ICHI: THE AWAKENING

As twinkling gossamer, sunlight crept in through the ceiling-high windows amidst the small bedroom. The warm beam of light that shone through dragged along the wooden floor. As the sun outside grew higher in the sky, its rays made their way up the side of the pine panels of the futon in the middle of the room. The Asian man who slept under the quilts there stirred, murmuring inaudible words under his breath.

As the sunlight reached the man’s face, his eyes shot open. Gasping aloud, he rolled to the floor, his quilts swept along with him.

The man paused for a moment, kneeling on the floor. He held his hands up and gazed down at them, examining them as if he had never seen them before.

Perhaps he had not.

A sudden awareness seemed to snap inside of him. He could not remember how he had gotten into this strange place. Giving the situation further thought, he realized he also had no idea where he had been the previous day, or even the day before that.

To his complete shock, he came to the conclusion he had no idea who he was.

Before he could ponder his chaotic state of mind any longer, the door to the bedroom slid open with a hush. An elderly woman in a faded yellow kimono paused, bowed, and graciously entered. Apparently his awakening had not gone unnoticed.

The woman’s hands remained folded, but a smile on her face stretched from cheek to cheek. "Saki-chan…" she spoke.

Strangely enough, the man recognized the Japanese language the woman used. To his strained recollection, it was the only thing he could remember of his former life, whatever it may have been. "Saki…my name?" the man asked in return. The name echoed through his mind with vague familiarity.

"Hai! Hai! It is the name I gave you!" the woman laughed. She moved as fast as she could toward the man, kneeling down at his bedside with arms spread.

The man, standing confused with the burning mystery of a million questions, found himself being hugged tightly by the woman.

"You…you are my mother?" he asked as she eventually withdrew.

"Yes. I am Miyoko," she answered patiently. "I was told you would have many questions. But let us not worry about that now. Come." Miyoko beckoned behind her to the doorway.

Saki hesitantly followed her into the hallway, to turn into another room which was a large dining room. In the center of the room was a short, black table almost knee-high with pillows piled around it.

"I suspect you are hungry from your long sleep, yes?"

"Yes," Saki found himself answering before the question even registered. Miyoko’s suspicion must have been correct.

"I thought so. Please." Miyoko indicated the kareeraisu, the curry and rice, on plates before him. All of it was saturated with an unfamiliar yet fragrant sauce. Savoring the aroma, Saki felt an eagerness to sit down and gorge himself with the food at once. He gave in.

"When you are done you can change out of that…suit…" Miyoko pointed a finger at Saki’s strange white, gown-like suit. "…and into some clothes. Then perhaps your brother could take you to the market. Would you like that, Saki?"

"My brother?" he asked, his mind suddenly becoming flooded with bits and pieces of information. None of it could he even begin to decipher. "Brother…Nagi?"

Miyoko took a step backward, falling suddenly silent. "Your older brother…has been dead for…some time, Saki." She paused for a long moment. Saki thought he could see tears form in the woman’s eyes.

"I…I…am sorry," he struggled for the words. "I do not remember…my family." Or anything, for that matter, he thought to himself.

Miyoko nodded sympathetically. "I understand, Saki. It is all right. It is just that… No. Forget it, Saki." She started away from the dining room. "I will tell your younger brother Heitchi to be ready."

After dressing, Saki found Heitchi awaiting him outside the front door of the house.

Heitchi dropped his cigarette upon seeing Saki. He studied Saki’s face. "Well, well, well. Come back finally, have you?"

Saki frowned. "I…I do not know what you mean."

"Of course you do not, my foolish brother," Heitchi scowled. "Come, I shall take you to the market."

Stepping down from the porch, the two brothers got into a little narrow car. Heitchi drove to an unpaved path that led through the countryside. As they passed through, Saki could see men and women in front of their houses, some playing with children, others simply going about their business. On occasion, Heitchi would instinctively pull off the road to allow other small vehicles traveling in the opposite direction to get by.

As they continued on their way, curiosity overcame Saki. "Where are we, exactly?"

Heitchi chuckled wryly. "Figured you would ask that sooner or later. On the outskirts of Kyoto, Japan. It’s okay, you probably do not remember it."

"Can you tell me who I am?" Saki suddenly asked his brother. It had been the biggest question on his mind.

"Who are you? Who are you?" Heitchi lifted his head and laughed. "How I do enjoy this. Yes, the tables have finally been turned."

"Please…"

Heitchi sighed, shaking his head. "Just like Nagi are you, like our father before us. Worse, I daresay. That is who you are." He grunted. "Rather, who you were. All I see before me now is a man with the mind of a child. I do not think this will ever cease to amuse me."

Saki looked down, continuing to follow behind his brother. "What did I do to anger you so?" he asked.

"Do you not remember, baka?" Heitchi glared into his brother’s eyes. His glare slowly subsided. "No, I suppose you do not. You ran away when you were seven years of age when Nagi died, abandoning our mother and I to avenge his death at the hands of Hamato Yoshi. I was just four years old and I do remember little of that time, but I remember Miyoko’s grief well. She cast herself away to work alone in the rice fields, not allowing any of us to talk to her. Not even me. First her husband, then Miko, then Nagi, then even you…her family was disappearing before her eyes. On your pathetic quest of vengeance you destroyed her, Saki." Heitchi turned away. "For that I can never forgive you."

"I am sorry, Heitchi."

"I do not want your apologies, Saki. You have returned. You have brought happiness back to our mother. The past is the past. I cannot forgive but perhaps I can forget."

Saki had a feeling it was better if he didn’t know what he had done to Heitchi. He knew it must have been bad. "How did…I return here? I do not remember anything before this morning."

"That is not something you need to know," Heitchi snapped.

"But—"

"I said you do not need to know!"

Saki backed down. The two remained silent for the rest of the trip.

They parked the car on a side street in Kyoto. Saki noticed various two story plaster-wall buildings and traditional wooden style stuctures lining the narrow but busy roads. Dark tile-covered roofs of many buildings, gates, and tall walls. And the crest with a swirl of three elements were seen adorning much of this architechture. It was most likely the crest of Kyoto. He followed Heitchi up the hills and through narrow, dark alleyways until they reached a street with various tents and tarped booths on its sides. He saw many people of this land as well as foreigners talking and bickering amongst themselves as they wandered the grounds.

"Here is the market, a festive event that happens at this time of year," Heitchi spoke, stopping before the edge of a crowd. He popped a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "Do what you wish. I will wait here." His eyes widened as something dawned on him. "Oh, almost forgot. Here, Miyoko asked me to give this to you." He less-than-enthusiastically extended a hand full of yen notes.

Saki accepted the money and nodded. "Thank you." He turned, walking into the crowd and heading towards one of the closer buildings.

Halfway through the cluster of people he had the uneasy feeling someone was watching him. Instinctively looking behind him, he turned just in time to see a dark figure cloaked in a black uniform slip further into the crowd. Shrugging, Saki continued.

Perhaps he had been mistaken.

An older-looking man with a scraggly white beard stood behind one booth, holding high above his head a glittering necklace of jade.

The man looked down on a young woman who looked at the necklace with obvious disinterest. "Very well," he said to her. "But I still tell you that you are passing up a great bargain."

As the woman walked off, Saki approached the counter and admired the necklace the man displayed.

"How about you, young man?" he asked Saki. "Perhaps there is a special woman in your life, hmmm?"

Saki thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Ah-Ee-e-e! Yes, I thought as much! A necklace such as this might do the trick, do you not think?"

"I…ah… Ee."

"Then we are in agreement, neh?"

Saki nodded.

"Sugoi na!" The man clapped his hands together. "Now let us see some yen, neh?"

Saki opened his hand. He still held the yen his brother had given him. "Will this be enough?" Saki asked as he handed all his money to the old merchant.

The man looked puzzled for a moment, but then grinned broadly. "How…ah…strange. Exactly the price I had in mind! Take your necklace now, young man. May it bring joy to your lady!"

Saki took the jade-bead necklace and headed back into the crowd.

As he started for another building, he felt as if he were being watched again. Slowly, Saki looked to his left. A figure clad head to toe in a black jumpsuit with large, bubble eye patches stood at his side. Over its back he noticed something of the handle of a short sword.

"Who…are you?"

The figure hesitated, then gazed into Saki’s eyes. Almost immediately thereafter, the figure dropped to his knees. "Oroku Saki, my master…at last we have found you!"

Saki backed away. He didn’t know what to make of it. "I-I do not know what you are talking about."

"Do not trouble yourself, master," the figure quickly spoke. "Your loyal Foot shall liberate you!"

"Foot?" Saki asked. It was another word that triggered a vague feeling of remembrance. Yes, Foot…but not what is attached to one’s leg. But it was only a glimmer, one which ebbed and quickly dissipated.

"Your memory is fragmented at best, but if we are able—"

The jumpsuited man’s words were cut short by Heitchi as he dashed through the crowd and connected with a jump-kick across its jaw. The figure spun, then weaved back and forth. Moving with agility and obvious skill, Heitchi elbowed him in the eye, then jabbed him square in the face.

The man fell.

The people around had formed a circle around the fight, hooting and hollering even after it was clear the jumpsuited man was not getting up.

"Do not pay any attention to that man’s words, Saki," Heitchi seethed. "He and his kind are liars and thieves, even assassins when it suits their purposes! We must leave this place at once!"

Confused and shaken, Saki grudgingly followed his brother as he ran out of the marketplace.

The mysterious man’s words…what had he been saying? Saki strained at his memory all the way back to their home.

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