Dororo: Part Two - Chapter 25

Dororo: Part Two

Nakamura Masaru

Part 4: At the Border

Chapter 25

    It was sunset by the time Hyakkimaru and Tahōmaru got back to the Daigo Clan’s fortress. They stood in the golden tower side-by-side, gazing out at the city below. They’d brought back the bodies of Kagemitsu and Yuri for burial, but the funeral rites for them wouldn’t be held quite yet.

    Cicadas buzzed in the summer evening. People hurried back and forth in the streets, coming home from work or visiting friends for dinner. No one knew yet what had happened to their lord.

    Tahōmaru swallowed heavily, then said, “This palace is yours. You’re my older brother; you should be the one to rule.”

    “I don’t think so,” Hyakkimaru said. “I’ve spent most of my life entirely cut off from the world. I’ve only been out in it for a little over two years. You have a lot more experience in the world, and at governing. I think you should be in charge.”

    Tahōmaru looked Hyakkimaru up and down. His eyes lingered on the X-shaped wound that marked Hyakkimaru unmistakably as Kagemitsu’s heir.

    “This tower and the city below us would never have been built except for your sacrifice. I still think they all belong to you.”

    Hyakkimaru shook his head. He was starting to understand what Jukai had meant when he’d said that Hyakkimaru had to live for the sake of all the children who had died to make his body. It was true that he’d been sacrificed on the altar of his father’s ambition, but he wasn’t the only sacrificed or abandoned child in the world. Tahōmaru had spent his life in ignorance of Hyakkimaru’s suffering, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t suffered himself. Suffering had no meaning unless it was put to a purpose. Hyakkimaru’s purpose was to be whole again, and he didn’t need to steal or halve his brother’s inheritance to achieve that.

    “Half the demons are still out there,” Hyakkimaru said. “And I still have a lot to learn about being human. Joy and pain are both new to me. When my quest is done, I’ll come back.”

    Tahōmaru nodded. “I’ll wait.” He remembered his father’s last words to him and bowed deeply to his brother. “You’re the true ruler of this land. I look forward to your safe return.”

    When Hyakkimaru left the golden tower, all the guards and servants in the halls bowed to him. Some people muttered their thanks for saving Tahōmaru from battle with the Isobe Clan. Hyakkimaru was reminded again that there was so much about this place and its politics that he didn’t know.

    He wondered what would happen when the wider world learned that Daigo Kagemitsu was dead. The atmosphere inside the fortress was hushed and grim, but none of the people Hyakkimaru saw seemed particularly grieved at his father’s passing.

    Before he left, Hyakkimaru went down the hall to pay his last respects to his birth parents. They lay still. He bowed his head over them and prayed.

    Sleep in peace. Your war is over now.

    Hyakkimaru left the fortress. He had restored half of his human pieces and organs; half of the body Jukai had made for him still remained. He was entirely human and always had been, regardless of people who considered him a monster. The choice before him now was to embrace the heritage of his birth or to flee from it.

    But he didn’t have to make that choice right now. Being human wasn’t the same as being whole. He walked away from the fortress with the wind at his back.

 

***

 

    Dororo squatted down on a narrow bridge just outside the Daigo Clan’s fortress and stared out at the river. He’d been invited inside the fortress to the golden tower, but he’d refused the invitation. Daigo Kagemitsu was dead, but Dororo still harbored hatred for things he’d built. The fortress loomed over him, casting a giant shadow over him and his entire life. He felt like if he set foot in that place even once, he’d never come out alive.

    What am I waiting around for? Dororo thought as he looked everywhere except at that terrible fortress. Hyakkimaru was certainly taking his sweet time in there. Maybe he was dead.

    Dororo drew his knife from his wooden scabbard, gripping its hilt strongly for reassurance. Hyakkimaru probably wasn’t dead. He was more scared of the idea that Hyakkimaru might choose to stay now that Kagemitsu was dead.

    He was about to stand up and go wander for a while when he sensed someone approaching from behind him. Dororo turned and saw Hyakkimaru, just as he’d been this morning--ready for a day of walking in the summer sun, chasing after demons.

    “Back already? Is the castle not fancy enough for ya or somethin’?” Dororo asked.

    “I can’t stay. I still have something important to do.”

    “You mean hunting down the other demons.”

    “Yeah.”

    Dororo smiled. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

    “You’re not coming with me.”

    Dororo’s smile flashed off. “Huh? Why not?”

    “The demons will be focused on me now in a way they haven’t before. They know how much of a threat I am, and traveling with me is only going to get more dangerous. I know you want this sword,” he said, tapping his left arm, “but you’re going to have to wait for awhile longer.”

    He passed Dororo by, remembering the hug they’d shared after the battle and kind of wanting another one, but not knowing how to ask for it. He raised his left arm, then said, “Thanks for your help.” He put his back to Dororo.

    “Hyakkimaru!” It wasn’t Dororo’s normal voice. He’d slipped into his feminine voice for a moment--for what reason, Hyakkimaru couldn’t tell. Dororo’s thoughts were closed to him.

    Hyakkimaru stopped walking away, but he didn’t turn around. There was a long pause. He started walking again.

    Dororo went pale and shook all over as he stared at Hyakkimaru’s retreating back. His trembling became more violent as anxiety and nervousness turned to anger and went straight to his head. He followed after Hyakkimaru, grumbling a little and drawing his knife from its scabbard.

    “Damn it,” Dororo said when Hyakkimaru was close enough to hear him. “You get that your bastard of a father, who I hate more than anything, asked me to look out for you, right? It was the last thing he said. And I know he’s a bastard and I owe him jack shit, but you’re goin’ off on your own now with no one to look out for you. Don’t make me think Daigo was right to ask me. I can’t stand it.”

    Hyakkimaru’s expression twisted with pain, as if he was getting a body part back. He turned to Dororo, thinking of some better way to explain himself so that Dororo could be free of him. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he led Dororo to an untimely death.

    When Hyakkimaru said nothing, Dororo added, “Besides, how are you gonna keep me from following you, huh? You’re too fucking slow to outrun me.” He ran at Hyakkimaru with his knife drawn.

    Alarmed, Hyakkimaru stepped away to avoid the knife. Dororo didn’t try to stab him. He brought his knee up to kick Hyakkimaru solidly in the crotch.

    White-hot pain radiated through Hyakkimaru’s body; he staggered and almost passed out. Dororo slapped his forehead in irritation as he fell, right over the X-shaped cuts, and said, “Don’t you dare try to leave me behind. Do you think I’m weak or somethin’? Are you mocking me? If you ever say anything so stupid ever again, well… now you know how I’ll remind you that you’re being a moron. If I wanna leave, that’s my choice, but you won’t be ditching me anytime soon.”

    Hyakkimaru gaped, still too stunned to move much. He looked up at Dororo as if he’d never seen him before. He remembered Dororo on the battlefield, picking up weapons as fast as he’d lost them--not a trained warrior, but as brave as one.

    Dororo poked Hyakkimaru in the nose, still irritated; Hyakkimaru tripped backward and sprawled into the dirt of the road. Dimly, Hyakkimaru remembered the story that Dororo had told him after he’d kicked the lizard demon in the gonads--'The Girl Who Kicked a Monster Away From Her Grandfather's House.’ He should probably tell Dororo that most men thought that was a cowardly move. After he could feel his legs again.

    As Dororo glared and rained down insults from above, Hyakkimaru sat up straight, coughed, and then said, “You never change,” he said. “Whether you’re pretending to be a man or a woman. It doesn’t matter.”

    “Who’s pretending?” Dororo shot back.

    “You know… men don’t kick other men there. It’s just… one of those things we don’t do. You should know that.”

    Dororo rolled his eyes. “Get up, you big baby. We’re losing time.”

    Hyakkimaru grimaced as Dororo helped him up. It was comforting, in a way, that Dororo hadn’t changed. Dororo wouldn’t change. Dororo was Dororo.

 

***

 

    Dororo and Hyakkimaru left the fortress city around sunset. The little monkey that Dororo had stolen the hand drum from a long time before was sitting near a food stall, entertaining passersby. Dororo folded his arms at the the monkey, who seemed to recognize him as well. He swiped two skewers of roasted sparrow meat and vegetables from the food stall, then lifted the monkey’s drum out of the creature’s tiny hands before anyone noticed.

    The monkey noticed, of course. It screeched at Dororo and ran after him as he wove through the crowd. “Silly monkey,” Dororo said, taunting the monkey at long range. “Don’t you know who I am? It’s an honor to be robbed by the world’s greatest thief!”

    The monkey did not seem impressed.

    As Dororo ducked past people on their way home, he caught sight of Biwabōshi playing his lute on the street. He remembered that he still owed Biwabōshi for telling him Hyakkimaru’s story. He dug around in one of his pockets and came up with a half-dozen or so silver coins. He dropped them into Biwabōshi’s collection plate as he passed by. He waited to make sure the money was in the plate, then moved away, melting into the crowd without saying a word.

    Biwabōshi counted the coins with his fingers. He smiled a little. It was enough money for him to rest for a while, or perhaps to go traveling. He wanted to go back to the Hall of Hell. Perhaps he could help soothe the head priest’s spirit, now that so many demons were dead and the nation was under a new ruler. He finished playing his song, gathered up his earnings, then walked into the twilight city toward the wasteland.