"Ahh but I forget myself" he mused. I am always a bit amused at the way the stories go on and on about it. If one believed such drivel I would be seven feet tall and holding the magic powers that the kami had gifted me." He chuckled.

"I do not remember much of that battle. It was not particularly distinctive in my mind, much like other battles in the dying and the noise. No. What I remember is her. She left this world that day, and she died in my arms.

I did not see the end of the battle that day. I was not there to witness Kiso's death. When Tomoe galloped off to the west at the command of her lord. I knew she had left to die.

Throughout the battle I had been keeping an offhand eye on her. I knew I would be unable to do anything, but still I worried. When the streak of scarlet appeared across her torsoe, I felt as if my own heart had been stabbed.

As the tide turned and the collapse of Kiso's forces finalized, the men circled and caught Kiso in his moment of weakness. This distraction allowed me to slip away into the forest.

I covered ground fast, hurrying to lessen the distance between myself and her. That wound had been deep but I still held the faint hope to save her. I knew that this feeling was not one of a good Buddhist. After all, one should welcome death as the next step in the journey in order to connect to one's next incarnation. But I could not lose her.

I was there to catch her as she fell from her horse. This told me everything. She was a superb horsewoman and she rode as if the horse was merely an extension of her body. If she was falling, the wound must be serious indeed.

I lowered myself to the ground with her in my arms. Her chest was so red and she was gasping for breath. I tore a strip from my shirtsleeve in a futile effort to staunch the flow. I did not notice the tears on my cheeks until I saw a drop fall onto her shoulder.

I felt a soft hand reach up to brush the drops from my face, and I turned to look at her.

Her eyes were open and a clear grey. Though she must have been feeling great pain, they were calm and full of love.

"Do you remember what I said about death?" she asked me softly.

"You told me you wanted to die beneath a cherry tree" I answered with care.

"Look" she said pointing upwards.

A cherry tree shone twisted against the sky, only just beginning to bloom. A small cry escaped me.

"You cannot die" I told her.

She raised her brows at my declaration. Then she struggled to pull out her short sword. Thinking she meant to exeliorate the process, I gripped her hand.

"I do not mean to commit suicide" she told me sarcastically, then she swiftly cut off a strand of her hair.

I stared at her in shock. This was her hair!

She rolled her eyes at me and settled back down. So little an action had been quite an effort.

"Here" she told me, "something to... remember me by" she gasped out.

I pulled her close, cradling her head to my chest.

"Will you stay until I make the first steps on my last journey?" she asked me softly. So low that I had to lean down to hear. "Sing me a last goodbye."

I complied. It had been a long time since I last sang, but for her, I would do anything in my power.

As I sang, I wound the lock of hair she had granted me into a small ring around my second finger.

As you fall into sleep

Call the white crane

Flying over the mountain pines

Through the mist

To catch your falling dewdrop.

As the last words faded out I felt her hand gradually unclench and fall from my fingers. Her face held a peaceful expression, all the lines of worry easing from her face. Her eyes were closed as if in sleep.

She had passed on to the next life now. Like the falling petals of the cherry tree, she had bloomed so quickly only to fall to the earth as nature demanded. Perhaps I would meet her in the next turning of the wheel.

I returned slowly to the raging battlefield, the sounds echoing strangely past my ears. Without thinking I blocked stabs and dodged arrows, allowing my footsteps to take me where they would. When I reached the place of command, next to my brother and Kagetoki, Noriyori clapped me on the shoulder and yelled something about where had I been and that I was missing out on all the action. He did not wait for my response and he threw himself on a nearby horse and galloped exuberantly towards the nearest tangle of soldiers.

Kagetoki, on the other hand, did not move, he watched me with knowing eyes and a small smirk on his lips before turning and sauntering off. This sent shivers down my back.

Kagetoki did not scare me and I knew him well enough at that point not to allow him to creep me out, but something about the way his eyes glanced past me towards the forest where I had left Tomoe's body, worried me.

He could not possibly have known."

"Well young Kage, off to visit your tea shop's greatest attraction?" I demanded as I noticed the boy start squirming around the time I new that the newest addition to our village took her break.

"Can an old man's stories no longer hold you here?" I asked him in a fake mournful voice.

He looked at me sharply, "if you want to tell stories so badly, grandfather" he told me with anI amused twist to his lips, "I am sure Sora would just love to keep you company. In fact, I can hear her footsteps coming toward us. Shall I call her in?"

It was all a ploy. Now they were united in their efforts to humor an old man such as I and allow Kage to meet his lady love.

"Gah!" I scowled as he slipped out the door.

"Grandpapa" that insidiously cheerful voice piped up. "What happened to the pretty lady?"

I looked at her in confusion.

"Sora was listening to part of your story" she admitted, moving her toe in circles on the mat as she hung her head and placed her hands behind her back. The picture of guilty curiosity.

"Hmm" I frowned, this was not exactly the story for young ears.

"She went on a journey," I told her finally.

"Did she go to meet her herd boy?"

"No" I sighed. "She went back to her castle for another year to wait for her herd boy." This was as good as any symbolic explanation I could think of.

She appeared to think for a moment.

"Okay" she said finally, and went back through the door to her world of flowers.

"As soon as Kiso was taken out of the picture, my brother sent our forces out once more. This time we were to go against the Taira.

Many of us had expected a longer respite. After all, it had taken Yoritomo quite a long time to decide to go up against Yoshinaka, and we had not yet had time to enjoy our spoils.

Perhaps this would have been so if Yoritomo had not managed to wrest a declaration from Go-Shikawa that granted him emergency powers. This, of course, was supposed to only contain a mandate to continue the war against the Taira, but my brother had learnt much of political maneuvering through the small lettering of a legislation.

As soon as possible, Noriy ori and I were ordered to march west.

We moved into the eastern doorway of the provinces held by the Taira. There were a series of small fortresses built around their major capital, Ichi no tani. We had to go through this outer web before we could reach the spider at the center.

We went through these minor outposts like a typhoon through fisher boats. Leaving destruction in our wake.

My forces moved north to attack from a western direction, but I sent Noriyori to the east. We had enough forces at this point, to effectively pull off the tactic of surrounding the enemy and crush them between the two prongs of our attack.

As we got closer to the castle town that marked the Taira's retreat, I saw that the natural terrain surrounding the fortress was perfectly shaped for a further division and surprise attack.

The fort was protected from the rear by a sharp incline. I led a group of men up the side, cautioning them not to let small pebbles fall down into the courtyard below.

I knew this would be impossible without light, so we snuck up just as the sun was shining up above so that, if any looked upwards, they would be blinded by its rays. Noriyori had orders to wait until nightfall to begin their attack.

Climbing up the steep incline, we struggled to find paths for our horses. They were blindfolded so that they would not catch fright and bolt. Sure in their trust, they clamored over stones seeking footholds. Once we were at the top, the next challenge was making our way down the other side and into the center of the fortress.

Easier said than done. The opposing side held no foliage to lessen the speed of our descent and it was even more difficult of a cliff to travel. The men despaired for a moment, bewailing the loss of such a prime strategic placement. But that was why I had brought the horses.

I knew that it would not have been possible to maintain our surprise if we had simply ridden down the side of the cliff en masse. I also knew that too many horses would break their legs if we did so, and ultimately I was not willing to put down so many of our fine sources of transportation. No, the horses were brought for their instinct.

"General-san," one of the younger recruits approached me, "what shall we do?"

As if I had all the answers in the world. As if I was some sort of all knowing figure. Fortunately, I had a plan.

"Watch" I told himas I released one of the riderless horses. "The horses know the way."

As we watched the mare pick her way down using a path hidden from those above, we slowly began to follow.

It was slow going, none were in a hurry to fall to their death, after all.

Once we had all reached the bottom, we met up with the other half of my men who were under the temporary command of Doi Sanehira, and we formed back into ranks. Unbinding the eyes of our mountsl we drew our swords.

All of the Taira's attention was on the front gate, defending against my brother's attack.

They never saw us coming, we seemed to appear out of the night like angry spirits.

To them, the breaching of their impenetrable fort from the rear was an impossible feat. The fact that we had accomplished it with such apparent ease threw the Taira into a panic. To them, we were not men but some demon sent by the kami. It was a good reputation to gain from one's enemy.

They fled in droves, swarming their ships and departing, leaving many behind to fight and die in the breaking waves.

They fled to their Shikoku headquarters.

Before we could begin appropriating ships from the surrounding area for use in a fleet that would hound the seas, orders came from the top.

Apparently Yoritomo was worried that our forces were not yet strong enough to go up against the full might of the Taira, and we could not afford to lose more through a defeat. So he ordered a consolidation of power. We would return to Kyoto to organize the administration and supress any internal uprisings.

I was to be the deputy for the central areas.

I did not care. I would follow the puppet strings that bound me and continue living until the time of my death called to me. Life is suffering."

He turned to me then and paused, seeming to take in my youth.

"But you have yet to experience such loss. The other half of my soul had departed and I knew I had little hope of affection from my blood kin." I sighed as he turned back to stare in the fire and continued his tale.