The Eye of the Kami

Gin returned to the Umi-no-Ko to find Kaya waiting for him outside. Both were nervous, and so with only a simple nod, she led him westward toward their destination. It was getting darker, but the sun could still be seen falling in the sky, turning it a hue of soft red and orange. The once lively streets had now become largely deserted as shops had closed and trade had ceased. The road that they took afforded them a pleasant view of the northern coastline of Minami-shima, which at this time was spotted with small fishing skiffs coming in with their daily catch. The faint hush of the waves and the calm ocean breeze was a small comfort, as his mind was wracked with doubts.

He knew that he was underprepared for another confrontation with the merchant. His sword barely made it out of its sheath, and it was completely blunted besides. His skills had also lost their edge in the past decade, as was evident from his struggle with the merchant before, and his near-miss with Saru. He regretted his sham of a life, trying to pretend he was but a mere farmer, a man of the land. He had grown soft in that time, and if he was not so soft, he might have defeated Yuki’s captor the first time around. At the same time, he hated himself for thinking that, as those years were some of the best that he ever had. He had gotten to rest, to really rest. It was something his mind and body so desperately needed. Beyond that, he had become something that he thought he could never be, a father.

The words of his former teacher drifted into his consciousness. “The greatest regret you will ever have is the time you spend regretting.” This seemed true. There was nothing he could do about the past. His situation could not be helped. He had only this opportunity in front of him, and he had to take it with everything he could muster. He had come through worse, far worse, in past days. He had to do it again.

They rounded a bend and came off the main road into a quieter, residential district. Here were tiny houses and shanties, beside and on top of each other. Gone were the clean wooden walls and stately curved clay shingles of the city center. In this area, the houses were old, and often crudely assembled, but they were full of personality and life. Small, but intricate bonsai stood outside of homes, displayed as if they were gilded statues, and an array of clothes of all colors were hung out to dry wherever there was space. Children ran from alleyway to alleyway chasing stray cats or one another, and wisps of smoke rose from earthen incense holders shaped like different animals such as eagles or koi.

Up until this point, the two had exchanged no words, but here Kaya spoke, avoiding his eyes. She kept her gaze ahead of her and fought to keep it there. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked quietly.

“I have no choice,” he said firmly. “He has my daughter, or he did and knows where she is.”

“I understand,” she returned softly, but he could sense pain in her voice.

A few silent moments passed. “Gin…” she said again.

“Yes.”

“Why do you think that we never…” she said, stopping before she finished.

He was taken aback at first but then began to smile. “Because I was never good enough for you.”

To this, Kaya laughed and finally looked at him for the first time since they left the Umi. “You know that's not true.”

“I know that it is,” he replied with a grin. “You are far too beautiful for a man like me, and I have no money, how could I keep you wearing the finest clothes?”

“You know I wouldn’t have cared,” Kaya insisted, her voice now stern. “I’m not like that.”

“I know,” he agreed with a sigh. “After her, I was not myself for a long time. Perhaps, I will never be right. But back then, I wouldn’t have been good for you or anyone. I was broken.”

“And you don’t think I could have put you back together?”

“No. It wasn’t like that. It’s not something that can be fixed from the outside. I had to wrestle with things, with myself. I was almost consumed by it all. But she, Yukiana, the thought of her saved me. It pulled me back from the brink. And now…”

“You are at the brink once again,” Kaya said quietly. “You are staring into the abyss.”

He nodded.

They went on for several more minutes until at last, Kaya halted. Ahead of her was a small inn, two stories tall, but small. Gin reckoned that only a few people could stay the night there at a time, as it appeared quite cramped. It was in a quiet corner of the neighborhood, inconspicuous and almost invisible except for the faded characters of its name imprinted on a well-worn cloth at the door. It was the perfect place to hide.

“When you enter, there is a narrow stairway on your left. At the top, there will be a sliding door. I really hope you find what you are looking for,” Kaya said with an air of finality.

He gripped the hilt of his sword and stared at the place for several moments. It was not yet dusk, but it was getting darker. There was no light shining from inside the top window.

“That’s strange,” he wondered to himself, before turning to Kaya.

“I want to thank…”

“Stop,” she said suddenly, interrupting him. There were tears in her eyes. “You don’t get to thank me. Not after all you have done for me.” With that, she bowed low, turned, and hurried away.

He watched her fade into the darkness of the street and then turned back once again. This was it. It was now or never. Slowly, he pulled his sheathed sword from his sash and felt its weight sit evenly in his hand. With a silent prayer, he took his first step, and with a breath, he proceeded inside.

As he expected, the inn was dark and sparsely lit, with only two patrons kneeling at a low table, one smoking a long pipe and the other sipping sake. The rest of the bottom floor was empty, and he could not see any barkeep or any other person that resembled a worker. As Kaya had foretold, there was a stairwell on his left, so he moved to ascend it and avoid the eyes of the two patrons who did not bother to hide their wary looks.

With each step that he climbed, his heart pounded harder and harder in his chest, but that sound was outmatched by the creaking of the floorboards, which howled angrily in response to his weight. He cursed the noise, for if there was any hope of stealthily reaching the second floor without a sound, it was now dashed. Still, he could not speed ahead, as that would be even more of a signal to anyone upstairs that confrontation was coming. So, he proceeded on carefully, step by monotonous step, until at last, he reached the very top. There before him was a thick, wooden, sliding door, which he could not see or hear through at all. With his thumb he pushed the hilt of his sword out of the sheath, just to make sure that it would not stick again. It came out with surprising smoothness, and so he readied his mind for the crucial moment.

“Here we go,” he whispered, and then pulled the door open with all his might and launched himself inside.

Immediately, he could tell that something was amiss. The room lit up instantly, as several torches around the room were started, and he could hear the notching and drawing of at least a dozen arrows. Shining spearheads fell, and they were pointing in his direction, as a mass of humanity converged upon him.

“What is this?” he murmured, but his heart knew right away what was taking place. He had fallen into a trap. His eyes leaped from corner to corner of the room, and he twisted his body around, trying to find an opening, a weak point, a means of escape. But there was none. He was essentially an unarmed man versus twenty or more fully armored soldiers, who had been patiently waiting for his arrival. The trap had been set, and he had been caught.

“Come, come, let’s not resort to violence,” a low, gravelly voice said from behind him. Gin whirled around to see a soldier take a step forward, his spear pointed right at him. He was a hard-looking man, middle-aged and stern, and Gin could sense that he had real battle experience. “You are finished. Give yourself up,” the man said matter-of-factly.

Gintaro did not know what to do. He could try to fight his way out, but it would be madness. He would be stuffed by arrows or thrust through with spears or hacked into pieces. There was no space for him to flee, as they had sealed the heavy door, and his sword could not save him in the state it was in. He had no choice.

He reluctantly cast his sword to the floor, and within moments, a gang of soldiers had leapt upon him, binding him with heavy ropes and thrusting him down with great force.

“Get off of me!” Gin shouted as the heavy hands held him down against the hard floor without remorse. “I gave myself up!”

“I do apologize,” the grizzled soldier said, leaning over so that Gin could just make out his features. “I am the Lieutenant, and I have been ordered by the Steward of the Kagi Domain to bring you before him in judgment.”

“What have I done?” Gin managed to say, wincing in pain as the hands that pinned him down seemed intent on pushing him through the floorboards.

The Lieutenant leaned forward menacingly and whispered into his ear. “Now that is the question, isn’t it?” He then stood and turned away. “Pull him up!” he commanded.

Gin was brought up to his knees but was held tightly. He could see the man inspecting his sword with disdain.

“You intended to take on an enemy with your weapon in such a disgraceful condition? What kind of fool are you?” the Lieutenant scoffed, still facing away. “If any of my soldiers let their weapon slip into such awful disrepair, they would face severe punishment! In battle, often the difference between life and death, victory, and defeat, is in the quality of the naked steel we use.” He paused. “Before I take you to the steward, you are going to tell me why you are so important to such very powerful people. If you fail to do so, you will experience great discomfort.”

Gin grunted but refused to say anything. He stared back defiantly. He did not like to be told what to do, and he honestly did not know.

“I thought it might turn out like this,” the Lieutenant said, fully unsheathing Gin’s sword and holding it out. “From what the woman told me; you are a difficult man to deal with.” A shade of what might have been considered a smile etched his face. “I never thought that taking a wench like her would ever benefit me politically.” The men in the room chuckled at his words. He turned around to face Gin, gripped his sword, and lifted it as if he were readying a strike. “Last chance.”

Gintaro knew what was coming, but he managed to force out a quiet, “I do not know.”

The Lieutenant shook his head as if disappointed. In a flash, he took one step forward and delivered a blow to Gin’s left ribcage. If his sword had not been terribly blunted it would have cut right through him, as the force was that great. But this landed with a crack, and he felt a searing pain race through his left side. He let out a howl in pain but did his best to restrain himself.

“I don’t know! I don’t know!” he managed to gasp, through gritted teeth.

“Still, no good,” the Lieutenant said darkly, returning to his original position and then swinging hard again. This blow landed just below the first one, and Gin felt as if his ribs were going to shatter under the force. Every breath now was excruciating, and he writhed in pain.

“Stop it!” he heard a familiar voice say from his far left. “Leave him alone!” It was Kaya, and though she was blocked by the other soldiers in the room, she was slowly forcing her way to the center. “You said you would not harm him!”

Gintaro noticed a vicious gleam in the eyes of the Lieutenant as he turned towards her. He recognized that particular look, as he had seen it many times before. It was the look that always preceded violence.

“Kaya! Watch out!” he tried to shout, but his lungs barely forced out a whisper.

As Kaya approached, the Lieutenant turned, and with a closed fist, he smashed her in the face, knocking her to the ground with a loud thud.

“Don’t ever interrupt me again!” he screamed, as her body tumbled backward. She landed on the hard floor, contorted as if she were a puppet whose strings were just cut.

“Stop it!” Gin seethed, unaware that he was now standing, as he had somehow forced the guards off in a fit of anger. The bows were notched once again, and the spearheads lowered, but the Lieutenant did not move. He simply glared at him with a kind of insatiable hunger.

“Now that’s some fighting spirit! It’s too bad that I have strict orders. I would love to have a duel with you right here and now, and to spill your insides all over the floor! But alas, I must obey my lord. You will kneel now, or I will take this pathetic weapon and drive it through her skull.”

Gin glared at him, but his eyes slowly gravitated towards Kaya. She had betrayed him, handed him over, and ultimately doomed him and his daughter, but she looked so pathetic lying crumpled on the ground like that. He felt sorry for her. Slowly, he knelt back down under his own power.

The Lieutenant sneered and shook his head. “Do you want to know the only thing I see when I look at you?” He paused and smiled. “Weakness.” With that, the Lieutenant lunged forward once again, and Gin remembered no more.