• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

He inclined his head respectfully to Jack. But the sly grin on his face told Jack that Kazuki was more skilled than he let on – and far from sorry.

Jack couldn’t wait for this evening when Yamato would wipe that smile off his face.

13

KNOCKDOWN

‘I wasn’t expecting an audience!’ muttered Yamato as he limbered up for the match. ‘How did everyone find out?’

‘I may have told a couple of friends,’ admitted Saburo sheepishly.

‘A couple! It’s more like the entire school’s here.’

A buzz of excited chatter filled the air as groups of students crowded along the edge of the central courtyard of the Enryakuji Temple. The surrounding buildings were in ruins, destroyed by the samurai general Nobunaga forty years earlier. Yet Sensei Kano still occasionally taught the students the Art of the Bō here. He said the temple was possessed with the spiritual strength of the sohei monks. Even now, a solitary monk prayed inside the broken shell of the Kompon Chu-do, keeping the Eternal Light burning as it had done for over eight hundred years. The flame could be seen flickering in the shadows, its light playing off the cracked beams and shattered stone idols of the otherwise deserted shrine.

Outside, the rays of the evening sun filtered through the trees and transformed the fractured stone courtyard into a golden arena. Kazuki and the founding members of his Scorpion Gang were gathered at the other end, eagerly awaiting the forthcoming fight. Moriko, the fifth core member, arrived with supporters from the rival samurai school, the Yagyu Ryū. Her bleached-white face and black arrow-straight hair gave her a devilish appearance, only added to by her blood-red lips and dark raven eyes. Yet the most disturbing thing about the girl was her teeth, painted black as tar.

Each of the gang had chosen a training weapon. Kazuki had his wooden bokken. Goro carried a staff. Hiroto swung a surujin, the weighted ends of the rope wrapped in cloth to lessen its lethal force. Nobu held a pair of tonfa, wooden batons with handles on the side. Moriko, though, didn’t appear to have brought any weapon. But Jack knew she was devious and was probably concealing it so that Yamato wouldn’t know what to expect during the match.

‘Yamato, you don’t have to do this,’ said Jack as Kazuki approached. ‘Not for my sake.’

‘This isn’t about you any more,’ replied Yamato sternly. ‘It’s about honour and maintaining face.’

‘You could get seriously hurt.’

‘Wounds heal, broken bones mend, but my damaged reputation is far harder to fix. I need to restore my honour.’

‘But –’

‘Jack, a samurai lives and dies by his name and reputation. I’m judged differently because of my father. The fact that I’m not training in the Two Heavens is seen by everyone, including my father, as a failure. But I don’t need the Two Heavens to be a great samurai. I intend to prove myself worthy of being a Masamoto.’

Jack knew how much Yamato desired his father’s approval. Ever since his brother had been murdered by Dragon Eye, Yamato had been living in Tenno’s shadow. Nothing he did ever seemed to match up to his older brother’s achievements, at least in Masamoto’s eyes. This match would be the ultimate test.

‘That is what I’m fighting for,’ stated Yamato, snatching the staff from Jack’s hand.

Kazuki stopped and bowed to Yamato.

‘It appears we’ve drawn a crowd,’ he said, glancing around. ‘I hope they won’t be disappointed.’

‘They won’t,’ replied Yamato. ‘But you will be when I’ve finished with you.’

Kazuki laughed. ‘If you’re that confident, perhaps we should raise the stakes a little. Give us something more than honour to fight for.’

‘What do you have in mind?’ said Yamato guardedly.

‘If you win, I promise to leave your family pet alone,’ he said, glancing at Jack.

‘And if I lose?’

‘You leave the gaijin to us.’

‘Agreed,’ said Yamato, to Jack’s utter astonishment.

‘That’s very courageous of you!’ mocked Kazuki. ‘But you do realize that win or lose, he’s a lost cause. When daimyo Kamakura has his way, any gaijin found hiding in Japan will be executed or crucified.