10 Dinner

'growl'

"But Tokiiiiiiiiii"

'Humpf' "I said no dinner for you, Oden-san"

"Goronyanyanya! Toki-sama is really angry this time with you Oden-sama!"

I never expected witnessing a full grown man whining like a child, while we were all around a hot pot of oden being cooked, the lord of this lands was sitting in a corner drawing circles with his finger, punished with no eating for letting a child fight with real swords against a full fledged samurai.

With Oden in a corner, I am enjoying the atmosphere of the room with two chopsticks in my hand and food in my mouth, also I am covered in bandages all around my chest and arms from all the cuts I received.

Everyone is having a good time, the servants are talking and laughing between them, Momonosuke is playing with his sister Hiyori and ToKi is watching everything with her ever present smile on her face, I can even feel that despite not being allowed to eat, Oden is in a good mood.

The room is overflowing with positive emotions, it's almost overwhelming to me, I don't think in any of my two lives I've seen something like this, it's very relaxing.

"I'm glad you're having a good time, Yasu-kun" the voice of Toki snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh Yeah, It's my first time in this kind of situation"

"That's good to hear, since your arrival, you've been very tense, it makes me happy seeing you are having a good time" Wow, she is really perceptive.

"I guess that knowing Oden-san is the Daimyō of Kuri, seeing his servants and fighting with Denjiro, I haven't really been relaxed in a while".

"Then please, feel as if you were at home, you're part of the household now"

"Thank you, Toki-sama" I bow slightly to her, if she is willing to take me in her house then it's the least I can do.

"Don't worry about it"

"Hey Yasu! What is that thing wrapped in cloth you brought with you?" Momonosuke asks quite loudly drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

Next to Momonosuke is the case I brought with from the capital, all wrapped in cloth.

"I can show you if you want"

Momo starts jumping up and down with his childlike enthusiasm "Yes! Yes!"

I get up making my way towards the case, kneeling before it, I start unwrapping it.

Momo at my side is filled with curiosity about what is inside the mysterious case, sentiment that is shared by the rest of the room, I open it reaching with my hand to grab what's inside, slowly pulling it out.

"What is that?" he asks intrigued about what I'm holding in my hands.

Showing him what I'm currently holding, I explain it to him, "This is a shamisen"

"A what?" I don't blame him, he must be around three years old and I don't expect a child of that age to know what a shamisen is, heck, I didn't even know until I was five.

"You know how to play the shamisen?" Kikunojo ask me surprised.

"Then that makes you the first of us that has some sort of talent in music! Hahahah" Kanjuro starts laughing as if he just heard the best joke ever.

"Why don't you play something?" Toki suggest, to which everyone nods

I shrug "I can try, why not?" I reach again inside the case for the bachi, grabbing it, I sit on my knees and as I've done hundreds of times, I place my fingers on the string.

I let all the silhouettes that I feel around me vanish into darkness and I close my eyes, there's no need for it, nothing changes when I do so, but it helps me to focus.

Taking a deep breat, I caress the stings with the edge of the bachi creating the beautiful sound I love.

(link)

Everything around me fades when I start playing, nothing matters, not my defeat nor my wounds, when I start playing there's just me and the instrument.

I play just as Kiyomi taught me, with grace, but also with strength behind every move as my father trained me.

He was surprised that I became very skilled with the sword, I explained once to him, but he did not understand, it's very simple.

The bachi and the sword may look very diferent, but they're one and the same, there's no difference between playing music and fighting with swords.

Fighting against someone is like playing music with them, you both have a rhythm, notes are thrown in the air against each other creating a tune between the two, until in both rhythms come together to create one beautiful song.

One song with two musicians trying to come on top of the other in a perfect harmony, is violent but at the same time very peaceful, the world just reduces itself to the two of you, playing until one melody disappears.

And the silence takes over.

After what felt like ages to me, I open my eyes and expand my senses covering again the entire room.

Everyone is looking at me in complete silence, they just keep staring at me, it makes nervous, maybe I messed up?

"Was it good?" I'm a little afraid at their response, I just gained their respect with the fight and now everything has gone down the drain.

'Clap clap clap clap'

Little Hiyori starts clapping with the greatest of enthusiasm, it doesn't take long before everyone in the room joins her.

My face turns completely red before this, I never played for anyone other than my father and Kiyomi, I'm not used to this kind of public.

"You're really good, Yasu!" Kiku started praising me while still clapping.

I feel my kimono being tugged, facing down, Hiyori's looking directly at me.

'When did she...?' Just a second ago she was across the room and now she's at my side.

Excitement and complete admiration exudes from her, this just makes me more embarrassed.

"It's seems you got your first fan, Yasu-kun" And Toki doesn't help in the slightest with that.

'I guess this isn't so bad, huh?'.

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QUESTION

Are the chapter short for you?

I don't know if I should make them longer, of course that would take more time and maybe I wouldn't post every day, maybe every 2 days or so.

Tell me please

Well, as always thanks for reading