The Lost Shadow

Chapter 3 - The Living Dead Samurai

After resting for a couple of days, Hideaki decided to get out of the pitch-black room. He wanted to see the village with his own eyes. So, he grabbed a robe which was neatly folded up in the corner. As Hideaki was putting the robe on, he noticed that his left arm has started to heal better. It wasn't numb anymore and he was able to move it. Then he got up, and walked towards the shoji, leaving the futon without folding it. When he slid open the shoji, everyone stopped and gave him a dull look. In return, he responded with a dull smile. When he took a step forward, all of them stepped back. They were acting like a bunch of cats that were trying to protect their kittens. Still, Hideaki kept walking. He waved to everyone that he passed and said things like "Hi", "How are you?", "Nice weather, right?" and "You know where Isamu is?".

Even though he asked all these questions, no one seemed to answer them. They all just looked at him. They weren't mad, rather they were just cautious. Hideaki did not know what to do. He didn't even know why they were on their guard. So, while he was walking he let out a huge sigh and then started to yawn. As the water started to come out of his eyes he saw Isamu.

Isamu was playing with a bunch of children and Amaya was watching. What he did not get was, why were Isamu and Amaya always together? It wasn't like Amaya was Isamu's wife. After thinking about this for a while, he came to a conclusion. "Isamu is a pervert!"

Hideaki turned around pretending like he didn't say anything. He started to sweat, as he felt an ominous aura getting closer. He took a step forward, but the aura became larger. Tears started to come out of his eyes. Then he heard a huge scream. "HIDEAKI!"

He stopped and started to shake. Then muscular hands clenched both his shoulders. Hideaki was forced to turn and what he saw was no man, but an image of a giant with bright red eyes. Hideaki cried out, "Sorry Isamu. I did not mean what I said. It just came out."

Suddenly the image of the giant seemed much smaller and the red eyes were gone. Then Isamu walked beside Hideaki and slapped his back which made him lose his stance and fall. "It's okay. Words can just slip out. Hahaha!"

Smirking on the ground, Hideaki got up and brushed his robe. He gave Isamu a pitiful smile as he walked passed him. He started to explore the village that would be his home. He still had second thoughts about living in the village because he still had his hometown. His hometown was further away from the village.

While Hideaki was lost in his train of thought some kids holding wooden swords ran past him. They fought while they ran. He wondered if there was a place where people went to practice sword fighting in the village, so he decided to follow the kids. The children led him to a dojo that looked like it wasn't used in years. The walls adorned holes and the sign was falling off. This place seemed more like a trap rather than a dojo, but still he wanted to investigate what it was and how they taught the children.

As he got closer he saw a middle aged man that came out to greet the kids from the dojo. The kids playfully ran into the dojo ignoring the man. Hideaki found this weird so he walked closer to the dojo. As he got closer he felt a very dangerous feeling. He felt the presence of bloodlust. So he went even closer to the dojo. Then suddenly Isamu appeared in front of him. "Isamu! Where did you come from? And what is with that dojo? I have a very bad feeling coming from there."

Isamu then looked at him very seriously and questioned. "Did you see anyone go in there? And did you see someone else with them"

Hideaki was very confused. He did see someone but it seemed the like the kids did not. "Yes, I saw 2 kids with swords go in there. Also, there was a middle-aged man standing in the front-"

Isamu stopped him and ran into the dojo. Hideaki was worried as to why he ran. So he waited for a while and then he saw Isamu come out of the dojo. But the problem was that there was only one child with him and the child was crying. what caught his eyes most was the fact that the child had blood on his cheek which was running down his neck.

Isamu saw the worried look on Hideaki's face, but silently ignored it and started to walk away from the dojo with the child. Hideaki tried to approach him, but all he said was "Go back to your room. I will meet you there"

So he walked back to his room. When he got to his room he kept walking in circles trying to figure out what just happened and why there was blood on the child's face. Then it hit him. "Where is the other boy? I know I saw two of them walk in. Why did only one come out? And who did that blood belong to?"

Hideaki was getting stressed just thinking about it. He had questions that needed answers. He got more impatient when he thought about the situation. He couldn't wait any longer. He needed to know what happened. So he went to open the shoji, but Isamu opened it and then walked in. He closed the shoji and sat down by Hideaki's futon. Hideaki joined him while at the same time he gave Isamu a serious stare.

Both Hideaki and Isamu gave each other serious stares. "What happened in there?" Hideaki asked this in a calm, but an impatient way.

Isamu then looked Hideaki in the eye and got up. He walked towards the shoji and gave Hideaki a gesture to follow him. They started to walk towards the entrance of the village. Isamu led Hideaki out the village. "Isamu, where are we going? Are you going to tell me what happened to the ki-"

Isamu forced his hand on Hideaki's mouth which stopped him from completing what he was about to say. "Do not speak about what you saw there. He could be listening."

Hideaki noticed that Isamu was worriedly looking everywhere while he had his hand on his mouth. 'What did Isamu mean when he said that He is watching' Hideaki also started to look around to see what Isamu was looking for. Nothing, nothing was there. All Hideaki could see were the mountains that surrounded the village. Finally, Isamu took his hand off of Hideaki's mouth. *Haaa* Hideaki let out a deep breath. Isamu then continued to walk away from the village. Hideaki was slowing down his pace to inspect the surroundings. Looking back, the view of the village became somewhat blurry. Isamu had stopped, but it was in front of a very old looking shaft. it looked like it would fall apart any minute. The rooftop was made out of wood that was just placed there without anything to keep it in place. The walls were also made out of wood that was jabbed into the ground, which was too weak to hold anything more than the roof. Isamu walked in and so Hideaki followed after. There was no door to this shack so they just walked in. The only thing that was in the house was a candle. the light on the candle was diminishing, but there was enough for them to be able to see. "Hideaki, I will now tell you about the dojo and the once alive samurai who is still in there".

Futon - A Japanese bed was used in the edo period, but can still be found in modern times. Dojo- Where martial arts are taught and practiced