Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

A Child\'s Lament, A Warrior\'s Regret	By : roryheadmav Category: +S to Z > Samurai 7 Views: 2315 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai 7, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-A Child's Lament, A Warrior's Regret
- 1
DISCLAIMER: This story
is a non-commercial work of fiction based on the anime/manga Samurai
7. Original copyright of Samurai 7 belongs to Akira Kurosawa,
Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, MICO, GDH, GONZO. Absolutely no monetary
gain has been made with this work.
A CHILD'S LAMENT, A WARRIOR'S
REGRET

© October 12, 2005 By Rory
V. Pascual

Shimada Kanbei carefully lifted the
window flap to look at the state of the weather outside. As he did so,
loose snow fell to the ground with a plop. He glanced back at Shichiroji
and Katsushiro, fearing that they had awakened from that sound. To his
relief, the two men remained sound asleep, curled up in thick blankets
as they lay on their mats. Neither did the three females � Kirara, her
grandmother, and Komachi in the shadowed corner � stir from slumber.
Seeing that the snowstorm had abated,
with only a light dusting of snowflakes falling from the heavens, Kanbei
picked up the bundle of incense sticks he had hidden inside the trunk.
Quietly slipping on his sandals, he left the small hut and headed into
the woods. Dressed in his flowing white robes, anyone who saw him would
think that he was a ghost. An apt description, Kanbei mused, for truth
be told, he felt like he was a lost soul, condemned by the celestial deities
to wander this mortal world for all eternity.
"We have survived yet again."
The samurai clearly remembered the
words he had spoken to Shichiroji after their climactic battle against
that perverted Amanushi Ukyo and his Nobuseri hordes. They had triumphed
over impossible odds.
But why did he feel that they had
not won?
All readily noticed the change in
their brave leader's demeanor. A deep melancholy had fallen upon Kanbei
like an impenetrable black shroud. He avoided all attempts at lengthy conversation,
his answers limited to no more than ten words. Once, Kirara tried to pierce
his thick shell. She was in love with the warrior, and she desired to ease
the burden within his soul. But she failed. One glimpse of the haunted
look in his weary eyes was rebuke enough, and Kirara had left him to his
solitude. Everyone respected his wish for peace after that. It was quite
an easy thing to do. With the way he meticulously sharpened his katana
day in and day out, they feared that to disturb the warrior would warrant
a blade through the gut.
A nippy breeze blew, lifting his
waist-length grayish brown tresses, but the cold temperature of his surroundings
could not compare to the chill that had enveloped his heart. Without the
ice, it would have made surviving unbearable. No one knew, that with the
passing of each winter day, his ice shield was slowly cracking. He wondered
how his friends would react if they found out that the true reason why
he kept his blade honed was for that very day when he would use it on himself,
so that he could finally join their fallen comrades lying in their lonely
graves at the edge of a cliff.
Kanbei trained his anguished eyes
towards the midnight sky, the snowflakes melting on his cheek. Why do
you persist in making me go on, he asked the gods bitterly, when
I can no longer find any reason to continue living?
Lost in his painful thoughts, the
samurai at first did not hear the soft sounds of weeping. It was only when
he emerged through the trees that he saw the small figure making her way
towards the graves.
Komachi� He thought he had
left the child sleeping in the hut. She must have sneaked out earlier than
he had.
Kirara's little sister was lugging
a heavy rice kettle, the effort causing her to puff out tiny clouds of
steam. Before she could even reach her goal, she stumbled on an unseen
rock underneath the snow. As she fell, she dropped her precious kettle,
spilling out four bowls, a ladle and several clumps of rice.
At once, Kanbei hurried to her side,
picking her up and brushing away the snow from her clothes. "Are you all
right, Komachi?"
The child, however, granted him a
smoldering glare and pushed him aside. Limping on her right foot, she went
to retrieve her kettle, only to let out a yelp as her hands were burned
when she touched the hot metal.
Again, the samurai went to her, gripping
the kettle's handle. "Let me help you," he offered, insistent.
To Kanbei's shock, Komachi slapped
his hand that had a hold on the handle. "GIVE ME THAT!"
Snatching the kettle away, the little
girl knelt before her beloved Kikuchiyo's grave and proceeded to fill one
bowl to heaping with rice. Because she was shaking with the force of her
sobs, she could not form the rice mountain she wanted, and almost half
of the bowl's contents fell to the snow.
That proved to be too heartrending
for the warrior. "Please give it to me, Komachi," Kanbei begged her. "Let
me do it for you!"
Furious at being interfered with,
Komachi hurled the bowl at the samurai. It shattered into pieces as it
struck Kanbei's forehead, bits of rice sticking to his hair. At once, blood
flowed from a small cut on his brow.
"GO AWAY!" Komachi shrieked in fury.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE!"
Kanbei was taken aback by the child's
anger. "I�I wanted to offer my respect and prayers," was all he could stammer.
"Why should you do that?" the girl
answered back. "You never showed that you cared for them when they were
still alive! Why do it now when they're dead?" Komachi turned tear-filled
eyes towards the large sword that was once wielded by the samurai she loved.
"Kikunoji admired you. He was always following you around, trying to prove
his worth as a samurai and as a man to you. But you were never satisfied
by anything that he's done! All you did was insult him and say hurtful
things! To you, he was just a stupid farmer pretending to be a warrior!"
At the face of the child's righteous
rage, Kanbei could say nothing. All he could do was lower his head in shame,
letting his long hair cover his face.
Komachi was not finished with her
tirade. "Kikunoji died a hero! He sacrificed his life to save the village!
But he died never hearing a single word of approval from your lips! His
death would've held meaning if you had only told him that he was a good
samurai!" She gave the four graves before her a sweeping gaze. "None of
them heard a single word of praise from you! Right from the beginning,
they were nothing more than future dead bodies you intended to walk over!
Now you come to offer prayers?" The girl threw herself at the warrior and
started pounding him with her small fists. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"
Kanbei did not move. He just let
Komachi hit him again and again.
The little girl wanted to beat this
man she hated to death, but her meager strength ran out. As she stopped,
she let out a heart-wrenching wail that reverberated through the cold midnight
air. That wail, however, was brought to a hiccupy halt by a teardrop that
fell on her fist. Gazing at the warrior before her, the child was struck
speechless when Kanbei prostrated himself before her, his forehead touching
her feet.
"I'm begging you, Komachi." Kanbei's
voice trembled with emotion. "Do not forbid me from doing this. To pray�this
is the only thing I can do now that they're gone. Because I could not tell
them then how much they meant to me for fear that I would lose them, including
your dear Kikunoji."
It was condescending for a warrior
to beg. But in the face of the child's anger and the guilt tearing at his
soul, to beg was the only thing that Kanbei could think of doing. He did
not notice that Komachi had not answered his entreaty and was just standing
there, staring at him in shock, uncertain of his sincerity.
Forgive me, Kanbei prayed
to his fallen comrades, his body trembling with the force of his weeping.
Forgive me for not acknowledging your worth as men, warriors, friends,
and so much more�.

"So our
task is far from completed."
That soft
query drew the attention of Kanbei, who had been questioning Kougakyo's
magistrate Ayamaro on his son Ukyo's sinister schemes. He turned to the
warrior in red, who sat in guarded, pensive silence at the doorway.
"I've been
making you wait," Kanbei replied with sincere regret. "Please forgive me.
I've been most inconsiderate of you. I promise, once this final mission
has been accomplished, we shall settle that business we have between us."
Kyuzo looked
at him. In the glow of the fireflies flitting around him, the warrior's
handsome but stern features seemed to soften just a bit, as if telling
him, I will wait for you, even if it takes an eternity.
Kanbei turned
away, discomfited by that intense gaze. The younger samurai was disappointed
by that gesture, and he sighed audibly, going back to staring out into
the rock garden.
They talked
for a couple of hours more � battle plans mainly, but in the end, turned
into useless chatter as Kikuchiyo began to pick on Ayamaro again for his
exceptionally slow progress at finishing his meal.
Inane talk
had no interest for Kyuzo that he quietly stood up and left the dining
hall. Kanbei noticed the crimson samurai's departure. Seeing that his guidance
was no longer needed, he padded towards the door, leaving behind his katana
propped in a corner. Sliding the door open, he went after his silent comrade.
Kyuzo was
not too far ahead. He was heading for the sprawling garden behind the Hotaruya.
Not wanting to lose sight of the warrior, Kanbei hurried down the stairs
and through the small path, until he was a few paces away from his quarry.
Kyuzo never looked back, but Kanbei knew that the samurai was aware of
his presence behind him.
Soon, they
reached the deepest part of the garden � a wooded area covered by a canopy
of thick branches and leaves. It was a trysting garden, a perfect place
for a clandestine meeting between two lovers�or two distrusting warriors.
But did
Kanbei distrust Kyuzo?
The crimson
warrior stopped near a small pond from which tiny fireflies flitted and
frolicked, basking the area in a soft warm glow. Kanbei also stopped, waiting
for any reaction from the younger man.
"I can't
believe you forgot your sword?" Kyuzo broke the silence between them.
"Why?" asked
Kanbei in turn. "Do I have any need for it here?"
"You're
a fool, Shimada Kanbei. Any foe would take advantage of an unarmed samurai
to kill him."
"I don't
think it would satisfy your ego to kill me in cold blood. You may be an
enemy, but you are also a man of honor. Now is not yet the time for us
to fight."
Low laughter
issued from Kyuzo's lips. "Heihachi-dono is right about you. You are just
too trusting."
Moving like
a blur, Kyuzo shoved Kanbei back against a cedar tree and pinned him there,
his katana poised over the elder samurai's throat. Kanbei merely stared
at the warrior who had him trapped.
"Are you
this desperate to die?" Kyuzo asked, frowning at the obvious resignation
in the older man.
When Kanbei
did not answer, the crimson samurai was gripped by anger and frustration.
He tore the long scarf from Kanbei's neck and yanked the outer robe off
his shoulders and down his arms. His hand tightening around the hilt of
his sword, Kyuzo cut through the belt that tied the elder warrior's inner
garments closed, including the loincloth, revealing Kanbei's scarred body
underneath. Kyuzo let his scabbard and his two swords drop to the ground.
It was only
then that Kanbei spoke once more. "I thought you were going to slash me."
Kyuzo grinned.
"You know damned well that there are other ways to slash a man."
As he said
this, the crimson samurai pressed forward and gave Kanbei a heated kiss
on the lips. To his credit, the older warrior exchanged the kiss just as
passionately. Feeling Kyuzo's probing tongue demanding entry, he let his
lips part, allowing the younger man to taste his moist depths. With their
lips locked and tongues clashing, Kyuzo totally divested Kanbei of his
garments, carding his fingers through the samurai's soft, luxurious mane.
As soon as he was freed of all clothing, Kanbei wrapped his arms around
Kyuzo's neck, his fingers ruffling the younger warrior's blond hair.
Kyuzo pulled
Kanbei down to the ground with him. Eagerly, he devoured the older man,
his tongue licking and tracing the scars on his chest. When his lips closed
around a tiny nipple, Kanbei let out a low groan of pleasure, thrusting
his aching breast upwards to that hungry mouth. But when Kyuzo nipped a
teat hard between his teeth, the samurai let out a lusty cry, prompting
the younger man to clamp a heavy hand over his mouth.
"Now, now,"
Kyuzo placed a hushing fingertip over Kanbei's lips. "I can't have our
comrades hearing you and barging in on us."
Taking the
scarf, the samurai gagged Kanbei with a short length of it. The longer
portion of the scarf he used to secure the older man's wrists with. Jerking
Kanbei's arms upwards, Kyuzo tied him to an upraised root.
"That's
better!" muttered Kyuzo as he yanked the loose trousers down those legs.
Kanbei's
eyes flew wide, gasping under his gag, as Kyuzo swallowed his member to
the root. He moved his head from side to side, tortured by that exquisite
mouth and tongue that was demanding a response from him. When he came,
that throat constricted around his length again and again, sucking him
dry of all his juices. When Kyuzo released his wilted member, he was panting
for breath.
But the
crimson samurai was far from over with him.
Gathering
the glistening come that still trickled from the tip of the elder warrior's
man root, Kyuzo smeared his fingers with it until it was slick. Spreading
Kanbei's legs wide to reveal his tiny opening, he jabbed a finger inside.
Kanbei winced at that sudden intrusion. That first finger was joined by
another finger, and then another, carefully stretching the tight orifice.
At one point, Kyuzo's fingertip touched the sensitive spot within, making
Kanbei buck his hips, wanting more of that electrifying contact.
To see the
older man willing and aching to be taken was something Kyuzo could no longer
resist.
Freeing
his stiff erection from the confines of his trousers, Kyuzo sheathed himself
in one quick thrust, causing Kanbei to let out a muffled scream of pain.
He pulled out almost completely, only to slam back in. His head struck
Kanbei's pleasure point in its passage, replacing the pain with mind-blowing
ecstasy.
Kyuzo kept
his hard, relentless pace, driven by the stifled howls of the man beneath
him. Kanbei eagerly met his thrusts with jerking movements of his hips,
wanting all of the samurai's man meat inside him. Soon, Kyuzo's grunts
became frenzied cries as he pushed and thrust Kanbei towards the edge.
The two men climaxed at the same time, with Kanbei's fluids spurting on
the younger man warrior's belly while Kyuzo gushed his seed inside his
older lover's body. They lay on the ground, breathing heavily, their bodies
still joined. When, finally, Kyuzo pulled away, he saw blood and semen
streak down Kanbei's thighs and spill on the ground. Removing his lover's
bonds, Kyuzo bent down and kissed Kanbei tenderly on the lips, letting
the older man savor his own sweet essence still smearing his mouth.
A loud voice
coming from the trees jolted the two men to immobility, like a vat of ice-cold
water that was dumped on their heads.
"Well, well!
Who'd ever thought I'd stumble upon quite a steamy scene!"
Then, Kikuchiyo
emerged from the shadows and sauntered over to them, his large sword propped
against his shoulder. Kyuzo's eyes narrowed in suspicion and anger and
instinctively reached out for his katana. Kanbei, however, stayed his hand.
Don't, the
samurai conveyed with his deep brown eyes. Let me deal with this.
Kyuzo was
against leaving the older warrior alone. Seeing that Kanbei was firm, he
breathed out a relenting sigh. Leaning close, he whispered, "Feel no shame."
With a soft brush of his lips against Kanbei's cheek, he stood up, buttoning
up his trousers. Kyuzo secured his scabbard and swords to his back with
measured slowness. Giving Kikuchiyo a menacing glare, he headed back to
Hotaruya.
When the
crimson samurai was finally out of sight, Kikuchiyo remarked, "This is
totally unexpected. I just thought I'd patrol the area. I heard some noise
and�" The mechanical samurai scratched his head. "I always figured you
to be a man who is used to being on top. I guess the great Kanbei-sama
has grown accustomed to losing that being at the bottom comes naturally.
That insult
stung the samurai's heart. "Just who are you to judge me?" he declared
hotly.
Despite
what Kyuzo had said, the shame tore through every fiber of his being. Without
looking at Kikuchiyo, Kanbei grabbed his clothes. Because they had fallen
in a tangled heap, he had trouble putting them on. Before he could tear
his robe in frustration, a heavy coat was draped over his shoulders. Taking
his hand, Kikuchiyo hauled him to his feet. The sudden movement elicited
a pained hiss from Kanbei's lips, and blood streamed anew down his legs.
"Blood stains
easily on white," Kikuchiyo explained. "I can't have you marching back
to Hotaruya bloodied. Just one look at you and everyone would either think
you'd been raped or you've been waving your backside to any man who's interested."
Kanbei trembled
as he drew the thick coat close over his naked form. "Is that how cheap
you think of me?"
"Why should
my opinion matter to you anyway? I'm just a lowly farmer, a peon."
"And I'm
a whore, so that would make me lower than you!" Kanbei blurted out before
he realized he had done so. He turned his back to the mechanical samurai
before the anguish on his handsome face could be noticed. "There! Now you
know! So leave me be!"
Kanbei hoped
that Kikuchiyo would do as he said. But then, he felt two strong hands
on his shoulders. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."
"I can do
it myself! I don't need your help!"
Without
releasing his hold, Kikuchiyo steered his distressed leader in the direction
of the pond. At first, Kanbei resisted, but in the end surrendered to the
robot warrior's superior strength, allowing him to lead him into the cool
water.
Squatting
at the water's edge, Kikuchiyo said, "If you don't mind, I don't want my
coat getting wet. Could you raise it up a bit?"
Not knowing
what else to do, Kanbei did as he was told, raising the coat and exposing
his sore behind. He bit down on his lower lip, feeling embarrassed as the
mechanical samurai proceeded to cleanse his bottom, thighs ad legs of all
traces of the frenzied coupling he'd had with Kyuzo.
Something
warm trickled down his inner thighs, and Kikuchiyo clucked his tongue in
dismay. "You bleed just like a virgin! Hold on!" Kanbei watched as Kikuchiyo
ran towards a clump of bushes and gathered small leaves. Returning to him
once more, the robot warrior was mashing the leaves between his palms.
Handing the thick green paste to Kanbei, he explained, "This will help
staunch the bleeding. Do you want me to help you?"
"No, I can
manage," Kanbei replied hastily. "Thank you."
Shrugging,
Kikuchiyo walked over to a nearby tree and plopped down with a noisy clang.
Kanbei gingerly applied the paste inside him. As the robot samurai had
said, the bleeding stopped and the soreness in his battered behind was
reduced to a dull ache. Stepping out of the pond, he warily approached
his comrade, not knowing how he should explain the scene that Kikuchiyo
had stumbled upon. Surprisingly, Kikuchiyo did not say anything more. He
just sat with his back against the tree, poking at a loose screw inside
his mouth. This only made the samurai even more edgy.
"Well?"
Kanbei decided to initiate the discussion. "Aren't you going to ask me
anything?"
"I don't
think I should," Kikuchiyo answered. "I will not cause you any more distress
than I already had. I really should stop poking into other people's private
business."
"But�don't
you feel that you're entitled to an explanation?"
"Actually,
I do. But like I said, it's none of my business." The mechanical samurai
thought for a long moment. "There is one thing I want to say though. Never
call yourself a whore. I've seen how you've been coming up with these battle
strategies, the way you fight. No whore could do that. You degrade yourself
by calling yourself that, just because you were fucked out of your mind
by Kyuzo."
"You don't
understand, Kikuchiyo!" Kanbei suddenly exclaimed. His hands gripping the
lapel of his comrade's coat shook with repressed emotions. "You don't know�what
I've been through�"
"I think
I do," Kikuchiyo said quietly, which surprised the older samurai. "I may
be a farmer, but I am not ignorant of the ways of warriors. During those
long, hard years of the war�I've heard of what feudal lords did to the
captured samurai of the losing clan. It was bad enough to lose a battle,
but to be denied an honorable death and made into�"
Kanbei found
that he could not say anything. He lowered his head to hide the tears of
shame that were filling his eyes.
The robot
warrior continued, "Kyuzo knows, doesn't he? I suspect this is the reason
why he is pursuing you relentlessly. He won't allow that you�surrender�so
easily. He is pushing you to be the man you had once been. It is rather
twisted, and I do admire his gall for doing so. But then again, this is
Kyuzo's way of showing how much he cares about you. I take it you share
similar feelings about him."
Kanbei's
reply was a single nod.
"So I absolutely
have no intention of judging your character or your heart." Kikuchiyo spread
his legs in a wide V and patted the soft grass between them. "Come here,
Kanbei."
"I'm not
a child to be soothed!"
"Don't argue
with me. Come. Sit down."
Sighing,
Kanbei obeyed the mechanical samurai's orders, grimacing as a sharp pain
shot up from his bottom as he sat. The minute he was settled down in a
comfortable position, with his behind slightly raised, Kikuchiyo curled
his arms and legs around him, just like what he usually does with little
Komachi.
"I feel
ridiculous," Kanbei remarked, although inward he was enjoying the attention.
After so many years, this was the only time that he truly felt safe and
at peace.
"Hah!" Kikuchiyo
snapped back with his usual bluster. "Who'd ever thought I'd be babying
you!"
The samurai
leaned his head against the robot warrior's broad shoulder. He could smell
the pungent odor of oil and grease on his shirt. Holding Kikuchiyo's arm
that was propped on one raised knee, he breathed in deeply, slowly relaxing
into that soothing embrace.
"You're
so warm," Kanbei mumbled, marveling at the heat that was being radiated
from his comrade's engine.
"As I told
Komachi, I'm a pretty hot guy! I make a damned good furnace during winter
nights." Kikuchiyo carefully combed through Kanbei's long locks with his
fingers. "I must admit that I resented you before for the way you've been
treating me. But after that incident with Manzo, I realized why you acted
that way towards me. You were protecting me from what may happen if I continued
to pursue my dream of becoming a samurai. That's why you were always telling
me to return to the life for which I'm suited for."
"A samurai's
life is very lonely and fraught with hardships, Kikuchiyo," Kanbei admitted.
"I do not want you to end up like me � a broken, empty shell of a man."
"You always
say that, but you have no idea how much you have enriched the lives of
those around you, including mine. You asked me once if my life had become
any better since I became a samurai. In truth, it hadn't, but I have no
regrets. If I hadn't become a samurai, I would never have met you, little
Komachi, or the others." The mechanical warrior paused for a second. "No,
perhaps I do have one small regret."
"What is
that?"
"That I
couldn't feel you. I would've wanted to feel Komachi's soft skin with my
fingertips or feel your hair gliding against my palm."
"But you
still possess a heart. And that's the most important thing."
It was soothing
to be curled up against Kikuchiyo like this that Kanbei found himself slowly
nodding off. A hesitant finger touched his cheek.
"If I were
Kyuzo," Kikuchiyo began, "I would've treated you better than that. Still,
if you do have feelings for him, don't give up. Survive, Kanbei. That's
the best thing that you can give to him in return."
"But it's
so difficult. The loneliness� There are times when it eats away at your
very spirit."
"And I will
say it again � Don't give up. Kanbei�if I had met you back then, would
it have been possible�if you and I�"
Weariness,
however, had taken hold of Kanbei. He was not sure if he had spoken it
out loud or merely inside his mind. His answer to the mechanical samurai's
query was "Yes, I would've learned to love you, because you are a good
man."

If there was a time in his life that
Kanbei wished that the ground would swallow him up, it was right at that
very moment as he lay there, weeping, at Komachi's feet.
"I had walked over the corpses
of my comrades many times." Yes, he had indeed said those very words
following that elevator train crash that they originally believed claimed
the life of their boisterous mechanical friend.
Gorobei, Heihachi, Kikuchiyo, even
his beloved Kyuzo� In his desire to keep emotional distance in the fear
that he would lose them in battle, he had belittled their worth. It hurt
even more that by his distance, that single praise could have spelled a
difference between life and death.
But it was too late now and there
was no forgiveness for his sin.
Kanbei reached for the sword at his
hip before he realized he was doing so. But before he could unsheathe it,
small arms embraced him tightly, as though their owner had determined what
he was planning to do in his grief.
"Don't do it, Kanbei-sama! Please!"
Komachi wept as she held on to the older samurai. "I'm so sorry for the
things I said! I�I just miss Kikunoji so much! I shouldn't have lashed
out at you! Katsunoji, Shichiroji-sama, and you�you're the only ones I
have left! Don't leave me, Kanbei-sama! Please don't leave me!"
Two ghostly voices seemed to whisper
in Kanbei's ear. "Survive, Kanbei�for all of us."
Kanbei took the little girl in his
arms and gave her a desperate hug. "I won't leave you, Komachi," he promised,
even if it was a promise that was weighing down upon his heart. "I swear
I won't leave you."

~~~~~~~~~~

Kanbei helped Komachi make her rice
offering to the four graves before seeing her back safely to the hut. Noting
that the samurai was not following her inside, she stopped at the door.
"Kanbei-sama, remember you promised
me," Komachi pointedly reminded him.
"Don't worry, Komachi," he told her
in reassurance. "I won't do anything. I promise."
Even as she closed the door, the
little girl never kept his eyes off him.
When Komachi was finally inside,
Kanbei returned to the graves. Kneeling before Kikuchiyo's grave, he whispered,
"I have made my oath to Komachi. Damn it, Kikuchiyo! She is so much like
you! Surviving would be very difficult, but I certainly could not break
a promise I made to a child, or to you."
To Gorobei's and Heihachi's graves,
he offered prayers and a wish that they would continue to watch over the
brave villagers of Kanna Village.
It was before Kyuzo's grave that
Kanbei fell to his knees. Reaching out with his right hand, he touched
the part where the two crossed blades met.
"How could I live without you, Kyuzo?"
Kanbei felt the tears stream down his face. "How could I go on, knowing
that you are no longer there to push me to live? Kikuchiyo told me that
I must survive for you, and I will, because, as painful as it may be, that
is the only thing that I could give you."

A falling star streaked across the
sky. Kanbei closed his eyes and prayed, "Wait for me, Kyuzo, wherever you
are. Someday, you and I shall settle that matter between us that was left
unfinished."

* * * * * * * * * * *
- 1
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Child\'s Lament, A Warrior\'s Regret