L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Mon Oct 01, 2018 7:08 am

Later that day, Harun walked with Hida Nasu on the walls around Kyuden Hida. They walked among the bushi that were on duty who acknowledged them as they passed. Nasu seemed to know many of them personally and it did please them to be known.
Harun was growing to like Nasu’s company, but that wasn’t the only reason he was here. If he was to be marrying into the Crab, then he knew he better know Kyuden Hida more as he might be staying here given Shiro Hiruma was still in enemy hands.
“Hida-sama?” Harun asked when they were finally alone.
“Nasu, please,” said the Crab.
“Sorry, Nasu-sama, I wish to ask you something,” said Harun.
“Go ahead,” said Nasu.
“Did you have much to do with my betrothal?” asked Harun.
“Eh?”
“I…guess you don’t know,” said Harun. “Well, it looks like I might be marrying your cousin.”
“Yosoko?”
Harun nodded.
Nasu grinned. “This is wonderful news. Yosoko is a great girl and you should be very happy, and a welcome addition to the Crab.”
Harun smiled. “Thank you, Nasu-sama. I only found out today, nothing has been settled yet.”
“From what you have told me, Harun, the Crane is eager to be rid of you,” said Nasu.
Harun nodded sadly.
“Well, to answer your question, I haven’t had anything to do with it. But Yosoko has asked about you,” said Nasu.
“What did you tell her?” Harun asked.
“What would I tell her? That you have a different pair of chopsticks for each meal. That you…” He grinned. “That you spend three hours each morning shaping your beard.”
“That is hardly fair,” Harun argued. “I only need two.”
They both laughed. If this was what being a Crab was going to be like, Harun was all for it.
“There is something I wanted to ask you Harun, but since you are joining the Crab I think it’s more important,” said Nasu. “I’ll be leaving for the Wall in a few days with fresh troops. I’d like if you were to come with me.”
Harun looked at him in surprise. “Me? See the Wall?”
Nasu nodded.
“I would be honoured, Nasu,” said Harun. “I accept.”
“Good then,” said Nasu, pleased.
Harun looked to where he could see the Wall on the horizon. “Is it really as big as they say it is?”
“Bigger,” said Nasu. “They say no one forgets their first time.”
They both laughed again.
“So, we will be gone for three days, maybe four,” said Nasu. They started walking again, Nasu taking heavy, confident strides. “And we get the chance be dazzled by your golden Crane armour.”
Harun’s voice caught in his throat. “Actually…I no longer have it.”
“What?!?” Nasu stopped and looked at Harun, a look of complete shock on his face. “What do you mean you no longer have your armour? Was it stolen?”
“No, but…” Harun could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. “At Toshi Ranbo my father took it from me. He said after what I did…that I no longer deserved to wear it.”
Nasu approached Harun. He gently put a hand on Harun’s shoulder. “I had no idea that it was this bad. To deprive a samurai of his armour…”
Harun nodded. “I am sorry, I had hoped to see the wall with you.”
Nasu pointed an accusing finger at Harun. “Don’t you dare apologise for what you have done, Harun. Ever! It is disgusting how they are treating you.”
Harun gave a weak smile.
Nasu started walking again. “Don’t worry about the armour, I’ll fix it,” he said. “Maybe it would be good for you to get away from here for a few days.”
“I can’t disagree,” said Harun.

Harun looked for Koneko for the rest of the day but she wasn’t to be found. He even went and asked for her where the Lion were quartered but they didn’t know either. So the next day he went through the tunnel and went down to the beach. Perhaps she would be there.
The wind was intense down on the beach, whipping up the waves into a fury. Harun looked around but Koneko wasn’t in sight. He walked up the beach looking for her, still not seeing her. Could she be in those caves up ahead?
As he neared the caves he could see light coming from inside one, so he went inside. The opening was narrow, but he could see it opened up further in. He could see a figure, kneeling before several flickering candles that surrounded a small statue. It was a man, bare skin to his waste, broad-shouldered. Burn marks down one side of his body. White hair.
Kumo.
Harun knew he should have left then, but this could be his once chance to find out more about Kumo. Slowly, carefully, he went closer.
Kumo was speaking, but he couldn’t make out the words. Harun tried to get nearer, hear what he was saying. One step…two steps...
Then Kumo turned. His face a mask of fury. His pale skin was golden in the candle light. His right arm red…with blood. “What are you doing here, boy?”
“What are you doing?” Harun drew his sword. “You will stop this now and come with me!” He didn’t know much about magic, but he knew blood meant maho.
Kumo laughed. It was raucous and mocking…sort of reminiscent of how Shimekiri had sounded before Harun had killed him. “Look, you fool!” He pointed to the statue of Shahai, the Fortune of Blood where he had been kneeling moments before. “You are just like your mother Yamada, charging in with your sword without knowing.”
Harun froze. “How do you know my mother?”
Kumo laughed again. “It is hardly a secret. And I knew you for her son as soon as I saw you.” He grinned, cold and mocking like a skull. “You think I was always a ronin? I was there when your father Yasuki Nakura was killed. Yamada, covered in his blood after he did the only decent thing in his life.” Kumo shook his head. “Pathetic.”
“You’re wrong,” Harun said, his hands firmly on his sword. “My father was a brave man who died to save my mother, and me! I will not listen to your lies!”
“Lies? Ha! Why should I make up a story when the truth is far, far more interesting?” Kumo challenged. “Ask Janisha, ask Kyoumi. Or better yet…ask that man who you call father. They are the ones who lied to you.”
“That’s not true!” Harun shouted. But his arguments felt weak, flat.
“That duel your father got your mother into was entirely of his own making. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut about the ashes, then nothing would have happened. Couldn’t even do that, and your mother—fool she was—stood by him.” He looked at Harun coldly. “The best thing Nakura could do was walk into that sword.”
Nakura’s own words came back to him. You have honour that I never had in my life… you have your mother’s courage…
“I won’t believe it!”
Kumo continued as if Harun had not spoken. “I did have to give Yamada credit though, that revenge she had for your father’s death I did not think her capable of. Even with the help of those Black Hand fanatics.” He grinned. “You know that shiny armour you wore at Toshi Ranbo? Well, the one who made is courted your mother. And then she murdered him, and his wife.” He laughed again. "She killed Shogun Kano too, did you know that? Cut off his head and wrapped his guts around a pole. And they say the Spider are barbarians..."
“But…”
“You know it, don’t you? That’s why she abandoned you! She left you, her only child so she could carve a path of blood through Rokugan with Shiba Michio. And the fact that you, her only son, committed the biggest outrage since Kakita picked up a sword fits so well. I was there when she condemned the Crane for using gaijin weaponry.”
“NO!”
Harun raised his sword and prepared to strike. Kumo did not move.
“Going to kill me, are you? Well, you probably could, your blade is quicker than hers was. But do you really know what you are doing?”
“Killing a nameless ronin that no one will miss,” Harun said coldly.
“Kill me, and you doom Rokugan,” Kumo said. “I will see the line of Hantei restored by any means necessary. I have worked for nearly twenty years for this and I will not fail! And I will not let you, Kyoumi or anyone else stop me.”
“I cannot let you pass,” said Harun, his voice as sharp as his blade.
“Still trying to be the hero,” said Kumo with a laugh. “If you want to do the right thing, you will let me pass. And you will take me to Kyoumi, she will make you see sense even if you cannot.”
Harun didn’t move.
“You were there for the prophecy,” said Kumo. “You know what must happen.”
He was right, Harun remembered the words of the Kitsu….the line of Hantei must be reconciled with the line of Iweko…
And Kumo was the agent to make that happen.
Harun sheathed his sword. “This doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“Of course,” said Kumo. “You know where to find me.” He went back inside the cave.
Harun left the cave, kicking up stones as he walked. Kumo’s words, what he had said, they couldn’t be true. But…then the ronin had no reason to lie to Harun.
Harun kept walking.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:24 am

Harun received word from Nikako that Koneko had been found, but that she did not wish to see anyone. All Harun could do was convey his apologies and good wishes to her mother. He still did not know what he had done or said that had upset her so.
He received word from Kyoumi as well, unmarked but for a small bird painted in the corner. It said that she would be in the rock garden tomorrow afternoon. Harun made sure the information was passed on to Kumo. He didn’t like it at all, but he had no choice.
The Hida War College which operated out of the Kyuden Hida dojo hosted a tournament of sword displays. Each contestant would show a display of skill or strength against an opponent, the winner decided by a team of judges. Each of the Great Clans submitted a candidate, and the guests from the Imperial Legions had been given that right as well. Harun had been quickly settled to represent the Legion, given encouragement to “Show them all up”.
The Master Sensei of the Hida War College, Hida Sato, was judging and he had invited Doji Teruhime and the Taisa of the First Legion Katsura Hisato to judge with him.
Harun sat with the combatants and watched with some eagerness for his turn. Akodo Miraiko was representing the Lion Clan, but her demonstration with paper targets paled in skill next to her opponent Kakita Yashiro. The Kakita had done a rather beautiful display of slicing paper cranes in half after they were scattered in the air. Harun had seen Yashiro around the castle, usually in the company of Doji Teruhime so they hadn’t spoken.
No doubt that’s Teruhime’s doing, Harun thought, staring across at her, and I wouldn’t past her to spread about the “gaijin Crane” name.
It came to Harun’s turn, and by accident or design he faced Hida Nasu. The two bowed and the judges motioned for Nasu to go first.
Nasu called for rolled tatami mats to be brought. A row of four were lined up close together, and then another row and another. Three rows of rolled tatami mats.
Nasu drew his katana and went into a wide swing, with one slash he sliced off the tops of the mats making an upward diagonal cut. All of them, but one which was only nicked slightly with the edge of his sword. The Hida came back for it though, cutting off the top and giving the rest of them another shaving. Nasu bowed to the applause to the audience and Harun joined in.
When Nasu stepped to the side, Harun began his own display. From inside one of his sleeves he took out an apple. He then threw the apple into the air then drew his sword and sliced the apple in two as it fell through the air.
Impressive, but not amazing. While the audience gave respectable applause while Harun sheathed his sword and picked up the pieces. He then took a bite of one of the apple halves and then tossed it into the air. In a flash of steel, Harun drew his sword again, skewering the apple on the tip of his sword on the very space where Harun had bitten into it.
He bowed to the much warmer applause of the audience, then sat down and cleaned his blade.
Harun faced off against a Mantis next, progressing to the finals which was of course against Kakita Yashiro. They bowed to the judges and Yashiro went first. He was calm and didn’t seem to notice Harun at all, perfectly in the moment. This just infuriated Harun.
Look at him, Harun seethed, he just wants to show me up in front of everyone. Especially Teruhime. But I’ll show him.
A small candle was put in front of Yashiro. The candle was lit. Yoshiro stood in front of the candle silently for a moment, then drew his katana. There was a flash of movement as he cut towards the candle, cutting off the tip and resting it on the point of his sword for all to see. And it was still lit.
There was enthusiastic applause for Yashiro, especially from the Crane. Harun stood there very still, cold with anger.
It had to be deliberate, the trick with the candle. His father Karasu was known from it, taking the top of a still lit candle and using it to light a fire to make tea or light a lantern. Harun closed his fist as the anger built up inside him like a fire. This was an insult, and all part of the Crane’s plan to further embarrass him.
I’ll show them, Harun thought as he took up his position for his display.
He signalled motioned for Koharu to stand across from him with her bow. Harun stood still, his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to spring into action.
I’ll show them, thought Harun, the anger bubbling away, I’ll show them all, they’ll have to respect me now after this…
Koharu fitted an arrow to her bow and made the shot. Harun drew his sword, the blade slicing through the air as he attempted to split it…and missed. In his anger he had gotten the timing wrong, the arrow going over his blade and planting itself in a wooden pillar.
Harun stared at it. I missed, how could I miss? He felt cold all over.
He took his bow with as much grace as he could muster, acknowledging Yashiro’s victory. But he had to stand there while Yashiro was congratulated.
And then, when he was sure he didn’t need to be there a moment longer, Harun left.

The next afternoon, Harun went to the rock garden near where the Imperials and Chosen were quartered with Kumo. The two did not exchange any words beyond exchanging greetings. Kumo being affable and pleasant certainly did not help Harun’s mood.
Kyoumi was sitting on a stone bench at one side of the rock garden. Her attire was slightly more simpler than Harun had seen her wearing on the dais, easier to move in but still fitting her status as Voice of the Emperor. She carried a pale blue parasol decorated with birds and flowers, not just protection from the winter sun but giving some measure of privacy.
Harun went over to her and introduced Kumo. The ronin made a low bow, but Harun noticed something. A curious exchange between them beyond the formalities and courtesies.
They know each other, Harun realised, This…this is impossible!
“Thank you, Harun-kun,” said Kyoumi. Her tone indicated that he was dismissed, but her fan signalled that she didn’t want him to leave. So he went some distance away, sitting on another stone bench sitting across from two women who were playing go.
Harun watched them, though he couldn’t hear what was being said the exchange between them was interesting. Kyoumi was still, quietly listening while Kumo was far more animated, angry even. When Kyoumi shook her head, this only seemed to make things worse. Kumo gesticulated wildly, his voice rising in volume so Harun could hear what was being said.
“…I swear, if you do not arrange this marriage I’ll take matters into my own hands. I’ll take both of them and leave Rokugan, you can watch your Empire burn just as I watched mine…”
He spoke with such viciousness that Harun stood, his hand on his katana.
You ronin scum…how dare you!
“…you need Haihime to finish this, Yuhumi will never stop fighting you…”
Harun’s face was hard. Should have killed you when I had the chance…
Kyoumi looked up, looking at Harun directly in the eyes. That was enough for Harun to stop, and with a slight shake of her head he sat back down.
He stared openly now at Kumo, not bothering to hide the revulsion for the ronin.
When Kyoumi spoke her voice was calm, and not only did Kumo calm down, he looked pleased. He stayed just long enough to get a confirmation from her, and as soon as she nodded he bowed and left.
Harun quickly came up beside Kyoumi. “Should I…”
Kyoumi shook her head. “Let him go, he got what he came for,” she said, her voice having a slight edge to it.
Harun looked at her in surprise. But whatever came over Kyoumi had passed and she was herself again.
“Come, let us have some tea,” Kyoumi said, leading Harun inside. “I have been wanting to talk to you.”
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:16 am

Thanks for Kakita Kaori for guest authoring this with me. I hope you like the scene.

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The cold stone chamber was as stoic as any of the Crab, large and cold. The new Voice had found a way of making it her own, however. Along one wall hung two long scrolls, each completed with perfect calligraphy. One held the single word: "History". The other, a different word: "Tomorrow." By each delicate ikebana stood, the soft, silver buds of the willow, and the gnarled bark of the oak. Interestingly by there also lay a single, impossibly out of season, silk flower. A low table was set before the Voice, arranged with tea in a simple porcelain pot. She gestured Harun forward.
"Come."
He paused for a moment to really look at her before entering. Her delicate hands, her hair heavily streaked with grey, the face impassive and cool with makeup that made it impossible to determine her actual age. He remembered once, long ago, when she taught him and Arahime to swim, splashing and laughing in the shallow waves of the ocean. It seemed forever ago.
Maybe it was.
Harun slid into place across the table.
He watched her make the tea, a million questions going through his mind. Who was Kumo? How did Kyoumi know him? Was he trustworthy? If he wasn’t, why did Kyoumi just give him what he wanted? If he was then was he right about all those things he said about Harun’s birth parents? And if he was right why had Harun been lied to?
Harun felt his anger rising. It was bad enough how he was being treated by the Crane, but the prospect that those closest to him had lied to him was almost too much to bear. This was his heritage, a part of his own identity and to find out it was based on deception...
He sat there silently, watching Kyoumi serve the tea. She said she had wanted to talk to him. Well, he wasn’t going to stop her. But he would get answers.
Kyoumi pours the tea slowly, deliberately, not surrendering to haste. As Harun's anger grew, she watched him, moving slowly through the parts of the tea ceremony. It was all Harun could do to hold his temper, but he managed to follow the ancient ritual, even if his heart pounded in his chest with questions she was not answering.
But finally, as the first cups were ritually drained, the Voice of the Emperor spoke. "I sat where you do, Harun-kun. Eighteen years ago, at my first winter court. A thousand eager questions on the tip of my tongue, struggling to hold them all in. The Princess of Ashes across from me, the tea poured by the Lord of the Emerald Spider. Sometimes, no action is better. Sometimes questions are better answered with silence than speech. This is one of those times. Do you know who she is, the Princess of Ash? Haihime?"
Harun nodded. “She is Kanpeki’s daughter.”
"Yes. Born of the blood of the Hantei." Kyoumi takes another sip of tea. "Save for her daughter, the last, perhaps, of the direct Line."
A long silence stretched out between them, a silence Kyoumi allowed to fill with all of Harun's impatience. "What of your enemy? You fight with the Legions. Do you know who you fight? What do you know of Yuhmi?"
“He is in charge of the Onyx, took over when Kanpeki died,” says Harun. “We thought he was at Toshi Ranbo, but he’d fled.”
Harun looked at his teacup. What does this have to do with anything?
"He is an Oni Lord," the fragile-looking Kakita said without the slightest waver. "Created from the severed arm of Daigotsu, and granted the name of Hantei. Pierced and reforged with the blade of the Hantei, and empowered with the Tao of Fu Leng. From the reports we received over the years, he has sipped power from the souls of the Empire like a giant insect, until, bloated and swollen, he was the one who finally claimed the life of the weakened and mad Daigotsu Kanpeki, bringing all under its own control."
She paused, but her stormy grey eyes were locked on Harun's, unblinking. "No weapon, no magic, not even those of gaijin pepper, can touch him. Jigoku has extended its hand over him. No matter how many times we defeat his minions, he will return, and draw up the armies of hell with him to wage war on the Empire. There is none that can harm him. Save one."
Harun looked up. “Haihime?” What Kumo said...is that what he meant?
"Yes." Her sonorous voice was impassive. "This war will never end until Yuhmi is slain, by a true Hantei heir. There is no other."
Harun looked at her. “Is that what Kumo said?” He asked. “Why would you trust him at all?”
He watched her answer carefully, this was but the first step of what he wanted to know.
"This is what Kumo has said. But this is also what those in thrall to the darkness we have captured and tortured to find answers have said. This is what the assassins that have been sent to slay him and survived have said. This is what the Scorpion traitors who turned on him and failed have said. We know this because it is true."
She gave the softest of sighs. "I would never trust Kumo. I know who—and what—he is. But that does not make him wrong."
As she spoke, the light in the room dimmed and Harun could feel a chill breeze blow across the back of his neck. It stirred the Voice's hair, but her face remained still.
Harun started at her, his mouth open in shock. “What? But...how? He can’t be right...because if he is...”
Harun took deep breaths in and out to stop from flying into a rage.
How could you? All of you, lying to me when all I ever wanted was the truth...
She seemed to address his thought before he spoke it. "No. We did not lie. But you did not know all the truths you sought. But you are an adult now. And I am here and willing to answer. Ask plain and I will answer."
Her tone was soothing, but filled with authority, and her gr3y eyes watched him, unblinking.
The words came fast out of Harun’s mouth. “Why did my father die? Why was he in that duel at all? Why did he let the Scorpion kill him?” He took a deep breath. “I was told he was a hero, saving my mother’s life and mine. Are you saying that that is not what happened?”
If Kyoumi is surprised at the line of questioning, she does not show it. But she does not soften the blows her words have to offer either.
"Your birth father died because he placed himself firmly between the Scorpion and their chosen vengeance. Then in a moment of rashness, boasted of this fact before the very Throne of Heaven. Rather than flee, when the Scorpion swore he would pay for their humiliation, he, and your mother, thought they could hang their hopes, their futures, on the Traditions of Kakita, not realizing that the Scorpion had long before abandoned all such pretence. As so many have since."
Kyoumi's expression did not change.
"In a moment of clarity, there, at the end, he realized he could not allow you and your mother to suffer or die for his mistake. Not when his own life would be enough. He chose to take the final blow of the duellist’s blade himself rather than let her be his champion."
The traditions of Kakita... That smarted, but Harun brushed it aside.
”Why wasn’t I told this before?” Harun asked, his voice a little calmer but still angry. “I met his spirit right before Zetsubou died, and I didn’t know the whole story. But he thought I did.”
The Voice tilted her head and allowed her eyes to soften with compassion. "At first, it was because we initially believed there was a chance that even Nakura's death would be insufficient to sate the Scorpion's thirst for vengeance. And that even the home of the Emerald Champion could not protect you. Later? Because you might seek vengeance of your own, ignorant as you were if what vengeance your mother had claimed. And if we had told you of what she had done, you would have to have grown up bearing a burden no child should have to bear. That which you carried was heavy enough. We could protect you from this. For a little time."
“Vengeance? From my mother?” Harun turned cold. “That’s true as well?”
"Yes." There was a stiffness there, like a shut door with something terrible behind it.
Normally Harun would accept this, but not now. “Tell me.”
Kyoumi folded her hands in her lap and gazed through Harun as if to some dark memory long past. "She was only a girl. A gilded viper. Raised by the Onyx Scorpion to be a weapon of the courts, but not by her own choosing, no more than it was a choice for any of them. I had felt the sting of her words before in the court, and carried my shame, as had others; she was gifted with a wicked tongue. But they were only words still, intended to provoke and confuse, placed by her lord's command. It was her words that provoked Nakura to make his rash boast."
She paused, eyes fixed on the distance.
"But in the end, she had managed to escape. Betrayed Kanpeki, stirred the Scorpion Lord Nitoshi into action. Married a skilled smith. She fled to Otosan Uchi to make for herself a new nest far from corruption's touch. Over time, with her husband's affection, she began to shake off the call and, somehow, out of that twisted darkness make a path for herself towards a light, however dim."
Kyoumi's voice softened, hinting at a distant grief. "I found them. After. The Silent Maiden had peeled their faces off with a knife. Him first. Tied this little viper up and made her watch while she flayed him alive. Then she killed her, piece by piece, still screaming."
Kyoumi's eyes went directly to Harun's, locking him into place. "The Scorpion was my cousin."
Harun turned pale. This was a side of Kyoumi he had never seen. He shuddered.
“I am sorry, I should not have asked.” He felt rather small. “Kumo...we spoke on the beach. He told me very gladly all I didn’t know. He used the truth as a weapon, and one that I have used to attack you.”
Kyoumi waved her hand dismissively. "That is what he is. His name is...was...Susumu Ketsueki. A high ranking follower of Kanpeki and a priest of Shahai. Once, long ago. But he had more loyalty to the blood of the Hantei than to the one destroyed his family and tortured him into something...other. He swore his life to serve the true Hantei line, and when Haihime was found, he found a way out of the trap Kanpeki had placed him in. Only a fool would underestimate his power, or the lengths he would go to get what he desired, for he would gladly see the Empire in ashes if it meant that she would rule over them. But he is willing to help bring an end to this madness and allow this age to die so that a new Empire may be born, as long as it bears the blood of the Hantei at its head."
Kyoumi picked up her cup of tea. "Haihime’s husband, Sorei-san has watched and cared for the child with great loyalty, compassion, and duty every moment of her life. She is untainted and her spirit is pure. This sacrifice will yet be another the Crane will make to see this through. After everything else that has been sacrificed, it is a small enough thing."
“You mean the marriage?” Harun asked. “Isanko and Prince Kiseki? Is that what Kumo wanted?” He picked up his teacup and let it warm his hands.
"Yes.” Kyoumi answered. “And on your life, you must let no one know who it was that sought this."
Harun nodded without hesitation. “I promise,” he said. He had another thought. “Is that what happens now, Oba-san? Does it matter anymore how we do the things we do as long as they’re done?”
He hadn’t had the chance to talk with her about Shimekiri yet. He had hoped that if she was not sympathetic then she would at least listen to him more than his father Karasu had.
It may have been trick of the wavering light, but for a moment the breezes that drifted through the room and Kyoumi looked...old. She sighed.
"Oh, my poor boy," she answered, great pity in her voice. "Does it matter how we do things as long as they are done? We are the Crane. It is our place to choose what matters in this world. And, despite everything, all the wars and the bloodshed and horror, we, your parents, have tried to hold onto making the 'How' matter. Tried to keep showing that how you do things does matter. If it does not, then what place is there for honour? For sincerity and courtesy and bushido itself? What place is there for art and beauty, when the 'How' no longer matters? What place is there for Samurai? We are nothing but thugs with swords if the 'How' does not matter."
She brushed an elegant finger around the lip of her cup. "It is because of our failure that you ask this question. Because we have had to slip, and slip, and give up little pieces of that "How" to try to defeat an evil that makes the very earth scream in agony. We have tried to bring that into alignment with the Heavens. Show that the ‘How’ does matter, and that we only needed to update the traditions to grant new meaning. But our efforts were not enough. Not if our own children cannot see why the 'How' matters."
Again, she looked into Harun's dark eyes with her piercing eyes of stormy grey.
"If you are Crane, it is up to you to create the Empire we live in. Do you truly want to live in an Empire where 'How we do things' does not matter? Where what matters is only that they get done?"
“No, no I don’t,” said Harun. “But I have seen things that make me question it. I fought alongside ronin, heimin, people I trusted not because of what they were but because they who they were and what they could do. I saw my friend die, cut to pieces in front of my eyes while people stood by and let it happen.” He took a sip of tea to compose himself. “Many more Crane would have died that day for no reason at all. But I stopped it, I saved them. And no one cares.”
"Tell me of that day," Kyoumi said, lifting her tea to her lips.
Harun took a sip of tea and began his tale. “Takano Unit, we were to be one of the first into the city on the Mantis boats,” Harun began. “Father was there to see us off. It was raining.” He took a breath. “We were all there on the deck with the Mantis when we saw the Phoenix’s wave. It looked...beautiful. But then we got inside the city and saw the destruction it had wrought, saw the...the bodies. And heard them, slamming against the side of the boat.”
He closed his eyes. He could still hear them sometimes, especially in his nightmares.
“When we landed had to fight for every scrap of ground,” he continued. “There were some Dragon bushi, something happened to them, I still don’t know. We had to kill them, and they might have killed us had the Crane not arrived.” He paused. “Had Kakita Isamu-sama not arrived.” He smiled sadly. “My friend, Doji Kouta was with him.” He took a sip of tea, composing himself. “We fought our way through the palace itself then, it was dark and confusing. But we made it to the throne room, and there was Shimekiri, sitting on the throne itself grinning at us like a madman. Isamu-sama, he had told me earlier not to interfere. He went up on the dais and challenged Shimekiri...”
Harun paused again. Blinking, remembering. It was as if he had forgotten Kyoumi was there at all. “He was the first victim. Isamu, he was so good, so skilled...but it wasn’t enough. Shimekiri took his head and threw it off the dais. “Kouta was next, no one stopped him. No one even tried and he never had a chance, the poor fool.” He ran his hands over his face. His anger rising again. “I had to do something, I had to. Someone had to stop Shimekiri, for good. No one was really trying. All I had to do look at Daidoji Akemi. I had seen what she could do with her gaijin powder weapon, if I could just get her to throw off his first strike...I knew I had just one chance. I do hope nothing has happened to her.” He took another sip of tea. “But I knew if I killed him that would be the end. If I killed him, no one else would need to die that day. And if he killed me...well I was ready for that.”
He was quiet again for a moment. “I still couldn’t believe when it worked, when I had him, when I had the chance to end him and avenge all the deaths he had caused.” He looked up at Kyoumi. “But when it was done...all they cared about was how I did it, not the fact that he was dead. That was what they were trying to do. What else did they want from me?”
Kyoumi listened closely to Harun's words. "It is difficult to stand aside. To watch others die in your place when you think there must be some way you can help. You are not the first to feel this way, Harun. And you were gifted with a way to help, even though you knew when you did it that that was not the plan, that that was not your orders. The deaths of Isamu, of Kou. They must have felt useless. Meaningless. Perhaps you even still feel that way. Do you? Do you feel their deaths were devoid of meaning? Do you know why they made the choices they made?"
“Kouta and Isamu-sama were willing to sacrifice themselves,” said Harun. “But their deaths didn’t change anything, they didn’t have impact. Shimekiri was still there without a scratch on him after.”
"Did you see Doji Uchisuke and Kakita Hotsume? They were in the room with you."
Kyoumi's voice was calm and reasoned. The names, two of the finest Kenshinzen the Kakita school had to offer.
“No, I didn’t,” said Harun. “There were lots of people in the throne room, they probably saw me though.”
A slight dip of her head. "They were there to observe Isamu and Kouta. Fifty senpai of the Kakita Academy had travelled to have the honour of facing Shimekiri. All of them expected to die, if only to wear him down piece by piece. But, one of them, or Uchisuke or Hotsume, once they had observed his techniques, worn him down, and been blessed by the blessings of the Kami thanks to the Asahina...they would have killed Shimekiri. They were there to give their lives to redeem the Kakita Dueling Academy. To show that, in spite of all adversity and the corruptions of Jigoku, the Heavens really would bless the path of Kakita. That justice could be found on the edge of a sword, wielded by the pure of heart."
She quietly took a sip of her tea. "The fundamental belief in the Way of the Sword, that the world can fall into black and white at the will of the Heavens. This belief you have studied since that first day you and Arahime..." Her voice caught just a tiny bit. "were tested for the Dojo... this belief has saved thousands of lives. Ended thousands of blood-feuds. Stopped battles before they had begun. Isamu and Kouta and Uchisuke and Hotsume and the rest...and Karasu, they could not allow the Empire to believe that a creature like Shimekiri would be the final word for Kakita's Way. The Pure of Heart had to be victorious. So people would, once he was gone, have a way to believe in Iaijutsu again. To believe in us."
Harun knew Kyoumi was right, he had been raised with these values, not just learned them at the dojo. The lives saved, the justice done by the blade of a Kakita. That mattered, that still had to matter. But... “But...but...I killed him,” said Harun, he still felt strongly about what he did but no longer angry. “Does that mean nothing?”
Kyoumi looked at the boy...man...steadily. "More would have died, to wear the Blood Crane down. More lives lost on his blade. What they will do with their lives...that is up to them. But their lives are not 'Nothing.' "
He still looks so young. Like Kousuda. Younger.
"Beyond that? What was sacrificed for you to complete your plan? The son of the Emerald Champion, the Topaz Champion, an officer of the Imperial Legion, Kakita-trained all his life...used a gaijin-pepper weapon during a false duel to defeat an enemy he challenged. An enemy that had just been declared the finest duellist since Kakita. He did this before the eyes of members of every clan, the Imperial Legions. What does that mean before the clans?" Her face softened in pity, and she reached out a hand towards him. "My poor Harun. You are still Crane. What do you think it means?"
Karasu’s words from Toshi Ranbo came back to him.
Twelve hundred years...you threw it all away in one moment...How many others do you think will try and do what you did?
He was wrong, Kyoumi was wrong...they had to be. All those centuries, all that tradition, all the sweat and steel and blood...it still had to mean something. If it all could be thrown away by so easily, how much did it matter at all?
“No, no I won’t believe it,” he said. Quickly, firmly, as if saying the worse would dismiss all doubts including his own. “What I did...what I had to do to kill Shimekiri I am not proud of. They won’t throw twelve hundred years of Iaijutsu tradition all away because of me. They can’t.”
Kyoumi spreads her hands. "The avalanche has already started; It is too late for the pebbles to vote. But...there is hope. It might yet be redeemed, but those stories are beyond us now."
Harun shook his head. “Respectfully, Oba-san, I disagree.” He took a sip of tea. “Besides, I’m not going to be in the clan much longer to provide further embarrassment by my mere presence. You know about my betrothal?”
Perfect control, her voice cool. The Voice of the Emperor. "I had heard there were inquiries."
Harun looked up, curious about her change in tone. “Well, the first meeting is tomorrow, the Hiruma Daimyo and his daughter, father, the Nakodo everyone...they all seem very determined to have it all over and done with,” he said, looking into his teacup. “So, I will be not returning north with you, I am staying here. Hopefully that will be enough.” He didn’t sound happy about it at all, had resigned himself to the inevitable. And he of course couldn’t tell her how he really felt. That him marrying another was somehow the ending of all hope that Arahime might be found alive. That he could have a future with her.
"And so life goes on." She inclined her head. "I wish you well, always, Harun-kun."
A gentle dismissal, but a dismissal none the less.
Harun finished his tea. He felt as if they were on opposite sides of a great chasm. Harun wanted to reach across, find the words to heal that rift. But there were none.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:01 pm

The small desk in Karasu’s room was covered with paper. Letters, reports, missives, petitions…he went through them, some just required him to read, others the use of his seal. Many of them were concerning the fate of Toshi Ranbo, almost as soon as it had been taken by the Legions the age-old dispute over who would control it was renewed by the Lion and the Crane.
Currently, the Imperial Legions were there for the winter. But a decision would need to be made, and soon.
He sighed, turning now to a letter Kyoumi had sent him earlier. It was short, but with minimal effort other than a few choice words and thinking on her feet, Kyoumi had managed to save the Empire. Again. Pinning all of their hopes on a former Spider turned ronin, Kanpeki’s daughter and the former Mantis Champion was not something he liked. But did they have a choice?
Daigotsu and Shahai’s great granddaughter marrying Crown Prince Kiseki was not something that sat well with him. But that was the price they had to pay for ending the war.
Karasu frowned, putting the letter down. Ends before means, I sound just like Harun…
The fact that Harun had been used as an intermediary was not something Karasu liked. He hoped the young man knew what he was getting into, but perhaps it was best if he didn’t.
There was a tap on the door and it opened. Karasu didn’t move, thinking it was perhaps a servant. But when the person who entered did not move or speak, Karasu turned around.
“Hitomi!” he rose to greet her. “When did you arrive?”
“Earlier,” she said, her tone strangely short.
“You never fail to surprise me,” said Karasu with a smile. “Come, sit. Have you eaten? Would you like some tea?”
“Perhaps later,” said Hitomi. Again the shortness in tone. “I came as soon as I got your letter, I knew I had to be here. For Harun.”
“Yes, the first meeting with the Nakodo and the Hiruma Daimyo is tomorrow,” said Karasu. “I am glad you are here.”
“I am here to support our son,” said Hitomi angrily. “Something that seems you have been unable to do. How could you, Karasu? Throwing Harun away to the Crab like that! I thought you would no better, it is no different to what the Phoenix did to me.”
“I am not throwing him away,” argued Karasu. “His actions at Toshi Ranbo put me in an impossible position. Besides, he wants to go. Every time I hear about him he’s been with the Crab Champion’s son.”
“He is leaving because he was driven there by you,” Hitomi said. “You are making a mistake.”
“The mistake is of his own making, Hitomi,” Karasu fired back. “You are starting to sound just like him! By defending him you defend his actions, and you place yourself against the Crane Clan.”
“For killing an enemy that we all wanted killed?” Hitomi asked.
“For destroying the traditions of Iaijutsu,” said Karasu. “Of course, I don’t expect you to understand…”
“No, I don’t,” rebuked Hitomi hotly. “I know about traditions, Karasu. The Phoenix had them, you remember? The Elemental Council, a tradition handed down from the Tribe of Isawa, whose every word we hung on? The Shiba, paralysed to do anything because of tradition? Well, those traditions not only strangled us, but destroyed the Phoenix itself. Destroyed our lands and people with a devastating war. Brought about the wrath of Lord Moon himself and his instrument.” Her eyes were like twin fires, blazing him with her anger. “Do you know what sort of future the Phoenix has now? The desire to change, to learn from past mistakes and not repeat them. Yet here we are, talking about tradition as if it had some value over what needed to be done.”
Karasu blared back at her, cold ice to her fire. “You are hardly a glowing endorsement for the Phoenix yourself,” he pointed out. “The traditions of Kakita have stood for twelve hundred years. I see no reason for them to be changed.”
Hitomi made a noise showing her disgust. “Do not tell me that things have not changed in twelve hundred years,” she said. “Or that things will not continue to change. I know you still have your mother’s gaijin pistol even if you have not fired it in years.”
“Do not equate my actions with his,” said Karasu coldly.
“I am not,” said Hitomi. “But this has hardly come out of nowhere, hasn’t it? We knew, all of us knew, by allowing in gaijin weapons we were opening up to forces we could not control. By having them at all we were inviting change, and if we think we can just return to the way things were then we are utter fools.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Karasu. He sighed. “Hitomi, I hear you even if I don’t agree with you. But as far as Harun is concerned my hands are tied. The Daimyos want to make an example of him. This marriage…it could be good for him. The Crab already respect him and will grant him a great honour. The Crane fully support it and Harun could deal with much worse.”
“Such as?” Hitomi asked.
Karasu shrugged. “Exile? At least if he is here we may be able to see him sometimes.”
“Will he want to see us after this?” Hitomi asked.
“I don’t know,” replied Karasu with another sigh. “It is like I don’t even know him anymore.”
“Perhaps we are seeing his true self,” Hitomi suggested. “If what you say is true and Harun’s marriage must happen then we must do it in the right away. He cannot think that we are abandoning him..”
“I wholeheartedly agree,” said Karasu.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:19 am

In the late evening, Kyoumi sat in front of a low table spread with matching lacquered wood combs, brushes and a mirror while a servant took her hair down. Taking out the hairpins and placing them in a small round box. The servant chatted idly, as she had been asked to by Kyoumi. This was usually a good way to get an idea of what was going on in the court. But tonight, she wasn’t really listening. Her thoughts whirled, quickly crowding and skipping over each other. Her tea with Harun…his impending marriage…Arahime waving from on board a ship as it sailed away…
“Leave me, please,” said Kyoumi, her voice tight and controlled.
It was only when the servant left that Kyoumi let her mask drop. Only here, when she was in complete privacy, could she be herself. The words she could speak were her own and she could allow herself to feel.
Arahime’s death…the wounds of grief were still so fresh, but she had had to push them aside in order to serve the Emperor. To be the Voice that Rokugan needed.
The role and the distance it gave her, it did insulate her somewhat. But even though she did not let the hurt affect her, it did not mean it did not matter.
And seeing Harun had not helped at all. Casually referring to his betrothal as if the past did not matter. As if what Arahime had felt for him did not matter and he had moved on with his life.
And yet…what she had seen was a young man, still very much a boy, trying to make sense of himself and the world he was in. Instead of being shown compassion, Harun was being shoved to one side. An embarrassment to be hidden, shunned. And while it was right, it certainly wasn’t fair.
The door opened and Kousuda entered. There was grew in his hair and beard now, more than there had been bust a few months before. Lines around his eyes as well. From worry and pain.
But when he saw Kyoumi, he smiled. She brightened as well. The room seemed a little lighter, the burden of grief from the death of their daughter felt a little less heavy. They could carry it together.
He kissed Kyoumi gently on the cheek and sat down behind her, removing his sandals and rubbing his feet.
“I heard something about a ronin near the Imperial quarters,” said Kousuda. “I take that this was one of yours.”
Kyoumi nodded. “Do you remember Susumu Ketsueki?”
Kousuda frowned, thinking back. “Vaguely. He was one of the Onyx Spider at Shiro Mirumoto that year? I never met him but he did turn up at the Unicorn camp with threats and demands. I think Yamada managed to beat him up, so that was good.” He frowned again. “Wait…isn’t he dead? Didn’t he die when the Onyx Scorpion set Shiro Mirumoto alight?”
“I thought so too, at least for a while,” Kyoumi answered, carefully removing her hairpins. “But he has been serving Haihime for a number of years…as the ronin Kumo.”
Kousuda looked ay her. “Kumo? But he was…”
“At Shiro Moto?” Kyoumi asked. “Yes, yes he was.”
Kousuda’s face darkened. “But why would you meet with him? You know better than me what is like, tainted and twisted. Why?”
Kyoumi told him. Explaining everything thoroughly. The plan to eliminate Yuhimi, the betrothal with Haihime’s daughter that had been made in exchange, the prophecy. Everything.
Kousuda sat deep in thought for a while afterwards, when he spoke his tone was serious. “Before Ketsueki had nothing but threats and insults, now he has even less. How can we trust him?”
“I would never trust him,” answered Kyoumi quietly. “But I know his devotion to the Hantei line is beyond fanatical, this is something that can be used to end this war.”
“And then?” Kousuda asked.
Kyoumi shrugged. “I’m not sure beyond that. He got what he wanted with the marriage, if he knows what’s good for him he will keep his distance from Isanko. The Crane will make sure of that.”
Kousuda nodded, a smiled started to dawn on his face. “You have outdone yourself, my wife,” he said proudly. “I don’t think many could claim saving Rokugan twice in their lifetimes. It is a pity that no one will ever know your role.”
“I think it is perhaps best that no one knows,” said Kyoumi. “The things that we have done…the things that I have done.”
Kousuda nodded, knowing full well what she meant. He ran his hand gently over her hair and stood up. Kyoumi removed her last hairpin and started to comb her hair. Kousuda started to remove his court clothes, hanging them up.
“I saw Harun earlier,” said Kyoumi. “He is…troubled.”
“I thought as much when he visited us,” said Kousuda. “But he deflected any questions I had as well as he uses that blade of his. Is it true about his betrothal to the Crab girl?”
Kyoumi’s voice was tightly controlled and very small. “Yes.”
The former Ide’s head whipped around to look ay her. “Oh, my dear, I am so sorry.” He rushed over to her, his garment still open. He put his arm around Kyoumi, taking her hand in his. “I know you wanted it to happen, Harun and Arahime, we all did and after the war we would have found away to make it work.”
“But it’s like it all doesn’t matter,” Kyoumi said, a sob creeping into her voice. “Harun has gone cold and hard, as if he does not care how she cared for him.”
“Listen to me, Kyoumi,” Kousuda said softly. “Harun is looking forward as it is all he knows how to do without looking back. Yamada was the same, it is how she managed to stay strong for so long.”
“It broke her too,” Kyoumi said, wiping her tears away with her sleeve.
“Harun has had a very different life to what she had,” Kousuda said. “He had all of us growing up, our strength to draw on. And that was what she wanted for him.”
Kyoumi nodded. “He is still so young.”
“And he has his whole life still ahead of him,” Kousuda said, gently stroking her hair. “If this path before him is the one that he must take, then we must be prepared to let him go.”
She nodded again. Her hand found the scar on Kousuda’s side. Remnant of the gun shot wound he had been inflicted with long ago. Grievous at the time, it had almost killed him had Yamada not been there to get Kousuda to safety. But the wound had healed, leaving only the mark and the memory.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:17 am

The next morning, Harun finished up a good session in the Hida dojo. He was beginning to get more acceptance with the other bushi that trained in the dojo. So, it was not just the Crab he sparred with, but a few from the Unicorn, Lion and Mantis Clans. Still, the Crane refused even to acknowledge him, Kakita Yashiro maintaining that aloofness as if Harun didn’t exist.
He tried to not let it bother him too much.
Just as he was leaving, someone came inside. It was Hitomi.
“Mother?” Harun put down the bokken he was holding and went up to her. “I didn’t know you were coming to court.”
“I would not have missed being at such an important occasion for you,” said Hitomi
“Oh yes, that,” said Harun flatly.
“You don’t sound very happy, my son,” observed Hitomi. She beckoned him to walk with her out of the dojo. “Don’t think for a moment you have to rush into this.”
“I am not being given much of a choice in this,” said Harun sullenly. “Maybe it is better for everyone if I just left the clan.”
“I am talking about you, not everyone,” said Hitomi gently.
Harun smiled a little at this. “Well, thank you mother, but you may be one of the few Crane who thinks this.”
“I see no reason to not to put you and your happiness first,” said Hitomi warmly.
Harun smiled again, but it made him feel a little uneasy. They walked along in silence for a while.
“Tell me about Toshi Ranbo,” Hitomi said.
“Father hasn’t told you?” Harun asked.
“He has, but I wish to hear it from you,” she said.
So, he told her. Harun had told that many people by now what had happened that he was starting to get a little tired of the telling. But somehow repeating the story to Hitomi was helpful, a cleansing in a way.
“You showed remarkable courage there, Harun,” Hitomi said when he was done. “Not many would have would have done what you did.”
“You talk as if that is a good thing,” said Harun stiffly.
“And you do not think it is?” Hitomi asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Harun answered a little resentfully.
“Harun, if you truly do not want this marriage, I can put a stop to it,” she said.
“What about father?” Harun asked.
“Don’t worry about him,” said Harun. “Your happiness is more important to me.”
Harun nodded. “Thank you, but…if this is what remaining in the clan is going to be like then maybe it is better if I leave.”
He walked off, Hitomi let him go.

Several hours later, Harun was dressed in his court close and sitting having tea in Doji Nashikyo’s sitting room. He sat on his father’s right while Hitomi sat on Karasu’s left, Nashikyo sat on Harun’s right at the end of the table.
On the opposite side sat Hiruma Saito, Daimyo of the Hiruma family and next to him his daughter and heir Yosoko. The contrast between him and Karasu was quite marked, the two men could not be more different. Karasu, tall and elegant in his sky blue hitatare formal kimono with the white cord trim and emerald green obi. Saito was slightly shorter and leaner, he wore simple deep blue juban and hakama, his status as Daimyo of a Great Clan family shown with the gold-trimmed jinbaori he wore.
Doji Nashikyo served tea served tea from a teapot painted with scenes of mountains and trees, each cup was shaped like a flower and in a different colour. Harun drank some of his tea, something to do since he was not expected to speak at all during this meeting. He listened to the conversation, but most of his attention was focused on Yosoko who sat opposite him.
My future wife…
Nasu had told Harun that Yosoko was a few years older than him, but she did not look it. The way she sat was more indicative of a shy girl unused to social settings. She kept her head down and her hands in her sleeves, not touching her tea. Her hairstyle and dress was in the same subdued style as when Harun had seen her at the art exhibition, but there were little details he had not noticed then. The pale blue flower made of folded kimono fabric that nested in her dark hair. The pale yellow obijime around her waist that contrasted with the dark grey of her obi. The delicate sandalwood fan that was tucked under her obi, a silken teal tassel bright against the grey.
Sandalwood? Harun thought. Just like my mother’s, aren’t they very rare?
This shyness that she showed didn’t tally with what Nasu had told him of her, or what little Harun knew himself. Apparently she was no shrinking violet. Capable with the tetsubo, blade and bow, she had been part of scouting missions beyond the wall and had even led one herself.
But there was something else that could be the reason why she was acting this way. Nasu had told Harun that Yosoko had had three older brothers that had died. She had never been expected to succeed her father as Daimyo, and yet here she was.
She has had to step up, that’s not easy, thought Harun.
Karasu talked to Saito, talking about Harun’s time in the Legion. Harun tried to drown it out. This was the closest he had been to his father in weeks, and yet he felt more farther away from him than ever. Karasu did not even look in Harun’s direction, his on perfect.
Harun tried to look for some sot of sign from Hitomi, but she gave him no indication either.
He turned his attention back to Yosoko, but she still she had not looked up. What was she like? How did she feel about their upcoming marriage?
He found the enforced silence paralysing, it was like he was trapped in a nightmare where no one would speak to him or even look at him.
And this is my life they are deciding right here, he thought, feeling his anger rise, this is where they sell me off like a bag of rice…
Harun reached out for his teacup, bumping it with his hand and causing it to clatter against the tabletop. Everyone turned to look at Harun who felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. But there was a brief moment where he caught Yosoko’s eye, and saw she felt as trapped by this as he was.
It’s okay, he said to her silently, we are in this together…
Last edited by Kakita_Harun on Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:55 am

The next day, Harun left Kyuden Hida in the pouring rain and headed for the Wall. The fifty bushi that Hida Nasu was taking to the wall set a strong pace that Harun was able to keep up with at first but was more difficult as the day went on.
It had been only two months since Toshi Ranbo, two months since he had been with the Legion. Was he that much out of training?
Harun had attracted a little attention, but while he was in the armour Nasu had arranged for him to wear he had a certain amount of anonymity. Like wearing a second skin. He liked it.
The rainclouds were low and thick so their view of the wall on the horizon was hidden. Thick clouds, grey and…black? Was there some sort of fire?
They kept on, spending the night at Shiro Kakeguchi and then heading on in the morning into the rain. It seemed even worse than the day before. Cold, hard and relentless and it would not cease until Harun would return to Kyuden Hida five days later. He had dealt with such hardships in the Legion. Long marches, training at dawn, rides through the night and through the rain. But this was something else, it soaked his purple wool and four coat and drops started creeping in under his armour, next to his skin. It wasn’t pleasant.
The Crab didn’t notice the rain at all. They marched on regardless. So Harun tried to make it look as if it didn’t bother him.
That afternoon they began to see more of the Wall as it emerged through the clouds. A long strip of grey, solid and unbroken. As they headed south, it got taller, and taller. And, though it didn’t seem possible, taller still. Rising above the rows of buildings of the villages that ran parallel to it. Grey against the black smoky clouds that seemed to emanate from somewhere below.
Rising, and continuing to ride as they headed towards it. Impossibly tall. It seemed incredible that it could have been built by mere men. Permanent, impregnable.
And yet…Harun knew that it had fallen at least once in his life time. That the Crab had been beaten back to it, bloody and at the edge of defeat. And they had held on, and survived, despite everything.
When the got to the edge of the village, Harun could not help but stop and look up.
“You stand there long enough with your mouth open, rain is going to fall in,” said Nasu.
Harun blinked, still in awe. “It’s beyond anything I ever imagined.”
Nasu nodded.
“Men built that thing?” Harun asked in amazement.
Nasu nodded again. “That’s all that ever stands between Rokugan and the hordes of the Shadowlands,” he said. “Stone and the blood and steel of the Crab.”
Harun looked along, thinking. “Hard to get up there?”
“Easier than it has been,” said Nasu.
He nodded to the long rope hung up on poles that seemed to run parallel to the wall. Harun looked closer at it, the rope moved. How was that possible? He asked Nasu.
“All in good time,” Nasu reassured him, leading Harun along the dirty, smoky main street of the village. “There’s a great many things you will see here that you’ll find hard to explain up north.”
Harun nodded in agreement. “It seems a different world.”
Nasu grinned. “Welcome to the wall.”

The smoke and the pouring rain hid a lot, and it added to the overall grim atmosphere. The street was full of Crab bushi. All heavily armoured, and most of them male. A sea of blue and grey that Harun almost seamlessly slipped into.
Buildings of stone and wood lined either side of the street. Barracks, mess halls, houses and some places that seemed more inclined towards entertainment and drinking. Some of them back onto the very Wall itself.
Dividing the street was the rope line, still moving and every now and again Harun could see the wheeled poles pass accompanied by a very strange metallic noise. Harun wanted to get closer to see what it was, but the rest wanted to keep moving forward.
They then went into one of the barracks, the stone building even plainer than what Harun had seen at Kyuden Hida. Merely rolled futons in rows against the stone wall with an iron strongbox for possessions. When Harun got to his, he saw something carved in the stone wall. Names.
Hida Yasu….Hida Noriya…Hiruma Kaigen… Harun ran his fingers along the markings. Who were these people? But Harun didn’t have time to consider this long as everyone started leaving.
“You coming, Harun?” Nasu asked.
“Where are we going?” Harun asked him.
“Training,” said Nasu. “Then…up.”
Harun went with them simply because he didn’t want to get left behind.
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Wed Nov 07, 2018 5:25 pm

They trained in an open courtyard behind the barracks. In the pouring rain. In full armour. Drills, tests of strength and endurance. And at such a pace that it was all Harun could do to keep up. Not even training with the Legion had been this gruelling. When moved onto defensive formations, Harun stepped out, leaning against the wall to get his breath back. The Hida bushi knew them as naturally as breathing, moving flawlessly as Nasu called them out, each one finding his proper place.
It’s like leaves falling in the wind, Harun thought, it’s almost beautiful.
When they were done, everyone moved on straight away. No breathers, nothing. Harun went with them, trying to not show his energy was beginning to flag.
But Nasu seemed to notice. “You need to go back yet?”
Harun shook his head. “If they don’t get a break, I don’t.”
Nasu gave a nod but didn’t say anything.
When they crossed over to the other side of the main street, they passed under the rope. Firmly secured to the ground was something that looked like an iron ladder. It ran directly beneath the moving rope, continuing on to the left and to the right parallel to the wall. Had still had no idea what this was or what it was for, but he got no answers from the Crab. They just stepped over it as if it were of no consequence and kept walking.
Once on the other side, they went right up to the wall in an opening between two buildings. Two ropes hung from the top of the wall and reached all the way down to the bottom. Tied to one looked like some sort of weight. Tied to the other was a large iron cage, large enough to fit several people. It descended slowly, being pulled down by two burly Crab, the cage swaying slightly as it came down. And there were people inside.
Harun stood next to Nasu as the cage came down. The cage doors opened and quickly they all drew as far back as they could as the people inside came out. Harun was wondering what was going on, and then he realised why.
The people who came out of the cage were clearly tainted. Pale, thin, some even with pustules and boils. Five of them in total. Harun took a deep breath in. He had seen Taint before, not just the ones he had killed with the Legion but samurai who had been infected. This was dealt with quietly to not affect morale. But these Crab bushi had weapons, they were walking about openly.
Harun looked quickly at Nasu. They met eyes. Nasu shrugged.
The Tainted bushi passed, they started to get into the cage. Harun went with them, jammed tight and close among the Crab. The cage doors clanged shut and were bolted, then it started to ascend.
Harun felt it sway as it went up, it felt strange, he didn’t like it. He stole a quick glance at the other Crab in the cage, they were letting it bother them. Harun tried to look like it didn’t bother him.
The cage went higher and higher still, it started getting very windy and cold. They were able to see more of the village spread out before the village spread out before them, the steel of the “ladders” dividing it in two. Then, with a clanking mechanical noise, he saw what looked like a small wagon moving along it trailing several wagons behind it in a train. Each of them had poles with wheels on top that connected them to the moving rope above.
Harun stared. The Crab had this hidden in plane sight down here? What would the other clans think? What would the Crane? The Lion? It did seem a terribly efficient way to move supplies over along distance though.
As long as you keep building those iron ladders…
Nasu saw him staring. He grinned proudly. “It’s a marvel, isn’t it? The Kaiu line.”
“How does it move?” Harun asked.
“There.” Nasu nodded to a building where smoke was belching out. “There’s a mechanism in there.”
So that’s what causing all the smoke…is it worth it?
The cage stopped with a jerk and the doors at the back were unbolted and opened. Harun was at the back, his initial view of what was ahead was blocked.
The crowd parted and Harun stepped out onto the wall.
Harun had seen the ruins of Toshi Ranbo, saw the bodies lying in the water as the boats went into the city. He had seen those Dragon bushi outside the palace go completely and utterly insane that he was forced to cut them down. He had seen the gates of Yomi opened with the many, many Blessed Ancestors passing through. He had seen Zetsubou’s spirit ripped from his body. Harun had seen the blackness and madness in Shimekiri’s eyes before he had taken the tainted samurai’s head.
Harun thought he had seen things. Horrible things. Incredible things. But nothing could have prepared him for his first look upon the Shadowlands.
It had a vastness like the sea, a darkness like a moonless night, a ferocity like a raging fire. It was all of these things…and none of them. It had a presence that could be felt, like heat or cold. Malevolent, sinister. A presence that could not be ignored or turned away from. It was barren, hopelessly barren and empty with no hope of actual life. Yet things did live there, things that never rested and were never not a threat.
And there was a stench that seemed to get inside his very skin. Of decay. Of corruption. Of death.
He had grown up with the Crab standing strong against the Shadowlands. Despite everything, that defiance continued, unchanged in the face of everything the forces of Jigoku threw at them. But as Harun stood her on the Wall itself, he felt incredibly vulnerable. Only a very small part of something much bigger that stood in defiance of darkness because someone had to.
Nasu came up behind him. “Can you see it?” He pointed to the southwest.
Harun looked where the Crab bushi pointed. He thought he could see the outlines of a fortress, but the shadows were playing tricks on him so he couldn’t be sure.
“Shiro Hiruma,” said Nasu. “Lost before our time, but ours to take back.”
“Ours?” Harun looked at Nasu.
Nasu chuckled. “In time, you need to be ready before you get on that side of the Wall.”
“I want to,” said Harun, almost eagerly. He wanted to prove himself.
“I know,” said Nasu. “Let’s see do your duty to my cousin first.”

Harun’s nightmares returned that night with a furious intensity. Perhaps seeing the Shadowlands for the first time, or just their mere proximity.
He found himself in the throne room in Otosan Uchi, the golden screen hiding the Emperor from view. Kyoumi, his father, Arami and all the members of the court watching an Otomo making a dry, droning speech.
Harun looked around, distracted and bored but he knew he couldn’t leave.
But then the screen pulled back to reveal not the Emperor, but Daigotsu Shimekiri. Sitting on the Emperor’s Golden Throne, his face a mask of face paint and blood, grinning like a madman.
But there was no reaction, no one even turned from watching the Otomo.
Can’t they see him? Harun looked around frantically. To his father, to Kyoumi, to the Seppun guards who just stood there as if hypnotised.
I’ll have to do this myself, he quickly ran towards the throne, drawing his sword as he moved, how many times do I have to kill this baka…
The Seppun quickly turned on him, drawing their weapons. His father was among them, drawing people behind him as he drew the Emerald Blade.
No! No! Can’t they see what is going on? Harun fought them off but there were so many. They kept coming, and coming. He fought them all.
“Stop!”
Arahime appeared in the purest white, she seemed to shine with light. She carried a sword red with blood.
“Arahime, look, we have to kill him!” Harun pleased. “Help me! Please!”
Arahime shook her head, she looked very grave. They all stopped and look at her. “You are the one who has ruined everything Harun,” she said. Her voice cold and hard. “I have to fix it.”
She then plunged her katana into his chest.
Harun woke up in a pool of sweat, gasping, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. His chest stung and itched where Arahime had stabbed him.
And then he realised he wasn’t alone, every Crab in the barracks was in a ring around them. And next to him was Nasu, who was holding out a piece of jade to him.
Harun blinked. “What? But you know me!”
Nasu’s face was like stone. “Take it.”
Every eye was on Harun as he took that Jade. He held it out open in his hand so they could see there was no reaction.
They all then dispersed.
Harun stared at Nasu. “They thought I was….”
Nasu shrugged. “We all do it, Harun, no exceptions.”
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Sun Nov 11, 2018 6:40 am

The food in the mess hall was hearty and served in large portions. Noodles, rice with everything fried and greasy and topped with bonito and broth. And eaten quickly with little regard for mess or appearances.
Harun found he could not eat much, not just from the table manners of his table mates but the nightmares of Arahime had left his stomach unsettled. He could still see her, her eyes alight with cold fury, shining in white light like a star.
He looked around at the crowded mess hall. What would Arahime think of this place? Would she even be here?
He shrugged. Thinking of her hurt, but not thinking of her was worse. And there she was, her face staring at him in his nightmares.

Nasu said he had duties that morning, so Harun went off on his own. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of life at the Wall. The strength and courage of the Crab he had to admire, but the fact that Nasu was able to shrug off things that were quite shocking didn’t sit quite well with Harun.
Just outside the barracks there was a large stone with many markings all over it. Harun noticed that the Crab passed it slowly, touching it almost reverently. Harun went closer, it was full of names.
Hida Suru…Kaiu Urei…Hida Dosan…Hida Senshin…Hiruma Kabuo… And more, many, many more.
Who were these people? These had to be deaths, the names of the fallen.
And then, as Harun continued to walk through the village, he began to see more of them. Little niches carved into the wall with names, more names. Chipped into the side of buildings, on rocks and shrines and even into the wall itself.
He paused near one, seeing a group of Crab bushi standing quietly while one of them inscribed a name. They were silent, reverent, and then repeated the name. Loudly, confidently, as if by saying it they banished any doubts or negativity. Harun moved on, not wanting to disturb them.
Later in the day, when he saw Nasu Harun asked him about the names.
“Yes, they are the names of the dead,” Nasu confirmed. “When the Onyx War was at its worst and we lived on the Wall itself, we lost so many. So many sacrifices…you know something of that of course.”
Harun nodded. “They need to be remembered.”
“They do, but this is a bit more than that,” Nasu explained. “We keep their names here to protect them, so hopefully don’t meet them in battle later.”
They walked on in silence for a moment, Harun reflected on the Crab’s words. Living on the wall. “How bad did it get?”
Nasu’s face darkened. “You don’t want to know.”
“Nasu, you know I wouldn’t think less of you or…”
Nasu shook his head. “It’s not that,” he said. “It’s…it’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there.”
“Tell me,” said Harun.
Nasu stopped, frowning. “Might be better if I showed you. Come on.”
He took Harun inside the wall, guided him around trap doors and hazards until they came to a solid iron door. The door had several heavy locks and it was also inlaid with jade. Harun helped Nasu unfasten them, both of them pulling the massive door back to reveal…another door even more sturdy than the last. Once this was open, Harun followed Nasu inside. The Crab moved slowly, like he was approaching a shrine.
Inside the room was small and cold, there were no windows.
Nasu quickly lit a lantern, and it was then Harun saw it. The walls were covered with markings, covering the lower half of the wall. Harun went closer, getting down on one knee to examine. Most of it was pictures, large bushi with weapons fighting oni and tainted samurai, charging into battle. Crudely made, as if those who had done it were not very good with either ink or charcoal.
Or…children… Harun shuddered.
Nasu got down next to Harun. “This is where I grew up. The ones who stand on the Wall now, this room was the first wall we knew. This and others like it.” He gently touched a rough drawing of the Jade Sun. “The first thing I remember was how important it was to survive, to stay alive so that I could one day to stand on the wall with my father and grandfather. To fight by the side of those who protected us.” His face clouded over. “I survived, there were many who did not.” He looked at Harun. “Did you know Harun I had an older brother?”
Harun shook his head.
“Yoshida, he was badly wounded. I saw him afterwards,” said Nasu. “The next day he was gone, he walked out into the Shadowlands just as our grandfather had, so resources could not be wasted on a man who could no longer fight. The Shadowlands weren’t our only enemy then. The other was hunger, the older we got the more we knew about it.
Harun nodded. He knew something about this, growing up in the years of famine in the Crane lands. The children eating separately from the adults, the adults making excuses until the children were old enough to see through them. The journeys they made during those times under heavy guard, seeing the lean faces of the peasants as they passed them on the roads. And then there was that time when his family was travelling with Doji Arami and the village they had sought shelter from a storm in had no food to offer them. Arami insisted that they share what food they had with the peasants.
“The Crane suffered, we all did during the famine,” said Harun, trying to help but knowing his words were hollow.
“No, not like this,” insisted Nasu. “We had to fight everyday for our very survival, so that there were others to keep fighting to replace the ones that fell. And to fight the ones that go back up. No one gets this, no one wants to. If they did, they would be here.”
“I am here Nasu, I can tell them,” said Harun. “And you are here too, you did survive.”
Nasu touched Harun’s arm gently. “Thank you.”
Harun got to his feet, trying to imagine what it was like to grow up here. To never leave these walls, to see the sun… Harun understood Nasu’s reverence, this place was a shrine to the strength of the Crab. To their survival…but at what cost?

Yet there was more to life at the Wall than there appeared to be. Even there Harun could see little glimmers of colour amid the gloom and the grey.
Like the geisha who would walk the main street of the Wall village in the evenings. Their make up garish and colourful, their kimonos bright with their obis fastened at the front. Attendants lit their way with lanterns and protected them with parasols.
Harun watched them go by, not sure what to think. In Crane lands, ‘ladies’ such as these would not have paraded about so openly or received so open a welcome.
Then there was the kabuki play, one even Harun knew, the Thousand Cherry Blossoms. It was rough, no costumes and what little music there was hastily learned by the shamisen player and drummer. The actors roles were chosen from small scraps of paper drawn out of a helmet. Harun found the whole thing quite bizarre, but did manage to laugh in a few places and tried to appreciate it for what it was.
The actors and a good portion of the audience adjourned to the sake house after the performance, including Harun amongst their numbers. They were honest, straightforward accepting Harun wholeheartedly. But he could not help but think back to that morning when he had been surrounded by a ring of Crab ready to act if he had failed the Test of Jade.
The Crab had survived, but what had they turned into? And was it something Harun wanted to be a part of?
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Re: L5R - The Duty of War - A Post Winter Court 5 story

Postby Kakita_Harun » Mon Nov 12, 2018 4:53 pm

Two days later, Harun was back at Kyuden Hida having tea with his Aunt Momoibura and his cousins. He told her about his trip to the Wall, honestly including his own mixed feelings.
Momoibura smiled reassuringly. “I think that can be expected on your first trip, Harun,” she said. “The Wall is important, but unlike anything else in Rokugan. The longer you are here, the more you will understand.”
“The rooms where the children were kept,” said Harun. “I had no idea it was that bad during the war.”
Momoibura nodded. “That is why we cannot forget,” she said gravely. “And make sure others know.” She looked around at her daughters who nodded in agreement.
“I agree completely,” said Harun.
“Then that is a good start,” said Momoibura approvingly. “Now, tell me all your news, Harun. What do you think of Yosoko-sama? Is anything settled for your marriage?”
“Not yet, but there’s no reason to not think it is not going ahead,” said Harun, wishing his heart didn’t feel heavy when he said the words. “As for Yosoko…well as we are proceeding the traditional way we have hardly spoken and I do not know her at all.” A thought occurred to him. “Perhaps you could answer something for me, do you know about the fan she carries with the teal tassel?”
“I am sure it is just a pretty fan,” said Momoibura, a little too quickly.
“But mother, you know Yoritomo Aramaki gave it to her,” said his cousin Mineko.
Momoibura frowned at her daughter.
“But it’s true!” The girl insisted. “I heard it from Saeki who heard it from Honoka. They are very…Oh!” She finally caught her mother’s meaning and was quiet.
“I didn’t mean to pry,” said Harun, trying to salvage the situation. “You see…I found a similar fan with my mother possessions, perhaps given to her by my father.”
Momoibura smiled and poured more tea. “You must tell me as soon as everything for your wedding is arranged,” she said, gesturing to the kimono on racks around her. “We need to make sure you are properly attired.”
“I will,” Harun promised, picking up his teacup. Her kindness did a little to take away the growing gnawing feeling in Harun’s stomach, not much, but a little.

The Imperial Court began to wane towards a close. The winter had been mild, bringing thoughts of the coming spring.
Kakita Kyoumi had been on the panel of judges that, after much deliberation, had rewarded Ikoma Sayuri the title of Turquoise Champion for her painting. The piece had been a brilliant compromise of the traditional Rokugani style with elements of the bolder, more fluid and recent methods. Hopefully, Sayuri’s tenure as Turquoise Champion would inspire other artisans.
But “compromise” seemed to be a recurring theme, as Kyoumi reflected when she and Kousuda had tea with Empress Iweko Ayameko.
Kyoumi was quite familiar with the Empress, not just through her role as the Voice but before when Kyoumi had been an aide to her predecessor Hida Kozan and had deftly managed to prevent the coup of the former Shogun of the Empire Akodo Kano. The Empress had been seen less in public in her declining years, but this didn’t mean she was not involved with the world. A former Hida, she always favoured pragmatism.
But Kyoumi had come to her today with something that was not only controversial, but that she has deep personal misgivings about. Crown Prince Iweko Kiseki’s marriage to Isanko, Haihime’s daughter and Daigotsu Kanpeki’s granddaughter. A bargain she had made as the cost for not doing so was too high.
So over tea, while seated next to her husband, Kyoumi outlined her plan and her reasons for it, leaving nothing out. The prophecy of the Kitsu, Susumu Ketsueki’s very real threats to the entire Empire and the girl Isanko herself whom Kyoumi hoped would benefit greatly educated by the Crane.
The Empress listened patiently, open but perhaps a little sceptical. When Kyoumi was done, her questions were correct.
“May I ask you this, Kakita-san?” A year ago, the idea of my older son’s marriage was brought up with similar outcomes, this…alliance with the Spider. I let myself be convinced for the Crane to provide alternatives, which they have. Can you tell me what has changed?”
Kyoumi took a careful sip of tea. “The path we travel has not changed, Your Highness, but we see it clearer now and we see the critical juncture we are at. And while the path we must take is not one we thought we would, we must take it or lose everything we have fought for.”
“This appears to be little different to blackmail,” sniffed Ayameko. “And we are giving into it.”
Kyoumi’s face was a cool mask. “That thought has also occurred to me, Your Highness.”
Ayameko considered this, coming to some sort of agreement with herself. “Tell me about the girl. Whom does she favour?”
“Her father, Doji Sorei-san,” said Kyoumi, her voice warming a little. “This is as we had hoped when the Crane first made the match between him and Lady Haihime. He appears to have had most of the raising of her, her spirit is strong, pure and free of taint.”
“She is still quite young, is she not?” Ayameko asked.
Kyoumi nodded. “This is where the Crane hope to influence her character for the better. She will be trained by the Doji, protected, and when she comes of age she will be ready.”
“You speak with much confidence, Kakita-san,” noted Ayameko.
“I have followed her progress for a number of years, Your Highness, through her father,” said Kyoumi. “Isanko is a bright girl, charming, very easy to like.”
“What of her mother?” Ayameko asked.
“Lady Haihime has never sought power nor the attentions of others,” said Kyoumi. “Her role with her daughter’s future will be minimal and discreet…assuming she survives her duty to kill Yuhimi no Oni.”
“Such a mother, to distance herself from her child so easily,” said Ayameko, almost sadly.
“Lady Haihime is no ordinary woman, Your Highness,” said Kyoumi. “And her daughter is not one either.”
“I must meet this girl for myself,” said Ayameko.
“I can arrange it,” said Kyoumi, bowing.
More tea was poured. The tension in the room seemed to dispel somewhat.
“It is good that you asked to see me today, Kakita-san, as I had been meaning to speak to you,” said Ayameko, looking at them both as an attendant filled their cups. “To speak to both of you.”
Kousuda made a smile and bow at being recognised.
“It concerns your older son, Kakita Masarugi-san,” continued Ayameko. “From what I understand, he and my older son have been quite close, Masarugi-san being an influence of good on the Prince.”
“You are most kind to say so, Your Highness” said Kousuda.
“They both make their gempukku in the spring,” said Ayameko. “Following this, Kiseki will be making a tour of Rokugan, visiting the lands of all the Great Clans. It is my wish that Masarugi-san should accompany him.”
Kousuda and Kyoumi were stunned by this. Their son, Masarugi to be a companion and confident of the future Emperor of Rokugan. A great honour, and a way to completely secure his future and that of their family.
They both bowed. “I thank you, Your Highness,” said Kousuda. “I am sure that Masarugi will be worthy of the trust placed in him and will serve faithfully.”
“Of course, we all wish the best for our children,” said Ayameko, a little warmness in her voice beneath the formality. “May I ask, have you had any more news of your daughter? What happened to her was cruel and tragic and you have served faithfully despite of it.”
“Nothing further, Your Highness,” said Kousuda. “I do hope to leave for Zogeku in the spring to get answers for myself.”
“Please let me know if you have any difficulties,” said Ayameko.
“I will,” promised Kousuda. “And thank you.”
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