Act IV. Part I.

Toshiko sat on the floor and leaned in forward, slightly stretching out his hand and placing the teacup he held onto the short white table before him. He then slowly stretched both his hands forward onto the table as his black silk kimono's large sleeves spilled over, like shiny black puddles of water spreading.

"I suggest you cover up your chest young master." Said one of the servants dressed in a red yukata behind him. Toshiko dropped his head to look at his bare and well-defined chest, he didn't bother to cover it up and just raised his head to stare longingly at the white ceiling with a blank expression.

Above all the problems of the world.

Another one of the house's servants walked into the dining room also dressed in red. Before she spoke, she bowed to Toshiko. He dropped his hand towards her signaling her to be at ease.

"Good morning young master. Your uniform, bags, lunch boxes, driver, and allowance for the week are all already. And your grandfather is waiting on you." As soon as she finished, she bowed once again and briskly walked out of the dining room.

Toshiko slowly got up with a disinterested expression, "Prepare my training at—"

"Your attire has been prepared and is in your room." The servant interrupted.

Toshiko turned to the servant behind him with a smile, "What would I do without you Han."

"Oh no sir it is a pleasure to serve this house." Replied Han with a smile.

Toshiko replied with a smile as well and walked towards a patch of sliding doors which he forcefully pulled apart.

…

Toshiko pulled apart the twin sliding doors and stepped onto the shiny dark oak flooring, wearing a black tighter and shorter yukata. It had a red floral pattern all around it perfectly matching with the black. He took in a deep breath as he raised his head to see the large wooden ceiling beams evenly spaced on the ceiling.

He dropped his head and walked towards a rack that was at the end of the room. He stretched out his arm and passed over the hilts of bamboo swords, once he reached the end of the rack, he firmly grabbed the hilt of the last sword. He pulled out the sword and clasped it with both hands, carefully wrapping his fingers around it. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. He slowly opened his eyes and smirked. He then threw the bamboo sword across the room and picked up the first sword he touched.

Toshiko walked to the other end of the room where another set of doors was. He carefully slid the doors open and turned around to close them. He walked a few steps forward, bowed, put his sword on his right side, and sat on the floor.

In front of him was his grandfather who had his back faced towards him. His grandfather wore something similar to Toshiko with the only difference being the golden belt around his waist and shoulders. He was seemingly lost in thought as he gazed at the wall in front of him. The wall had a mural of sorts, they were four figures evenly spaced and they seemed to each hold something. One held a bright light, one held a coin, one held a clock and the other held what looked like a person. Toshiko had purged the curiosity he once held for the Gods and Enacia it was because of this that after a quick glance of the mural he turned away.

"Are you ready Toshiko?" Asked his grandfather.

"Give me a moment." Said Toshiko as he shifted his eyes to his grandfather's right shoulder which made small motions that would normally be unnoticeable but after all the sparring sessions they had, he developed a six sense for that kind of thing.

Toshiko reached towards his bamboo sword cautiously trying not to make a sound, with his attention fixed on his grandfather. He grabbed the hilt of his sword and slowly lifted it off the floor. All of the sudden his grandfather became motionless. Toshiko caught off guard by the sudden cut of movements allowed the tip of the wooden sword to slightly touch the ground, a light clink sound followed and Toshiko turned to look at the sword with a frustrated expression.

He quickly shifted his eyes back to his grandfather who threw something at Toshiko who quickly deflected it with a slash of his bamboo sword. It was a sword scabbard.

His grandfather charged at him and their bamboo swords clashed sending out a loud dull knock-like sound to echo throughout the entire room. "Very good." Said his grandfather with a pleased expression.

Toshiko did not reply but instead stepped back from his grandfather hoping to shake off the nerves from the scabbard he deflected because in reality, his arms absorbed all the shock.

"Why did you step back we both had the equal opportunity?" His grandfather asked with a confused expression.

"I'm not foolish enough to believe I had an opportunity while directly clashing swords with you of all people," Said Toshiko as he kept his eyes straight ahead.

Toshiko's grandfather began to slowly walk in a straight line "You make me sound like -" Before he could finish his sentence he charged at Toshiko and their blades clashed once again."Some sort of monster." He laughed hard.

Toshiko remained silent as he used all of his strength to hold his grandfather's sword at bay and his concentration to figure out what he's going to do next.

Toshiko backed away once again but as soon as he did he went back in charging and aimed at his grandfather's neck with a diagonal slash which his grandfather blocked by raising his sword over his shoulder. Toshiko kicked his left ankle which only widened his stance by a bit and quickly aimed for the left side of his torso. As he pulled back the sword his grandfather grabbed it.

Toshiko's grandfather quickly swiped at his feet which sent Toshiko stumbling and his grandfather charged pointing the word right at his neck.

"This should be my 80th win this year correct? So 80 to 0. His grandfather asked as he extended his hand to Toshiko who was on the ground as he held the two swords between his left arm.

"I was sloppy today." Said Toshiko as he grabbed the hand and was hoisted up.

"Excuses Ex- I alway-"

"Grandfather?"

The bamboo swords suddenly dropped to the ground and Toshiko quickly turned to face his grandfather.

"I always tell you to train every day."

"Why did you cut off mid-sentence?"

"What do you mean we've been talking since I picked you up." He let out a light laugh. "When did those get there?" he asked as he looked at the floor. "You go on ahead and prepare for school, I'll clean up here oh and say hi to Ryu for me." He said as he knelt.

"We haven't seen Ryu in a month grandfather. And I told you this." Said Toshiko with a concerned expression.

"Is that so…"

"Actually, my bad I think I forgot to tell you. If that is all I shall be on my way."

///

Toshiko walked out of the dojo and into the garden, he walked until his surroundings became tall grass hedges. He continued to walk through the maze until he heard a voice, "Good morning young master."

Toshiko opened his eyes and directly above him was a middle-aged man he had no hair but had a full beard and wore glasses with round frames and lenses, "Good morning head, Takeda, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Toshiko asked with a disinterested expression.

"Have you finally seen firsthand what I have been warning you about?"

"Remind me."

"This is not a matter where our personal history should affect us on." The man pleaded.

"My grandfather is not sick, we sparred just this morning and he won… as usual."

"He is not well! He is suffering from an illness that is commonplace among veteran military, it may be bad for the others but I'm sure it's a 100 times worse for him given the role he played in the court."

"He is not suffering from any illness and that is final." Said Toshiko as he started to walk away.

"If you could just trust me young master to have you be the next head and so that we may begin clearinghouse before the other branch families seize control of this house or even worse take our lives!"

"You dare speak to me about treachery?" Said Toshiko as he glared at him. "The master will leave his position when he feels the need to and that is not anytime from now because the master is well."

Takeda opened his mouth but held his tongue with a defeated expression.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have school to prepare for."

"Yes, young master."

end