mission report for nanyakanya (part 2 of 4)

[capn_planet]

Back to Part 1.



It wasn't long before they were called in again.

"I'm not really optimistic about this one," Domoto told them as they walked into the hospital room.  He had already taken his jacket off and had thrown the case file on the edge of the bed where the patient lay.

"Why's that?" Ryo asked, making the mistake of watching Ohkura as he checked the catheter bag.

Ohkura looked up to answer, catching Ryo's glance by accident.  He quickly closed his eyes to break the connection.  "Sorry!"

"Ugh," Ryo said, blinking out of it and rubbing his nose.  "It stinks in there - if you ever slip into a coma, I'm not coming after you."

"Thanks," Ohkura grumbled.  "I said I was sorry."

"Masuda Takahisa," Domoto interrupted.  "He...um..."  He picked the file back up and started thumbing through it.

"Did you even read it?" Ohkura asked.

The patient in question was in the middle of a sleep cycle, with his eyes closed.  That always freaked Ryo out - he had some trouble understanding how it all worked, how someone could be conscious but not aware but still asleep.  Everything looked peaceful: the monitors beeped steadily, he was still.  And the eyes didn't seem to be moving underneath the lids too much.  That was even worse, when Ryo had to pry open their eyes and their gaze was unfocused and wandering - often unsynchronized.

"He's missing an arm," Yasu said, pointing.

"He apparently was on his way to work when he was struck by a car, driver was never identified," Domoto read aloud.  "They had to amputate the right arm."

"He still looks pretty rough," Ohkura commented.

"That was a little over a year and a half ago," Domoto finished.

Yasu pursed his lips at the comment.  "That long?  That's not good.  Still, trauma-related," he said.  "There's a chance."

Domoto looked at him for a moment and then nodded.  "Yeah."

"Ready?" Ryo asked, already by Masuda's side, flexing his fingers.

"Ready," Yasu said, moving next to him.  Ryo pushed his sleeve up and Yasu put both hands on his arm, instantly flooding with the whole of Ryo's visceral attitude .  He was used to it at this point - the simmering anxiety before entering, even after three years, calmed him.  It would worry him if Ryo ever lost it completely.

"Ready," Ohkura echoed, standing on the other side of the bed with his hands on the patient's head, ready to help hold the eyes open.

Domoto shrugged.  "Whatever."

"Okay," Ryo said, pulling open Masuda's eyes with a forefinger and thumb on each side.  He quickly shut his own to give him a chance to take a deep breath before going in.  He paused.  "Okay," he repeated, opening his eyes and leaning over to stare directly in.

Yasu moved with his partner and took a deep breath too, slowly closing his eyes - sinking with the exhale.  He opened them to fresh air.  He let go of Ryo.  "You'll like this," he commented, looking around.

"We're outside?" Ryo asked, trying to adjust.  He turned away from Yasu by accident.  He was sure of his assessment - he could feel the sun and the breeze, smell the trees - hear the birds and a small stream running nearby.

"Yeah," Yasu replied.  "In the Edo period, too"

"What? How do you know that?"

"Because," Yasu said, turning him around gently in the right direction.  "I'm looking at Masuda right now and he looks like a samurai."

Ryo almost choked.  "You're kidding me."  He pushed at Yasu, trying to usher him in the right direction while grabbing onto his shoulders to follow wherever he went.  "What are you waiting for?"

Yasu nodded and cleared his throat.  "Masuda?" he said, approaching the stream.

The young samurai turned to smile at them.  "Yes?"  He was sitting on a stump next to the stream, the remains of what looked like lunch next to him in the grass.

"Are you busy?" Yasu asked.  Ryo punched him in the shoulder.

"Not really, I was just eating lunch," he explained.  "I decided to stop and eat by the stream so I could wash my hands off since the rice is really sti-"

"That's great," Ryo interrupted, peeking out behind Yasu's shoulder.  "Do you remember what you were doing before that?"

He thought for a moment.  "I was admiring the scene a bit."

"No," Ryo grumbled.  "Do you ever remember not being a samurai?"

"When I was really young?"

"What he means is," Yasu started, "do you remember this being different before it was this?"

Masuda looked at the pair and smiled politely.  "Um..."

"This isn't real," Ryo blurted out.

"It's not?" he replied, looking around.  "That's a shame.  It's pretty."

"You're in a dream, sort of...not exactly," Ryo continued.  "You're not a samurai, okay?"

"I'm not? Oh."

"Your body is someplace else and you just think you're a samurai."

"I see."

Ryo frowned.  "Are you making fun of me?"

Masuda smiled nervously.  "No?"

"You're taking this too well," he grumbled.  "Something's not right, it never goes this easy."

"I thought you wanted it to be easy," Yasu whispered, slightly annoyed.

Ryo shot him a look, or at least he thought he did - he couldn't be sure.  "You need to realize this isn't the real world, just part of your imagination - snap out of it and get out of here."

"Okay," Masuda said, amiably.

"Really?" Ryo asked.

"If I'm not supposed to be here, I should leave," he started.

Ryo smiled, a satisfied and wholly obnoxious grin, as he shook Yasu's shoulders.  "Great! Okay, let's go home."

"How do I get there?"

"What?" Ryo asked, his smile falling.

"This real world I should be in, how do I get there?" Masuda asked.  "Meditation?"

"It's not Buddhism..."

"Sort of," Yasu said, scratching the back of his head.  "It's kind of like achieving a higher level of existence.  You just have to...figure it out for yourself.  Make your own way to it."

Masuda nodded.  "It wouldn't be enlightenment if it was easy to get to."

"There you go," Ryo added.  "We'll keep him on the sustain list, maybe he'll get there," he said quietly to the side.

"Yeah, maybe that's how it works," Yasu replied.

"I'll work on that," Masuda continued.

"Great," Ryo repeated.  He let go of Yasu and took a step back.  It seemed like it was taking longer and longer for his muscles to react in the real world; all he needed was to move physically, just the slightest bit to break the line of sight and send them home - an automatic response, like sleepwalking - but getting his body to comply was easier said than done.  He started rocking back and forth slowly, building up speed.

"Thanks," Masuda said.  "If you'll excuse me, I have something I need to finish first.  I'll definitely start meditating more, probably next week."

Yasu reached behind and grabbed Ryo by the shirt, pulling him forward and stopping the exit.  "Something you need to finish first?"

"What are you doing?" Ryo asked.

"We were really lucky to find him so fast and he was so agreeable," Yasu whispered.  "Maybe we can help him?"

"Help him?"

"The sooner he finishes whatever he still needs to do, the sooner he can start working on coming back," Yasu answered.  "Come on, just a little longer?"

"We've been here for...fifteen minutes?  Come on, Yasu, that never happens."

"Exactly.  What could it hurt?"

"Yasu, no-"

"Please?"

Ryo sighed.  "Fine."

"Maybe it's something we can help with," Yasu said immediately, with a giant smile.  "Would that be okay?  Can we join you?"

"Sure," Masuda replied.  "Ah, most people call me Massu, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, my name's Yasuda," he replied.  "And this is Zatoichi, the blind swordsman."

"Yasu!"

"Oh!" Massu said, impressed smile breaking out.  "You must be very skilled, then."

"Yeah, I must be," Ryo nervously laughed, reaching out with his hand to find something to swat at.

"That's good to hear - maybe you really can help me, then.  I was on my way into the main city to take care of-" Massu stopped.  He stood up and put his left hand to the hilt of the sheathed katana hanging at his right side, sliding the blade out about a thumb's worth.  He held it steady as he looked around.  "Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Just the stream," Ryo answered.  "The birds stopped."

He smiled.  "You really are skilled.  Maybe we should talk somewhere else?"  He let go of the katana and picked up the cloth he had carried his lunch in with his left hand.  The sleeve on his right covered his entire arm, which hung at the side.  He pointed to a path that followed beside the stream and motioned for them to move on.  "This way.  We'll cross a little further down.  It's wider there, but it's a quicker route."

"Do we have to?" Ryo said, dragging his feet behind Yasu, who had already grabbed his wrist to lead him along.  "Can't we just go around it or something?"

"You're afraid of bridges?"

"Oh," Ryo replied, smiling out of relief.  "No, bridges are fine. I like bridges."

"Ah.  You're afraid of water," he remarked.  "It's okay, kappa only go after small children, you know."

"I'm not scared of kappa!"

Yasu was able to take a closer look at him as they walked - he had scars and signs of old injuries in the exact same places as the Masuda Takahisa who was lying in bed, forever recovering from a car accident.  The same scratch across the right eye - bandages poking out from the opening of his clothes from the same gash across his chest.  And the arm.  It looked like it was still there, but he never flexed the muscles to move it.  The way his mind compensated for all of the physical loss made sense.  Yasu couldn't help but admire how completely well designed it was - so much so that his grip on Ryo's wrist was almost nonexistent.

"I'm tired of being in water, okay?  That's all," Ryo ended, somewhat pathetically.  "We are crossing at the bridge, right?"

"Did you give up your sword?" Massu asked, ignoring his question.

"What do you mean?" Yasu replied.

"You're ronin, right?  You said Zatoichi's a swordsman?"

Yasu saw him tuck his hand against the folding of his clothing and inch toward his sword again.  He jerked on Ryo's wrist before the other could answer the question flippantly.  "Not exactly," Yasu said, cautiously.  "No one has a lord where we come from."

"I see," Massu responded, regaining his cheery demeanor and letting his hand drop to the side.  "More like explorers, then?"

"Something like that."

"Sorry, I had to make sure those weren't your friends at the clearing."

"Friends?" Ryo asked.

"The reason I'm heading into the main city," he answered.  "There's a rumor some of the ronin in this area are going to set fire to the buildings."

"We weren't sent to stop you, if that's what you're wondering," Yasu offered.

Massu paused.  "Then, yes," he said, pleasantly.  "We are crossing the bridge.  You still don't have a sword, though, so...here."  He pulled out his wakizashi, the shorter sword all samurai carried, and took Ryo's hand, giving it to him.  "You might need this."

Ryo was torn.  On the one hand, he knew it was a bad idea - blind men weren't meant to be armed.  On the other hand, he couldn't help but let out a, "Ah, cool."

"You're trying to stop the fire?" Yasu asked, grabbing Ryo's wrist again and leading him over the small wooden bridge.

"No," Massu explained.  "I'm trying to stop what's going to happen while they set the fire.  I think it's just a distraction."  His demeanor and tone stayed pleasant, almost as if he were proud to have figured it all out.  "I heard about a similar fire a few cities away.  While the samurai tried to put it out, another group snuck in and attacked the daimyo.  I doubt the ronin came up with it on their own - especially since no one ever saw the other group."

Soon, they were in the outskirts of the main city, with the daimyo's castle in sight.  As they walked the streets, Massu stopped every so often to ask a few townspeople if they had had any trouble that day.

"Besides the drunkards? Not really," one woman commented.

"Ronin?" Yasu asked.  "Has it already started?"

"Not sure," Massu answered.  "That's pretty normal.  Did you know?  The Shogun's forcing the daimyo to cut their military budgets so they can seize their lands.  Most of the samurai now are jobless - the ones that don't kill themselves have been hanging out in the cities, causing trouble."

"Oh good," Ryo commented.  "He's a trivia nerd."

"Not all of them, though," Yasu said.  "You haven't been causing trouble."

"I'm still employed," he replied.

"How does that work with your arm?"

"His arm's missing here too?" Ryo asked, pulling at Yasu.  "You didn't say anything about that."

"I forgot."

"We're about to go fight a coup and you forgot to mention it?"

"The daimyo likes me because I've always been very loyal to him," Massu explained.  "When he let most of the samurai and shinobi go, he was worried about them defecting to another lord and selling secrets - it was our job to dispose of them before they could.  I was in charge of taking out his highest ranking shinobi.  I couldn't do it, but he didn't have a problem maiming my arm."

"Ah, what is that?" Ryo interrupted, sniffing.

"What?" Massu asked.

"I smell something burning."

"Someone on the street?"

Ryo shook his head.  "I don't think so."

"Come on," Massu said.

They ran the rest of the way to the castle walls, arriving just as the samurai charged out in response to the fire.  Massu and Yasu could see the smoke starting to billow out on the other side and hear the panicked wave of news spreading across the city.  Within minutes, the road in front of the castle was empty save a few necessary guards and lingering townspeople trying to finish their business as hurriedly as they could - an old man, a monk and a young girl.  Massu pointed in one direction and Yasu nodded, running around the corner.  "Nishikido, stay here," he said before jogging off the opposite way.

"...what did you call me?"

It was too late, Massu was already gone.  Ryo kept his hand on the wakizashi, pushing his back up against the wall.  Maybe his real name had slipped out at some point on the walk there and he had forgotten.

"Ah, excuse me," he said, as he felt someone brush past him.  The edge of a woman's kimono dragged over his foot and suddenly, for a flash, he could see her.  She had a paper parasol on her left shoulder, shading her face from the rest of the city, and a pink kimono with red and white flowers that grew in size as they fell from the shoulder to the tail.  She smiled at him - a charming smile that had a slightly wicked edge to it - while pulling a strand of hair back over her ear, but never turned her head to look at him straight on.  She was gorgeous.  And then it was dark again - so quickly that Ryo couldn't help but immediately put his hand up, accidentally bumping her elbow as she left.

He rubbed his eyes.  Cavers were known to sometimes turn off their equipment in safe areas in order to experience pure darkness and end up hallucinating light instead; he wondered if the vision of the girl wasn't just his brain getting tired of being blind.  If that were the case, he thought, at least his brain had good taste.

"See anyone?" he heard Massu ask, his footsteps echoed by Yasu running back from the other side.

"No."

"Me neither," he answered.  "Maybe I was wrong."

"You didn't see the girl?" Ryo asked.

"What girl?"

"There was a girl walking down the street, she passed right in front of me."

Massu turned his head to the gate - the two guards that had been there were missing.  "That's him, come on."

"Him?!" Ryo barked.  "I'm pretty sure she was a girl."

"No she wasn't."

"Trust me on this-"

"No, she wasn't," Massu insisted.  "Shinobi are paid to go undetected - would you ever expect a girl to attack the daimyo?" he asked.

Ryo ran behind Yasu, trying to hold on to part of his clothing to keep up.  After thinking about it: "Yeah...a lot of them, really."

They had no trouble entering the castle - what few guards had stayed behind were laid out on the ground, trails of blood pooling out of gaping holes in the breastplates of their armor.  "He knows our castle well, he might already be to the daimyo," Massu commented between breaths.  "This way."

"This guy," Yasu asked, following behind.  "It's the same one?  The shinobi that hurt your arm?"

"Yes," Massu answered.  He skidded to a halt in the hallway, backtracking and going down an adjacent hall where a discarded pink kimono was on the floor.  "He's going the wrong way," he commented, confused.

"He beat you last time, right?" Ryo asked, still trying to clutch onto the wakizashi with one hand and hold on to Yasu's shirt with the other.

"Not really," he said, stubbornly.  "I couldn't kill him - we were friends.  We grew up together.  Why would he have come down this way?"

The door in front of them started to move and Massu awkwardly pulled out his sword as fast as he could, ready to strike, until he saw who it was.  "Sir?"

The daimyo stood before him, blinking.  "Masuda, what are you doing here?  Isn't there a fire in the city?"

Something didn't feel right to Yasu.  He could barely hear Massu explaining the situation, instead focusing on the heat in his chest.  He pulled Ryo's hand off of his shirt, thinking that maybe he had just been too close for too long, that maybe his partner was bleeding over.

"Ah, Yasu," Ryo said, once his hand was free, completely disoriented.  He stepped forward looking for something else to grab onto, accidentally walking straight into the other and knocking him forward into the daimyo and the samurai.  "Sorry!" he immediately yelled - but his attention was cut short at the high pitched whine of something flying by.

"Ow!" Yasu shouted, reaching back to pull a dart out of his shoulder, yanking it quickly and pushing up against the wall to stem the bleeding.

"He's here."  Massu shoved the daimyo back into the room and pulled the door to.  "You're in the rafters?  Go ahead and come out."

After a moment, they heard a light thud only a few feet away.  Massu positioned his sword blade up, parallel to the floor.  Had his other arm worked, it would have been under to guide a strike.

"I didn't expect to leave without a fight, really," the voice came.  Soon, his face appeared in the light of the lamps in the hallway - a handsome young man, almost Massu's age.  He was dressed in the traditional black uniform, a strap around his thigh containing bloodied tools of his trade.

"You wouldn't want it that way, anyway," Massu replied, with a voice appropriate for the greeting of an old friend.  "Is this about revenge?"

"Not really," the other answered.  "More about the economy."

"What?" Ryo groaned.

"Discredit the samurai," he said.

"And the daimyo have incentive to retain more shinobi," Massu concluded.

"Job security."

"It's a smart idea actually," Massu replied.

Yasu and Ryo both stiffened next to him at the answer - he may have had a point, but neither liked the idea that the only thing between them and the assassin's weapon was a man who agreed with the basic effectiveness of killing people in power in order to shame another class out of a hiring privilege.

"But then," Massu continued, "I'd be out of a job."

"That shouldn't be an issue," the other replied.  "I went for your arm last time so they'd keep you out of service."

Massu changed his stance, lowering his sword and his guard.  "I like my job."

"I'm sorry."  The shinobi turned his arm slightly and light shone off of a short blade - a kodachi, similar to the wakizashi Massu had given Ryo - that he had tucked back against his arm, the hilt hidden in his hand.  "But things need to change.  I tried to keep you out of it."

"I know."

Yasu let go of his shoulder to grab Ryo.  "I think we should go."

"Right."

"I don't think so," the shinobi said.  He immediately ran toward Massu with his right arm raised, the short blade still tucked and poised to slash across the body as soon as he punched up with it.

Massu quickly, and easily, raised his sword to meet him, the two clashing together - his earlier open stance a charade.

But the tactic didn't work - the shinobi wasn't interested in trying to cut Massu down.  Instead, he had planned on the counter and used it to throw his weight into him - he planted his left foot and shoved the samurai off balance.  Then, pushing off of the falling Massu, he turned and shifted his weight to the right, grabbing Ryo in the process with enough momentum to throw him to the ground.  He bore down on him, straddling his waist and tilted the blade in his hand in order to stab Ryo in the back.  Before he could, Yasu tackled him and the two slid into the wall.

Ryo pushed up onto his knees as quickly as he could, with the sting of the hard ground still aching in his jaw from the impact.  He had dropped the wakizashi and, given the way he had landed, thought it had to be somewhere close.  He started shaking his body clumsily as he patted around the floor for the sword - one of the two tactics had to work.  If they couldn't exit quickly enough, the blade was their only hope.

Yasu had worked the kodachi away from the shinobi by pounding his fist into the ground, but the other countered by rolling away from Yasu while he was putting all of his force into freeing the weapon.  The blade landed by his side and Yasu reached to grab it - the shinobi took advantage, springing up and kicking Yasu in the shoulder, right where the dart had hit.  Yasu couldn't help but instinctively grab and cringe.

While his attention was on Yasu, the attacker barely had enough time to roll away from Massu's charge, kicking the kodachi blade away in the process.  He didn't have anything else to parry with and had to rely on dexterity alone to avoid Massu's sword.  For a moment the two continued - one striking, the other avoiding - like well choreographed moves from skilled dancers.

"Got it!" Ryo yelled, picking up the wakizashi and throwing off the sheath.

Massu glanced to the side at the exclamation and the shinobi saw the opening immediately.  He ducked inside of Massu's reach and grabbed his arm, by the wrist and elbow, and threw Massu over his shoulder and into the wall.  He picked up Massu's sword, turned it over his wrist, and headed toward his body to finish the job.

Yasu crashed into him and scrambled to put him into a hold, his arms effectively pinning the attacker's in place, outstretched.  "Ryo, throw it!"

Ryo turned his head in the direction of Yasu's voice and complied, throwing it underhanded in hopes that it would reach someone without striking them.

Massu was up on his knees and dove, catching it in his hand on the blade and cutting deeply into his palm.  He gritted his teeth and, through the pain, reached the attacker and stabbed him in the chest.

The shinobi dropped the katana and Yasu loosened his grip, letting him fall to his knees in front of Massu.  Before Yasu could think, he ran to Ryo, picking him up and pulling him behind Massu, out of the way.

Massu picked his sword up off of the floor.  He held it clumsily in his injured hand as he tried to regain his breath.  He raised it to the shinobi's neck.

"Do it," the other said, holding his chest, blood trickling out of the side of his mouth.  "You've got to finish it."

Ryo could hear the ragged breath of everyone there, smell the pools of blood and sweat.  His heart was pumping too fast, a feeling he normally didn't mind.  And over the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears, he heard Massu's sword cut through the air.  A spray of blood splattered against his face, followed by a heavy, sickly thud.  Ryo immediately spat and tried to rub his face clean, only smearing it more onto his cheek in the process.

Massu sighed and sheathed his sword - finally allowing the pain of his hand to reflect on his face.

Yasu coughed for air.  "Unfinished business," he said quietly.  "He was your friend."

"Yeah," Massu said, looking at the decapitated body with woeful eyes.  "He was."

"Masuda, Masuda!" the daimyo said, pulling open the door and sticking his head out.

"Sir."  Massu immediately switched gears, putting his personal sorrow aside to fulfill his duties, kneeling and bowing at his lord.

"What's going on?"

"The fire was a distraction, sir."

The daimyo looked over him at the crumpled body on the floor...and the head a few feet away, the two connected only by a splatter trail of blood from the final blow.  "I see."

"Sir?" Massu added, still bent and staring at the ground.  "I don't think this is the end of the attacks."  He raised his head to look his master in the face.  "It's not like him to have such a short-sighted plan.  And I don't think he was acting alone.  I think this was only the beginning."

"You knew him?" the daimyo asked.  "What was his family name?"

Massu paused.  "He was known as The Hand, sir."

Ryo snorted softly, partially out of honest skepticism and partially trying to cover that he was still out of breath from the attack.  "The Hand?"

"That's how he was known here."

"What was his real name?" the daimyo continued.

Massu lowered his forehead to the ground, in apology, a pained smile on his face.  "I can't say."

The daimyo nodded, somewhat displeased.  "Your loyalty presents itself again."

Yasu grunted, putting a hand to his shoulder.

"That needs attention," Massu started.

Yasu waved his other hand and smiled through the pain.  "That's okay, I know someone."

"We should go," Ryo said.  "We should have left an hour ago."

Massu nodded in response, clapping a hand on Ryo's back.  "Thank you, it was lucky that you wanted to help me."

Ryo smiled uncomfortably - he took a deep breath and started to rock his body back and forth.

"About that - don't forget," Yasu started.

"That Zatoichi's afraid of water, I won't," Massu said.  He laughed, but no one laughed with him.  "...this world is an illusion, I remember."

Yasu smiled at him again and the pain really started to sink in.  The dart had hit at the top of his shoulder, close to the bone.  He cringed, exhaling deeply as he tried to focus on something besides the feeling - but the pain increased instead.  He crouched down, holding his shoulder and burying his face into his arm.  When he raised his head, he was back in the hospital room, holding onto Ryo and looking at Ohkura with a blank expression.

He started blinking and Ohkura read the gesture.  "You're back," the nurse commented.

Yasu immediately dropped Ryo's arm and forgot all about his shoulder, turning his attention to his superior on the other side of the bed.

"Well?" Domoto asked.

Yasu nodded.  "He might recover.  He's going to try, anyway."

"Good to hear," Domoto commented, picking up his jacket and the patient file from the chair.  He gave a small wave, indicating that Ohkura needed to clean up.  It was time to go home.

Ryo stumbled back from the bed, rubbing his eyes - and then the side of his face to wipe away the traces of the blood - still trying to deal with the sudden invasion of hospital lights.  "Yasu."

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Yasu asked.  He stood beside the bed, looking over it with a sense of satisfaction and a dutiful smile that echoed the samurai's.  "It was good, right?  I think we really helped Masuda."

"Sure, look, Yasu-"

Yasu suddenly grabbed Ryo's shirt, pulling him over.  "He just moved."

"What?" Ohkura asked.

"He just moved his hand - the finger."

"They do that sometimes," Ryo answered.  "Yasu, something weird happened-"

"No, it wasn't a twitch," Yasu insisted.  "He did it when I said his name."

"He wouldn't be responsive so soon," Domoto commented, stopping halfway out the door.  "Would he?"

Ohkura shrugged.  "You can regain cognizance at any time, so..."

Domoto stared at him for a moment.  "Keep an eye on it," he finally said, walking out.

Yasu laughed, shaking Ryo.  "I think we did it - I think we figured it out!"

"Yasu..."

"I know it's just movement, but I think this is really it, Ryo - I think that was a response."

Yasu stayed behind with Ohkura; within an hour, he saw Masuda's finger twitch again, twice, at the sound of his name.  He would have stayed all night if Ohkura hadn't reminded him that the normal hospital staff would be in to check his status soon.  Outside in the hallway, he found Ryo waiting against the wall.  "Oh, I thought you left already."

"No," Ryo answered softly.  He quickly changed his expression.  "Zatoichi, the blind swordsman?!"

"It was on at the bar last week," he replied, starting down the hall.  "What was it that you were trying to say earlier?"

Ryo opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't force himself to say it.  "Nothing.  How's your shoulder?"

Yasu rubbed it.  "To be honest? A little numb."

~

Part 3.