End of the Road
Based on ”Blade of Toshubi”, by Toshubi
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   Sitting quietly by the campfire, a tired feline man was cleaning a finely made Katana with tender care. Wind was rustling the branches and leaving the leaves dancing with the wind underneath the light of the full moon. It was one of those nights that made Daisuke wish things were different. Daisuke Chiba still considered himself a samurai of the old way, and a man of honor and principle. 
   He had served his lord as a samurai for many years. Ever since he received his personal blade at the end of his training period Daisuke had sought to serve without question. He believed in the justice he carried out. He would not let bandits prey on the people in the lands of his lord. He would not permit thugs to harass the people that were under his and his lord's care. He carried out his orders without regrets, and he believed he was on the side of justice.
   The fire crackled and a spark flew in the air. It reminded the tired warrior of the fires he had witnessed since those times. The blade's sharp edge reflecting his tired brown eyes. Daisuke still considered himself a man of honor and dignity, but to most, he was a ronin, and an outcast. 
   His lord had fallen victim to an assassin's blade, a cowardly strike while Daisuke was away chasing after a group of bandits that had attacked one of the small villages. Daisuke had been proud to ride off, feeling his lord's sense of care for those who served him was humbling. The man truly took care of everyone who served him, and people's efforts were rewarded by unflinching loyalty to his people. 
   It was a rare kind of a man, and the reason that Daisuke had been willing to serve without question to begin with. He had never felt he had gone against what was right while in the service of his lord, and for that, he couldn't help but admire the lord's wisdom. Daisuke had sworn to serve as his lord's right hand, and bring his justice upon any that preyed on the lands and their people. 
   Gazing at the campfire, Daisuke drew a deep breath sheathing the blade quietly. He remembered the fires from before. From the tents that were burning. The dead feline soldiers. The atrocities they had commited. Daisuke couldn't believe what some of the soldiers were now doing, not until he had seen it for himself. 
   Noble soldiers actually attacked unarmed or poorly defended villages, killing men and taking women captive for their entertainment, or slavery back home. His lord had not permitted this kind of soldiers in his lands. They fought with honor, and they fought with bravery, knowing the old ways and living by them. Last he heard, the new lord had sent them all off to a distant battle to die, bringing in these men that were no better than the bandits of the forests.
   When they drunkenly turned onto one of the small villages in the region they were meant to protect, killing and capturing innocent people, Daisuke had snapped. He had sworn to his lord that he would find those responsible and send them to be judged by their ancestors. Daisuke had promised to follow his lord to death after that, only wanting to complete the mission he failed in life, to bring justice to the land by killing those who would oppress it.
   Yet when he heard the screams coming from the camp, he only saw the atrocities and cruelty in the hearts of these men. He turned his blade against fellow soldier, and though he was wounded in the skirmish, these bastard soldiers were no match for one of his lord's finest. He silently prayed forgiveness for turning his blade against a fellow soldier, but he voiced it in his prayer that he did not regret executing those who violated the old ways.
   The captives had ran off as fast as they could. The torches at the camp and the little oil bottles had helped him light the whole mess aflame. Little by little, he had weakened the new lord's grasp on the land. He had broken this border-region's protection, while killing any bandits that came looking for easy pickings having heard of the ronin that hunted his fellow soldiers. 
   He remembered those flames as well. Bandits camps left behind as funeral pyres for the dead and unworthy, the corrupt and forsaken. His justice was cruel, his oaths bloodstained and his soul dying. Daisuke could feel the weight of his own sins upon him. Knowing he had commited mistakes, knowing that he had not been there in time for some. Knowing all that, and remembering how his lord had sent him to battle, he finally understood the burden his lord bore that whole time, the caring, warm smile hiding a pain no doubt, for he had no doubts in his mind that his lord did all he did to protect his people. 
   ”I thought I'd find you sleeping already.” Woman's voice broke him out of his memories and doubts, but he let his blade remain in its sheath. This woman was one he trusted. One of the few people he could relax near. She reminded him of his lord's daughter. Poor girl had slept away before coming of age, but this woman was about as old as she would have been, had she lived. More than a few years younger than him, but treating him like she was the older partner in their arrangement.
   ”Never. You brought the food?” Lifting his head to look at her properly, he waited her to pass the cup of rice. Nodding his head with gratitude, he began to eat. People tended to open up to a pretty girl easier than a scar-riddled ronin. The young feline woman was an alluring sight, and if he was younger, he figured he would have been happy to settle with a new life with her somewhere. 
   His years, his experiences and his oath kept him from doing that however. His grey fur somewhat ruffled, his left thigh aching where the arrow's mark still ached in the chilly nights. It was more than a year ago, but he felt the wound's sting from time to time, one of those hits that would never really heal. It was good, though. Pain kept his mind clear of distractions. It reminded him of the pain he and the people were in because of the treacherous lord now enjoying the benefits of everyone's labors. 
   The old lord's nephew had taken over just days after his lord had died. He had been ready to commit the ritual to join his lord in death, when a servant brought forth a sealed letter to him. The letter that set him out to hunt for those responsible. The letter which's instructions had lead him to this night, camping less than a day's walk away from the castle.
   ”I'm fine, thanks. The people did look at me a little curiously but nothing I couldn't take care of myself.” Her somewhat annoyed tone at his apparent lack of concern for her well-being amused him. Daisuke had originally worried about letting the woman out of his sight if she insisted on helping him rather than returning to her home. Soon enough, he had come to terms with the fact she was a capable feline, and that she knew how to use her teeth and claws if necessary, though he figured the dagger in the sleeve of her outfit would do more to scare off any too curious people.
   ”I imagined you'd have already told me if someone was rude to you.” Daisuke still remembered how his own jaw had dropped the first time. He sent her out on an errand to get food, and a pair of thugs acting tough tried to talk her into following them to an alleyway. Seeing how she had left one frisky feline gasping for air holding his crushed jewels and another begging her to not slit his throat as she stood behind the damn alley cat with a dagger to its throat.
   ”You could at least pretend to care.” The comment stinged, but Daisuke didn't want to let it show. He wasn't the father she perhaps missed, the brother she might want to rely on, or a lover she might have wanted one day. He was none of the men she might have had and lost when things went bad. He didn't want to pretend otherwise either. Daisuke had chosen the path of vengeance, and the old wisdom told him to dig two graves besides that path. He didn't want to have to dig a third. The time to leave without her was coming closer.
   ”Kitten. You are young. Your claws are not stained in blood, sheathe them and walk away. I'll give you the coins that remain, and wish you off with a smile. I want you to walk away and sing the song I taught you. About the old way, about the ones that strove for a just world. About the lord and his samurai.”
   Smiling silently to her and patting her knee, he continued to eat while keeping his eyes down. He saw her stand, and step away. He hurt her, regardless of how much he liked the young woman he would not change his mind. Daisuke Chiba would give his life for his lord, and carry out the revenge against the nephew that had orchestrated his uncle's fall so he could take over and then bleed the people dry to feed his own status in the country.
   ”I'm not giving up on you, just so you know. Say what you want about warrior's pride and all that, but if you want the stories about your lord to live on, live and tell them to the children of a changed world yourself.”
   He wished it was that simple. Gazing at the fire, he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. Tomorrow night it would all be settled. Revenge or redemption, whether it was justice or a mere delusion of a wounded warrior, the feline samurai wanted to bring this chapter of his life to its end. 
   Either he or his lord's betrayed would lay dead. The thought made him pause for a moment though, and look up at the direction of the young woman. Watching the copper red tail's sway a moment in thought, and sighing to himself. Originally he would have thought it would be either him, or both of them that would perish when he thought about confronting the bastard lord. Now he found himself thinking it would be just one. 
   "I have no promises to give about returning." He told her seriously, watching her turn around and smile to him, the scar the soldiers gave her on her forehead and the fur on it stained black.
   "I'll wait. You are too stubborn to die, old man." She smirked, one of those expressions that made him want to just grasp her and spank some manners into her. One of those smirks that always made him smile as well.