The samurai and the vow to the moon

Chapter 2

After Toshizo and the others head out on their patrol, I quietly creep out into the garden, fold my hands together, and face the heavens.

- I don't know where you are, or even who you are. But may you both rest in peace, free from any pain or suffering, I say in my head as a prayer. In my heart, that is my prayer, for the soldiers who lost their lives in battle. Then, Soji comes up beside me.

- You're willing to pray like this, for men you never even met, he asks.

- Regardless of who you are, or what your status is here on earth, there is one thing that makes us all equal. One thing that is more valuable than everything else. That is, life. My father taught me that, I say.

- Hmm, he says.

- We must value and honor every life, with equal respect, no matter whose life it may be, I say.

- Value every life, huh. If you really believe that, you're even more naive than I first took you form. Sweet and innocent as a newborn baby, aren't you, Soji asks.

- A baby, I ask. Taking my chin in his hand, Soji looks at me with a meaningful stare.

- Let's imagine you're out walking with a friend one night, and you both find yourself at the wrong end of some ronin swords, Soji says.

- Uh, uh-huh, I say.

- If you try to run away, your friend dies. So maybe you try to help your friend. No then you die. What do you do, in that situation. Hm, he asks.

- I'd help my friend, I say.

- Wouldn't that mean you're valuing your friend's life more highly than your own. Or are you somehow exempt from your little all lives are equal policy, he asks.

- But I, I say. This man takes great pleasure from being malicious, it seems.

- In the end, we're all destined to die. Some of us earlier than others. There's no way to value all lives equally, he says.

- Is he trying to say, that even if those two had come home safely, some others would have died in their place, I ask in my head.

- So let's say you pause to reflect every time one of your fellow soldiers dies on the field of battle, eventually, you might start thinking about valuing your own life a little more highly than others. What then, he asks.

- Soji, I'd say you've shared just about enough of your unique brand of wisdom, wouldn't you, a voice says.

- Sannan, Soji yells. It's the man who was sitting next to Kondo in the great assembly hall.

- This man is the secretary-general of the Shinsengumi, Soji says.

- I'm Keisuke Yamanami. But the way my name is written, people often mistake it for Sannan. At some point, that stuck, Sannan says.

- So that's why he called you that. It's nice to meet you. I'm Kira Chen, I say. He isn't like the other soldiers. Something about him seems more refined.

- You really ought to learn that it's proper to treat women more kindly, Sannan says. And saying nothing more, he simply turns and walks away.

That afternoon. Kondo tasks me with taking care of some cleaning.

- With nothing but men around, there are certain tasks that tend to get overlooked. I'm sorry to ask so much help of you, but I do greatly appreciate your help, Kondo says.

- It's my pleasure, I say. And so, rag and broom in hand, I commence right away.

- Ugh. It sure smells like a bunch of men live here, I say in my head. Outside, I can see some soldiers training in the yard, while others relax on the veranda.