Promise #19 Punishments Must Be Enacted
Shizu held out the few select coins Hojo managed to keep from the samurai and a couple they found on the ground. The letter hid deep within her pocket, crumpled into a small ball.
Isamu-sensei fixed his gaze on the money and snarled. “Is that all you came back with today?”
Hojo released Shizu and stepped forward. “Isamu-sensei, don’t punish her. She had collected enough, but the samurai—“
“Samurai?” Isamu-sensei raised his voice. “What samurai?”
Shizu gulped. “I—I tripped while we were trying to escape. The samurai heard us and demanded to take a portion of my earnings or kill me.”
“You should have just accepted the blade,” he spat.
She recoiled. There weren’t many doubts about how the clan would feel about her being caught. Hojo prepared her as such but hearing it from Isamu-sensei didn’t lessen the pain. They both agreed not to mention her ankle sprain. Better to have a wrist that can still throw somewhat than a foot that couldn’t run.
He grabbed her arm and held it up to examine her wrist. It was swollen compared to the other with a slight tinge of red and blue from bruising. She winced and sucked in a deep breath to avoid yelping.
“An injured shinobi is useless to us.” He dropped it back to her side.
“Sensei, she’s still training. No one was caught and we accomplished what we went out to—”
He held a hand up to silence Hojo. “Did I ask you to speak?”
Hojo shuffled and turned his gaze away.
Shizu dug her nails into her palm to push the pain back. “Yes, sensei.” She bowed in hopes of hiding her quivering lip from his judgment of her quality.
Isamu-sensei growled and turned his back to Shizu and Hojo. “Hojo, return to the rooms. We will deal your punishment later. As for you, Shizuoka No Hikage, as of today you will be stripped of your Hikage title and placed within confinement.”
“Confinement? Sensei!” Hojo cried out.
Two older shinobi marched into the room and bowed to Isamu-sensei. Their all-black clothing blended them into the shadows like water and smoke in the late-night hours. Their faces were covered by a pure white mask that had no features or holes to see their eyes. She didn’t need to wonder how they could travel with them on. The training with the kitsune was enough to tell her it was possible to move without any vision.
“Put her in the box. No food will be permitted until I order her release.”
“Yes, sensei,” one of the shinobi said.
The two grabbed her shoulders. They pushed her forward and past Isamu-sensei, who refused to give her another glance. She adjusted her hand in front of her so it wouldn’t hit the shinobi next to her. She bit her tongue and kept her weight on her uninjured foot as they trudged forward. One of them pushed his hand under her armpit to steady her movement.
Insects crawled under her skin at their touch. She wanted to pull free from them but held herself together. They weren’t taking her to the brothel to be sold. That was the first positive. It didn’t change how she felt about the unknown of the punishment.
“Don’t show more weakness,” he whispered.
“Whatever you do in the box, don’t scream. You’ll just stay there longer,” the other added.
“What’s the box?” Shizu asked. A chill shot through her veins. Don’t scream wasn’t a simple warning. Something darker awaited her in there that she didn’t know. She shivered to shake the cold off. The kitsune never had a box. Any punishment there was enacted immediately. Not taken elsewhere to suffer.
Neither answered her. They walked into the hall connected to Isamu-sensei’s office and turned another corner. The three faced a wall and stopped. In a flash, the shorter one stuffed his hand into her pocket and pulled out the note.
“Learn to hide things better. This will go back to Isamu-sensei.”
One of the shinobi reached out and pressed a piece of wood inward. A soft click echoed behind the wall and spread across to the left and right of Shizu. The wood paneling sunk into the wall and slid over to reveal a small room barely large enough for a child to stand in. The walls and floor within were a combination of stones and dirt all packed together.
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“Is that it?”
They nodded and pushed her into the crevice.
“No!” Shizu called out.
They ignored her. The two closed in on her, so she couldn’t move beyond the opening of the box. She shouldered the shorter one. With only the strength of her one foot capable of moving her weight, he barely budged. She raked her mind for any escape. They couldn’t let her stay here. She wouldn’t survive. There were other ways she could be of use if they set her free.
“Stay here. Stay quiet.”
“Please, don’t put me in here!”
They took another step forward. Shizu pressed her back against the back of the box, and her arms against the earthen walls. Every muscle screamed to run but her body wouldn’t handle any of it. They’d catch her before she could get into the hall. Her breath caught in her chest. Closing her in the box meant less air to breathe. She would die before they came back for her. The only sounds that escaped her lips were small whimpers.
The shinobi didn’t listen to Shizu’s pleas and sealed the wall closed.
Darkness. She was alone with her thoughts to tell her she was still alive. The need to scream bubbled deep within her but refused to escape. No, she refused to let it escape. She closed her eyes and counted. The more air she sucked in from her heavy breathing, the less she would possess by the end if they didn’t open it in time.
They wanted to see her prove her worth, then she would survive even the harshest conditions. Once she was free, she would find Hojo and escape to the mountains. There was no family here. She didn’t know what family was exactly, but if Mama Tomei was any indication, the clan wasn’t it. Hojo understood that. Hime knew that as well with her constant harassment. Shizu didn’t belong here and needed to get stronger to outlive them all.
Shizu slid down onto the cold hard ground. Portions of it were wet and seeped into her clothes. Something clicked in front of her, and she snapped her attention to it. A small hole no bigger than the tip of her finger opened to pool in the dim light of the lanterns. They at least understood she needed air to survive. They wouldn’t suffocate her. Their first mistake in her escape.
Something scuffled above her. Liquid sloshed beyond the earthen and wooden roof that she couldn’t recognize. Too quiet to be any body of water or the pumps. A portion of the wooden planks, no bigger than her outstretched hand, opened. Another masked shinobi hovered over the hole. He stared at her for a moment before pushing a large bucket into view.
“Who’s there? Hojo?” He didn’t respond. “Please don’t keep me in here. I promise I will do better next time!”
The person above ignored her. They stepped over the opening and shoved something into the hole. The light dimmed with only a few small rays at the edges forcing their way through.
“What is that?”
Shizu reached out for the object. It was wet and soft like her rags for cleaning the floors. She shivered, hoping it was wet with water and nothing else. Drops of water fell to the ground in small puddles. A few hit her on top of the head and the side of her face. She wiped some out of her face and pressed against the cloth. Something sat atop it to prevent it from moving. She sidled to one side of the box and then the other to avoid getting wet, but there was no escape. It would drown her in the slowest way possible.
“I want to go back to my bed,” Shizu whimpered. She slid back to the ground and held her hands above her head to block out some of the water.
She counted three cycles of the cloth being replaced with a new one. Each colder than the last. Her teeth clinked together like blades slicing against one another. Her ragged breath was the only accompanying sound as she emptied every thought from her body. Thinking led to time slowing down. If she maintained mindfulness, then she didn’t need to worry about how long until the next change out and could relax during the moments the water halted.
