’t that he meant to be so disrespectful as to almost succumb to slumber while she lamented, but the fact of the matter was that they had traveled quite some distance and his only respite had been recuperating from being wounded. He would need to properly sleep at some point during their journey. He felt envious of Yuki who didn’t need to sleep.

“What is it?” Ryoma asked Himiko. His body betrayed him as he yawned after posing his question. Himiko wasn’t amused by his reaction but understood the context and forgave him accordingly. All the mourning had worn her out as well, so a nap did sound tempting. Nevertheless, though, work had to be done.

“Will you help me bury their bodies?” Himiko asked. The samurai sighed, ready to leave the mess behind them, but thought of the return of Himiko’s warm smile, forced a faint smile of his own, and said, “Of course, Himiko. We’d be happy to help.” He then turned and smirked without anyone seeing, finding it funny how he hadn’t given Yuki a say in pitching in. He assumed the kappa wouldn’t mind, though.

Himiko lit up at the confirmation and ran to hug Ryoma. “Thank you so much,” she said, “it truly means the world to me.” The samurai smiled widely, enjoying the embrace of a woman once more. He noticed Yuki out of the corner of his eye; the kappa was smirking at the duo as though his mind had gone somewhere unclean. Ryoma turned his head and glared at his companion.

“We’ll need some shovels.” Ryoma said, reluctantly breaking away from Himiko. He then said, “I don’t suppose you have any back at the shrine. I think I remember a shovel or two in the tool shed at your home; does that mean we’ll need to travel all the way back there?” Himiko shook her head and said, “I know of a family farm nearby, much closer than my own home. Perhaps we could find the necessary tools there.” Yuki chimed in and exclaimed, “I think that’s a great idea! Come on, you two, let’s hurry to find them!”

And so, the trio made the trek to the nearby farm and, in lieu of discovering the owners, found the family’s tool shed. They asked for forgiveness before committing to taking the tools and entered the building. Sure enough, there were two shovels hanging on the wall. “Only two.” Himiko said and frowned. Ryoma quickly said, “You needn’t worry about pitching in, Himiko. Yuki and I will be happy to perform all the manual labor.” The shrine maiden looked to the kappa who smiled and nodded, and so, she relented and said, “Very well. I’ll entrust the task to you two.”

Returning back to the site of the corpses, sunrise eliminated the guise of night. Ryoma bemoaned the possibility of profusely sweating in the sunlight, yet a brisk, spring breeze rolled over them at that moment, and his slight grievances were alleviated. “Well,” he said, “there’s no time like the present. Let’s begin, Yuki.” Yuki nodded, and so, the two set about digging two holes.

Ryoma had barely dug through about half of his hole whenever Yuki yelled, “Finished!” Looking over to his friend, Ryoma gasped at realizing he was correct; Yuki had dug a hole about twice his own height. The samurai smiled, remembering the otherworldly power and endurance of the kappa. Yuki leapt from the hole with incredible leg strength and said, “That wasn’t so hard. I hardly even broke a sweat.”

For a moment, Ryoma considered complaining about his own situation, but decided against it as it wouldn’t help bring him any closer to finishing his goal. Yuki asked, “Would you like any help, Ryoma” The samurai was about to answer when Himiko grabbed the kappa’s shovel and said, “Please, allow me.”

“Hold on, Himiko,” Ryoma said, “Yuki and I are more than capable of finishing the job. You shouldn’t feel the need to sully your own hands.” Himiko shook her head, leapt into the hole with Ryoma, and said, “They’re my parents, Ryoma. Please, I need to help out somehow.” The samurai shrugged and continued digging.

Without another word, Himiko joined Ryoma in finishing the grave. The task at hand flew by with the duo working together. Of course, Ryoma would feign needing a break every now and again just so he could admire Himiko while she worked; even when breaking a sweat, she still managed to be beautiful.

“And, finished.” Himiko said, sighing in relief and wiping the glisten from her brow. Ryoma leapt from the hole and helped the shrine maiden out as well. Yuki initially was nowhere to be seen. The samurai asked, “Yuki, where did you run off to?” In lieu of a response, the kappa emerged from the nearby forest where Ryoma had been attacked. He was carrying lilies in his hand.

“I figured these would look nice on the gravesites.” Yuki said. Himiko giggled and said, “Oh, Yuki, you’re ever so thoughtful. Those will make a great addition as markers.” She patted Yuki on the head, her hand damp as she retracted it. He beamed with affection in response.

Placing the flowers on the graves and saying a short prayer, Himiko rose to her feet and asked, “Alright, since you plan on taking me with you on your adventure, what should our next course of action be?” Ryoma and Yuki looked at one another; the duo hadn’t exactly thought of their next step beyond recruiting the shrine maiden.

Yuki was the first to speak. He said, “We need to bolster our offensive prowess. The three of us together certainly are stronger than the sum of our parts, but we still don’t have that many capabilities if we’re being honest with ourselves.” Ryoma looked to Himiko, then back at Yuki, and said, “I agree. Our output does leave something to be desired. What would be your suggestion to change that?”

Thinking for quite some time, Yuki eventually asked, “What if I could recruit more demons to our cause? Surely, there must be others not so keen on Orochi’s rule.” Himiko dissented immediately as she said, “I’m sorry, Yuki, but after seeing what that succubus did to Sayako, I don’t know that I can trust any demon aside from you.” Yuki then sat up and exclaimed, “But that was a succubus! There are other demons, like imps and amikiri.”

“A type of demon that tried to possess me,” Ryoma said, “and a type of demon responsible for killing Himiko’s parents. I’ll pass on those suggestions.” Then, after mulling it over, he asked, “What about other kappa? They may be more docile like yourself and willing to join our cause, no?”

Shying away from Ryoma’s gaze, Yuki said, “I doubt they’d be willing to help. They seemed ready to jump on board with Orochi’s plan for domination. I was the exception and defected accordingly. If any other kappa would’ve found you, Ryoma, they would’ve drowned you for sure. Let’s not place our bets on any of them jumping ship and helping us anywhen soon.”

“In that case,” Ryoma said, “let’s cross demons off our list of possibilities outright.” Himiko said, “I agree with your logic, but perhaps the sentiment is correct in that we should seek supernatural support.” Ryoma was puzzled and asked, “What exactly are you entailing, Himiko?” She turned to Yuki and asked, “Will you please show us your ofuda?”

Agreeing to the request, Yuki’s chest morphed and the talisman revealed itself. “This is what I’m referring to, Ryoma. The gods have imbued this ofuda, and Yuki as a result, with incredible abilities. And from the legends I’ve heard, there are three such talismans across the land. Their powers would surely help us defeat the demons scourging our home.”

Surprisingly, Yuki exclaimed, “You can’t, Himiko!” This outburst startled both Ryoma as well as the shrine maiden. Ryoma asked, “Why not, Yuki?” The kappa quickly said, “Think of the dangers it could cause. The ofuda never bonded with Ryoma, did it? Perhaps the reason is that it wasn’t meant for mere humans. Did you ever think of that?”

Ryoma tried to look past and not be insulted by the phrase ‘mere human’ and asked, “But what makes you different?” Yuki smirked in a superior fashion and said, “I’m a creature of the water. My kind is blessed with aquatic magic, and ice is just cold water, after all. It makes sense that I would be chosen to hold the ofuda due to my affinity. And what powers do you two possess, exactly?”

Neither of the humans could respond to his inquiry. Instead, Himiko said, “Very well. We’ll drop the quest for the ofudas. What other options do we have?” Ryoma eventually answered, “Well, if the powers of demons and gods aren’t with us, we’ll have to rely on the might of man.” Yuki asked, “What does that mean, Ryoma?” The samurai said, “We’ll seek out the shogun, head military officer of Japan. He controls a legion of samurai ready to fight and die for whatever cause he deems just. Surely, he will understand our plight to save the emperor and dispatch a platoon of warriors to ride alongside us on our quest!”

Both Himiko and Yuki mulled over the suggestion, and neither had any opposing or dissenting opinions. Therefore, the shrine maiden sighed and said, “Okay, we’ll seek out the shogun.” Yuki smiled and said, “It’s as good an idea as any, I suppose. Of course, I’ll follow you wherever you go, Ryoma!” The samurai smiled back and exclaimed, “Alright, let’s head to the shogun’s domain!”