2008 - Glendale Community College

A Tale Of Love
and Light
Claudia Martinez
Acrylic
Glendale Community College
Nothing disturbed the compound; nothing gave suspicion to the
occupants about the danger, and there wasn’t a sound to hint at a crime,
until many moments later when there was the pit-pat of blood hitting the
nobleman’s shoji door.
Gisei stepped out of the room moments later, his sword returned to
his side and a wrapped package gripped in his hand. He felt no joy or
satisfaction with the deed, only an odd nostalgic feeling for what was
lost. He guided with a purpose, his promise still ringing in his mind.
Gisei bypassed servant quarters and lax guards, to stop in front of a
door no different from the dozen others he already passed.
The sound of wood panels sliding against each other caused Yoko-chan
to lift her head by instinct, despite her lack of sight. Gisei paused,
taking in her kneeling form. She was the accumulation of the betrayal
that set his path.
‘I shall see to her’ again echoed in his head as he gripped his
katana’s hilt. It would be so easy to decapitate her, seasoned warriors
had thicker necks.
He still couldn’t dredge up any feelings for Takayuki-san’s death. He
felt strangely hollow and indifferent. Would killing his sister make his
revenge complete? Half-sister, technically. Did that make it any better?
“Papa?” Yoko whispered, her voice trembling.
Gisei met Yoko’s unseeing gaze. Kneeling, he murmured in the dark.
“No.”
She gasped, and with a halting hand, she reached out, trailing her
fingertips over his face.
His eyes shut as the unblemished pads explored his features; over his
nose, across his weak eyelids, grazing his stubble-scattered cheeks and
his bitten, chapped lips.
When the fingers left his face, he re-opened his eyes, and compared
her to a scared, abandoned boy, drenched in the blood of his father.
The image would not leave him, even as Yoko’s curious fingers found his
hands, and examined the slick residue that came off. Dawning horror
was aided by the coppery scent that must have reached her nose, “W-what
happened to Papa?”
Gisei hesitated, then answered, “He was murdered.”
She swallowed; her grey eyes gleaming. “Papa…”
Gisei watched as she struggled, pain fresh and breathing rapid as
grief sank in. He couldn’t do it. This girl, replicating his death; the
death of any innocence and child-like beliefs he had before his father
died. She was a kindred soul. Could he spare her, knowing it could
destroy her, or worse, make her like him?
Looking to his weapon, now foreign, he quirked a half-smile, and
wondered when he turned from the victim into the monster he swore to
hunt down.
“Have you ever been to Osaka, Yoko-chan?” the question caught her off
guard before she shook her head no. “Would you like to go there with me,
little sister?”
Her confounded expression melted completely into a genuine smile,
despite the tinge of sadness.
It wouldn’t be until the next morning when a servant delivered
breakfast that Takayuki Ryosuke’s body would be found. A look of
acceptance would forever be frozen on his face, as he lay in a pool of
his blood. No usable evidence could identify the killer, but underground
whispers of Gisei’s activities were well-known.
Investigation showed that Takayuki Yoko disappeared into the
night with few belongings, and she was dismissed as a runaway. Gisei
never took another mission or collected the money from the Takayuki
assignment. He slowly faded until he was only a reputation.
Despite the mystery, no one in the small farming town outside
Osaka questioned the arrival of the siblings, Natsu Kosame and Yoko, who
built their home from the ruins of the Yuzuki nobleman house, and lived
peaceful lives there.
The truth was never learned, and the event faded from history.
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