Vol One: A Strike
What happened next, Botan couldn't even stop, and he was standing right there. Kenjiro ran at Kaesho and crashed into him like he was back in the dohyo, trying to earn his ropes for the very first time. Hiroshi hadn't seen his Oyakata's Yokozuna run, but he had been told by his father that it was nothing short of spectacular. Some of the best sumo that had ever happened, excluding when Kentaro defeated Hajima, Jiro would add when he told Hiroshi about it.
Kaesho, surprised, was knocked into the dirt of the backyard. He had just enough time to change his expression of joyous sneering to outright shock and horror. From there, it devolved from an impromptu sumo match to a brawl on the ground. Kenjiro had Kaesho pinned onto the grass and was throwing haymakers into the man's sides. Kaesho did what he could from the ground, kicked and tried to shove. A sumo wrestler's strength, though, is while they're still on their feet, not on the ground getting walloped.
The crowd of rikishi was all too scared to stop Kenjiro. They all just stood around the scenes with their jaws hanging slack. Zo-Ishi moved forward to get the retired Yokozuna off of his Oyakata. It took him several moments. He was too slow though. Botan had dashed in behind Kenjiro once the shock wore off. Hiroshi couldn't even track the man's action once he burst into action. One moment he was standing off to the side next to Ezra, the next he was on top of Kenjiro trying to pull the man off.
Kenjiro was still a large man, a lot of wrestlers slimmed down once they retired. Kenjiro, however, may have lost some of the belly he may have once had, but he was still bulky. Botan, a cultivator, even had a hard job trying to rip Kenjiro off the opposing stable master. Botan called to Ezra to help, but the old man just stared wide eyed. What the hell was an old man with no power going to help these behemoths of power and strength?. Finally, though, he moved forward and tried to push Kenjiro off Kaesho. He looked a man trying to tip cattle.
It took the power of Botan, and the cooks Mei and Jin, to finally get Kenjiro off of Kaesho. Zo-Ishi finally stepped in to help his master to his feet. Kaesho's nose and mouth bleeding from its sides. He glared over at Kenjiro and spit some blood at the man's feet.
"The association is going to hear about this," he said. His voice was full of scorn and hatred. "How the hell do you run the most prestigious stable in the Empire?" He spat more blood at Hiroshi's master's fee before he turned and limped away. He was using Zo-Ishi and one of his other Sanyaku wrestlers to help him walk, and the rest of his stable filed out after those three.
Hiroshi and the rest of the sumotori from his stable stared at Kenjiro, unsure of what to do or say. It was Botan who broke the shocked silence.
"Go, I don't care where. Go have your afternoon nap," he commanded.
No one dared linger after that. Even Nishikigi was cowed by what just happened. No one dared even say anything until they got back into the house and were safely in their own rooms.
"What the…" was all Ansei said as he went to his mattress and laid down.
"I don't know," Huan mumbled, and Hiroshi wasn't sure if it was a response to Ansei or just a general statement.
"Ezra told me Oyakata Kenjiro has been acting weird lately. Accusations and talks from people about what's been going on," Hiroshi offered once he was settled in his bed.
Both of the other boys looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Like what? First, I've heard or seen anything," Huan, the more analytical of the three junior disciples, said.
"He did the same thing to a beggar while we were on our way here. Well, only I guess he wasn't a beggar. Kenjiro explained he was a cultivator of some sort," Hiroshi explained as he stared at the ceiling.
Both of the boys scoffed. "No way, he wouldn't do that," Ansei said.
"We didn't think he'd do what he just did either," Huan replied while he still looked at Hiroshi.
Hiroshi just sighed and turned on his bed. He brought his knees up slightly and closed his eyes, unsure of what the future may bring him and his new life in a stable now. Kaisho wouldn't have made an idle threat to tell the SSA, Sasuke Sumo Association, not after that. Eventually, as his mind raced, Hiroshi fell into a fitful sleep. He dreamt of his mother and little sister.
No one in the stable slept for very long, but the house only stayed quiet for a few hours. Right around the time people would normally get up from their afternoon nap, Hiroshi heard people milling around above them. The sekitori above the juniors must be up and doing whatever it was they did in their rooms during their off hours. Hiroshi laid on his back and stared at the ceiling until Ansei spoke and broke everyone, pretending to sleep.
"Alright, what are we going to do?" he asked the pair.
Huan just groaned and shook his head before he rolled over. "Worst. Nap. Ever."
"I suppose I'll do some woodworking. Try to take my mind off of things," Hiroshi said and sat up. "I haven't had much time to do it," he muttered to himself more than anything.
Since Hiroshi had come here, his life had been consumed by training. Even his personal time was taken up mostly by doing chores. Before he had left home, he had started work on a wooden rose that he was planning on giving his mother. He wouldn't be able to finish it today, but he was hoping to have it finished before the summer tournament. One of his biggest hopes was that his mother could come to Yoshino to see him compete. It would be an expensive journey though, so… Hiroshi shook the upsetting thoughts away and stood.
Huan rolled back over and faced the pair and told them. "Well, I guess I'll go see if Auntie Yu can teach me things in the kitchen."
Huan had spent the most time with Auntie Yu than anyone else in the house and was a budding cook thanks to it. They had allowed him the creativity and freedom to make his own special dish every night for family dinner. Whatever it was he wanted to make, they let him. He'd work with Auntie Yu during the house's nap time to get the dish how he imagined, and more often than not, they were a success.
Ansei nodded his head and frowned, seeing that both of his fellow juniors were going to be doing solo activities. He had no interest in working in the kitchens and watching Hiroshi carve wood was boring. He had tried before. "Well then, I'm going to go see what everyone else is up to," he said before he stood and left the room.
The pair watched him leave, and it was only a few moments later before Huan got up, stretched, and left the room as well. "See ya later Hiroshi. Let me see how far you get?" he said just as he left.
Hiroshi nodded his head absently, his mind still on the events of earlier with Kenjiro and Kaisho. He eventually gave a grunt and climbed to his feet. Whatever would happen would happen at this point. There was no point in worrying about it or trying to change it. He wasn't even a rikishi and even the rikishi had no say in the matters of the SSA. It was all businessmen, retired sumo wrestlers who made it to Sanyaku and various people appointed from around the Empire for different reasons.
Hiroshi once more tried to think the thoughts from his mind when he stood. He went over to his cabinet and opened it. He had few belongings, especially compared to the people who had lived here for a long time. Each rikishi below sekitori had a small closet in their room and they were expected to keep all of their belongings in it. Hiroshi only had a few pieces of clothing, a wood painting his father had made him styled as a sumo wrestler in a dohyo, and then his woodworking tools.
His woodworking tools were kept in a plain, dark polished wooden box. He then grabbed a small fabric satchel which held the block of wood he had been working on before he came here. Finally, he grabbed his blanket and threw it over his shoulder. Since he didn't really want to sit here by himself in the dark room, he moved downstairs and went back out to the backyard. The servants had cleaned everything up from lunch with the other stable.
As he worked his way down and outside, he nodded his head and said hello to those who said something to him. Hiroshi didn't really offer greetings to some. Most of the older rikishi ignored the boy. This was fine with Hiroshi. He felt awkward around the older wrestlers. He was never sure what to say and was always scared he'd offend them or not give them proper respect.
Once he made it outside, he went to his normal spot below the large bonsai tree and spread out the blanket. He set his toolbox down and then the satchel and kneeled down in front of both. First, he opened the satchel and took out the half worked block of wood and set it on top of the satchel. Then he unlatched his toolbox and opened it carefully. His pudgy fingers grabbed the half worked wood and inspected it.
He was trying to carve a rose laying down on a display that held it up. He was trying to carve the piece from a single block of wood, so he had to cut away the wood while he carved the piece. Normally, he would just do one piece at a time. This piece, with the brackets and display shelf, would take a little more finesse than he was used to.
The budding woodworker grabbed a small file from inside his toolbox and set about filing away what would act as one stand holding the rose on the display shelf. This was the hardest part of being interested in this hobby, and also being a sumo wrestler; his pudgy fingers. They were too big sometimes to get into the more intricate places he needed them to. He made do, mostly, but still it took him more concentration.
He had sat there for hours working on the piece. Filing and sawing away bits of wood, trying to make the piece for the next time he'd be able to see his mother. Maybe he'd be able to send it to her in the post. He'd have to figure out a way to package it nicely, so it didn't break. He remembered one time his father had sent away for some special wine from the southwest of the empire and what he received was a wet box full of broken glass.
The sun was near setting, the orange red hues exploding from the skyline before Hiroshi put everything away. He smiled and looked up at the sky and gave a slight shiver at the spring chill in the air as the sun was setting.
"Excuse me, young Hiroshi, but will you put your wood shavings in the pile off in the back corner of the wood? We'll use them," a voice came and startled Hiroshi from his moment of peace as he looked up at the sky. The man was younger, and baby faced. His hair kept close, shaved to his head
"What? Oh. Yes, of course," Hiroshi answered and gave a slight bow of his head.
"Thank you. Also, I've been asked to tell you there's some food ready for dinner. Normal traditions have been suspended. It's just leftovers from the lunch the Chens provided earlier," the servant continued and nodded his head before he turned and walked away.
Hiroshi stood and picked up the corners of his blanket, careful to not drop the shavings everywhere. He carried it over to a large pile of wood and other recyclable things and let the shavings fall onto the pile as easily as he could. Then he shook the blanket out as hard as he could so he wouldn't get a wood splinter somewhere embarrassing while he was sleeping. That's all he needed, to wake up screaming and having to get Ansei to pull a splinter from his butt. The boy laughed softly and shook his head at the thought as he finished giving the blanket a once over, making sure the cloth was cleaned off.
Content that that wouldn't happen, he threw it over his shoulder and went back and put the wood piece back in the satchel and then closed and locked his toolbox. He headed inside and took his things upstairs. The main room was full of everyone from the stable gathering around platters of noodles and rice and meat that the Chens had cooked up extra for them.
"Hey don't forget to let me see what you've done," Huan called up the stairs after Hiroshi.
It only took Hiroshi a few minutes until he was back downstairs with his satchel still slung around his shoulder. Tonight for family meal instead of sitting down to a family meal, everyone was just making their plates in the kitchen and then carried them out to the table that was already laid in the main room they used also for dining.
Hiroshi found his seat next in between Itaro and Huan, and Ansei sat across from him. He set his plate down full of beef noodles soaked in sauce with broccoli. Some fried rice with prawns next to that and finally, he got the last pieces of roast duck dumplings.
"We wanna see," Huan instantly started in on him with a grin. "Let's see what those little gerbil fingers could make."
Hiroshi looked over at his friend and nodded his head. "I'm not done yet, not even close, but…" he spoke as he reached into his satchel. He pulled out the wood piece. He had removed all the wood away over what would be the stand for the rose. The rose itself was still just a thickish piece of rounded off wood, but Hiroshi wanted to get the parts separated and then work in the more intricate details later.
Huan reached for the piece, but Hiroshi slapped his hand away. "No, you have teriyaki all over your fingers," he said and pulled the wood back away from his friend.
Huan frowned but pulled his hand back and looked at the piece. Hiroshi answered the unasked question and explained his idea for the piece and that he was hoping to finish it before the tournament so he could give it to his mother. If she wasn't able to come to the tournament, he'd figure out a way to send it to her. Huan and Itaro both gave nods of approval to this.
"The Oyakata has some things to ship more delicate items," Itaro told him.
This quieted everyone around the table nearby. Everyone was carefully not talking about the incident earlier. Nor were they talking about Kenjiro, Botan, and even Ezra was not to be seen. Even Auntie Yu was only there to make sure everyone got their food. She said little and seemed distracted. The Okami didn't even let Huan in the kitchen to cook anything today. She kept him out and stayed out herself, instead recruiting the Chens to make more food for the stable to eat for dinner.
Hiroshi put away the piece he was working on and ate his dinner. Well, outside of eating one of the roast duck dumplings, he just kind of picked at it. Shoved the food around here and there and took a few bites.
"Hey let me see that again, what you're making. My father was a woodworker," Yoshitaro said out of nowhere. Previously he was ignoring Itaro and the other juniors speaking with other older rikishi.
Hiroshi narrowed his eyes at him. Unsure of the other man's intentions. While he was the stable bully, he seemed sincere in wanting to see the item.
"It's not done yet. There's not much to see," Hiroshi said, trying to stop Yoshitaro's interest.
Yoshitaro rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "I cleaned my hand off. I'm genuinely interested. Let me see it. My father taught me a ton before I came here. I might be able to help."
Hiroshi's gaze didn't lighten up. Yoshitaro just stared back and held out his hand. Finally, the younger boy sighed and reached into his satchel and took out the piece that wasn't close to being done.
"Please be careful. I don't want to have to redo the work. I think I've done well so far," Hiroshi pleaded and set the piece in the man's hand.
"Yeah, yeah," Yoshitaro said as he took the wooden block and looked it over. He nodded his head. "It's not bad. I can see what you're trying to do with the pedestal. What's going to be on it?" he asked and looked over at the boy.
"A rose, something for my mother," Hiroshi explained.
Yoshitaro nodded his head slowly and went back and inspected the piece. After a few minutes, he held it out for Hiroshi to take back. Hiroshi leaned over the table and saw the large man sneer, and then he heard the snap. The piece he had worked on all afternoon sectioning off and separating to make the rose was snapped in half.
"WHAT? WHY?" Hiroshi yelled. The piece was still whole, so ideally he might be able to still do something with it. It was just that now the large, rounded piece he was going to mold into the rose was broken.