Putting The Pieces Together
Nishi Asano lay on her thin pallet and stared at the ceiling.
Since she'd destroyed her hut in the mistaken assumption that she
would be leaving Ariki, Nishi had found herself with nowhere to stay
after Yoshi had refused to leave with her. So, she'd gathered her few
things together and applied for a job as a serving girl at one of the
large inns in town. Dressed as she was, she had been pretty enough
for the owner, and her story that she'd been widowed after the
fighting was accepted without question. Of course, she'd promptly
been given the most menial of tasks, being the newest member of the
staff, but she didn't mind. Washing dishes, chopping wood, hauling
water, anything was fine with her as long as she stayed out of the
main dining room. Besides, she was a lot stronger than she looked,
and anything the innkeeper gave her to do couldn't be any worse than
anything she'd had to do in the field. At least she was eating
better.
So here she was in the somewhat cramped and stuffy confines of the
servants quarters, trying to ignore the sounds of snoring coming from
the far end of the room. She found herself missing the cool and quiet
of her mountain hut, and tried to concentrate more on the discussion
she had had with Yoshi, about Kura and his 'hero of Dan-no-ura and
Ichinotani'.
She knew a bit about those two battles, anyone who had studied the
arts of war did. Dan-no-ura and Ichinotani were famous engagements
between the Minamoto and Heike. At Dan-no-ura, the Heike had been
destroyed utterly, with many of the Heike leaping into the ocean to
avoid capture. The Minamoto then went on to found the first Shogunate
of Japan. But this had happened over 350 years ago, how could Kura
have found anyone who had been in those two battles and have him as a
bodyguard?
Rolling over on her stomach, Nishi began to idly play with the
tattered ends of a tatami mat, trying her best to remember what
little she know of the time. About the only major personage she knew
who hailed from that period in history and had actually bothered to
learn anything about was Tomoe Gozen. Gozen was a famous female
samurai, who fought side by side with her husband... Minamoto
Yoshi... Yoshi... "Yoshinaka!" Nishi whispered to herself, as she
finally pulled the name out of the depths of her memory. It was then
that she remembered all the other Yoshi's associated with the
Minamoto, Yoshitsune and Yoshitomo... No that wasn't right, it was
Yo... Yoritomo! The same name that Kura had mentioned... Yoshitsune
and Yoritomo were brothers who had destroyed Gozen and Yoshinaka
before moving against the Heike.
Nishi sighed, blowing up as small cloud of dust. So what did all
that have to do with Kura? Resting her chin on her folded hands,
Nishi again went over what she had seen and heard in Kura's
chamber.
Kura had said that he had found the 'hero of Dan-no-ura and
Ichinotani'. Obviously this was a person, a samurai of great
importance. He has said that this person 'is with me now' and 'who
could want for a better bodyguard?'. What did that mean? Did Kura
control the yurei of a slain samurai, having it watch over him and
his tower?
Nishi then considered the conversation between Kura and the man
she presumed to be Togai. The man had been impatient, had wanted to
know how much longer he would need to wait. Kura had said that in due
time he would be made Shogun, but he would need to wait. The man had
then questioned his trust in Kura, something Nishi could agree with,
and talked about seeing great horrors. Kura then told him it was
simple boredom, since he had been a man of action.
Nishi stopped and thought about that last bit again. Why had Kura
said that? She remembered his words 'You are bored, my lord - not
surprisingly, since you were a man of action'. Why 'were'? If Kura
was talking to Togai, wouldn't he have said 'are'? Closing her eyes,
Nishi concentrated on the brief glimpse she had gotten of the
samurai's face as he left Kura's chamber; narrow, aristocratic, with
finely arraigned hair. Nishi then compared that to the only view
she'd gotten of Togai, before the battle that had resulted in
Arai-sama dead and his son fleeing for his life. Togai was a tall
man, not a big as Yoshi, but who was? He was older man as well, in
his forties at least, with a bit of beard... Nishi suddenly opened
her eyes and stared at the far wall. Togai was an older man! He face
bore signs of weather and age, and his hair was starting to gray...
the samurai in the tower had a smoother face and solid black hair! He
wasn't Togai!
Nishi sat up quickly, gathering the folds of her kimono about her.
Kura had said 'you were a man of action', he had reminded the man
that 'Yoritomo's treachery founded a dynasty'. Yoritomo had become
the first Minamoto Shogun, even though his brother, Yoshitsune had
been responsible for the Minamoto victories over the Heike...
What had happened to Yoshitsune after his brother took power?
"The hero of Dan-no-ura and Ichinotani has been found and is with
me now."
Nishi began to grow pale.
"Yoritomo's treachery founded a dynasty..."
And the other man had said...
"I would not have that particular deed repeated..."
If the man in the tower wasn't Arai Togai...
"The hero of Dan-no-ura and Ichinotani has been found and is with
me now."
The words echoed in her mind.
"The hero of Dan-no-ura and Ichinotani has been found and is with
me now."
Then the other man in the room with Kura was...
Nishi's shriek cut through the silent room like a knife, startling
everyone from their uneasy sleep. Stumbling to her feet, Nishi fell
back against one wall, to slide into a untidy heap in one corner.
Stuffing an end of her kimono in her mouth to quiet any further
outbursts, Nishi tried to deal with the awful realization that the
man in the room with Kura had been Minamoto Yoshitsune!