Shadows of The Ghost

Revelations

They reached the wall, just as the rope was thrown down. Akai went first, her light armour barely slowing her down. By the time Genso climbed over the edge, she had already knocked out the guards waiting for them. Akai didn't wait for him to catch his breath, deciding to jump off the other side, landing gracefully on top of the roof of Yanuishi's place, not giving a second thought to the poor archer whom she had used for a soft landing.
Genso turned around and walked towards the stairs. A jump like that and he would have gone through the roof. As he went down the flights, he pondered over the events of that day five years ago. The war and the fallout. He kept walking.
Finally, he reached the ground and headed for Yanushi's place. The streets were empty – they didn't think about problems on the other side of the wall – so Genso walked right down the middle of the stone-built road. He stopped in front of the mansion, which, even with only two floors, was still too big for one man. Most lights were out except for one in the corner of the top floor.
He walked towards the front door, then immediately stepped to the side as the door flew off its hinges, propelled by the force of the that was thrown against it. Genso walked inside just as Akai landed in front of him, dragging down two poor souls with her.
"Got them all," she said, jumping to her feet. Genso stayed quiet as he pulled out a throwing knife and threw it. Neither of them said anything as the man hidden in the rafters fell, the throwing knife embedded in his knee. Genso walked on, grateful for the mask; if Akai had seen his smirk, she would have killed him then and there.
They climbed the stairs to the top and walked right through a door to find Yanushi praying to a sword. The man knelt before a katana with a purple sheath, set on the wall, the burning incense bringing a somewhat pleasant aroma to the room. The man bowed, before standing and taking the katana off the wall. He turned, and Genso tensed.
"It's an honour to finally meet you, Ghost," he spoke in a dry voice, lacking any emotion. "I've been waiting for you."
"I wish I could say the same," Genso deadpanned. "I only learned about you yesterday."
"After what you did to Izom, I figured it was best to lay low. No one wants to be on the list of people The Ghost of Korishma is hunting for."
"Maybe, who am I to judge?"
"Um..." Akai intervened. "Are we just going to ignore my existence?"
"You do not carry a katana; hence, I do not consider you an opponent right now. The only one I wish to fight is The Ghost."
Genso grimaced, but at the same time, relaxed his stance. He walked to the side and sat underneath the window, moving both his katanas to his lap. He looked up at Yanushi's confused expression.
"I just said I wanted to fight you."
"I heard," Genso replied. "But I'm not going to be your opponent." He picked up one of his katanas and handed it over to Akai, who didn't hesitate to take a stance. "She is."
"Are you going to sit there and watch me kill your friend?" Yanushi's expression was one of amusement, not knowing the mistake he had made.
"I'm going to sit here and watch you try." Genso pointed towards Akai, and Yanushi barely managed to dodge the thrust that would have taken off his nose. He unsheathed his katana and the duel began.
Genso watched as Akai expertly handled the katana, not giving her opponent a chance to recover before her next swing. Her blade made a certain sound as it sliced through the air that only Genso could hear. That song reminded him of long-forgotten days; school training; winning fights; learning to juggle katanas; creating his style; the first battlefield; meeting Akai and the rest. Some part of him yearned for those days and the other was still trying to find its grip on reality.
He was brought back to reality as Akai drew first blood. Yanushi jerked back, clutching his forearm, his sword still pointed at The Fox. They turned in circles until he stopped suddenly, reaching for the wall, revealing a false panel from behind which a body fell out. He didn't need to watch the change in Akai's expression to know that their spy had been found, so all he did was keep his tongue, instead, he silently willed Akai to stay calm.
He watched as her sword strokes became more erratic, her footing unsteady, her anger visible. Still, she managed to drive back her opponent by pure force, despite all the mistakes she made. Yanushi saw it too, as he side-stepped one of her thrusts and managed to cut the skin right below her shoulder. She stepped away, holding the wound, trying to stop the blood loss. But they knew she had made a mistake, and Yanushi pressed on, Akai barely managing to dodge. She managed to gain some breathing room when Yanushi miss-stepped, allowing Akai to deflect the blade and move away.
She locked eyes with Genso and he nodded. She smiled and looked back at Yanushi, who stood ready for any attack. She sheathed her sword and bent her knees into a low crouch, turning the sword so that the edge faced the ground, one hand on the handle and the other on the sheath.
"Are you surrendering?" Yanushi's voice carried a sense of victory, expecting himself to have won.
"No," she taunted, her smirk adding fuel to the fire. Yanushi charged, his overhead strike carving an arc through the air that would have split a skull in two. Akai dodged, using her thumb to push the guard away from the sheath and the blade sang, too fast for the untrained eye to follow. Even Yanushi didn't see it until his arm fell to the ground, the sword making a loud clattering sound as it dropped. A clean cut, that managed to chip off a piece of the bone.
Genso stood, walking over to them. Yanushi fell to the ground, surprisingly quiet. Genso didn't say anything as he produced some strips of cloth from within the folds of his armour and used them to stop the blood flow.
"What was that?" Yanushi's voice sounded like that of a drunken man sobering. "That technique, I've seen anything like that. And no story talked about your skills with a katana..."
"Iaijutsu, a quick-draw technique," she answered. "As for who taught me, well, it was the same man who's currently hopelessly failing at stopping your blood loss. In fact, at this rate, you probably won't live through the hour."
"I was never a good medic," Genso noted, standing up. "But that should hold long enough for you to sing a decree and lower the taxes on those living outside the wall. Maybe even tear down the wall itself."
"Well, I guess you earned it. There should be some paper and a quill inside that cabinet in the other room, can you get that?"
Akai left, leaving Genso to continue the conversation.
"When I sign the treaty, when you've got what you came for, will you kill me?"
"That's not for me to decide."
"What are your thoughts on death then? Do you believe in an afterlife?"
"Not really, I just keep going on with what I've got. I don't wait for death to take me. I just keep living however long I do."
"I think you're lying to yourself. I was there at one of your battles and I saw it. You seemed to be so sure of yourself, the way you swung your swords, almost as if you were challenging death itself. As if you wanted death to come find you, to try to take this man who, on the battlefield, became the embodiment of death itself, not stopping despite how outmatched or outnumbered you were. I think you crave death, it's cold embrace so that you may escape whatever it is you are trying to run away from." He took a deep breath. "But these are the ramblings of a dying man, pay it no heed."
Genso stayed quiet. They waited for almost another minute before Akai returned, clutching the essentials. "You sent me into a room with five different cabinets."
She placed the paper and inkwell next to Yanushi, then helped Genso prop up the man as he wrote. "It's a good thing I'm ambidextrous."
"What?"
"I can write with both hands."
"A rare skill indeed."
"Is that sarcasm I hear?"
They stayed silent as Yanushi wrote, decreeing that the taxes be done away with. Free entry was allowed for farmers with spaces to be provided to set up shops. Genso didn't bother proofreading the document, instead letting Akai make changes of her own. He watched as she named Zaimu as Yanushi's advisor, only for the latter to realize that Genso's tourniquet was perfect and that he would survive.
Genso didn't wait around much longer after that, opting to head back to the house. This time, he walked right through the front gate.
One of the first things he did was take off his mask and stare at it, trying to call back Yanushi's statement from before. He had heard someone else say something similar to that to him before, and now, years later, the memory was still fresh in his mind. Was he the man he thought himself to be? Was he trying to be someone he wasn't? Almost immediately, his mind began to wander back to that day after the war. He looked outside as the sun began to colour the clouds on the horizon, and reminisced about when he last saw Kurai...

Genso watched the figure slip out of the tent late at night, the moon hidden behind the clouds providing darkness that seemed to engulf the whole place. He had a feeling Kurai would try to slip away; not that he would blame him for leaving without saying goodbye. But Genso had made a promise and wasn't going to break it. He followed, grabbing his armour and swords along the way. By the time Kurai stopped, they were well out of earshot of the camp, deep into the woods.
"I know you're there Genso," Kurai stopped right in the middle of the path. "I knew you wouldn't be the one to let me go alone."
"I made a promise to Nekros," Genso started, stepping out from behind the shadows. "I said I'd look after you."
"Yeah, well, I'm grateful, to both of you. But I can look after myself. I don't need a babysitter."
"Where are you going anyway?"
"There are some docks over there. I'll catch a boat, go live his dream for him."
"Can't say I disagree with that decision," Genso took a deep breath. "But, before you leave, I must tell you something."
And Genso spoke, revealing all. A part of him felt like he should have stayed quiet, but once he had started, he felt himself lose control over his speech, not stopping until he had reached the part about the promise. Genso would have continued but had to move out of the way as Kurai's kwandao sliced through the air, passing the Ghost by a hair's breadth.
"You..." Kurai's voice seethed with anger and hatred. "You could have saved him..."
Genso said nothing, but readied himself, his hand close to his throwing knives. Kurai roared, charging Genso, the latter dodging once again, this time using Kurai's momentum to drive him to the ground. Genso got him in a lock, sitting on his friend's back trying to stop the other man from doing something he'd regret.
"I didn't know!" Genso began. "How could I have known?"
But Kurai didn't listen. Almost breaking his arm, he twisted throwing Genso off of him and heading for his kwandao. Genso unsheathed his swords and they met each other head-on. Their blades spoke more words than either of them could, for battle was the one language they were fluent in. Kurai, trying to take Genso's head, and Genso, who tried to stop his friend from himself.
Kurai's movements were sloppy, rage blinding him. The Ghost saw an opportunity and moved on the offensive. He deflected his opponent's downward slash, causing the kwandao's blade to chip. He moved closer, his blade drawing blood as it went over Kurai's forearm. Genso moved as the weapon fell from his opponent's hands, kicking Kurai in the chest, and throwing him back onto the ground. The Ghost was on him in a second, his katana to Kurai's neck.
Despite everything, Kurai laughed.
"There he is, The Ghost of Korishma. The one whose spinning blades of fury could decimate an entire army before they even realized what was happening. If you see him on the battlefield, you run and hope he doesn't notice. The man, the myth, The Ghost. Someone who betrays your trust, and kills your last remaining family."
"I didn't kill him."
"You didn't save him either. You could have, but you didn't. What's the difference? And now what, you're going to kill me too?"
"No. I made a promise, I- "
"Stop lying to yourself, old friend. I saw that look in your eyes just now. That look of arrogance and defiance. That look that says you have defied death at every turn, and now you believe yourself to have become death. I know the truth: No matter where you go, no matter how long it takes, you will return to the battlefield or the battle will find you. Try to believe you are something else, but that will always be what you are."
Genso said nothing.
"Your silence comes from acceptance or perhaps a show of defiance? Either way, it doesn't matter. I'll give you some advice: Kill me before you regret it. Because I can promise you this, you let me live, and I won't stop until I take your life. You killed my brother; do you think I'll let you live? Whatever happens, no matter how long it takes, I will hurt you in the worst way possible, and then I will kill you. Whatever means I have to use, how many lives I'll have to take, I will kill you. That's my promise to you."
All Genso had to do was move the blade a bit further, into the skin, through the windpipe, and his friend would have died a quick death, if not painless. But he couldn't, and all the memories flowed through him as he used the back of his blade to knock Kurai unconscious. Genso stood as it began raining. He reached up to his face, removed the mask, and dropped it in the dirt below.
As he walked away towards the shore, he was glad for the rain; it drowned his tears.

He watched the sunrise in the kitchen, Akai next to him as she tried to wrap her mind around everything he had just told her. Neither of them spoke as Genso stood, walking to the kitchen to prepare an early morning snack.
"What is your plan?" He heard her voice as he set the plates.
"That depends," he spoke more to himself than her. "Let's wait for Zaimu to return."
They ate, a heavy silence hanging over them. Genso knew Akai was trying to find the right words, but let the silence speak for him. He stayed silent, his fears slowly creeping up on the back of his mind. What plans did Kurai have for his students? Who else would lose their lives over this? Would he be able to kill Kurai?
Genso didn't realize he had fallen asleep until Akai eventually shook him awake.
"Come on, Zaimu has returned." She left.
Genso hesitated, staring at the mask. Akai must have found it after Kurai and he disappeared. That mask, which he knew better than anyone, now felt sinister and alien. Over the years, that mask had struck fear in its enemies. Now, Genso himself was wary of it.
He left without it.