Chapter VI - A dangerous game

Just as Asai thought things were starting to calm down, an exceptionally strange dream strikes his mind - showing the samurai that this is only the beginning, and he has yet to make his first move.

A bulky, armored figure sat in the very middle of an empty room, dimly lit by just a few torches secured to the monotonic brick walls. The fire that consumed them danced and flickered, reflecting in the man's majestic moss-green armor.

He sat there in silence, buried in a deep, calming state of meditation. The unknown warrior laid back against the wall behind him, letting his body succumb into the shadows that completely swallowed the room as the torches burned out.

After what seemed like hours to the armored giant, light finally shined onto the black plate covering his muscular chest. This beam of brightness also uncovered the mask that laid on his face. The grinning jaws of a horrific demon carved in pitch black clay. The details painted all over the mask wore off as the years of battle took their turn on the warrior.



His head tilted up slightly and the man's eyes laid on the shadowy figure of a young, curvy woman. The decorative belts from her robe hanged down to the ground and slithered around behind her with each step she took into the dark tomb.

A haughty, crazed laughter echoed around the empty room and ringed in the woman's ears before the man spoke up to her, fully breaking out of his meditative state.



- "What else do you want from me, you b*****d child?" The man's deep voice made the woman towering over him tremble in anger.



- "You have no right to call me that, lone wolf. If you don't learn to address me right I'll have that disgusting tongue cut off." She replied harshly, cautiously lowering herself towards the warrior, whose body laid against the wall limp like a broken puppet.



- "Old Rai never loved you anyway. You were raised to be just another one of his pawns, but it all striked back at him, huh?" His whole body shook around as another mighty laugh escaped from underneath the clay mask. The woman started to worry, or perhaps that was a bit of frustration painting on her face? No one could tell, considering the darkness that surrounded them.



- "I am Fujitama's village keeper! I said address me properly you sly dog!"



- "I am the greatest samurai in the empire." He replied shortly, but oh so menacingly. The man's gaze pierced through Suga Rai's skull and made her whole mind feel funny.

The metallic clinking of his heavy armor filled up the room as the warrior stood up. The sound seemed to have also alarmed the nearby guards; a pair of paid-off, armored peasants that stepped into the dark room hurriedly.



"What business do you have with me, Rai? You mentioned that I won't be seeing daylight soon, yet left me here fully armored, and came for a little visit just a few days after the entrance of this god forsaken coffin has closed." His voice got more and more silent with each word, and his face got closer and closer to the woman's.

As she stared into his eyes, she had plenty of time to remind herself who she's dealing with.



Shae Fu. The last standing man of the Fu family. The same man who witnessed his beloved twin brother die while fulfilling Suga's orders.



Her lip quivered as she spoke.

- "The shogun's men have reported sightings of Suehisa around the village of Dartai. Two of them claimed that a local blacksmith was threatened and robbed by Asai and a young woman accompanying him as bait." The village keeper's gaze turned away and landed on the cold floor, she was unable to stare into Shae's madness filled pupils any longer.



- "He simply doesn't concern me anymore. I beat Asai Suehisa already, there's nothing for me in finishing him off now." Shae sighed, his eyes leaving the woman alone and traveling towards her two guards instead.



"I can leave this place if I want to. I don't need to convince you or your puny dogs to let me out." He added briefly, not taking his menacing green eyes off one of the guards, who definitely didn't seem qualified enough for the job he was doing.



A polite smirk figured on the woman's face before she backed up, turning her back to the warrior and slowly, confidently walking towards the exit. The grin made her guards scratch their heads in confusion, knowing that one of their last plans is not gonna work out.

But then, her heels stomped on the cold floor, and when the sound drifted off into nothingness, she spoke again.



"The man who killed your brother is most likely right beside Suehisa. Both of us can get something out of this if only you agree."

Her words made the samurai's eyes widen. He tried to pursue Suga out of the room, but to no success. The door was sealed again.

His gauntlet-clad fist slammed into the brick wall so hard it made the armored giant squeal out in pain. The crest of his kabuto scraping against the sealed entrance to his tomb.



"I agree..." He cried out to the wall, broken as ever.



The mighty Shae Fu succumbed to the desire for revenge.





Asai laid back into Kimiko's body, letting the maid hold and caress the samurai's physique. He was still recovering after the recent attack on his life, his muscles were sore and awkwardly tightened.

Although Asai let himself relax in Kimiko's arms, releasing a quiet sigh to drift away with the evening breeze.

Her hands slid across his chest teasingly, his whole body shivered as she reached underneath his shirt.



The two laid there for a while, surrounded by nature. The samurai swore he could feel bugs and little critters alike walking through his body after he shut his eyes, falling asleep on the maid's lap.



His thoughts materialized as a beautiful dream, a vision so real and vivid that the samurai couldn't differentiate it from reality itself.

Asai opened his eyes to the snowy land of dreams once again, but this time he felt way younger.



Looking down at his hand, the samurai saw his own reflection in the gauntlet that laid on it. The armor that surrounded his body seemed so familiar to Asai, yet he couldn't recognize it. He couldn't recognize... Himself.



The reflection in his gauntlet was so distant to him, and despite knowing that it's his own reflection, Asai swore he didn't know the man that was looking right into his eyes. He felt sick, disgusted by the vision.

After his unnaturally loud burp echoed through the snowy land, the samurai's vomit splattered all over his own fist.



"Where are your manners? Aren't you supposed to be a royal warrior?" A familiar voice ringed in his ears, and as Asai turned his head to the source of the voice, his eyes met his younger self; clad in his now gone black and blue armor, proudly holding his head up, with the golden crest he was wearing standing tall in the air.



Asai's whole body shivered once again, but he did his best to stay cold. His eyes followed his past self's gaze, laying on a beautifully decorated chess board he was now sitting by.



The pieces were strange. Carved out and beautifully painted to resemble people. People Asai knew for sure, yet couldn't name right now. On his side of the board stood only three pieces.

Two knights and a pawn.



He didn't give the pieces any further inspection, instantly looking towards his opponent's side.

Asai's past self possessed only two pieces.

The king and the queen.



- "It's not too late to back down." Asai's past self spoke calmly, piercing the silver colored samurai's soul with his deep blue gaze.

Meanwhile, his pitch black gauntlet laid on one of the pieces oh so calmly. The carefully painted head of the queen, which, funny enough, resembled a huge male warrior.

Their gazes met.



- "You won't get rid of me so easily." Asai replied. He didn't move his eyes an inch away from his past self's.

With no regard for the game's rules, the black and blue armored samurai squeezed the queen's head, cracking the wooden piece between his fingers and moving it in Asai's direction.



A young woman's terrified scream echoed throughout the dreamy lands as Asai's pawn got knocked over. The piece's head fell away from the body and crumbled into ashes.



Now shivering in front of his opponent, Asai heard the scream ring in his ears again and again, driving the samurai deeper into madness. He watched his past self with eyes widened. Both of them sat there stiff like pillars of salt.

Finally, after what seemed like a hundred years, the blue and black armored samurai spoke again.



"You have no one to blame, but yourself."



Those words echoed in Asai's mind endlessly before disappearing far into the depths of the warrior's subconsciousness, eventually getting replaced by the familiar voice of Tokisuke Fujii.

"Hey, brother! Come on, it's morning already." The ronin spoke, pushing Asai's shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.

The samurai's eyes widened as he came to a realization.



One of the knight pieces on his side closely resembled the older ronin.

- "How did I get here? I was by some path with Kimiko and then I..." He held onto his temples, trying to connect his thoughts; yet to no success.



- "You just fell asleep. She asked some merchant to toss you onto your horse and rode you all the way here." Tokisuke replied, his eyes drifting towards the door, making sure he's locked in the storage room with Asai.

"You were tossing yourself around in your sleep, brother. Kimiko said you almost fell off the horse."



- "I had a bad dream." The samurai explained himself briefly, sitting on the edge of the bed.



The ronin sat right beside him, slamming his open palm on Asai's back in a brotherly manner.

- "Don't be afraid. Bad dreams are only dreams."

He spoke in an exceptionally serious tone, sparking the tobacco loaded into his pipe up. It seems like Tokisuke Fujii didn't mind the smell of burnt tobacco soaking into the air inside his tavern.

"What a time we chose to be born in..." He breathed the smoke in, holding it in his throat until it started to burn, forcing the ronin to exhale through his nose like a bull ready for war.

His gaze pierced through the cloud of smoke before Tokisuke turned his head towards Asai's again.

"What did you dream of?"



This question made the samurai freeze.

- "Nothing important. How is the armor? Kimiko had to go through hell and back for it."



- "I believe." The ronin grinned in a smug manner before covering his face in the cloud of thick smoke that freely slid out from in between his lips. "The armor will be put to good use. You will see for yourself, brother."



Tokisuke threw Asai a warm smile before getting up, walking out of the storage room and motioning Asai to do the same.

The two brothers in arms stepped outside of the tavern, standing on the very edge of the hill it was built on.



The ronin's calm eyes watched the grey-ish clouds flow in perfect harmony, all in one direction. He wished his life would be as simple as the fluffy waves drifting through the sky.



- "It's time you make your move, brother."

The words slithering out of the ronin's lips hit Asai with twice the strength as he remembered more and more of his dream. Could all of this be nothing but a game? He just nodded to himself, escaping into the inner monologue racing through his mind.



But who could he be playing against?



"Asai?"

- "I will let you know today. I... need to calm my mind before making a choice." The samurai visibly stalled both his and Tokisuke's journey, which didn't seem to bother the ronin at all.



- "The day is still young. You have plenty of time to think." He blew a cloud of smoke out, followed into the air by a ball of his sour saliva.

"Kimiko would be devastated if you left. You became a part of the family." Tokisuke added with a smile.



- "Have I?" Asai's head turned towards the ronin's. He was pretty lost in everything, his mind still holding onto the question he desperately needs an answer to before 'making a move.'



- "Indeed. And one of the greatest values in a family is loyalty."



The sky above them darkened as more and more ashy clouds started flowing in from the east. The direction Fujitama was in.





Back there, the clinking of armor and heavy weaponry gave life to the whole village, a horde of around thirty armored peasants stood outside of the village gates, lined up in lazily standing rows of ten. Equipped with sickles, scythes, and the cheapest scrap armors that the village keeper could find for them.

Ahead of the row stood a group of three samurai. Their bodies shielded by identical grey and black armors, the crests on their helmets standing tall in the air, showing their affiliation to the Kurohasu clan proudly.



They all looked up at one place; a hill that served as a pedestal for Shae Fu, who seemed to be the whole legion's general.



- "Do you really need all those men just to kill a single outlaw?" A feminine voice spoke from behind his back; it was the voice of no one but Suga Rai, the village's current keeper.



Shae replied to her without even turning around to face the woman.

- "They're just farmers. They serve no other role besides creating a passage between Suehisa and my men." He shot a brief nod towards the three samurai, which quietly spoke between each other, often motioning the crest on Shae Fu's head. The crest that represented the same clan that they belonged to.