Negotiations

Eien Akagawa

I stared at the little monster who had set me up. She primly sat with her legs underneath her across the table from me. She calmly sipped her tea with a subtle grin on her face.

I looked at the Kirin woman who sat the same exact way as Iroha. She held herself with confidence. She had set the headdress down on the small short table between us. Without the headdress to keep her hair in place, it fell down her shoulders to pool on the floor around her. She sipped from her tea without even a glimmer of distrust. I'd give her this, she was fearless.

Old man Akagawa had given her some hand-me-downs from his son. They consisted of a dark orange kimono which looked like it had never been worn and dark blue hakama pants that were fraying at the edges. The clothes were big, which was good since the Kirin woman was tall.

“I should introduce myself,” she said as she put down her tea on the table. “Seeing as I am the one who wishes to hire you.” Her voice was melodic and held a richness to it. “My name is Kizuna from the Kirin clan.” She put her hands before her on the tatami floor and bowed.

“I don’t enjoy all the bowing and scraping, so can we skip it?” I sat with an arm resting on my knee. My tea was untouched in front of me on the table. I still wore the rags from earlier as I had yet to find the chance to change. “My name is Eien Akagawa and it seems as if you’ve already met Iroha.”

She sat up from her bow and gave Iroha a smile. “Yes, she was kind enough to allow me to make the journey here with you. On my boat which is currently being scrapped.” Her words weren’t sharp, just stating a fact.

“The law of the scavengers states something quite different. It stopped being yours the moment I grabbed it.”

“There are many ways to retort to that.” She took a sip of her tea again. “But I’ll go for the simplest and most direct path.” Her golden eyes met mine and they seemed to peer right through me. “You don’t want to be a scavenger. It destroys your sense of purpose."

I eyeballed Iroha, how much had she told her?

I didn’t tell her anything about you. She’s just that good at reading you.

She took a sip of her tea.

As am I.

Since I couldn’t respond to Iroha without speaking, I spoke to Kizuna. “And from what you’re implying, you have that purpose for me?”

She gave a slight bow of her head. “I do, and payment.” She gestured to the headdress on the table. “I won’t claim that the longboat and its god core are payment but this headdress and the jewels in it are worth a small fortune. Enough so, that you wouldn’t have to go scavenging on a battlefield if you are wise with your spending and habits.”

She was right, that headdress was worth a small fortune. It would be tricky to pawn it off at first but it was certainly doable.

“That it is but I have no desire to work for the clans.”

“You wouldn't be working for the clans. You would be working for me.”

I shook my head. "If I was willing to help you, what is it that you want?"

“I want your help to return to my ancestral homeland across the sea in China. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own but with you…” she trailed off and stared off into space for a moment before refocusing those golden eyes at me. “You're the only option that will get me there."

"And you know this how?”

“I spoke with a seer once when I was a child. I have remembered everything that she told me.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You can't trust seers. They're mostly fake and even if you have a real one, fate is malleable. It's not set in stone"

“I know.” Those golden eyes of hers were starting to get unsettling. "Which is why she accounted for every possibility and gave me the most likely options for the future I wanted.”

"You mean to say she managed to see and sort through all of that?”

"Yes.”

"I'm not saying I believe you but, if that's all true and I can get you to your homeland, what's there for you?”

“My relatives. Distant they may be but they are true beings blessed by the heavens. Only they can help what ails me."

“And that is?" I rolled a hand towards her, indicating she should continue.

“I don’t want to become a god. It's a sickness, a disease. Something humans should never have touched.” She lifted her hand and looked at it. “This… ascension slowly takes over you, molds the person you used to be into someone else. I can feel it, every moment I get closer to divinity. My mind and body slowly become someone else’s. A me that is not me.” She lowered her hand to look at me again. “It is akin to dying and I don’t want to die yet.”

I shut my eyes and sighed heavily. “Give me a moment to think about this. Taking on your job has a lot of risks and requirements.” I slowly stood up and looked down at her. “I’ll be back.”

She nodded in acknowledgment and I turned and left the room. The old man’s house was big enough. Three bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen. I headed to one of the rooms that I had stayed in for a short time. I often stored stuff here as he didn’t mind.

I stripped off my rags and tossed them into a bin. I got into the drawers and pulled out my clothes. A red suit inspired by the west. Black dress shoes meant for running around in. And last but not least, the patchwork haori that I put on top. Many different colors were patched into the haori and yet somehow, it wasn’t the ugliest thing people would have seen.

I put my revolver in the chest holster under my suit jacket. I had to go through a lot to get this weapon. It was still rare in Japan and it was my ace in the hole. I strapped on the belt that held my jitte at the back of my waist for a left hand draw. It was a small weapon of a blunt blade of forty centimeters and just above the handle there was a small hooked tine about five centimeters long. Then I strapped on my katana with a western belt on my left hip.

With this, I stepped away from the low life that was the masked scavenger. The shame that came with it. With this red suit, and haori I became a man of integrity again or at least as much of one that I could become. I left the room and stood before Kizuna and Iroha. “I’ll take the job.”