Chapter Text
“Faster, they’re about to start!”
“Hurry up! It’s going to be a bloodbath!”
A growing crowd had slowly gathered around you and your opponent, curious and eagerly placing their bets about the winner of this unexpected duel.
You hadn’t really expected to fight anyone today.
It was supposed to be a day of rest, peace and just overall fun. Especially since the little town you had arrived in was in the middle of it’s festivities. But there you were, tightly holding your tantō, stance unwavering and ready to strike. Your enemy was far from worthy of the commotion you had created but backing down now was out of the question.
The surroundings were a stunning view, and the icy air filled your lungs with its pureness as you admired the winter's embrace. Snow covered everything from the rooftops to the streets, transforming the landscape into a buzzing and wintery canvas.
Too bad some decrepit dog had decided to ruin your entire mood for the day.
The intermediary held up a little panel on which the terms and conditions of the ‘dispute’ were written on.
This was ridiculous.
It truly was.
”Your names and teachers! Announce yourselves!”
The same guy you had humiliated twice somehow still found the courage to stand in front of you, literally gloating. Just where did these men find the audacity?
”Hiroshi Takanaka, former student from the Shindo Dojo in Kyoto.” The man announced loud and clearly.
Shindo Dojo? Well, that explained a lot.
People awaited your introduction but to no avail.
You had closed your eyes, focusing on your breath. Inhale.
Japanese winters were not to be taken easily. They were brutal and the freezing temperatures slowly made you lose sensation in your fingertips. Despite the harsh conditions, the cold air somehow helped you focus. It was only when you reopened your eyes that you noticed your own breath in the air and the shit eating grin the male was wearing on his face.
Well, this probably wasn’t the best time for short meditation but fuck it. Exhale.
“A table for two please” You watched two individuals enter the restaurant.
Examining them, you came to the conclusion that they were both men.
One of them was tall and chubby, had a shaved head and wore a chef uniform. And by further examination, he had no hands. ‘An invalid’ you thought. Even if you couldn’t hear any of his talking, his demeanor made you giggle a bit. He seemed to have such an energetic and bubbly personality, to which the other man only sighed and dismissed his endless blabbering.
You shifted your gaze towards the second male, who had immediately caught your attention.
‘Big hat’ was the first thing you noticed.
The man was tall and slender, wearing navy blue garments, baggy pants with a katana bound to his side.
A samurai?
It was difficult to see what his face looked like, since apparently, he wasn’t planning on taking off his kasa. But from what you could perceive, he seemed to have a rather thin face and wore orange tinted spectacles with round frames, masking his eyes.
After talking some more with the restaurant’s owner, both men made their way to their designated table, walking past yours.
As the two of them passed by your table, you glanced up at the mysterious man, who, to your surprise, already had his gaze fixed on you.
During these few seconds, you could see his inky brows lift just a bit, eyes lighting up as if he had been struck by your presence. You could tell he was in awe but at the same time he kept up a skeptical front.
‘Strange…’
Some time had passed and you were now peeking at another man that had been checking you out for the past 10 minutes, debating whether he was actually dealing with a woman or simply a man with a very, positively striking face.
Another one of those puffed up crows posing as swordsmen.
His confusion was somewhat understandable.
You wore a simple black silk haori with a charcoal colored kosode, setta sandals and tabi socks. A hakama of a lighter ebony shade acted as a pair of pants. Your hair was done up in an indoor style with hairpins and you carried a long sword at your side.
Basically a man’s attire.
So of course, your presence never failed to make people gawk at you. Some in adoration others in utter confusion, disdain and pure shock. The only thing that could safe one from such an unusual sight were your feminine facial features.
While you did dress as a man, you never shied away from your true identity as a woman. Why would you? After all, you had your reasons for your “strange way of dressing”.
The reasons being simple. You found that the art of fighting was more comfortable in men's attire than in the restrictive silk kimonos that women were expected to wear.
Sparing wasn’t just a passion, it was your life. The love of battle ran deep in your veins, an art that had always captivated you.
The skill of wielding the sword had always been a source of interest, even during your more vulnerable years as a child.
And over the years, you had decided to perfection those skills of yours in your very own way.
Another reason being your travels.
Besides the sparing, you had medical treatments to take care of. Only when necessary though.
Well, seems he made up his mind. The man rapidly made sure to look charming enough, wiping some dust from his clothes before slowly making his way up to you, an assured expression on his face. Seeing you roll your eyes at his antics, the man only chuckled, clearing his throat.
Unbeknownst to you, the mysterious samurai fixed his glasses, watching the scene closely.
Brace yourself.
“And what is a beauty like you doing here, sitting all by herself?” A confident voice greeted you.
”…”
“Hm…Allow me to pay for your food, pretty”
You didn’t even bother looking up and made sure to finish your meal quickly. You had just arrived in this little fishermen’s town and you weren’t really in the mood for small talk. Especially if it meant having to listen to some guy’s painful flirting.
”No thank you. I do not wish to have any compa-“
“I insist.” The man smiled only to be met with a defeated sigh. He took it as a green light to come and sit next to you to which you didn’t respond. “The name’s Hiroshi, but you…you can call me your future husband.” Hiroshi grinned.
Uhm, what happened to hello? How are you?
His introduction physically pained you and the navy clothed samurai mentally shared your pain.
You decided it would be best to not pay any mind to this man, who was desperately trying to get some of your undivided attention.
“So, you still haven’t answered my question…What is a flower like you doing here all on her own? You know, you almost got me there, with your funny way of dressing…” The man tried to get some sort of reaction out of you.
Silence.
“Not very talkative, eh?” You hoped that maybe if you ignored his outrageous attempts to flirt, he’d get the message and move on. But today was just your luck and of course, Hiroshi took it as a challenge. Ugh.
A sly smirk formed on the man’s lips as an idea came to his mind. He called the waiter for two cups of sake, which you tried to politely refuse, stating that you did not drink. But, your rejection fell onto deaf ears.
”Maybe some alcohol will ease up that stubborn mind of yours…” Hiroshi giggled.
You tried to stay as formal and pleasant as possible, yet you really felt like telling him to fuck off. But at the same time you didn’t want to make a big fuss over it, after all, you were used to it.
”Listen, I appreciate the gesture…but I am not very fond of alcoholic beverages and-“
“Just a cup?” You shook your head as a no.
“Oh come on, you can’t deny me a cup now, can you?” The man cooed.
God, why was this always happening to you? Sharing a cup of sake with such an individual just didn’t feel right. Yet the possibility of him leaving you alone without you having cut his family jewels was big (?) Who the hell were you kidding? You just wanted to get this over with.
The man’s eyes inspected your form once more for the Xth time before stopping at the sword that was bound to your waist.
A woman carrying around a sword? What a joke…
”That seems to be a pretty heavy katana you carry on your waist…you know this isn’t a toy, right?” While Hiroshi kept on going with his nonsensical chatter, you felt him place a hand on your thigh, stroking it, as the other one reached for your sword in an attempt to take it off.
“Master, maybe this would be the right time for us to intervene?” The chubby man whispered to his superior who was still observing the situation at hand.
That was it.
The moment you felt his touch on you, your hand shot up to slap away his filthy ones, spilling the cups of sake in the process. He didn’t even have the time to blink before realizing in what position he was.
You behind him, trapping him in a tight chokehold, firmly gripping one of the chopsticks you had used for your food. You held it in front of his eyes, like a dagger, ready to stab them out. One wrong movement and he was done for. The buzzing atmosphere in the restaurant had suddenly vanished as everyone froze, staring at you.
”Or not…” The round man whispered dumbfounded. He definitely hadn’t expected that. Nobody had. Not even the mysterious samurai.
”This blade is worth far more than anything you have worked for in your miserable life…You don’t deserve to touch it. You dirty it’s worth by even looking at it. Try that fucking shit again and you’ll be dead meat.” You hissed at him. Well, now he certainly got a reaction out of you.
Hiroshi just couldn’t believe that a woman just threatened his fucking life. And so effortlessly too. He was drooling, coughing, desperately trying to get some air to breathe but you wouldn’t let him. After some more contemplation, you decided to spare his life and let him go, forcefully pushing him away.
It didn’t take long for the man to get back up on his feet, snatch an innocent client’s chopstick away and charge towards you, furious at the humiliation you had just inflicted on his broken honor.
You were nimble and agile, quickly ducking and deflecting Hiroshi’s clumsy attacks. The man fought with a lack of skill, continually fumbling his ‘weapon’ and missing several occasions to hit you. Anyone could see that he clearly was no match for you, as you easily kept dodging his attacks and countering him with swift strikes of your own.
“Your technique lacks consistence, precision, grace…” You chuckled, still dodging him.
“SHUT UP, YOU BITCH! When I catch you…” he shouted at you, only making a fool of himself.
”And your defense…its like cutting through paper…”
Laughing at his face, you could only pity his ridiculous attempts, trying read your moves. Perceiving an opening, you lunged forward, disarming him in the process and struck him in his forehead. A simple trail of blood dripped down his nose and you left him lying on the floor, defeated. In the restaurant, the clients and staff watched on, horrified at your victory. Most people thought that you were a woman that just wanted to be different by dressing as a man and carrying around a katana at that…
But now, it started to become clear that you perhaps knew your way around a sword. Probably extremely well…
The chubby guy couldn’t help but cheer on you, amazed by your fighting abilities (even if it was literally just a chopstick fight) while his master held a proud smirk on his lips. ‘Not bad’.
You scoffed.
“Whoever your teacher is, let them know that his students need better training.” That was a statement. And with that, you left.
Getting off him, you simply put money on the table for the food, thanked the restaurant owner for it and made your way towards exit, leaving everyone flabbergasted at the events.
“WAIT!” God, what was it now? You turned around and of course, it was Hiroshi, back on his feet. Again. He was determined, you had to give him that.
”What is it?” You sighed.
”I want…no, I demand a duel of you. With a naked blade. This was not fair, nobody fights with chopsticks!? There was no chance I’d win!” Excuses after excuses…men and their fragile egos. Pitiful.
No way this guy was serious…At this point he was just begging to die.
“I demand a death duel.”
So he wasn’t joking.
You held your tantō up in front of you, visualizing the technique you’d use on him.
”What a waste…” the man started, drawing his blade. “What a waste of a beauty…” He chuckled in a rather dry manner.
“You would’ve made a magnificent wife if it wasn’t for your insolence and your disgraceful way of dressing.” Hiroshi snickered.
At this point you started asking yourself why the hell you had given him the honor to fight you with a naked blade.
Breathing out heavily once more, you gritted your teeth. His nonsensical words made you want to skin him alive.
“I won’t be anybody’s wife. Not yours or anyone else’s. Ever.” You stated assertively.
Loud gasps and complaints could be heard from the crowd. Wow, what a shocker…
You were confident in your skills and looks, yet the reactions from the spectators were seriously becoming a nuisance.
“You know, we can always use practice sword-”
“You talk too much”
While the man kept on going with his brainless chattering, you were still debating whether you should strike him with a clean cut or spare his life and humiliate him (again) in a way you still hadn’t figured out yet. One thing was sure, you didn’t feel like spilling too much blood today.
“Wha…?” A smirk creeped up your lips as you watched the indignant expression Hiroshi had switched to.
The intermediary had given the green light more than a minute ago and this guy was still talking his ass off.
He cleared his throat, in an attempt to mask his shameful behavior and positioned his sword accordingly to the technique he had chosen. “Put away that short blade and show me your sword.”
You simply ignored his request, your concentration unwavering. In the crowd, the mysterious samurai and his companion were still ardently watching your duel. It was only because of the round man’s request to see the result of the fight that they were still here.
And of course, the samurai understood that you had deemed Hiroshi undeserving of your katana and the fact that you faced him with ‘only’ your tantō was basically you just pitying him.
Finally everything quieted down, and it was just you and Hiroshi. Now, it was about timing, precision and speed.
The air had grown heavy and neither one of you dared to strike first. It was like watching David and Goliath calculate their one and only next move.
After some more silence, Hiroshi seemed to have made up his mind, charging at you with his sword as he yelled out a battle cry. And then…
‘Swosh’
It was swift and clean, leaving no question as to the victor of this duel. One could have blinked and already missed it. Only the sound of your blade cutting through the flesh resonated in the air. It was over.
You had already put your short blade back in its sheath, making it disappear in your kosode, while the rest of the crowd was still trying to comprehend what had happened.
All you did was take a step forward, while Hiroshi was still charging at you. Having your tantō meet with the man’s throat, it slashed it open in the process. It took everyone more than a few seconds to realize what how that happened. A trail of crimson in the white snow led to a crumpled, shivering form. Blood shot from his neck as his lifeless body dropped to the ground, dead.
The atmosphere was suffocating and suddenly an applause erupted from the audience. It was gruesome but your skill had to be acknowledged.
You made sure you hadn’t gotten any of his blood on you, before taking a small and quick bow.
“‘The Painters Signature’, and she performed it with a short blade too…Immaculate.” You heard a raspy voice state between the sea of clapping hands.
It didn’t surprise you to see that the remark came from that mysterious samurai.
Feeling the corners of your lips lift themselves, you couldn’t help but feel intrigued. He got you there. You had indeed used that specific attack. Now, you were sure that he was definitely more skilled than what he pretended to be. And he now surely had piqued your interest.
You wanted see what he was made of, but before you could reach him to get him to talk to you, he was gone.
Hm. Just you wait…