Keiji handed over the katana to Masake as they stood together for the first time in a decade. In the late light, father and son looked a great deal like one another. Both were tall and well built men, even Masake's hair held the same dark shade Keiji's hade. The only difference was Keiji's eyes and worn out, older look. His shoulders were droping and he looked exhaused as he examined the now quiet battle field as Masake held his katana. Below on the small rise Keiji watched the Ronin army regrouping below with the villagers who had recaptured Bandithaven and the newly arrived force the Daimyo had brought with him. Keiji's heart stirred with pride. Everything was complete. In the distance the horrible Black Tower still burned but the bandits were in defeat. All of them now stood in a tightly packed ring guarded by snearing Ronins and villagers. They'd all be sent back to Saken for the Daimyo's punishment.
"Keiji," Masake began, interupting his son's mussings, "Tell your mother I love her when you see her again."
"What do you mean, Father?" Keiji asked surprised.
"When Koreikyo returns from taking Tamafune to the gods for her punishment, he has promised to take me to the halls of all the other ancestrial Dansha's that have come before me, what I was denied becuase I died in dishonor. Now I may enter. I won't have to make the journey alone." Masake explained.
"But your alive, you don't need to go! Who will help me rebuild Dansha and return it to the way it was when you were kenin of it? I'll gladly step down from my rank as the Kenin of Dansha and let you have your rightful place, its my duty and honor as a son to let you lead. Mother has grieved for you so, please, don't go!" Keiji gasped, grasping the full meaning of the older man's words. He was loosing his father, again!
"No, Keiji, I am not alive." Masake sighed, he'd been afraid this would be how it would happen, "I haven't been alive for ten years and this body...is not my own. It is nothing more than glorified mud that was used as a source to anchor my soul here so that Kazuo could use me as a shield against you in those final moments. Maya does not need to see me existing as this, it would destroy her, to see the one she loved as I am now. She and I said our goodbyes ten years ago, Keiji. I have never stopped loving her and I'll gladly wait for her in our halls, when we can truly be united again, forever. Still, that is honorable of you, son, to let me have my place back in the village, but who really lead my men to victory today? It wasn't I, it was the Kenin Keiji, not the Kenin Masake. Why should I steal your victory when it belongs to you? I could not be more prouder of you than I am now son. The odds were against you the entire time and you, Keiji, succedded where others would have failed. Dansha needs you to step in now and lead her back to her former glory. That is my last charge to you, Keiji, return my home to the way it was before. Give Maya, your mother, a place she can be at peace with. As for who will help you rebuild Dansha, Keiji, you already know the answer."
"Yes but look at how many of them were killed, look how many are injured becuase of me! Conlan does not live becuase he sacrificed himself for me, had I been wiser, more skilled, he may not have had to have given his life on my account!" Keiji pressed, disbelieved that Masake was actually going to die again.
"Look how many live, look how many weren't injured, my son! Truly look! Did this not lead to a victory? As for Conlan, Keiji, the man was to filled with grief for his wife to ever try to exist after the battle and war was fought and won. He only lived to see it ended. Now everything has come full circle Keiji thanks to you. Everything, for the moment, is as it should be. I doubt when I was your age I could have had the spirit and strength to do what you have accomplished here today." Masake countered.
Keiji answered with silence, his eyes turning towards the distance and the men below, though he could tell by the determined twitching of Keiji's lip that he still disagreed. Just what he would have done in a reveresed situation.
One day, Keiji, you will understand...thought Masake. He could see that Keiji was staggering on his own two feet. For someone so young, he certainly looked older than his years. Yet he also saw the lifeless arm as it hung at his side and the dried blood and the bruises that covered every visible inch of him.
Hurry Koreikyo...Masake called to the red dragon. Walking up the rise, supported by two of the civillians from Dansha, Masake saw Juzo coming towards him and he surpressed a laugh as his oldest friend returned.
He heard a quiet thump and Masake returned his attention to Keiji to see that he had sat down and had leaned back into the grass, remained like that for a moment and then Keiji was asleep. Masake smiled, for once, he would be able to watch and guard his son's sleep till Koreikyo came to collect him. Keiji deserved this rest, he'd earned it.
Juzo now joined him on the rise and gave a small snort of contempt at the sleeping Keiji as the villagers who had helped him get there left them alone. "Well, Masake, it has been a while since I have seen you old friend."
"Same to you, still a monk I see!" Masake answered.
"Yes, I am fond of my temple and its ways." Juzo answered, "He has done well, you know Masake. I never imagined that he would master my training in ten years at his age. He's done everything that he has set out to do and is still alive in the end. I am amazed."
"He's my son, of course he would be able to do it." Masake answered with pride, "Thank you for watching over my son and wife. I never had the chance to thank you for it and now I do, just before I am to go away."
"Yes, I thought that might be happening. Maya will crack my skull open for not stopping you from leaving her again and that one will most likely crack whats left of it for the same reason. I am about to undergo a massive headache for you, Masake. Your welcome, but you owe me." Juzo laughed. Masake smiled, it fealt like younger and happier times in this moment. Juzo had hardly changed and he knew that Juzo wouldn't let him forget his debt either.
Koreikyo chose this moment to return, his massive red form circling the skies once before he settled before Masake, Juzo and the sleeping Keiji.
"Are you ready, Dansha Masake?" Koreikyo asked as he lowered his head to eye level with Juzo and Masake.
"Yes and thank you Koreikyo." Masake replied. Before he mounted Koreikyo, Masake turned and lay the restored crimson katana beside Keiji. Keiji would need the katana more than he ever would now. Then he mounted the dragon and watched the forms of his best friend and son disappear as Koreikyo rose back into the skies. With a roll of thunder they were gone.
"Rest well old friend!" Juzo called as he settled down beside Keiji. How surprised Keiji would be when he awoke and found his sensei guarding his sleep and how surprised and amused he, Juzo, would be that he would have to explain that he missed the battle due to two twisted ankles from a clumsy fall in the woods on his way to Dansha. Then again, Keiji would most likely tease his older mentor about where he placed his staff when he walked and to not be such clumsy in his older days...Perhaps that explantion could wait.
