Bab 36: Chapter 36-A Last Swing!
Chapter 36
KENSHIRO OUGI
Pain. Pain that he had not felt for years rippled through his being as his grip on his sword loosened and the taste of metal filled his mouth.
"KUGH!" he coughed blood as his knees gave out, and he fell to the ground as the older samurai stood there behind him, bleeding from his shoulder, yet the wound much shallower than the one he had suffered as he huffed.
"How?" he questioned as the old man walked up to him.
"The world is much bigger than what we realize," the old man said, and Ougi was surprised to see him sheath his blade. He was weakened, yet the wounds would not kill him, the old man could have used this opportunity to kill him yet he was sparing his life.
Ougi was the commander of the forces. If he were to fall, their victory would be certain.
"There was a time when I believed that I knew everything, that the world was wrong. Lords ruled over peasants, and because of some divine powers, I believed I was better than them. So, I thought, why must I swear my allegiance to them," the old man's thoughts were much like his own.
"I was stronger than them, my blade much sharper. Yet only when I met our lord did I see the fault in my thinking," the old man said as Ougi listened on.
"This land is filled not just with samurai. It is filled with farmers, smiths, servants, beggars, criminals, ninjas, and all sorts of people. A true ruler is not either, yet he understands them all and uses them all to maintain balance, for without that, we would be just like animals," he said, and Ougi could see the truth in that world.
"We, the samurai, swear our oaths to this balance and trust our lords to maintain that balance so we can be better men. Not all lords are like that, and not all samurai like me, yet I think that you and I alike in this sense," he said as he turned away from him and began to walk away.
"Why are you sparing me?" he questioned, as he coughed out another blotch of blood as he tried to find out the reason for this pity he never wished for.
The old man stopped and looked back at him.
"Look around you, young Ougi," he said and Ougi's heart thumped as he realised the deafening silence he was surrounded by and his head snapped towards the sides as he saw his army, kneeling down on the ground. All his men there, kneeling down swords on the ground in front as the white flags of surrender were raised.
The samurai were still alive, and he saw some of them kneeling down as well, yet that could only ever happen at his command.
"The war is over," came the voice of the old man, and his eyes landed on one person walking towards them, his sigil raised behind him in victory. The face matched the various pictures he had seen of the man, it was the jito of Shinoi.
The man whose technique had felled him down, the man who had taken his honour from him by killing Watashi Masamune, Akihito Shirahoshi.
He walked, through the crowd, his own men kneeling down for him as he rode past them, and only the samurai sworn to him remained standing.
Kenshiro Ougi looked towards the old samurai, and then he looked down at his blade and with his mind made he picked up his blade, and fought through the pain as he began to walk towards the path besides him, and found himself standing face to face with the young jito of Shinoi, blade in hand, ready for a final battle.
0000
AKIHITO SHIRAHOSHI
The battle was over. The succession wars over with the swing of his blade, and now he walked back towards his main camp as men both his and the Third Prince's knelt down for him. With their claimant gone, the battle was won, and so they had no cause to fight anymore.
Yet he was proven wrong, as a man stepped in the way of his small procession. He had a massive wound on his chest which had died his clothes red, and blood dripped down his chin as he stood there infront of him with his sword raised. Akihito had seen that face in posters and had heard many tales of him as well.
Kenshiro Ougi.
He was a very strong samurai, one who had led the Third Prince's army. By tradition, the man should either kill himself by seppuku or lay down his arms, yet he still stood there opposite to him.
"Back away," Akihito said to his men, who had stepped forward to protect him from the man.
"Your Prince is dead, and the war is over," Akihito told him as the older samurai wiped off the blood from his mouth and raised his blade.
"I know, But it is the war that has come to an end, not my life. Not yet, at least," he said as he coughed out blood once more. Akihito could tell that the injury was taking much out of him, yet he seemed determined toward his cause.
"Before I die, I wish to face the blade of the man who defeated Watashi Masamune," he said, raising his sword to challenge him.
Akihito's eyes glanced over his body, and the man would not survive if he persisted.
"You will die," he told him as much as he took out his own blade and gripped it in his hands.
"My life was forefit when you killed the Prince. Grant me this favor, and let me test my mettle against yours," he said as his chakra roared forth.
Akihito could deny the request. He had men at his command ready to intercept. But the man's gaze held determination he could sympathize with. He knew that he was going to die, and Akihito was not so cruel to deny a man his last wish.
"One swing," he said as he got into his stance, and the man nodded.
"My lord is very generous," he said as he got into his own stance, and then his chakra roared, cutting through the air, breaking the very ground beneath his feet, and Akihito replied in kind.
Yet his chakra did not roar. No his was controlled like a gentle wave coming to shore. His sword glew an ominous purple as Akihito decided to use his most powerful technique, one he had spent all his years mastering.
"Ninpo:...
"Ninpo:...
They both called out in a whisper as their chakras dried up, ending the crackling sounds in the air. The massive pressure vanished for a moment as they pushed all of it towards their blades.
"...Dragon's calling!"
"Swallow Reversal!" (Tsubame Gaeshi)
And as he swung his blade thrice in less than second, he did not miss how Kenshiro Ougi's blade never came down.
SLASH!
Akihito's blade cut through the man's flesh as blood burst out of his body. Akihito's blade itself broke down, the metal not strong enough to bear the sharpness of his chakra. Yet there was blood aplenty for it to regrow.
He sheathed the hilt as the old samurai's body fell down with a thud, lifeless in a puddle of scarlet blood.
0000
MIYUKI KATSUGAWA-The Princess
The castle was silent. There was no sound of metal being worked or of men being drilled in the yard. The whole army had left a day ago, and as she sat there and watched the Sun break through the clouds, she could feel the battle nearing its end.
Despite this being the third time Akihito had left for war, Miyuki could not find herself getting used to this feeling as she sat there with her breakfast, her appetite long gone from worry as she prayed for her lord husband's victory.
The servants, or at least the few that remained, sat beside her, serving her, and Lady Chiba, who sat opposite to her, yet unlike her, she seemed somewhat relaxed.
"You shouldn't worry too much, Princess," her voice broke her out of her reverie, and she looked up and saw the older girl smiling at her.
"It is my duty to worry," she replied stiffly, and the older woman nodded.
"I know, but your worry sobers the mood of the whole castle. You are the Princess; you must be the source of courage in these testing times for the people inside this castle," she advised him, her tone light and free of malice—at least, she could not sense any.
Miyuki Chiba had been a surprise for her. She had thought that her relationship with Akihito's new wife would be as rocky and complicated as it had been for her mother. Yet that had not been the case.
The woman was courteous enough, paid her appropriate respects, and deferred to her in all matters. Though Miyuki was yet to understand just what she was. She seemed nearly a zealot in her interest in Akihito, yet until she gave her a reason to suspect her a threat, she did not wish to intervene.
And then, suddenly, she saw her eyes tighten as Lady Chiba put down her bowl and looked towards the window as a small gust of wind passed through the castle.
"It is done," she heard her whisper. Before she could ask her more, the door to their chambers opened, and Nakiri-san and Kirin-san walked in. Her heart skipped a beat as the two women walked to the side.
Nakiri-san's smile eased her heart as the older woman spoke up.
"The battle is won," she said, letting out a breath she did not even know she was holding.
And then she watched as Lady Chiba stood up and walked to her side.
"I told you, didn't I? You should not worry so much," and with that, she lowered her head as all the servants bowed down, as they would to her mother, her as tears dripped down her eyes, for she had never thought that she would ever live long enough to see such a day.
"Greetings to the moon of the land," they chorused together.
"Empress Miyuki Shirahoshi."
0000
Back in Kiri, the brown-haired student of the Yellow Flash found herself in a conundrum as she realized that her captors, for that, were what she believed them to, knew quite a bit about her.
"Just because I am his student means little," she began as the Prince, and she ate their dinner, which had become a habit for them at this point.
"I am still a chunin, an inconsequential asset for Konoha. You will not be able to exchange my life for anything major," she retorted. The Prince smiled, as he always did whenever she confronted him about this.
"I am not looking for anything major, Rin-san. Your presence here is little for a bargain but more as a service to the incoming Fire daimyo. Your life is not in danger or a commodity to be exchanged for me," he assured her, yet she could see through his lies. Yet his next words surprised her even more.
"And who is to say that you are the only Konoha shinobi we have."
0000
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