Karasu - Raven

Prologue - The Beginning and the End

Soon she arrived at her favorite spot at the wall, that surrounded the little garden. In her mind replayed countless hours she had spent with her mistress there, playing go, watching her doing needlework or reading.

Akio sat down leaning against the wall. It was not very high and she had an inkling that they would come this way. Close to her was an old cherry tree that no longer bloomed but it still had always been her favorite ever since she had been appointed the guardian of her mistress Mikito.

She removed her weapons and laid them out beside her out of range in purpose but still aggressively visible to everyone that would come by. Soon they would be here. Soon she would be with her family and ancestors as well. Her eyes swept over the garden one last time blocking out the visions of the past that now only was painful to remember to. Closing her eyes, she hoped that she would soon not have to open them ever again. Listening to the silence, she noted that not even nocturnal animals were heard as if they knew the end was coming fast.

They were coming, everybody knew that.

Outside the house the servants were crying and ready to leave. They would join the villagers and Master Yukisama in the mountain hideout. The other guards motioned her to follow but she waved them away. She would not survive this night, she had always known. Soon they were gone and there was none but her and her dead masters left in the Kagawe family estate.

---

As far as she knew there was no living human soul around besides her. The servants and the villagers had fled to the mountains with her teacher master Yukisama to lead them. Her fellow guards had motioned her to follow but she had waved them away. This night she would not survive, she had always known that ever since then. Soon she would be free as well. Free to join her ancestors. Her teacher would surely take care of her body, as it was custom, when he returned from the mountain range. He had understood why she could not flee into the mountains with the village people. Not that he liked it, but he understood when she had spoken to him.

Her loyalty was pledged to her master and his wife, who were already free. Master Kagawe had also honored her with helping him to die. Her main duty had though been to assist his wife and sit with her, guiding her hands in the ritual, that would grant them an honorable death. Being not of the noble class she had not that privilege, but nevertheless it would be over soon. There had been no children, which was a blessing in disguise as they had been praying for some for quite some time but never were heard by the gods. Maybe they had known that this would happen and wanted to spare the little souls of being a pawn in the nobles game of politics.

---

Sighting, leaning back her head back on her wall for support, her mind wandered back to that faithful night when Akio was doing her duty as personal guard of her mistress. Standing out of the way of the servants but close enough to be of assistance she had relaxed watching her masters take her family evening meal. A knock at the door had interrupted them. A messenger was coming with an urgent message that needed to be opened by the master himself and only him. He had done so immediately after taking it from the messenger who did not wait for an answer but bolted away as soon as he had delivered the message. It was somewhat unusual as normally they waited for a reply and some reward before going off again.

It had been from the head of the Chōsokabe family, her master's liege lord. Her young master had only taken over the duties from his deceased father 2 years ago and so far, had not been able to end the feud between the Chōsokabe family and their worst enemy although not due a lack of trying. It just took time to undo a century old wrong doing.

The master had become very pale upon reading the missive. Mikito sensed something wrong and took the letter from his hands before he could hide it from her. Her shocked face was all that was needed to bring Akio to attention. Nobody else was shown this letter. Later that night Akio was called into her masters room. Upon entering she noticed that there was a change in the air, something gloomy looming in the shadows. With an unease she had approached her master, where already the heads of the household servants, her sensei and the village were assembled. Something was really off. That night she found out that the missive had contained his liege lords last orders. Mikito had cried but Akio could not shed a tear even though she wanted to drown in an ocean of tears instead of having to watch the people that she cared about die by their own hand. She knew it was something they had to do and that there was no way around.