Chapter
III
Nobuko and General Masao were riding
through a forest. They had been travelling for a while and it was getting near
to sunset. “Where are we going exactly?” Nobuko asked General Masao. “We are
going to see my old friend, Master Ronin” said General Masao. “I’ve heard of
him,” said Nobuko “he’s a very wise man and he lives in a temple far away”. “That
is correct,” said General Masao “I need to see him for important business”.
“What business is that?” “Now is not the time. We now need to find a place to
spend the night”.
Good news was there was a shrine in
the forest. General Masao tied his and Nobuko’s horse to a tree so they
wouldn’t escape, and Nobuko set up a fire and cooked some rice for dinner. “When
you finish with your dinner,” said General Masao “make sure the horses are all
right and then get some sleep. We will be leaving again at sunrise”. “I
understand” said Nobuko.
After finishing the rice, General
Masao got up and had a walk around, while Nobuko checked the horses. “Your
master seems to be a strange man,” Nobuko said to General Masao’s black horse,
in her normal voice, “I mean he asked me to be his companion, and yet he won’t
tell me what he’s going to do. I don’t understand men. Anyway I wouldn’t really
because I am a woman, not a man”. Nobuko checked the horses once more, put out
the fire, went into the shrine, took off her katana and tanto swords and straw
hat and went to sleep.
In the middle of night, Nobuko woke
up. The horses were making a noise. She put on her straw hat, picked up her
swords and went out of the shrine to calm the horses down. What she saw outside
was a thief, trying to take the horses. “Get away from them!” shouted Nobuko,
in her male voice. The thief was carrying a knife and saw Nobuko. He charged at
her to attack her. But then just before the thief could do anything, a wolf
came from behind the trees, pounced on the thief and killed him. Nobuko feared
that the wolf may attack her next and drew out her tanto sword. “Stop,” said a
voice “don’t attack the wolf”.
The voice belonged to a young man.
The wolf walked over to the man, and then the man stroked the wolf’s head.
Nobuko was amazed with what she was seeing. She had never seen a human and wolf
being friendly towards each other before. “Uhh I take it that wolf is your
friend?” asked Nobuko. “He is more than a friend,” replied the man “he is my
family”, and then he walked off with the wolf. “Okay,” sighed Nobuko to herself
“this night is getting weird for me”. Instead of going back into the shrine,
Nobuko lit another fire and spent the rest of the night next to the fire.
When sunrise came, Nobuko was eating
rice for breakfast. The event from last night made it hard for Nobuko to get
back to sleep, so Nobuko had been up even before sunrise. Just as Nobuko was
still eating, General Masao turned up. “I’m glad to see that you are up”
General Masao said to Nobuko. “I’m relieved you’re here,” said Nobuko
“something scary and strange happened last night”. “And what was that?” asked
General Masao. “Well last night a thief tried to steal our horses,” said Nobuko
“and then this wolf came around and killed the thief. And the strange thing was
that this man came up and he and the wolf were friendly towards each other”.
“You never seen a man and wolf friends with each other?” asked General Masao.
“I was always told to stay away from wolves, unless I wanted to be torn apart
by them, which I don’t of course” said Nobuko. “Did this man say anything?”
asked General Masao. “I asked him if the wolf was his friend,” said Nobuko “and
he said that the wolf was his family”. “I see” said General Masao, with a
smile.
After breakfast, General Masao and
Nobuko began getting ready to leave. “If we leave now,” said General Masao “we
may reach Master Kenshin’s temple sooner than we think”. Just as he was walking
to his horse, he dropped a hair pin onto the ground and Nobuko picked it up. It
was a silver hair pin, with a blue bird and purple flower on it. “You dropped
this” said Nobuko, showing it to General Masao. General Masao quickly took it
from her. “This hair pin is important to me,” he explained “it belonged to my
wife”. “You had a wife?” asked Nobuko. “I did,” General Masao said “but sadly she
died from a sudden illness two years after our marriage”. Nobuko was shocked by
that and apologized to General Masao for prying. “It’s alright, come we must
leave now”. “Before we do leave,” said Nobuko “I would like to know what you
want me for. I mean I’ve become your companion on my free will, and yet I don’t
know what you are going to do”. General
Masao sighed. “Since you are so passionate to know, I will tell you”, he said
“I’m on a quest of killing two men, and they are the Emperor Hisashi and
General Takeshi”. “I understand that,” said Nobuko “because I too wish to get
rid of them, especially General Takeshi. The truth is General Takeshi took my family
away from me when I was only seven years old. I was living happily with my
mother, father and baby brother, in the countryside. But then one day General
Takeshi and his men came to our house, and then he slaughtered my father. Next
he set fire to the house, while my mother, little brother and I were still in
the house. I got out of the house alive, but my mother and little brother
didn’t. My family and I had never done anything wrong to displease the emperor,
and yet he ordered for me and my family to be killed. And ever since that day I
had always hated the emperor and his general”. “What happened to you after your
family was slaughtered?” asked General Masao. “I was raised by my father’s
friend Tetsuya Shibata,” said Nobuko “not only did he raise me but he is also
the one who taught me how to fight with a sword. But three years ago he got
sick and then passed away, and after that I worked in the palace kitchens. But
I still hold hate and anger towards Emperor Hisashi and General Takeshi,
especially General Takeshi because he finds killing people fun. That’s why I
just left the palace; I want to find someone who would help me get rid of the
emperor and general. They are too strong for me to defeat them on my own”. “”Well
you have found the right man to help you fight the emperor and general, just
like I have found the right man to accompany me on this quest,” replied General
Masao “and that’s why I want you to fight with me when I confront the emperor”.
“I will gladly do so” said Nobuko, bowing her head to General Masao. “Very
well,” said General Masao “come now we must leave while the day is still
young”.
When General Masao and Nobuko set off
on their horses again, Nobuko was in thought. Since she now knew what General
Masao’s plan was she had a feeling that she was going to be part of something
big. She didn’t know what it was though, but knew it was something big.
