Echo of the Soul

4 | Samurai Slayer

I fitted myself into a full set of heavy leather armor, unfortunately for me it was all built with a man's body in mind. Upon request I got access to the bandages that serve the purpose of binding my flat chest.

It's surprising that Itachi even considered letting me go. He didn't do it out of the kindness of his heart, I know that.

I waited for a long time out in the hot sun. It feels like I'm sweltering in this uniform. Nothing could break my out of my trance, not the men rushing around doing work or the bugs that buzzed in my ears.

I stared longingly at the green foliage. Freedom is just that close. If I ran I bet I could make it this time. Then finding Dororo would be easy, especially dressed as a samurai.

I wasn't given any weapons, yet. The samurai here don't trust me. Witch isn't fair, it's not like killed anyone to get this rep. I guess they just don't like that the prisoner is out of its cage.

"Come on, were setting out to the battle field soon." I was expected to follow any orders given to me. The consequences for disobedience around here is death.

I was lead into a long line of marching soldiers. Being locked up in that cell killed my stamina. My muscles were barely there.

I bet they were sending me to war so I could die. That would be nice for them wouldn't it?

"Speed up." I got shoved roughly from behind. An irritated sound erupted from my mouth.

The marching lasted all day. The golden sun blasted its heat across the baren wastelands. It felt as if my leather armed was baking me alive. The only relief I got was when the sun set below the horizon and the chill of night eased my body.

Finally, the war came to us. Arrows rained from the sky. We raised our shields to the onslaught of barrages. Being so small come in handy, it saved my life while other, much larger men were skewered. The man behind me collapsed drowning in his blood.

"These enemies are cowards. They hide behind their closed doors and shoot from the windows." A samurai close to me grunted.

Why are they cowards? Because they want to live? This isn't a battlefield, these are homes.

"There's women and children in there!" I argued with the people around me.

"So? They are enemies of Lord Daigo." With that the samurai surged forward into the village with shields still raised. Men hollered their battle cried and broke into houses. To avoid being ran over by the men behind me, I followed.

Many screams followed as houses were raided. The worst of all the raiding wasn't that the villagers were killed. Unspeakable things were done to the women. They were tortured and tormented sometimes by more than one man. Always, by the end of the tragedy, the women were dead. 

It horrified me and enraged me. My parents hatred of samurai began to make sense. They were killing entire families without a second thought.

I walked on the blood soaked dirt, my uniform still pristine. Houses right and left were being ransacked. I picked up a spear from a fallen samurai and held it tightly with both hands.

One caught my attention. A white cotton shirt hung on the door like a flag. A sign of surrender. But inside it was clear that something was happening. A child was crying and the mother was screaming.

Not being able to ignore this death for much longer, I opened the door. I was met with the moment that will scar my memory forever.

The man of the house was on the floor was his head nearly cut off. A woman lay on the table top screaming and crying at the same time. It sounded horrible. The child I couldn't see but I could hear them from the other room.