Betrayed

The man shifted uncomfortably around his cushion. Perhaps his master would forgive his failure and allow him to live. Gloom set in. His master was not of the forgiving type. He done his best though, more he could not do. The empty room, in which he awaited his master looked like it always did, sparsely decorated yet extremely beautiful and elegant in its simplicity. His master’s love for flowers was evident. On the raised platform a small vase stood to one side containing a few delicate blossoms.

The screen that made up the back wall slid silently out of place and Lord Minazuri walked through. Prostrating himself before his master with his forehead to the ground, Lord Minazuri’s servant awaited his commands. It would not do to have him cower from fear in front of the rest of his retainers. He adjusted his favorite flowers to let the fear sink in. Finally when he judged it time, Lord Minazuri let out a deep sigh.

“You have disappointed me, Kamuru. I sent you to kill a man, yet you obviously failed, for he still walks the earth.”

"My Lord, I..."

“Enough! You have failed. I will give you a chance to live, though, because you are one of my best. You will go to the glade this evening and kill the man that sits there, for he has betrayed me.”

“As you command, my Lord.” Joy sprang up and hope flourished that he would be able to live and once again see his young wife. Almost had he given up hope, yet his years of loyal service had not been forgotten. Merely kill a stranger and he would be forgiven. He bowed deeply before his forgiving lord. How easy it had been to misjudge him, he thought.

“Leave now and prepare yourself.” He heard his lord say.

The rest of the day Kamuru prepared himself for his mission. He felt in a joyous and forgiving mood, so he choose to spare his victim any pain and agony, choosing for a strong poison that would kill almost immediately. Dressed in solemn black, he walked to the temple’s glade that evening and penetrated it’s surrounding bushes. Using all the stealth he could muster, he positioned himself at the rim.

His target sat in the middle of the glade, looking pensively towards the small pond. He looked familiar to Kamuru’s eyes, yet he wasn’t close enough to see the man’s face clearly. Kamuru inserted the poisoned dart into his blowpipe and took aim. Guiding his aim by the samurai’s strong neck, he aimed just below the base of the his skull. With a strong exhale, he fired. The samurai froze where he sat and slowly brought his hand to his neck. Yet before he could determine the cause of the slight sting, his body spasmed and crumpled, foam coming out of his mouth.

Curious as to whom his victim had been, Kamuru lifted himself from the ground and slowly walked towards the now dead samurai. Crouching besides the body, he turned it over to see the man’s face. A cold shudder moved along Kamuru’s spine as he recognized his younger brother.

His forgiving lord had ordered him to kill his younger brother! Painful stabs of sorrow welled up inside his heart. His failure to do as his master had ordered had cost him the life of his brother.

The pain eating away at his heart, his slowly came to his feet. Despite his pain he found himself relieved that it hadn’t been his wife, for he loved her more than life itself. His beautiful young wife would be all he had left in this world. The only reason not to kill his liege lord.

The young Narua Hiyoshi felt her heart had been weighed down with stones, for what she was ordered to do. Just at that moment Kamuru, her lord, came in and sat down heavily without a word. He looked strained, twenty years older. Grief was deep within his eyes. Her heart went out to him as he told her what he had done.

A single tear flowed down her cheek when he told of how he had discovered it had been his brother. Kamuru did not seem to notice. She checked the small dagger she concealed in her robe. It was time, she decided.

Slowly but surely she moved as if to embrace him. Yet just before their embrace, she flung out the small blade, penetrating his heart. Removing the blade, she embraced him fully. A tear silently flowed down her cheek, as she held her lord in her arms.

“Narua, why?” he asked. Kamuru coughed loudly and rasped up some blood when she answered him.

"Lord Minazuri ordered me to do so, lord." she said as she cleaned the corner of his mouth.

“Then I have even lost you, my wife. Please forgive my fail…” His eyes glazed over just then. A last spasm contorted his face into a grimace, when at last he lay still within her arms. A grief unlike any she had previously felt gripped her soul. Here then lay her only reason for existence. The man whom had loved her more than life lay dead in her arms. She had not even dared to tell him of their unborn child.

Moving with all the grace and dignity she had, she went to report to lord Minazuri that her husband lay dead by her own hands, as he had ordered her.

The lord looked at her with obvious contempt and said, “Then you did well, Narua.” She shifted her weight somewhat as she bowed deeply and begged him humbly for permission to take her own life. Lord Minazuri produced an evil grin when he told her that she was already dead. His words did not register with her until she felt an explosive pain in her back.

Not even an honorable death was she granted. She looked down to the source of her pain and was still able to see how a sword slid out her back after opening her stomach. Blood oozing out, she struggled to hold her dignity before this, her tormentor in life and now death.

As the life flowed out of her, and her world turned black, she heard her husband speak. “Little flower, why didn’t you tell me of our child?”

“Kamuru…”