"…I'm really not looking forward to today."
Rin complained, envisioning the prospect of another day's worth of harassment.
Masaatsu shared a similar opinion.
"Mhm. It's going to be rough."
Trying to lighten the mood, Gengyo offered some positives.
"But at least we no longer have to do any ploughing."
Fuku helped out, offering words of encouragement to her sorrowful children.
"Tadakata's right. You get to do the flooding, and in a couple of days this drama will all pass over, and you can enjoy the easier work."
"What if it doesn't?"
Masaatsu's question was more directed toward Gengyo than anyone else.
Gengyo's reply was confident and resolute, surprising his family members.
"If today is the same as yesterday – which I assume it will be – then we'll set a plan in motion."
"Ha? A plan? What kind of plan can get us out of this mess?"
It was Mirohara that responded with such bitterness.
'There is always one bad apple in an otherwise optimistic bunch.'
Gengyo thought to himself.
"I wonder."
In truth, he had not yet thought of a plan, for he was lacking for inspiration necessary. He planned to let his mind wander throughout the working day, and hope that the dots began to connect themselves.
"Tsch. I knew your words were empty."
Fuku looked depressed at her husband's words, but in truth, she had not expected much from Gengyo either. Tadakata had always been a mild-mannered and weak-willed boy and though his character had certainly changed lately – in her eyes – she did not know of his recent achievements.
Rin and Masaatsu were a little more hopeful, but a degree of doubt still lingered. They loved their brother, and had come to admire him, but the situation was too pitiful.
Shrugging, Gengyo pointed the topic elsewhere.
"That aside, how is your training come along, brother?"
The unexpected question caused Masaatsu to pause a moment as he sat in thought.
"Hmm… I'm not sure whether to call it good or not."
"What kind of things have you been doing?"
"Shooting at birds, squirrels, and the like."
"And?"
"Well, I find my footsteps give me away before I manage to make the shot, so I've only hit 5 animals in the last few days."
"Hoh..."
Gengyo breathed out, rather impressed.
'His training technique is poor, but his success rate isn't bad considering he's learning two skills at the same time – archery, and hunting. In fact, that kind of kill rate having only recently become familiar with the bow is a little extraordinary.'
"I know… It's shameful, but in time I will improve."
"Not at all, it's only that the method you're using to train is rather difficult, but it's likely a better skill in the long run."
Masaatsu perked up at those words.
"Really? Then what method do you use to train?"
"Uh, I just shoot a target. I can hit the bullseye from 60 paces, but of course, it's not a moving target like yours so it's less impressive."
His eyes all but bulged out his head hearing that.
"What!? 60 paces already? I'm only at about 20 paces… How big is your bullseye?"
Gengyo held his hands side by side, giving an indication of the size of his target.
"My god…"
"As I said, it's not a moving target so it's a lot easier."
"I have a lot of work to do."
"Yup. Me too. We need to be able to hit the bullseye at a range of 250 paces if we want to call ourselves experts."
"That's… I understand."
Feeling a little left out at that conversation, Rin made herself known.
"Yeah, I'm training with the naginata so I can become an Onna-bugeisha like Tomoe Gozen."
Laughing, Gengyo ruffled her hair, enjoying her joking.
"To be honest, I think you'd make a rather good Onna-bugeisha. Though you'd probably be a little too violent for the townspeople's liking…"
…
…
Another grizzly reception awaited them at work that morning, with even more people joining in with the insults.
"Look who rocked up to work again today. Here to collect another freebie, are ya kids?"
"Well. It should be harder for them to cheat now that we're doing the flooding."
"You think? Cheating's in their blood. They'll find a way. Probably only fill the bucket half full of some stupid shit."
"Aye, true, that sounds about right."
Gengyo spied Aritada and Yoritomo somewhere off in the corner, as they cast him a pitying glance.
'They made a good choice. Don't join in with the bullshit, but it's not like I want you standing up for me either.'
Baba was running through the process of flooding for the youngsters that had just joined in with the farming this year.
"Alright, so the river's a ten-minute walk from here. Take two buckets with you, and get them filled. When you get back, empty the water into the trench. Then repeat, got it?"
They voiced their understanding, and he nodded satisfied.
'Will this really be easier than ploughing? The buckets seem quite heavy.'
'Oh, but I suppose you can catch a break at the river a bit.'
"If I catch anyone walking too slow, or dallying by the riverside, the punishment won't be pretty."
Baba's words instantly demolished Gengyo's reasoning and he began to frown.
'…Surely this isn't that good? I mean, you're away from the monotony of ploughing all day, but instead you're carrying heavy buckets of water. Then again, the women – like Rin – are doing it, so they can't be too heavy.'
'In the first place, is flooding meant to be done by hand, carrying buckets of water? Though I suppose we're uphill from the river, so we don't have much choice.'
"Here are your buckets. Good work again today please, Miura-kun."
"Thanks, Baba-san!"
Gengyo received his rather heavy wooden buckets with respect, but as soon as Baba's attention was turned around to Rin, he allowed a frown to fill his face.
'These aren't small… Nor are they light… Could it be, I was lied to?'
Gengyo planned to find the truth of it from Masaatsu or Rin later on, but for now he could only feign a smile and do his best.
He began to walk away, anticipating a hard days work.
"Nii-san, where are you going?"
He spun around to see his siblings following him, and raised an eyebrow.
"Are we meant to be doing this together?"
Masaatsu and Rin shared a glance that contained a good amount of concern.
"What do you mean? That's is the best part. We did it last year and the year before..."
Gengyo frowned, scratching his head. His lack of knowledge of Tadakata's past was a little troubling at times.
"Are you sure? We'll be putting water in different fields, which are different distances from the river."
Masaatsu shook his head.
"No, you're misunderstanding brother. All the workers fill one field at a time – as we've always done."
'Heh… I thought they wanted to split the workers up, but I suppose working this way makes more sense.'
"Well, we better hurry then. Best not give them even more excuses to mess with us."
And so the day passed by with idle conversation, and was accented by brief instances of remarkably dull conflicts.
One overeager young man sprinted past them with water buckets in hand – which of course were spilling – and left them with a parting comment.
"Hurry up idiots!"
They could only offer up a silent prayer for the young man's parents, having borne such a son.
'I imagine his body finds it rather upsetting having such a poor host.'
A few seconds later the boy was stopped by a rather cross Baba.
"Katou-kun! What hell are you doing? Those buckets are barely half full. Go back and fill them up again – and walk back sensibly this time."
The boy's reaction was splendid as he walked past them, red from head to toe.
They could not help but giggle.
"Wow… He's even dumber than you used to be Nii-san."
Gengyo's eyebrow twitched, even though it wasn't technically 'him' who that comment was referring to.
"Was I really that bad?"
"Yup. Worse at times."
Masaatsu nodded deeply in agreement.
"Which is why I'm so surprised by what you've been up to lately. Have you been hiding your intelligence from us all these years?"
He awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he searched for a suitable explanation.
"Uhm… Not exactly… Kinda?"
But luckily they did not press him.
"Well, whatever happened, I'm glad it did. Nii-san is much cooler now!"
…
…
The day was nearing its close, and Gengyo very much looked forward to getting out of the scorching heat.
Though he had a relatively pleasant day – apart from the little eccentricities of other people – the constant movement and the overpowering sun had left him feeling drained.
"Day's almost over, Nii-san."
Rin said, as she crouched down longer than usual to fill the bucket - it seemed she was enjoying the feeling of the cold water
"Yup. And all three of you have done fuck all, good work!"
A gruff, balding middle-aged man came up behind them, followed by his buddies who gave a hearty laugh at his remark.
He walked towards the river as well. Rin glanced back distastefully as he walked behind her. Being so near the likes of him was degrading.
THWACK
A sudden, impulsive kick, executed without a single care for it's recipient. He had not even looked towards her as he lashed out with his left leg, and sent her stumbling into the water.
She let out a surprised shriek, before she tumbled headfirst into the first fast-flowing river, swallowing a mouthful of water.
Masaatsu froze.
'What the hell...'
He had trouble processing what he had just seen. And then, there was that smirk on the man's face. He was so very pleased with himself.
It was only when he saw Gengyo shoot forward, to grab hold of the end of the back of Rin's kimono - the only part still within reach - that he was able to force his body into action.
He dove forward to join his brother, as they pulled their sister to safety. It was lucky that she had bound her kimono tightly, as its binding was the only thing that had allowed them to hold onto to her. Though it had come away slightly, threatening to reveal her chest.
She came to shore, soaked, unable to comprehend what had just happened, as she choked up a mouthful of river water.
THWACK
For days he had dealt with the words and jibes of the village people, who seemed so eager to disregard them, under the weight of Kyougoku's accusations. And he had bared with it, for that was the sensible thing to do.
But this? This was not something he could forgive. As soon as he had confirmed the safety of Rin, his anger had exploded, and he had thrashed the attacker with a ferocious fist, sending him crashing to the ground.
The man fell, dazed. They all were. Even his followers. They had chortled upon seeing his teasing of the Miura family, but the last thing they expected was this. The weakest lad in the village, Tadakata, had stood up to their boss, and actually felled him.
"...Don't ever... Ever... touch my sister again."
He announced venomously through gritted teeth, truly enraged.
His followers took a step forward, as though to avenge their leader, but after receiving the full weight of his glare, they thought twice. There was no one there to stop him, as he took his sister's hand, and lead them through the group of men.
Kushizu Ujimasa - the felled man - held his bruised jaw, gritting his teeth against the pain.
'Now that... That was a fucking solid punch.'
That single thought went through his head. Pain was nothing unusual to him, and more than anything, he despised weakness. He was not the type to simply suppress a man for the sake of it - he craved excitement.
"Boss... Ain't we gonna go after them?"
One of his men asked. He tutted in irritation. He had been enjoying the moment.
"They say that boy's trash... Doesn't look much like trash to me."
He mused. There was only one man he remembered that could hit that hard, but that man had been forced to give up fighting years before. After his years in retirement, Kushizu - who had once respected him greatly - had begun to look down on him, same as the rest.
But now it seemed someone had inherited his skill. And that person was - rather strangely - his weakest son.