The Rat Race

Look, I did not want to be a warrior.

Quite to the contrary, I have tried avoiding that lifestyle, since I was a young boy. War was everything, I knew; for it was my soul's purpose.

My upbringing was as such, and I did it to help my village. As far as I am concerned, I fought for the right side, but it will not remembered that way.

Being a revolutionary is dangerous; it is terrifying. Most of the time, it got you killed in the most painful and humiliating ways. If you are a normal kid, I envy you; it must be great, to live in a time, where you can enjoy your innocence. My comrades and I were not so lucky.

I do not know, if we are on good terms. I doubt it, when I consider those final moments between us. If there is anybody to take my life, it would have to be one of them.

I am Akiyama Hideaki, son of Retta Isamu and Akiyama Kazumi.

I am eighteen years old. A few days ago, I was a student of the late great Nawaki Kosuke; he was a swordsman, who was the head of the rebellion against the rising imperialists.

Am I a good person?

I do not know.

If I could return to the beginning, I would never have chosen this path.

I have lived a life of sin. I believe, I can repent for my wrongs and do some good, for the world.

The last dying words of my Master, if I recall were that the bastard had fathered children.

It is not hard to believe.

I understand it now. Like, why he was able to train us, so well. The man knew, a thing or two about raising children!

However, I doubt any father would raise his children, to become killing machines for his ideals.

He may have done what he did, but it is against my principles, to deny a man's final request.

I can never forgive him.

Yet, I owe him so much.

He is one of the few fatherly figures that I have ever had. I am his student. I will make it my duty to protect and love his family.

I had hoped the trip, to get here would not be so hard; but it turned out, that he hid his family deep in the mountains, where it would take days to get there.

For the ordinary man, it would take days.

The students of Nawaki Kosuke are the exception. There is nothing, they cannot do.

We may be small in number, but in no way inferior.

Everybody connected to the Master is being persecuted throughout the country, but I should not worry for his students. The children are in the most danger, and I have to help them.

He entrusted them to me, and I cannot disappoint.

They fear that his children will grow up, and resent the treatment that their father received at their hands.

If I fail to arrive, they will grab ahold of his children, and send them off to the next world. The Imperialist's fear his children. Resentment is powerful; it often drives people to do the worse of things. 

According to him, I should be expecting two girls and a boy; the three have different mothers, and it shows the womanizer, he was.

He had little luck with women, until he met his third wife; his first two wives, died, during childbirth, and he was left to fend for them. The third wife is the mother of the youngest daughter, and it is she, who the children recognize as their mother.

The eldest is a boy named: Kosuke, who should be around ten years old. The brat was the pride and joy of his father, and it turned out, his mother, happened to be a member of one of the five great clans. This boy, inherited the talents of his clan.

The middle child is a girl named: Himari, who shares a three-year age gap between the eldest and the youngest. Being the middle child, she is rumored to be talented, and her mother, comes from the five great clans. In no way is she as gifted as the boy, but that is my personal opinion.

The runt of the litter is named: Maki, she shares a six-year age gap with the elder brother, and a three-year age gap with the elder sister. I do not consider her special. Her mother, is the average woman that comes from no clan. This woman gave the Master the most happiness. She welcomed his children with open arms, as if they were hers.

I always thought, that Master was having children; at the chance, they would be useful to him.

The birth of Ishikawa Maki; proved otherwise.

If she's average at best, I will put more effort into making her, a better warrior than her father and siblings.

She and I share something.

Anyhow, I have arrived. It took a couple of miles, to get here. Hopefully, I made it on time.

In a place like this, it's hard to tell, if there are people here.

Master's wife must be a demon, if she lives here by herself; the surname Ishikawa sounds a bit familiar, when I think about it.

I cannot think, where I heard it from.

Wait, this wicked aura!

This feeling. It's all too familiar; my body tells me, not to venture there; but I know, that’s where I will find my Master's family. If I must die, so be it! I shall protect them!

"Mother, Kosuke, Himari," I called out, hoping to hear their voices. I heard nobody return my cries, so I went around the cabin towards the commotion; I took a peek, and gasped at the sight of it...

Brother groveled on the ground, as our aggressor held my mother. Himari had received the worst of the brunt, our aggressor used his sword, to immobilize her. My brother eventually noticed me, Kosuke pleaded to me: 'Run, Maki, run! Here is no place, for you to die!'

Our aggressor had noticed me, as he held my mother by her throat; his appearance, terrified me. I felt powerless, at such a sight; he put an end to my mother, when he snapped her neck, and threw her aside, like, some worthless animal.

I felt anger, and I still do.

I felt like a coward, and if I just had power...

I did my best to memorize his appearance: he sported a cloak that covered everything, except his arms; the scars on his arms were the only thing I could see, and I embedded them into my memory.

Being a foolish girl, I confronted him, even if it meant dying; I demanded an explanation for my misfortunes, asking him what wrong we had committed against his person, for this inhumane treatment.

My audacity had stopped him, as he thought of what to say, perhaps. 

He could have killed us, ending it all.

He did not. Instead, he said to me: "Your misfortune is not being equal in power. The victors do what they can, and the losers suffer what they must."

"What is that you speak of," I said, "the world is big enough for all of us. Why do you commit to this savagery?"

"Your speech is rather elegant, how can that be? This world is vast, to those of your class; but to people, like me, there's no satisfying my hunger. They sent me, to depose threats to the empire, but to my surprise, there's nothing here."

If it had not been for my words, we would be dead. At least, that is what comforts me.

At the time, I was unaware of who my father was. We were told many things, but not once were we told the truth. It was this day, when our lives changed forever.

At the sight of my mother's corpse, I cried out to the heavens. I knew, it would not bring her back, but I hoped, it would. I wanted the pain to end, but at that moment, my cries were heard. A stroke of fortune came our way.

It was a man: average height, young, and out of breath. I had never seen him before, but Kosuke recognized him. He arrived on the scene, happy to see us.

He attended to those in need, patching up injuries and whatnot. By the time, he got to me, I fainted. He caught me in his arms, whispering to my ear: "Sleep tight, Maki. You are under my protection now."

Hideaki did just that, and the next morning; I awoke to the sound of him digging, a couple of graves. My siblings beat me to it, but I rushed out there, to see what was happening.The reality of what had happened did not hit me. Himari embraced me, as I watched him prepare the graves.

Our brother tried his best to stay strong, but he could not help it, he too cried at the sight of our deceased mother. She was as lovely as ever, but perhaps that's just a distorted recollection of mine. In a couple of minutes, he finished. He had dug four graves, to throw off our enemies.

"Kids, what you are going through is difficult. A day has passed, but the pain has yet to heal. If there is anything about me, to know; know that I will not tell a lie," Hideaki said, "the pain may never heal.  There is no time to stick around and weep. We must leave the area, it is not safe here."

We did not object to this, we knew the danger. Akiyama Hideaki, was my father's most trusted disciple. If he said, it was for our good, we would not question his authority.

Being under the care of the beloved disciple would not be easy. He put us through extreme regiment; throwing us into the wilderness and expecting us to survive. We survived that and more. He excluded me later, considering me a liability.

At this time of my life, I began to build resentment towards my father. Everything he did, and yet he could not do one thing for us. The things I would have done to see our family in unity, like, it always was meant to be. Even though, I lost you and my mother; I still have them. I will do everything that I can to keep them with me.