Eight years have passed since we left that horrible kingdom. The feeling of being free from the hurt and abuse felt amazing. My sisters and I finally felt happiness. Hojo is now married to an incredible man and has a wonderful daughter, she still helps us from time to time. My baby sister Onna is now an adult. She’s part of my Samurai Guild training camp and helps out fellow warriors train. Her fighting skills have gotten better. As for me, I’m the captain of the Samurai Guild training camp and my skills have increased greatly. I couldn’t wait for the war to begin so that I can show Tomoe and her evil hag mother just how strong I have gotten.
Ajiwau, Siku, and Jingu are so relieved to be out of that disgusting dungeon. They spent their whole lives in that dark and cold dungeon, being punished for disobeying the Empress. They faced worse consequences than my sisters and I. When they saw the grass and the blue sky, all three of them fell to the floor and started crying tears of joy. I cried with them. We were all free and never had to experience that pain ever again. All three are a part of my training camp, Ajiwau had to step down for a while…. She has gotten very sick for a couple of years, and could only train for a couple of days. Her condition worsened as she kept fighting battles, her health dropped even lower. I was so worried about her, so I asked for a doctor to come see her once in a while. The doctor suggested that Ajiwau should stay in bed and never fight again…or she’ll die. This news upset her so much, she wanted to fight alongside us in the war. Tears streamed down her face, I went over to her bedside and gently rubbed her back telling her everything will be alright.
That’s all I could say to her…. I knew that she couldn’t fight in her condition.
****
A lot of things changed during these nine years, The evil witch stepped down as The Empress. Her daughter Tomoe took full control of the Yonaka Kingdom, leaving many citizens without food, heat, and homes. She was just as wicked as her mother, but she was even worse. This angered her aunt Meiyo very much, she felt that her sister made a huge mistake of letting Tomoe become the new Empress. Tomoe would just sit on the throne barking orders at Niko, who also thought Mioa was making a huge mistake. He was very disgusted with her behavior and manners. You’d think she’d have some sort of manners from her aunt Meiyo, but she didn’t and everyone from the different kingdoms thought she was a horrible Empress.
“ Lady Tomoe, the behavior you’re demonstrating is unacceptable! “ He said angrily
“ My mother gave me the Empress title, if you don’t like it…then leave! “ she shouted
“ Your mother shouldn’t have let you become the Empress! Your mannerisms and behavior is disgusting! “
Tomoe stopped sipping her wine and turned to look over at Niko, she then threw the wine in his face and threw the glass in his face. His face started to bleed from the glass being thrown on his cheek.
“ What is going on here? Tomoe…why did you throw the glass at Niko? “ she stood with her arms folded and frowned at her.
“ Your stupid servant expects me to be just like you! Well mother, I’m not like you and I didn’t grow up in this kingdom! I’m going to my room now…” she stood up and stormed out of the throne room. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to get closer to her room. She slammed the door and looked in her mirror. Tomoe knew that she couldn’t be the Empress her mother or late grandmother was. She wanted to be better than her. She sighed and started jotting down the plans for the war with her ink pen.
A gentle knock at the door, she tells them to come in. Mioa entered with two young women. One has pink coily hair covering her right eye, the other has blue coily hair with a headband, a scar on her left cheek like an “ X “, and both have piercing red eyes. Tomoe excitedly runs over towards them and hugs the two young women.
“ Nagaku and Magaru! You’ve finally made it! “
“ We would never miss a chance to fight in another war! Glad to be here! “ Magaru smirked
“ And is this your mother, the Empress? Is it true that you’re the new Empress now? “ Nagaku chuckled
“ Yes it’s true, I stepped down a couple of years ago and decided it was time for her to become the Empress! “ Mioa smiled at them
“ Now that you’re all here, I came up with a plan for the upcoming war…so please everyone gather around! “ Tomoe held the paper in her hands
She showed everyone the plan. Mioa was very pleased with these plans that her daughter came up with…she’s very happy to see she knows how to strategize ideas. She couldn’t wait to finally get rid of Kagayaki and her sisters once and for all.
“ Kagayaki won’t know what hit her! She will finally be gone..just like you wanted mother! “ Mioa and Tomoe both laughed evilly.
The war will be very interesting for both of us.
****
Today is the day of the war. My sisters and I rode our horses to the Kingdom’s hills. We waited anxiously for Tomoe and her warriors to appear before us. I started to tense up, Hojo started to notice and assured me not to be nervous. Onna smiled at me and that made me feel a little bit better. Jingu appeared next to me with his horse too. He reached his hand over towards me and held it gently. I didn’t feel nervous anymore with him by my side. Warriors on their horses started to show up, then Tomoe went in front of them smirking at me. She also had two new warriors that I have never seen before, they look extremely strong like her. She and her two warriors get off their horses and walk towards me, I get off of my horse too. We stood there glaring at each other.
“ Well, it seems that you’ve grown up quite a bit, Kagayaki! “
“ And it seems you’ve gotten quite older, I can see a few wrinkles on your face! “ I smirked
“ You’re still an annoying brat! Anyways, let’s begin the war! Warriors get out your weapons! “ she shouted at her warriors
“ Let’s begin..” I say as I take out my sword. Her warriors and my warriors began to charge at each other. And so the war has begun.
***
Back at home, Ajiwau sat up in her bed looking out the window watching the snow just come down slowly. Siku came in with her soup, she looked at her with a sad expression.
“ Aji, here’s your soup! It’s your favorite! “
“ Thank you, Siku! “ She began to eat her soup slowly. She stared at her sword that was laying by her door. She put the spoon down and slowly put the soup on the table next to her. Ajiwau slowly got up and went towards her sword. She picked it up, Siku ran over towards her and said
“ AJI! YOU CAN’T FIGHT…REMEMBER WHAT THE DOC- “
“ But I have to go…Siku. I don’t care what happens to me. I want to help Kagayaki! “ she slowly picked up her sword.
“ YOU WILL DIE AJI! “ Siku cried out
“ Then that will be fine! “ she turned around and smiled at her. She walked up to her and gave her one last hug. Siku started crying.
“ Take care of yourself, Siku! “ she let go of her and picked up her sword and walked out of the door. Siku just stood there stunned, she grew up with Ajiwau. She was like a big sister to her during those horrible times in that dungeon. She looked out the window watching Ajiwau ride off into the cold windy snow.
****
Many of my warriors were severely injured and killed. Some of Tomoe’s were killed too. Her two warriors Nagaku and Magaru were the strongest warriors we ever faced. Hojo and Onna couldn’t even keep up with those two and were injured very badly, Jingu had a minor cut on his arm by one of them. He still helped out my sisters with their injuries. Tomoe and I were surprisingly equally matched, we were both injured a bit. This excited Tomoe a lot…she then started laughing and started charging towards me with her sword…but it was until someone got in between us, and that someone was Ajiwau.
“ Ajiwau…what the hell are doing you here? You’re not even supposed to be out of the house! “ I shouted angrily at her
“ You mustn’t worry about me, I want to help you! “ she struck Tomoe in the stomach and kicked her on the ground. Ajiwau turned to me and started using her healing powers, something she was born with. She started to use it on me but I grabbed her hands to stop her.
“ Don’t use your powers…or you’ll run out of it! “
“ As I told you before, you don’t have to worry about me..Kagayaki! “ I removed my hand from hers and let her heal me. She then went to heal Hojo, Onna, and Jingu too. Then she went back over towards me and sat with me. Meanwhile, Nagaku and Magaru watched from a distance, and began to do the plan that Tomoe told them to do…use the bow and arrows to kill Kagayaki. Nagaku gets the bow and three arrows out and aims it towards Kagayaki. Hojo and Onna are watching an angry Tomoe slowly get up, but she looks over at Nagaku and they both nod at each other. She then shoots the three arrows at Kagayaki. Tomoe smirked evilly.
“ You’ve really gotten strong, Kagayaki! I’m proud of you! “
“ Thanks Ajiwau! Maybe you should become the Captain instead! “ I chuckled
“ I wouldn’t make a good Captain at all! “ we both laughed, as we kept laughing…Ajiwau stopped and glanced over my shoulder and saw three arrows shooting towards me. She pushed me out of the way and the arrows struck her in the chest and throat. I sat there in shock, tears streamed down my face and Ajiwau slowly turned around to look at me with a weak smile on her face. Then she falls to the ground. Hojo, Onna, and Jingu who has tears streaming down his face can’t even speak. Tomoe slowly limps to Ajiwau’s lifeless body and starts to laugh evilly.
“ Your pathetic friend took the attack meant for you! How nice! “
I couldn’t move or speak, I was filled with so much anger…I wanted to kill all three of them immediately. Tomoe lifted. Ajiwau’s lifeless body and threw it over to Nagaku and Magaru, they walked over towards the end of the hill and threw her into the ocean. The two started laughing and Tomoe joined in laughing. She smirked at me while I had a distraught expression on my face.
I slowly got up and grabbed my sword, I started to charge at the two warriors and struck them in the stomach and kicked them in the face. I then went over towards Tomoe, she dodged my attack and kicked me in the face. I got up quickly. This surprised Tomoe very much, my speed increased and I struck her in the left side of her chest, when she wasn’t looking. Blood started leaking out of her mouth. She fell to the ground, I get ready to strike her until another sword attacked mine….it was the old witch…she glared at me and I tried my best to move her sword, but she had the upper hand. I put my sword away and she does as well. Then she looked at me.
“ You’ve grown up a lot! You look just like Naito! “
“ Don’t you ever speak my father’s name, you evil witch! “ I clenched my fist
“ This war isn’t over! We will kill you next time! You should thank Ajiwau for saving your life…what a waste of life! “ she chuckled
“ That’s what friends are supposed to do! I would have done the same for her! You wouldn’t know anything since you've lonely dried up witch ! “ I shouted at her with tears down my face
“ You watch your tone! Next time you will suffer the same fate as your father and mother! “ She carried Tomoe walked towards the kingdom. Meiyo helps Magaru and Nagaku into the kingdom as well. As Mioa steps into the kingdom she looks back at me with an evil glare.
“ I will make sure everyone you love will die as well! Don’t underestimate me or my daughter…Kagayaki! “ Then she slowly walks into the kingdom and the doors shut.
I dropped to my knees… I couldn’t believe Ajiwau took the attack for me, she must have known that they were going to attack me and that’s why she wanted to protect me… those monsters will pay for what they did! Hojo, Onna, and Jingu all ran towards me. Hojo hugged me tightly, we both cried uncontrollably. I started to scream, Hojo let me cry on her shoulder. I didn’t know how to tell Siku the horrible news, she looked up to Ajiwau and they were like siblings. This news will surely leave her heartbroken. We all left the kingdom and rode back home.
As I rode back home, all I could think about was how Ajiwau would thank me for being so kind towards her. She would say “ Thank you for being such a kind person, Kagayaki! “ Tears streamed down my face as I reflected on the memories I had with Ajiwau.
And now she’s finally at peace with no more pain. Just pure peace.
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