Broken Wings
by Kakita Kaori
Set during the Slaughter of the Imperial Court in the reign of Toturi I
There were screams in the distance that echoed through the hallways, and he could hear the sound of terrible weeping, but Toshiken's heart was stone within him. Colder than stone...ice. It was an ice he would never be able to let melt, for with it would come memory, and madness. He could already see the madness stirring around him. It dripped red from his drawn blade, and stared at him from the unseeing eyes and painted, doll-like face of the maiden he had just cut down. It clung to the bottoms of his zori, for the blood coated the floor in places, and there was no avoiding it. To try to stay purified, in any event, would be a farce. But to save his children, to obey his Emperor, there was no choice.
He walked slowly, now. He was approaching the Crane quarters, and expected a fight. His men behind him did not speak. But the corridor's were empty before him. Even the Daidoji guardsmen were missing. He knew they had not left the palace; his men watched every way out. He could hear the sound of soft weeping from the room of the Crane Daimyo and Imperial Advisor, his uncle. Kakita Yoshi. He slid the screen aside.
There, kneeling in the middle of the floor, was the Imperial Advisor. A writing desk was before him. The ink on the stone was wet. He was dressed all in white, trimmed lightly with gray and silver. Crowded into the room were ten more of the Crane courtiers, and the Daidoji guardsmen stood at silent attention to either side of the inside of the door. But they did not draw their weapons. A young woman wept softly.
Yoshi picked up the writing desk and set it to one side. "You have come to kill us," he said, in soft, practiced tones. It was not a question.
Toshinken nodded, and his guards adjusted their grip on the katana to prepare for the slaughter. Toshinken could feel his hand shake.
Yoshi swept gracefully to his feet. "If you'll pardon my rudeness, I must see the Emperor immediately." He glanced behind him at the other courtiers. "Come along, and say nothing. Guards, wait here. You have done well, and the Children of Doji will always remember your honor." It seemed to be a farewell. There was no fear in Yoshi's eyes, only a polite smile as he swept past Toshiken and the guards and into the hallway.
Toshiken and the guards were taken aback by Yoshi's utterly calm temerity, and could only blink as he and the other Crane courtiers swept past him. Like the colorful birds that graced the Emperor's garden, the Crane courtiers swept down the hall to the Imperial throne room. Toshiken, quickly recovering himself, hurried after them. He had not expected Yoshi to try this.
By the time Toshiken and the guards had caught up with the Crane daimyo, the doors to the Imperial chambers had been opened by confused looking guardsmen, and the Crane had entered. The courtiers pressed themselves silently against one of the walls, but Yoshi stood in the middle of the room, before the throne of Jade. There Toturi brooded in shadowed darkness, that same sinister frown on his features. Toshiken ordered his guards into the room, and stood at the back of the chamber, unsure about how to order the killing of the Crane courtiers there in the Emperor's presence. The guards fanned out, watching for the order to strike.
Yoshi bowed before the Imperial throne, but it was not the deep bow of reverence for the Emperor. Instead it was the perfect bow that a Champion of the Crane would make to the Champion of the Lion when they met upon the battlefield. It would have been considered complete disrespect from anyone but Yoshi, but the Imperial Advisor even managed to make that gesture seem sincere.
"Excellent, Toshiken-sama. Thank you for coming. " Yoshi looked up into the eyes of the Emperor. "Emperor-sama, Toshiken has come to slaughter the Imperial Court." There was no fear or unsteadiness in his voice, even before the black, black eyes of Toturi, who glared at him from above. However, a wealth of grave injustice seemed indicated in Yoshi's words, a tone so profound that Toshiken readied his hand on his wakizashi, ready to take his own life to learn that this was all a mistake.
Toturi nodded once. "At my order, you shall die. Toshiken...."
Yoshi stepped to the side, so he could face both Toshiken and Toturi. Toshiken took a step forward to kill Yoshi as he had been bid, but something undefinable in Yoshi's stance stopped him. "Very well," the Advisor said. "I have no choice. Toshiken-sama, I charge that this is not Toturi. There is a dark and evil force that has taken the body and face and name of Toturi, and it is this force that drives his actions today. The real Toturi would never have ordered the death of his regent, Takuan. The real Toturi would not have set the clans at war with each other, as this man has done, and the real Toturi would not have ordered the slaughter of all of these men, women, and children who live in these halls. If he orders my death now, Toshiken-sama, without giving me the right to defend my charges, then you will truly know that he who sits upon the Jade Throne is not Toturi, and you follow the orders of a madman."
Toturi templed his fingers, gazing down from the Jade Throne with shadowed eyes. Toshiken's eyes widened in admiration. It was a good, if desperate, ploy, from the master of court politics. None could dispute the sincerity in Yoshi's voice, and there were many guards, and himself, to stand as witnesses. If Toturi ordered Toshiken to kill Yoshi despite his words, the charge would be proved, and the seed of doubt would be planted in the mind of all. The Imperial Guard might be obliged to stage a coup. 'Which might not be a bad thing...' Toshiken thought, looking up at Toturi and not allowing emotion to bleed into his features. But if Toturi answered the charge....
Toturi's face was blank, emotionless. "My old friend, Yoshi," he said, and a deadly chill was in his voice. "You have charged me, your Emperor, most gravely. For as I am your Emperor, it is my right to determine who shares my house and counsel, and your lives are mine to do with as I please. As Emperor, you have no right to challenge me. But you say that I am not Toturi. I am not Toturi!" In a burst of rage, Toturi hurled the scepter of the Emperor across the room, towards Yoshi. It slid across the marble floor and spun to a halt at Toshiken's feet. Toshinken did not move.
The corners of his lips turned up slightly, a sinister leer. "I demand the right to challenge this falsehood, as is traditional. A duel." Yoshi's face was pale marble, like the stone floor, and no less hard. He did not answer for a moment, as Toturi went on. "By my position and title, I shall dictate the terms. My Champion, Seppun Toshiken, should fight in my name. But Yoshi, your champion is dead." Toturi glanced around the room. "Toshimoko is gone. You have raised these charges against me. You must defend them with an Iaijitsu duel. Yourself. Now." Toshiken grimaced. By not ordering Yoshi's death outright, Toturi disproved the Crane's charges. But he aslo usurped tradition and set the terms of the duel. Now Yoshi must duel Toshiken, and surely the courtier would die. Unless he allowed Yoshi to win. Surely the man knew some iaijitsu. He was a Crane, after all. It might be enough.
There was no expression in Yoshi's face, but his heart sank. It has been a desperate gambit, with little hope of working, but he had hoped that whatever dark presence was guiding Toturi's hand would be less clever. It was not to be. He bowed to Toturi. "If that is how it must be. You usurp tradition, my Emperor, but it is within your rights." The charge of usurping tradition rang like a judgement in the hall. One young courtier pressed her face into her companion's sleeve to hide her expression and her tears.
Toshiken walked forward, re-sheathing his katana in his saya. Yoshi turned to face him, standing in the middle of the courtroom. A guard, one of the Seppun, came forward, removing his katana from his obi. Yoshi handed his fan to the guard. "Please give this to my nephew." The guard nodded, tucked the fan into his belt, and stepped away.
Yoshi's eyebrows drew together as he turned the sheathed katana in his hand. The dance of the sword. How he wanted to follow it as a child. He was healthy and strong. He could have danced. But that was not to be. And now, even for this....He put the katana in his obi, positioned to draw. Its positioning was perfect, his grip on the handle perfect as he put it into its place.
Toshiken's heart swelled with hope. Maybe Yoshi did know enough to strike him down cleanly, proving his claims against Toturi, stopping the slaughter. His eyes sought Yoshi's. He stepped back to the prescribed distance, and, where only Yoshi could see the gesture, turned his saya over. The draw would be nearly impossible now. Yoshi gave Toshiken a sad smile and shook his head. Toshiken did not understand.
"Begin." Toturi's voice intoned, marked with the anger of a thunderhead at dusk. Toshiken awkwardly, slowly, drew his sword.
Yoshi did not draw the blade. He merely stood, watching Toshiken as he turned his katana and advanced.
Another courtier was weeping now. Toshiken could hear her breaths, filled with tears. But Yoshi's breathing was even. "Draw the sword," Toshiken hissed, trying to keep his voice below where Toturi would be able to hear it. "I'll let you strike...I'll let you kill me."
Yoshi just shook his head again, standing in position, waiting for Toshiken's advance. Toshiken circled, waiting for the draw, but it did not come.
Long moments stretched by. Still Yoshi would not draw. From the throne, Toturi called, "Enough! You will draw the blade, Yoshi. If you strike Toshiken even once, I will let these courtiers you have brought with you go free." The courtiers, under Toturi's gaze, dropped as one to their knees, pressing their faces to the ground.
Yoshi looked at them, and there was sadness in his eyes. Toshiken could see it, but when the Crane daimyo turn back, his resolve was as stony as before. "I will not draw."
Toturi roared in anger. " You do not have the courage to defend your charges? Then you will die! Toshiken! Kill him like the sniveling coward he is. Guards! Kill them all!"
There was no choice. "Hai, my Lord," he said softly, and raised his sword. Yoshi folded his hands before him, the katana still very out of place as it hung in his obi. His crystal-blue eyes, as he watched Toshiken, were steady. Those eyes spoke volumes, stored in places in his heart that Toshiken would never tell another soul. With a single stroke, he cut down his uncle. Blood from the blow splashed across the marble floor, splashed against the Jade Throne. Around him, he could hear the cries of pain as the Seppun killed the courtiers. But all he could see were those eyes. Eyes that never blinked as he struck the killing blow. Eyes so much like his own.
"Finish it, Toshiken," Toturi said. "Let there be no more whisperings such as this to disturb me."
With a curt order, Toshiken left the room, and the guards followed. The beast that was once Toturi stood over his throne of blood and laughed.
Set during the Slaughter of the Imperial Court in the reign of Toturi I
There were screams in the distance that echoed through the hallways, and he could hear the sound of terrible weeping, but Toshiken's heart was stone within him. Colder than stone...ice. It was an ice he would never be able to let melt, for with it would come memory, and madness. He could already see the madness stirring around him. It dripped red from his drawn blade, and stared at him from the unseeing eyes and painted, doll-like face of the maiden he had just cut down. It clung to the bottoms of his zori, for the blood coated the floor in places, and there was no avoiding it. To try to stay purified, in any event, would be a farce. But to save his children, to obey his Emperor, there was no choice.
He walked slowly, now. He was approaching the Crane quarters, and expected a fight. His men behind him did not speak. But the corridor's were empty before him. Even the Daidoji guardsmen were missing. He knew they had not left the palace; his men watched every way out. He could hear the sound of soft weeping from the room of the Crane Daimyo and Imperial Advisor, his uncle. Kakita Yoshi. He slid the screen aside.
There, kneeling in the middle of the floor, was the Imperial Advisor. A writing desk was before him. The ink on the stone was wet. He was dressed all in white, trimmed lightly with gray and silver. Crowded into the room were ten more of the Crane courtiers, and the Daidoji guardsmen stood at silent attention to either side of the inside of the door. But they did not draw their weapons. A young woman wept softly.
Yoshi picked up the writing desk and set it to one side. "You have come to kill us," he said, in soft, practiced tones. It was not a question.
Toshinken nodded, and his guards adjusted their grip on the katana to prepare for the slaughter. Toshinken could feel his hand shake.
Yoshi swept gracefully to his feet. "If you'll pardon my rudeness, I must see the Emperor immediately." He glanced behind him at the other courtiers. "Come along, and say nothing. Guards, wait here. You have done well, and the Children of Doji will always remember your honor." It seemed to be a farewell. There was no fear in Yoshi's eyes, only a polite smile as he swept past Toshiken and the guards and into the hallway.
Toshiken and the guards were taken aback by Yoshi's utterly calm temerity, and could only blink as he and the other Crane courtiers swept past him. Like the colorful birds that graced the Emperor's garden, the Crane courtiers swept down the hall to the Imperial throne room. Toshiken, quickly recovering himself, hurried after them. He had not expected Yoshi to try this.
By the time Toshiken and the guards had caught up with the Crane daimyo, the doors to the Imperial chambers had been opened by confused looking guardsmen, and the Crane had entered. The courtiers pressed themselves silently against one of the walls, but Yoshi stood in the middle of the room, before the throne of Jade. There Toturi brooded in shadowed darkness, that same sinister frown on his features. Toshiken ordered his guards into the room, and stood at the back of the chamber, unsure about how to order the killing of the Crane courtiers there in the Emperor's presence. The guards fanned out, watching for the order to strike.
Yoshi bowed before the Imperial throne, but it was not the deep bow of reverence for the Emperor. Instead it was the perfect bow that a Champion of the Crane would make to the Champion of the Lion when they met upon the battlefield. It would have been considered complete disrespect from anyone but Yoshi, but the Imperial Advisor even managed to make that gesture seem sincere.
"Excellent, Toshiken-sama. Thank you for coming. " Yoshi looked up into the eyes of the Emperor. "Emperor-sama, Toshiken has come to slaughter the Imperial Court." There was no fear or unsteadiness in his voice, even before the black, black eyes of Toturi, who glared at him from above. However, a wealth of grave injustice seemed indicated in Yoshi's words, a tone so profound that Toshiken readied his hand on his wakizashi, ready to take his own life to learn that this was all a mistake.
Toturi nodded once. "At my order, you shall die. Toshiken...."
Yoshi stepped to the side, so he could face both Toshiken and Toturi. Toshiken took a step forward to kill Yoshi as he had been bid, but something undefinable in Yoshi's stance stopped him. "Very well," the Advisor said. "I have no choice. Toshiken-sama, I charge that this is not Toturi. There is a dark and evil force that has taken the body and face and name of Toturi, and it is this force that drives his actions today. The real Toturi would never have ordered the death of his regent, Takuan. The real Toturi would not have set the clans at war with each other, as this man has done, and the real Toturi would not have ordered the slaughter of all of these men, women, and children who live in these halls. If he orders my death now, Toshiken-sama, without giving me the right to defend my charges, then you will truly know that he who sits upon the Jade Throne is not Toturi, and you follow the orders of a madman."
Toturi templed his fingers, gazing down from the Jade Throne with shadowed eyes. Toshiken's eyes widened in admiration. It was a good, if desperate, ploy, from the master of court politics. None could dispute the sincerity in Yoshi's voice, and there were many guards, and himself, to stand as witnesses. If Toturi ordered Toshiken to kill Yoshi despite his words, the charge would be proved, and the seed of doubt would be planted in the mind of all. The Imperial Guard might be obliged to stage a coup. 'Which might not be a bad thing...' Toshiken thought, looking up at Toturi and not allowing emotion to bleed into his features. But if Toturi answered the charge....
Toturi's face was blank, emotionless. "My old friend, Yoshi," he said, and a deadly chill was in his voice. "You have charged me, your Emperor, most gravely. For as I am your Emperor, it is my right to determine who shares my house and counsel, and your lives are mine to do with as I please. As Emperor, you have no right to challenge me. But you say that I am not Toturi. I am not Toturi!" In a burst of rage, Toturi hurled the scepter of the Emperor across the room, towards Yoshi. It slid across the marble floor and spun to a halt at Toshiken's feet. Toshinken did not move.
The corners of his lips turned up slightly, a sinister leer. "I demand the right to challenge this falsehood, as is traditional. A duel." Yoshi's face was pale marble, like the stone floor, and no less hard. He did not answer for a moment, as Toturi went on. "By my position and title, I shall dictate the terms. My Champion, Seppun Toshiken, should fight in my name. But Yoshi, your champion is dead." Toturi glanced around the room. "Toshimoko is gone. You have raised these charges against me. You must defend them with an Iaijitsu duel. Yourself. Now." Toshiken grimaced. By not ordering Yoshi's death outright, Toturi disproved the Crane's charges. But he aslo usurped tradition and set the terms of the duel. Now Yoshi must duel Toshiken, and surely the courtier would die. Unless he allowed Yoshi to win. Surely the man knew some iaijitsu. He was a Crane, after all. It might be enough.
There was no expression in Yoshi's face, but his heart sank. It has been a desperate gambit, with little hope of working, but he had hoped that whatever dark presence was guiding Toturi's hand would be less clever. It was not to be. He bowed to Toturi. "If that is how it must be. You usurp tradition, my Emperor, but it is within your rights." The charge of usurping tradition rang like a judgement in the hall. One young courtier pressed her face into her companion's sleeve to hide her expression and her tears.
Toshiken walked forward, re-sheathing his katana in his saya. Yoshi turned to face him, standing in the middle of the courtroom. A guard, one of the Seppun, came forward, removing his katana from his obi. Yoshi handed his fan to the guard. "Please give this to my nephew." The guard nodded, tucked the fan into his belt, and stepped away.
Yoshi's eyebrows drew together as he turned the sheathed katana in his hand. The dance of the sword. How he wanted to follow it as a child. He was healthy and strong. He could have danced. But that was not to be. And now, even for this....He put the katana in his obi, positioned to draw. Its positioning was perfect, his grip on the handle perfect as he put it into its place.
Toshiken's heart swelled with hope. Maybe Yoshi did know enough to strike him down cleanly, proving his claims against Toturi, stopping the slaughter. His eyes sought Yoshi's. He stepped back to the prescribed distance, and, where only Yoshi could see the gesture, turned his saya over. The draw would be nearly impossible now. Yoshi gave Toshiken a sad smile and shook his head. Toshiken did not understand.
"Begin." Toturi's voice intoned, marked with the anger of a thunderhead at dusk. Toshiken awkwardly, slowly, drew his sword.
Yoshi did not draw the blade. He merely stood, watching Toshiken as he turned his katana and advanced.
Another courtier was weeping now. Toshiken could hear her breaths, filled with tears. But Yoshi's breathing was even. "Draw the sword," Toshiken hissed, trying to keep his voice below where Toturi would be able to hear it. "I'll let you strike...I'll let you kill me."
Yoshi just shook his head again, standing in position, waiting for Toshiken's advance. Toshiken circled, waiting for the draw, but it did not come.
Long moments stretched by. Still Yoshi would not draw. From the throne, Toturi called, "Enough! You will draw the blade, Yoshi. If you strike Toshiken even once, I will let these courtiers you have brought with you go free." The courtiers, under Toturi's gaze, dropped as one to their knees, pressing their faces to the ground.
Yoshi looked at them, and there was sadness in his eyes. Toshiken could see it, but when the Crane daimyo turn back, his resolve was as stony as before. "I will not draw."
Toturi roared in anger. " You do not have the courage to defend your charges? Then you will die! Toshiken! Kill him like the sniveling coward he is. Guards! Kill them all!"
There was no choice. "Hai, my Lord," he said softly, and raised his sword. Yoshi folded his hands before him, the katana still very out of place as it hung in his obi. His crystal-blue eyes, as he watched Toshiken, were steady. Those eyes spoke volumes, stored in places in his heart that Toshiken would never tell another soul. With a single stroke, he cut down his uncle. Blood from the blow splashed across the marble floor, splashed against the Jade Throne. Around him, he could hear the cries of pain as the Seppun killed the courtiers. But all he could see were those eyes. Eyes that never blinked as he struck the killing blow. Eyes so much like his own.
"Finish it, Toshiken," Toturi said. "Let there be no more whisperings such as this to disturb me."
With a curt order, Toshiken left the room, and the guards followed. The beast that was once Toturi stood over his throne of blood and laughed.