Blade Song

Chapter 6- Reaper

The atmosphere in the guild shifted after that. I felt the air grow thicker day after day, felt the glares on my skin, heard the whispers behind my back.

Upon hearing the details of Shusui's death, Naizen had gotten unusually quiet. He gave me a look that was full of more disdain than I'd seen in quite some time, and I knew that he intended to ruin me. He was doing a pretty good job, too, spreading disquiet throughout the guild. I was doing my best to keep my head down and avoid suspicious stares, but it wasn't helping.

I wasn't the only one affected, either. They were whispering about Yasuki, too, saying he would throw over good men to protect his half-blood pet. A demon killed for the sake of a half-breed, you might have thought the world stopped turning. I don't know. Maybe to people like Naizen, it had.

About two and a half weeks after the incident, Yasuki approached me regarding a job. He'd been avoiding me for the better part of that time, so I was a little shocked to see him.

"Hey," I said as his shadow darkened the pages of my book.

"Are you sure it's smart to be reading outside? It looks like it might start raining."

I glanced up at the grey sky and gave a shrug. "It doesn't bother me much."

"I have a job for you," he said.

I slammed my book shut and leapt to my feet. "Really?"

He chuckled. "Don't get too excited. It's just small one. In fact, it'll only be you, Tomomi and Heizo."

My smile fell. "What the hell? Tomomi and Heizo? What kind of job is this?"

"It's sort of a training mission for Tomomi and Heizo. I wanted to start them off with something close and easy. It's just a simple escort mission. A merchant needs protection while carrying their goods to Kinoshita."

"Escort mission?" I rolled my head back and groaned.

"Not to worry." He handed me a rolled up map. "I'm sure you'll get lucky and get to kill some bandits along the way."

"Oh, well. I suppose I'm just happy to get out of here for a little while. It's getting pretty stuffy around here."

Yasuki nodded and smiled. "It is." He turned to leave, but froze. "Akihiro?"

"Hm?"

He placed a hand on my hair and ruffled it a bit. "Take care."

"Uh, thanks? Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." He removed his hand and resumed his walk back to the house.

Shortly after, I was joined by Tomomi and Heizo. Those two were probably some of the only ones in the guild that didn't want to see me dead at the moment, but their involvement still confused me.

Tomomi might have been the youngest member and in need of some lessons, but Heizo was the oldest one we had in the group both in age and in terms of how long he'd been there. He was the first member aside from Yasuki, Goro, and I. Around three years in, he'd suffered a head injury that'd broken off one of his horns and caused him to go blind in one eye. He wasn't really the same after that and retired from the battlefield to become a cook for the guild. I didn't mind having him around, but it didn't make much sense to take him. It's not as though he was going to come out of retirement. Maybe this whole thing was one big joke, but I didn't care. I was happy for an excuse to stretch my legs and hopefully kill something.

The three of us left the bamboo forest and followed the map to the location specified. It was slow going. Heizo wasn't exactly a spring chicken and walked with a bit of a limp.