Disclaimer: See prologue.
Rise of Samurai
Chapter 2
By UesugiKenshin
Notice! (Bloody scene) Notice!
Keitaro walked at a brisk pace, his mind racing on what Tokugawa wanted from him. The trepidation showed on his face, making him look and feel older then he was.
'I probably look like an old man, just being here has made me old, Keitaro worried, a wrong move and I could offend Tokugawa and have my head cut off, what could he really want with me?'
He reached the front gate, he held up his message to the two guards standing in front of the fortified gate. The guard nodded, "You may go in."
The two guards pulled at the handles and slowly the iron gate moved on its hinges,
it groaned as it was moved from its former position. When the gate was opened enough to allow Keitaro passage, he walked through and the gate was closed behind him.
The castle ground would be normally filled with samurai training in arts of the sword or other weapons, doing marital arts, or honing their archery skills, no longer. It was time of war and all available men were defending the castle incase the enemy decided to siege the capital.
Keitaro walked amongst the desolate targets and abandoned grounds as he made way towards the castle door. He finally reached the door and was stopped this time by armored samurai, their swords already half out of the scabbard, ready to cut down any intruder.
He again lifted his message, the left samurai looked over it quickly and motioned that Keitaro should follow them. Two more armored samurai appeared from nowhere and completed a box formation around Keitaro.
'How many samurais are there, hiding from my view?' Keitaro wondered, as he was sure there were thousands in this castle alone.
They quickly made way to the 3rd floor of the castle and approached to be what was the biggest room in the castle. In front of the door was the biggest congregation of samurai waiting in guard. The group was stopped as one samurai came up to check what business they had with the daimyo. The rest of the samurai took out their swords and held it in half scabbard.
'These people don't mess around,' Keitaro thought in awe as the samurai moved in accord, taking their blades out of their scabbards.
"What business do you have with Lord Tokugawa?" The samurai who had marched up to the group asked.
Keitaro handed him the message for the last time, "I was summoned here by Lord Tokugawa, to meet with him."
Like all other posts, samurai read the message handed to him. He turned around to the fully armored samurai, "Inform Lord Tokugawa that the person he requested to meet is here."
The armored samurai turned around and slowly slide open the door, making a tiny entrance for him to communicate with is lord.
"My lord," he whispered, he waited for his lord's reply.
"Yes, what is it Kaemon?"
"The person you called for is here."
"Very well, let him in."
"Yes my lord," the samurai turned back to Keitaro and nodded his admission to go into the room.
Keitaro walked out of the square formation, the samurais parted in a wave, allowing Keitaro to reach his destination. He took a deep breath and walked through the door.
The first thing he could see is an austere room, somewhat like how Motoko's room looked like back at the Hinata house but much bigger. There were lamps hanging from the ceiling, unlit since it was daytime. A total of twenty-eight tatami mats situated in two parallel lines, each one for the commanders in Tokugawa's army. Most were empty, but three commanders who where there, each had two samurai guards behind them.
In the middle of the room, sat Tokugawa, he was in deep conversations with one of the other commanders, not looking at the man who had just entered. His armor was placed behind him, like a belligerent statue, ready for war at anytime. Two rolls of perfectly written calligraphy characters hung from the ceiling, one saying peace, and other war.
Keitaro walked up the steps of the raised platform when suddenly two katana stopped at his neck. He stopped in his track.
'W-what…?' Keitaro's mind could not make out a coherent thought, as the blades were centimeters from cutting his jugular vein.
Finally Tokugawa looked up from his conversations from other commanders, his eyes in a cold hard glint as he saw Keitaro. His eyes moved from Keitaro's face to the sword at his side.
"When meeting one's lord, one should remove his sword," Tokugawa explained to the frozen Keitaro, "lest, one be an assassin."
Keitaro slowly moved his hand from his side to his waist where the sword hung; he hoped the samurai didn't take it the wrong way; he wanted his head where it was currently.
As soon as the sword got loose, Keitaro bent down, placing the sword on the ground, the katanas still following his every movement. He got back up and just stood there, not know what other etiquettes he had to follow.
Another samurai appeared and checked that he didn't have any other hidden weapons on him, finding none; he was finally allowed to walk up the steps.
Tokugawa watched every step that Keitaro took, 'He doesn't look much like a samurai, and his step is unbalanced, more like a drunk rather then a normal person. His muscle tone is lacking rather then how swordsmen look like, his arms are weak and yet he saved my life back there. His effeminate face looks more situated for Kabuki Theater or to be a scholar, but yet he wields a sword, why?'
Tokugawa wanted answers from the man and set his mind on how to most effectively get the answers out of him.
Keitaro truly looked like a drunk while walking up to Tokugawa, since his mind was trembling with fear, he was swaying from side to side. He felt terror but did not allow it to completely dominate him, he wanted his sword in his hands, at least then he could defend himself.
He stopped thirty feet from Tokugawa, and bowed, hoping his head would be intact. Tokugawa allowed him to continue bowing for five seconds longer, "Get up, Urashima-san."
Keitaro kept his eyes deferred, so he did not have to look into Tokugawa's eyes. He felt whenever Tokugawa looked into his eyes, Tokugawa was thumbing through his mind, reading whatever thoughts he wished.
"Urashima-san, you have finally awoken from your slumber. Was the accommodation liking to your will?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Now we have much to discuss you and I," Tokugawa decided to aim straight for the throat, "like which side do you work for?"
"What my lord?"
"Yes Urashima-san, I am curious about your allegiance. Your clothing had no marking of any kind, and that makes me curious." Tokugawa continued, "I know that you are definitely not one of my own men, and I suspect that you might be working for Ishida."
"No my lord."
"Hrm, then who do you work for Urashima-san? I doubt that Ishida would send a contingency plan, he was never the type."
"Are you some kind of ronin looking for a lord to serve?"
"Yes, I was a ronin looking for a lord!" Keitaro was glad to find an avenue out of the predicament he was currently in; he could never ever explain his true origins.
"Hrm, do you expect me for a fool?" Tokugawa looking irate, "such simple answer, Urashima-san I am at war, Uesugi Kagekatsu condemning me as a traitor and you saw the attempt at my life."
"Now I am on the march to find out the men who were involved in the assassination attempt and bring those loyalists into my fold."
"What I do not know is which side you serve, do not tempt my anger by playing the fool Urashima-san!" Tokugawa had crushed the teacup he had been holding, he did not seem to notice the blood dripped from his own hands.
"…" Keitaro was terrified, he did not how to get himself out of this one.
"Do you not fear death Urashima-san?"
"…"
"Very well, guards!" The guards march from his side to do his biding, "arrest this man, and send him to the dungeons."
"No, no!" Keitaro tried to get away but was overpowered as the many guards swarmed him. One of the guards swung the end of his katana into the back of Keitaro's head.
The last thing Keitaro saw was the floor before the darkness overtook him.
Tokugawa saw the man who saved his life unceremoniously dragged away to the dungeons. 'I must figure out whom he is working for, he would be a valuable addition to my force if he could be trained to obey my orders. His attack to save my life, it definitely showed that he was a kensei, no normal could manipulate chi like that.'
He turned to the three commanders in his eastern army: Hachisuka Yoshishige, Honda Tadakatsu, and Terasawa Hirotaka. "What do you think of that man?"
"Man is definitely a spy from Ishida," Hachisuka Yoshishige spat angrily, "Ishida is using ninja like how he had done in the past, kill him as quickly as possible."
The other two commanders agreed with Yoshishige on his observation.
"You three are correct in that he cannot be trust, but you were not there when he used his sword technique, his chi manipulation is the level of a kensei, such opportunity cannot be past by so lightly."
All three gasped in shock, "A kensei?"
"Yes, his chi was actually visible when he swept away the ashigaru." Tokugawa visited his memories of that day.
"Impossible," Hirotaka whispered, still shell shocked over the information that was just presented to him, "there hasn't be a kensei since the days of Shining Prince!"
"I know the information is hard to digest, I, myself was in wonder for days after the ambush," Tokugawa admitted.
Tokugawa was hiding something from the council, and his explosive information had shied away something the shrewd men should have noticed. A kensei on any diyamo's side could bolster moral and confidence in their samurai armies, which any men here would love to exploit, and thus take away Tokugawa's power for his own. He knew he had to work quickly, before they acknowledged how valuable the man just taken away to the dungeons, actually was. He had a unique gem in his hand, and he want the gem to be his and his alone.
Tokugawa decided to release a second bomb among the scarce council, knowing that this information would be impossible for the commanders to keep to themselves, and would in fact, tell the other, currently absent commanders.
"There is a second kensei," Tokugawa countered his first comment, almost laughing at the expressions of his commanders, they all looked like they were about to have a heart attack, "I suspect that the woman who accompanies Urashima-san is one herself."
"Tokugawa, this is no time for funny business," Tadakatsu said guardedly, "how could a woman be a sword saint? That is impossible."
"True, there has never been a woman sword saint, but she killed one of my elite guardsmen without any trouble, and the men I left to guard against a counterattack, they swear on their lives that she released a chi attack that had a power of a typhoon."
"Impossible, two kenseis appearing from no where?" Yoshishige decided to speak up, "we must test this swordsman, and the swordswoman."
"I agree with you with Urashima-san being administered a test, but I will not have the woman subjected to a test." Tokugawa played his trump card, he saw the frowns appear on the men's' faces, "he seems fond of the woman, and if she is hurt in anyway, he might have to be killed, and we do not want to lose this opportunity to recruit a kensei into our armies."
The three men nodded, Tokugawa's logic seemed sound in their minds.
"And as soon as the test is administered, I will have my spy master place two ninja guards with Urashima-san and his woman, along with his own cohort of men if he is trustworthy. They will be there to protect him from harm, these walls have ears and we do not know how soon Ishida will learn of his predicament." Tokugawa concluded the council.
"My lord?" Kaemon asked for Tokugawa's attention from the sliding door.
"Yes Kaemon?" Tokugawa had no other appointments for the day, he was curious what his head guard wanted.
Tokugawa nodded to the commanders, and they left by a secret entrance with their guards.
'Ishida, you will soon know of the two queens I have just acquired,' Tokugawa thought of the western game called chess, and how powerful the Queen piece was on the board. 'So strange how the king is weaker then a queen, but nonetheless, it is your move Ishida.'
"My lord, your daughter wishes to see you." Kaemon answered, she was being checked that she wasn't some ninja in disguise, "she awaits your command."
"Let Takara in," Tokugawa was pleased, his favorite daughter had come to visit him and he had found the most valuable treasure that could win this up coming conflict.
Takara was let into the room; her mother had dressed her up in the best kimono, a beautiful green color kimono with golden dragon embroidery to meet her father. She was a beautiful child, and now becoming a beautiful woman. Her natural beauty accented by the small dab of make-up and her elaborate coiffure hair looked ravishing.
'I should marry her to someone,' Tokugawa mused, 'maybe a commander to strengthen an alliance, or even to a prince from the imperial capital.'
"Father," Takara bowed deeply, her sense of filial piety was deeply rooted into her psyche, and "this poor daughter comes to welcome her father."
"Takara-chan," Tokugawa spoke gently, "No need for all this etiquette, my favorite daughter."
Takara beamed, happy to reach all the attention that her father was showing to her.
"Did you get in trouble with you mother again about bring another pet turtle home?" Tokugawa decided to tease his daughter a bit, "or did you try run across her garden and fell into the pond again?"
"Father!" Takara blushed, "those happened only once!"
Tokugawa roared with laughter, he did not have anytime to spent with his daughter since Maeda Toshiie died and left a vacuum of power that Tokugawa decided to take advantage of.
"W-well my daughter," Tokugawa was still griped with the memories of Takara falling into the pond, "what did you want?"
"W-well…" Takara started, somehow her blush began to grow brighter, and Tokugawa noticed, "Mother wanted me to visit you since I haven't for so long…"
'Hrm? That shouldn't make her blush so hard… and she is continuing to get redder… is she sick?' Tokugawa worried.
"Father?" Takara questioned her father, he had been worrying what could have happened and didn't hear her, "Father?"
"Huh?" Of course, Tokugawa hadn't heard her.
"Who was that unconscious man?" Takara looked like her face was replaced by cherry.
'who?' "Who?" The thought and the words both came simultaneously. (Please replace the same time this with simultaneously, I have no clue how it is spelled and my spell check is broken)
"U…umm, that unconscious man that was being dragged to what seems like toward the dungeons…" Takara tried to pass off the question like it was an everyday question, but Tokugawa wasn't having any of it.
'Urashima-san?' Tokugawa continued to watch his daughter looking like a cherry, 'she had never shown any affection for other boys… oh this brings up so many other possibilities…'
Keitaro found himself in the dungeon when he awoke from his unconsciousness. He tried to clear his vision, still hazy from the blow to the back of his head. When he finally got back his vision, he peered at his surroundings. It wasn't what he was expecting, it wasn't a cell he was placed in, but a decent size room.
'I guess Tokugawa wants to either thank me for saving his life by placing me in a better cell or he still wants something from me so he wants me in tip-top shape' Keitaro thought bitterly.
'How long was I out?' Keitaro tried to guess the hours he was unconscious, but with no sunlight or time piece, there was no way to decide the time, "I bet Motoko is going berserk, the notice said I would be back in like two hours."
Keitaro thought of the swordswoman in his mind, the conflict that she presented by declaring her love for him. 'Sigh,' Keitaro actually sighed, 'What a mess, life was so much simpler when I was just a student. What does it mean when a teacher declares her love for a student? Such a strange twist of fate.'
His legs cramped after being standing in one spot so he decided to walk around the room. He saw that there was a simple futon, and a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Some paper and ink on a simple wooden table, above it was complex strokes of many kanji characters, all superbly done.
'Maybe a monk was housed in here before I was,' Keitaro walked up to the characters, tracing his finger over them, 'these are perfect, maybe I am viewing a piece of writing that will be famous later on!'
Keitaro studies over the writing, trying to read what it said. He was ¼ ways done when the bottom of the door slide open and food was placed inside.
"Lord Tokugawa wants you up at the training grounds in one hour, so eat up." The samurai guard said gruffly.
Keitaro's stomach growled, he hadn't taken breakfast since he rushed to the castle and now he had missed lunch and maybe dinner as well.
'Tokugawa wants something?' Keitaro picked up the simple meal: gruel with pickled vegetables, and what looked like miso soup and some tea.
Keitaro ate in silence, wondering what Tokugawa could want from him, 'Maybe he will press me until I finally give up all I know.'
The meal went by quickly and Keitaro tried to savor the last meal he probably would have on this earth, "Well I am done." He called out to the guard.
The door opened and ten armed samurai with their sword drawn entered after one another. "Follow us." The samurai who seemed to be the leader spoke.
They traveled in silence, surrounding Keitaro once more in a box formation. He walked up the many stairs, finally reaching the gate that was the last barrier between the dungeon and the outside world. Keitaro covered his eyes, after being in the dim light, he was blinded by the bright moon.
'Such a beautiful moon…' Keitaro thought sadly, 'maybe it will be the last one I see… I wonder if Motoko is looking at the same moon…?'
Motoko was indeed afraid of what happening to Keitaro, 'his message said two hours, now it has been over twelve hours, and I am afraid something might have happened to him.' Motoko thought worriedly.
She had practiced her katas after Keitaro had left, thinking that she would have lunch with him, and talk about what happened last night. She was sorely annoyed when he didn't come back, but thought nothing of it.
'Tokugawa could have held onto him for a bit longer.'
That was her mantra, until it began to reach six and seven hours after the deadline for Keitaro's return.
She had paced around the house until there was a hole in the ground and she was scooted out into the garden to pace.
Even the tranquility of the garden did nothing to calm her mind, all different kinds of scenarios played around in her mind about Keitaro, none of them good.
She felt a sharp pain in her right hand and she looked down, she had been clutching her hand so tightly in a fist that her nails had pierced her hand and begun to bleed. She paid no attention to the pain, still worried about Keitaro.
'Damn baka, what could he have done?' She climbed out of the her twelfth hole that she dug with her pacing. She did not notice all the previous holes either nor the gardener pulling out his hair in panic, not knowing how he could fill all the holes before Keitaro got back.
"Damn it! I am going after him." Motoko made up her mind and went inside the house to find her sword, shishi.
Keitaro walked out to the middle of the training ground, and his guard dispersed. He was left alone, and he shivered. 'This kimono isn't keeping out the cold.'
"Urashima-san!"
Keitaro looked up, and saw that the congrestion of other eastern commanders and in the middle, Tokugawa with what seemed like a young woman next to him. There was, of course the many samurai guards, but with so many important persons, there wasn't just tens of guard, but hundreds.
'Is this a trial of some sort?' Keitaro tried to figure out, 'why would I need all of the eastern commanders in Tokugawa's army to figure out if I am a traitor or not?'
"There will be a test!" Tokugawa shouted out, "A test to see your abilities with a sword."
'Huh? They aren't going to ask if I am a traitor now?' Keitaro was generously confused, 'and why do they care about my sword abilities?' So many scenarios played in his head, and none of them made sense of the current situation.
A samurai guard came toward him, carrying the katana that Keitaro thought he lost when he was taken away to the dungeon. He took the sword from the man and peered at the package, to see if it wasn't some trick that Tokugawa was playing. 'Well what game would Tokugawa play? How to kill the traitor?'
His quick look over showed no damage to blade or the scabbard either.
"Kano will be your opponent."
A well muscled samurai walked away from the guards and slowly walked up to where Keitaro was standing. He stopped a few feet away and both parties took the time to make notes of each other.
'He looks like he is right-handed, he is favoring his right side.' Keitaro made his assessment, 'he looks like he will go for the one critical blow or attack aggressively until the opponent gives up in fatigue.'
'This man looks like he is from Kabuki Theater, so much that he looks like a woman more then a swordsman. Is he really a kensei? Looks can be deceiving, but I feel no vibes off him…' Kano knew that if he was facing one of the sword saints, he would surely lose, but he was highly doubtful that the man in front of him was one of such saints.
"This test will be conducted with live blades!" Tokugawa finished the last of the primarlies, "to test your abilities with the sword, it will be in a live or die situation!"
Keitaro swallowed heavily, 'die?'
"Begin!"
Motoko had reach the front gate, where two guards were grumbling that they were missing the duel between a kensei and one of the best swordsmen in Tokugawa's army.
"I would bet 2 ryu on the kensei, there is no way that Kano could win against a kensei!" One of the guards exclaimed.
"Oh ya? There is no proof that the man is a kensei, he was just lucky to be there when Lord Tokugawa was in trouble, remember, sword will always beat spears."
Motoko heard their conversations and figured out that Keitaro was dueling in there for his life. 'Keitaro!' Her mind raced, 'what did these guardsmen call Keitaro, a kensei?' Motoko was deeply troubled.
'They have mistaken our Gods' Cry school techniques with that of a sword saint!' Motoko berated herself for ever teaching Keitaro the Rock Splitting Sword, 'because I taught him the basics of the technique, he is in there fighting the one of the best swordsman in Tokugawa's army.'
She reached the iron gates, where the guards were still debating who would win the duel.
"Halt!"
Both guards drew their katantas and placed it toward Motoko's neck.
"Please, I must get to Keitaro!" Motoko tried to plead with the guards.
"Keitaro? You mean the kensei?" One of the guards looked incredulously at the beautiful woman in front of him. She was like a heaven sent angel, the amount of beauty that a first-class geisha in Yedo would love to have.
"Yes!" Motoko said expertly, hoping her tone would get the guard's attention.
"No, Lord Tokugawa has forbade anyone from interfering with the duel." The other guard who also taken by Motoko's beauty, finally found his voice.
Motoko glared at the two men, she saw the lust on the men's face, and she was disgusted, 'All males are the …' she stopped in mid-thought when she heard an inhuman scream.
"Keitaro!" She screamed out, and pushed the two guards aside. The guards gave no resistance, the scream had torn away and coherent thought.
"Rock Splitting Sword!"
The duel was going badly for Keitaro, Kano's speed was unlike anything he had faced before. He was having trouble just keeping up his defense in front of the onslaught of slashes, and jabs from Kano's sword.
'I am too tired…' Keitaro's defense grew weaker and weaker as every consecutive hit wore down his ability to keep his sword up. He had been already wounded four times, two cuts to his arms, one to his left leg and once to his face. He knew that he was about to die, and he was afraid.
Tokugawa was deeply disturbed, his gem was becoming more and more like a common pebble, 'where is that force that save my life!' He clutched the side of his leg, and did not feel the pain that he was forcing on it.
Takara was looking in shock, the man who had captured her heart from just a glance at his sweet, unconscious face was about to die. 'No, no please…' She was praying hard to any god who was listening to her wish.
The eastern commanders was not mused, Hachisuka Yoshishige, Honda Tadakatsu, and Terasawa Hirotaka told them that they heard Tokugawa tell them that he had found a kensei. What they were witnessing below was a joke, a lowly samurai was being hacked to pieces, if they wanted to see a slaughter, and they could have gone to a battlefield.
Kano was laughing inside, 'This is a kensei?' He took couple of more swings are Keitaro's head. 'Lets give him some hope and let him rest,' He backed off for a moment and viewed with distain the man who was claimed to be a kensei.
"Kensei!" Kano hoped to rub salt into the wound, "I heard you were accompanied by a woman!"
"…" Keitaro did not reply.
"I heard this woman's beauty was beyond that of a first class geisha," Kano continued, "she should leave you and come into my bed."
"I would fuck her like a real…" Kano did not get to complete his sentence, he was suddenly rushed at by Keitaro who had lost it when Kano tried to relate Motoko with a whore.
Kano raised his blade, thinking the sore spot where he had hit would be enough to make this duel more interesting, how wrong he was.
His defense was blown wide open by one blow from Keitaro's upper slash, Kano looked in horror as his blade started to crack.
'Kami!' Kano tried to back off and give him space between him and the mad man before him.
What remained of Keitaro's sanity was gone, all he could think of was killing the man in front of him, 'HE DARES CALL MOTOKO A WHORE?' His blood rage was racing through his veins like acid, making him faster, stronger, and a hundred times more deadly. He wanted to hack the man into pieces, then hack him into even more pieces and step on his heart.
His chi surrounded him like a dark aura, the black color visible to the naked eye, he saw the fear in Kano's eyes and it aroused him. 'He will die knowing what he had done.'
He licked his blade, cutting his tongue on the blade but not caring. The blood dripped down the blade and fell to the ground.
He raised his sword into an attack stance, lifting the sword to point at Kano's right shoulder.
Kano saw the deliberate movement by Keitaro's sword and raised his sword into a defensive stance, holding maximum defense to his right shoulder. He saw Keitaro start moving then he disappeared.
'W-what?' "Ahhhh!" Kano let out an inhuman scream, Keitaro had shove the entire sword through his right shoulder, breaking all bones, severing all tendons.
"That hurt didn't it Kano?" Keitaro whispered, he twisted the blade inside Kano's shoulder so more excruciating pain would be felt by the man.
'Kami!' Kano cried out in his mind, he tried to pull out the blade by the handle, but it was stuck too deeply in his muscles, and the twisting had jammed in further.
"Oh, let me get that for you Kano," Keitaro had walked away to view his damage on the man, but seeing how he struggled to get the sword out, he decided to help, "There!"
"Ahhhhh!" Kano screamed out again, Keitaro had pulled the sword out with the same force he had used to place it there in the first place.
The blood rushed out like a flood, splashing Keitaro on the face. He took one finger and took a sample of the blood on his face. He licked it off his finger.
"Damn, such sweet blood!" Keitaro exclaimed happily, "so fresh and filled with adrenaline, and … Fear!" Keitaro's inhuman face looked like Christmas had come early.
He proceed to take Kano's fallen blade and stabbed it into the Kano's heart. Kano felt a flash of pain then nothing as he was slowly dying. He felt his heart still trying to beat, even with the foreign object stuck in it. 'May the all compassionate Buddha take me in his arms,' Kano felt his eyes grow dim, he no longer had the voice to reach the Buddha with his words so he hoped that his thoughts would be enough.
Keitaro saw that his prey was escaping, to a place that he couldn't reach, he screamed out in anguish. He took up his blade and cleanly cut off Kano's head. The head rolled away, and blood came out like a geyser. Keitaro stood there, before his fallen foe drenched in the life-giving blood. His blood lust dissipated.
He looked at his hands.
He looked at the headless Kano.
He looked at himself.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
A/N: I feel like I am still making alot of mistakes... I guess it is true that you are your harshest critic. So...! All mistakes that my prereader didn't catch are mine, and mine only. And one more thing... Shining Prince era is like the900s or 1100sin Japan's history. The kensei never being found since that time is entirely of my making. I don't want some real kensei decendent to find me and kill me for making such statement XX.
Peacemaker is again my prereader. Thank you mate.