Ninja (Major Editing)

Chapter 8

Arata really didn't expect himself to wake up on a bed. The room was really dark, but he could vaguely see the outline of a hunched over old man. Then suddenly, the candle on the table was lit and he blinked a few times to adjust to the light. 

"You're finally awake," the old man said in a raspy voice, handing him a cup of hot tea which Arata gladly accepted.

"Where am I?" Arata inquired.

"You're in my house. Good thing I had a spare guest room or you would have been sleeping on the floor."

He felt his head, finding bandages around it. "How did I get here? Wasn't I-"

"You're asking too many questions right now, boy. Get some rest and I'll answer them in the morning."

"Then why did you light up the candle?"

"I got used to changing your bandages in the middle of the night."

That got Arata thinking. "How long was I out exactly?"

"Three days."

"How was I out-"

"You're a lazy cat. Now stay still so I can apply more ointment to your wounds."

Arata really didn't remember getting so injured so he was willing to guess that something happened after he was knocked out as he watched the old man work on him.

"Take a rest," the old man chided noticing that Arata was still up.

Despite all the rest he had, while he was watching the dancing fire, he slowly fell asleep again.

 

The next morning, Yuki turned out to be straight in his face when he woke up. He groaned and rolled onto his side. "I'm stuck with you again?" he inquired.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Yuki retorted.

"Not really. I might just count on you too much if this continues."

She giggled. "I'm not mad or anything. You didn't have to reply. And you're not stuck with me either."

Yuki stepped a bit to the side and looked behind her. Arata looked at the same direction and found a woman rearranging some decorations on the table hat was against the wall. Her back was facing him, but he saw the short dagger that was held in place by her oni. And just by that, he recognized her.

"Nee-san?"

It was like she was turning slowly even though she wasn't. Arata tried to sit up until he felt a twinge of pain halfway and thought better. With Yuki's help, he laid down again. But it was his sister. It really was. She even sat next to him and patted his head like he was that sick child that would always want her by his side. 

"I thought you were dead," Arata said, still in his own mind bewildered that his sister was still alive. He had even attended the funeral. "How come you're still alive?"

She grinned like there as something slightly amusing going on in her head. "You know our family. Missions are to be completed at all costs. I didn't finish it and was injured during my fight, so I didn't even try to go home. An ojii-san ended up saving me even though I almost wiped out their entire household. He's the one who changes your bandages every night."

"Why didn't you come back then when you were better?"

"I did, but when I was finally able to get up by myself, everyone already assumed that I was dead. Personally, I liked the conditions where I recuperated and asked to be taken in despite my actions. They were nice enough to take me in and I've been here ever since. I wanted to take you with me, of course, but you had already left. It was only later that I found out that you quit being a samurai and went to join Haru's clan of ninjas."

"How did you find out? Is it because we were being checked on since it's a family of samurais that you were supposed to wipe out?"

"The family doesn't harbor any evil thoughts on the ninjas. They are actually really friendly with each other since the head of the family was Yuki's father and he married Yuki's mom who happened to be a ninja."

Yuki was being entertained by a goldfish that was swimming in a bowl until her name was called. "That just made me realize that I never said anything about my background have I?"

Arata stared at her blankly. "Of course you didn't. I had no clue you were half samurai. While we're on topic, is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

 She smiled. "That should be it. I'll tell you if I think of something. But I should go to the market first. I'll be back!"

She was in a good mood seeing how she skipped out of the room. Arata tried sitting up again and managed to lean against the wall behind him. That was when he actually noticed how injured he was.

"What happened when I was out?" he asked.

"I have no idea. But it's Souta, so we can assume that he tried to cut you up and feed you to the dogs or something in that manner."

There was silence between them for a while before Arata spoke up again. "I should have checked the casket back then."

"How come?"

"It was closed, so I thought it was weird at first, but I also thought that it was something that I wouldn't want to see. If I had back then, I would have known that you were alive all this time."

"But would you have lived like you do today if you did know?"

"I guess not."

"At first, when I heard you were gone, my intuition already told me that it was because of what you believed to by my death. I was worried at first, but as I thought about it more, I eased up. You were old enough to take care of yourself and would have prepared for the trip. And if you would be happier if you could live your own life. You never really liked killing to begin with, much less kill because others told you to."

"It's better now. Killing people doesn't effect me as much as it used to."

"But are the people you killed innocent and don't deserve to die?"

He shook his head. "No. The last one I killed was accused of murder and bribery, but was never put in jail because of his wealth and poltical power. His family treated the other villagers like they were lowly servants, doing as they please to their little stores along the street." 

"You see? I remember all those times when you were sent out to kill someone because of some whim a person might have had. At least those days are over now right?"

"Yeah, those days are over."