Kage-Ken 1: Hatchi Zuki

Tillykke med dagen Bjørn!
I B's ære kommer den første del af min nye serie, Kage Ken idag. Jeg har arbejdet med det her første afsnit i 2 uger og omskrevet det 4 gange. Jeg syntes det er blevet godt.
Jeg bruger mange Japanske udtryk og de vigtigste vil blive forklaret i fodnoter, jeg vil starte med at sige at Zuki betyder stød (ikke som et lyn, men som det engelske ord 'strike').
Kage-Ken vil blive afsløret senere, og i kan formentlig selv regne ud hvad Ha

Kage-Ken 1
Hachi Zuki

“Get away from the bar, man of the east! We are the Trejina guard, trained by lord Grede in the forgotten art of the hounsel swordstyle and we demand that you move your yellow ass away from the bar!”
The inn went completely quiet as the swordsmen spoke, they were known as ruthless drunks who would pick a fight for no reason, men with no honor or morals. The lone man who sat at the bar lowered his cup, he carried a slim sword concealed in a simple sheath with the word Kage-ken written on it and a Kimono with weird symbols written on the back. He didn’t look up nor turn around as they ordered him to stand, nor did he do as he was told and when he spoke his voice was calm, as if they had simply made a comment about the weather. “You should ask politely when you wish someone to move for you.” The inn was completely silent as he spoke those words, except for a creature sitting in the back of the inn that was choking in its beer. This creature was covered in light brown fur, had big cat like ears and two small horns.
The lone stranger was met by a roar of laughter from the 10 swordsmen, the laughter was heard all the way out on the dirt street where people realized what was about to happen and hurried into other houses for protection, in case all hell broke loose. “I don’t think you heard us so let me repeat myself: We are the Trejina guard, trained by lord Grede in the forgotten art of the hounsel sword fighting style, when we ask something of someone, they either do as we say…” he smiled a gruesome smile as he continued “or die.”
“A style can only be mastered by the one who created it, all who tries to learn another man’s style will be but a shadow of the true master. Besides forgotten styles, fancy titles and good trainers only means things to men who knows them, they mean nothing to me or my blade.”
“You dare mock me!? This will cost you your head, insolent whelp!” The foremost swordsman drew his blade as he spoke, but before he had time swing it he found his head staring at his body from the ground. The blood flowed from his steadily from the now headless neck as the body fell to the ground. The man had risen and cut off the man’s head in a split second, he never even knew he was dead. The rest of the swordsmen could only stare in shock as he fell and see the mysterious stranger stand as tall as he was with his sword drawn. He stood quite still, breathing lightly as if he had done nothing else than standing up. The inn was quiet for 5 seconds, then a scream pierced the air and every man woman and child left the inn panicking through doors and windows, then the inn was quiet again and only the 9 remaining swordsmen, the stranger, the weird creature in the back and the headless swordsman remained in the room.
“You know… this western stuff isn’t half bad” said the creature in the back lowering his beer to speak.
“You killed him!” yelled one of the swordsmen drawing his sword at the strange swordsman. “You will pay for this!” The swordsmen quickly surrounded him, kicking tables and chairs out of the way. “Even in their anger they think of a strategy? They have been well trained. But there is a foul stench around them, what is it? It smells similar to sake, are they drunk?” the stranger thought as he studied the men around him. One of the men yelled a command and suddenly all 9 swordsmen stormed forward. One of them accidently tripped over a chair and fell, coursing at the top of his voice. The stranger spread his legs a little to stand more firmly, grasped his sword tightly with both hands and whispered the words “Hachi zuki”. The swordsman who had tripped looked up and saw the stranger storm towards one of the swordsmen, dived under the crude sword swing from the attacker and cut him in half with one single strike. “ichi” he murmured and jumped backwards to dodge another attackers strike. He turned around in the air and landed feet first on another swordsman’s chest, his sword quickly following up by piercing the swordsman’s forehead. “ni” he said as he leaped from the dead man’s chest and stormed back into the middle of the group. He feinted a strike against the head but in the last moment he changed the direction of his swing and buried his blade deep within the swordsman’s stomach. “san” The next two strikes was barely visible to the naked eye but two more bodies joined the pile followed by the strangers low voice: “shi, go.” His sword claimed another victim as he chopped of a leg of one of the two standing swordsmen and followed up by piercing his heart with a single blow. “Roku” He caught the last swordsman desperate attack by a weak parade that allowed the swordsman’s strike strike to carry through and slamming it into the ground. The swordsman landed hard on the ground and was killed split seconds later by a quick strike to the neck. “Hachi” the stranger said quietly while quickly mopping the blood of the blade in a table cloth from a nearby table. A ray of sun hit the blade as he was sheathing it and for almost a full second the room was filled with a beautiful dark red light, for that second it seemed like the air itself burned with strange dark flames. But as the blade was sheathed, the light disappeared.
“You always have to get in trouble when we go somewhere nice.” said the creature in the back and jumped down from his chair, revealing that he was no taller than a child before falling down on all four and heading for the door.
The stranger ignored him and turned around to face the ninth swordsman who was still on the ground where he had tripped over the chair.
“Go home.” The stranger said in a sad voice. ”enough blood has been spilled here for today.” The swordsman stared after the stranger as he walked towards the door.
“Who… Who are you!?” he yelled as the stranger reached the door. The stranger stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the man before answering.
“I do not have a name anymore, but I have come to call myself: Hachi Zoki”
“What a dramatic exit, Hachi.” Said the weird creature with a voice filled with sarcasm from his low viewpoint on all four as they walked out of the door.
“Quit it. We better get out of town quick, I don’t think we will find him here anyway.” Replied Hachi as they walked out the door, leaving the choked swordsman behind.