The Fall of Daigo
Book 3 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 3 - Cursed Family
Chapter 4
Nui no Kata took a sip of her tea. Kagemitsu frowned sullenly into his tea bowl. “He was vulgar,” Kagemitsu said. “To think, singing such a song at a celebration feast...”
Nui no Kata smiled. “I cried when Naozane expressed his love for his own son. The stanzas about the greedy, ruthless samurai coming to kill the boy were a bit tasteless.”
“He stopped in the middle of the Tale of the Heike to sing that song,” Kagemitsu said. “That was abrupt, and rude.”
Nui no Kata laughed. “I’m sure it was just a whim. You know how musicians are. He has no social standing and is clearly unfamiliar with court manners. I wouldn’t take it to heart. Would you like more tea?”
“No, I don’t need any more.”
Tahōmaru slid open the door of the tearoom, completely out of breath. He sat down without ceremony and without announcing himself.
Nui no Kata’s eyes widened in surprise. “Tahōmaru, you know it’s rude to interrupt during tea.”
“You look flushed,” Kagemitsu said. “Is something wrong?”
“That rude monk said something impossible,” Tahōmaru said.
Kagemitsu looked at him quizzically. “The monk?”
“You mean the lute player?” Nui no Kata asked. “What did he say?”
“Mother, father. That monk said I have an older brother. Is that true?”
“What kind of question is that?” Kagemitsu asked.
“I was fighting an intruder who said he was after your head, father. That monk jumped between us and ordered us to stop fighting. He said the intruder was my brother.”
Kagemitsu and Nui no Kata both looked down.
“He insisted he was telling the truth,” Tahōmaru said. “The intruder’s name was Hyakkimaru.” He fixed his eyes on his parents, waiting for an answer. When they said nothing, he added, “The monk said I should ask you, since you know for certain.”
Nui no Kata and Kagemitsu exchanged uneasy glances.
“Um,” Nui no Kata began. She spilled tea in her lap.
“Mother?” Tahōmaru looked at his mother in concern. She was very pale, as if she’d just received a sudden shock.
When Kagemitsu spoke, his tone was calm. “Tahōmaru, it’s true. You had a brother.”
“Yes,” Nui no Kata breathed, “but that’s not all you should know, Tahōmaru.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
“Mother? What is it?”
Nui no Kata opened her mouth to speak, but Kagemitsu interrupted her. “I’ll say it,” he said. “We had another son before you were born, Tahōmaru.”
Tahōmaru stood still and silent, listening to his father explain.
“But he was stillborn,” Kagemitsu said.
Nui no Kata stared at the floor and wouldn’t look up. She was crying. “He didn’t have any arms or legs when he was born--it was like he’d been cursed. We floated him down a river and returned him to the earth. It was a terrible, heartbreaking thing, so we kept it secret. We never intended for you to know...”
“If it’s a secret, how did that monk know about it?” Tahōmaru asked.
“I don’t know. Perhaps it was a distraction, or an unlucky guess.”
“No,” Tahōmaru said. “I’m certain he believed what he said. He called this Hyakkimaru person my older brother. What if he sur--?”
“The dead don’t return to life,” Daigo cut in. “That monk was trying to trick you. There are many people who are jealous of our clan’s success and would wish to sow dissension among us. That’s all this is.”
Tahōmaru had no idea what to think. His parents had lied to him for his entire life. He’d always believed that he was their oldest son. He’d been born not long after the Daigo Clan settled in Wakasa Province, a few years after leaving the estate at Kibune. They had raised him with love, care and attention. He hadn’t believed them capable of lying to him at all, until now. They had found him excellent teachers in the sword, martial arts, and matters of governance. He loved them from the bottom of his heart and wanted to do them proud.
The Daigo Clan’s circumstances hadn’t always been like this. Tahōmaru had witnessed his father’s rise in the world from the start. He had become a Togashi Clan retainer after leaving his former home behind, and over the years his status had risen so high that he was now the lord of Nomitadani Fortress. He’d entrusted the outer defenses of the castle to Tahōmaru, who was newly sixteen.
The blind monk’s words disturbed the peace and harmony that the Daigo Clan had shared for many years. Tahōmaru frowned in discontentment. “I won’t stand for it. Anyone plotting against us must die. I’ll take care of it myself.” He stood up straight, bowed low, and left.
“Tahōmaru!” Nui no Kata called after him, but Tahōmaru didn’t stop. He didn’t even turn back.
“Tarao Tenzen and Anazawa Yozaemon Morisada are still in the castle, protecting the grounds,” Kagemitsu said. “There’s no reason to worry about Tahōmaru while he’s here. I promise.” He was trying to ease his wife’s mind. “I’ll have Tarao and Anazawa search the grounds for intruders, since they’re here.”
“What if...” Nui no Kata hung her head dejectedly. “What if our other son is still alive?”
“Why would you say such a thing?” Kagemitsu asked,
“It’s what I’m thinking. I’ve thought about it for years. Since it happened, it’s always been in the back of my mind.”
“It is lingering affection for a child we never had. Put it out of your mind,” Kagemitsu said. But his tone was anything but soothing. He was all but commanding his wife to forget.
“He wasn’t born dead,” Nui no Kata said. “I’m certain I heard him cry. Only once, but I heard it.”
“Stop thinking about it,” Kagemitsu said. “It’s in the past, and we have enemies that we must consider now.”
But Nui no Kata couldn’t forget, no matter how vehemently Kagemitsu urged her to. Her first son was born in autumn at the Daigo Clan estate in Kibune, which was near Kyōto. She was overjoyed when he was finally born. The Daigo Clan were only low-ranked retainers of Yamana Masakiyo at the time, but her husband was counted among the warriors of the lord of the province. She’d dreamed of happy days raising her child after the birth all throughout her pregnancy, but that dream was cruelly shattered on the day her son was born.
Nui no Kata’s first look at her son left her speechless with fear and incomprehension. She was sure that she’d heard a healthy cry at the moment of his birth, but it was hard to believe that the limbless lump before her was capable of such a thing. Her midwife and attendants forgot to cut the umbilical cord and screamed.
Kagemitsu rushed into the room, grabbed the baby and wrapped him in a spare kimono, then rushed out the room. By the time Nui no Kata realized they were gone, Kagemitsu had already floated the baby down the river.
“He was stillborn and cursed,” Kagemitsu said. “You saw him. I sent him to the underworld.”
“That poor child... I’m so sorry for him. I hope his spirit finds peace.” Nui no Kata broke into tears.
Nui no Kata had never forgotten that day. She’d never told Kagemitsu, but she’d always believed that the baby he’d floated down the river was still alive. Even after all this time, Nui no Kata still remembered the sound of his first cry.
“Shall we send for more tea?” Kagemitsu asked.
His voice brought Nui no Kata back to the present. She didn’t answer.
“He wasn’t breathing,” Kagemitsu said. “And even if he were, he wouldn’t have lived. Not with a body like that.”
“I would have kept him and raised him for as long as he drew breath,” she she said.
“Enough of this nonsense,” Kagemitsu said. He stood up, shoulders set and frowning in irritation. He left the tearoom without another word.
Nui no Kata’s heart was torn. She hadn’t expected to have so many old memories come to the surface.
Kagemitsu sent for Tarao Tenzen and Anazawa Yozaemon Morisada. He ordered them to hunt down the outsiders matching the monk’s and Hyakkimaru’s descriptions and have them executed. That done, he retired to a private study inside the castle. The room was so sacred to him that no one else was ever allowed to enter it. He came to this place to relax and be completely alone.
His guts roiled and his face felt too warm, so he opened the room’s shutters and breathed in cool, clean air from the garden. Fruit trees and pines dotted the manicured space, which was surrounded by high stone walls.
The sky flashed with spring lightning.
The rumor of his first son being alive didn’t concern Kagemitsu as much as his current position. His entire life had changed for the better since becoming Togashi Masachika’s most trusted retainer. He had worked so hard to get here, moving up in the ranks by making himself useful to Masachika and other clan lords in Kaga Province. War raged all over Japan, but he and his family were safe in Nomitadani Fortress--safe, and trusted, and fortunate.
Left to his own devices, Kagemitsu would have nothing to do with the Eastern Army or the Western Army. He wanted no part in the Ōnin War at all. He’d dreamed of rising in the world and grasping it within his fingers for so many years. Becoming the lord of this castle was a large step in that direction.
Nomitadani Fortress was an old place. When he’d first come there, it was falling apart in places, so he’d ordered the entire place repaired and renovated. He had also recruited more soldiers for the Togashi Clan’s army. Every man guarding this fortress was one that Kagemitsu had hired on during his recruiting efforts.
The war was good for one thing: old systems of government and power were no longer in effect. Low-ranked retainers could distinguish themselves in battle and rise above the lords who were once considered their betters. There was no better time for Kagemitsu to advance in the world. If the war went well for him, he might wind up serving the shōgun himself.
Kagemitsu’s ambitions burned inside him. He was impatient. If he was truly going to take the world in his hands, he would first have to take control of the Western Army. It was his plan to depose the Togashi Clan and take over as the lord of Kaga Province. He’d sent out spies and secret messengers to Asakura Takakage, who had also betrayed his lord for a province, but he’d received no response. Without an ally in the Western Army, Kagemitsu might be stuck on the weaker side of the war.
Some days before, word of Daigo’s secret ambitions leaked to Yamagō Takafuji of Yamagō Fortress. Kagemitsu had hardened the fortress so that he could defy Togashi Masachika and join the Western Army. Yamagō Takafuji was still loyal to the Togashi Clan, so if Togashi Masachika didn’t know about his plans yet, he soon would. Kagemitsu fully expected the Togashi Clan to attack him with everything they had the moment they learned of his betrayal.
Kagemitsu sat in his private room and thought about all the decisions that had brought him to this point. He needed to plan for every contingency.
***
Nio no Kata didn’t leave the tearoom. It was more accurate to say that she couldn’t leave. She couldn’t bring herself to move. She remembered everything that had happened at Kibune; everything about the day she’d given birth to her first child. The memory gripped and held her. She couldn’t face the outside world again until she came to terms with it.
“Hyakkimaru...”
The name slipped out. She tried to imagine her baby, not as an infant but as a young man, all grown up. But she couldn’t envision that. Her first sight of him had been a terrifying nightmare. She considered the idea that the birth had been so arduous that she’d seen something that wasn’t there--or maybe she’d hallucinated the whole thing.
She wanted all of it to be nothing but a bad dream. She put her hands together and prayed. Kagemitsu had put their baby in the river; why would he do something so cruel unless the baby was dead? She should have stopped him somehow. She should have confirmed that the baby was dead before Kagemitsu took him away. But she hadn’t--couldn’t.
She didn’t care what her first son looked like. He was still her child, and she would have raised him. He was her responsibility, and his appearance didn’t change the fact that he was hers. It also didn’t make her love or care about him any less. But she hadn’t been given the chance to raise him.
Tahōmaru had been born more than two years later, but Nui no Kata had never forgotten her first child. She kept thinking--hoping--that he was still alive somewhere.
“Hyakkimaru...what a violent name.” She might not care for his name, but she was overjoyed that he was still living, just like she’d always believed.
The door to the tearoom slid open. Nui no Kata expected to see Kagemitsu or Tahōmaru, but they didn’t enter. She looked into the dark hallway and asked, “Is someone there?”
Someone entered the room. Their face was hidden in shadow. Slowly, hesitantly, the figure stepped forward into the light of the tearoom’s lamps.
Nui no Kata was stunned. She had never seen the young man standing in front of her before. “Are you...Hyakkimaru?”
Hyakkimaru opened his kosode a little, revealing the collar of his undershirt. It was yellow and patterned with flowers. Sakuzō had made it from the small kimono that he’d been found in.
“Ah!” Nui no Kata’s gasp of recognition broke the silence. The undershirt was made of the same material as the kimono that Kagemitsu had used to wrap her firstborn son in before casting him into the river. She still remembered the pattern on that kimono, even after all these years.
“My...kimono...”
Tears glinted in Hyakkimaru’s artificial eyes.
“I was found inside it,” Hyakkimaru said. “In a basin, floating down the Takano River. I thought that a kind mother had wrapped me in it, thinking me dead. But I’m still alive.”
Nui no Kata crept closer to him on the floor and looked up at Hyakkimaru. Tears streaked down her cheeks. “Forgive me,” she said. “I...”
Hyakkimaru looked down at her, barely restraining his own impulse to cry. Mother...
That was what he wanted to call her. He’d wanted a mother for as long as he could remember. He’d almost given up on ever meeting her.
“I’m so happy you’re alive,” she said. “I prayed to the Buddha every day for you to be alive.”
Hyakkimaru was speechless at the sight of his mother’s tears. Any hatred he’d felt for her in the past vanished like mist and dream. He wanted to see her as his mother, and nothing else.
“Another intruder!” Tahōmaru called out. He dashed through the open door of the tearoom, interrupting the reunion.
Tahōmaru caught sight of Hyakkimaru and pulled his sword from its sheath, casting the scabbard on the floor.
“Tahōmaru,” Nui no Kata said. “Hyakkimaru is your brother. I know you were raised apart, but it’s true.”
Hyakkimaru stared down Tahōmaru and didn’t say a word.
“That’s a lie,” Tahōmaru said. “He’s trying to trick you, mother. Don’t listen to him.”
Nui no Kata stood up and put herself between Tahōmaru and Hyakkimaru. “The material of his undershirt is made of my own kimono. I wouldn’t mistake it for anything else. Tahōmaru, if you want to kill your brother, you’ll have to kill me first.”
Tahōmaru took a step back. He didn’t understand Nui no Kata at all. He couldn’t believe that Hyakkimaru was some kind of long-lost brother that he’d never even heard of before today. And a lot of kimono had similar patterns, especially those in use by the nobility. He thought that his mother had chosen to believe Hyakkimaru based on very flimsy evidence.
“Mother... Are you feeling all right? Are you really...”
Nui no Kata stepped backwards toward Hyakkimaru.
“Me or him. Is that what this comes down to?” Tahōmaru asked.
Hyakkimaru unsheathed his Muramasa sword, but he made no move to attack.
“Hyakkimaru,” Nui no Kata said. “Wait...”
Hyakkimaru removed his kimono, then his undershirt, leaving him only in his underwear. The metal pieces of his prosthetic limbs shone in the light of the room’s lamps.
“Ah!” Nui no Kata took one look at him, then stared at the floor.
Tahōmaru’s mouth fell open. Like Nui no Kata, he couldn’t stand to look at Hyakkimaru for very long. While his limbs looked normal enough when he was clothed, it was obvious that they were fake. The joints were threaded together with wire and the outer part seemed to be made of leather.
Nui no Kata regained her composure first. She took in Hyakkimaru’s reconstructed body with a painful expression. “Hyakkimaru...”
“I’m a monster.” Hyakkimaru’s voice was a strangled gasp. “None of my limbs are real. But I’m still human. My heart pumps blood. I’m alive.”
“Hyakkimaru,” Nui no Kata breathed.
Hyakkimaru turned to look at her.
“You are my son, without a doubt,” she said.
“I...have a brother?” Tahōmaru seemed confused. Hyakkimaru was bizarre, but his physical state matched what his parents had told him about his stillborn brother.
“My limbs were stolen from me at birth, so a doctor made these for me,” Hyakkimaru said.
“S-stolen?” Nui no Kata’s shoulders shook. “Who would do such a terrible thing?”
Hyakkimaru didn’t answer. She wouldn’t believe him if he told her that his limbs were stolen by demons. Besides, he felt like it would be too cruel to tell her the entire truth.
Hyakkimaru bowed, settled his undershirt and kosode over his shoulders, and ran from the room.
Nui no Kata tried to rush after him, but she fell to the ground, still crying. Tahōmaru pursed his lips and frowned at Hyakkimaru’s retreating back. All the lamps in the room flickered in the cold evening wind and were nearly extinguished.
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