God-Blooded: The Sword of Fate 00-02

As Nene handed me my weapons I leaned in and whispered, "What is all this?"

"Not now." I barely heard.

Inside was a massive main room with a high ceiling. On the far side was the irori, with a kitchen area along the wall. Beyond it were 2 private rooms. There were doors on the two long walls. The left one led out to a terrace which sat a few feet away from a jutting escarpment above a few hundred feet of sheer drop. The right led to an exit on one side and a small connected bath room on the other. Back in the main room I found Chiumi rooting through a closet, wherein there were practice weapons of every conceivable sort.

"Aww.. no Sang Kauw!" She complained. Then she purred seductively, "What do you think, big brother? Want to show me what that giant sword of yours can do?"

She was turned towards me with her weapon raised and a devilish smile on her face. There was a twinkle in her golden eyes. I was suddenly frozen where I stood. I felt myself begin to harden below my obi.

A loud crash brought my attention to my left, where Nene had just dropped an armload of firewood. I heard her awkwardly sputter, "Umm.. Maybe I should leave you two.. I mean.."

"Oh, come on Nene. You know it'll be more fun if you watch!" Chiumi said in her laughing tone. She lowered her sang kuaw and walked over to poor Nene.

As the two finished regathering the wood, I noted Chiumi looking at me then whispering something to Nene. The smile never left her face.

A servant poked his head in from the front door. "My lord, we have your items here."

"Leave it all on the porch and thank you." I said as I finally turned away, trying to hide the very obvious bulge in my kimono embarrassedly.

"I should go check on eldest sister. Have fun you two!" Chiumi said.

As Nene began to prepare the irori, I stepped towards her and said, "I'll get it."

Then in a much lower tone I quickly asked, "Could you make certain that we're alone? I really do need to talk to you."

I met her on the front porch, where she pulled back her hair and whispered, "All clear."

We made quick work of getting my meager possessions inside and sat down on the mat beside the firepit. Nene grinned, her very posture entirely different now that we were alone. She said, "I have a few kegs of sake hidden here. You look like you might need some."

Of course she has sake hidden here, why wouldn't she? I thought. But instead I said, "It's far too early for sake. So this is where I'm to live?"

"We discussed it right before we went to get you earlier. Tamiki thought it would be best to keep you isolated here until Shiori arrives. She had thought to broach it at dinner but I guess when you mentioned wanting to go to the dojo.."

I thought this over and wasn't sure that I liked it. Something else about my older sister also bothered me.

"She hides it well but she really doesn't like me very much, does she?"

"No, she doesn't. Keep in mind, if I tell Tamiki that I think you might run, she'll have the bridge destroyed. You'll notice that your climbing gear has been taken from your pack."

"So this is to be my prison?"

Nene pulled back the front of the mat and knocked on the wooden floor. It sounded hollow. She looked at me and said, "I have everything we would need to escape right here. In a day or 2 when things have settled I'll show you the two routes we can take down the mountain."

"If we ran what would they do, though?"

"Most likely Shiori would send Chiumi and her elite guard after us. They're her secret weapons. Chiumi has only ever been defeated in a duel by Shiori herself and the Matsu elite guard are handpicked. If we made it out of the Matsu lands we'd have to worry about the other god-blooded families, which would be far far worse."

"God-blooded? So it's not just our family? Are they all ...incestuous?"

Nene nodded. "And extremely dangerous. The most powerful members of every clan. At least the ones that we know about. If we ran we would have to worry about you being captured. Your blood is extremely valuable. Our only real hope would be to make it to the Crab Lands."

"Why the Crab Lands? And if this is true, why was I allowed to wander the Empire freely all these years?"

"When you left here Shiori put it out that you had been given Exile status, which meant that you were an outcast with no dangerous knowledge. If any god-blooded family had gone after you, they would've opened themselves for reprisal from the Lion. When you left the Crab, their god-blooded hidden daimyo let it be known that you had the same status with them. I assure you, whether you realized it or not you were being carefully monitored everywhere you went. Even the mad Bayushi hidden daimyo wouldn't risk it."

I tried to piece it together in my mind. "So my returning here only to flee again would be perceived as me learning the truth and rejecting it. That would make me fair game?"

"Exactly. The god-blooded families are a hidden caste above the rest of the nobility. One that the rest of The Empire must never learn of. You would be too dangerous, knowing what you know."

Something Nene had just gone past caught me. "Wait, if the Crab and Scorpion have 'hidden daimyos', who do we have?"

Nene looked at me for a long time without speaking. Then she finally said, "That would be your mother. Your return is going to change everything."

"How?"

"There are three types of god-blooded. First the half-bloods, who have human blood in them, which are the common nobles but aware of the rest of us. Second are the cross-bloods, like me and Chiumi, who have the blood of different god-blooded families in us. Third are those like you who are the purebloods. The only purebloods left in the Lion who can have more purebloods are the Akodo line. If you and Shiori don't have children, then true rulership of the Lion will pass to them. Tamiki's cousin, Akodo Yoshiki, is not a kind man. He and his brothers will tear our family to shreds."

"This is a lot to wrap my mind around." I stood and reached for Meiyo. I really did need to practice. I slowly unsheathed it. It definitely needed a polish. I stepped around the irori, as I tried to figure out which kata I would start with. I have to make children with my mother whose also my aunt in order to save my family. This just gets better and better.

I really needed a few hours with my no-dachi. An army of bandits swarming the castle walls would've hit the spot right then.

"Motoki."

I looked back over my shoulder at Nene.

"You must never tell anyone that I'm a cross-blood. As far as anyone knows I'm just a mongrel half-blood. Please. It's really dangerous."

This was her ultimate secret. I lowered my sword and turned fully to Nene. I gave her the deep bow that you give an equal. "I swear upon my honor and my soul that I will keep your secret until you tell me not to, Nene."

***

Dinner that night was delicious. It consisted of squid served with a sweet daikon sauce, barbecued vegetables, and of course, rice. I did a lot of talking. Most of the talking. Most of my stories revolved around my six months wandering with Ichibei. His enlightened drunken madness seemed to strike just the right chord with my sisters and nephew. It was good to hear so much laughter around the table.

When the hour grew late, Chiumi and Denbe made for their beds. I started to get up to go to my own but Tamiki said, "No brother, stay. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

She looked past me to Nene and commanded, "Get one of the servants to help you haul some extra firewood to Motoki's Dojo. He'll be along soon enough."

I felt a twinge of nervousness as my little shadow departed on an unnecessary errand that she couldn't refuse. Out of good faith I had come to the dinner table completely unarmed.

Tamiki sat staring at me for a time, her dark Akodo eyes unreadable. Then she smiled. But there was a falseness to it. "I suppose we know now why you carry a Shiba daisho. You speak of this Ichibei man like he was the only sensei you ever had that actually taught you anything."

There was a cold accusation in her words that I found disheartening. I was now on the defensive. "I meant no disrespect to the wise instructors at Matsu Dojo if that's the way that my stories made things sound. Obviously, I learned an incredible amount from them. I'll talk to Denbe tomorrow and make certain that he understands how great the Dojo is. I mean, that is if it's okay with you."

She looked away and her face shifted again. "I'm really not being very welcoming to you am I? I wanted you to understand.. It's.."

She went silent for a time. I took the opportunity to call to a waiting servant for sake. The cups and decanter were set before us but Tamiki didn't touch her's. I drank two cups while I waited for her to speak.

"I'll just say it: For years I've hated you, brother."

This caught me hard. I couldn't help but mutter an incredulous, "Why?"

"How could I not? You humiliated our family on the day that we were gathered to celebrate you! On top of that you went out of your way to make our father look weak! You threw our daimyo's favoritism towards you back in her face! Then you walked away like we all meant nothing to you and couldn't be bothered to even show the tiniest bit of concern for any of us for a decade and a half!"

"Tamiki it wasn't like that at all..." I mumbled meekly.

"All the sudden you're this big important hero that we're supposed to celebrate even though all you've ever done is rub our faces in the dung beneath your sandals! No, less than that! You didn't even care enough to show us your contempt!"

"Listen, it wasn't like that Tamiki.."

"Oh? How was it Brother? Poor little Motoki has a hard-on for his stepmother whose too busy getting plundered to heaven by his big bad father so he's got to mope off to the Crab where some slut-"

I slammed my fist on the table hard enough to break splinters and draw blood. I leaned in so that I was nose-to-nose with my sister. "You will not speak of Misa like that! OR- Daimyo or not! Sister or not! I don't care! -I will see you on the dueling field! And I will cut you down like I've cut down the worst scum of The Empire! Good Night!"

I stormed out of the manor.

Once outside, I screamed my wordless rage to Lord Moon. It had all been an act! My sister had seemed like an arrogant daimyo opening her home to her long lost brother this morning. She had fooled me well. I wouldn't be fooled again. Father's malice had found its home in our generation. I was done with it! I reached into my kimono, pulled out his stupid scroll, and threw it into the night.

***