35 Years Ago... [Inka’s Perspective - Flashback]

  Location: The Main Palace Courtyard.

  Some time had passed since my lord announced his mad plan. I stood in the shadows, watching the gate with a heart heavy with jealousy. I thought with the selfishness of a child afraid of abandonment: Am I not enough to protect you, my lord? Why do you need them? Didn't you say I am your son? Didn't I swear to be your sword? Won't this make people insult you more? The Lord of Outcasts?

  Then... the first person arrived.

  He was a human child, about eleven years old, wearing tattered clothes, and his eyes carried the insolence and hunger of the street. He entered the courtyard strutting and looked at my lord, saying loudly: Come on, Lord... you told me if I came with you, you'd give me food. Where is it? My stomach is growling!

  My lord, Matsudaira, looked at him with a calm smile and said: You will eat as much as you want, child. And not only that... I will make you a Samurai.

  The child looked at him, then laughed mockingly: Me? A Samurai? Hah! Lord, I heard you were mad, but I didn't think you were this crazy. A Samurai from street children?

  The insolence! Blood boiled in my cold veins. I couldn't believe he was this rude to the man trying to save him from hell. I didn't think. The water in my head saucer rippled with rage. I ran from my hiding place, leaped at him like a green ball, and began striking with my small fists, shouting: Your insolence! How dare you! Apologize to my lord!

  The child, accustomed to street fighting, didn't back down. He bit my arm hard, then knocked me to the ground and began hitting me. We rolled in the dust, a tangle of green and tan, exchanging punches and insults.

  Stop!

  Suddenly, I felt strong hands pulling me away. We were separated. I was panting, the water in my saucer swaying violently and spilling drops onto the dirt. I thought my lord would say: Don't worry, Inka, I didn't care, thank you for defending me.

  But... Slap!

  A powerful, stinging slap landed on my face in front of everyone. The sound of the slap echoed in the silent courtyard. I looked at him in shock, my hand on my reddened cheek. He was furious. It was the first time I saw him like this. His eyes burned with a fire I didn't recognize. Why?

  I said with a trembling voice: I... I only wanted to protect you, my lord...

  My lord said in a stern voice, with regret hiding behind his eyes: You fool! Do you strike a guest who came to your home? Did I teach you this? Is this how Samurai behave? Like rabid beasts? No... I didn't mean to... I...

  I couldn't finish the sentence. I burst into tears and ran away, leaving drops of my water and tears behind. I looked back and saw that wretched child wiping his nose, looking at me with spite, muttering: Damn fool.

  It was night. I was in the Dead Garden, sitting by the root of the burnt Inka tree, crying since noon. I shouldn't cry. I am a Samurai. Samurai don't let their emotions affect them. But the tears were betraying me.

  Then... I felt someone sit beside me. I knew the scent. Incense, tea, and a familiar warmth. I looked to my side. It was my lord. He said nothing at first. He reached out, pulled me to him, and hugged me tightly. I buried my face in his chest and cried louder.

  He spoke in a quiet, sad voice: Inka... do you know? I have only one biological child. Ieyasu. This child... is the exact opposite of me. He sees everything I do as wrong, and I always feel he is angry with me. Perhaps because his mother died long ago, so the kindness and tenderness of a mother didn't reach him, and he grew up with a heart as hard as stone.

  He sighed and continued: But, Inka... that child is not my only son. You too are my child. A son dear to my heart. And that is why... when you do something wrong, I must be harsher on you than anyone else. Because you are my son... and they are not.

  He patted my head tenderly, ensuring the water was still clear: Inka... that child in the courtyard has lived a harsh life. His words and actions won't change in a day or a night. He won't love or respect me in an instant. He needs time to learn trust.

  He smiled and said: Even you... surely you hated me the first time you saw me, and thought I was arrogant, didn't you?

  I wiped my tears and said sincerely: No, my lord. From the first time I saw you, I thought you were kind.

  He looked at me with strangeness and surprise, then laughed softly and hugged me even tighter: Well... thank you, Inka.

  Then his face turned serious: But, my son... next time, even if someone insults me, do not try to defend me with violence. I can defend myself. Also... you shouldn't trust people so easily. The world is not all like us. Perhaps I was a disguised Oni and not kind, and I would have eaten you.

  I laughed and said: You, my lord, an Oni? I can't imagine that.

  We sat talking for hours under the moonlight and the dead tree. He told me about his dreams, about peace, about hope. Then... drowsiness overcame me. My eyes became heavy. I slept in his lap, my head resting on his chest, my saucer stable and safe.

  While I was deep in sleep... Matsudaira looked at my sleeping face. A single tear gathered in his eye. A silent tear of farewell. The tear fell from his cheek... and descended slowly... Tish.

  The tear fell into the water saucer atop my head. My lord’s sorrow mixed with my life source. I carried his tear with me, to become a part of me forever. I didn't know... that this was my last conversation with him.

  [Narrator’s Perspective]

  Later, while Inka was deep in sleep, Matsudaira spoke in a low voice, without turning: Oi, Morito... I know you are here.

  Morito emerged from the shadows, leaning against a tree trunk, drinking sake as usual. You are sharp as ever, noble one.

  Matsudaira looked at the Kappa sleeping in his lap and said with pain wringing his heart: I know I’ve asked much of you in our lives... but this is my final request.

  He raised his tearful eyes to Morito: Please... take him. Train this kind Kappa. Make him strong enough to live without me. The world to come will not be kind to his sort.

  Morito let out a sigh of feigned boredom, looking at the small Kappa: As a final request... it’s a big and annoying one for an old and retired man like me. I’m not a babysitter for monsters.

  Matsudaira laughed sadly: You old? You are still a child, Morito, and you will remain so forever.

  Morito looked at the Kappa, then at his friend, and said seriously: I’ll do it. But I want sake. Premium sake.

  Matsudaira laughed bitterly: Unfortunately, we are poor and have no premium sake. You must train him for free... as a favor to a friend.

  Morito gave a small, rare smile. He approached, leaned in, and whispered in Matsudaira's ear: You are a true Oni in exploiting friends.

  Then he touched Inka's shoulder and said: And vanish.

  They both vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving the Lord alone in the Dead Garden.

  [Inka’s Perspective]

  I woke up suddenly. The air was cold... very cold and damp. I opened my eyes. I wasn't in the garden. I wasn't in my lord’s warm lap. I was in a strange cave, smelling of rot and wet stone. Beside me was Morito, sleeping on a hard rock and snoring loudly, shaking the walls.

  Where am I? I jumped in panic and shook Morito violently: Where am I, you bastard?! Did you kidnap me? Do you want to sell me to buy sake?!

  Morito woke up, pushed me away hard with his hand, and shouted: Shut up, you green bastard! I want to sleep!

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  I screamed in his face, panic filling my heart: Where am I?!!

  Morito stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, looked at me with lethal coldness, and said the words that destroyed my world: Your lord sold you.

  I froze. What?!! Impossible! My lord would never sell me! He said I am his son! I slept in his lap last night!

  Morito said, cleaning his ear with his finger indifferently: Believe it or not. Money changes souls, and poverty is an infidel. Your lord needed money to feed his new army.

  Liar! Get me out of this prison, you bastard! How much did he sell me for? Tell me!

  He looked at me with a cunning and contemptuous smile: For a single jar of sake... and it wasn't even the premium kind. Cheap sake. That is your price.

  I felt as if a dagger had stabbed my heart. A cheap jar of sake? I, Inka, am worth a jar of wine?

  Liar!! I screamed and attacked him. He caught me by my neck easily and raised me as if I were a feather. He began to choke me slowly. You want to go back? Fine... I’ll give you the chance to see where you are. To see 'freedom.'

  He dragged me outside and threw me on the edge of the cave. I looked around. I gasped. The air froze in my lungs. I wasn't in the village. I wasn't even in the region. I was above the clouds. The mountains around me were towering, black, and covered in eternal ice. The wind howled like tortured souls.

  And I knew the place immediately from the terrifying stories. Mount Ryu. The mountain of dragons. The cold hell that no one dares to enter. He dropped me on the ground.

  Suddenly... I felt a terrible headache strike my head. I touched the top of my head. The water... the water in the saucer... it was freezing. A thin layer of ice began to form on the water's surface due to the biting cold. The pain was unbearable. It was like a nail being driven into my brain. My life was slowly freezing.

  No... no... Black thoughts began to eat my mind with the cold. Did my lord really sell me? Was it because I fought? Did he get rid of me for wine?

  I began to cry. My hot tears tried to melt the ice in my saucer, but the cold was stronger. I looked at Morito with desperate anger: I want to meet my lord! Take me back to him! Let me meet him to ask him myself!

  He looked at me and said indifferently: Sure. Go on. The path is before you. What? Go on. I’m going back to sleep. Wait! Take me back just as you brought me here! Use your magic!

  He said while yawning: Why would I do that? Don't you want to go? Go yourself. Fly if you can.

  I looked at the lethal slopes. I looked at the bottomless abyss. Can I get out?

  Suddenly... I felt a massive pressure in the atmosphere. As if the sky had descended to the earth. I looked up. A giant shadow passed over us. It blocked the pale sun. Ryu. It was flying slowly and with majesty, its scales shimmering like ice.

  I fell to the ground from fear. Every cell in my body screamed: Escape! Hide! The dragon didn't even look at me. To it, I was less than an insect.

  Morito turned and said with bitter mockery, looking at my trembling: Do you still want to go meet your lord who sold you? Do you want to go to your lord who was insulted every day because of you and your ugly appearance? Do you want to go to your lord who sold you to buy food and sake for his true followers... and his new soldiers who are not Kappa?

  Every word was a dagger deeper than the cold. And in that moment... with the water in my head freezing... my heart froze too. Something inside me broke. My ambitions were destroyed. My faith was destroyed. The image of the kind father was destroyed.

  It was replaced by the image of the treacherous lord who sold me for the price of dirt. I asked him with a dead voice, clutching my frozen head: Why did you buy me?

  Morito looked at me seriously for the first time and told his great lie that would shape my destiny: I want to retire. And so... I will train you to become the next Guardian of Nippon instead of me. I will make you so strong that your lord will regret selling you.

  I was looking at Morito. He was a drunkard. He was a lecher. He was old and ugly. He had no virtue. He didn't look like a Samurai at all. But at that time... in that cold hell... he was all I had. And I... a weak Kappa, freezing to death... I couldn't live without clinging to someone. Even if it were the Devil himself.

  [Kage’s Perspective]

  Two weeks had passed. Two weeks of silence, flight, and shadows.

  Since that night, and that humiliating collapse before Fox Number One, I had been avoiding him as if he were an infectious disease. Every time I caught a glimpse of his robe or saw his orange tail disappear behind a corner, I changed my path immediately, jumping between branches like a monkey to hide. I don't want to talk to him at all. I don't want to see the pity in his eyes, and I don't want to remember my weakness. I had been, and still am, hating this fox who made me see my nightmares manifested in his face.

  It was a stormy night, black as ink. The sound of the heavy rain struck the roof of my tent, made of thick leather, harshly—Tarbaq... tarbaq... tarbaq...—as if a small army were running over my head. The wind was howling outside, shaking the suspension bridges and making the entire village groan.

  I was in my bed, tossing and turning, trying to summon sleep which usually eludes me. Ordinarily, I need three hours of struggle with my memories before I pass out from exhaustion.

  Suddenly... a different sound pierced the rain. Taq... taq... taq. A faint, hesitant tapping on the wooden tent pole.

  I froze under the covers. I was surprised. Who knocks on the door in the middle of the night and in this hellish weather? I used Rei (energy sensing) with extreme caution... I breathed deeply... and the blood froze in my veins. It was him. Fox Number One.

  Why is he here? Black thoughts began to race in my head like panicked rats: Does he want to hit me? Has his patience with me run out? Is he angry because I’ve been ignoring him for the past two weeks?

  I looked at the tightly tied tent entrance. Should I open the door? My fingers began to crack from tension, and I started biting my nails involuntarily until they bled. If I open it... he will hit me. But if I don't open it and ignore him... he will get angrier, break the door, and hit me harder. What do I do?

  I had been a fool. I shouldn't have ignored him. This place made me a fool and I forgot the rules of slaves: "Do not anger the Master." But... wait. Why is he knocking on the door at all? In my previous life, masters don't knock. Dream didn't knock. He is strong; he can tear the tent with one claw. Why does he wait for permission?

  Taq... taq. He tapped again. The sound seemed... pleading.

  I decided. I will open. I will open the door, receive the punishment, then go back to bed. I must accept the matter. He will hit me for a few hours, I will be in pain, then it will be over. Pain is temporary, and death is delayed.

  I stood up, my feet trembling, and walked toward the entrance. I untied the wet rope and lifted the leather cover. A cold wind and violent spray of rain hit me. But what I saw... froze me in my place.

  He was standing there, under the pouring rain that had turned the ground into mud. He was completely soaked. His fur was plastered to his thin body, and his clothes were dripping with water and mud. He was shivering from the cold, but he didn't move.

  I looked at his face. I expected anger. I expected the face of the Oni. But his face... was vastly different. It had the same features that terrified me, but the expression was... broken. He carried a deep sorrow and a pure regret I had never seen in any creature's eyes before. Dream would show the same face sometimes after his bouts of madness, crying and apologizing... but this was different. Dream’s face was like a sad demon’s. But this face... was full of respect for the person standing before him. He was sad for some reason.

  Then... he did something that shocked me. He went down onto the muddy ground. He didn't care for his clothes or the coldness of the mud. He knelt on his knees, placed his hands on the ground, and lowered his head slowly until his forehead touched the wet mud. The Dogeza position.

  And he began to say a specific word, in a strange vocal tone. It wasn't just a word. It seemed like a sad song, or an ancient chant. Miyara. He stretched the sound at the end as if pulling pain from his chest.

  I understood it. I had learned its meaning recently. I am sorry... forgive me.

  I had heard that word often. I had seen that face often from Dream. But... why does what is happening now seem different? What is the difference? I observed him kneeling under the rain, not asking for forgiveness to find peace himself, but offering it to me and no one else—not to Clara, but to Kage.

  He didn't touch me. He didn't approach. He didn't justify. He didn't say: "I was angry because the war...". He was just... sorry.

  I don't know what to say. The words of their language escaped my mind. I looked at him, and felt something warm in my chest melting the ice a little—something like safety. I said the only word I know how to pronounce clearly in their language: Arigato. (Thank you).

  He raised his head slightly, water dripping from his nose, looked at me with tearful eyes, then nodded his head with deep gratitude.

  I closed the door in his face. Why did I thank him? I don't know. Why did he apologize to me in this humiliating way for him and honoring for me? I don't know. But for some reason... I felt that the Oni that had been chasing me in the shadows had retreated tonight. I went back to my bed. I didn't toss and turn. I closed my eyes and slept immediately. For the first time in a long time... I slept quickly, and without nightmares.

  The next day... as usual, at sunset. I was sitting in the square, eating the five fruits they always give me. The fruit was sweet, but it was no longer "painful" as it used to be. And as usual... little Yuta was standing behind a wooden pole, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes, thinking I wouldn't see him as he stole a look at my food. He was swallowing his spit, his eyes shimmering with hunger and curiosity, but he didn't dare to approach.

  I looked at the five fruits in my lap. I remembered last night. I remembered the "apology" and the kneeling under the rain. I thought: five fruits... I think that’s a lot of food for one person. My stomach can no longer handle all this. I didn't think much. I grabbed two fruits in my hand. I stood up and walked slowly toward the pole where Yuta was hiding.

  When he saw me approaching, he flinched. He looked at me in shock and fear, and was preparing to flee and run to his mother. But I extended my hand to him. My palm was open, and on it were the two shimmering purple fruits.

  Take. I said in my language, and looked directly into his eyes. Yuta stopped. He looked at the fruit, then looked at my face. He didn't see the "monster" that had devoured its food greedily before. He extended his small trembling hand and took the two fruits quickly as if stealing a treasure. He looked at me and gave a wide smile that showed his small fangs, his eyes shimmering with pure joy. He began eating immediately with happiness, the juice running down his chin.

  Suddenly... I heard a collective sound. I turned. The adult foxes were watching us from afar. The leader, Fox Number One, and others. They began to laugh. It wasn't a mocking or malicious laugh as in Chang'an. It was a light, harmonious laugh, warm as the sun. A laugh of relief and happiness, accompanied by smiles and nods of heads...

  I felt the heat rising to my face, and my ears burning. I turned quickly and returned to my place, trying to hide my face. Why are you laughing, you fools? How embarrassing... I shouldn't have given it to him. Now they think I'm "kind" or weak. I am not kind... I just... wasn't hungry.

  I sat and ate my remaining three fruits, but for some reason... they tasted sweeter than ever before.