As the thin line Keiji lead came to a halt along the hill crest, Keiji found himself glaring down upon the bandits of Bandithaven. He gripped the katana's hilt tighter for a moment as he considered how he wished Masaki were here. If Masaki were still alive, none of this would be happening. Some of the men who flanked him now would have to make the long and perilous journey to the halls of their ancestors this day.
He turned to them then and said, "Well, it seems our time has come. Here, we shall decide our fate! For some, we shall ride to honor, glory, and victory. Many of us will never see our victory. I may never see the white banner of Bandithaven, my fellow samurai, but should the banner never catch the wind an we meet defeat, let us make it a defeat they will long bemoan the cost of victory! If we succed today, then I will consider the honor you lost in my father repaid. But let us fight this one last time. Ten years have passed since that terror filled night. Let honor live and order return to our homeland!"
Wordlessly, every last one of them drew their katanas and the wider blade of Conlan's broad sword saluted him where he sat. Taken back by their reply and salute, Keiji answered with his own. Then he made eye contact with two of the flanking archers that had come with them. The men knodded solemly as their hand's reached for their bows.
Keiji was ready to give them the signal when a dark mounted figure emerged from the depths of the bandit host and Keiji suddenly found he was once again looking at Kazuo. The man signaled that Keiji should ride from his men and meet him in the middle of the bare space of earth between their forces.
Keiji turned to his men, knodded once, and rode forward. He never came exactly into the middle of the soon to be blood stained earth, but he close enough to Kazuo for the second time in his life to smell the bitter-sweet smell of death and decay upon the man's once crimson amor.
"Your name has become a curse to my ears," Kazuo began as the continued to observe one another, "Keiji, I offer you this one chance to surrender and the lives of your men and yourself will be spared."
"I cannot surrender. You have something of mine. I will haunt you to the ends of this earth for it, theif." Keiji answered.
"Oh," Kazuo began the malice in his voice obvious by the malicious slant his eyes had taken, "You mean this?"
There, in his hands, the defiled crimson katana was clenched, mere inches from his own face. What few splashes of crimson that years before had spoken the truth of its origins were now gone. From hilt to point the entire katana and its sheath where darker than the darkest night without stars and the same bitter sweet scent of death reeked from the stiff weathered leather. The beauty of the katana he had held as a boy was forgotten in this forsaken creation before him.
"Yes." Keiji replied.
"Sorry, boy," Kazuo began, "This sword is mine. In it I have poured all my hatred and malice. It is my ultimate masterpiece. If you desire it so, then you will have to come and claim it."
"Then I have marked your face.," Keiji replied, "Be certain, Kazuo, that the next time you see my face, it will before the long journey into death."
With those words Kazuo shrugged and began to ride back. With a disgusted sigh, Keiji rejoined his men as well. Once Kazuo was once again within the ranks of his horde, Keiji made a chopping motion with his hands. Two arrows, both aflame, were born heavenwards, momentarily becoming apart of the heavenly order and then they droped, a single, deadly pair.
The plan was in motion, and now, so was fate.
The battle that had waged for the entire length of the morning began to still. The river had become a thin barrier of red as Risako knealt in the shallow water, for a moment the once troubled waters silent. Her breath came hard to her as a single chain dangled from her wrist and she still pointed a defiant katana at Kage where he stood staggering a few feet away, holding the remains of the chain and its kama.
Risako's heart was broken, however, around her, the Toscana had fallen, but among them, her own said farwell. All was silent as the survivors formed a barricade around the last two fighting. How many of them had lived, she wasn't too certain, but she could tell by the gaps in her blurred vision that many had perished.
With a last shuddering sigh, she staggered to her feet, and blinked as the sun shone down upon her in its full glory. Around her, she was astonished to hear the song of birds and the movement of creatures within the forest as though nothing of major importance was being decided. The world had not paused to observe this private drama of two clans. Its indifference stung her as she threw off her part of the chain and it landed in the water with a heavy thunk. The wrist it had wrapped around was crushed, but she could still use her hand and the katana it held.
"Surrender, Risako of the Kinlan!" Kage demanded as he took a staggering step towards her, kama arched.
"Surrender is a word I do not know the meaning of Kage. Since you know what it means, perhaps you should comply with it." She answered as she leveled the injured arm behind her and the one good one, face forward and katana poised to attack or defend. The bad arm she would only use out of extreme need.
"Still sharp witted, aren't we? You failed in the Black Tower and no decisive victory did you claim in our first meeting. What makes you believe you will succeed here?" Kage answered.
"I have a purpose. You ceased to exist that night by your own free will, Kage. You surrendered your soul and any drive, any dream, and goal you may have had at one point, has long since flown this world. You are a shell, a empty echo, which has little chance against someone who has something to fight for. I may be hurt and sore, but I am not beaten. We are warriors, Kage, let us end it as warriors." Risako replied.
"Everyone has their final words, are you finished? If so, then yes, let us end it." Kage answered as he dipped the kama low and in a final, summoning sweep, intended to draw her to him.
"I am finished," Risako answered as she began to move forward, one katana drawn back like a mighty fang, ready to pierce the staggering man before its point. The other trailed along behind, out of the way, but ready to be summoned.
Her upward slash was caught by the kama's curve and for a moment, both kama and katana trembled together in the air, the katana's blade driving forward, aimed to kill. The kama coming down and ready to send the katana crashing into the crimson waters. The struggle ended as Risako reveresed her attack, side stepped the assassin, and in a single slashing red line, tore the katana along Kage's side, with the last remains of his armor falling away into the water, and a single red line tracing itself along his dark clothing. He was prepared to answere her attack as the kama came swooping around, furious at its thwarting in its owners defense, and a vicious blow was aimed for Risako's neck. The point of the kama was halted a breath's distance away by the weaker katana.
There they stood at last. Rivals from birth to grave, blade to blade, the dependence on the next beating of the other's heart waiting on the decision of the deadlocked blades as they hissed alongside one another. Finally with a groan that seemed to tear itself from the deph's of her soul, Risako found the strength to overcome the the deathlock they had upon one another and the kama was flung into the river. Without her realizing it, Risako found her katana a scant hair's width away from Kage's throat and he at last at her mercy, unamred and exhausted.
"Well done Risako, you have managed to overcome me. What keeps you? End it! Do you know the torture Kazuo has put me through?! I have been through the Underworld's existence on earth and I welcome a end to it. Do not hesitate, end my misery! Do it now before the Black Dragon can stop you."
Even as he spoke the words, Risako found herself leaping backwards to avoid another concealed katana and with her bad arm, slashed the surface of the water. The delay and distraction the thin wave of water provided was enough for her to regather herself and parry Kage as he burst through the tiny wave's wake.
Dripping the katana's tangled. Risako could look over their point of meeting and look directly into Kage's eyes and he hers. The burning hatred in his eyes for her surprised her, but did not cause her to falter as she shifted the point of pressure and ducked beneath the Toscana's guard. The weak arm slashed upwards and she found her target.
Eyes wide and his breath becoming shallow, Kage sank into the water with one of the twin's embedded within him. Risako stayed her distance from the dying man, and she sank wearily into the water herself, her strength having left her for a moment.
Surprised cries erupted from the ring but as she raised a arm in warning, halted them before they could step into the circle that still existed between her and Kage. Something, anything, could happen. They would only be safe when the man's eyes grew glassy and the ragged breath's that he still managed to draw ceased.
"I thank you, Kinlan," he whispered, "I can go on at last! And she cannot interfere this time!"
The man sank into the water and the hilt of the katana's twin wavered ominiously in the light of day as Risako staggered over and pulled it from his silent form.
She gathered herself for a moment longer and turned to the survivors of the battle.
"Pull the dead and wounded from the river. Take care of the wounded, but we must leave the dead. We'll come back for them." She said as soon as she had the strength.
Thankfully, none of them questioned her as they complied with her orders. She doubted she had the strength to answer them.
