Many years ago...
“Tell the story of the Yūwaku again, the Yūwaku and the old times!”
Ishii smiled at his grandson.
“Ah, but Kuma-kun, you heard the story last week. Isn’t there another story you’d like to hear?”
“No,” Kuma resolutely shook his head.
“Surely you’re tired of it by now,” Ishii insisted.
“No!” Followed by another resolute head shake.
This was a longstanding tradition between the boy and his grandfather. Ever since the boy was old enough to hear stories from his grandfather they had played the same game and always with the same result.
“Very well. If you insist.”
Ishii cleared his throat and began the story he had become so used to telling. It was not a happy story, it was not a good story, but it was an important story.
One that very much needed to be told.
“Long long ago, in a time before our own history, the world was a very different place, and yet it was not so different a place. The people lived much as they do now, the Tochibengoshya ruled and led the people, and the people were generally prosperous. But there was one great difference.”
“Tochibengoshya, with all their talents and powers, were equally prevalent in both genders. Unlike today, where female Tochibengoshya are unheard of, back then female Tochibengoshya were just as common as male Tochibengoshya. They were born with the same magic that distinguishes all Tochibengoshya from the rest of the world. Their power was just as great as their male counterparts. They went through the same training and they held the same responsibility, and the world was a fairly peaceful place. For a time…”
“But times of prosperity are often followed by times of sorrow, and so it was for our people. Slowly a group of bandits began to gain power in the world. It was a group of rogue Tochibengoshya. This group of Tochibengoshya wanted very badly to be in charge of the entire world. They wished to tell everyone how to live and to force people to do their bidding. They did many horrible things in order to scare their would-be followers and this eventually worked. They grew more and more powerful, and over time gained control of all of the provinces in all of the realms. Many tried to stand up to these bandits, but ultimately they failed. The bandits were powerful and they were evil. They were willing to do horrible things that kept the people from rising up against them successfully. Many people were manipulated into doing things that they did not wish to do. Good people were made to do terrible, terrible things. Families and loved ones were held hostage and tortured or killed in order to gain compliance from those who would have opposed the Yūwaku. No one knew who to trust.”
“The people were very frightened, they felt hopeless against the bandits and that only gave the bandits more power. But, there was something peculiar about this group of bandits, these bad Tochibengoshya who abused the people they were supposed to lead and who did such evil deeds… they were all female Tochibengoshya. Their leader had made it so. For her own reasons, she did not trust males and she refused them entry into any of her organization. She executed many male Tochibengoshya. Many females were recruited to the evil group. Many refused. All who refused were killed or tortured until they acquiesced. Soon fewer and fewer female Tochibengoshya refused. Their powers were used against those that they had sworn to protect and eventually almost all the female Tochibengoshya in the world were in some way entangled with the infamous group. The group rose to such great power that they were able to unite all the provinces under one tyrannical rule. There was much evil done during this time, and the period lasted many generations. It took a long time for heroes of sufficient stature to rise up against the group and disband them. Sadly, by the time that anyone was successful, the good name of female Tochibengoshya had been sullied beyond salvage. For generations, no one knew anything but the evil of female Tochibengoshya. Girls who were born Tochibengoshya were taken from their homes at birth and raised amongst the evil band. No untainted female Tochibengoshya had lived amongst the people for so long that there was no evidence left of them. No one cared to listen to the tales of how things once were. Too many innocents had died, too many had fallen to the powers of the Yūwaku. Too many associations were too closely tied with the childbearing gender. So, even as the Yūwaku were overthrown their evil lived on. All female Tochibengoshya were doomed. The rare few who had remained untainted were brooked no chance of redemption, all were damned, all were killed. Even the few females who had helped to overthrow the Yūwaku from within were damned. There were to be no more female Tochibengoshya, ever. And, as you well know, today there are none.”
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Mishi couldn’t stop sobbing. She was trying, she really was, but she couldn’t stop the tears and Haha-san yelling at her wasn’t helping.
“Stupid girl! Why are you crying? You are going to a good home. An honest life as a servant is more than most of your friends will have in this life. You should be happy and proud.”
Mishi could only stare at her and try to control her sobs. Haha-san finally grabbed her and pulled her to her feet.
“Don’t be an idiot child. Get cleaned up. You must be presentable. Hurry!” Haha-san shouted as she stepped out of the room.
Mishi doubted she had gone far, she was probably waiting just outside of the door. She had seen too many children taken away from the orphanage in her seven years not to know that. Too many children had tried to run away in those last moments before their fate was handed over to an unknown power for Haha-san to give them any freedom.
Mishi tried to collect herself. She could barely get her body to respond to her will. She wasn’t sure she had a will anymore. One thought pervaded her mind. Taka-chan. How could she live without Taka-chan? How could the kami do this to her? Why would fate treat her this way? She had always thought that the kami favored her… and Taka too. After all, they had been gifted, had they not? Perhaps they had been cursed. Perhaps the other children were right when they said that she and taka were Oni. Otherwise how could fate be so cruel as to separate them? How could she live without Taka? Taka who knew her secrets, Taka who shared her powers, Taka who laughed cried and played with her. How, how, how???
The door to the dormitory opened. Mishi braced herself for more of Haha-san’s shouted curses, but it was not Haha-san who had entered. Mishi heard not curses but a sob barely distinguishable across the room.
“Mishi-chan?” Came the whispered across the room between sobs?
Mishi ran across the room.
“Taka-chan!!” In no time they were in each other’s arms. Crying with renewed vigor at the injustice before them.
“I won’t go,” Mishi cried.
“I won’t. I’ll tell them I can’t. I’ll tell them I’ll die. I’ll run away. We’re stronger than them. We can run. We can escape.”
Taka shook her head.
“No Mishi-chan. We cannot run. We cannot escape. And we MUST not show them our strength.”
Mishi stared at her friend, not believing the words she heard.
“I heard them,” Taka-chan continued.
“I heard them speaking about the place they will take you… It sounds… safe.”
“I don’t care if it’s safe! How can you let them separate us? What if I never see you again?” Mishi had almost stopped crying her desperation was so great.
“Because we both know what happens to girls with our ‘talents,’” Taka replied, almost calm herself now, resolved in her decision.
Silent tears were rolling down her face, but otherwise she seemed unaffected as she spoke.
Mishi shivered as she thought of Rika-chan: an older girl who an adult once witnessed helping her friend heal a cut, and who had been dragged kicking and screaming to a place that was so horrible that she had run away within days of arriving. They had found her and dragged her back to the same place. No one had ever heard of her since then. Rumors were flying through the orphanage, and the village about her mysterious fate. The rumors made Mishi’s skin crawl.
“We must not let them know that we are talented like Rika-chan. So, we cannot escape. We cannot show our strength. And the place that they are taking you sounds nice. Think, Mishi-chan! Think of the choices we have. Which are none, but think of where else you may end up. How many of us end up in a house of the winds, or worse? Do you want to spend your life at the call of cruel men you have no choice over? You have a chance Mishi, you can get out of here and live a decent life. Go. Maybe the kami will favor me too and I will be able to find such a home. Maybe we will see each other. Who knows? I will find you. Or you will find me. Nothing is forever. GO!”
Taka lost control of her voice once more and Mishi could not help but sob as she grasped her friend once more. She knew Taka was right. She knew there was nothing else she could do, and she knew that she was “lucky” to have a chance at a living that was clean and safe. But how, how, how could she leave Taka? She never got a chance to consider the answer.
“Mishi. Come at once!” Haha-san grabbed her by the arm and pulled her through the door. She hadn’t even heard her enter.
“TAKA!!!! TAKA-CHAN!!!” she screamed in vain as Haha-san dragged her down the hall.
Taka ran after them, but Haha-sans legs were longer and Mishi could not fight back. She could barely keep her feet.
“Good-bye, Mishi-chan! You’ll be ok. We’ll be ok. I will see you again!”
Tears ran freely down Taka-chan’s face now. Mishi nodded. She couldn’t find words. Her throat was locked. Crying was her only means of expression.
“Here she is. Normally she isn’t this senseless. So sorry.”
Haha practically threw her at another woman standing before a carriage. The old woman eyed her speculatively.
“Hmm… we shall see about that. Does she not know where she is going? She should be happy.”
“I tried to explain it to her. But whether or not she understood, I’ve no idea. She was sobbing almost at once when she heard she was leaving.”
“You must run a fine home indeed for the child to be so upset to leave.”
“I believe our establishment is respectable, but I do not think we can take credit for her current state. It is her friend she is dismayed over.”
“Ah. Of course. Don’t worry Mishiranu-chan. You will make new friends at your new home. We have a number of girls almost your own age. None quite so young still, but close enough to be friendly I think.”
Mishi just stared blankly at the woman in front of her. Young girls they might have, but none would understand her the way Taka did. How could they? How could any other girls understand her if they didn’t share her abilities? She’d never met anyone who could do the things she and Taka did. Sobs still wracked her and she remained voiceless.
The woman smiled at her.
“You don’t believe me. And why should you? But you will be alright. Come with me.”
Mishi didn’t move. She couldn’t. Taka’s voice whispered to her in a voice she alone could hear.
“Go on Mishi-chan. We will find each other. I promise. We will.”
She knew it was a promise Taka had no way of keeping and she was not consoled. She tried to step forward, to step away from the orphanage, to step away from Taka. She could not. The old woman touched her hand. Suddenly she felt lighter, as if the invisible weights that had held her legs fast in their place had been removed. Her sobs stopped. Her sadness didn’t leave her, but it felt less like a monster that was eating her soul and more like a soft ache in her heart. She stepped forward, away from the orphanage that had been the only home she had known, away from the friend that she had known her whole life, the friend who had been her anchor for the last seven years. She looked back, but Taka-chan was not there. She must be close though, for Mishi could hear her whisper
“Go. We will find each other.”
“Come, child,” the old woman smiled at her.
“Go,” Taka’s voice said.
So she went.
*****
To continue with the story: click here
No comments :
Post a Comment