Himitsu (Book One of the Kakureta Hana series)

XI: Ju Ichi

They come two nights later, the only warning being that Emi situates herself in front of the door, katana resting sheathed against her knees.  She refuses to tell me her reasons, cryptically saying that she hopes that she will not have to raise it in the children's defense.

That night, after I have laid the babes down in the cradle that they share, I lie awake, staring at the ceiling, conscious of the fact that Emi seems to believe that there is a threat against my family.  And her words from that afternoon two days ago drift through my mind as if they are the warning song of a bird.  More than you realize.  More than you realize.

At the darkest hour of the night, Emi slips upstairs, her face tight with worry.  The katana is sheathed at her hip, and her ever-present knife is just barely visible through the fabric of her kimono.  Her eyes glow in the light of the candle that she is carrying, making her look even more like a spirit than she already does.  "They are coming."

I do not bother to ask who; the answer is already more than clear in my mind.  "Protect the babes.  I do not care what happens to me, but protect the babes."

"Of course I will protect them," she answers as she sets the candle onto the low table and blows it out, "but you must continue to fight, Sakura.  Even though you believe that you can merely accept death, the will to live and to fight is ingrained deep in your blood."

"I have fought enough," I answer.  "If I can save my family any other way, I will not resort to the violence that I had lived in for all of my life.  There is enough blood on my hands, Emi, without taking the lives of people that I grew up among."

The dark shadow that is the shinobi settles herself in front of the cradle holding my sleeping children.  I hear the sound of the door opening violently below us, and I close my eyes as I take a deep breath to steady my shaking hands.

They come in with drawn katanas before them, a deadly wall that would have impaled anyone who had chosen to run for the door.  I cannot see any of their faces, and Emi laughs suddenly in the dark, the sound fading long before it can escape to the air outside.

"Sakura, wife of Lord Igarashi Ryuu, we have been sent to retrieve all those who dwell within your house," one of them says, and the candle that Emi left on the table flares back to life.

The shinobi holds it in one hand, Kazuhiko cradled in her other arm.  "Put away your weapons.  No one in this house will make a move against you as long as you do not harm any of us."

All four of their faces turn towards her, and I can see now that she purposely angled the light to fall across my sleeping babe's features, highlighting the idea that we mean them no harm.  The sharp sound of katanas sliding back into their sheaths breaks the fragile silence that had fallen after Emi's words as she throws a relieved look towards me.

"Gather the babes," the man speaks again while his three companions remain quiet.  "You have a few minutes."

My voice returns.  "What warrants such orders?  Why do you come in the dark of the night with your faces hidden and your weapons drawn?  What wrongs have been committed that such actions are necessary?"

The leader merely repeats, "Gather the babes."  He gestures towards one of the men behind him, who steps forward and plucks the candle from Emi's hand before taking her now-free hand to steer her roughly to the door.

Words that I do not know flow from her mouth as she yanks her hand away from his, face twisted in anger.  When the man goes to shove her, she snaps, "No harm."  And I notice that her arms wrap around my son's little body as her body angles away from him.

Whatever the man would have done to her is stalled by the reminder that she cradles a babe, one that is a son.  He raises his hands in defeat and steps away from her.