Notes:
- In this ficverse, the terms state, province, and prefecture are used interchangeably. The prefectures are the states on the Emperor's side. The provinces are the states on the shogun's side.
- Rannosuke previously appeared briefly in Chapter 3 "A Soldier's Scruples". He appeared even earlier in the timeline as a human in prequel fic Edge of Alienation.
- Akanemaru previously appeared briefly in Chapter 2 "Recovery"
- In the late 12th century, merchants were forbidden to press for repayment of loans made to warriors because the war effort against the Mongols had badly depleted the finances of the samurai clans. (Ratti/Westbrook, Secrets of the Samurai) For this fic, I'm assuming a similar situation in the later years of the Great War.
- I chose to translate the name of the main airborne base of the samurai (later the capital of the Amanushi) as the 'Sky Fortress'. The original name, tenshukaku (literally 'Guardian of the Sky') traditionally referred to the central tower of a castle compound. The central tower was also simply called 'the keep' by the less poetically-minded.
Vocab: kuge – court nobles, akindo - merchants
Two months after the official end of the Great War…
The Temple of Heavenly Mercy in Nankai Prefecture had a high open platform where visitors could offer incense to the Heavens. There, they say those with a guilty conscience will feel exposed to the scrutiny of the Sky, while those of pure heart and mind could commune with It. But there are some who believe that the latter type of human is extremely rare, or does not even walk the earth.
A tall ronin in black, with a child of about 10 beside her, walked up the long flight of white-and-gray marble steps leading up to the high platform. They came to a halt at the top of the stairs. The ronin, a mannish broad-shouldered warrior, turned and spoke to the pale child. In response, the dark-haired girl knelt down deferentially next to the smooth marble posts flanking the stairs. Her older companion walked ahead. The warrior with straight blue-black hair approached the great incense burner and lit a stick of sandalwood incense. She bowed once before the heavens before adding her one offering to many hundreds of other incense sticks in the great brass burner.
The former samurai's obsidian eyes silently followed the plume of fragrant smoke as it rose towards the heavens. Then she bowed her head and spoke softly so that the child could not hear her.
"I have done something wrong. Something that cannot be undone. And there were more things I did before that. Deeds done in the name of justice but hidden in darkness. But that is not the worst thing. The worst thing is I would do it all over again if I had to. I see no other way. I did evil so that good may come. No higher insight comes to me. I feel guilt, not repentance."
The former Special Forces commander paused, as if waiting for Heaven's judgment. Then she spoke once more in a pained whisper. "For years, I fought the darkness. Now I'm part of it. I can't go on like this. There is a child following me now. Will I lead her down the same road?"
The war veteran raised her dark eyes to the blindingly bright sky even as she felt the weight of the Heavens bear down on her broad shoulders. Now the 35-year-old who once led the best of the best in the Confederated Army said the words she had not said in 18 years.
"I am lost. Help me."
--
Six months after the end of the Great War…Rannosuke sat alone on the barren hills of eastern Juushuu, soaking in the rain. "The peasants should be rejoicing now," he thought. "The drought has finally ended."
But the Red Spider was not rejoicing. Rannosuke worried about rust. He remembered the time when he had a team of mechanics to pamper him. But that was all in the past. One would think that a victorious veteran should have a warmer homecoming. But that did not come to pass.
The former Confederated Army samurai remembered how he tried to return to his clan and his family. She who gave birth to him, or rather, she who gave birth to his human body, now looked upon him with fear. And the daimyo's seneschals came to him and told him there was no room for him anywhere in the clan's facilities and the stables, parking lots and garages were not big enough to hold him. Was he a fast turtle or a vehicle, that they would think that he belonged in stables and parking garages? Kanou Rannosuke of the Kuroyama Clan could not understand.
Just as Rannosuke was lost in his recollections, he heard the roar of a giant mecha's flight boosters behind him. He recognized that sound – it was not a fellow Red Spider; it was a Raiden of the Allied Forces.
The Confederated Army samurai immediately got to his feet and spun around. A big blue mecha was 300 yards away, flying slowly towards him. The Red Spider drew his giant sword.
"Relax, relax, the war is over!" the Raiden called out as he came closer to Rannosuke's hill. "I'm not here to fight you."
"Then what are you here for?" The Benigumo asked suspiciously.
"Just to chat," the other mecha answered as he landed a polite distance from Rannosuke, at the foot of the Benigumo's hill.
"Chat?" the Feddie veteran said incredulously as he eyed the Raiden standing on a patch of shriveled shrubbery below.
"I'm Akanemaru, formerly of the Aokuma Clan." The pointy-faced giant mecha supplied, opening his metallic palms in a non-threatening gesture.
The former Confederated Army samurai did not return the favor of an introduction to the blue robot. Rannosuke kept his sword pointed at the former Allied Forces soldier. But Akanemaru was undeterred.
"Judging by your accent, you're from Kokuryu State, right? I'm from Akashima State," the Raiden volunteered, looking up at him. "If we're both still human, I'd buy you a drink as a sign of my good will. Now that the war is over, I would like to visit the Confederated States I never had the chance to visit, that is, if I have enough money. I heard the fief of the Kuroyama Clan is a beautiful place. Is that so? I've been to the Northlands, but only the Allied States of Juushuu, Tosa and Nakatsu. The rock hills of Nakatsu are a pretty cool sight though."
The Red Spider stared down at him in sullen silence from the Benigumo's perch on the rocky hill.
"Forgive me for running on and on," Akanemaru gushed as the earth around his feet drank in the much-needed rain. "It's just the nerves. What am I talking about? I no longer have nerves. It's just that I don't know what the future will bring. How long before my backup batteries run out of power? I don't know where to find fresh energy cells. The Allied Forces battery factories were destroyed by your side… Say, I heard rumors that some of the former Feddie battery factories are still operating and that they're now independent of the Confederated Army, so they'll sell energy cells to anyone. Can you tell me where to find one of those factories?"
"If I know where to find a battery factory, I would have gone there myself," Rannosuke finally answered. "The Confederated Army energy cell factory locations have always been top secret. It is rumored there is a factory in the desert south of Kougakyo, but as to exactly where it is in the desert, I don't know. The radioactive batteries were delivered to our bases and regular samurai like me do not know where they came from. I don't have a base anymore. I haven't had a battery change since the end of the war. Why do you think I was just sitting here? I was trying to conserve energy, which I'm now wasting by talking to you!"
"Oh…," the Raiden lowered his head. "I'm sorry."
"Now that he knows that I have no useful information to offer him, he will leave." The Red Spider thought, looking down at the annoying pointy-headed mecha.
But the Raiden did not leave. He was now wasting his own battery power by chattering on. "My Allied Forces regiment was destroyed by your comrades in a sneak attack. Darn, you guys were good. We never saw it coming. Our commander told us to expect an aerial assault from the enemy. I was standing by in my docking cell, ready for battle, waiting for air raid sirens to go off when I heard loud explosions and the floor literally fell away from beneath me! Boy, was I confused! It took me a few moments to realize that the castle was being destroyed from within – not from the sky!"
Rannosuke did not respond.
Akanemaru went on in a rather high-pitched voice. "I managed to blast my way out and fly clear of the crumbling place. When the explosions settled, I flew back down to the base and found about seven other Raiden and two Tobito who survived. But we could not find any of our commanding officers or comrades left alive in the ruins. It was such a sad sight – one corpse after another of both man and machine, some charred, some in pieces. At some point we gave up digging for survivors. I really hated to do that but the fact is, we mecha survivors would have run out of battery power before we recovered the bodies of all three thousand soldiers from the ruins and gave them a burial. So we dug a mass grave for the hundred or so we already found, and left Irakawa Castle behind."
The Benigumo had contributed to the situation Akanemaru was describing. But the Raiden was oblivious to the irony. He rambled on.
"We thought of finding another Allied unit to join so that we could continue fighting, but before we could do that, we heard the news that the shogun had been defeated and the Great War was over. The Allied Forces were no more. So we survivors decided to split up and go back to our state clans. I tried to return to my clan in Akashima but found that my people too had been defeated and scattered. The daimyo's castle was burnt to the ground. I could not find my family. I guess they're dead. I've been wandering around aimlessly since."
The Raiden sighed sorrowfully. Then he turned to the Red Spider. "But you're the victor. Why are you sitting here all alone?"
"Even if Akanemaru had not given his name, I can guess that he is very young." Rannosuke thought as he lowered his giant sword without quite knowing it. "This chatty ronin is so needy, so desperate for companionship. But perhaps so am I…"
At this realization, the rain-soaked Red Spider spoke. "The Confederated Army has been downsized to practically nothing. Now that the war is over, the merchants are hounding the Feddies to pay back the war debt. Even the Sky Fortress and all the factory surplus soulless mecha have been taken away by the merchant bank because they were collateral for the war loan. The Amanushi bought the Sky Fortress at a bargain when the merchant bank liquidated it, I heard. The rumor is he is going to relocate the Capital there. And on the topic of downsizing, we high-maintenance mecha samurai were the first to be dismissed from the Army as part of cost-cutting."
"Such aggressive debt collection from merchants?! How did that happen?" Akanemaru asked in surprise. Both the shogun and the emperor supported laws that prohibited merchants from enforcing payment deadlines on loans made to the military – be it state-based samurai clans or the combined armies.
"Didn't you hear?" his former enemy said almost disgustedly. "Less than a week after the official end of the war, the Amanushi abolished the law that prevented merchants from collecting debts from samurai. Those akindo sharks wasted no time in coming after the samurai clans and the combined army. "
"So that's your reward for fighting so hard to restore the right to rule to the Imperial Court ," the Raiden mused. "Well, it seems that you samurai on the winning side were just tools for the kuge to use and abandon. At least the shogun was one of us. He would always act with the interest of our class in mind."
"I don't entirely blame the Emperor for lifting that law." The Red Spider replied defensively. "He had to reward the merchants for financially supporting the Imperial Court over the course of the war. Now that there are no more battles to be fought, it makes sense for the Amanushi to court the merchants over the samurai. Such are the ways of the politicians."
"Oh…" Akanemaru said. He was a simple soldier and did not like discussing politics. So the Raiden decided to change the topic. "If the Feddies have released you, then why don't you return to your clan?"
"I did," Rannosuke replied, gazing at the gray clouds overhead. "But my state clan does not have the resources to support large mechas. Even if they want to reintegrate returning giant robot veterans, they cannot afford to build the necessary infrastructure. The Kokuryu state government owes massive war debt, as do other samurai clans on the winning side."
As he spoke, the Red Spider took a step down the hill, coming closer to the blue mecha without quite realizing it. But the Raiden showed no reaction and continued listening respectfully to Rannosuke's story. The Confederated Army veteran sighed. "This is a time when even human veterans are dismissed from victorious clans because of clan downsizing and cost-cutting. If there is no work for them, it goes without saying there is no work for me. Outside of the Feddie and Allied bases, we giant war robots do not have much of a chance for survival."
"Saa…." Akanemaru responded as raindrops ran down the lenses of his mechanical eyes. "I didn't know that things were this bad for the clans on the 'winning' side."
"It gets worse than that." His former enemy continued, "At least my former clan survived despite the downsizing and debt. I heard just a week ago that the Nakagawa Clan of Tanba Prefecture lost their entire fief to the merchants. They missed three payment deadlines on their war debt so the Merchant Bank of Kougakyo has taken away their lands. Tanba Prefecture is now officially under the jurisdiction of the akindo-run City Government of Kougakyo. So, without shedding a single drop of blood, the merchants conquered the territory of the samurai. It goes without saying that with no land holdings, the Nakagawa Clan is now officially defunct and has been disbanded."
"That certainly creates many ronin, ne?" Now it was Akanemaru who took a step up the hill, closing the distance between himself and the Red Spider. Rannosuke did not move away. Instead, the Benigumo replied. "You bet. There are many ronin now – both mecha and human - and I suspect there will be more ronin as more fiefdoms are dissolved or downsized to pay off war debt."
The two former foes stood side by side in silence for a while, listening to the raindrops hitting their metallic hulls. Then Akanemaru spoke once more, "I heard a rumor – but don't get your hopes up, because it's just a rumor – that the mecha survivors of the Allied Air Force First Regiment in Nakatsu refused to surrender to the Feddies even after the Confederated Army took the Allied base of Atsuya Castle. The defeated samurai regrouped in one of the floating bases we used on tours of duty over the Northern Front."
The Benigumo turned to look at the Raiden. He had heard of Allied First Regiment's defeat. In fact, some squadrons in his Confederated regiment took part in the assault on Nakatsu. But he did not know until now that the mecha survivors of the Allies held out.
Akanemaru continued, "Now that the war is over, these mecha maintain themselves in this base independent of the rest of the world! Their base has been seen floating around the western part of Juushuu State, I've heard. If they're still running, they must have batteries! Maybe they're not far from us. Let's go find them! Perhaps they'll let us work in return for energy cells. At the very least, they can tell us where to find batteries."
"It might work for you," Rannosuke shrugged his robot shoulders. "But I don't think they'll help me. I am, after all, a former Feddie."
"Hey, Feddies vs Allies is so yesterday," Akanemaru said. "Now the priority is for us mecha to group together for survival. I'm sure my former comrades will understand. If not, I'll talk them into it. I'm a good talker, trust me."
Young Akanemaru turned and started floating away towards the west. Then he looked back and saw that Rannosuke was not following him. "What are you waiting for?" The Raiden called out, "Come with me. We might die before we get help, but if you stay here, you will die for sure."
The Red Spider sighed. He glanced at the patch of sun breaking through the clouds in the western sky. Well, he supposed he had nothing to lose.
--
Three years after the end of the Great War…A dark man in white was walking with a weary step, wandering through the streets of that bustling metropolis known as Kougakyo. After the war ended, the former Colonel Shimada decided to wear white – the color of mourning – in memory of all those comrades and kin who died because he had lost so many battles. It had been three years since he stood in the garden of the dead, but the war veteran still felt no inclination to put his white clothes aside for the colors of life.
Then the man who lived in the past heard a voice from the past. "Kanbei-sama, is that you?"
Someone on the other side of the street was calling out to him.
The long-haired wanderer turned to seek the source of the sound. His eyes found Hideki, his subordinate from the Allied Air Force 2nd Regiment, standing in the entryway of a sushi shop front decorated with blue and white wave-patterned curtains. Hideki's face was one of the faces Kanbei feared to see but yet was glad to see. Guilt and joy warred on the defeated commander's face as his former samurai subordinate, now dressed in a waiter's uniform, abandoned his post at the storefront and ran up to Kanbei.
"Hideki-dono!" Kanbei exclaimed, looking into the other man's delighted face. "I thought you died in Irakawa Castle! I tried to come back for you, but…"
Kanbei himself had been trapped between the collapsing walls of the imploding castle as he tried to make his way from the river level back to the command center where his samurai were. But Colonel Shimada was fortunate enough to be standing in a reinforced doorframe at the moment his surroundings crumbled around him. The doorframe formed a pocket of space that saved his life. By the time the commander clawed his way out to the debris, he could see no living soul in sight. Later, Masao had told him that Akanemaru and a few other mecha survived. But Kanbei did not know if any human samurai within the castle had the same luck that he had. Until now.
"Shinji and I waited for you and Shichiroji to return to the command center." Hideki said when he saw the look of disbelieving joy on Kanbei's face, "Even if you had not ordered us to stay, we knew we should not step out because something was clearly very, very wrong in the rest of the castle. Suddenly, we heard loud explosions on the other side of the wall and everything started shaking. We could feel the floor buckling and ourselves falling. I swear the whole command center felt like it was falling through the lower floors of the castle. Something fell on my head and I passed out. When I came around, the ceiling was much lower than I remembered it and the walls were caved in. Then I saw that Shinji was dead. Crushed under a fallen wall."
Kanbei's joy evaporated. The former Colonel closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. It was his fault that a soldier who followed him faithfully had come to such an ignoble end.
"But I'm so glad to see that you're still alive, sir!" Hideki smiled brightly amidst the hustle and bustle of the crowded street.
"Well, I'm not glad that I'm still alive," Kanbei thought. But he did not speak his mind. Instead the 38-year-old veteran said to the other samurai. "I'm very glad to see that you are alive and well too, Hideki-dono."
"Oh, maybe you already know this, but Shichiroji is in Kougakyo too." The former samurai captain gestured downward towards the lower city levels. "I first ran into him two years ago. That was shortly after I came to this city. I've talked to him a couple of times since then. Shichiroji is working as a security guard and odd job man in an inn called the House of the Fireflies. Neither he nor I ever dreamt we'd one day be dependent on members of the lowly merchant class for our rice bowls. But this is life after war for a samurai."
"So, Shichi is still alive. At least not all my efforts have been wasted," Kanbei thanked Heaven in silence. He felt as though a small ray of light had illuminated his darkened soul for a brief moment.
"I'm pleased to know that Shichiroji has survived," Shimada gave a small smile to the former Captain Hideki. "The House of the Fireflies… is that in Iyashi no Sato?"
"Yes, Kanbei-sama, it's near the intersection of Persimmon Street and Orchid Road." Hideki responded. "I'm sure Shichiroji will be overjoyed to see you. He still thinks you are dead. At least that was what he said when I talked to him. You should visit him when you have the chance."
"Yes, I will do that," Kanbei said halfheartedly. Much as Kanbei cared for Shichiroji, he felt ashamed to face his former aide or any of their surviving comrades.
"By the way," the former Colonel said to the samurai-turned-waiter. "Don't tell Shichiroji you saw me. I want to surprise him should I decide to visit the House of the Fireflies."
"Of course, Kanbei-sama," Hideki replied.
"Well, I must be on my way," the dark-skinned samurai said apologetically to his fellow veteran. "I should not keep you from your work."
Hideki was slightly surprised at Kanbei's somewhat distant manner. The waiter was not expecting gushing sentimentality from a former commander, but the usually kind Kanbei seemed rather detached during this unexpected reunion between long-lost comrades.
Shimada turned to leave, heedless of the tempting smells wafting out of the restaurants lining the street, deaf to the calls of welcome from those who worked within, and indeed, blind to the fact that the former Captain Sanou Hideki was bursting with joy to see him.
"Perhaps sir," Hideki spoke to the departing figure of tall dark man, "you can drop by my place of employ sometime and let me buy you dinner…"
Kanbei turned once more to face him, but the only answer Hideki received for his offer was a weak, sad smile. As the waiter met the gaze of the former Colonel, he was struck by the strange look in Kanbei's dark brown eyes. It was a look he had never seen before. His once masterful commander looked, for lack of a better word, lost.
Then Kanbei was gone, walking down the noisy street with the weariness of a man wading through thick mud.
Author's Comments:
- This is my explanation for why Kanbei never sought out Shichiroji in the five years after the war and before S7, despite the fact he knew where Shichiroji was.
- For Kyuuzou's post-Great War ending, see last chapter of Happy Endings and Resurrection chapter of Retribution.
- For how the child came to be in Haruko's care, see Happy Endings Chapter 4.
- When Haruko says, "And there were more things I did before that. Deeds done in the name of justice but hidden in darkness," she is possibly referring to her past life as a vigilante, or to Kyuuzou's vigilante-style killing of surrendered enemy samurai in revenge for the torture-murder of peasants in Wolf Warriors. Ayame gave him the order though Kyuuzou would have been more than happy to kill them on his own accord. Kyuuzou and Ayame apparently escaped the consequences for this violation of the warrior code. It is possible that Ayame, being Kyuuzou's direct superior, reported those summary executions as "Allied soldiers killed in action." Or it is possible that their platoon mates and platoon commander at that time (Haruko) covered up for them.
- The context for Haruko saying "I am lost. Help me," will be revealed in the fic Mandate of Heaven. There is a hint about that past incident in Wolf Warriors, when the aged Mikumari of Kaneda Village was speaking to Kanbei.
- Akanemaru was mentioned briefly in Chapter 2 and Chapter 9. He was one of the Raiden under Kanbei's authority. As to why Rannosuke can guess his age from his name, the names ending with –maru are typically used by commoners. Samurai boys may also have a something–maru name in their childhood. But once boys of the elite classes reach majority, they take a different name. So the fact that Akanemaru is a samurai and has a name ending in –maru hints that he has not yet undergone his coming-of-age ceremony. (which happens between mid teens to early twenties) He is still using his childhood name.
- The floating base Akanemaru mentioned is probably the base of the Nobuseri robbing Aiko's people in companion fic Mandate of Heaven.
- Akanemaru and the mecha survivors probably left the ruins of Irakawa Castle before Kanbei managed to dig his way out. He was on the bottom level, and the Raiden and Tobito didn't dig that far down for. They gave up after they found no survivors in the upper levels.
- In this ficverse, Kanna Village is a part of Tanba Prefecture. In the anime, it seemed odd that Kannamura was apparently under the authority of Ayamaro's government (from Hyogo's line about Kannamura breaching his lord's regulations) and yet Kougakyo's control over it appeared nominal or weak, at best. So I came up with the back story told by Rannosuke – the entire Tanba Prefecture was a new addition to the borders of Ayamaro's realm (which previously only included the independent merchant-run city-state of Kougakyo).