The Wandering God

6 One Never Visits a Temple Without Cause

無事不登三寶殿
wú shì bù dēng sānbǎodiàn
No one ascends to the temple without a reason.
To have a hidden agenda.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Kageyama Sho, assassin, guardian, slave, outcast, glared daggers at the melons on the fruit stall before him as he thought.

It had been three days since that trouble making vagrant of a girl had discovered him and Sanli at the old temple. Three hellish days of having to play courteous and consider her requests: "Oh, would you be so kind as to fill my canteen as well?" "I'd be most grateful if you'd carry my pack for me." "Oh, would you mind paying for my room? I'm a little short on coin."

Kageyama ground his teeth as he recalled the scene from three nights ago.

The girl rose in the corner of his vision and he froze. As she slowly, leisurely walked around the wall toward them and up the aisle, Kageyama was reminded of a priestess, reverently approaching the altar of her god.

She hadn't made a sound, the thick moss cushioning her wooden sandals, but Sanli had realized something was wrong and turned.

There was a pause, in which the sound of the rain pattering on the leaves of the forest was the only noise aside from their breath. Both parties wordlessly watched the other.

Kageyama's fingers flexed instinctively as he contemplated what to do. The prayer of the sixth god had been lost to all but a few. The girl probably had no idea what she had just witnessed, if she had heard at all. He started to think up things to say to explain why he and Sanli were here, lies to tell, half-truths to stretch-

And then the girl spoke. "Good evening, gentlemen. Lovely night for a heretical ritual, wouldn't you say?"

In the present Kageyama growled and glared harder at the melons. She had known exactly what she had witnessed.

"Are you trying to cut the melons just by looking at them, Sho Sensei?" Sanli asked. Kageyama glanced at him, so deep in though he hadn't heard Sanli come up beside him. Just like he hadn't heard the girl three nights ago.

Kageyama pointed out two melons and passed the stall keeper a coin. Melon in each hand he turned and made his way to the edge of the main square of the small town where they had spent the night. Wordlessly, Sanli followed.

They sat on the stone steps leading down to the stream that ran through the center of the town. The weather had been uncharacteristically cool and overcast, and the steps were still wet from the night before, but neither man cared.

Kageyama passed Sanli one of the melons to hold and then pulled a small knife from his boot to cut the other. Sanli smiled as he watched Kageyama check the knife to make sure it was clean, even though they both knew it was. Kageyama always took meticulous care of everything he owned, especially his knives.

The knife sunk though the melon's hull with a soft wet thunk. Kageyama carved a crescent shaped slice with two neat strokes, then held it to his mouth with the tip of the knife, his white teeth sinking into the dripping green flesh. Kageyama felt Sanli watching him. Since Sanli was a child, his curious eyes had drawn to Kageyama's mouth whenever he ate, as though expecting his guardian to suddenly sprout fangs and rip into his food like an animal.

It had annoyed Kageyama originally, but now he was amused by Sanli's continued curiosity, even after all these years.

Kageyama cut a second slice and held it out to his charge. Sanli took it and nibbled on it disinterestedly, watching Kageyama as he ate a third slice. As he was angrily hacking out a fourth, Sanli finally asked "What's bothering you, Sho Sensei?"