Old Rivalries

Part 3


by Shawn Carman
With assistance from Fred Wan


            Since the dawn of the Empire, the Lion and Crane have stood at odds with one another. The Emperor’s Right Hand and the Emperor’s Left Hand have never seen eye to eye, and the blood feud that began with Kakita and Matsu has continued nearly unabated for well over a thousand years.

Until now.

The first painful steps were taken by the previous champions Matsu Nimuro and Doji Kurohito. Although they were never friends, the two men respected one another as warriors, and perhaps looked forward to a day when they could face one another in combat and truly take the measure of one another. That day, sadly, never came, and both men have passed on to the afterlife with great honor. In their place, Ikoma Otemi and Doji Domotai have embraced the peace the two men began.

Not all are so eager for peace.

Ikoma Masote was a warmongering magistrate with a personal agenda. He discovered evidence of treachery on the part of Kurohito’s wife, and withheld this information until a time when he could reveal it for maximum political impact. Doji Akiko was slain by her husband’s hand, and Kurohito followed her in death. Their daughter Domotai exposed Masote’s self-aggrandizement, and that he had withheld news of a traitor in the Emperor’s court for months in hopes of making a greater name for himself. For this treachery, Ikoma Otemi ordered him to die a coward’s death, and Doji Domotai herself dealt the killing blow.

Matsu Robun was one of Masote’s yoriki, and he feels the shame of his master’s death. He avoided Masote’s disgrace, and feels that the loyal Lion did nothing but a great service to the Emperor by exposing the traitor Akiko. That the Crane have gone to such great lengths to discredit and execute Masote is nothing short of treasonous, a mocking vengeance thrown in the face of the Emperor’s justice. Theirs was a petty political vendetta, and it must be cleansed with blood.

Kakita Osei is a patriot. She knew not what Akiko’s intentions or activities were, only that they needed to be concealed from the Crane’s many enemies. She arranged for the protection of Akiko’s caravan, and it was her disgrace that Masote was allowed to seize it. Despite her horror over Akiko’s actions, Osei learned long ago that her honor is nothing compared to that of her clan, and she sacrifices it willingly. Now, with the murderous Masote dealt with appropriately, she must finish concealing her clan’s shame once and for all.

 

           

Shiro no Yojin was a castle with a bloody history. For centuries, it had been among the most hotly contested regions in the Empire, with the Lion and Crane scarcely lasting a generation without spilling blood over its possession. With the nearby Toshi Ranbo transformed into the Imperial City, Shiro no Yojin was the only real seat of hostility along the two clans’ shared border. Now that peace had been brokered between the two, it was a relatively quiet place where samurai of both clans could walk freely.

Matsu Robun stormed through the streets casting about in every direction. Those who did not know him gave him a wide berth, for it was clear the man was troubled. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, and still his restless search did not abate.

There. A glimpse of blue and white ducking into an alleyway. Could it be his prey? He dared not hope. The warrior rushed into the alley, following it around two corners before being confronted with a dead end. He cursed, and then he heard the noise behind him. He whirled to face his prey, the Crane called Kakita Osei.

“Hello, Robun-san,” the woman said softly.

“I have been hunting you,” Robun said with a snarl. “You and your ilk are responsible for Masote-sama’s death.”

“I am responsible for many things,” Osei said quietly. “Masote’s death is not among them.”

“Lies,” Robun answered. “Masote-sama served the Emperor by exposing your mistress. He was an honorable man. You Crane, the lot of you, sicken me. You murdered a man for vengeance and call it honor.”

“No,” Osei said. “It is not my place to question Domotai-sama’s motives, but how many Lion have gone to war for slights against their ancestors? Your master could have revealed his discovery months ago, but instead he waited until he could have the Emperor’s ear to do so. He was not interested in exposing treachery. Masote wanted to disgrace the Crane and gain the Emperor’s favor. He was a self-serving warmonger, nothing more.”

“How dare you? How dare you speak his name with such slander?”

Osei shook her head. “You hear nothing.”

Robun drew his blade. “Are you ready for death?”

“I am,” she said. “If the death is yours, then this all will end. If it is mine, then perhaps your bloodlust will be sated and our clans can continue toward peace without fools such as you and I.”

Robun hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I respect a warrior who does not fear death. In that, at least, you have honor.”

Osei laughed. “Honor? I lost my honor long ago. I sacrificed it for my clan without hesitation or regret, and yet I discovered that some of the acts I was required to commit aided not the Crane or the Emperor, but the Gozoku. For that, I am filled with shame. I will kill you if I can, but if not, then I have nothing to fear. I welcome redemption in the next life.”

The Lion brandished his blade. “It is good that you have accepted your fate.”

Osei smiled slightly and drew her blade. “Accepting a possibility and accepting its inevitability are two very different things. I do not plan to die today.”

The two samurai stood facing one another with blades drawn, neither moving. The seconds stretched into minutes, and the minutes nearly until an hour. The twilight fell into complete darkness, broken only by the flickering light from the torches at the nearby castle. Finally, the two struck.

Two blades flashed in the night, their perfect steel souls capturing even the faintest glimmer of light from their surroundings. Robun hissed in pain, but Osei said nothing, her lips pressed into a thin white line. The two warriors stepped past one another, each holding a bloodied blade. A large section of Robun’s do-maru fell to the ground, and a fragment of his mempo fell broken to the ground as well. Osei wore no armor, but her kimono slowly spread a deep crimson stain across it.

The Crane turned back to her adversary. “Is it over now?” she whispered.

He nodded, wiping the blood from the deep cut along his cheek in the process. “Yes.”

Osei nodded in return. “Thank you.”

And she fell dead to the ground.

Robun stood for several moments, saying nothing. The blood seeped from his chest and face into the ground. After a while, he knelt down and offered a prayer, then he stood and walked into the evening darkness.