Blade Song

Chapter 4-Sword and Shield

Ever since that day six years ago, when I had helped Yasuki carry out his revenge, the three of us had been inseparable. Yasuki's dream didn't end with vengeance. His real goal was much larger. He intended to unite the beaten, the broken, and the downtrodden into a fighting force that would take back what their oppressors had stolen from them. Too long had the scales tipped to favor the wealthy. Yasuki's end game was to level the playing field, or at least to take the first steps to doing so before his life ended.

Goro didn't have many dreams of his own. It was enough for him to support his life-long friend. He would always follow Yasuki's orders without question or hesitation. Loyalty like his was hard to find. Goro wasn't orphaned like Yasuki, but his mother was unstable and his father was abusive. He had no problem leaving that life behind to follow Yasuki wherever he might lead.

We'd started off with small thievery jobs for the most part. Any assassinations we were hired for were carried out by me, which suited me just fine. In time, our numbers increased and our jobs got tougher. Our principles always stayed the same, however; take from the rich to serve the poor. Maybe we should have gotten Yasuki to dress in green and started calling Goro Little John.

These days, we were thirty-four men strong. We had a few more, but we'd lost a handful in the battle at Itaru's house.

Slowly, but surely, we'd made our way out of that snowy territory and back to our home in the bamboo forest. Hidden among the thick stocks of green, there was a clearing with creek running through it. That's where Yasuki decided to have the house built. It started off almost like a shack, with its one small room. Over the years, we'd added on room after room. The house grew as we did.

I'd stayed close to the women the entire trek home. I didn't trust that snake skinned bastard Shusui or his pig lackey Naizen.

Once we'd gotten inside, the women were taken to a separate room to be guarded by someone who was not me. Yasuki quickly learned that having me as a guard was a bad idea when I'd volunteered to watch the first batch years ago. As I said, this is not the first time I'd helped women escape this guild.

I didn't have to worry about them at the moment, though. First, we had to sort out the treasures we'd claimed from the house, Yasuki's rules.

We all stood in the main room of the house, a heaping pile of valuables, from small trinkets, like jewelry, all the way to large objects, like framed artwork were piled on the tatami mat floor. I chucked my goblet on to the heap and Yasuki sighed.

"Really, Akihiro?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is that all you could find?"

I shrugged. "I was busy with other things."

"Yeah, like snatching women away from me," Shusui sneered.

"It's not my fault that she likes me better."

"Ha! I'd be surprised if you'd ever even been with a woman. I bet you have no idea what to do with that thing between your legs."

I smiled. "Well, we could always find out. Come to my room later and I'll make you my bitch."

He started towards me, but Yasuki put his hand up. "That's enough from the both of you."

Shusui growled and took a step back. I winked and kissed the air at him. His face grew red immediately, and I'm pretty sure there was even a vein pulsing in his forehead. I left the room with a grin on my face.

"You don't want your share?" Goro called after me.

"Not interested."

Despite what Shusui and Naizen might have thought, I was indeed untitled to my share. I killed more than anyone there. I didn't always refuse, but I'd usually just used whatever I was given to buy books anyway. The fancy clothes, drink, food, or company for the night didn't mean anything to me. I was content with what I had, which was the smallest room in the house jammed full of books, with a simple futon.