V S M A Swordless Swordsman and a Box of Rocks

Miyamoto Musashi

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Hissing, the frustrated portal spat forth one former swordsman, a stumbling one at that. With her uneven gait it took precious few moments before the girl hit the ground. From a glorious, nimble display of grace into a mess with their mouth full of grass.

Sadder still, was the lack of bravado, the missing flourish back onto her feet. Instead, the grass-fed mass of despair may as well have been a corpse for all the signs of life she displayed.

The evening sun came and went, granting her its embrace and kissing her goodbye as it left her behind, only to be greeted by the chilling gaze of the moon shortly after. Yet the erstwhile ronin didn’t return their salutes, instead choosing to remain there.

Lifeless.

Hopeless.

The spark had long since fizzled out, snuffed out underneath the oceans of self-loathing and endless lashings against the shreds of her self-confidence. All of her own doing - a temple of despair, utterly of her own creation.

The moon wished her well on its way out - only for the morning rays to console the fallen and offer their wisdom. Warming as the sun may’ve been, its efforts went entirely unappreciated. Its comforting whispers fell upon deaf ears - shunned away much like the revolutions that had come and gone before.

Seeing as reassuring murmurs fell upon deaf ears, the sun bid farewell to the fallen, its place claimed by the darkness of night. The air hung heavy and thick, oppressing the grassfed ronin, before lightning flashed and thunder clapped. Streaks of yellow-toned happiness gallivanted through the girl’s mind, decapitated by the snap of jaws, swallowed in a flash of red.

Wind howled as the rain poured and whipped upon the unfortunate soldier. Blowing upon extinguished embers, desperate to reignite the fire of a warrior’s soul. Yet the forge remained cold and quiet. The provocations of the universe, unanswered.

For all intents and purposes, Miyamoto Musashi may as well have been dead, for all the difference her existence presented to the world.

And with how long she’d stayed there, who knows.

Maybe the girl was indeed just decomposing, slowly swallowed by the ground. A once brave warrior returning from whence she came.

Without so much as a headstone to remember her by.

—--

Bleak whites washed over the landscape, with little to nothing depicting neither a beginning nor an end. Yet, against all odds, gentle winds washed over the ivory void. In those gentle winds, a dark coloured, drooping cap swayed along as its wearer sat upon a ledge, legs hanging over it precariously.

Whether the ledge had been there before or simply appeared at his demand mattered precious little.

Carried by the winds was a solemn tune, tinged with inescapable longing. A craving that with time, had faded precious little. The source of it, the tiniest of instruments moulded of clay in the dark clad figure’s hands.

The man’s melody to this void of naught, was interrupted suddenly by the sullen thud of something beside him, as if attempting to join his song as a percussive instrument of some calibre. Mostly that of failure.

“Gah. Wha-..?” The newly arrived pile brought itself to move as a flash of pink streaked against the chalk and the girl spun onto her feet. Her stance was wobbly at best, utterly unstable at worst - and her garbs were in tatters and caked with dirt.

“Ah. So you’ve finally come then.” His tone betrayed a hint of bemusement at the visitor. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The corner of his lip quirked upward just slightly.

“...and who’re you?” her gaze snapped to the capped man, and from there drifted onto the instrument in his hands, the song now supposedly ceased. Yet it continued to dance in the winds surrounding them. Whatever this place was, it was hardly conventional, what with the music behaving as it pleased.

“A friend of yours. In a sense, at least,” he mulled, canting his head to the side slightly before his hand patted the ledge beside him. “Sit with me, won’t you, swordsman?”

Stepping beside him, the swordsman dropped onto the ground unceremoniously, legs crossing beneath her as she landed with a quiet thud. A practiced maneuver if there ever was one. Her non-existent swords gave no clank against the ground as she landed, since well, they weren’t there.

“Who’re you?” she asked yet again, taking a better look at the man with a sword strapped across his back, hidden away beneath a shield. His pale skin was somewhat fitting to this ivory void, his red eyes giving a striking contrast to his features.

“Fancy a drink?” he inquired, a plate of sake offered her way. Wherever the ocarina had gone - or where the sake had come, the pinkette wasn’t certain. It didn’t seem all that important.

He seemed familiar. Too much so. Frustratingly so. Yet Musashi couldn’t grasp why! A sense of longing gnawed her heart, yet there was little reason for it. She’d never met this man before. Yet, with how he treated her, they may as well have been friends for years and years.

“I know you think you can’t continue without me. But you can. You’ve always been able to,” he talked matter-of-factly as the sake was accepted, gaze turning to the distance once more.

“And besides, I’m always there. Or rather, here. Inside of you,” the darkened one stated, utterly against his appearance. “...and of course inside of anyone who may need me,” his presence radiated warmth and unyielding friendship - the kind of strength that only a chosen few had.

“You can do it, even if I’m not there to watch over your every word.”

Whatever this pain was, it wrenched her, grappled her chest and squeezed with crushing intensity. “I miss you,” the words escaped her lips, the swordsman bewildered in confusion over what had been said and done. It made little sense.

“Oh by the way, you should really wake up by now. It should be right about time anyway,” he flashed her a smile, one that only a true friend would. And befuddled as the swordsman was, her lips curled upwards as her eyes glistened.

“Thank you.”

As the world crumbled around them, the swordsman closed her eyes. For whatever reason, she felt just slightly less tormented. It made little sense.

But it didn’t have to.

—--

The forest rustled as streaks of orange flashed through the shrubbery, dashing amidst the leaves and branches of the undergrowth. Light shone into the forest floor as the streak of orange emerged onto the sunbathed meadow. Dashing across it, the silken creature arrived at its target, a fat, bulging coin purse that awaited its taker.

And of course, its current owner, a practically decomposing former ronin - if not dead in body, then at least in spirit. Probably body as well.

Regardless of it, the coin-purse was robbed from her hip, snatching jaws closing around the strings as a bank deposit was made and the purse left on a new adventure with its new owner - a fox.

A filthy thief!

Even as the newly enriched victor went to leave the meadow, the freshly minted corpse finally twitched.

“-...s —e”

Leaves rustled as the creature darted into the words, disappearing from sight.
Embedded into the earth, the layers atop her twitched and writhed, rumbling from the forces beneath. “--..t’s ine..” she grumbled, fingers curling in impotent rage as her legs bore through the thin earth and the disgraced swordsman clawed her way to freedom.

“THE COIN! IS MINE!” she screamed at no one in particular, fueled by her very-recent loss as a victim of targeted robbery. Birds fled into the skies as the forest echoed and the swordsman’s eyes focused toward the shrubbery where the fox had escaped.

She would have what was hers, one way or another.
 

Miyamoto Musashi

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Emerging from the bushes, the swordsman nearly collapsed onto the ground, wheezing as her hands just barely came to catch her knees. With the daring thief gone, it was painfully obvious that her coins - what little there were - would be as well.

Again.

No, seriously. Again.

It was more than slightly apparent that the ronin wasn’t particularly pleased with that outcome. Not that her coin had a particularly successful history of staying with her, for all that it was worth.

And for another, since when was she winded this easily? It was utterly baffling - annoying even - what laying in a patch of grass for a year did to a body. How she was alive in the first place was more than slightly mysterious - but given her world-hopping tendencies, Musashi really couldn’t be bothered to give it too much thought.

She’d seen and experienced more outlandish things than it. Somehow. Oh well.

About as soon as her breath had settled, the swordsman came to regret staying still. For when staying still, the despair that she might as well have been running from, caught up as well. Nearly collapsing beneath the weight of it, one Miyamoto Musashi trembled as her teeth mercilessly dug into her lower lip.

A sword would’ve cut her enemy down, if there’d been one to draw. Yet, the sides of her hips were empty. No sheaths or swords to be seen, as she slowly pushed herself upright. The metallic taste of copper flooded her tongue as a stream of crimson trickled down her chin. From what her drowning eyes could see, there was a twofold street.

Befuddled as she was, direction mattered precious little. Neither destiny nor thread tugged the girl in either direction. As such, she simply went. Shaking and quaking, swordless and vulnerable.

In the corners of her mentalscape, the dragon danced once more, mocking her inability to defend those dear to her. In wars, lives were lost, that much was inevitable. Yet the thing that stung the most, was the ronin’s trampled pride and dulled sword.

Once as sharp as a razor, her resolve was as dull as ditchwater.

Yet still, the shaky bladestress lumbered forward, floating past the other ongoers of the road. Her defeated visage caught many a glance, yet she registered none of them. They existed, yet her once sharp wits caught none.

Not until someone caught her.

“-se, you -ve to … me!” swam to the dazed swordsman from a distance. It took a moment for her to return from the distant reaches of her melancholy plains. “Please, you’ve got to help me!” came again, now registering loud and clear as Musashi’s head turned and her eyes focused onto a woman.

“Whuh..?” she blurted out, before her wits could quite catch up to her lips.

“You’re a sellsword, no? A cheap one at that, yes?” The latter could’ve been taken as an insult. Yet as dull as her swords were, the ronin caught none of it. The wound that would’ve once cut her pride, was entirely evaded as she gave a bewildered stare.

“My daughter, she needs an escort to Arcadia, an up-and-coming magus she is!” was stated in a manner that seemed to give away that such was relatively commonplace. Still, the swordsman was busy in her own dumbfoundedness, even as she was already dragged along the streets of what seemed to be a village.

“This here’s my daughter!” the teary-eyed mother exclaimed! …just when had the tears appeared anyway? Just how dull was Musashi by now? How much time had passed?

Not a second later, a teenager of some sort with the pissiest of faces was shoved into her arms, all the whilst the ronin herself found herself back on the streets. There stood one Miyamoto Musashi with the sourest of lemons in tow. The gate she’d come and gone through slammed shut behind her and from yonder it echoed “Take her to Arcadia!”

Unsurprisingly, there was not a slightest hint of the tears to be found in the voice anymore.

…The fuck?
 

Miyamoto Musashi

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There they stood, the world’s spiciest lemon and her impromptu escort. One about as baffled as the other.

Shaking her head, the swordsman groaned, turning on her heels towards the now-closed gate, her foot leaving the ground as she went to take a step, before shortly interrupted by the citrus beside her.

“Won’t do you any good to try and return me,” she barked. “The bitch has been trying to dump me to whoever would take me for months now,” her voice taut as a tightrope. Musashi on her part could’ve felt the electrifying waves in the air, yet with her shattered instincts, she went as oblivious as the bystanders.

“...That so?” the swordsman mulled as her eyes glanced toward her newly acquired escortee for the first time. Fifteen, sixteen summers at best. A stand-offish pose to the boot, in addition to the knee-high boots on her legs. Sleek pants and a studded jacket. Black, black and black. Raven locks flowed all the way across her back.

In short, whoever this sourpuss was, they had a dress code. It was pitch black, in contrast to her pale skin.

“Done staring?” the raven-lemon snarled with a background track provided by one utterly impatient feet tapping its mark into the ground.

Nippy. Rolling her eyes, the ronin sighed as it began to dawn on her just what kind of an ordeal she’d gotten into this time. “Got a name, lemon?”

“Lemon?!” the raven exploded, nails digging into her palms as the girl seethed with rage. Curiosity caught the better of a few bypassers as they stopped to stare at the newly developing scene. Perhaps there was entertainment to be had all.

“The fuck’re you even good for?” the firecracker demanded, looking up and down her newly acquired protector who stood there dumbfounded and dirtily-clad. And who was most definitely, not evidently a swordsman.

“Now that is a good question. Dunno.” the pinkette shrugged, offering a defeated grin.

Breaking free from all chains the lemon began to squirt one sour insult and demand after another. “Ain’t got no weapon nor carriage! And how the fuck do you even intend to get us to Arcadia?”

The air tingled with electric anticipation as the audience looked from one to the other, trembling in their seats. Not that they’d brought seats.

“You’ve got those,” the swordsman offered a-matter-of-factly, finger rising to point toward the chain-reacting explosive’s feet. With an expression offering only tired exhaustion, she continued, “Anyway, name’s Musashi. Nice to meet you, Lemon.”

“The name is Yen! You’d do well to remember it!” Yen exclaimed, trembling and crackling like a wildfire.

“Mmm’nah, that swallow already left the nest, Lemon,” the ronin noted, slouching past the girl and heading straight toward their little crowd. “You comin’?”

“The fuck?!” the teenager screeched, nearly spinning in place as she attempted to decide whether to follow after Musashi, or pound the gate. The village might’ve been small, but she was still the daughter of the village elders. Yet, this was it.

Previous times the gate had at least been open for her to run back in. This time, the fucker was closed. No running from her problems. So between escaping alone into the streets or sticking with the ragged ruffian apparent, Yen made her choice and skittered after the impudent bitch hastily.

She’d get back at her yet!
 

Miyamoto Musashi

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Slumbering along the village streets was a sword and her freshly acquired lemon. With a fresh heading toward Arcadia and its… some sort of excellent reason that awaited them there, they were determined to reach their destination.

THUD!

At least until one witless swordsman decided to crash into something that was more of a mountain than a man. Utterly distracted as she was, the ronin soon found herself staring up at the tower and his utterly scarred visage.

… … …

“Aaanyway, bye!” Musashi exclaimed hastily, slinking low to bypass the hulk with all the haste of a small gale. Nimble as she may’ve once been, the weight upon her shoulders slowed the girl into something akin to a snail. And as such, she soon found herself caught by the collar and yanked backwards effortlessly as her feet left the ground.

Hanging there from her collar like some misbehaving kitten, the ronin looked at the fellow tiredly. As she dangled there, the difference in their height had become painfully obvious. What with her feet dangled limply in the air, robbed of their purpose.

Yen backpedalled with caution, for once realising that opening her mouth might’ve not been the smartest idea before actually doing so. And besides, she was supposed to be the protected one here! It wasn’t up to her to save an incompetent idiot who’d apparently managed to pick a fight with the wrong guy.

Bandit or otherwise.

“Hi there?” the kitten offered meekly, arms hanging on her sides in sullen defeat. What was the point in trying? Even if she could’ve broken free, the monstrosity had more than enough mass to outweigh anything she could’ve thrown in retaliation - without weapons anyway.

“You bumped into me, huh?” The man gruffed, his voice harsh as gravel on Musashi’s ears. She wasn’t a fan, no. Zero out of five, in terms of pleasantness.

“Guess so. Sorry?” A half-hearted offer, to be sure. But one she considered the oaf would buy, maybe. Probably? Hopefully.

“Ain’t good enough, girlie.” Nope - he most definitely did not. Drat.

“Don’t suppose you know which way Arcadia is?”

“Do, ya.” he grumbled, gravel rumbling as he began to turn, one earth-shattering step after another. Having turned around, the gargantuan pointed past her ear, voice like the gravel he’d rustled, “That’a way.”

Slowly, he lowered the girl onto the ground where she could finally stand up straight once more. Unsuspectingly helpful, he had been. In the end, it was once more a lesson that one shouldn’t judge the book by its cover.

“Ain’t an apology tho,” his fist shot forward with sudden haste, finding its mark as it sank into unsuspecting flesh. Recoiling, the ronin wheezed as the air was forced from her lungs, doubling over as she collapsed onto and off his arm, crumpling to the ground.

GHACK! HHHK! KHCHK!

Coughing and hacking, the defeated spat and sputtered, crimson saliva staining the ground as she determined that once more, one should’ve judged a book by its cover.

“Thnkhh y-u, khnnd sshir!” Musashi wheezed, tears rolling from her blurred eyes, hands clawing at her stomach in an attempt to discover whether it was even there anymore - or if they’d just find a nice hole.

“Lesson for ya, ya,” the unsuspectingly speedy mountain remarked as he - it? - lumbered off along the road once more, leaving the protector to whine and wheeze as her client gave a bewildered stare.

“Don’t you have any pride?!” she demanded sternly - as soon as it seemed safe enough to do so anyway. Yen didn’t exactly want to bite the sand herself.

“Mmm….” the swordsman cocked her head a little, contemplating her thoughts for a few moments. That, and the blood pooling in her mouth.

PTHUI!

Blood splattered onto the sandy road as her normally white teeth had a crimson stain to them. Glancing up toward her protege, Musashi gave her answer.

“Nope, none.”

After all, pride came before a fall. If she had none, how could she fall? Yet despite this utterly brilliant stroke of genius, she laid on the ground nonetheless, fallen.

Some fucking good that had done.
 

Miyamoto Musashi

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After a sufficient amount of time had passed - whatever that may’ve been, the ronin slowly began to stir from the dirt. For whatever self-deprecating reason, she’d remained there despite the funny looks and lingering gazes from pretty much every single passerby.

The lemon - Yen, that is, stood distantly aside. Being associated with such an absolute hobo was hardly in her plans. Yet still, her family had for whatever inexplicable reason ditched her. And she had no money. Or food. Or shelter. So the useless baggage would probably at least be a functional bait or something Heck if she knew. All in all, the raven-haired girl just didn’t want to be left alone. As pathetic as that may’ve been.

Gravel rustled, shifting underneath an unsteady sandal as the ronin hobbled, her legs threatening to strike and send her right back into romantics with the dirt. Besides the rustling dirt, a telltale jingle of a coin purse could be heard.

Judging from the jingle and weight, the thief sighed, stuffing the pouch into her sash. “Guess it’s something,” she grumbled, forehead crunching as she shook her head. The beating had not been worth such a light purse. Not in the slightest.

But it’d buy her a booze. Or three. Or ten. If she stole at least five of those. All in all, it was an utterly pathetic exchange rate in terms of coin-to-fist.

Well, there was precious little that she’d be able to do about it now.

And so?

Rather than heading toward Arcadia, the slouch turned to shamble towards Shimosa once more. Surely there’d be something purchasable there.

“O-oi?! What’s the deal?!”

The sudden yellow-toned screech of one nearly-forgotten Lemon jolted the hobo from her thoughts as her neck craned towards the sound. A hand slowly rose, a dainty finger pointing towards the city. “Booze?”

“You’re supposed to be taking me to Arcadia, no?!” Yen continued, stomping forward with all the fury that her sour soul could muster. “That’s what my Mom hired you for, no?!” she demanded, gesturing towards the road that apparently would’ve been leading them toward the lofty goal.

“Yeahyeah, but y’know...booze?” the would-be drunkard offered, as if that was utterly self-explanatory. How was a (not) self-respecting ronin supposed to function without a healthy helping of liquor?! In some world that would’ve included a portion or ten of udon, but honestly at this point she would’ve been happy with just the alcohol.

“Fuck your booze! Arcadia! Now!” Yen retorted, arms flailing toward the road with ever-increasing fervour. In all reality, she was desperate. The hell was she supposed to do, walk there all on her own with no protection or self-defense skills? Bandits would nab her long before she’d ever get there. Or so she assumed anyway.

Yet, despite the protests, the ill-tempered lemon lost against the call of a gourd of Sake, as the hobo proceeded towards Shimosa once more.

The hell was the hurry with Arcadia anyway?

It could wait. Sake couldn’t.
 
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