Illustrated Warrior #2
Chapter Five

Ana had decided it was best to see this rooftop in daylight. She needed to prepare for the night to come. She had mended the brocade of her costume, applied the geisha-like disguise, and kept to the rooftops and shadows as she crossed the city. And if someone saw her? This was New York, after all.

The roof gave her an excellent view of the street, and the battle to come. This time, she would begin the battle with Kyudo, the Way of the Bow. And she would again be guided by the words of that greatest of warriors, Myamoto Musashi.

"The Earth Scroll teaches that victory hinges on knowing the rhythm particular to each opponent, of countering with an unexpected rhythm, and in the end producing the formless rhythm whose onslaught cannot be understood."

She would use the teachings of Musashi to create a very special chaos.

She thought of Arashi. His arrogance had a rhythm all its own. Every week, he met his soldiers in a remote area of the city. They passed through the territory of the Italians, the Chinese, all those who considered Arashi an enemy and a threat.

It was important to let them all know he held them in contempt.

She had followed Arashi, watched his soldiers, studied their rhythms. Tonight they would pass below the place where she now stood.

She pulled back the bow string, sighting an imagined target on the street below.

"Hey, watcha doin, lady?"

The boy's voice broke her reverie. She turned, and saw him standing in a doorway that led from the roof to the apartment building beneath them. He stared at her, his face a mixture of curiosity and innocence. He must be close to the age of her brother, the last time she had seen him. She would not want to lie to a boy like her brother. But how to answer him in a way that would not put him in jeopardy, and a way that he might understand?

"I'm -- I'm playing." she replied at last.

The boy grinned up at her as he walked across the roof. "You mean make-believe?"

"That's right. I'm pretending to be somebody else." Her words were all too true.

"Well, my dad says I can't play up here cause it isn't safe." He looked quickly around him, as if expecting monsters to spring from the brick and tar paper. "But I'm not afraid. I'm tough."

So much courage in such a tiny frame. He was so like her brother.

"I knew a brave boy like you once."

He smiled at her words.

"Brian!" a man's voice shouted from the stairwell. "Peter Cottontail is on TV!"

The boy looked guiltily back at the door, then glanced back to Shi. "Sorry. I gotta go. Maybe we'll play together later."

She waved as he ran for home. Yes, little brother, listen to your father. Perhaps we will play later. Perhaps there will come a time when I can feel some of the joy you show in every step.

Once again, she was alone on the roof. The sun was sinking below the buildings to the West. It would be dark in another hour.

She picked up her bow again.

For now, there was simply no time for such innocence.

Not in this lifetime.

Illustrated Warrior

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