The canvas colored roof of Morasahi’s tent greeted her when she opened her eyes. She sat up, half expecting this to be a dream, to come to her senses and be back in the gloomy world she spent the last two days. Nothing changed. She was in her sleeping kimono, covered from the waist down by her blanket, which had fallen when she sat up. There was noise all around her, coming in from the cracks where her tent brushed the ground, the sound of people talking, walking, eating, and shouting. The sound of setting up, cooking, and working. It was the sound of life, something she had missed but hadn’t known until now. The silence from the last two days along with that terrible screeching, it was gone from the world, but not from her memories. She smiled, closing her eyes and just listening to the world.
Morasahi quickly dressed and made her way outside. It was most definitely some day of the tournament; the city was too busy to be otherwise. Seeing as how the last time she was here, in the Realm, it was the second day, logic would dictate that it was the third and final day. Though how did she live through days that hadn’t yet come? Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe it was a vision of the future; given to her so she could prevent ill fate from befalling those she saved in that other place. Wherever that was. The words of Jashuwa echoed in her ears, “Now that you know, what do you plan to do?”
What did she plan to do? She turned the question over in her mind along with all the events that had taken place between yesterday and today. Offsetting the Noise was the task at hand, and she overcame that by preventing bad emotions from running amuck. That’s right, today was the iaijutsu tournament. One of the problems they had fixed related to this one, that Scorpion woman. Perhaps just changing something enough to keep the flow of events from being exactly the same would render what she had witnessed obsolete. That’s the way fate worked, right? If it was meant to be, it would be, and if not then the smallest pebble could change the course.
Morasahi grabbed a fast meal before heading to the dueling grounds. The seats were basically empty since the tournament wasn’t going to start for close to another hour and the line up hadn’t been determined yet. That was perfect, it gave her the opportunity to sit where she wanted, specifically being where the Scorpion woman had sat during the first duel. Maybe, if she was feeling particularly fierce, she would shake her head and give the woman a knowing look. Maybe…
The seats began to fill as it came closer to the start of the tournament. Morasahi could feel a knot growing in her stomach when the Scorpion woman arrived, taking a seat a few down from where Morasahi sat. As fate would have it, a Mirumoto and a Bayushi faced off for the first duel. A Dragon and a Scorpion. The Mirumoto appeared no different than he had the first time Morasahi laid eyes on him. He was fidgeting and seemed to be upset about something. She grit her teeth, hoping to not bare witness to what would surely happen once the duel started.
The Dragon noticeably calmed down, was this the moment she had calmed him in the vision? They dropped into their dueling stances… and it was over. The Dragon had won and the Scorpion was still standing. Nothing happened. Morasahi watched the Scorpion woman intently, she didn’t flinch. Perhaps it had worked; just moving seats had changed fate. She couldn’t help but feel proud of herself for having a hand in the uneventful first match.
“Next match: Asahina Kyuzo, Matsu Mikoto.” The announcer called.
Oh, how interesting. A Lion against Asahina. The Kakita duelists were well known to be one of the best in the Empire, and the Lion were brash beings, usually not at all skilled when it came to the focused required of iaijutsu. Plus, Morasahi had seen Asahina in action, in the land of shadows and… was it even real? She had met Asahina as an opponent in a Go tournament yesterday; perhaps she just conjured him up from there. On top of that, the first duel didn’t turn out as she had anticipated, it wasn’t the same. There were a million chances for a Dragon and Scorpion to match off; it wasn’t so farfetched they had. Perhaps she had seen them over the last two days as well, put them into this dream she woke from where she was the vanquishing hero and was tasked with finding balance in life. Now that she thought about it, it was more probable that it was a dream instead of some vision of the future where she impacted what was to come.
Matsu and Asahina approached the match area. Morasahi started at the sight of the Lion, she was 5’ with chestnut hair, beautiful, and although Morasahi was sitting too far away, she could guarantee Matsu had amber eyes. She had seen this one too in her vision! Though it wasn’t in a duel, at that time they were running to rescue the previous duelist’s sister from the Scorpion plot. This was becoming too strange to be coincidence. Morasahi glanced around, trying to locate the other two who had been privy to the dream events. A Dragon on crutches and a Spid- before she could finish the thought she had found them.
The Dragon, Kitsuki, stood not far from her, only a few feet from the stands. He was surrounded by Spider, a rather large group of them of various heights. They were speaking, one of the Spider and Kitsuki. It looked almost like they were introducing someone to him. The conversation was short, and soon a rather familiar Spider came walking towards her. Morasahi peered at the Spider, seeing one brown eye and one blue staring back at her. Daigotsu.
“Shiba-san.” Daigotsu said as if they had known each other for years.
“Y-yes?” Morasahi timidly responded.
“Could you please make room for Kitsuki-san?” Daigotsu gestured towards the crippled Dragon.
“I suppose…” She moved over as much as she could without touching the person sitting next to her. She wasn’t certain what to do, or say. If it hadn’t been something more than just a dream, just a vision, they why was she finding familiarity with all the characters who had been a part of it? She turned back towards the duel, hoping to get her mind off of the impossible oddness of her current situation.
“Good morning, Shiba-san.” Kitsuki smiled at Morasahi.
“Yes, good morning, Kitsuki-sama.” Morasahi pulled her shoulders closer to herself. This whole thing was confusing and starting to get uncomfortable, especially since they were talking to her.
Asahina and Matsu had taken their positions and were watching each other intently. Things were about to start.
“Shiba-san?” Daigotsu had somehow pushed out the Cranes who were previously behind Morasahi and was now leaning quite close to her ear.
“Yes?”
“Have you done this dueling before?”
Morasahi slowly turned and stared at Daigotsu. “Yes.” What a silly question. Anyone trained in combat has participated in a duel at some point during their schooling. Iaijutsu was the rice of being a samurai; you couldn’t hope to accomplish anything else until you knew the basics.
“Okay,” Daigotsu nodded. “Explain it to me.”
“What? You’ve never dueled before?” Morasahi was taken aback. She obviously stood corrected, not everyone trained in combat knew what it meant to be a samurai.
“No.”
“Um… okay.” Morasahi tried to think of how best she could sum up the lustrous history of iaijutsu in the span of a few sentences. There was so much more than just the rules, there was the honor, the code, the basis of Bushido… “So, you have to start off by…”
“Standing there. I got that.” Daigotsu wasn’t even looking at her. She nodded towards the match that Morasahi should be watching instead of teaching a Spider new tricks.
“Yes, but it’s more than that. You’re assessing your opponent. Trying to figure out how they’ll react to your planned attack.”
“Right, standing and staring. Got it.”
Morasahi sighed with resignation. “Okay. Next you focus yourself. You block out everything else so you can concentrate on applying what you learned from assessing someone.”
“Easy. Find their weakness and use it.” Daigotsu nodded again.
“Once you’re focused, the duel commences.”
“Okay.”
“But no tricks. You can’t attack before you both are focused. And you can’t cheat by using anything else besides your katana.” Morasahi had never seen the Spider duel before, but if one were to believe the stories, they weren’t about being honorable and fair. Perhaps Daigotsu would have thrown sand in their eyes, or tripped her opponent, or something equally disgraceful.
“Yeah. No. I understand. Now, this duel, I heard something about first strike?” Morasahi hoped Daigotsu actually did understand and wasn’t just saying it. Daigotsu was still not fully paying attention to her, probably not even gaining all the information she was trying to provide.
“Yes. That means you only attack once. Whoever hits first, wins.”
“But hurting them is okay.” Daigotsu stated as if it wasn’t really a question.
“A little. It’s avoided if possible. We don’t want people getting crippled from a duel in a tournament.”
“Have you seen my katana? It was gifted to me today. I’ve never had one before.” Daigotsu pulled the weapon from her obi, showing Morasahi the blade.
It was beautiful! It was a forged handle hilt, not cloth wrapped like hers. It was patterned in the same colors Daigotsu wore, ones associated with the Spider clan, black and white. The colors were actually inlaid in the steel, not lacquered on! The blade was expertly crafted, down to the etched spider by the hilt. Daigotsu had no idea what she had. It was something the likes Morasahi had only seen in the home of her sensei. Something a Spider who had no idea how to use it shouldn’t be trusted with.
“That is an exquisite blade.” Kitsuki said, also admiring the katana.
“Agreed.” Morasahi nodded, trying not to show her overwhelming desire to own the blade herself. She turned back towards the duel between Matsu and Asahina, listening to Daigotsu slide the katana back into its sheath. It’s not fair. She tried to push it from her mind, watching Asahina move with lightning speed and the duel was over as Matsu’s mon fell to the ground.
Morasahi quickly dressed and made her way outside. It was most definitely some day of the tournament; the city was too busy to be otherwise. Seeing as how the last time she was here, in the Realm, it was the second day, logic would dictate that it was the third and final day. Though how did she live through days that hadn’t yet come? Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe it was a vision of the future; given to her so she could prevent ill fate from befalling those she saved in that other place. Wherever that was. The words of Jashuwa echoed in her ears, “Now that you know, what do you plan to do?”
What did she plan to do? She turned the question over in her mind along with all the events that had taken place between yesterday and today. Offsetting the Noise was the task at hand, and she overcame that by preventing bad emotions from running amuck. That’s right, today was the iaijutsu tournament. One of the problems they had fixed related to this one, that Scorpion woman. Perhaps just changing something enough to keep the flow of events from being exactly the same would render what she had witnessed obsolete. That’s the way fate worked, right? If it was meant to be, it would be, and if not then the smallest pebble could change the course.
Morasahi grabbed a fast meal before heading to the dueling grounds. The seats were basically empty since the tournament wasn’t going to start for close to another hour and the line up hadn’t been determined yet. That was perfect, it gave her the opportunity to sit where she wanted, specifically being where the Scorpion woman had sat during the first duel. Maybe, if she was feeling particularly fierce, she would shake her head and give the woman a knowing look. Maybe…
The seats began to fill as it came closer to the start of the tournament. Morasahi could feel a knot growing in her stomach when the Scorpion woman arrived, taking a seat a few down from where Morasahi sat. As fate would have it, a Mirumoto and a Bayushi faced off for the first duel. A Dragon and a Scorpion. The Mirumoto appeared no different than he had the first time Morasahi laid eyes on him. He was fidgeting and seemed to be upset about something. She grit her teeth, hoping to not bare witness to what would surely happen once the duel started.
The Dragon noticeably calmed down, was this the moment she had calmed him in the vision? They dropped into their dueling stances… and it was over. The Dragon had won and the Scorpion was still standing. Nothing happened. Morasahi watched the Scorpion woman intently, she didn’t flinch. Perhaps it had worked; just moving seats had changed fate. She couldn’t help but feel proud of herself for having a hand in the uneventful first match.
“Next match: Asahina Kyuzo, Matsu Mikoto.” The announcer called.
Oh, how interesting. A Lion against Asahina. The Kakita duelists were well known to be one of the best in the Empire, and the Lion were brash beings, usually not at all skilled when it came to the focused required of iaijutsu. Plus, Morasahi had seen Asahina in action, in the land of shadows and… was it even real? She had met Asahina as an opponent in a Go tournament yesterday; perhaps she just conjured him up from there. On top of that, the first duel didn’t turn out as she had anticipated, it wasn’t the same. There were a million chances for a Dragon and Scorpion to match off; it wasn’t so farfetched they had. Perhaps she had seen them over the last two days as well, put them into this dream she woke from where she was the vanquishing hero and was tasked with finding balance in life. Now that she thought about it, it was more probable that it was a dream instead of some vision of the future where she impacted what was to come.
Matsu and Asahina approached the match area. Morasahi started at the sight of the Lion, she was 5’ with chestnut hair, beautiful, and although Morasahi was sitting too far away, she could guarantee Matsu had amber eyes. She had seen this one too in her vision! Though it wasn’t in a duel, at that time they were running to rescue the previous duelist’s sister from the Scorpion plot. This was becoming too strange to be coincidence. Morasahi glanced around, trying to locate the other two who had been privy to the dream events. A Dragon on crutches and a Spid- before she could finish the thought she had found them.
The Dragon, Kitsuki, stood not far from her, only a few feet from the stands. He was surrounded by Spider, a rather large group of them of various heights. They were speaking, one of the Spider and Kitsuki. It looked almost like they were introducing someone to him. The conversation was short, and soon a rather familiar Spider came walking towards her. Morasahi peered at the Spider, seeing one brown eye and one blue staring back at her. Daigotsu.
“Shiba-san.” Daigotsu said as if they had known each other for years.
“Y-yes?” Morasahi timidly responded.
“Could you please make room for Kitsuki-san?” Daigotsu gestured towards the crippled Dragon.
“I suppose…” She moved over as much as she could without touching the person sitting next to her. She wasn’t certain what to do, or say. If it hadn’t been something more than just a dream, just a vision, they why was she finding familiarity with all the characters who had been a part of it? She turned back towards the duel, hoping to get her mind off of the impossible oddness of her current situation.
“Good morning, Shiba-san.” Kitsuki smiled at Morasahi.
“Yes, good morning, Kitsuki-sama.” Morasahi pulled her shoulders closer to herself. This whole thing was confusing and starting to get uncomfortable, especially since they were talking to her.
Asahina and Matsu had taken their positions and were watching each other intently. Things were about to start.
“Shiba-san?” Daigotsu had somehow pushed out the Cranes who were previously behind Morasahi and was now leaning quite close to her ear.
“Yes?”
“Have you done this dueling before?”
Morasahi slowly turned and stared at Daigotsu. “Yes.” What a silly question. Anyone trained in combat has participated in a duel at some point during their schooling. Iaijutsu was the rice of being a samurai; you couldn’t hope to accomplish anything else until you knew the basics.
“Okay,” Daigotsu nodded. “Explain it to me.”
“What? You’ve never dueled before?” Morasahi was taken aback. She obviously stood corrected, not everyone trained in combat knew what it meant to be a samurai.
“No.”
“Um… okay.” Morasahi tried to think of how best she could sum up the lustrous history of iaijutsu in the span of a few sentences. There was so much more than just the rules, there was the honor, the code, the basis of Bushido… “So, you have to start off by…”
“Standing there. I got that.” Daigotsu wasn’t even looking at her. She nodded towards the match that Morasahi should be watching instead of teaching a Spider new tricks.
“Yes, but it’s more than that. You’re assessing your opponent. Trying to figure out how they’ll react to your planned attack.”
“Right, standing and staring. Got it.”
Morasahi sighed with resignation. “Okay. Next you focus yourself. You block out everything else so you can concentrate on applying what you learned from assessing someone.”
“Easy. Find their weakness and use it.” Daigotsu nodded again.
“Once you’re focused, the duel commences.”
“Okay.”
“But no tricks. You can’t attack before you both are focused. And you can’t cheat by using anything else besides your katana.” Morasahi had never seen the Spider duel before, but if one were to believe the stories, they weren’t about being honorable and fair. Perhaps Daigotsu would have thrown sand in their eyes, or tripped her opponent, or something equally disgraceful.
“Yeah. No. I understand. Now, this duel, I heard something about first strike?” Morasahi hoped Daigotsu actually did understand and wasn’t just saying it. Daigotsu was still not fully paying attention to her, probably not even gaining all the information she was trying to provide.
“Yes. That means you only attack once. Whoever hits first, wins.”
“But hurting them is okay.” Daigotsu stated as if it wasn’t really a question.
“A little. It’s avoided if possible. We don’t want people getting crippled from a duel in a tournament.”
“Have you seen my katana? It was gifted to me today. I’ve never had one before.” Daigotsu pulled the weapon from her obi, showing Morasahi the blade.
It was beautiful! It was a forged handle hilt, not cloth wrapped like hers. It was patterned in the same colors Daigotsu wore, ones associated with the Spider clan, black and white. The colors were actually inlaid in the steel, not lacquered on! The blade was expertly crafted, down to the etched spider by the hilt. Daigotsu had no idea what she had. It was something the likes Morasahi had only seen in the home of her sensei. Something a Spider who had no idea how to use it shouldn’t be trusted with.
“That is an exquisite blade.” Kitsuki said, also admiring the katana.
“Agreed.” Morasahi nodded, trying not to show her overwhelming desire to own the blade herself. She turned back towards the duel between Matsu and Asahina, listening to Daigotsu slide the katana back into its sheath. It’s not fair. She tried to push it from her mind, watching Asahina move with lightning speed and the duel was over as Matsu’s mon fell to the ground.
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