Ronin's Revenge

Finishing their meal, Ryoma and Yuki gathered their belongings and once again began down the road toward Himiko’s shrine. Dusk had settled in all around the two travelers which made the kappa especially concerned.

“A-are you sure we should be traveling by night again, Ryoma?” Yuki asked. He shivered as he spoke, though Ryoma didn’t notice as darkness crept into the twilight. The samurai said, “I don’t see any reason why the night would deter us from progressing, Yuki.” Then, he looked down at the quivering kappa and asked, “Surely, you’re not afraid, are you?”

“Of course, I’m afraid!” Yuki exclaimed. “The night holds dark things, cold and bitter creatures. I’ve heard of horrific myths.” Ryoma quickly retorted, “You’re a myth, Yuki. They’re probably as scared of you as you are of them.” He thought about the two demons that tried attacking the kappa, specifically, but knew that was a special case and didn’t dwell on it any further.

“All I know,” Yuki said, “is that for the last two nights, you’ve been attacked by demons and barely survived. I don’t want to lose you, Ryoma!” Ryoma was taken aback by that last statement. He didn’t expect that sense of amity from someone – well, something – he’d met only a day and a half ago. Then, his heart hardened a tad as he asked, “Wait, you’re not just wanting to keep me around for your protection, are you?”

Yuki shook his head and said, “Of course not. While I do value you as a bodyguard, please understand that I value you much more as a friend.” Once more, the kappa was able to effectively tug at Ryoma’s heartstrings. The samurai smiled at his traveling companion and softly said, “Thank you, Yuki.”

Yuki was on the verge of answering Ryoma when a shriek erupted into the early night. The duo quickly turned front-facing to witness an elderly couple standing in the road just ahead of them. “Oni!” The woman yelled. The man then yelled, “Not another demon!” Ryoma quickly rebutted, “No, you don’t understand. The kappa is with me, he won’t hurt you.”

“He’s a demon, too!” The woman exclaimed. The man chimed in and yelled, “We won’t get possessed like you!” Then, before Ryoma or Yuki could respond, the couple turned tail and ran with surprising swiftness into the nearby grove. “No,” Ryoma exclaimed, “come back! You could get hurt in there!” He cursed under his breath, turned to Yuki, and said, “We’ve got to help them. Follow me.” He then rushed forward toward the tree line while Yuki protested behind him. Eventually, though, the kappa followed suit and began inching ever closer to the grove.

Ryoma hadn’t noticed just how dark the world around him had gotten until he was deep within the thicket. He could barely see himself let alone the elderly couple. It would be nearly impossible to save anyone at such a rate, yet Ryoma persisted. He had a duty as a samurai to help those in need. Well, his duty was to his emperor first and foremost, but as the emperor’s duty was to oversee the small folk, the warrior would just have to act as his emissary in such a predicament.

“Where are you?” Ryoma asked the nothingness. “I can help you. I promise, we weren’t trying to harm you, you’ll see when you come out.” Ryoma tried to sound as genuine as possible, which was easy enough as he was, in fact, attempting to help the elderly couple, yet he realized that he must have sounded so facetious to the scared man and woman as they probably imagined themselves being hunted by a duo of demons. It was going to be quite difficult to remedy the situation so long as they truly believed they were in danger.

Then, however, a noise emitted from the darkness. Listening closer, Ryoma realized it was giggling he heard. And the giggling soon grew louder. Before long, the grove was laughing all around him. The samurai realized all too late what was really happening.

“You fell right into our trap.” A voice called out. Ryoma recognized it slightly as the elderly man, yet there was a distinctive alteration to it. He was most certainly possessed. Next, something akin to the woman said, “It seems these bodies served us much better than we anticipated.” The laughter continued as Ryoma exclaimed, “Stop! Stop, you beasts!” He drew his katana as he spoke.

“Beasts?” The man-demon asked. “What right have you to call us beasts when you pull a weapon on the elderly?” Its mocking tone infuriated Ryoma. It continued, “If you’re willing to brandish a blade, I suppose we’ll have to do so as well. Come now, ‘honey’, let’s put these fish-gutting knives to good use.” The woman-demon said, “Why, I’d love to, ‘dear.’”

While the laughter echoed amongst the trees, so, too, did it feel as though Ryoma’s heartbeat reverberated off the bark. It intensified as he stood there, not knowing from what angle his attackers would pounce. Before long, however, he received his answer as a rustling behind him cut through the noise. Ryoma turned around and saw the woman-demon rushing toward him. It yelled, “Die, samurai!”

Ryoma swiftly moved to the side and, with his katana, parried the woman-demon’s knife. It cursed and rushed past him, disappearing within the bushes beyond. Before he could catch his breath, the man-demon lunged at him next and yelled, “You won’t survive this!” He backpedaled and, turning on one foot, slashed away the knife from its hands. It howled and retrieved the weapon before vanishing behind a tree.

The closeness of the foliage began to suffocate Ryoma. He realized that he was essentially waiting to die in such a confined space. While he could get lucky in dodging or blocking their attacks for now, sooner or later, one of their blows would make its mark, and after some time, he would become a human pincushion at their whim. It wasn’t feasible to stay in the grove any longer while they loomed just beyond sight; he needed to find a clearing and fast.

Ryoma broke out into a sprint. From his left, a blade briefly came into view, but he ducked under its edge. Next, the man-demon leapt from a tree branch and landed nearly on top of the warrior, but he hurdled over the hunched body and continued on his way. Behind him, he could hear the woman-demon say, “Come now, samurai, you’re leaving the fun. Return to us, and we can keep playing.” The two creatures cackled all the while.

Eventually, Ryoma broke free of the tree line and found himself back on the road. Following closely behind him, the demon duo exited the grove. He was ready to cut them down, yet hesitated as they seemed different somehow. “What’s going on?” He asked. The man-demon said, “Please, samurai, you have to help us.” This time, as the elderly man spoke, it was his original voice coming through, as though the demon had left him entirely.

“Sir,” Ryoma asked, “are you truly alright now?” The woman then said, “He’s in danger; we both are. I beseech you, sir, please help us before the demons return.” She, too, sounded completely human again. Ryoma stood there motionless, unable to act on such a drastic change in situation.

Before anyone could speak again, however, Yuki rushed into the picture. He had traveled along the road without entering the grove and found himself not far from where Ryoma and the elderly couple emerged. “Stop, Ryoma!” He exclaimed. “Don’t listen to them! They’re still possessed; trust me, I can sense the demons within them.”

Ryoma heeded the advice, yet still felt paralyzed in his own body, save for his sword-wielding hand which shook tremendously. The reason was that, in the clearing where he wasn’t being hunted like a wild boar, he could clearly think about who the demons were infesting. “I can’t strike down the innocent.” Ryoma squeaked out. “These elderly people have done nothing wrong.”

Yuki gasped at the proclamation, although it made sense. Ryoma was a samurai, a man bound by honor, and wouldn’t strike down an everyday citizen. The duo had encountered possessed humans before and Ryoma struck them down, of course, but they were soldiers and had committed themselves to live and die by the sword. But the elderly couple before them now never swore such an oath. They were probably peaceful villagers caught up in demonic games.

Thinking fast, Yuki said, “You don’t have to kill them, Ryoma. Just knock them down; I’ve got an idea.” Ryoma looked at his friend with befuddlement, especially considering how fearful of battle he usually was, but decided to trust him. Moving quickly, the warrior raced toward the elderly couple.

Forgoing their disguise, the couple drew their knives once more and the man-demon said, “Face us to the death, samurai!” Ryoma cut forward twice with such force that it knocked the weapons from their hands. Then, grabbing the sheath of his katana, he lunged forward and hit them both off-balance, causing them to fall to the ground in unison. “What now?” Ryoma asked Yuki. The kappa inhaled deeply and, upon exhaling, blew forward a wall of ice that rushed along the ground. It quickly encased the demons’ borrowed bodies, fusing them to the ground.

“That’s an excellent idea!” Ryoma exclaimed. The two demons struggled against their frosty bindings to no avail. “Let us go!” The woman-demon yelled. Ryoma, however, callously said, “I think not.” Yuki came up to his side and the two hugged, the embrace a wonderous sensation to the samurai after such a confrontation.

Ryoma broke away from Yuki and asked, “What should we do now? I refuse to kill this poor man and woman just to rid the world of the demons infesting them. But, if we leave them like this, the warmth of the budding spring will surely melt the ice eventually and free them to continue wreaking havoc. I’m not sure what our next course of action should be.”

Yuki mulled it over and eventually said, “Worry not, Ryoma. This ice will take some time to dissipate. In the meantime, I say we continue on our mission to visit the shrine. From there, we can bring back Himiko to exorcise the demons from these villagers!”

“That’s brilliant, Yuki!” Ryoma exclaimed. He patted the kappa on the head, soaking his hand in the process, and continued, “We mustn’t waste any more time. Come, let’s be on our way to find Himiko and have her save this couple!” And so, the duo left the demons behind to await their eventual exorcism and execution, and continued their trek to Himiko’s shrine.