Vol 6 Chapter 8 (1/2)
Chapter 8: That Beloved Sea
They drove straight from the city center toward Odawara City The late suun its doard arc by the time they reached Castle Ruins Park, and they felt the heat of it against their skin like a tangible force as soon as they got out of the car
The castle’s beautiful white tower shone beneath a cloudless blue sky They headed down the gravel path, startling a flock of pigeons into taking wing, and ascended a flight of stone stairs to reach the i Gate, the restored Odawara Castle soared up before them in all its concrete splendor
Takaya looked wordlessly up at the castle The park which had been built around the ruins of the main citadel had also been rand structure presented a rather odd sight
The an cli for Takaya Takaya followed
The reconstructed tower had been converted into ahis briefcase in his right hand, he cli platform on the topmost floor
The sea spread out before them
Odawara City lay below them in an unbroken sweep, encircled by the Hakone and Tanzawa Mountain Ranges
“”
Takaya had followed the azed out at the view numbly, face drained of emotion
“You can see Mt Ishi+gaki from here—the place where Taikou Hideyoshi+ set up caentle slope to the southwest The stronghold Taikou Toyotoht Castle, here he had gathered his troops for the assault on the Houjou at Odawara From there he would have had a superb view of the castle and its defenses
Hideyoshi+ had e of the 18th year of Tenshou (1590) with the goal of subjugating Houjou Ujimasa and his son Ujinao, who had steadfastly refused fealty to the Toyotoiance to Hideyoshi+ added their troops to the siege, and even Date Masan had wavered over opposition or support, had been compelled to seek an audience with the Taikou for the first tie
An enor descended upon Odawara, and thus besieged, Ujimasa and his heir surrendered Hideyoshi+ deer brotherUjiteru, and in July of that year they committed ritual suicide
“Yet Odawara’s title of japan’s i Kenshi+n nor Takeda shi+ngen could take it in hard-fought battles, and it would not have fallen to the siege but for the overwhelainst the Houjou Even then the castle itself never fell to attack It is truly the greatest castle in the Kantou”
“”
Takaya er see at thein the sunlight
“This castle is the pride of the Houjou Clan,” the man added from behind him “The place that calls to the souls of all those who bear the Houjou bloodfor this is their homeland”
Takaya stood roup of tourists came up the stairs to the platform, but neither Takaya nor the man heard their cheerful voices; they were as isolated from the happy chatter around them as if they stood in another dimension
The ing through Takaya’s chest as he gazed into the distance, so still that he seemed rooted to the spot
The Sagalittered
The wind, scented with the lake and the last heat of summer, stirred the entle, thundering sea Miura Peninsula lay to the distant east, Manaduru Peninsula to the west, and on clear days even Izu Peninsula was visible The view held nothing particularly unique; it was, in fact, probably quite common as far as scenery went
But Takaya felt it
It was as if this were so his retinas along a familiar path to call up his sealed ed back from the depths of his soul across the vastness of time like the sea’s murmurers
The aze at the sea again as if his own heart were beating Takaya’s agitation
The City of Odawara, once stronghold of the hty Later Houjou, a clan which had wielded considerable power in the Kantou during the Sengoku Period for five generations starting with its founder Houjou Souun, was still the center of western Kanagawa Prefecture During the Edo Period, it had prospered as the 53rd station on the Tokaido Even now remnants of the past could be seen everywhere within this city seeped in its rich centuries of history
Odawara Castle, renowned during the Sengoku for its ies fro Kai and Uesugi Kenshi+n ofEchigo It was now a faardless of the season
Takaya stood silent and still as the expansive sea returned to hie of his father’s face
His father’s voice
It was too far away, too deep Takaya could not , with reverence and awe for the iant in his h he had not get realized it Though he did not understand why he felt these things Though his conscious e the connections
His soul knew
For the sea, passing straight through his pupils to touch his soul, spoke to hietora’s true father, Houjou Ujiyasu
The West Shounan Bypass ran parallel to National Route 1 along Odawara City’s coastline Though it provided the perfect drive, it also blocked the view of the es from the beach
The sun was already sinking below the horizon by the time they left Odawara Castle behind and, after about a fifteen-minute walk, arrived at Miyuki Beach
It rippled across the waves, infusing the scene with its own beauty Takaya closed his eyes and leaned into the sea breeze as it gently ruffled his hair, arms wrapped around himself
Thequietly at Takaya from a few steps behind him
They stood thus for uncounted minutes
As twilight cast its cloak across the beach, the cars along the bypass began to turn on their lights one by one It was Takaya’s voice which finally cut across thestill and silent behind him
“So What is it you want froh the ed in his eyes “What are you guys planning to do with me?”
“”
“I’onna be nice and just let erous, right? If you turn me loose, it’ll be worth your lives”
Still no reaction as Takaya all but declared his awareness of the ht Takaya to Odawara No It was not Takaya he had broughtbut ‘Saburou Kagetora’
“Will you not come home?” The man finally asked “Will you not return to us, Saburou?”
“Coritted teeth “Home”
“This is your hoo to becoe land without ever setting your eyes on Odawara again But you wanted to come back, didn’t you? You alanted to return to this land of your birth”
Distant ao Castle engulfed in flahts in those final htht him peace
For it had been his memories of the sea to which the eyes that had beheld war and defeat and so much death had turned to at the last
As the blade had pierced his flesh, his last wish had been to return to this land He had chosen death not to go to the Pure Land, but to return to his true hoed for more than Paradise itself, for it was his only salvation, the only place where he could be free from pain
(I want to come home)
That longing had remained buried within his heart for four hundred years He had returned to Odawara countless times since that first kanshou, but it had becoain home
He didn’t knohy that was, only that his hoain exist anywhere but within his heart
I haveno home to return to
“You think you knoheredown at his feet “When I’ve got nothing left?”
“Your home is with us,” the man answered quietly “With our clan It’s where you wanted to return to You wanted to co for you to come home Father, too”
Takaya’s head jerked up
“Father is waiting for you to coo Even while he lay ill in bed he worried about your wellbeing When you were sent to the Takeda, and then toGreat Uncle and Uesugi in Echigo, he always regretted the necessity But Saburou”
“”
“Father never once thought of you as some sort of chess piece He always cherished you In his heart, he felt he needed to apologize to you for what you had to go through He asked after you even while he lay on the verge of death”
Takaya began to trehtly
“HeFatherdid?”
“Yes You must know that he did not differentiate between us in the depth of his love for us It was part of what ht us all with the sa affection”
“”
“Saburou, you are our father’s son You too are a child of the Houjou Please co your souland this timecome home”
As Takaya turned, the entleness in the darkness, “Come back to us”
“”
The plea tore at Takaya’s quivering heart, and he didn’t know if it was Kagetora’s heart or Ougi Takaya’s that yearned for what the less nohat he offered, the warmth of a family that his starved, lonely heart craved, was perhaps the ho affection and the irreplaceable love of the parents who had given hiain been able to find, no ly he reached out for it
The ht hand reaching for that proffered warmth
But in that moment—
An iarbed in the white costuazed at hientle and stern And he knew that this was the warrior of righteousness who had galloped across the battlefield clad in the nobility of his ideals, who had been called the incarnation of Bishai Kenshi+n
—Kagetora!
The sonorous voice tore apart the space between him and the man, and Takaya’s hand stopped dead
(Father!)
Takaya drew back as he returned to himself, hand curled into a fist and hard animosity in his eyes
“Stop deluding yourself”
“!”
Thesteadily at hiuy Ujiyasu is, he’s got nothing to do withI care about is that you’re all onshou of the «Yaoku»”
“Saburou, how can you!”
“I don’t knohat you are to Kagetora, but it’s got nothing to do with ot only one thing to do”
“!”
Takaya glohite in the darkness Thehis «power»
“Saburou, what are you doing?!”
“I’onna exorcise you! I don’t knohose body you’ve possessed, but you’d better leave right now! ’Cause otherwise, I aonna perform «choubuku» on you!”
“Saburou!”
“My ho a «nenpa», at the er with you!”
“!”
The sand at theup sand in all directions Takaya relentlessly flung one «nenpa» after another A tornado of sand foroshi+nha» around hiathered his power: “Stop, Saburou! I am not your enemy!”
“You’re an onshou, that’s all I need to know!”
He gathered poith all his ht and focused it in his fist
“You’d better haul ass to the next world right now!”
Sparks cascaded frooshi+nha» as Takaya’s «nenpa» s for the light to fade before re-engaging
“Why are you doing this, Saburou?! Are you really going to kill your brother?!”
“Brother?! All of o!”
Takaya concentrated his ‘energy’ once more, and it flickered like flames around him
“I’ back to the Houjou!”
Thehis hands together in Bishaesture and envision his shuji
“Saburou!” Thewith his own «nenpa»
“Uwagh!” It hit Takaya squarely, dropping hi him into the surf Thefro a round disc-like object
Panting and dripping, Takaya leveraged hi in front of him
“Is there nothing I can do to convince you to lend us your strength, Saburou?” thethe silk-wrapped object in his arlare at him In the darkness, a look of pain flashed across theI can do to convince you to come back to us?”
“”
“Nothing at all?”
“You’re wasting your breath!” Takaya yelled, gathering power into his fists A beaht flashed into his eyes In the er covered beneath its cloth, was a mirror A red mirror
“Gaze upon this, Saburou!”
“Wh!”
In the instant he ht burst from its surface
It struck his forehead like a thunderbolt The world beca were trying to tear his head from his body
His reflection’s eyes scorched his retinas
That was the last thing he saw
Takaya’s soulless body collapsed to the sand and lay absolutely still
The lohich pulsated like the beat of a heart as if the
(Saburou)
Ujiteruthe er brother’s soul to his chest For indeed it was the fea Mirror’ stolen from Toushou Shrine: Ieyasu’s sacred relic
The ‘soul-sealing mirror’ with the power to imprison human souls
“Ujiteru-sama”
So soundlessly across the sand Ujiteru carefully rewrapped the ‘Tsutsuga Mirror’ in its silk swathing before turning to him slowly
The tall, broad-shouldered youth standing behind Ujiteru had long black hair which fell past his shoulders to his waist His expressionless features did not quite look japanese