Samurai in the Time Rift 6.2

6.2

The trip to the city of the Nihonzaru was eventful, as two things happened; the young found their own destinies and Taisa Mori found that there was more to the Lord.

Lady Ayuse had a companion; a lady samurai whom Taisa had met in the first meeting when the Lord had appeared to assist in tending to Iza. He had earlier assumed she was the other sister but when Lord Noriake mentioned that only Ayuse survived.

"I had the other who was my daughter caretaker, adopted as daughter." Lord Noriake explained when Taisa had inquired on the other.

"Her name is Niko, and a samurai. She had been Ayuse personal caretaker, and protects the lady." Lady Niko was as tall as Taisa, and during their sat in the camp, she had avoided the new samurai group. Gunso Mita was the one with the boldness to approached her. Their first meeting was in the forest when Niko went with Ayuse to gather wild plants for medicinal uses. The young one stopped to looked at some plants while her protector and caretaker was preoccupied on another view. Unknown to her then was the descending Kori-kumo ( Ice Spider ) which was holding onto its web. Two arrows in succession released hit the Kori-kumo on it head and back to killed it. The spider did not fall but hung on the web it spewed earlier.

Ayuse shrieked out and jumped aside and looked back to see the dead spider on its web. Her caretaker by then had rejoined her with the katana drawn. They saw the arrows and then the young Hohei walked out of the bushes.

"I apologize if I scared you." Bento bowed before the ladies, and then retrieved his arrows. He then took out a wooden container to stored the dripping blood from the dead spider. He was told that the blood of the spider was the antidote for the sting by the spider.

"Samurai, how did you come by here?" Niko asked the young samurai as her care took her arm for assurance. "Are you following us?"

"No, my lady. I was not. I was hunting the Kori-kumo when I stumbled on you." Bento explained but his words are as hollow as that of the flute he had given to Ayuse. It was then Ayuse pulled at sleeve of the caretaker who looked back at her care. She being an older lady understood on the situation and then smiled at the Hohei.

"I have to go and attend to something." Niko looked at the Hohei. "Escort Lady Ayuse back to the camp."

Bento bowed to the older lady and then straighten himself up for the younger one. He stood there while waiting for Ayuse to move. She looked at him and smiled before she paraded behind the older lady. Along the way, the older lady diverted off on her own track leaving the two young ones to walked on.

Niko walk was not far before she stumbled on another samurai; this time it was Gunso Mita who was training in the clearing. He was practicing to fight with one hand holding each a yari. He had held the yari in its mid length and used it as if he was wielding a pair of katana.

A yari exponent uses the long reaching weapon for the cutting, thrusting, slashing, and parrying as it cut through the air around him in a series of murderous whirls by the hands. With each move, the exponent.focus on a substantial number of basic techniques, such as the thrusts (tsuki), strikes (kiri), and parries which, in common with all cutting weapons alongside with postures of readiness. The later include the movements, styles of moving in or of sliding out of range of his blade, looking for the gaps of reaching a target or of evading an attack. That day he was training to use both yari by himself.

Niko balanced her own yari and rushed out towards the Gunso, swung her yari at his head. He blocked it with the left handed yari and thrusted with his right handed yari, but she had side stepped evading him. In turn she stepped back and swung the yari over her head before bringing it down hard on the right side of Gunso Mita. The later in retaliation had then discarded the left handed yari and used all his might on the right handed one.

Gunso Mita twisted his body to the rear with the yari in a full swing and then at the end of its half turn, he thrust out the yari towards the lady. Niko evaded the thrust by pulling her upper body back and returned with short thrust of the yari towards the older samurai. Gunso had side stepped only while balancing his yari with one extended arm.

Gunso thrusted out again but missed the lady by a close inch. There they both stopped and pulled back their yari.

"Good footworks and display of strength." Niko praised the older man.

"Not bad for a lady using the yari." Gunso praised her back. "But its not your preferred weapon, huh?"

Niko shook her head. Then she told him.

"I much prefer the Q'iang ( Chinese spear. ). A lighter spear with more techniques which I can deployed."

"A formidable weapon in the hands of a heroine. Who may I asked trained you?" Gunso Mita asked of her.

"Grand Mistress Ying of Han, but you may not heard of her. She was my Lord's undisclosed mistress." Niko explained to the samurai. "Lord Noriake met her in one of his excursion and took her on request by the Lord then. I was to accompanied my Lady and thus now take care of Ayuse who was theirs."

"Lord Noriake had a Han for a wife?" Gunso Mita was shocked but Niko assured him, that her lady was the mistress while Lady Kami was the rightful wife of the Lord, but she bear him no children. She accepted Ayuse as her own . In the Japan Feudal system, there are four main classes of people; samurai, farmers, artisans and the last was merchants. Above the four are the nobles, and below the classes categories are the slaves, the outsiders. So it was rare or unheard of the Lord to have an outsider as a mistress. Gunso Mita kept his peace on the matter. Soon the two went back to discussing their skills instead of the background of the Lord.

The trees like the walls of the structures may have ears. On that day, Teishin Buke heard the conversation and held it close to his heart; "She' a Burakumin ( meaning outside the four classes ). This would be a tool for negotiation."

On the way back to the camp, Teishin Buke was stopped in his path by a pair of samurai from Lord Noriake' warriors.

"Teishin Buke, we would regain our honor today." One of the two spoke up, as he drew on his katana.

"Imbeciles! Who are you and how dare you address me as such?" Teishin Buke stood his ground but his hand rested on the katana. In the land of the Shogun., that insult on his rank would had earned them a beheading right there but the land of the Shogun does not exist then.

"My name is Tana and this is my brother, Sama whom you had insulted with your behaviour that day at the Lord' home. You caused us to be banished for sentry tasks but now we are here to battle you for our honor."

It was Tana who rushed at him with the overhead swing of the katana, but Teishin may be a courtier but he was trained by a good master in the arts. He sidestepped and did a lower swing of his katana to cut the rushing samurai left thigh. The other, Sama had also launched his attack but he was deflected by the Teishin and replied with a kick into the groin. Both the attacking samurai fell on their haunches while the Teishin stood over them with the katana on their chests.

"Do not assumed the older tiger is toothless. I may be older but I have many more of my fangs." Teishin told the two off and walked past them. He walked for some distance before he leaned against the tree to hold his emotions in. Twice he had to fight like the samurai and twice he had won but he was Teishin; we don't fight like them. We are courtiers of the Court and here I am not. What if he met someone more or have better fighting skills like Taisa, then he would be dead on the ground then. He prayed that they can find their way back to their home so he can regain his pride and place among the courtiers.

"Curse you, Taisa Mori!" Teishin Buke spat it out.