Atsuko Tadeshi - The revenge

Chapter 10 - The First Step

Oshira's head rolled over the ground and his body fell over as the baby started crying. All the men looked at the baby. One of them grabbed his sword and did one step towards the helpless kid. "No!" Atsuko yelled as he stepped forward, unsheathing both katanas. Both struck their target. Two men fell down, a nasty cut in their belly. Atsuko did one step back and immediately forward to strike again. But this time, his swords didn't find flesh and bones, but the steel of their katana's. Atsuko quickly dropped to the ground and swept one from his feet. While Atsuko jumped up, the other man walked behind him. Atsuko rolled to the side as the sword hit, the ground where Atsuko was just a second ago, creating sparks. The man that fell, stood up as Atsuko charged at the first man. The man attacked Atsuko first, but one of his katana's deflected the man's sword while the other dug itself into the man's throat. The other man looked at the man closest to the baby but that was his mistake. A quick step forwards, and Atsuko hewed his katana up, destroying the man's jaw.

Atsuko sheathed one of his katana's, grabbed the other with two hands, and lifted it above his head, aiming it for the man closest to the baby. "Step away from the kid. Now!" The man looked from Atsuko to the baby and back. In a quick move, he lifted his sword, but before he could swing it down, he yelled in pain. He dropped his sword and looked at his arm. A throwing star had dug itself into his lower arm. With anger in his eyes, he tried to grab his katana, but Atsuko jumped forward and kicked him against his head. Atsuko heard a snap as he had broken the man's neck.

Atsuko slowly walked to the door that was still open. He expected more men, swinging their katana at his head but the hallway was empty. After a quick walk through the house, he came back to the baby room. The whole house was quiet. Not even the child cried. Atsuko sheathed his sword and picked the child up. It wasn't asleep and looked at Atsuko with great brown eyes. Atsuko knew that he couldn't take care of it, now her parents were killed. Suddenly he remembered Katsumi. She was an old friend of his parents, at least before they were killed. Maybe could she take care of the kid. Atsuko carefully held the kid as he walked outside. Katsumi lived in the same part of Yomika as Oshira and it was a five-minute walk.

At her house, he knocked on Katsumi's door. He knew that she would open, even if it was as early as today. After a few minutes, the door opened. A Japanese woman, with short brown hair, looked at Atsuko. After a second she recognized him and stepped outside. "If it isn't "The Ghost", right?" She said as she tried to hug Atsuko but Atsuko stepped back. "Watch out." He said as he showed her the kid. "A baby? What happened?" she asked as she lifted the girl from Atsuko's arms. "I used someone to get to an old "friend", but he didn't like that. So he tried to kill the man and his family. I was just in time to stop them from killing this kid, but her parents are dead." Katsumi looked at the beautiful brown eyes of the kid and said: "Poor kid." And as she looked at Atsuko, he said: "I was hoping that you could take care of her." The baby made a happy noise. "Does she have a name?" Atsuko thought for a second before shaking his head. "I'm sure she has one, but I don't know it." "I will call her Mieko, a Beautiful blessing child." She said. "The bastards killed her father in her room, so she might have seen it. If you need help, come find me. And thanks for taking care of the child." Atsuko turned around and walked to the street as he heard Katsumi say: "No problem. Take care Atsuko." He looked one last time as she closed the door.

Atsuko went back to Oshira's house. Maybe he could find anything on the men he killed. Something that would direct him back to Hebi. At the house, he couldn't find anything of use for him. he did grab the swords on the ground. Outside, he pushed two of them into the ground, forming a cross. He put the others under the cross. They were still stained in the blood of their previous owners. He went back inside and went to the baby's room. In it, he grabbed a sheet and put it over Oshira's wife. She didn't deserve to die. He closed the door behind him and went outside.

Nobody knew that the man was dead, not even Hebi. Atsuko guessed that someone would check on them if they didn't report back.

After a few minutes, Atsuko was proven right. They probably thought that this was going to be a short strike because only 20 minutes after he killed the last one of them, 2 men walked up to the house. Atsuko noticed that they also were dressed in black. As the men looked at the swords before the house, Atsuko sneaked out the bushes and walked up to them. the men walked to the door and slightly opened it. Atsuko entered the house when he saw both men walking to the baby room. They walked in and Atsuko could hear a gasp. "what the hell happened here?" Atsuko heard one of them ask. He slightly recognized the voice but couldn't place it. The other man said: "I don't know, smartass." Atsuko drew one of his katana's. he kicked the door open and said: "They got a meeting with "The Ghost" Just like you two." The men got scared and turned around.

They both grabbed their sword. "He's not dead?" one said against the other. "Apparently not." The man with the familiar voice said. Their hoods kept their faces hidden as they looked at Atsuko. They charged at Atsuko together. One ready to pierce his chest and the other ready to swing at his head. "Bring it on," Atsuko said as he stood ready. The familiar voice guy went straight for his chest but Atsuko still was quick. He duck down to avoid the swing, as he pushed the other blade away. He managed to slice his katana slightly across the man's arm. It wasn't a deep wound, but it would bleed a lot, Atsuko knew. The man that had swung his sword at Atsuko's head was distracted by the scream of pain of his companion and tripped over the lifeless corpse of the man, whose jaw Atsuko had broken. He hit the ground hard and had to drop his katana. Atsuko did a step back and said: "Are you sure you want to continue?" The man on the ground stood up and picked his katana up. He stood, ready to attack and the other man copied his pose.

Atsuko stood completely relaxed. It seemed like he wasn't even ready to fight. He said: "See the men around you? They tried to fight me, 4 at the time, and look where they ended up." The men looked at each other but didn't seem to change their minds. Atsuko slowly drew his other katana and held them like an enlargement of his arms. He looked from under his cap to the two-man and lifted his head a little so that the man could see the stone-cold look in his eyes. The men looked at each other and backed off a little. Atsuko did one step towards them as they quickly turned around and ran to the door. Atsuko finally knew where he heard the voice before. And tomorrow, he would pay the man a visit.