Usagi Colt stood standing on the hill where his house resided in the battleground that was once Hare lands. This hill had a beautiful view of Shiro Usagi once. Lord Sun would always smile upon it before coming to the land that the clan gave the young Hare. Now, it would seem the light would never come. At least in Colt’s heart anyway. He didn’t notice anything. Not the unusually cool day, not the blue sky, not even anyone around him. He just stood there until he was interrupted by seemingly the only man to really understand him, Ujina Aki.
     “Usagi-sama. I have something for you.” Aki said coldly. Colt didn’t respond. 
     “Colt-sama. I know its hard, but you did what you could.” Aki said as comfortably as an assassin could. 
     “Did I, Aki-san? Did I? Look out there.” Colt growled, waving his hand at the destruction before looking at Aki. “You tell me, did I do what I could or could’ve I done more?”
     Aki bit his lower lip. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Usagi-sama, I really do. That makes this even harder for me to do. I‘m sorry.” he said as he handed Colt a small package wrapped in a horse blanket. Colt knew what it was before he unwrapped it. It was his mother’s daisho. 
     “Thank you, Aki-sama, for returning this to me. What of my father?” Colt asked, trying to hold back a tsunami of tears. 
     “Never found him. His daisho may still be out there, though. I’m sorry for your loss, Colt-sama, I should go.” Aki said as he walked off.
     Even more to hang on his conscience. Colt didn’t notice anyone around and he knelt and cried over the loss of his parents. He was now truly alone.

     “Usagi-sama, are you alright?” his servant asked.

     Colt was staring out the window that once showed Shiro Usagi. 
     Colt turned around. “What’s your name?”
     The servant looked nervously around, “Its… its Yoshi, Usagi-sama.”
     “How long have you served me here in my home?”
     “A… about a year, Usagi-sama. Why? Did I do something wrong?” Yoshi asked nervously, slowly fearing for his life.
     “No, nothing wrong.” Colt answered, “But can I ask you something?”
     “Hai. By all means.” Yoshi answered.
     “With no fear of repercussions, what do you think of me?” Colt asked truthfully.
     Yoshi thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “You’re fair, honorable, truthful, and just man. But you always seem to have something on your mind. Like you’re distracted with something.” 
     Colt looked down at the floor before turning back to the window. “Continue.” is all Colt asked.
     “Let me tell you a story, Usagi-sama.” Yoshi said calmly. “A long time ago when I was but a boy, I used to play with the other children. We’d pretend to be samurai fighting bandits, bad men or maho users or the like, using sticks as swords and ridding the empire of evil. But when I became older, I would question the wisdom of the fortunes for not selecting my soul to be a samurai. Now, serving under you, I see the wisdom the fortunes have in selecting you as a samurai and not me. No matter what happens, you have the strength to go on serving the clan. You’ve overcome so much. Yet, through your internal turmoil, you keep on serving the clan. You’ve done things no one else could do. I would’ve quit long before now. This is why I think I’m lucky to serve you.”
 Colt smiled at the story. “Thank you, Yoshi-san. That‘s all.”
 “Hai” bowed Yoshi as he walked off.
     Colt went back to bed, attempting to sleep. He hadn’t slept in three days. His mind was against him. He replayed the battle of Shiro Usagi in his mind over and over. It wouldn’t let him sleep. He woke up again and walked through his home. He knew what he had to do. He looked in every room of his house before taking his katana and wakizashi and left to head down to the scene of the battle.

     The cool night breeze chilled the battlefield where chaos and destruction was but not a few days ago. Usagi Colt stood on the flooded grassland, though now a the mud was a crimson red and smelled of rot and decay. Behind him, Shiro Usagi lay in a pile of rubble and ruin. The ground was still warm, in spite of the air kami’s attempt to fix that problem. Colt still heard the echoes on the wind. He heard every order barked and every scream of pain and death. 
     “What’s one more?” Colt thought, dropping to his knees. 
     As he pulled his wakizashi from its saya, all he could think about is how it all went wrong. He had gotten every ally he could, ran around feverously talking to anyone who would care to listen. But still his limited ability in court was no match for Crab aggression. Now, because of him, Shiro Usagi lay in ruin and samurai who didn’t have to die sacrificed themselves for seemingly no reason. 
     Colt spun the blade around in his hands, thinking “This is the only way. I’ve shamed my family, destroyed my clan, and became overconfident in court. A lone wolf’s death for a dishonorable man.”
     He pulled the blade back, freezing at the sound of a familiar voice, calling to him. “What are you doing?”
     Colt looked around to find nobody was around. This is the what he wanted. No one saw him give up. Not on this desolate wasteland of war.
     Slowly, the wakizashi was pulled back for another attempt, when the same voice came calling to him a second time, but more forcefully. “What are you doing, Colt-san?” Colt stopped the shining blade so abrupt his muscles cried in pain.
     “I tried, mama, I tried.” Colt whined, eyes closed to prevent crying.
     “So you want to cleanse your family’s honor by committing a dishonorable seppuku?“ His mother shot back angrily.     “You’ve experienced nothing but setbacks and hardships before, why is this any different? Listen beyond the echo of the battle. Can you hear the real fight?”
     The young Hare shut his eyes. He still heard the battle, the chaos, and the death, but he also heard a softer whisper. One he hadn’t heard before. Two voices, one calming and comforting while the other brutal and harsh, saying the same thing to him… “Let go!”
     “My son,” his mother interrupted “they fight for your soul. Show them the willpower of the Hare. Fight shourido with bushido. You can win. You must win. Win for yourself. Win for you clan. You can defeat this.”
     “I try. I… I know the way, but I falter.” Colt complained “I’ve fallen too deep into desire and regret won’t let me sleep. Slowly, my fear of the future is overtaking me. They fight over me because I can’t find the light in the darkness. I think I’m starting to lose hope for my future.”
     “I believe there is a way to find the light of bushido.” the voice said happily. “The next time you sleep, you will be show a guile down the correct path.”
     Two more days passed before Usagi Colt found sleep. He still saw the battle happen before his eyes. He still heard the chaotic screaming and saw the castle walls crumble, but across to another hill, he saw someone on horseback, waving him over. Colt walked through the battle as it waged all around him, and at times, through him in his dream. Normally, he would have awakened, but not now. He walked through the loud battle and the soft whispers calling to him as he approached the horse and rider. 
     The closer he became to the rider, he noticed something odd. Randomly, a mask appeared on the face of a woman. He had met her twice before. A smile cracked on Colt’s face, for he was staring at Bayushi Nishari.
 Nishari started to dismount when Colt put his hand up and said “Don’t, but may we walk away from the chaos. It will be easier to hear your words of wisdom.” Nishari nodded in agreement as the two walked away from the battle, but never too far from the noise.
 Walking down the hill, there was a short moment of silence that made Colt uncomfortable… that is until Nishari broke it. 
     “Word has reached me,” she started, “that you want to follow a more honorable path.” Colt looked down at the ground, not noticing it has changed to greener pastures.
     “Hai,” Colt admitted “I’ve tried to follow it as close as you want me too, but I can’t find the correct fork in the paths. I stand too long at a crossroad of decisions just to take the wrong direction.” 
     Nishari stared down at him, though Colt couldn’t tell if was sadness or disappointment through the mask. “So why was it your mother that told me you wanted help? Where you afraid to ask me yourself.”
     Colt looked up at the ancestor, biting in lower lip. “No, not at all. It’s just… I was too proud to ask for assistance. I tried to control it myself, determined to follow the path through sheer will and perfect myself because of…” Colt was interrupted by a lightning flash backhand to his mouth.
     “Listen to yourself, rabbit!” Nishari yelled angrily. “How dare you recite Shourido in my presence! I came to you to offer help, and this is the greeting I get?”
     Colt’s face became shocked and horrified, “I didn’t know.” he said anxiously, “Forgive me Bayushi-sama. I didn’t know what I was saying, please help me. I want to follow bushido, I really do. I need help. Please, please help me. I’m so sorry. Please help me. I need to find the way. I can‘t do it alone.” the Hare was crying and truly sorry for the gravest sin of all.
     Nishari looked at Colt, still angered but now more concerned. “There may still be hope for you, young Hare. I see now you need my help most of all. But do you know what my assistance includes? You may have to do things you normally wouldn’t do.”
     Colt’s eyes were shrink-wrapped in tears as he looked up and said “Hai, I have helped you before. I’m willing to do anything.”
     Nishari stared down at him. “Then be prepared to change. You have a long, hard road ahead of you, and I will help you down the correct fork in the crossroad.”

     Colt awoke to the sight of two familiar, Ujina Aki and Yoshi. “You’re awake.” Aki stated. “You’ve been asleep all day.”
     Colt smiled, “Thank you for letting me sleep. Sense the battle, I find it hard to sleep without watching it over and over again. It keeps me from sleeping.” Colt looked at Yoshi, “Bring us some tea.” Yoshi bowed and did as commanded.
     “They wait for you, Usagi-sama.” Aki said, referring to the clan daimyos.
     “I know, I asked them to meet me.” Colt groaned, “I wanted to know where do I go from here.”