Vagabond: Volume 15

by Takehiko Inoue, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, 198 pages

The village elders approach outcast Kanemaki and ask him to be their champion by killing the mad despot Fudô, who oppresses them and steals away their young daughters. At first, the old man refuses. But when he realizes the thirteen-year-old daughter of the kindly couple who've helped him raise Kojirô will be next, he vows to see it through. Little does he know his adopted son is already plotting to do the same with his best friend and "disciple" Tenki, who desires revenge for his own father's injuries at the hands of the tyrant.

First blood. It's hard to reconcile the deadly sword-obsessed glee young Kojirô exhibits against Fudô with the quiet gentleness of his comforting crying Orin, the neighbor's endangered daughter, his cheek against hers as though he were listening to--or communicating--something from deep within. So lovely. The reader can see both why his adopted father dearly loves him...and why the old man is so desperate to keep him from the sword that has been calling to him since the moment they both emerged from the sea.