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400 Years Apart	By : Cynthermes Category: +M to R > Mirage of Blaze Views: 4238 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Mirage of Blaze and its characters solely belong to Kuwabara Mizuna. I’m just going to creep into a corner of her sand box and play the part of a wannabe historical writer. No profit has been made in the construction of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
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Chapter Six:

Three parts Triangle: Part 0.5

A/N: First and foremost, I’d like to give my warmest thanks to Sadie237 for the encouraging reviews! It’s the best reward fanfiction writers could hope to get for all their hard work.

>>Year 1569 of our time slip. Some notable series of events will happen…

Saburo stirs from a bizarre dream of people wearing strange clothes and speaking odd words. His sleep was barely restful at all. To top it off he doesn’t remember how he returned to his room and fell asleep in the first place. His neck felt stiff and his temple was pounding; a headache was about to be born. This was nothing like a hangover. His hand instantly travelled to the secret sleeve of his front.

Empty. His flute had really been taken. The events that led to that were now remembered in stark detail. Kotarou, he seethed. He’ll think of a way to deal with that irritating shinobi later. The flames in the lanterns flickered and the center window rattled. A few moments later he heard the sound of rain patter against the wood panel.

Well it seems there’s no helping it. He yawned, stretched, and got up. With bare cold feet he walks across the room and flings the window open. The earthy smell of morning rain and tangy scent of the sea breeze banished the lingering lethargy from his body. The aromatic salts of nature were always best for imbalances in the system. With a clearer head he marvels at the mighty waves of Sagami Bay as they crash on the defensive cliffs below his home. Distant thunder rumbled above the greyish skies. Were they about to have another storm?

A brief flash of lightning, louder thunder and the rain getting stronger than ever told him that he wouldn’t be going out again anytime soon. With his instrument confiscated and the entertainers cooped up downtown due to the worsening weather has cut his tracks outside of Odawara-jo.

The dreary turn of the morning wasn’t helping his grumpy mood. Saburo was unaware that it wouldn’t stop there.

Standing by the east bastion of the fortress also provided a partial view of the stone gardens below. The landscape was notably the Clan Head’s most desired place for rest and recreation. Sometimes Saburo would play the flute in an attempt to show his affections to the one person who was related to him by blood but treated him like any other stranger. Ujimasa-ani was stoic, clever, and highly revered by his retainers. The future third overlord of the Hojo wonders if he would be just like his brother when he comes of age and fought wars as a general. With a resolute mind he swears that he would find a different path.

The scurrying of the servants and the fidgety footsteps of joushi¹⁸ barking orders has caught his attention for some time now. What had them so worked up this early and in the gardens of all places?

As if on cue the main shoji to his room opened and two servants entered. “Good morning, Saburo-sama. We’re glad you’ve risen. Oh heavens! Who left the window open?”

The dead throbbing in his temple suddenly rose to life and he could feel his patience snapping at the edges. He usually wasn’t this hot-tempered but… wordlessly he shuts the aforementioned object closed and waits for them to continue.

“We must make haste and prepare. Please wear your best kimono; you are to meet with your future bride today.” Only one word registered on his mind and the next thing was he wanted to break something.

“WHAT?”

“Please Saburo-sama, we don’t have time. Your uncle, Genan-sama is here with his daughter. You have to be presentable for the tea ceremony.” So that explains all the ruckus happening four floors below his bedchambers.

They have important guests and they bring nothing but the best misfortune. The coming of the latter has tripled the misery of this dismal day. The third emerging lord of the Hojo mused in black enthusiasm. “How come I was not told about this?” As much as the servants wanted to divest him out of his morning clothes (he wasn’t wearing them the night before), his frosty stance couldn’t even bring them to enter his personal space.

“But Saburo-sama we are as surprised as you are! Please, we cannot make your elder brothers or your uncle wait for too long. Let us assist. The formal kimono for the miai¹⁹ has been laid out for you.” He could definitely feel their nerves cracking under the pressure.

Saburo sighed. These women had been in the family’s service even before he was born. The least he could do was show them he was worthy to sit right next to his elder brothers and not behave like some teenager stuck in his rebellious phase. “Very well.” He finally agrees to be led into the adjacent room where a pristine ocean-blue kimono with finely tailored sleeves and neckline, richly embroidered with sakura petals on the hems, the huge white crane sewed on the back, and the family crest embossed at the front completing the ensemble has stunned him speechless in awe.

But before he could even run his fingers on the exquisite fabric one of the servants prevented him from doing so. He nearly gave her an irate look but settled on a raised brow. She pointed on the steaming wooden tub of water eight steps from where the rack held the elegant robe. This time without preamble, the servants were more than happy to get him naked and push him on the tub. They get as far as the knot on his hakama before he swats those intruding hands away. “I can bathe myself!”

Their faces pop into ridiculous question marks when understanding dawns… “Aww… Young master is all grown up!” The elder of the two squeals.

“Oh yes, he won’t even let us bathe him anymore when he used to love it when he was a toddler!”

And they said he had to make haste…

“Stop that Yuri-chan, you’re embarrassing him!” They were definitely teasing him. If they have time for this, then he had enough reason to dally!

“I was grooming myself since I was twelve!” He escorted the two cackling foxes outside and slammed the shoji shut hearing a last, “But Saburo-sama, who will wash your back?”

Urgh.

Women and their compulsion to nurture; it gets on his nerves. They made him remember her in unlikely situations.

Mother…

She fought for him so that he could stay in the family and it had cost her dearly.

If she hadn’t straightened her backbone and simply obeyed her husband’s whims she would still be alive today. What was the loss of but one child? In times like these pragmatism was essential for survival. To keep the last born child while already having two established sons was deadweight. He would have willingly accepted the fate of a mediator²⁰ and feel honored. His father however was never really good with establishing alliances and his mother might have foreseen the outcome. Her wisdom, courage, and beauty were forever admirable.

Saburo never knew that he had taken after his mother so much that he was the last person his father wanted to see after her death.

The sound of the shoji reopening made him instantaneously shout, “I thought I told you—!” He catches himself just when the stern features of his protector entered his field of vision. Was Kotarou their last resort? Then he’d prefer to drag the women right back and let them harass him instead.

“Ujiteru-sama was worried so he told me to personally escort you to the gardens, Young Master.” Kotarou nonchalantly approaches while Saburo steps back.

“I’ll bathe and dress quickly so stay outside!” Saburo swears his voice wasn’t commanding enough.

A hand shots so quickly to grab his wrist before he noticed he wasn’t going anywhere near the bath alone. “Let go!” He tugs his arm away.

“Yuri-san and Sayori-san’s leniency has accomplished nothing therefore I decided to remedy the situation. If Young Master wishes to stay in the good graces of Sagami no Kami, Ujimasa-sama, he would do as he is told.” The shinobi’s hands were halfway finished with his charge’s top garment when the left sleeve caught on something pointed and sharp.

Kotarou pulls roughly anyway and ignores the ripping sound as the material tears apart.

“You dare use my brother against me?” Only an undergarment stands in the way and Saburo was determined to defend it to the last scrap of his dignity. “That reminds me, Ujiteru-ani wouldn’t be pleased to know my flute has gone missing.”

His threat affects the shinobi not one bit. “Does the Young Master have a problem with another man seeing his body?”

Saburo stands bare on a pile of rain-drizzled clothes. With his hand still trapped on the Fuma’s vice-like grip and the other brandishing a tanto to keep him at bay, the lordling narrows his eyes, “Don’t mistake me for a woman.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t.” Kotarou disarms his Young Master quickly and efficiently, picks him up (despite his struggles) and dumps him on the tub unceremoniously.

Water overflows down the wooden tiles.

Meanwhile the two eavesdropping maidens snicker and giggle to their hearts’ content outside.

“Sayori-san, do you think Young Master will be alright? He sounds like he’s being murdered in there.” Yuri, the younger servant rubs the tears of mirth off her eyes.

“He swears like a drowning kitty! Poor child, I actually envy him.” Sayori replies, her shoulders shaking.

“You don’t say…” They were both red in the face having come up with the same dreamy thought. Kotarou-sama…

“To be bathed by one’s protector would be such a wonderful dream come true.” They sighed in unison and broke into more peals of laughter.

XxXMOBXxX

Saburo emerges fresh from the bath on a light robe and a white towel absently drying his hair while Kotarou was never far behind him. “Yuri-san, Sayori-san you do know that a mere sheet of paper couldn’t possibly muffle voices talking…” He shoots them his famous glare, “about me.”

The two servants take a direct hit but before they wither and dry up in their lordling’s incinerating gaze they have their last words, “Please wear the blue kimono!”

And… they scamper away.

“Kotarou,” The light robe falls to the floor.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Don’t think that you’re spared from my anger. I haven’t forgotten what you did to me.”

“Yes, my lord.” The rustle of clothing was the only background noise against stark words exchanged between master and servant²¹.

XxXMOBXxX

The creaking of his footsteps on the floor boards seems to rival that of the anxious pounding of his heart. It was not like he was getting married on the spot but the atmosphere of inexplicable tension was the same. The last miai¹⁹ he had attended was that of his eldest brother’s. There was a time where the Takeda and the Hojo almost reached a truce. Both Shingen and his late father had contemplated an alliance but since former enemies couldn’t completely trust the other a surety system was established. To bring two allied families together it was decided that the solution would always be intermarriage between the clans.

Thus Hojo Ujimasa met Takeda Obaiin for the first time. Saburo had never seen his eldest brother lose his composure, not even in the face of their father’s wrath. But when his Ujimasa-ani laid eyes on her, he thought that he might be human after all. For that was the first time he had ever seen him smile genuinely. A miai¹⁹ between two previous warring clans had never met such success as theirs. They were married almost a month after. Then the Lady Obaiin moved to live with their family. She was much like their mother, Zuikeiin: kind, compassionate, with a bright personality that could turn any dark day into a sunny morning. But they were never blessed with children so the alliance threatened to weaken eventually on a fruitless union.

One day during an alliance meeting, two of Ujimasa’s elite retainers offended one special joushi¹⁸ of Lord Shingen’s. He was special²² in ways the ten-year-old Saburo couldn’t comprehend for his displeasure equaled that of Kai no kami, Takeda’s anger. Ujimasa’s loyalty to the family was tested for the first time.

The dispute was settled on one condition. Behind closed doors, Shingen asked his favorite joushi¹⁸ what he desires to be appeased. The man whispered only one innocent name.

Hence Kai no kami, Takeda Shingen stated that he would quickly overlook the matter if Sagami no kami, Hojo Ujiyasu was willing to hand over his then youngest son, Saburo in exchange for Lady Obaiin’s continued residence within Odawara-jo. Caught in between the welfares of his two sons, Ujiyasu begrudgingly gave up on his last child, a decision he didn’t know would cause such a gigantic rift in the family it would never be the same again.

It was never unusual that alliances are fragile bonds that were grounded on mutual gain. In the end, husband and wife were forced to part. To this moment, Saburo always wondered if he had earned his eldest brother’s cold hate by simply being a boy among that crowd of men.

His miai¹⁹ could not be more beneficial to the Hojo Clan than strengthening old ties so why? Have his eldest brother decided to finally sever him from the family completely? Marrying him off to an unknown cousin would certainly get rid of him efficiently. Saburo hadn’t realized his thoughts have gotten wayward. Two bowing servants opened the main shoji leading towards the spacious balcony overlooking the well-manicured stone gardens the Clan Head took good pride in.

Saburo enters without looking at anyone within the room not even meeting the eyes of his Ujiteru-ani. The latter and company held their breaths as a figure in blue kimono, they barely identified as the former politely bows to greet them.

Ujimasa’s throat had suddenly gone dry. Raven hair, downcast almond eyes, incorruptible, and ephemerally the split-image of the late Lady of Odawara, the current Clan Head of the Hojo felt the blue in the kimono deeply burn his eyes. Along with it, another feeling he thought he had under control rose to an almost uncontainable degree.

“Saburo, you’ve grown into a fine young man! I almost didn’t recognize you. Come closer; let me have a better look at my nephew.” The gentle voice of Genan quelled the nervous energy hanging in the air.

Saburo does as he is told. He familiarizes himself with the man who nourished him back to health when he fell ill at the age of two. Genan looked almost the same as before. His features mirrored that of his late father had he (Ujiyasu) reached his seventies and he had those knowing eyes brimming of wisdom and understanding. Why of all people would this monk come all the way from Hakone to the family’s stronghold to suddenly present his daughter for marriage?

Actually he didn’t know Genan had a child before now.

“Your mother, you look so much like her. Your father would have been moved to tears if he could see you now.” The one speaking fondly and cupping his face on his palms was shedding one or two, himself.

“Uncle, let’s not waste our time dallying. Tell Saburo the true purpose of your visit.” Straightforward as always, the Clan Head interrupted their reunion.

“Of course, Ujimasa.” Genan acquiesced to the current Sagami no Kami. “Saburo, I know this is too abrupt. But I want to introduce you to my daughter, Hanaiin.”

The young woman on Genan’s right whose face is covered by a veil bows to him.

Saburo feels… nothing. He doesn’t lose his composure of meeting her eyes or even when she reveals her apparent beauty hidden by light silk. Despite seeing a very pretty woman for the first time in a long while, the lordling’s amber eyes do not lit up. Unbeknownst to him, his eldest brother was particularly keen on observing his reactions. Ujimasa’s tight lip curls.

“I am pleased to finally meet you, my lord.” Hanaiin courteously greets her would-be husband.

Saburo nods at her once then turns to his elder brother Ujiteru for help. The latter doesn’t say anything but his eyes speak volumes of reassurance and… amusement?

“As you all know, I am getting old. And I cannot leave my daughter’s safety any more than my temple in the hands of my apprentice monks. That is why Saburo, I want to leave her under your care until she finds a suitable husband she wants to marry.” Anyone could be swayed by these carefully-placed words.

“Father!” Hanaiin protests his leniency and then gravely apologizes. “Please Father; you need not concern yourself too much for my sake. My lords, I wish for nothing more than to take good care of my father as long as he lives.”

“Hanaiin, do not shame me with your foolish words. In this chaotic and dangerous world, you need an eligible man to protect you.” Genan answers back much to her mortification.

The longer this conversation lasts, the more the Clan Head’s brow ache and his’ wasn’t the only one. “Uncle, I understand what you are going through but I am afraid Saburo would not be a match for your daughter.”

Among everyone present, Saburo was the most surprised. He least expected his Ujimasa-ani to come for his aid. But I thought he wanted to marry me off so he could get rid of me? It doesn’t make sense.

“Saburo is merely seventeen years old. He has not come of age and has a wanderlust that baffles even Ujiteru and me. In his impulsive youth, do you think he could protect your daughter?” The Clan Head continues and his reasoning is met with silence.

Ujiteru holds back a chuckle and clears his throat. He orders the servants for a refill of tea.

“But as you said Ujimasa, he would come of age. He would outgrow his impulsivity and he would learn to be a responsible lord of the Hojo Clan in the future, am I correct?” Genan threw his eldest nephew’s words back at him. Yet Ujimasa has already foreseen this to happen. He didn’t quite forget that this was his late father’s brother he was speaking to.

“Yes but that is not all, Uncle. If you are worried about your daughter, her safety is more than guaranteed by the three of us. Hanaiin is free to remain here in Odawara-jo for as long as she pleases. So knowing that before coming here, is there anything else that you are not telling us?” The Sagami no kami was determined to catch the elusive intentions of his stubborn uncle.

“I…” Genan pierces his youngest nephew in place with this wish, “I wanted Saburo as my own. I desire to adopt him as a son.”

“And you plan to gain him through this miai¹⁹? It is very unfortunate Uncle that as his age dictates: Saburo is not free to marry.” Ujimasa was absolutely not done. He doesn’t lay plans half-baked after all.

“And what ever do you mean by that?”

“Kotarou.” The Clan Head calls for the shadow lingering behind them.

Saburo thought he would lose his wits by this ever-growing muddle of confusion. “What of him, Aniue?” He asks as the Fuma Clan Head enters the ring of fire.

“Saburo and Kotarou are in a shudo²³ relationship, Uncle. You wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened in the wake of Takeda Shingen’s wrath seven years ago, would you? Imagine what belies your daughter should you provoke a born assassin of the Fuma Clan.” His razor-sharp words directed at Genan tore through the gaping hole on his youngest brother’s already wounded heart.

Saburo could almost crumble to the floor. This unprecedented attack on his part left him unbelievably vulnerable on his eldest brother’s hands. How could… he? How could he?

How could his Ujimasa-ani use the same situation that destroyed their family seven years ago?

TBC~

18 – A retainer directly beneath the daimyo they serve.

19 – Literally means: looking at one another; a chance meeting between two unattached individuals to consider marriage.

20 – That’s what he was told. He found out that a mediator meant ‘hostage’ when his mother took matters into her own hands.

21 – Notice anything parallel, yet?

22- Guess who?

23 – A respectable man-to-man relationship in the Feudal Era, Japan.

Post A/N: This chapter was so much fun to write! It took me longer days but hey it was sure worth it!

Disclaimer: The Japanese translations above, the previous, (since chapter one) and succeeding ones are taken from Wikipedia or other online sources, which are not mine at all.
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400 Years Apart