After the young white haired Hozuki boy ran afoul of a fist to the dome. The freshly victorious Shogo walks with a small skip in his step on his way to the seedier side of the tiny rundown village. With his satchel full of coin, Shogo figures he will be able to buy himself a magical legendary sword like the ones Mizu told him about that day on the boat. After surviving Gengetsu hellish training once again and putting a random kid on his ass, Shogo feels like he is untouchable and it shows in his flamboyant strut,    

Fifteen minutes after the beatdown….

Shogo POV

~hwisss *sputter* hwisssssssshh~

I look at the expressions of the people in the streets as I stroll down the main road, my sandals clacking with every step. I inwardly laugh at their confused faces. I bet they were so impressed by my fresh new threads that they didn’t even notice my horrible attempt at whistling a few seconds ago. It’s high noon right now and the sun is the tallest thing in the sky. Of course, the mist blocked the rays a little, but it felt like a spotlight is right down onto me.

‘Man! I guess even the sun knows about my greatness! Hehehe,’

“Good Afternoon! Shogo-chan~”

The sound of that familiar voice behind me was like ice water being dumped on my head. I whip my head around and see Tamari smiling down at me. Tamari is an exceptionally tall woman; she is the second tallest person I’ve ever seen with the first being her asshole boyfriend. In addition to her astounding height, pale white skin, regal lavender kimono, and perfectly heart shaped face; all made Tamari impossible to miss in a crowd. The only thing relatively normal about her is her short brown hair that barely went passed her chin. I quickly look behind her expecting to see Tamari leading her blonde psychopathic boyfriend by the nose.

*muffled giggling*

Tamari covered her laughter with her hand,

“You don’t need to look so anxious; Gengetsu isn’t with me right now. Your sensei went on a trip for that oyster oil that he loves to use in his hair so much. Personally, I think it’s unnecessary but it’s one of the many quirks of his that I find cute. Speaking of cute, I love that kimono on you! It makes you look like a bite sized prince. So, what are you off to do today little Shogo?”

I let out a sigh of relief,

‘I haven’t seen that bastard in a couple of days, and I want to keep it that way!’

I look at the expectant expression on Tamari’s face with apprehension, I didn’t want to tell someone so closely intertwined with that bastard that I plan to purchase a sword with the capability of helping me kill him. I had to take him by surprise after all!

“Oh, I’m just doing some much-needed ninja shopping! I’m on my way to a place right now.”

The female Shimizu’s eyebrow rose at that,

“Ninja shopping? Kid you should really stop saying ninja, it makes you sound like an uneducated country bumpkin! You are a “shinobi” and I am a “kunoichi”, also why are you going this way? There aren’t any blacksmiths on this side of the island as far as I know, if you want to go to a blacksmith worth his salt the middle of the island is where you want to be. My clan doesn’t bother to make swords that much anymore unfortunately, otherwise I’d be able to hand you one easily. Only my older cousin makes swords still but he’s super stingy and blah blah blah- ”   

“Uhhh, I’m going to this place called the Pearl,”

The Shimizu lady’s gaze darkens as soon as the name of the place leaves my mouth and Tamari gives me a light warning,

“The Pearl huh? I want to suggest that you do not go there but I think it is best for shinobi children to learn by experience and not by word of mouth. I’ll let you find out why I think it’s a poor location for a young shinobi-in-training such as you. Do you need any money for your shopping spree, little cutie?”

As she finished her confusing warning, Tamari reaches down and pinches my right cheek before I can react, I nudge her hand away and take a step back while rubbing my throbbing cheek.

“I have my own money, for your information lady!”

“Hmmmm~, do you really?”

Her eyes drift down to the bulbous small pouch secured to my person by my kimono’s sash,

“Oh! It seems that you indeed do have quite a bit of change on your person. I wonder how an impoverished boy like yourself ever came into position of such a hefty sum of money….”

The suspicion in her voice lingered in the air, making my palms sweaty and my heartbeat faster,

“I-I uhhhhh, saved up a ton of money by doing odd jobs around the village for the past two years! I had a few really big tippers. Heh-heh-heh….”

Tamari’s left eyebrow is raised as she continues to scrutinize my twitchy and sweaty form then she shakes her head with a long drawn out sigh,

“You’re going to need to learn how to lie better if you want to become a shinobi and I recommend you don’t choose Gen-baby to teach you, he’s an even worse liar than you. I could careless where you got the money from Shogo, as I’m sure you know this whole island is rotten from top to bottom. I’m confident your petty theft is one of the tamer crimes I’ve had to turn my back to in my lifetime. Just remember this Shogo there is always something lurking beneath the surface, especially in this godforsaken country.”

Tamari’s morbid speech had me transfixed, it seemed like such a contrast from her normally bubbly personality. Her emerald eyes seemed to grow more and more tired looking after each sentence before she finally closes her eyes at the final piece of advice. Suddenly, she perks up and gives me an upbeat smile. It is very off putting to me how she can go from super emo to bright and optimistic in seconds.

“Thanks for hearing me out Shogo. I have errands of my own I need to attend to, so this is where we must part. I know you’re a very capable young boy but please take care of yourself on that side of the village. Goodbye!”

Tamari gives me a wave and turns her back to me, but as she starts to walk away. Tamari quickly snaps her head back to me and says,

“Make sure to get a nice thank you gift for Lady Hana as well. She’s been helping both of you knuckleheads a lot lately after all.  I would be delighted to see the routine stoic look on her face again rather than the current depressed one. I’m sure you’ll have more than enough money left over to get her something tasteful!”

With that last tidbit she strode out of my sight,

‘Man, she talked my ears off!’

It felt like that conversation went on forever! I barely even got to say anything, and Tamari just kept jawing on and on, like I wasn’t even there. Sheesh~

‘Those two were absolutely made for each other, they both love to hear themselves talk!’

Relieved that I can finally continue making my way to the pawn shop, I decide to pick up the pace hoping to reach the Pearl before the sun started to set.

An hour later…

I finally arrive to the Pearl after getting lost three times and having to pay a couple of people for directions. The place is a complete and utter dump, there’s junk strewn all over the ground in front of the shop. The dark wooden walls were visibly rooting and the store sign that I assume was formerly white is now yellow. If it weren’t for the barely visible candlelight from the open door, I would have thought the place is an abandoned hut. It seemed Tamari was very right about this place.

‘Whatever! I didn’t walk all the way across town to not even see what the inside looks like!’

I steel my nerves and step over the junk on my way to the open door.

As I get closer to the door, the inside of the shop doesn’t become any more visible than when I stood a few paces away. It is very eerie how solid the darkness along the doorway appeared, it’s as if the inside absorbed all the light that touched it. I stick my head through the doorway and peer around the room. The inside of the Pearl is just a decrepit as the outside. The shop floor is a square room with glass cases lining each wall dividing the center floor from the weapons hanging on the wall behind them. The glass cases are filled with numerous gadgets and trinkets that look less than pristine. There is a shifty looking balding middle-aged man standing behind the glass case in front of a dingy red curtain directly opposite to where I am standing in front of the door. He wore a white kimono with a design less black haori. His super narrow eyes barely look open as his brown pupils are trained on mine own eyes. The dark bags under his eyes contrasted to the pale skin around it, in fact it makes him look a little sickly. The expression on the man’s face is solemn as he looks at me slowly examining his store making sure to keep an eye on him as inspect I his store’s many wares that are on display.

“Ya know brat. You sure got a lot of balls coming in here and scoping out my store right in my face. I’ve seen you hanging around those gutter kids on that beach. You think I don’t know what you little shits do at night! Touch a hand on my store…. And I’ll slice through all your scrawny necks like hot pig fat!”

I turn my face to look fully at the irate shopkeeper. He is openly snarling at me while leaning over the glass counter with his hands pressed into the glass, showing off his yellow crooked teeth and nearly black gums.

 ‘Huh, I guess Tako’s gang is more infamous than I gave it credit for. I always assumed that they were effective at keeping the operations super covert, but I guess anybody would be suspicious of a large group of orphans living on a beach that somehow kept healthy and fed with no income. Welp! At least, I’m out of the game so I can escape the potential heat.’

“Get off my nuts, you yuck-mouthed asshole! I came all the way to this dumpster fire to buy an awesome katana.”

I shake my small pouch full of coin,

“Now do you have what I want?! Or do I have to go somewhere else?”

The storekeeper’s eyes widened at the size of my overstuffed money pouch and he quickly throws on the fakest kiss ass smile I’ve ever seen in my six years of life.

“Oh no no no! We can’t have that! I’ll have you know that we have the most finely crafted katanas on this island and maybe in all of Water country! And such a strapping young phenom like yourself, should only wield the best of weapons.”

I roll my eyes at the obvious bullshit but who knew maybe the old man had something cool in the back that I could buy. I had 150,000 ryo left over from that heist on the compound and it is burning a hole in my pocket. I really didn’t want to get caught with it when Gengetsu’s cousin came back from his mission with Tako.

‘Shit, I completely forgot about Tako! Damnit! I had planned to be long gone by now but next week when he comes back and I’m still here, I’m a goner! I need a magic sword and I need it now! Maybe I can use it to get the drop on at least one of those ninja turds’

“Hey listen old man! I do not need your bullshit; you can keep all your crappy handcrafted toothpicks. I need something that can kill anyone and anything instantly like a magic sword. If you don’t have anything like that tell me so I can go somewhere else!”

The old storekeeper’s eyes suddenly go impossibly wide, and he dramatically gasps. Then he quickly shuffles over to the door behind me and peeks around outside the store only to shut it closed a few seconds later. He practically jogs back over to me and goes to grab my shoulders, but I take a large step back before his hands could make contact.

“Whoa! You can keep your grimy hands to yourself! What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden?!”

“How do you know about the demon sword?!”

The storekeeper whispers to me in a urgent tone,

“Demon-What?”

“The Demon Sword of Instant Death, you moron! You have to know about it, you described it perfectly!”

“Well I didn’t know about it until now you Jackass! I want that katana in my hands right now so chop chop, ya old geezer.”

The shopkeeper turned red in the face, the top of his bald is sweaty and is basically steaming,

“Why would I give such a legendary cursed blade to a street urchin like you?!

“Well this here street urchin can put 100,000 ryo in your fucking hand for the demon sword!”

The shopkeeper’s eyebrows go up to his nonexistent hairline in comical fashion.

“Your lying! Where would a little shit like you get that type of money?!”

In response to him waving off my declaration I grab the pouch hanging from my sash then open it up to show the man all the coin inside, as the shopkeeper looks down into the bag his eyes light up with glee and greed.  

“Don’t worry about where I got the money from! Its none of your damn business! Give me the katana right now and I’ll give you the money, it’s that simple. Be quick about it, you’ve been trying my patience”

I bring the bag back to my chest and check the bag’s contents myself. My eyes nearly pop out of my head at the sight of a hundred folded 1000 ryo paper bills placed snuggly on top of the coins that I had stolen. How had this new 100,000 ryo gotten in my bag?! There were only coins in there the last time I checked this morning! Then my mind goes back to my conversation with Tamari and how she offered me money.

‘She must have snuck money into my pouch while I wasn’t paying attention. How did she even do it?! She was standing at least 2 feet away from me the entire conversation!’

I quickly hide my shocked expression and close my bag; it is important that I focus on getting that sword first and foremost. With that sword, I would finally be able to leave this misty hellhole and live lavishly in Noodle country. I look back towards the shopkeeper and see that he is no longer in front of me. I hear intense rustling from behind a red curtain and assume that he had ran behind the shop to get the sword for me.

About five minutes pass and as I am about to yell at him for making me wait, the shopkeeper fumbles through the red curtain carrying a long wooden box above his head. He dramatically places it down onto the glass counter and slides it over directly in front of me, the shopkeeper is now all sweaty and breathing roughly trying to compose himself from whatever activity he just did behind the store. I grab the box and slide the top off quickly. What is inside the box must be the world’s shortest katana, the blade is barely longer than half the full length of my arm. The hilt is made from a bamboo shoot with straw wrapped around it for a makeshift grip. The blade itself is very weird as it is noticeably multicolored as the core of the sword is sliver while the edge is a bright white. The shopkeeper starts telling stuff about the sword as I gaze at it,  

“This sword is hundreds of years old and no one knows where it come from or how it stays in peak condition. The edge is the sharpest I have ever come across in all my years. The rumor is that this sword was forged with the blood of a great demon and the foliage of the legendary forest on the back of a giant turtle. It takes its lethality from the rage of the demon but also its merciful swiftness from the bountiful bosom of mother nature.”

I go to pick up the sword, but the shopkeeper slides the box away from me before I can touch it, then he holds out his hand in front of me,

“Tch”

I suck my teeth at his audacity then slap the money into the shopkeeper’s waiting hand, and he responds by sliding the box back over to my waiting hands while turning his back to count the money I gave him. 

I look in disgust at the obvious greed of the sweaty bald man as he hugs his payment to his chest. But I ignore the grown man kissing the money I gave him in favor of taking a hold of the hilt of this awesome katana. The straw crinkles under my grip and the bamboo below feels somewhat soft, it was almost like I could break the whole thing if I put enough strength into it.

‘I guess that makes sense the blade is supposed to be super ancient or whatever…’

I lift the sword and I must catch myself immediately afterwards from tumbling backwards onto the floor. The katana is as light as the air itself, it felt like I am holding little more than a stick right now. Overall, this damn sword felt like some intricate piece of origami. There is no way this thing can be as lethal as the asshole said it was, Demon Sword of Instant Death my ass! I slap the glass counter as hard as I can, shaking the man’s focus on his money toward my irate expression,

“YOU MUST THINK I’M A REAL JACKASS, FOR TRYING TO PULL THIS STUPID SHIT ON ME. This damn toothpick is barely usable as a flyswatter! Give my money back ya old black bellied dipshit!”

The man face gets red again at my insults, but then he takes a breath and schools his features.

“I guess a demonstration is needed for an inexperienced brat like you, wait right here!”

The man turns around and disappears behind the dusty red curtain along with my money.

A large part of me wants to jump over the counter and give this old dude a piece of my mind but I thought better of it. I do not want any more trouble than I am already in, by next week this time I’ll have two whole people that’ll want me dead. It would be a terrible idea to get a third person on my case too. A second later the man returns to the front counter with a basic looking unsheathed katana in both hands held by the blade, edge side up.

“Pick up the demon blade and lay the edge onto the edge of this sword in my hands. Then lightly press down when I tell you.”

Immediately my first reaction is to refuse and continue to demand my money back but the insistent look on the bald shopkeeper’s face changes my mind. I decide to give the old man a chance to at least show me a decent demonstration. I obediently place the demon katana so that the edge sat on the middle of the blade held in the storekeeper’s hands.

“Press down lightly now”

On the storekeeper’s signal, I begin to put pressure down on the demon sword’s hilt and where I expected resistance from the other blade but there is none. I watch in amazement as the blade in my hand’s glides through the opposing katana like paper. When the blade finally makes it through, I must make a conscious effort to stop my momentum because the clean slice felt so effortless. It felt like the whole thing happened in slow motion but, it could not have lasted for more than a second. I must have stared open-mouthed back in forth between the storekeeper’s smirking face and the halved blade on the glass counter for a least a minute before I regain my bearings.

“I’ll take it!”

Two hours later…

I push on the Hozuki gate and continue through the huge doors as they slowly open. I walk down the paved path heading to Lady Hana’s house that stood across from Gengetsu’s huge monstrosity of a home.

Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stands on end and I lean my head forward-

*SMACK*

A stinging pain arches down my neck and around to my developing Adam’s apple. I drop to the floor on my knees and try to desperately catch the air that slipped out of my throat. While gasping on the ground, I turn around to see my “teacher/torturer” looming over me with a look of disgust etched on his face. He walks around my kneeling form with my enraged eyes following him whole the way.

“It seems we will have to train your speed more than I initially thought! That slap was barely at my half-speed, even the sixth sense won’t be useful to you if you’re that slow. Stop groveling on the floor, I have an image to uphold! Be at the lake in an hour or you’ll have much more to worry about than another slap…”

With that he turns around and stalks off toward his anything but humble abode,

I clutch at the ground and push myself to my feet. I decide that I can’t take it anymore. I don’t care about how he will retaliate. I don’t care if he kills me in the next second. I don’t care if the attack fails and he tortures me for days afterwards. He will BLEED.

I can only see the back of Gengetsu’s white blue pinstriped haori as it bellows in the wind behind him. I start running at him with all the speed I can muster. Right before I am upon him, I unsheathe my sword from the shitty beat up hilt the storekeeper gave me and swing it with the intention to horizontally bisect him. Gengetsu has yet to react to my swing and my blade continues all the way through my “sensei’s” torso. I feel liquid spray cover the entire front of my body and I instinctively close my eyes to avoid anything getting any in them.

I open my eyes only to see the soul crushing sight of Gengetsu, torso completely untouched, holding the demon sword in his right hand closely scrutinizing the blade of my magic katana. 

“Hmmmm…. this is the sharpest piece of crap I have ever laid my eyes on. Reminds me of you brat, hahaha!”

The mirth in his eyes as he laughs at his own stupid joke makes me sick to my stomach, all the rage that had left my body upon seeing him with my sword had just returned tenfold. I take a step towards him-

*CRACK*

 My world gets turned upside down, and Gengetsu stands over my grounded figure with a grim look on his face. My neck is exploding with sharp pain, ears are burning, eyes tearing up uncontrollably, and most troubling my toes are becoming numb. I see Gengetsu lips moving but his annoying voice is tuned out by the loud ringing in my ears. After a few seconds, he notices that I can’t hear him and gives a dramatic sigh then he tosses my katana on the pavement next to me and walks away.

I stare at the misty sky in anger and fear. I can’t breathe or move from my spot on the ground. My body is slowly going numb and black spots are creeping into my eyesight.

‘So, this is how I die…... Fuck!’

Three hours later…

*GASP*

I open my eyes and try to inhale as much air as I can inadvertently making my neck hurt in the process. Everything around me is dark and I struggle to look around the somewhat familiar room without moving my incredibly stiff neck. As my eyes land on the all too familiar stylistic design of Lady Hana’s medical room sliding door, I realize that I somehow made it to her house after my thousandth near death encounter with that blonde slug. I draw out a long sigh, only to wince in pain after and go to grasp my throat area but instead of touching my neck, I touch what feels to be a cast of some sort.

“Try not to irritate your neck too much, Shogo. I was able to heal most of the damage done to your neck, but it needs to stay set to completely heal overnight. Gengetsu wants you to meet him in front of the usual lake at dawn. It seems like your two-week period is ending.”

I panic at the sudden voice behind me, only to calm down when I shuffle around and see Lady Hana standing by the door,

“Holy shit lady! You nearly gave a six-year old a heart attack- OW!”

I grab at my neck, hoping to relieve some of the sudden pain that came from within the cast,

“I am afraid you will need to refrain from talking too much young one, you will need to make a quick recovery if there is any hope of you surviving your training with Lord Hozuki. I need to talk to you about something important anyway so just take this time to listen to me.”

Lady Hana walk around the cot I am currently laying on and sat in the chair opposite to me. Hana exhales a long sigh then she makes eye contact with me.

“Kid, I’m sure you’ve seen some type of familial resemblance between myself and your sensei. I am his father’s mother and his only living grandparent.”

The revelation is shocking to me and it most have shown on my face because Lady Hana gives me time to process it before she continues,

“Like many other clans around the world, the Hozuki clan is entirely patriarchal meaning our men control most if not all aspects of our clan. Where we deviate from many patriarchal clans is the rearing of our male children. Hozuki fathers are almost entirely responsible for the rearing of their sons from birth to the age of ten. Hozuki mothers are responsible for raising their daughters in turn. When it comes to the young boys, no women can show overt affection for male Hozuki children under any circumstances as a mother’s love is said to soften a warrior’s heart. It is an extremely old practice that is only still strictly upheld by the main family of the clan, my family. Due to my lineage, I raised my son like this, and he went on to raise his son similarly but on a crueler level. Gengetsu’s mother and father were arranged to be married when they turned ten years-old because they both showed the most promise in the clan as a young kunoichi and a young shinobi, respectively. They were distant cousins and had been bitter rivals until a certain point”

She closes her eyes and seems to contemplate what she says next,

“They both hated each other with a passion. Each of them for different reasons. They only saw their marriage as a familial obligation and Gengetsu is a byproduct of that union. At the time I felt that both my son and his wife were taking out years of frustration over being married to someone they truly despised. When they were not on missions, they were actively torturing Gen-boy both physically and mentally under the guise of training and discipline. I just sat by watching them turn my grandson into a monster. It was what I was taught to do, and I was so convinced it was the only way to make Gengetsu strong but then I saw the result.”

She visibly shutters at something then continues,

“His mother died on a mission when he was ten years-old and the whole clan had gathered at her funeral. My son did not bother going but he forced Gengetsu to go because someone from the main family had to perform the ritual. The whole ceremony Gengetsu barely spared his mother’s dead body a passing glance and when we offered him time to speak, he said simply “Nope, I’m good. Can we speed this up? I want to raid her stuff, hopefully something there will prove more useful to me in there than she ever was.” It was chilling indeed, to see a child that young with such disregard for the death of a parent. When he was fourteen, my son had died on a mission. At this point, Gengetsu had begun going on missions himself and had proven exceptionally cruel to his enemies. Gengetsu and my son had been assigned to the same mission that time. I am not certain about what happened during that mission, but I’ve heard rumors. The slight smile on Gengetsu’s face when he told me that my son had been killed, makes my blood run cold to this day.”   

Lady Hana shakily rubs away a stray tear from her right cheek,

“It’s been three years since then and it seems like that Shimizu girl has softened him up a bit. In fact, more than I expected as he decided to give you a chance to learn from his “training” instead of killing you outright. The Gengetsu of old would have twisted your head off with his bare hands and rolled it down the hill leading to the village to set an example.”

She chuckles bitterly at the gruesome scene conjured in her speech, but I gulp and hurt my neck again.

“I want you to survive Shogo. If only because I think you might be able to steer my grandson further away from his dark path. Also, it would kind of make me angry that I spent all this time patching you up only for you to die on me. I plan to do everything in my power to not repeat the same mistake with you as I did with Gengetsu and my son by sitting idly as another heartless monster is born.”

We make eye contact and keep it for a moment, the silence isn’t awkward but comforting instead. I am grateful for all her help and it relieves me that Lady Hana is willing to look out for me in the future. Oh! I almost forgot!

I reach and grab my pouch that rested on the little table by the cot, then I reach inside and feel around for the gift. Soon I feel the smooth glass like texture of the gift then I pull it out of the bag.

“Here- Ack!” *cough**cough*

As I tell her to take the gift from my hand, a sudden pain surges through my neck and sends me into a minor coughing fit. Lady Hana looks in curiosity at my outstretched hand then gets up from her chair and walks over to stand in front of me. She reaches out and I place my gift in her hands, it is a white pearl necklace that I purchased from this jewelry vendor on my way back from the pawn shop. It is an expensive gift that cost me 50,000 ryo, but I need to spend the rest of that stolen money so the purchase benefits both Lady Hana and me.

As soon as the pearls touch Lady Hana’s hand she visibly finches as if the necklace I had given her was sizzling hot and she retreats a couple of steps. Hana’s eyebrows are higher than I’ve ever seen them, and her eyes were full of an emotion that I have never seen before. She silently looked at the necklace in her hands as if she is waiting for it to sprout legs and do some backflips or something.    

“What is this?”

The suddenness of her question makes me flinch and accidently flex my neck again,

“Ow! Uhm, it’s just a little thank you gift for all the healing and food you’ve been given me, ya know…. You didn’t have to do all that for me even if Gengetsu asked you to so…... Thanks for that.”

The silence that follows my reply is highly uncomfortable. I would love to itch my neck right now because the tense atmosphere is making me sweat a little, but the damn cast makes that impossible. Then Lady Hana starts walking toward me with the necklace in her hand.

‘Damn… I guess she doesn’t want it’

 As I prepare to receive the necklace back, I instead feel silken arms wrapped around my shoulders causing my entire upper body to go rigid.

“Thank you”

Lady Hana’s voice was so low that if she weren’t right next to me, I definitely would not have heard that even if she was sitting across from me.

“Uhhhhmmm, your welcome?”

With that Lady Hana let go of the hug and walks out of the room making sure to slide the door closed behind her.  

‘Okay, now I am really uncomfortable… What the heck was that about?!