The huntsman drops the last stalks of crushed grass and stands, wiping his hands on threadbare hakama. He turns to the mounted samurai and speaks: "Two ronin? Killed a dozen bandits? Ridiculous!" dismissed the samurai.

"It is as I say it, Moruka-sama," responded the huntsman.

"Hmph." "This is our village. If you want to eat here you must pay a tax." The big man sneered and looked to his companions. He never looked back, for his head rolled down the steps as their lifeless bodies dropped to the earth. The bald woman placed the infant she cradled in her left arm down, cleaned her blade, and stripped off her blood-soaked kimono. "You, peasant. Have these three taken away, and bring me some clean clothes." She picked up the child and returned to the bowl of millet which the peasants had offered her. The village headman sucked air through his toothless mouth as he scrambled up and scurried away. Of the tattoos which covered the samurai-ko's body it was the tigress surrounding the cub which danced in his mind.

He pondered: "Perhaps the infant is the cub. But perhaps the village is the cub! She does not seem as base as the other ronin who have stayed here. Iie! And her sword! It was like lightning! I do not think she is the kind to lay about and do nothing but drink sake and eat. How do we convince her to stay?"

"I am Moruko, yoriki of Daimyo Shingoro..." Moruko droned on as the huntsman spins slowly, reading the scene obscured by the peasants' attempts to clean.

"Moruko-sama," he interupts. Moruko tries to silence him with a stern glare, then resumes.

"Moruko-sama!" The huntsman is quite insistant. His life hangs in the balance, as does that of the yoriki. The bald woman kneels on the porch, cradling the infant, watching with eyes that haunt the huntsman. Infuriated, Moruko spins towards the huntsman, gripping his saya with his left hand. he opens his mouth to address the huntsman, but once again is interupted.

"Moruko-sama! If you issue the challenge, or touch your sword, we will both die. The wise hunter does not enter the cave of a tigress. If your daimyo wants her dead, have him come challenge her. He will die. I led you to her, now I part with you.

The huntsman later heard of the attack on the village, and of the death of the attackers, and muttered a prayer to Lady Amaterasu that his kin would never be as blind as Moruko.

The Huntsman's descendants are renowned for their acute vision. Moruko and his Daimyo had no descendants.

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