Genji (297 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 7 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <gnamit.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2007-04-12 02:47:14 EDT
I'd been living in Japan for three years. After a severely narcotic filled two, I made it out to the country. They had all that martial art shit and I thought I'd spend some time doing something less decrepit with my life. My dojo gave me a place to stay, I slept on the floor and cleaned in the mornings and the evenings. If it wasn't clean, I got my ass kicked. This was beyond my scope of Japanese at the time, so I just got my ass kicked.
Running from the cops and living on handouts made you pretty lean, and so honing all that energy wasn't that hard. I was never the best student for my time there, but I quickly became respected for being a quick learner and heavy drinker. My teacher was a prototypical badass. If you picture an old Japanese martial arts expert, he is exactly what comes to mind. There were 5 students, and we earned money by selling sake. I never knew much about how it all began, but I should have realized something was wry. It all seemed more like a gang than a martial art group.
It was one morning six months ago that it all changed. I knelt down in the main room of our temple where we usually trained and started to meditate. I had just finished cleaning for the morning and was waiting for everyone to arrive. The air felt thick, movie theater thick. It was humid and I couldn't concentrate. Looking back, it was all so predictable, but at the time I thought I just had some bad sushi. There were footsteps approaching in a quiet run, but no voices. Usually the other guys were laughing their Japanese asses off as they came in the morning. I didn't even register this change in normalcy at the time, but as they entered, quickly and quietly, it finally struck that something had gone astray.
Our sensei was usually the first to arrive, but he wasn't there, and the other guys were drenched in sweat. I remember Ken's white shirt was splattered with blood, but before I could register anymore they ran into the weapon's locker and threw me a sword. The blade felt heavy and coarse in my hands. I had only begun training with a weapon, and still gripping the handle gave that youthful excitement. I shivered with a sense of forbearing and started to glide the blade out of its sheath. Ken quickly leaned down and slammed it back shut, with the palm of his hand while shaking his head. I was pissed, but he could easily kick my ass, and this wasn't the time for ass-kicking...at least not each others. As he walked off I rose and followed him. I wonder now if I should have just gone back home instead...
User Reviews
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2007-04-13 11:27:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Antioxident (user info) at 2007-04-12 22:08:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-04-12 09:39:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Holy crap dude...back after almost three years of not posting? Please do write more.
Submitted by DirtyHarry (user info) at 2007-04-12 08:53:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow, great start to an awesome ninja story. I want some more of this.
Submitted by Hilarity_Ensues (user info) at 2007-04-12 08:30:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+ fucking 2 b/c I'm going to a Ninja themed restuarant next Friday. I love ninja movies much more than I should.
Good story by the by.
Submitted by particle_man58 (user info) at 2007-04-12 08:19:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sweetness
Submitted by kuroneko_sama (user info) at 2007-04-12 04:23:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
looks like a start of something interesting...what year is it