They fled to Shido harbor and regrouped in the nearby Nagato and we pursued them by crossing over into Suo province.

Apparently our victory had impressed many, or at least that was what they cried when several families joined us, bringing even more ships. I was somewhat skeptical of this as I was readier to believe that they were siding with the ones they saw as the victor.

At this point the confrontation with Kagetoki finally erupted. It was on the boats of all things. I had just ordered that the boats be manned with alternating cavalry, footsoldiers and archers. A section to each boat under the command of my lieutenants, when Kagetoki spoke up.

"Yoshitusne-san" he spoke condescendingly, "should not the footsoldiers be placed in the forward boats?"

This was the type of tactical suggestion that was made in private. To speak up now was to question my command, and he knew it.

I kept my composure.

"And why do you say that, Kagetoki... san?" I deliberately paused before the respectful suffix.

His face turned red and he answered stiffly.

"The footsoldiers are the most expendable."

"I do not find men expendable. In this way we present a strong first attack to give the remainder behind a chance to disembark."

This was a more strategic maneuver, and I could tell he had not thought much of his question beyond the power play.

"As you say" he muttered.

This man bore watching. At that point I had not realized that any watching would have come too late. His hatred of me had already corrupted my brother, Yoritomo.

After preparing these new ships, we looked to the horizons. This would be the final battle, we all could tell. The battle at Yashima had set the Taira up, now all that was left was to finish the last remaining few.

We set sail for Dan no Ura.

Our forces outnumbered the Taira ten to one, but like a cornered animal, they were sure to fight fiercely. They had nowhere else to run, after all.

This ferocity served them well. The Taira divided into three parts, and their superb archers showered down on us, killing many of the men crammed onto the flotillas. It seemed as though their desperation would save them, or that the kamis were on their side as the shift of battle favored them.

Then they broke.

A rat like man hoisted the white banner and we called his approach.

It was Taguchi Shigeyoshi. The man that would go down in history as the scum of the earth.

He betrayed his fellow Taira and changed sides in the midst of battle, pointing out the location of the command ship.

The tide of battle shifted, shook, and broke. Like a wave we descended on them in a howling fury. The sea turned red with the mingled blood of the soldiers and the aristocrats. Stepping into the ocean they escaped their turn of the wheel. Perhaps the next life would favor them.

Muremori, that hapless figure, failed to die at the hands of the water kami. They did not want him apparently, and we fished him out to send back to Yoritomo.

It should have been a triumphant return to Kamakura, a welcoming from my brother with open arms. It was not.

It was then that I discovered the slanderous letters that Kagetoki had been sending off to my brother every chance that he got.

My brother forbid my entry into Kamakura, not even to receive the prisoner, Murmori. He sent me a letter ordering me to 'get rid of him as I would." Blunt and to the point, it was not what I was expecting.

When I questioned one of the advisors who still deigned to have contact with me, he told me how the situation stood. I was not in favor. In fact, I was under direct suspicion of treasonous behaviour and a rebellious attitude. In effect, I was a threat.

It was the end for me, I knew.

Not that I cared, we had already been estranged for quite some time now.

I sent off the expected letter protesting the slanderous reputation I had been given, denying the slurs and declaring my filial loyalty. As expected, it had no effect.

The only response I received was a freezing silence.

Benkei and I soon left for the capital. A horrible move on my part, I soon realized, as the retired emperor had his own reasons for welcoming me.

He was adept at the political maneuvering and used men like tools. In an effort to hold and increase his power, he tried to use me against my brother.

He gave me a governship of all things. I refused and yet it was still granted, making me realise that, I had not been granted a governship, I had been granted a death sentence as it effectively contradicted my protests that I did not hold ambition. At least in the eyes of my brother.

When the news came that he had ordered my capture, so that I could be brought before him, it was merely the culmination of a long line of regrets.

They came for me in the night, creeping silently into my room despite their legal right to capture me under my brother's authority as shogun. It was the fear they sought.

They pulled me roughly from my bed, forcing me to kneel with my head tilted back and my hands bound behind my back.

Benkei erupted from the next room, staff ready, but a sharp command from me held him frozen.

"Yes, stay like a good dog won't you" an insidiously familiar voice spoke as a figure stepped out from the shadows of the doorframe.

"We have no orders regarding you, giant. I would hate to have to kill you for trying to prevent the capture of a traitior" Kagetoki sneered as he stepped into the room.

So he sought my humiliation as well as fear. This was the culmination of all his hatred of me, after all.

"So we meet again, Yoshitsune" he crooned, obviously delighting in leaving off the suffix of respect. Hoping to rile me, obviously.

"Have you nothing to say?" he demanded.

He wanted me to beg. I kept silent, looking him in the eye with a serene complacency.

Infuriated, he struck me across the cheek, throwing me off balance and, with my hands tied behind me, eye fell to the floor. The man behind me pulled me back up.

He had drawn blood and I felt it trickle down my face, watching as a drop fell to the clean white of my pant leg, staining.

"Not so proud now" he crowed.

Benkei watched with a stricken expression on his face as I was pulled from the room. I caught his eyes and held them for a moment.

He nodded, he understood. Of course, to my exasperation, he followed us to Kamakura anyways.

My brother looked the same, unchanged except for a few more wrinkles around his mouth and a much colder expression in his eyes.

"Yoshitsune" he stated, brother no more, it would seem.

I bowed to the best of my ability constrained by my bonds.

"Yoritomo-san" I answered.

He nodded, as if the title was his due. Technically it was, but as his blood kin I should not have been expected to use it.

"We have heard of your doings." He paused as if waiting for some denial. It would have been of no use, so I kept silent.

"And we are sad that you, our once brother, has fallen so low. But we remember the affection once held between us. For this, and this only, we grant you three days to depart from here. After which, you will be executed on sight." He turned away and with a wave of his hand dismissed the matter.

A small noise escaped Kagetoki's lips, and I felt a small smile escape, hidden by my bowed head.

"Do you have something you wish to say, Kagetoki?" my brother demanded shortly.

"No lord" Kagetoki said shortly, bowing.

"Good. Release him."

My restraints were cut and I remained kneeling for a moment. I stood bowed, and walked calmly from the room, barely feeling the glare of Kagetoki.

I took a horse, it little mattered if I was accused of theft as I already had a death sentence on my head.

I met Benkei on the outskirts of the city. I was not sure what he would have done if I had not appeared, but regardless, we headed for the mountains.

I believe my brother thought that I would head for Mount Kurami, but I knew that I would not find sanctuary there for long, and I did not seek it.

While I would not do them the honor of suicide, I sought my death.

On the third day, we had not yet reached the relative safety of the mountains, when I heard the pounding of horses behind me. It would seem they had ridden hard all the way from Kamakura, making better time than our slower pace.

They gave no warning, dishonorable ones that they were. Even if I had been pronounced dead by law, an honorable warrior would have declared himself.

The first arrow missed, but it revealed their presence.

Before I could respond, however, Benkei whipped my horse with his staff, sending it running.

"Go Yoshitsune!" he yelled as he turned to face the oncoming warriors.

I saw the first arrow hit him, it went into his left shoulder, then the next sprouted from his thigh, then his other shoulder. And they kept coming until I could see him no more. The last I saw, he was slowly falling from his horse, riddled with arrows. My brave friend, my most loyal follower, had died to give me time to escape.

And so I arrived here. This secluded spot has hidden me from all pursuers until a chance soldier, you, fell into my lap."

That was the last he spoke, and I never heard his voice directed at me after.

I went to sleep peacefully that night, the fire burning at my side and comforted by the knowledge that he was there as a guard. His protection was sure to be there until morning, so I could sleep safely. It was not so.

I woke in the middle of the night, unsure what had called me from sleep.

The fire was burned low and almost out, And the place where he usually spent the night, was empty.

A chill crept into my heart.

I moved over to the entrance, trying to be as silent as I could, and as I got closer, his voice sounded in the night.

"So you have come."

There was no response, so I peered out to see who he was talking to.

There was a man standing behind the kneeling figure that I identified as Yoshitsune. He held a raised sword.

They were white against the blue darkness of the night sky.

"I have come" he answered in a strong voice, as if he was daring the kneeling figure to dispute his words.

"Someone once told me of a wish. It was a death wish, but not yet this person's time. A kind of foreseeing. This person told me of a wish to die beneath the cherry blossoms under a full moon." He paused for a moment and seemed to smile. "It is a good wish."

The other man did not answer, appearing to wait for the kneeling one to continue.

The wind whistled through the blossoms of the trees, sighing forlonrnly.

"Do it" he said.

A sudden glimpse of silver, a blurring downwards movement, the falling blossoms disturbed in their descent.

It seemed I caught a faint smile on his lips as the sword struck. He was going to meet her in the stars now.

It seems that the herd boy

has begun rowing the boat

across the sky to meet his love:

the mist is rising on the riverbank of heaven.