Day 6: Concealed By Gold [ Unbroken ]

While taking the trash out to the container behind his workshop, Sadao found something that was not trash.
Resting her back against the wall was a woman in green hakama and a kitsune mask. The rain washed the gushing blood away from the long, black ponytail hanging along her back. He couldn't tell whether she was dead or merely in a grim condition, until he noticed her chest heaving under the taint of blood on her white robes.

He tossed the bag of trash into the container, and removed the mask.

Even while ****, the young woman was extraordinarily beautiful.
"Hey," Sadao said, tugging at her shoulder slightly, "Hey? Can you hear me?" There is no response. He pressed his finger against her throat, firmly yet gently, feeling faint palpitations regularly beating under her skin.
Her eyes opened and locked on to Sadao as he leaned towards her. She tried rising to her feet, but immediately was met with dizziness and pain of such intensity that her body immediately pushed itself back down in protest.
"Ugh..." She moaned through gritted teeth as Sadao rested his hand behind her head.
"Don't move." Sadao said, "You hit your head pretty hard. I think I need to take a look at it. I am going to take you back to my home, so I will need to lift you. Just try and relax, don't panic and don't resist. Just rest your head on my shoulder, all right?"
The woman nodded, and Sadao picked her up by her knee and under her arm, using his hand to support her head and resting it on his shoulder. Like this he carried her inside his workshop, and set her down on his futon.

As he laid her down, he inadvertently pulled on her robe, exposing part of her shoulder area. The letters ひかり appeared before him, tatooed on her skin. When she realized he could see this, she pulled her shirt back down.
After wrapping her head tightly in some cloth, Sadao left her to rest on the floor while he prepared some medicine for her, checking up on her to and from in the process.

Hikari.
That's what the tattoo spelled. The Hikari clan; for four centuries they have enjoyed the reputation of being the most feared assassins in all the land. As ruthless as they are terrifyingly efficient; more like machines created for killing than actual people. They care about only one thing, and that is carrying out their mission. As long as they can do that, it does not matter what kind of atrocities they need to commit.
Sadao was no fool. He knew that if given the opportunity she would kill him or anyone close to him without a second thought. Even so, leaving someone helpless and alone to die in the alley was more than Sadao could bear.

When Sadao came back, he held a saucer of clear yet distinctly green liquid from which steam rose.
"Drink this," Sadao said, but the woman turned her head away, "Drink up. It will make you better." He leaned in and took a slurp from it, "See, it's safe to drink."
He pushed the edge of the saucer against her lips, tilting it upwards so as to let her drink the content until not even a drop was left.
She coughed once she was done.
"I know it's bitter, but you'll feel better soon."
"...thank you." The woman said.
"It's my pleasure. Say, what is your name?"
The woman hesitated for a bit, remaining silent until she finally spoke, "...Yukiko."
"Yukiko... that's a beautiful name." Sadao wiped the saucer and put it away, "Are... are you really an assassin?"
"...I don't know." Yukiko said.
"You... don't know?"
"...I don't know... my mission failed..."
"I see... This is the first I've ever heard of a Hikari missing their mark."
"...I didn't... I let her go..."
"...oh." Sadao was completely stunned by this revelation. He had no idea what he was supposed to say, so she just let her speak.
"...had shot her in the legs... had her cornered... ready to stab her in the heart... when... a small child screamed at the top of his lungs, and got between us... it was... her child... without thinking... I dropped my blade... and... ran off... by the time... half the time had been alerted... they... threw rocks at me... one hit me in the head... I remember hiding in an alley... and then... nothing..."
"Then... you can't have a very good impression of this town I suppose..." Sadao was uncertain of what else he could say.
"...it is not their fault... I am... a killer... they... are right to hate me... I have... killed so many... so many are dead... because of me... and... I can never take any of them back..." She looked back towards Sadao with the same empty eyes as before, yet deep within them she held a deep resentment, "...you... should not have saved me..."

"You're not like the other Hikari. You were made to do it... made to think that you had to."
"...The reason why I did it does not matter... if I were never alive..."
"Then they would have made someone else do what you have done."
"...why are you justifying what I did...?" Yukiko asked. What reason does this man have to not treat her like the townspeople who despised her so, and tried to kill her?
"Justify? No, I do think that killing is wrong. I do wish that you would not have done so. However..." Sadao tried to look for the word, yet they remained elusive, "...why don't I show it to you?"
Sadao got up and headed to the next room, where his workshop is. He came back holding a beautiful porcelain gourd, on which a serene landscape was painted with calm blue colours. Across and around the gourd was a system of golden lines connected to each other in an intricate web.

"...did you make this?" Yukiko asked.
"Make it?" Sadao laughed, "No, I couldn't take the credit for something that beautiful. I simply fixed it. See?" Sadao pointed to one of the golden lines, "The gourd broke in these places, and I connected them back using a special adhesive; a family recipe, that contains golden powder. That's how it gets these gilded lines."
"...the craftsmen of the Hikari recluse can mend a broken piece so that the fractures are indiscernible to the naked eye..."
"So... you don't like it?"
Yukiko stared intently at the gourd for an extensive period of time, "...it is... the most beautiful thing I have ever seen..."
"Ahaha! Isn't it just? This art is called kintsugi. It's been my family's profession for eight generations. Nobody decided where these cracks should appear. In fact, they were created because the item was inadvertently destroyed. Never again can it become like it was, yet it can become something which beauty matches, even surpasses, what it was before. This is because we do not conceal the fractures... but highlight them in gold."
Yukiko looked at the gourd with astonishment as she listened intently.
"And... I guess that's what I see when I look at you. Because true beauty lies not in some transcendental ideal of symmetry and perfection... It's not about never making a mistake. True beauty is about change. And just like the golden fractures are unique to each craft, so are your experiences, your mistakes, unique to you; and determines who you are. I... I guess that's kind of a lofty reason to like you... but I really do like you. And I don't want to see you wish for your own ****."

Yukiko rose to her knees. Her expression remains as empty and emotionless as it had been for all this time, yet a single tear formed in the corner of Yukiko’s eye, "...thank you." She wrapped her arms around Sadao tightly.

The next day the rain had subsided, though a cover of clouds remained.
Yukiko stepped outside and looked around, seeing the world with completely new eyes.

Even the air itself tasted different.

She looked down into a puddle that showed her reflection, and for the first time since she can remember, she saw herself smile.