The Stone Samurai & The Blue-Eyed Cat

Created: 2-22-06

THE STONE SAMURAI & THE BLUE-EYED CAT

ONE

At the crossroad, in the middle of the roundabout, there was a newly built stone digital clock.

A tall, painted stone samurai with red flaming hair stood above it with pride, with a huge sword held to his chest, the blade facing downwards. The digital clock shone brightly showing the numbers of time in red, and below the clock, there was a stone board carved a few golden words saying: THE CLOCK OF HOKKAIDO FIREWALL ASSOCIATION.

For a number of days consecutively, not even the nearby stray cats dared to come any closer to the stone clock, lest to climb and stop on top of it. They were all afraid of the stone samurai. The only thing they dare do was gathered around at the nearest lamppost and looked at him from afar.

That day, the stray cats gathered again and looked at the stone samurai, imagining the possibilities of a dangerous trap.

“Look at him! What a scary-looking samurai!” Akagi the black cat said warily, staring at the stone samurai in fear. “He’s holding that huge sword so close to his chest just waiting for us to come at him.”

“Hait, hait! He’s so tall and big and looks so fierce!” Miyagi the white cat with brown spots agreed. “I bet he wouldn’t even spare the life of our pretty Siamese stray Ayako if he felt like chopping and eating!”

“I agree,” Mitsui the grey cat pointed at the numbers on the clock. “He even wrote down the number of cats he’s chopped and ate right below his feet.”

“It’s got to be a conspiracy!” Kokure the black and white cat replied. “Those humans couldn’t get us all stray cats so they had a samurai do the job for them!”

The numbers on the clock flashed for a while, then all of a sudden a loud ‘DONG, DONG, DONG’ sound came out from it that almost shook the fur out of the cats. All of them quickly fled to nearby buildings and bushes, afraid of becoming one of the red numbers under the stone samurai’s feet.

Only one pure snow-white cat with blue eyes remained. He sat where he was and stared at the stone samurai.

“Doushite? Why can’t I go over?” he thought. “I’ve never seen him chop off and eat any cat’s head before.”

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TWO

Late at night, the cars and people have finally gotten less. The stone samurai sighed quietly.

“Another horrible day!” the stone samurai tiredly blinked his eyes.

Ever since he was sent here, the stone samurai never had a moment’s peace. The crossroad, the tall towering buildings and the cars coming and going created an imaginary wall surrounding and entrapping him within.

The stone samurai felt as if he’d been thrown into a completely strange world.

The noises from the car, the shouts from the people and the loud blasting sounds of honking made him feel uncomfortable all day; the cars going round and round below him pretty much racked his brains and drove him up the wall.

The silence of the night soothed him.

The stone samurai looked at the time below him and said, “Hmm, two a.m. I guess I could finally rest for a while.”

He was about to sit down when a loud ear-splitting sound came from afar shocked him into standing up straight. It was a group of bikers whizzing past, hollering out loud and proud (A/N: Imagine that to be Mido and the others), leaving behind a huge long cloud of black smoke. The stone samurai frowned and lifted his head up high to keep out from the dirty smell of smoke.

The moon in the sky faded in and out and the stars seemed to disappear into the night. The top floor of the building across the street was as empty as a shell. It reminded him of the stray cats that often stop there to chat with each other in the daytime.

“Doushite? Why are those cats staying so far away from me?” the stone samurai really wanted to know what the strays were talking about.

He’s a very lonely samurai.

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THREE

At dawn, the stone samurai opened his eyes and saw a snow-white cat with blue eyes standing below the stone digital clock.

“Are you not afraid of me?” the stone samurai asked with surprise in his painted copper-brown eyes.

The blue-eyed cat nodded, then shook his head, “Ie, I’m not afraid of you.”

They considered each other closely.

“Anno…Do you chop and eat dogs?” the blue-eyed cat asked warily.

“Ie, I don’t chop and eat dogs,” the stone samurai replied.

“Do you chop and eat cats?” the blue-eyed cat asked quietly.

“Ie, I don’t chop and eat cats either.”

“Not even something smaller than a dog or something smaller than a cat…like a rat? Or even the smallest, tiniest bird?”

“Ie, not even rats or birds.”

The blue-eyed cat gladly jumped onto the clock.

“Ne, ne, what do you chop and eat then?”

“I don’t need to chop or eat anything,” the stone samurai replied with a smile. “I’m made of stone.”

“Not even leaves?” the blue-eyed cat was persistent. “Not even bugs?”

The stone samurai shook his head.

“Then what’s that sword for, anyway?”

“I dunno,” the stone samurai shrugged. “The humans gave it to me and I’ve always been carrying it around. I dunno what’s the use for.”

The wind began to blow at their faces. A few cars came passing by and around them.

The blue-eyed cat mustered up the courage and asked, “Can I sit on it then?”

“Hait! Be my guest,” the stone samurai nodded happily.

The blue-eyed cat brandished his claws and climbed all the way up to the handle and perched nicely on the base. He looked around, smiled slightly and said, “Nice. Great view and a perfect shade from the sun and wind.”

“You can come here everyday if you like,” the stone samurai said tentatively.

“Hait!” the blue-eyed cat nodded happily. “By the way, the name’s Rukawa.”

“The humans call me Sakuragi,” the stone samurai said with a grin.

The first bus drove past the roundabout, and some of the passengers looked up at the clock and were surprised to see a cat sitting on the handle of Sakuragi Hanamichi the stone samurai, the character symbol of one of the most respectable companies in Japan, a.k.a. The Hokkaido Firewall Association.

“Look! That samurai is preparing to chop off the cat’s tail,” one of the passengers joked.

“Hait,” another passenger nodded absentmindedly.

They didn’t know that Rukawa the blue-eyed cat was telling Sakuragi the stone samurai a story about the bus.

And tomorrow, he would bring him another story to tell.

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FOUR

The sun is rising from the other side of the skyscraper building. A smooth ray of light shines upon the tall, majestic stone digital clock, as if telling it in its warmth that tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and the day after that, for every tomorrow and for every new morning, the blue-eyed cat will bring a new story to tell to the stone samurai.