𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳

03. BORN AGAIN

・
「 妹 」
•

"It's a mechanical swordsmen dummy, and my name is Kotetsu, not Yoriichi!-- Wait, that's Yoriichi Zeroshiki, did my dad spoil you already?"

"No—the ... me-cha-ni...cal?" She was puzzled for a moment, having never heard such a word before. "His face, his form... I know this is in fact not a real person by some design, but he looks exactly like my old friend Yoriichi Tsugikuni." Then she paused, looking down at her feet with a blush. "I spoke to him for long maybe only twice in my life, he spoke to me as a younger sister yet with familiarity as if we'd come from similar backgrounds. We hadn't, but we'd both had similar births."

Then Sakurai was beginning to remember, as the memories of the swordsman came rushing to her, with the same rush she approached the model with.

"He was the greatest samurai in the land blessed by the gods with eyes that could see everything in battle, and he discovered breaths through that sight. Born with that mark on his face. His family thought him cursed. I was born with odd marks as well. The whiskers on my face that resembled a fox's, and these round eyebrows despite everyone in my family looking quite normal. But that wasn't what they thought as a curse or blessing, it was my gift in the temple; in healing, purifying, and seemingly warding demons away by my own presence. I, with my mother, had sealed away demons in objects; swords, wells, and clay pots; we had never thought to slay them. I was a priestess of Amaterasu, she had gifted me the presence of the sun while she gave Yoriichi the breath. He visited our temple first when he was young, and then had mastered the breath of sun in weeks. He taught me how to do such breathing that would change your body to match a demons', though I procured a style different, and passed on to my sister starting at age nine, I was ten. He may have been fifteen or sixteen."

"Gifted powers of Amatersu? How?"

She lifted her head to the sunlit sky through the trees. "I could make talismans strong enough that would create barriers. My blood I could ignite like fire—like the sun that would harm demons greatly. When protecting my village—this village, I hadn't a need for a sword for I could burn my hands like the sun, blighting and stinging demons enough to seal them in pots, even while I could wield a sword I did not always have breaths. Then, I was a vessel-- a maiden of Amaterasu. But now..." Her hand touched the sealed blade at her side. "I lack either the ability now or have forgotten how to do such things. Even breath. I used those gifts to keep sealed this demonblade at my side—for... now which era is it now? From the Sengoku era."

"Taishou. Sengoku was... almost four hundred years ago."

Sakurai grew so quiet as the breeze blew through the covered forest she could almost hear the bamboo drop in a distant garden. Maybe she should cry, but in a way had preparedness for an absurd answer. She suspected it. After, she woke up with no one waiting for her. Everyone she had once known and loved was dead. She hadn't realized she wouldn't have a chance to say it again. Had she, she might've mustered the strength to say no to her father, but she had wanted him and the village to be happy.