The Orphan

Life Saver

I woke up to what seemed like night. My hand was sprained and my wrists had a few cuts on them. But my sword was gone. And I had a blanket wrapped around me. I looked like I was a victim of something. It seemed like hours I was unconscious.

I scanned the area for my sword. The enemies were still out there. But I was alone. I couldn't stand with an army filled with tanks and guns while I only had one sword. One that I was looking for right now. I found it lying against a wall, it's fixed.

Earlier my sword had a few dents. But it was fixed. The blade was sharper and the point was too. The handle had smooth wood. It's like my whole sword was replaced by some improvement. Someone saved me, because of not. I would have been at a prison camp right now.

I kelt the blanket draping around my shoulders. It was pretty cold. I scanned the area for any blood. Besides my wrists right now, which were bleeding only a bit. There was a trail of blood leading to the other side. I remembered, I was in the alleyway Lin went in.

But I couldn't go back in. It was sealed shut because as I said, only one person could pass through. After that one person had entered it seals shut so no one can trace where she went. It's a technology we developed. It will open in hundreds of years, not exact.

The longest time in history this thing opened was a millennium. It took that long since it was so protective. But eventually the structure gets weak and is replaced with a new seal that will only hold another one person. It just happened to be open.

Right now I had to find the man or woman who saved me and to thank them. Maybe they just left me. But I needed to find him/her. Because without them I might have been tortured to death until I give intel about our country's strengths and weaknesses till I die.

So I looked around the alleyway and peeked out of it to find him. I couldn't go out because then the enemies will spot me and send me to prison camp. But I would have done it. Only to protect my country. But the Samurai need a leader. They had Hiroshi.

Hiroshi was a great leader through battle. But this was only day one of what seems like a long-lasting war. Right now the Samurais and allies were taking rest and the two guard Samurais took the night shift and took turns every hour. I wonder how Lin was doing right now.

All I could think about was her. She had escaped but did she make it through? She had an injury but did she make it to the shelter in time? I needed to know if she was safe. I needed to know if she was alive. I need to know....know everything.

But right now I had to focus on my survival. That I'm quick enough the enemies wouldn't spot me. That I hide enough they won't know I'm there. That if I stay in this alleyway, I would be safe. I needed rest right now. But they might capture me while sleeping.

So I didn't sleep that night. I stayed wide awake being aware of my surroundings. I pointed my sword in front of me and rotated in circles. I wasn't tired at all. I couldn't get any shut-eye. Fear hit me even every time I blinked. I have to survive. I had to live.

My eyelids grew heavy. But I forced myself to keep myself wide awake. I kept myself entertained with some songs Lin and I sang together once. But all I could think about was her. Was Lin. Was for her safety. And her health. I needed her to stay alive.

My eyelids were growing heavy. But I forced myself again to stay awake. Maybe I should fight right now. So I swiftly blended in with the white walls of a building with my white kimono. I tried my best for the enemy to not spot me. But unfortunately, they did see me.

"Hey! It's that samurai!" A soldier said and pointed to where I stood. Quickly I sprinted away from them toward a building with a broken window that I could easily break into and enter the building. But it was what seemed like a mile away. And they were catching up.

I was frantic. Panicking. I sprinted my fastest and pushed myself to go faster. I grew tired and pain struck the side of my stomach. It was almost as if I couldn't ignore it. But I had to go faster. I sprinted and sprinted tiredly as the enemies were still chasing.

Give me a break.... But of course I had no time for breaks, I broke into the building and got my sword to cut the window and open it. So I did quickly before they had started shooting. I put the glass back but they shot the glass shattering to pieces.

I panted as I still continued to run. I opened a window and jumped out of it and transferred to another building prying the window open with my sword and I got in and closed the window again and covered it with curtains quickly before anyone could start shooting their guns.

I was panting and leaned myself against a wall. Finally I would have time to rest. I opened a door of a room for me to rest in. But there was something different about this room that I don't see all the time. I don't even see it in my room.

There were framed pictures of two brothers. Very young. They looked so familiar. They were the two boys I saw that dressed up as a ninja and a samurai on the streets. There was even a framed picture of them on Halloween dressed up as a ninja and a samurai.

The room had a bunk bed and there was a sword lying on the bottom bunk and in the dresser was regular clothes. But there were two that stood out. A samurai outfit and a ninja outfit. I found an old dusty album filled with family photos, I picked it up.

I looked inside it and it showed all of their family. A mom, a dad, and the two. They were little kids and they went to all the exotic places in Japan. Taking pictures together. But I noticed that in the other half, a person was missing. The boys were older.

The boys didn't look as happy as they did in the first half. But they were still cheery and smiling in the pictures. But they looked melancholic. And the person missing, was their father. The mom's smiles were forced. They weren't as happy as the other half.

They were just like me. I had forced smiles at others when I had pain hidden inside me from the loss of my dad. And my Auntie Gumi. I looked at one picture that captured my attention. It was only the two boys. They were playing with their plastic swords on the streets, looking happy.

And it was really happiness. Unlike the ones I recently saw. They looked like pain and sorrow had left them. And I noticed something. I was in the background walking with my mom on the sidewalk. I was there. When I saw the brothers' true happiness. And I didn't pay attention.

But then the next picture was when I talked to the both of them. I hadn't realized that someone had took picture. Probably their mom. But I was talking to both of them in the picture. And their faces lit up like Christmas lights compared to the melancholic ones I saw.

I picked up another album when I finished looking at the other. This one was before they were born. And I saw a man in a samurai uniform for a leader and had a sword in his hand. I realized. That this man was Sensei Hiromasa. I recognized him in the uniform.

Then the next pictures were of him when he got married to a woman with long black hair and brown eyes. Sensei Hiromasa had blue eyes and had light brown hair. The next picture was the birth of someone. It was a girl. And under the photo wrote, "Kinu Kanabi."

Then a few pictures with Kinu and her parents. Soon enough two baby boys joined in. But for some reason Kinu wasn't in the pictures. Then I guessed what happened. Hiromasa probably divorced with his wife and took Kinu with him, leaving the two boys with is mom. That's why they were melancholic. Because their father left them and took there older sister. But why would she not be in the pictures?

I took a look in the album. I saw that the only pictures of her was before her brothers was born. Kinu was older and in her teen ages when her brothers were born. Maybe she ran away? But then I left the room of the brothers and looked at Sensei Hiromasa's room.

I had found it. It was barely used. Nothing but a mattress and an old dusty book shelf with only one book with it. An album. And that was it. So I cracked it open and looked at Sensei's past.

But he had nothing in it from his past life. But he had pictures of Kinu training with her fans in the great palace. There were even pictures of her and sensei sparring together. But that was it. There was nothing but those two pictures. Maybe Kinu was training when they took those pictures. She was like her dad when training.

She was brute strength. But she was also very quick. I fought her. It was probably in her genes. How she knew.

"Hello," someone said. I gasped.

Argh another cliffhanger. Oh wheyl