Cherry Blossoms Only Once More

Daidoji Akita was finishing his meditations in the rock garden of the Daidoji mansion. The kami of the rock still spoke to him, ever so subtly, in a way he had specially attune himself to, but the message, he believed, was clear. He would see the cherry blossoms only once more, and then his spirit would move on. The old samurai reminisced about his life. Had he lived honorably enough to join the blessed ancestors in Yomi - or would he just wait in the gray nothingness of Meido? He did not believe the Celestial Ones would punish him by making him a hungry ghost. He had done better than that.

The moss formations flanked the path to the family shrine farther away in the garden. At the first glance they looked completely arbitrary, but actually the gardener had prayed to the kami and taken great pains to come up with just this harmony. Beauty, Akita believed, was not only an important aspect of Celestial Order in itself, but it also helped in concentrating and meditating on the harmony and order that underlied everything - every step a warrior made in a combat, every whisper a courtier uttered behind an elaborate fan.

Beauty - Tamoko had never appreciated that aspect of samurai's life enough. Nor diplomacy, etiquette or intrigue. Impatient, the girl had been, practical, as was the mixed blessing of being a Daidoji, he acknowledged. Akita berated himself of thinking fondly about the girl, so long gone. But perhaps an old man was allowed to waver, in the quiet recesses of his mind. If anyone asked Akita, he said he didn't know anyone by the name Tamoko.

He had been so sure that she would be the next famed Daidoji general. Perhaps even to the extent that the Crane clan would gain military might among those who relied more on their troops and less on diplomacy. Her clever, tactical mind, her fearless and noble spirit and devotion to bushido, tempered with the practicality that manifested itself in employing espionage, sniping, sabotage and guerilla tactics - something that the more conventional clans regarded dishonorable. Tamoko never knew fear or insincerity - in that she was a perfect samurai, a warrior sworn to bushido. But duty. Duty to her daimyo, her own father. That was where she utterly failed, where she brought dishonor on herself, the Daidoji and the Crane clan. She just couldn't bear to let her brother die, and she threw everything away for that.

Yoshimo, too... Akita fondly remembered the sly, mischievous boy who would charm everyone so effortlessly, without conscious calculation from his part. He had always been a rogue, a bounty hunter and smuggler mingling with the yakuza, wako and for all he knew even ninja - but he wasn't the first Daidoji to do so. A wise daimyo had contacts everywhere. The uproar following Tamoko busting Yoshimo out of his prison, killing two imperial guards in the process, had been a great scandal in Fukama and caused Akita personally and all the clan lose face enormously. Still, a part of him was happy to know that Yoshimo had been spared the execution. He had never seen the boy since. Both children, such a joy they had been, and where were they now? Akita did not know, and his honor would not allow him to find out. The old man sighed.

- "Eiko!" he called.

- "Yes, my lord," the woman answered. She was in her thirties, and very pretty, the family shukenja of Daidoji's. As it happened, he was also Akita's lover. I wonder if she can sense the impending death in me, Akita wondered. She is so young, so full of life.

- "Have the kami talked to you?" he asked.

- "They have, my lord," she said. "The spirit world is on move, out of balance. Many forces are drawing to a great conflict."

- "Where will this take place?"

- "All the Kara-Tur. Kozakura. Shou Lung, Plain of horses... and not only Ningen-do, the spiritual realms are involved."

- "You said that the message is very strong when you pray in our family shrine," Akita said gravely.

- "So it is. A gaijin is approaching, my lord. He is seeking you out, and he is at the heart of all this. A chosen one..."

- "Why is he seeking me?"

- "I do not know. But I do know that it is in the heart of all the confusion. I see war, blood... ancient evil stirring in its slumber... magic... elements of the very world shaken, ruthless men and women harnessing the chaos..."

- "By all the oni. That sounds bad."

- "Oh, it is probably the worst thing yet seen. I foresee landslides, tsunami... volcanic eruptions... and down the secret depths of the Celestial Sea, a mysterious evil..."

- "I remember what such prophecies has foretold before," Akita said, careful not to let fear shake his voice.

- "The First Oni." Eiko was deadly serious too. "And... this is worse than any of those foretellings yet."