[Douji]A surprise meeting 2
darthcourt10
Well worn.
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Kab2
Second and last part of this visit, I hope you enjoy it
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A surprise meeting (II)
13th August 2014
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura, Japan
Seeing the back of the woman that took care of her and her cousin since that fateful day nine years ago, Matsudaira Yoshi waited until Yuuki was no longer visible.
She came here to fulfill something important to her.
Standing in front of the millennial ginkgo tree that had witnessed all of the temple's history since this became its actual placement, she reached for her bag and opened it, with trembling hands she reached for a floral offering that she made.
Sniffing it, she put her feelings in the offering and placed it in the red wooden fence that restricted the access to the actual tree, but for what she wanted it was enough.
Closing her eyes, she clapped her hand together and bowing her head, she began to speak.
"Nephew, grand-nephew, I'm here to apologize to you; I'm sure the disaster that ended in your deaths came to be because of my curse to my brother." A little wetness appeared in the corner of her eyes. "He deserved his fate, but you were innocent of his crimes, if I just died a bit sooner..." At this point her feelings of regret overcame her and she began to water the stone floor.
Because she felt that what happened to her past life's brother offspring was her fault.
The fault of Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, a man who valued the family above himself but his brother, the one who he fought all his life for, betrayed him and killed him and his direct family.
As she tried to compose herself again, the wind began to stir, causing the people start to hear a faint voice in the wind, it wasn't clear enough to distinguish any words, except for one.
"Do you think so...?"
Surprised, Yoshi cleaned her eyes of the now unwanted wetness and looked around her to search for the voice owner, but no one was near enough her to be it, the wind stirring some more.
"Follow me to the truth..."
That voice again, for Yoshi it was clear now that the wind wanted her to go somewhere, but she was cautious as it may be unwanted danger; touching her bokken's hilt she reassured herself that if this was an ambush she could escape 'No one knows except Yori-nii-san that I am not only Matsudaira Yoshi'
"Follow me to the truth..." the wind whispered again.
Now focusing in the wind, she went south passing the Shimohaiden, causing her a prick of pain and regret in her heart, as it reminded her of Shizuka.
But this wasn't time to think of the past or the things she could have done so she continued until the wind changed directions, pointing her to a bridge over the water.
Directing her steps there, she noted that the people unconsciously avoided it, as if something told them to stay away; approaching it, she began to feel that she shouldn't be there, that she has come to do other things, that she...
And suddenly all the odd feelings went away, the wind urging her to cross the bridge.
'Strange, very strange' were her thoughts as she crossed the bridge, she looked back to the plaza and she saw that the other visitors avoided the bridge like before. Walking a bit more, she looked around and noted that there wasn't anyone near, like the people were told to not come near this place until she reached to an opening, a feeling of dread slowly rising inside her as she got a feeling to where the wind was directing her to.
And when the wind pointed her to go northeast, that feeling skyrocketed.
"No, I don't want to go there" she spoke, fear imprinted in her voice "I know what's at the end of this road" and she turned her back to the wind and the road leading to a shrine.
"Are you afraid of the past...?" the wind asked like it was mocking her.
"No!" she replied "It is just that I don't want to... want to..." the words failing her.
"Aren't you a hero...?"
It was stupid, why she was so afraid to visit a shrine? It didn't matter who was enshrined there, not that she would find any ghost or something, right?
Psyching herself, she took the short steps necessary to stand in front of the offering box and behind it, the closed shrine's door.
Spoiler: Her sight
The shrine where there are buried Minamoto-no-Yoritomo's remains.
Also it is the shrine where her brother is enshrined.
'Brother...' thought Yoshi, her hatred coldly burning, while sorrow and anguish were freely running.
Suddenly, the door slowly opened without help, creaking all the way until it was fully opened, and the wind that stopped earlier was slowly caressing her cheeks, inviting her to enter in the shrine.
Yoshi was hesitating, she knew that she shouldn't enter, but at the same time her instincts told her that she had to enter.
Finally following her instincts that helped her so many times in her past life she crossed the door and looked at the beautifully crafted structure that dated from the 1200, roughly a decade after her past life's death.
While she was admiring the structure the wind around her became more and more swift until a gust of wind made Yoshi close her eyes.
And when she opened again, in front of her stood a beautiful woman dressed in clothes from the Heian era, green hair speckled with gray flowing down until her waist, big brown eyes with a timeless gaze watching her.
Bowing to present herself, she began to speak to Yoshi "Welcome to the Shirahata-Jinja shrine Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, now known as Matsudaira Yoshitsune; I am the spirit of the great Ginkgo tree in front of where you were praying before"
Surprised, Yoshi was speechless, after all she didn't found before any spirits in this life or in the other, but when the surprise came off she began to speak.
"Pleased to meet you in person, Great Spirit" she said bowing to the tree spirit "It was you who guided me here and shooed the people?"
Grinning, the spirit replied "Yes it was me; one doesn't have all my years without learning some magic." And her eyes turned to the horizon, her gaze losing in it "But even with that a decade ago I was almost dead"
Gasping, Yoshi asked "What happened?"
Sighing, the spirit began to tell her story "The rot had almost consumed me, a strong gale could have blown me down at anytime, but when those spirits from the sea attacked mankind a miko from the shrine learned about my bad state and with her prayers helped me to regain my former strength" she passed her fingers through her hair "This strands of white hair is the rot that still persists in my body, as you can see it is almost gone."
Now that her brain wasn't overloaded, Yoshi took something into account "It is a pleasure to talk to you like this Great Spirit, but you haven't guided me here only to talk, right?"
"As intelligent as they said you were, my dear Yoshi-Chan" she smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile "I guided you here because someone want to talk to you alone."
As this piece of information clicked in her mind, a voice that she wasn't expecting to hear again called her.
"Welcome to my humble resting place, brother" said Minamoto-no-Yoritomo's spirit, making his presence visible to Yoshi.
When Yoshi saw his solemn face, the hatred inside her ignited like napalm, causing her to overcome the surprise and she began to rant.
"Welcome? And for what did you wanted to see me? For cursing me because your sons' deaths? Or for boasting about how you tricked me?"
Spoiler: Brothers bonds
But she never expected the kind of response he gave to her.
"Hontouni gomenasai, brother" he said, bowing in a 90 degree angle "I caused so much pain to you without deserving it that I can't repay you for what I did."
Speechless, Yoshi's brain tried to reset after the bluescreen that happened after hearing those words, unbelieving words that she never hoped to hear "This has to be another of your schemes brother, I don't believe you."
"I expected so from you after all what I've done to you" said Yoritomo still bowed. "But one of the conditions imposed to me for meeting you here was that I cannot lie to you about anything; if you don't believe me you can ask her about it"
Yoshi looked at the tree spirit with a questioning gaze "It's true, he can only speak the truth or he would expect unimaginable suffering for lying"
Reassured that her brother wasn't lying, she began to inquire him about his side of the story.
"First you have to understand my position, you know the story but let me elaborate, it will be easier this way" with this words he started to tell his life. "I was the 3rd son of our father, so my plans were go out and find a way of living out of our father's shadow; but at the age of 13 our father and the Fujiwara arrested the Emperor and the Former Emperor in the war that was later called the Heiji rebellion, which caused the deaths of our father and my elder brothers, father was betrayed and killed in the bath, the eldest was betrayed too and killed by the Taira and the second was killed by our father's hand just before he was killed, so I became the eldest of our Minamoto branch at that age; we were all exiled to the Izu province except you and Noriyori, your mother took you, an infant one year old, and escaped to an indeterminate place, Noriyori never told how he survived" The ghost took a momentary break to collect his memories.
Yoshi compared what he just said with what she knew from her past life "I knew all of what you just told, so what's new about it?" said her with a little irritation in her voice tone.
"But what you don't know is how it affected me; I nearly broke with the pressure suddenly over my shoulders, the only thought that kept me sane is that if our father and brother hadn't been betrayed, they would still be alive; so I became suspicious of everyone that wasn't close to me in the years after the exile, when the Prince Mochihito made the call to what was later known as the Gempei war, I took the our Father's mantle to be the head of our Minamoto branch, but I was betrayed by our uncle Yokiie and cousin Yoshinaka; and suddenly I had two new allies, Noriyori and you." Yoritomo's face became sad as he spoke the next words "In my mind you were strangers that will take advantage of me and betray me at the best opportunity so I took advantage of you two; never realizing that your offering was devoid of malice" at this moment he covered his ghostly face with his hands, lamenting his fate "If I trusted you more than what I did the story could have been very different"
Pitying his brother a bit, but not much as her hatred won't disappear, she spoke to him "Well, now I understand why you did what you did, but how did you concluded that what I told you was true?"
Sighing (Yoshi wondered how the ghosts sighed) Yoritomo explained to her "After the retainer of Raikou's sword made us leave Shizuka and what I supposed was your son..."
"Wait!" shouted Yoshi "Sensei stopped you so you didn't kill Shizuka? And what is that about my son?! I thought that..."
"I killed your son and wanted to kill her?" cut his brother "I thought so, but it seems that Shizuka tricked me and when I returned to Kamakura she had already escaped with him, I tracked them down to where you had grown in your first years, but a female samurai holding the Yasutsuna Doujigiri in her hands drove me and my followers back to Kamakura, that event made me think that maybe I was wrong but what is done is done; I built my shogunate and prospered, but I sometimes had nightmares about the prophecy you said in your last breath; nightmares that were more and more frequent as time passed by." Yoritomo shrugged "nine years had passed since your death and rare was the night that I didn't have nightmares when I had an unexpected visit; your wife Shizuka visited me in secret aided by my wife but she didn't come to kill me; she only came to retrieve your sake conserved head and your sword to do a proper burial; tired of the nightmares I conceded her wishes, but in exchange she had to tell me the truth about you, what you thought about me all these years ago." His face took a very grim face "And she told me, she told me..." his voice failing him.
With a fond smile Yoshi finished his phase "That my loyalty for you was so great that if you wanted her dead, I would kill her and later I would kill myself for doing it" tears coming to her eyes "The best is that she understood my feelings, Sato understood it too. I didn't deserve such good wives, only to suffer pain from my actions."
"And I am sorry again for what I did, I didn't deserve such a good brother only to betray his loyalty" time passed as their feelings flowed out. Now more calm, Yoritomo continued "As I was saying, Shizuka left with your head and your sword, and I has left broken; I did to you what they had done to our father and brother, so I did what I feel was my only option; I began to prepare the necessary to be ordained as a monk here and aid to the weak as a way to atone for my sins, but the kami had a weird sense of humor, two days after I was ordained monk I fell from my horse chair and broke my neck." Yoritomo finished with his story, finally taking a weight off his shoulders, because since the day Shizuka revealed Yoshitsune's true feelings, his only wish was to tell his brother his side of the story.
"This is a lot to take, brother." Said Yoshi, finally coming to terms with her brother's side of history, her hatred receding but not extinguishing as that would never happen, but they now at least can begin to heal their relationship a bit. "But how you aren't mad at me for the curse I placed in you and your sons?"
Taking a step forward, the tree spirit answered to the question "I can answer to that question; for one part the 'curse' was actually the origin of the nightmares haunting him, but it was no curse at all; it was your lingering feelings that were slowly turning into a Goryo, but when they felt that Shizuka took your belongings and that Yoritomo truly regretted what he did, they disappeared without a trace; as for the other part what you did in your last moments of life was a prophecy; I felt it when Kugyo hide behind me before assassinating Sanetomo; so you didn't have any part in the events that lead to their deaths."
Yoshi was again speechless at the sudden revelation. "So I was taking blame for something out of my control? I feel... relieved" she closed her eyes, feeling the warm breeze of the summer in her face.
They chatted a bit more, mainly to help Yoshi to finally let go of one of her biggest traumas from her past life, but it was the only one that she lamented, but taking account of the time, Yoshi waved goodbye to her brother, now in a more proper way between siblings, a bridge built over the chasm between them.
As Yoshi turned right to take again the bridge, the spirit asked Yoritomo "You didn't say anything about her sword or her caretaker's real identity, why?"
A sad smile crossing his face, Yoritomo replied "She didn't ask, and I can't tell her about Usumidori's actions or her caretaker as I learnt about them in the spirit realm."
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In front of the Gingko tree, Yoshi waited until her legal tutor arrived, the meeting hour slightly passed.
"Gomenasai Yoshi-Chan" said a well-known voice from the stairs "I couldn't meet with my friend but I spent time with one of her pupils"
Yoshi turned to the stairs to see a familiar figure followed by another one, a vaguely familiar black-haired girl whose face was very pale.
"She fainted under the weather at the middle, so I was taking care of her until she was well enough to go to her house."
"I'm well enough now D-Yuuki-San" Yae replied, biting her tongue for almost saying Douji's true name. Bowing to the girl she knew from somewhere, she presented herself "Pleased to meet you, I am Kokonoe Yae"
Widening her eyes a bit, Yoshi bowed too "The pleasure is mine, finally knowing the kendoka that defeated the famous Three Goddesses of Kendo from Yokosuka, I am Matsudaira Yoshi."
"The winner of the Tokio regional by a wide margin, I'm impressed" said Yae, but she was more impressed that Yoshi did all that without Douji's teachings, as Douji told her that Yoshi didn't know anything about her true identity.
"It's good to know about the possible matches in the nationals; I presume you did the same as me" replied Yoshi with a smug smile.
But before they continued, Douji cut the conversation "Sorry to make it short, but we have to reach the station soon or we'll miss the train."
"I'll accompany you to the station." said Yae.
They chatted all the way to the station; located at the end of a pedestrian street flanked by cherry trees and azaleas named the Danzakura that was a beautiful sight in spring, when the trees bloom; but now in summer the green of the trees was calming as the shadow provided by them was enough to bear the heat.
Near the end of the street, a woman was standing at one side of the street, looking from one side to the other while the trio was approaching, when she saw them her eyes widened and approached them.
"Congratulations! The woman is the passerby number ten thousand so you have won this ticket for the Yokosuka Exhibition in September!" She handed the ticket to Douji.
A bit stunned, Douji replied "Thank you, but I think that you can give it to one of the kids here as I have no interest."
Not giving up, the woman tried again, a wolfish smile crossing her face "Sorry, but you are the winner so I insist that you take the ticket and go to the Exhibition!"
This time, Douji something in her smile told her that not doing what she was told would be a very bad idea, so taking the ticket she said "Ok, I'll take the ticket, thank you."
"Thanks, I'll be expecting you there" and looking to the kids, she got from her pockets two little boxes "And for this kids a surprise box to each one. Take care and goodbye"
Then she went towards the temple, giving her back to the trio, but when Douji turned to ask her about something she noted something white get out of her field of vision, but the woman was gone.
Douji was puzzled about it because the woman was vaguely familiar to her, but she shrugged it off as the train came, so she mounted it with Yoshi, and waving goodbye to Yae, she forgot about the woman.
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Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcomed. After this I'll go back to Sofia's storyline.
Second and last part of this visit, I hope you enjoy it
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A surprise meeting (II)
13th August 2014
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura, Japan
Seeing the back of the woman that took care of her and her cousin since that fateful day nine years ago, Matsudaira Yoshi waited until Yuuki was no longer visible.
She came here to fulfill something important to her.
Standing in front of the millennial ginkgo tree that had witnessed all of the temple's history since this became its actual placement, she reached for her bag and opened it, with trembling hands she reached for a floral offering that she made.
Sniffing it, she put her feelings in the offering and placed it in the red wooden fence that restricted the access to the actual tree, but for what she wanted it was enough.
Closing her eyes, she clapped her hand together and bowing her head, she began to speak.
"Nephew, grand-nephew, I'm here to apologize to you; I'm sure the disaster that ended in your deaths came to be because of my curse to my brother." A little wetness appeared in the corner of her eyes. "He deserved his fate, but you were innocent of his crimes, if I just died a bit sooner..." At this point her feelings of regret overcame her and she began to water the stone floor.
Because she felt that what happened to her past life's brother offspring was her fault.
The fault of Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, a man who valued the family above himself but his brother, the one who he fought all his life for, betrayed him and killed him and his direct family.
As she tried to compose herself again, the wind began to stir, causing the people start to hear a faint voice in the wind, it wasn't clear enough to distinguish any words, except for one.
"Do you think so...?"
Surprised, Yoshi cleaned her eyes of the now unwanted wetness and looked around her to search for the voice owner, but no one was near enough her to be it, the wind stirring some more.
"Follow me to the truth..."
That voice again, for Yoshi it was clear now that the wind wanted her to go somewhere, but she was cautious as it may be unwanted danger; touching her bokken's hilt she reassured herself that if this was an ambush she could escape 'No one knows except Yori-nii-san that I am not only Matsudaira Yoshi'
"Follow me to the truth..." the wind whispered again.
Now focusing in the wind, she went south passing the Shimohaiden, causing her a prick of pain and regret in her heart, as it reminded her of Shizuka.
But this wasn't time to think of the past or the things she could have done so she continued until the wind changed directions, pointing her to a bridge over the water.
Directing her steps there, she noted that the people unconsciously avoided it, as if something told them to stay away; approaching it, she began to feel that she shouldn't be there, that she has come to do other things, that she...
And suddenly all the odd feelings went away, the wind urging her to cross the bridge.
'Strange, very strange' were her thoughts as she crossed the bridge, she looked back to the plaza and she saw that the other visitors avoided the bridge like before. Walking a bit more, she looked around and noted that there wasn't anyone near, like the people were told to not come near this place until she reached to an opening, a feeling of dread slowly rising inside her as she got a feeling to where the wind was directing her to.
And when the wind pointed her to go northeast, that feeling skyrocketed.
"No, I don't want to go there" she spoke, fear imprinted in her voice "I know what's at the end of this road" and she turned her back to the wind and the road leading to a shrine.
"Are you afraid of the past...?" the wind asked like it was mocking her.
"No!" she replied "It is just that I don't want to... want to..." the words failing her.
"Aren't you a hero...?"
It was stupid, why she was so afraid to visit a shrine? It didn't matter who was enshrined there, not that she would find any ghost or something, right?
Psyching herself, she took the short steps necessary to stand in front of the offering box and behind it, the closed shrine's door.
Spoiler: Her sight
The shrine where there are buried Minamoto-no-Yoritomo's remains.
Also it is the shrine where her brother is enshrined.
'Brother...' thought Yoshi, her hatred coldly burning, while sorrow and anguish were freely running.
Suddenly, the door slowly opened without help, creaking all the way until it was fully opened, and the wind that stopped earlier was slowly caressing her cheeks, inviting her to enter in the shrine.
Yoshi was hesitating, she knew that she shouldn't enter, but at the same time her instincts told her that she had to enter.
Finally following her instincts that helped her so many times in her past life she crossed the door and looked at the beautifully crafted structure that dated from the 1200, roughly a decade after her past life's death.
While she was admiring the structure the wind around her became more and more swift until a gust of wind made Yoshi close her eyes.
And when she opened again, in front of her stood a beautiful woman dressed in clothes from the Heian era, green hair speckled with gray flowing down until her waist, big brown eyes with a timeless gaze watching her.
Bowing to present herself, she began to speak to Yoshi "Welcome to the Shirahata-Jinja shrine Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune, now known as Matsudaira Yoshitsune; I am the spirit of the great Ginkgo tree in front of where you were praying before"
Surprised, Yoshi was speechless, after all she didn't found before any spirits in this life or in the other, but when the surprise came off she began to speak.
"Pleased to meet you in person, Great Spirit" she said bowing to the tree spirit "It was you who guided me here and shooed the people?"
Grinning, the spirit replied "Yes it was me; one doesn't have all my years without learning some magic." And her eyes turned to the horizon, her gaze losing in it "But even with that a decade ago I was almost dead"
Gasping, Yoshi asked "What happened?"
Sighing, the spirit began to tell her story "The rot had almost consumed me, a strong gale could have blown me down at anytime, but when those spirits from the sea attacked mankind a miko from the shrine learned about my bad state and with her prayers helped me to regain my former strength" she passed her fingers through her hair "This strands of white hair is the rot that still persists in my body, as you can see it is almost gone."
Now that her brain wasn't overloaded, Yoshi took something into account "It is a pleasure to talk to you like this Great Spirit, but you haven't guided me here only to talk, right?"
"As intelligent as they said you were, my dear Yoshi-Chan" she smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile "I guided you here because someone want to talk to you alone."
As this piece of information clicked in her mind, a voice that she wasn't expecting to hear again called her.
"Welcome to my humble resting place, brother" said Minamoto-no-Yoritomo's spirit, making his presence visible to Yoshi.
When Yoshi saw his solemn face, the hatred inside her ignited like napalm, causing her to overcome the surprise and she began to rant.
"Welcome? And for what did you wanted to see me? For cursing me because your sons' deaths? Or for boasting about how you tricked me?"
Spoiler: Brothers bonds
But she never expected the kind of response he gave to her.
"Hontouni gomenasai, brother" he said, bowing in a 90 degree angle "I caused so much pain to you without deserving it that I can't repay you for what I did."
Speechless, Yoshi's brain tried to reset after the bluescreen that happened after hearing those words, unbelieving words that she never hoped to hear "This has to be another of your schemes brother, I don't believe you."
"I expected so from you after all what I've done to you" said Yoritomo still bowed. "But one of the conditions imposed to me for meeting you here was that I cannot lie to you about anything; if you don't believe me you can ask her about it"
Yoshi looked at the tree spirit with a questioning gaze "It's true, he can only speak the truth or he would expect unimaginable suffering for lying"
Reassured that her brother wasn't lying, she began to inquire him about his side of the story.
"First you have to understand my position, you know the story but let me elaborate, it will be easier this way" with this words he started to tell his life. "I was the 3rd son of our father, so my plans were go out and find a way of living out of our father's shadow; but at the age of 13 our father and the Fujiwara arrested the Emperor and the Former Emperor in the war that was later called the Heiji rebellion, which caused the deaths of our father and my elder brothers, father was betrayed and killed in the bath, the eldest was betrayed too and killed by the Taira and the second was killed by our father's hand just before he was killed, so I became the eldest of our Minamoto branch at that age; we were all exiled to the Izu province except you and Noriyori, your mother took you, an infant one year old, and escaped to an indeterminate place, Noriyori never told how he survived" The ghost took a momentary break to collect his memories.
Yoshi compared what he just said with what she knew from her past life "I knew all of what you just told, so what's new about it?" said her with a little irritation in her voice tone.
"But what you don't know is how it affected me; I nearly broke with the pressure suddenly over my shoulders, the only thought that kept me sane is that if our father and brother hadn't been betrayed, they would still be alive; so I became suspicious of everyone that wasn't close to me in the years after the exile, when the Prince Mochihito made the call to what was later known as the Gempei war, I took the our Father's mantle to be the head of our Minamoto branch, but I was betrayed by our uncle Yokiie and cousin Yoshinaka; and suddenly I had two new allies, Noriyori and you." Yoritomo's face became sad as he spoke the next words "In my mind you were strangers that will take advantage of me and betray me at the best opportunity so I took advantage of you two; never realizing that your offering was devoid of malice" at this moment he covered his ghostly face with his hands, lamenting his fate "If I trusted you more than what I did the story could have been very different"
Pitying his brother a bit, but not much as her hatred won't disappear, she spoke to him "Well, now I understand why you did what you did, but how did you concluded that what I told you was true?"
Sighing (Yoshi wondered how the ghosts sighed) Yoritomo explained to her "After the retainer of Raikou's sword made us leave Shizuka and what I supposed was your son..."
"Wait!" shouted Yoshi "Sensei stopped you so you didn't kill Shizuka? And what is that about my son?! I thought that..."
"I killed your son and wanted to kill her?" cut his brother "I thought so, but it seems that Shizuka tricked me and when I returned to Kamakura she had already escaped with him, I tracked them down to where you had grown in your first years, but a female samurai holding the Yasutsuna Doujigiri in her hands drove me and my followers back to Kamakura, that event made me think that maybe I was wrong but what is done is done; I built my shogunate and prospered, but I sometimes had nightmares about the prophecy you said in your last breath; nightmares that were more and more frequent as time passed by." Yoritomo shrugged "nine years had passed since your death and rare was the night that I didn't have nightmares when I had an unexpected visit; your wife Shizuka visited me in secret aided by my wife but she didn't come to kill me; she only came to retrieve your sake conserved head and your sword to do a proper burial; tired of the nightmares I conceded her wishes, but in exchange she had to tell me the truth about you, what you thought about me all these years ago." His face took a very grim face "And she told me, she told me..." his voice failing him.
With a fond smile Yoshi finished his phase "That my loyalty for you was so great that if you wanted her dead, I would kill her and later I would kill myself for doing it" tears coming to her eyes "The best is that she understood my feelings, Sato understood it too. I didn't deserve such good wives, only to suffer pain from my actions."
"And I am sorry again for what I did, I didn't deserve such a good brother only to betray his loyalty" time passed as their feelings flowed out. Now more calm, Yoritomo continued "As I was saying, Shizuka left with your head and your sword, and I has left broken; I did to you what they had done to our father and brother, so I did what I feel was my only option; I began to prepare the necessary to be ordained as a monk here and aid to the weak as a way to atone for my sins, but the kami had a weird sense of humor, two days after I was ordained monk I fell from my horse chair and broke my neck." Yoritomo finished with his story, finally taking a weight off his shoulders, because since the day Shizuka revealed Yoshitsune's true feelings, his only wish was to tell his brother his side of the story.
"This is a lot to take, brother." Said Yoshi, finally coming to terms with her brother's side of history, her hatred receding but not extinguishing as that would never happen, but they now at least can begin to heal their relationship a bit. "But how you aren't mad at me for the curse I placed in you and your sons?"
Taking a step forward, the tree spirit answered to the question "I can answer to that question; for one part the 'curse' was actually the origin of the nightmares haunting him, but it was no curse at all; it was your lingering feelings that were slowly turning into a Goryo, but when they felt that Shizuka took your belongings and that Yoritomo truly regretted what he did, they disappeared without a trace; as for the other part what you did in your last moments of life was a prophecy; I felt it when Kugyo hide behind me before assassinating Sanetomo; so you didn't have any part in the events that lead to their deaths."
Yoshi was again speechless at the sudden revelation. "So I was taking blame for something out of my control? I feel... relieved" she closed her eyes, feeling the warm breeze of the summer in her face.
They chatted a bit more, mainly to help Yoshi to finally let go of one of her biggest traumas from her past life, but it was the only one that she lamented, but taking account of the time, Yoshi waved goodbye to her brother, now in a more proper way between siblings, a bridge built over the chasm between them.
As Yoshi turned right to take again the bridge, the spirit asked Yoritomo "You didn't say anything about her sword or her caretaker's real identity, why?"
A sad smile crossing his face, Yoritomo replied "She didn't ask, and I can't tell her about Usumidori's actions or her caretaker as I learnt about them in the spirit realm."
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In front of the Gingko tree, Yoshi waited until her legal tutor arrived, the meeting hour slightly passed.
"Gomenasai Yoshi-Chan" said a well-known voice from the stairs "I couldn't meet with my friend but I spent time with one of her pupils"
Yoshi turned to the stairs to see a familiar figure followed by another one, a vaguely familiar black-haired girl whose face was very pale.
"She fainted under the weather at the middle, so I was taking care of her until she was well enough to go to her house."
"I'm well enough now D-Yuuki-San" Yae replied, biting her tongue for almost saying Douji's true name. Bowing to the girl she knew from somewhere, she presented herself "Pleased to meet you, I am Kokonoe Yae"
Widening her eyes a bit, Yoshi bowed too "The pleasure is mine, finally knowing the kendoka that defeated the famous Three Goddesses of Kendo from Yokosuka, I am Matsudaira Yoshi."
"The winner of the Tokio regional by a wide margin, I'm impressed" said Yae, but she was more impressed that Yoshi did all that without Douji's teachings, as Douji told her that Yoshi didn't know anything about her true identity.
"It's good to know about the possible matches in the nationals; I presume you did the same as me" replied Yoshi with a smug smile.
But before they continued, Douji cut the conversation "Sorry to make it short, but we have to reach the station soon or we'll miss the train."
"I'll accompany you to the station." said Yae.
They chatted all the way to the station; located at the end of a pedestrian street flanked by cherry trees and azaleas named the Danzakura that was a beautiful sight in spring, when the trees bloom; but now in summer the green of the trees was calming as the shadow provided by them was enough to bear the heat.
Near the end of the street, a woman was standing at one side of the street, looking from one side to the other while the trio was approaching, when she saw them her eyes widened and approached them.
"Congratulations! The woman is the passerby number ten thousand so you have won this ticket for the Yokosuka Exhibition in September!" She handed the ticket to Douji.
A bit stunned, Douji replied "Thank you, but I think that you can give it to one of the kids here as I have no interest."
Not giving up, the woman tried again, a wolfish smile crossing her face "Sorry, but you are the winner so I insist that you take the ticket and go to the Exhibition!"
This time, Douji something in her smile told her that not doing what she was told would be a very bad idea, so taking the ticket she said "Ok, I'll take the ticket, thank you."
"Thanks, I'll be expecting you there" and looking to the kids, she got from her pockets two little boxes "And for this kids a surprise box to each one. Take care and goodbye"
Then she went towards the temple, giving her back to the trio, but when Douji turned to ask her about something she noted something white get out of her field of vision, but the woman was gone.
Douji was puzzled about it because the woman was vaguely familiar to her, but she shrugged it off as the train came, so she mounted it with Yoshi, and waving goodbye to Yae, she forgot about the woman.
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Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcomed. After this I'll go back to Sofia's storyline.