Dokan's+Tale+Chapter+1

Chapter 1: Then they all got drunk…

I took my time walking down the main street in Kitai. I enjoyed seeing the common man go about his day. It was something I could relate to having to have lived on my own for 15 years. I was still shocked by how much the city had grown in the past few years, it use to be a small stop with a few inns along the Kishin road to the capital. It said the emperor use to travel the road on his was to the imperial palace from his monastery in the east. The Kishin hasn’t been traveled for many years by the emperor. He is held in his palace, and isn’t allowed to do any thing unless the sorry excuse for a Shogun permits it. It makes no difference to me though, I couldn’t care less about what some bourgeois Emperor is doing, and I was just concerned with getting to my place of employment. It took me awhile, but I managed to get there, with little distraction. When I entered, the sensei was standing in the middle of the dojo with a broom. “Dokan you retard, get over here and sweep the mats clean, we have a lesson in thirty minuets” “Yes sensei” was all I could say to him, after all, the old bastard was the one who gave me my coin. The old man was known as “Kane”-sama. Apparently, he was some kind of wandering swordsman of old who came under hard times and was forced to open up a dojo to make a living. This old fool hated to teach people his “sacred style” which he appropriately called “the way of not getting your ass kicked”. The funny thing is that he wasn’t kidding when he called it this. That’s the only name his style has. It was rumored that he fought in the war over in Choson, and was one of the shogun’s high-ranking generals. If this rumor was true, he sure as hell fooled everyone in Kitai. He was a crusty old fool. He walked with a limp, and he always swore under his breath. His hair was cut in a topknot, but so much of it had fallen out, that he just looked like a crazy beggar. He also hated children for some reason. My best guess is that he envied their youth, and hated their lack of discipline. Even though he was a vile human, he was a genius when it came down to fighting. A few months back, I had been closing up the dojo with sensei when a band of thugs claiming to be part of the Kitai Yakuza came to hassle the dojo for protection money or some shit. Well, Kane knew that these thugs were no yakuza, and he could safely kick the crap out of them without having to worry about retaliation. Kane told me stand back, and he approached one of the ruffians. Kane stared him down for a second, and then before I could blink, he ripped the ear off the thug. The other guys looked in astonishment, then one of them revealed a tanto that he had hidden. The fool lunged at master Kane, but sensei just sidestepped the attacker, grabbed his arm, and broke it at his elbow. The thug stared at his arm, then began to run away screaming in fear. The other thugs followed in suit, and soon they had all retreated. Kane then reached down and picked up the ear. He held it up to his mouth then yelled into it “And don’t come back you dumb pieces of shit! You hear me!” he then threw the ear down the road after them. “C’mon kid, get your butt home. I don’t want to have to rip the ear of another wanna-be street thug.”

I swept the mats for a while, and then one of sensei’s students came in. I had seen this kid before; he was the son of some wealthy merchant here in Kitai. His father wanted him to become a swordsman so he could grow up and defend his father’s za, or merchant’s guild. This punk kid was only 13 years old and had a serious attitude towards everyone who wasn’t of a high status. That was the state of the merchant class, they were worse than the samurai when it came to class relations, the only difference is that they couldn’t openly execute whomever they wanted. “Good morning sensei” the little brat said after he bowed. “Oh… hey Dainashi, Dokan, do some warm ups or something with the kid, ill get the equipment I guess” This was Kane’s way of saying “I’m going to have a drink before I have to teach this little asshole, keep him busy”. “Okay kid, stretching time” I said. Kane had never taught me any “official” stretches or anything, so I just tried to remember what my old master had taught me back when I learned how to handle a sword. I stretched my arms above my head, and the kid did the same. I raised my left leg out in front of me, and so did the kid. Then I decided to have some fun, I grabbed my foot, and tried to put it over my head, while standing. This dumb kid did the same thing. I couldn’t do it, but the little kid managed to do it. At this moment Kane walked in. “…What the hell Dokan” He walked up to me, then hit me really hard in my chest. I fell to the mat, and had the wind knocked out of me. The kid stood there in fear. “Ok kid, take this, this is your training sword” He threw the bokken at the kid, and it hit him in the forehead, and then dropped to the ground. “Nice catch, now were gonna practice the first technique which is called ‘drop it, and run’” Kane then proceeded to demonstrate how to drop your sword on the ground, and run away. The kid started to imitate him, and then Kane looked at me. “Dokan you lazy piece of shit, get up and do this” Like I hadn’t seen him do this “technique” a hundred or so times. I stood up, and did the “run like a wuss” exercise. I had done it so many times; I had become better than Kane at it.

The lesson went of for an hour or so, and then there was another lesson. This time it was one of Kane’s favorite students. This one was Noro Honami, a local waitress at a local inn, who wanted to learn how to defend herself from the local thugs. She was a cute girl, around the age of 19 maybe. Kane liked her because she learned fast, and Kane could move from one lesson to the next, with little trouble. She was so good in fact; I suspect that someone had trained her before, although I have no clue by whom. She said she was raised on a farm in the province of Heru, but I didn’t believe her for a minuet. She was the kind of girl that would look at you with her big brown eyes, and that little smile, and you would forget what your name was. That was the effect that she had on master Kane. Unlike me, Kane had never been married, and he was always fond of the ladies; that was his one weakness. After the lesson, she asked master Kane if he would like to come have a drink at the inn where she worked. “Of course Honami-san, I would love a drink.” “Dokan, you are welcome to come too if you would like.” “Well, I should be getting home to see how Baka is doing, but I can go for a drink or too.” She seemed excited to have me come for some reason.

We closed up the dojo, and followed Honami to her inn. It was several blocks from the dojo, out of the way of the main streets. It was a well know establishment because the owner was the wife of a former samurai who resigned from his position as one of the shogun’s law enforcers. The place was called “The Pit” because it was located in an area of town where lots of thugs liked to hang out. When we got to the place it was crowded. It was only about seven o’clock in the evening but there were people hanging out front of the joint, and some local prostitutes were looking to relive the drunken patrons of their money. We walked into the inn and took a seat at one of the tables. Honami said she would try to get us some sake and she went back into the kitchen. I sat there with Kane. I watched as his eyes scanned the room. He was probably thinking the same thing that I was. There were some soldiers and other assorted military persons sitting and laughing. It was not uncommon for soldiers to go to The Pit for a drink when stopping through Kitai, but tonight there were some among them who looked like they might be samurai.

“We are fresh out of sake, but we do have some import stuff that we got from some trader abroad. I can’t remember what it is called… but it’s made from these things called grapes I think.” We took the liquor. Kane was more than appreciative for the booze. He downed his cup before Honami sat down. “I will get you some more when I get up, but I wanted to talk to you guys about something.” Honami was looking off to the other side of the room. “You see that man who is missing his left hand? He has been coming here every night for the past week. He tells me that there is unrest in the capital, and that the Shogun is planning to go to war with the Emperor.” “A war with the Emperor?” Kane said. “That prick has no idea what he is doing, he will get thousands of men killed if he tries to attack the Emperor’s palace head on”

I was shocked by Kane’s enthusiasm for the issue.

“Well that man tells me his part of the Shogun’s elite Kuro ninja clan. He says they are planning on assassinating the emperor, not attacking him out right.” “hahaha, darlin’, there is no way that man is a ninja, look at him! He is probably just saying that to try and get into your pants.” “That maybe so, but I got a glimpse of the crest that he wore on his kimono, it was the black crab of the Kuro.” Kane looked worried for a moment, and then looked over at the man. “Well, if that is the case, it isn’t any of our business.” Honami looked disappointed “Well, I’ll see about getting you guys some more drinks.”