The lost innocence: Descent of samurai

Shattered paradise

Warning ⚠️ GORE AND VIOLENCE ⚠️

Third Person POV

Prefecture Kyoto, Ine village, 12th of April, 1911~

She breathed in a sweet scent of cherry blossoms lying herself under the tree with delighted smile on her face, opening her eyes to gaze at the sky that had now beautiful pinkish colour, which meant the sun was about to rise. She closed her eyes once again and began to listen to chirping of birds, soon enough feeling familiar warm on her face... The sun has risen. Gentle breeze creased her long dark hair... All of the nature seemed to try making her fall asleep and almost was successful. Almost.

" A true samurai never takes a nap in the middle of training." A familiar voice stated. She lazily get up to sit, gazing at her eldest brother, Yuichiro,with frowned eyebrows. " And you are saying as if you already were one. Just because you guys are old enough to already use your swords, doesn't mean you're better than me!" She turned around only to see the rest of her older brothers, standing behind the sakura tree smirking. " That's exactly what it means." Naoki stated proudly, making Kazamaru, the second eldest of them snicker. " You're not old enough either..."
" That's enough. Stop bragging, Naoki." They heard yet another voice soft and slightly scolding.
" Thank you, Haruma..." She smiled to the third, when it comes to age, brother, thankfully, but soon her smile vanished as he added jokingly. " Wait till your 15th birthday next month."
" You guys are horrible! In the dueling I can beat you, you've seen yesterday!" She stood up defending herself, gazing at Naoki, who was second youngest of her siblings. " That's because I let you win." he said casually, when then all of sudden a little voice spoke up. "But she got you in the stomach with her stick and you even cried that it hurts, when okāsan* made a compress..." The 14 year old boy got red on the face from anger and embarrassment. " You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" He turned to his 7 years old brother, Yuki, as the rest of the boys burst into laughter.
" So it's true?" Kazamaru wiped the tear out o his eye, still laughing.
" Naoki, what on earth happened to you?" Yuichiro shook his head in disbelief, almost choking with laughter.
" She was lucky! I got distracted!"
" He's got too confident. I didn't attack as he expected me to..." She shrugged innocently, giggling ,but her brother was close to fury. " You changed position in the split of second!" He recalled.
" Never do, what your opponent might expect " She quoted with a smile, one of the lessons.
" Outsmarted!" Haruma pointed at his brother, laughing again.
" She wouldn't be able to do the same with a sword anyway!"
" Yes, I would!" She demanded.

" Don't let him provoke you, Ichika.And you, Naoki, better watch out. Lack of humility could be your doom someday. " All of them turned to see an older man with white- grey hair in a bun. He had dark eyes with a gaze full of intelligence, wisdom and maturity.
" Ryosuke- sensei!" They all exclaimed in suprise. They didn't expect him to be here today...
" You said, you weren't able to come..." Yuichiro was as much confused as his siblings.
" I wanted to check if you will have some self discipline to do the routine." He answered calmly. Ichika felt her cheeks growing warm and bit her lip, lowering her head. She supposed that she let her teacher down...
" I think, you boys have had enough of a break. Go back to training. I need to talk with your sister." All the older boys nodded and went of as they've been told. Only Yuki hesitated for a bit, concerned for her. She gave him a small reassuring smile, even though she herself was afraid of the consequences of her laziness...

" Am I in trouble, sensei?" She asked quietly as they walked nearby a small stream. The fish inside it seemed to gleam with silver, slipping among the crystal clear water... Reflection of her face was slightly deformed as she looked at it somehow puzzled.
" Well, your mind definitely seems troubled. What is happening?"
" I fail to understand."
" You certainly didn't get good sleep last night, considering you're not the type of person neglecting her daily schedule, I assume there must be a good reason behind it." He explained patiently, waiting for her to speak further. She sighed softly.
" I just... Don't seem to fit anywhere..." She began. " Yesterday, madam Misaki came... She talked to mother... They already planned my marriage to Endou!" She was close to tears. " I don't want to marry him! He's almost 20 by now!" She took a deep breath to calm herself down. " Mother says, it's just how it is for us, women... But I don't want it!" Ichika looked her teacher in the eyes. " I want to be a true warrior. Like father was... But mother's always complaining I should act more like a lady..." Once again, she hanged her head low. " I always thought, I won't need to, when I became a soldier, but now it turns out, I'm not good enough to be one..." The girl glanced at her mentor pleadingly. " I won't be able to be either a warrior, nor a wife, where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do?!"
" Just because you tried to nap at the training, doesn't mean you can't achieve your goals." He chuckled lightly.
" Yuichiro says otherwise. Actually none of my older brothers takes me seriously." She pouted in annoyed manner. " Naoki is the worst for that matter and Haruma is always overprotective while we train! They don't believe in me at all!"
" And how about you?" The old man asked. " Do you believe in yourself?"
" I..." She wasn't actually able to answer this question.
" The only person who can stop you from achieving what you want to, is yourself, Ichika. So let me ask you, do you still want to continue training, or not?"
" Of course I do, sensei!" She declared with no hesitation, making the man smile fondly at her enthusiasm.
" Let's go then." He used his daishō* to support himself as they walked. This man was more than 80 years old after all. " But I think you should have a little bit of rest from your brothers.... We'll train without them this time..."
" I would very much appreciate that..." She confessed honestly and her teacher chuckled slightly.