Saturday, April 9, 2005

   Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo! Pogo!

Friday night & System of a Down is taking over my brain!

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Another day of not much going on in my life. I thought I lost the key to our mailbox yesterday. It was in my jacket pocket. I felt so dumb. I did a bit of studying in the afternoon... played with setting up a website using tables. Whee. I know how to do that real good now! Then I went to Sioux City with my brother. We bought food. I was naughty and bought Trigun Maximum #4. Then this evening we watched Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD for about three hours. Such silliness.

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Well... here's another short shot from the story. Kind of sad this time...

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Hikaru spent the afternoon in the garden going through his father’s papers. Takeda helped with anything that he couldn’t understand. After much reading and talking, the papers were finally sorted. There was a stack of outstanding bills that needed to be paid. “How is the money?” Hikaru asked.

Takeda rubbed his eyes. “Not the best,” he said. “We have enough to cover most of these bills, but that would leave very little to live on.”

Hikaru looked at the stack of bills and thought for a moment. “Takeda-sensei, pay the oldest of these first,” he said. “Take what money is needed. I need to think about what to do for the rest.”

“Of course, Hikaru-kun, I’ll take care of them now.” Takeda gathered up the papers and got up to leave. “Will you be all right alone again?”

Hikaru smiled. “Yes, go take care of things. I’ll be fine.”

After Takeda left, Hikaru began to walk around the garden. He didn’t notice the knocking at the main gate, nor did he hear Satsuo’s call until it was too late. He turned at the sound of his name. “Satsuo-kun, what are you doing here?”

Satsuo stopped at the edge of the walkway when the silver figure called him by name. He back-pedaled and tripped over the steps. He got up, turned and ran from the garden. He heard his name called once again, but didn’t stop running until he was back at the inn.

Hikaru was saddened, yet not surprised, at the reaction of his friend. He returned to the guesthouse, as he did not want to run the risk of anyone else seeing him.

Takeda returned some time later to find the main gate open. “Hikaru-kun,” he called as he rushed into the garden. Not finding the boy there, he ran to the guesthouse, where he found Hikaru in bed. “Hikaru-kun, here you are. What happened? Why is the gate open?”

Hikaru rolled over, turning his back to his teacher. “Satsuo,” he muttered.

“He saw you?”

Hikaru nodded and pulled the covers up so only the top of his head was visible.

Takeda sighed. “I was afraid something like this would happen,” he said. “I’ll go talk to Satsuo and try to explain things. I only hope that I can calm him.”

Hikaru turned to look at his teacher. “I hope so, too. Satsuo is my friend. I didn’t mean to frighten him.”

“I know, Hikaru-kun. I know,” Takeda left his young master to go try to calm his friend.

***

The next morning a package arrived for Hikaru. Takeda accepted it and brought it to the guesthouse. “Hikaru-kun, a package for you,” he said.

Hikaru was sitting at a table folding paper cranes when Takeda came in. He didn’t look up at all.

Takeda knew the reason behind Hikaru’s mood and said nothing. He set the box on the floor next to the boy and left the room. It saddened him to see Hikaru this way. He had not had a chance to talk to Satsuo the previous day to try to explain things to him. He was going to try to clear things up now. “I’m going out now, Hikaru-kun,” he said as he looked in on the boy. “I’ll make sure the gate is locked.”

Hikaru said nothing. Another origami crane joined the flock that was nesting on the table. He heard Takeda close the main gate and got up to close the guesthouse door. As he returned to the table, he noticed the package. He sat down again and placed the box on the table.

It was a long package wrapped in a white cloth. A tag attached had his name and Kamakura written on it. Hikaru untied the cord and unwrapped the package. He opened the box within to find a set of swords. His father’s swords. He reached out to touch the swords.
Finally, the tears came and Hikaru cried for the loss of his father.

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There ya go...

Laters!

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