Challenge
»Failure should be our teacher,
not our undertaker.
Failure is delay, not defeat.
It’s a temporary detour, not a dead end.«
- Denis Waitlay -
Instead of the groaning and panting of students and the cracking of bamboo swords hitting each other, the muffled sound of fast footsteps on the wooden floor echoed through the deserted Dojo. Remains of the night were still lingering in the corners of the rectangular room and gave a ghostly atmosphere to it.
Only a few shy sun rays fell through the opened slide door which led into a small inner courtyard with a well in its centre. The shadows of some smaller plants on the sides of the courtyard already painted scattered patterns on the ground and all in all it was one of those peaceful mornings everyone enjoyed.
At least, for everyone else it was a peaceful morning. Merely Souji did not even bother to have a closer look at his surroundings as he crossed the Dojo. It was only a short-cut, sparing him the time to follow another hallway and get over to the residential building, where the master of the Dojo and some students had their rooms.
Without slowing his pace down or getting his shoes on again after carrying them through the inside, he left the Dojo through the opened door and got off the porch with a graceful skip. He was lucky enough that no one was around and could complain about the fact that he was running around outside without shoes.
With a brief look around, he rounded the well and stepped on the porch of the other building. It took him some more steps on the porch, before he got inside again and followed a narrow hallway. Its walls were made of dark and plain planks as it was common for the fencing halls in this district of Edo. Only a sign besides the gate showed the name of the Dojo and what style of fencing was taught. It did not even mention the name of its current master. All in all, there basically were just some neat characters written with red ink on some weathered piece of wood.
Shieikan Dojo
School of Tennen Rishin Ryu
Except for the quite dangerous style that had been invented for war and to kill opponents in the most efficient ways, there was nothing special about the fencing hall. But nevertheless it was his home now and he would not leave it and his closest friends for anything in the world. His skills in fencing and the people he met about seven years ago were often the only sure things in his life.
As this thought crossed his mind, his usually alert eyes seemed to lose their bright colour of hazel as he gazed at the ground for a few seconds. Even after all those years had passed and he had gotten used to the thought that is parents would never return, the pictures of blazing flames always found their way back into his head.
Absent-mindedly he ran his fingers over the scar at his right wrist. He had been lucky enough to survive the fire, but at the same time he had lost half of his family just a few days after his ninth birthday. Sometimes he heard them screaming at night as if he was back there and when he closed his eyes he could see their burned skin. Their lips were dry and torn open from the intense heat, their skin had a dark red colour and started to form blisters and the scent of smoke lingered everywhere.
But he couldn’t allow those thoughts to gain the mastery over him and his life. There were other duties he had to fulfil and he was not going to give his chance to teach basic sword fighting at a nearby village away. He had finished his apprenticeship almost a year ago and it really was time for him to find his own path in life.
Forcing the memories back into a corner of his mind, he swallowed once and headed further into the building. Only the silent rustling of the pitch-black fabric of his Kimono accompanied him for quite a while, before he finally reached the right door and shoved it aside to have a look into the kitchen.
“Mitsu?” He called out for his sister and peeked into the room. To his dismay he did not find her, but two live-in students who seemed to be on cooking duty for the day. A lopsided grin crept up on his lips as he realised their confused looks. It seemed like they were still new at Shieikan and didn’t know what to do.
“Oh… never mind, I guess neither of you is called Mitsu.” He said without waiting for any reaction before he closed the door again and continued his way at a faster pace since he was slowly running out of time. If he was lucky enough, his sister was still at her room instead of running after her husband and giving him tasks.
“Mitsu? Sorry to disturb, but I can’t find my black Hakama.” He tried his luck again as he simply shoved the door to the room aside and had a look inside. It was quite impolite that he didn’t give her any chance to answer, but it was not the first time he ran into a room without asking for permission and they both had gotten used to it.
Though, this time Mitsu looked kind of surprised as she turned to her brother. Her Kimono was still slightly loose and the knot of her belt was on the side instead of in the centre of her back. But still she was smart enough to overact her embarrassment to be caught not properly dressed and shrugged at his words.
“I don’t know where you’re leaving your clothes all the time. It should be either in your closet or in the basket with the clothes that need washing.” She answered after a short break and readjusted her belt with swift movements as if his clothes had nothing to do with her – which was only partially true since she usually took care of the washing together with Kondou-sans wife.
Souji rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated groan. He knew he was old enough to take care of his things by himself, but sometimes his sister simply gave such hints at the wrong time and in the most useless situations. “Please, can you spare me with those comments? I have to teach at Tama today and should leave soon. Otherwise I will be late and Kondou-san will be disappointed.”
Mitsu raised one eyebrow and looked at her younger brother for a few seconds, before she went over to the closet and opened it. “I can only offer one of Rin that might be too long for you. Or you go and ask some of the other students to lend you one.” She stated and pulled a neatly folded Hakama out.
“I don’t mind if it’s too long.” He rejoined and took the Hakama out of her hands as soon as it was within his reach. Sometimes even his own clothes were too large for him. And right now the only thing that mattered was not to let Kondou-san down by loosing even more time. “Thank you for your help. I’ll make sure to return those in no time.”
He gave her a quick smile and ignored her silent huffing, before he turned around again and unfolded the Hakama at the same time. Since he looked at the fabric instead of where he was going, he didn’t see another person on the hallway in front of the still opened door. Even his sisters warning came too late and before he could understand her words, he already sat on the ground.
The situation was awkward for a brief moment. Souji looked quite clueless to the other young man in the door frame without moving and his opponent simply did the same with a light blush on his cheeks. Mitsu on the other hand simply stroke some wrinkles in her Kimono even and readjusted the collar.
“I’m sorry.” The young man finally found his voice again and bowed. But instead of waiting for some words of forgiveness from Souji or helping him up from the ground, he continued after a short break. It seemed like his message was urgent and there was no time to lose even if politeness actually asked for such actions. “Kondou-sama wants to see you immediately. It seems like the Dojo was challenged by a member of Hokushin Ittou and there is no one to face the stranger except for you.”
誠
