Sword Stroke

Joseph Yamamoto knelt on the tatami mat, his good eye downcast, his bad one still swollen shut and purple from the knee he'd taken, in the brawl that wasn't supposed to happen, where the boss's son who wasn't supposed to be there got cut down with a sword. And it had all happened with him watching, so now his honor was disgraced. He knelt now, before Boss Otani, ready to accept whatever he was sentenced to, for Joseph Yamamoto was samurai. He would give his life gladly for Boss Otani, and he could kill with a smile on his face when Otani sent him to do it.1

"Oyabun, this lowly worm begs your grace, your mercy."2

"He died by the sword?"3

"Cut down like a true samurai. You would have been most proud of him, Oyabun." Let Otani-sama think Kyoshiro died brave; actually he died cowering in a corner, pissing himself like a terrified child.4

"Good." Boss Otani pulled an object wrapped in silk from his desk and handed it, still wrapped, to Joseph. "By the end of the day."5

Two hours later, Joseph was in the courtyard of Boss Otani's luxurious Tokyo estate. He had changed into a white gi shirt and white hakama, and now while the final preparations were made he knelt on the ground and wrote a poem:6

"Sword flashes so fast;7

Biting deep it's soul-to-soul;8

dispassionate kiss."9

They finished preparing and Joseph unwrapped the tanto knife from Boss Otani and opened his gi shirt. With only the smallest of grunts and no change in his face, he drove the knife into his left side and dragged it all the way across to his right side.10

The man behind him took one step, and in one swift motion the sword took Joseph Yamamoto's head.