Traditions of Dead Generations

Round Three - The Widow of Assha Yokuda, Pt. 3

"I do not," Yokui raised a hand to placate him. "Politics interest me only as sport: I come on an errand of the spirit for a poor mother. The mother of other former Oda men."

Nakamura looked at him suspiciously. The boy called Yoshi looked at him with far more interest, Yokui noted. He wondered once again if this boy was the missing Niwa son, and decided to feel him out. "The widow I help has lost much in this war, and I hope to sooth her spirit. Her troubles would be lifted to know what had become of her missing children."

"I have no children with me." Nakamura said defensively, then seemed to remember. "Except my own. But the boy's mother is dead." Yokui glanced at Yoshi, but could not read the boy's face in the firelight.

"I found one of the woman's sons dead at Honnō-ji," Yoshi seemed to surge forward, nearly falling into the cooking fire before catching himself. Yokui continued, "But I had hoped you might help me find the brother."

Yokui was nearly caught off-guard by Nakamura's response. The rōnin leapt to his feet, drawing his katana in one stroke and kicking over the stump which had served as a table between them. Yokui sprang to his feet defensively and danced out of the weapon's range.

"Who are you?" Nakamura commanded him to speak, "Speak now or I will kill you where you stand."

"Nakamura-san, I fear you have mistaken my meaning," Yokui looked about him, confused. His shakujo lay out of reach, and Kazu was disarmed and tied to a tree. The bandits around him were gathering weapons and advancing on him like a pack of hungry dogs who'd been left in the kennels too long. "I mean the boy no harm-"

"Yoshi, get back to the fort right now," Nakamura growled, taking steps towards Yokui, "Old man, this is your last chance to explain yourself to my satisfaction."

"But Jo - Nakamura!" the boy protested, "Perhaps my-"

"Go now, you little fool!" Nakamura shouted.

This doesn't make sense, Yokui thought. Something is wrong. He looked at the boy Yoshi one last time. The boy was not retreating as his "father" had instructed, but instead stood with one hand angrily gripping his wakazashi. That isn't Niwa Takegi. "I am seeking Niwa Takegi!" he blurted immediately. By the fortunes, fellow, I don't care what kind of hidden lordling you're harbouring here... he prayed the bandit-lord could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"What?" Nakamura did indeed seem blindsided.

"What?" Yoshi was even more put off than his guardian. The boy had gone white as a sheet.

"I know he is not here," Yokui said a little desperately. At least, I know now. "I had hoped only you could help me find what became of him."

 It was Yoshi, not Nakamura who bore down on him then. The boy stepped in front of his guardian, assuming a common kenjutsu stance, though his sword was half too short. His face was now flushed and he had not the calm a samurai needed to win a duel, but his intention was clear.

"I killed Niwa Takegi," he announced, "And I challenge any man to say I did not have that right."

"You little fool," Nakamura muttered as Yokui gaped at the boy, "The priest is no samurai. You can not fight him."

"I have seen his jujitsu! He cannot be a priest - he serves Akechi Mitsuhide! He is an enemy of the Oda-" he glanced around at the bandits, "-and I forbid any of you from interfering!"

"Akechi Mitsuhide is dead." Nakamura grumbled, but he did not move. Nor, Yokui noted, did any of the bandits, though it clearly frustrated them. He narrowed his eyes at the boy. Who are you, little lord?

"I do not wish to fight you, Yoshi-sama. I can not contest your right to have killed Niwa Takegi. I am not your enemy. I only want to know how the man died."

"I killed him for betraying his lord, and his family! For betraying his friends!" the boy hissed, and Yokui saw how personal that betrayal was for him, "Enough talk." Yoshi drew.

The boy was jittery, but he drew clean and quick. A longer weapon would have taken Yokui in the gut, but he had just enough time to turn away from the wakazashi's burnished point. He rolled along the outside edge of the blade and caught the boy by the shoulders. Yoshi scrambled and broke his hold twice, but he was not trained in the art of grappling the way Yokui was, and the monk soon had the boy locked in spot, unable to even bend his elbow to threaten him again with the blade. 

"You will never defeat an enemy that way, boy," he whispered in his ear, "And this encounter did not follow the way of Bushidō. Drop your weapon and I will never speak of it. These bandits will not know the difference."

"You insult my honour-!"

"You have spoiled your honour already! I offer you the chance for the slight to be forgotten!" Yokui chanced a glance at Nakamura. The bandit-lord nodded imperceptibly, sword still sheathed. Yokui held the boy tight until the wakazashi tumbled to the earth.

Yokui released the boy and stepped in front of him, kicking the blade away. He bowed and sat down, returning to his dinner with exaggeratedly calm motions. Yoshi panted with anger and the effort of restraining himself, but Nakamura came and slowly righted the stump he had kicked over, and sat as well. 

"You may join us or you may retire, Yoshi." he said without looking at the boy. "You have my word that your honour will be kept." The boy grunted and stormed off into the black night. After a moment of silence, the bandit-lord continued, "Niwa Takegi fell at the Battle of Yamazaki."

"Yamazaki?" Yokui started. He knew too little of the battle to guess of its participants. Who could the young Niwa have followed there? Ah.... "Akechi Mitsuhide..." he said to himself. Niwa Takegi had turned against his daimyo, maybe even against his brother.

"I am glad at your surprise, oshō-san. My boy thought you had come to accuse him."

Yokui nodded. "I am what I am, Nakamura-san. Just a priest on an errand from a grieving mother. I serve neither Oda nor Toyotomi. I seek to avenge nobody. I only want the boy's remains."

"I will tell you where they are," Nakamura offered, though a warning was clear in his tone, "But I must have your word that you will not speak of us, or this place. My lord - Yoshi-sama, you understand, will have many enemies if his presence here is known. And he's a little fool, that one. I don't think he inherited a hair of his father's good sense. He will bring himself into disgrace or death unless I keep him secret, and safe." 

He's an Oda, Yokui realized. Oda Nobunaga had a dozen sons, the eldest of whom had died at Honnō-ji with him. The lord of the realm were lining up behind Oda Nobunaga's other sons - a hot-headed youth like Yoshi could easily fall under the sway of an opportunist. Not that any of this mattered to Yokui. He nodded again. "His honour is safe with me. Once the widow's dead are appeased, I will return to Eihei-ji and wish this war away."

"I envy you, oshō-san. I fear my fate is to breathe battles until the last one."

"You could always take up the robes of my brothers, Nakamura-san. Other paths are available." Yokui smiled. Nakamura's leather face seemed to crack as he returned the grin.

"Do they teach your jujitsu at Eihei-ji? Perhaps, hey? New life for an old man." the old bandit stood and put another stick on the fire. "But no, I swore my allegiance to my lord, and I will stand by my word until my death." he looked about to be sure his bandit companions had not heard this last part. "Let me tell you how to find your dead boy."