Darker Shade of Black🪼

10 - Choose Your Sacrifice

Takuma finished being a frump and was heading back to the Benitone house when he heard the sounds of fearful crying. He stopped, listening for a second and then recognized the wailing as Satuya's. How, he wasn't sure, but it sounded scared and confused. Without a second thought, Takuma ran toward the sounds of the crying, coming to the open window of the doctor's house. He peered inside and saw Satuya laying next to what looked like a sleeping Tsume, flailing and crying as hard as his little lungs would allow.
"Ungrateful father. Who leaves their kid to just bawl like that?" he grumbled, climbing into the window and walking over to the baby, picking him up and cradling him gently. He calmed down a little, only to a whimper, and Takuma frowned at Tsume's still sleeping frame.
"Get up, you louse." He growled, nudging him with his foot.
Tsume did nothing and Takuma frowned even more, this time in curiosity.
"Tsume, wake up. Your baby is crying..."
Still nothing. Takuma frowned even more, but it worry now. He pulled Tsume back so he was lying flat on his back. Tsume wasn't moving and Takuma began to panic, running to find the doctor as quickly as possible.

******************

Natomi leaned against the wall as the doctor sewed up Tsume again. Takuma had come to get him when the doctor saw that Tsume had almost bled out from the wound. Even though it didn't look like it on the surface, Tsume had also pulled some internal stitching.
"How much does this set us back?" Natomi said softly, trying to act casual.
The doctor could see that he was anything but, but that came with being a doctor to ninja who never show expression: he had to read between the lines.
"Another two weeks."
"Damn it... I can't do that. I can't give him that long."
"The only other thing I can do is treat him in the forest in his little hut you say he has but... he needs constant care at the moment. All this excitement isn't going to help him at all. He needs uninterrupted rest, help with those children, limited visitors, and standby care. I cannot give him that in the forest."
"Then what else should I do?" Natomi snarled, taking the piece of straw from his mouth and glaring at the doctor. "Huh? I've done everything that I know how to get away with. I lost my position because I begged for two more weeks. If I beg for anymore I'll lose my privilege as a ninja."
"You've done a lot already and now your pride comes into play?"
"My job is to be a ninja. I make money being a ninja. I have to support my daughter and I. It's all I know."
"That's not true... You have medical background. You could become a doctor." He said, snipping the string.
"I don't want to be a doctor."
"You never did..."
Natomi frowned. "Shut up, Father."
The doctor chuckled and leaned back on his heels.
"I always told you that it was in your genes. Look at Inoue; she does well in medicine. Would it be a sin to take over my practice? You've always ran away from it as if it were something foul or bad."
Natomi looked away. "It's not that I don't like it –it often comes in handy in a pinch- I just don't want to do it for the rest of my life. It's the same now as when I told you back then that I didn't want to be a doctor."
"Yes, yes, you wanted to be a great ninja." He said, putting away his materials and rolling his eyes. "Yes, your mother wasn't happy about that."
"That's because she was a ninja too and angry that she could not be one here."
"Your mother had a choice: keep you or be a ninja. Isn't that the same choice Tsume made? Her other choice was to take care of you like a mother should, or leave you with me. She had already made one sacrifice, so why not make another? This," he pointed between the two. "Is that choice for you."
"This is different."
"It is in no way different. Tsume has been like a son to you, so has Takuma and you have your own daughter. Would you not risk your life or occupation to make sure they were safe? Make sure they were well taken care of? I'm not begging you to do it, Natomi, I'm just telling you the reality of the situation. There are three options and they are all unpleasant: 1) we send Tsume out with no one to care for him, 2) we send Tsume out with me to care for him, leaving the village with no doctor or 3) we keep him here and you lose your position as a ninja." He stood up and put a hand on Natomi. "Life is messy, my son... tsuno no tamete ushi o korosu: sometimes the actions taken to put things right is more damaging than the original problem."
He pat him on the shoulder and left him to think about it.

***************

Natomi stood before Yukorite and bowed to him.
"Master, I have come for... another favor."
"You seem to think my mercy extends a long way." Yukorite said with a lift of his eyebrow. "What do you want this time?"
"I request a two week extension for your son."
"Why?"
"Somehow he pulled his stitches open from the inside, causing him to almost bleed to death. I don't know how he did it or how he even got Satuya with him in the first place... but it is an unfortunate setback."
"Denied."
"I will... I will relinquish myself as a ninja in payment for Tsume's extended stay."
Yukorite snarled and grabbed Natomi, scaring him.
"Get up, you fool. I cannot grant either of those requests."
"Why? What purpose-"
"Because right now you are being more of a father than I am and I can't allow you to do it anymore." Natomi was shocked but put on a stoic face and nodded once. "You are sacrificing everything for a boy that isn't yours. It grates on my nerves."
Natomi set his jaw and crossed his arms.
"Well, Master, I wouldn't be doing it if you had just let him stay! Nine months, sir! Nine months was all that was needed and all you have done is mess up other people's lives! Even your own wife is ashamed of what you have done! Why will you not banish me like your son? What purpose does it serve to keep me here?"
"This is your punishment."
Natomi blinked. "Sir?"
"Tsume's punishment was banishment. Takuma's punishment was a whipping and learning the value of loyalty... but you... you can't stop at that. You have to go over and beyond. It's that Laota blood within you." He said with a sneer. "There is no other punishment that I could do to you to make you understand, so I punish you with nothing."
"You could sit here and let me watch your son suffer! Let yourself watch him suffer?! He has done nothing to deserve this!"
"My son understood what happened to him! Out of everyone, he has been the most reasonable one about it. Not once has he asked or begged, because he understands. Everyone else gets hurt because they don't want to understand. Tsume has had his punishment; it has been done. He did not ask for you or Takuma's help. Takuma has had his punishment; he understands. But you cannot seem to get it through your thick skull! And so I will punish you the only way you will understand. Have I made myself clear, Sakauchi?"
Natomi swallowed hard and balled up his fits to keep from punching Yukorite. Before he could speak though, Yukorite put his hand up.
"Let me make this clear: if this were any other situation, I would be doing the same thing. Do not think this is because it involves my family or my pride that I am doing this. If there was a ninja as desperate as you trying to do the same thing for someone else, I would be doing this as well... I praise your efforts but the Laota spirit is deep in you. Engrained from your mother's side; and although she was a ninja too, she was just like you. In the end, it backfired and killed her. I just want you to understand that some things much be allowed to be done. The past cannot be changed, and neither can my word. Tsume will stay here the allotted time and then go to the Laota. That is all."
Natomi nodded, truly and finally understanding.
"My lord..." he said with a small bow as he left.

*******************

Tsume floated back to consciousness for a few minutes and looked around. The wound felt tighter and he remembered laying there for a bit.
"I feel like I have failed." He heard from the other room.
Tsume turned his head and listened.
"You did everything you could, Natomi. No one blames you for that."
"I tried to defy my master..."
"You tried to help your friend."
"Because you told me to!"
"Do not blame this on me, Nato."
"Don't call me that..."
"Then take your own blame. Master Yukorite is right in that your Laota blood is deeply entrenched. It is by their nature to help others, that is why they are a refugee city. But there are laws that are set and cannot be broken."
"So you sent me in to get that point?" he snapped.
"I had no idea what the Master would say to you. I'm surprised he even let you have the two weeks. But as hard as it is to accept, he is right. Everyone has caused their own suffering. Tsume has not asked for anyone's help in this matter, obeying his father's wishes."
The conversation was drowned out by Tsume's own thoughts.
He decided that things needed to stop.