Dororo: Part Two - Epilogue

Dororo: Part Two

Nakamura Masaru

Part 4: At the Border

Epilogue

 

    At the end of summer, right when leaves started to change color and the breeze blew cool instead of hot, Dororo and Hyakkimaru were traveling through a forest in Isobe Clan territory. They were on the border between the former Kaneyama Clan's lands; it all belonged to the Daigo Clan now. There were mountains to the east, and to the south the wind carried a tang of salt.

    There was a rumor in a nearby village that there were three demons in the forest. They were shaped like monkeys, long-limbed and terrifyingly huge. One was missing both eyes, another was missing both ears, and the third was missing a nose. Hyakkimaru sensed them long before he saw them. Dororo picked up on Hyakkimaru's alertness and drew his knife.

    This knife had belonged to Tahōmaru. It was a gift from Yuri to him, given to him as a child in the hope that it would keep him safe. Dororo probably should have given it back when Tahōmaru had returned to life, but he'd decided to keep it. He had a man's knife in a woman's scabbard, and that felt strangely right to him. The knife also hadn't broken or gotten lost on the journey south, which he took as a good omen.

    The monkeys swooped through the trees overhead. "Behind you, aniki!" Dororo called out.

    Hyakkimaru didn't need the warning. "Two of them track by sound. Be quiet," he hissed.

    The three monkeys jumped down from the trees at the same time, each from a different direction. Hyakkimaru and Dororo braced for attack. The monkeys came in close; Hyakkimaru sliced them all in a line, making them screech and fall back. Dororo finished them off.

    Every bird in the forest grove flew out of the trees into the deep blue sky. The demon bodies dissolved; the battle was over.

    Later, when Hyakkimaru and Dororo were walking further south to make camp, Dororo smelled salt on the air. "Yo, aniki. We're on the Kaneyama/Isobe border, right? I think the ocean is close to here."

    "The ocean?"

    "We're heading back toward Banmon soon, right? We'll never be closer to the shore than we are now."

    Hyakkimaru considered for a moment, then nodded. Neither one of them had seen the ocean before.

 

***

 

    Lord Sabame sat with his back against a burned-out tree, tired and hungry. His village used to be in Kaneyama Clan territory, but the land it occupied belonged to the Daigo Clan now. He had given commands to rebuild the burned temple and damaged homes in the village, but his own home was still a blackened husk. He knew that he should make some effort to rebuild it, but every time he tried to make a plan for that, he abandoned it. The house was only for him, after all, so he didn't need it.

    Ever since the day of the fire that had killed all of the moth demon's eggs, Lord Sabame had spent his days walking back and forth between the rebuilt temple and his ruined house, feeling lost.

    He no longer had any real power in the village. Some of the villagers who had stayed mocked or abused him, and he let them. It would probably be good for him to leave, but he didn't know where else he would go. He often forgot to eat. He wasn't sure what to do with his life now.

    As he sat against the trunk of the burned tree with his stomach growling, Sabame noticed a young woman standing in the woods in front of him. She wore all black, and her face was like Jishōni's, though she was obviously younger.

    "Father." The woman stepped forward. "I'd like to stay with you, but… well, if I did, would the villagers try to kill me?" she asked.

    "I don't know," he said.

    "I…" The girl wiped away tears. "I'll stay. I'll protect you. I'll protect us both."

    "If you can't protect us, it won't be your fault," Sabame said quietly. "If it comes to that… we'll die together."

    The girl nodded. "It's a promise."

    "I never named you," he said. "I'll call you… Kikiyō." Kikiyō was the name of a flower that grew in autumn; it was one of the last flowers to bloom before winter, and had tough roots.

    "It's the rainy season now," Sabame said. The ground was wet from frequent rain, and so were all his clothes. "We'll have to work hard to get the house in shape."

    Kikiyō nodded. She helped him stand, and the two of them walked toward the house together with matching hunches on their backs.

    Sabame had never felt anything but contempt for his hunchback, but seeing it on his daughter changed that in him. It was her inheritance from him. He was sorry for it, but he wasn't sorry to have a daughter like himself.

    Kikiyō and Sabame walked straight ahead. Kikiyō was crying almost silently. Sabame didn't look at her; he wanted to give her at least a little privacy as she wept.

    "I planted a lot of flowers around the temple," Sabame said softly. "Would you like to see them?"

    Years after that, the purple-colored flowers surrounding the rebuilt temple would give it a new name among the locals: Kikiyō Temple.

 

***

 

    The day after Dororo and Hyakkimaru defeated the three demon monkeys, Dororo ran out of a bamboo grove and was greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of water sparkling brightly under the late summer sunshine.

    "Aniki! Come quick! We're here!"

    Hyakkimaru didn't run. He emerged from the bamboo grove behind Dororo slowly, allowing his first impression of the ocean to hit him in pieces instead of all at once. Wind blowing over the water sent his hair straight back. He looked for land on the other side of the water and saw nothing but the hazy horizon, partly obscured by fog.

    The ocean was so big that it hurt his eyes to look at it for too long. It was overwhelming to all his senses. He looked up and away from it and noticed a flock of white sea-birds flying north.

    Dororo blinked water and salt out of his eyes as he took it all in. He sent surreptitious glances Hyakkimaru's way as if he wanted to make sure that Hyakkimaru was just as awed as he was.

    The expression that Dororo saw on Hyakkimaru's face seemed to satisfy him. "Whoa, it's huge! Have you ever seen anything like it in all your life? I mean, of course you haven't--"

    Hyakkimaru shot Dororo a look.

    "But I haven't, either. Wow! D'you think there are fish, aniki? There must be fish, right?"

    "Yeah, there must be," Hyakkimaru said. He smiled. Dororo's feelings were always plain on his face. Hyakkimaru liked that about him.

    Hyakkimaru remembered seeing the globe in Tahōmaru's room when he'd first been summoned to the Daigo Clan's fortress. That seemed like a lifetime ago. The globe was a map of the whole world, including this incredible ocean. He couldn't believe it. Nothing so small could encompass something so vast. It was impossible for anyone to own the world.

    He wanted to take a look at the globe again. He wondered how small the Daigo Clan's fortress would be on it. The size of a pin? And how big was the ocean on a map?

    Hyakkimaru took a deep breath of sea-scented air, then let it out. He'd go see Tahōmaru again someday, but right now, all he wanted to focus on was the beauty of the ocean before him. When he smiled again, he felt like it came from the inside-out, like he was radiating joy.

    "It really is huge," he said, echoing Dororo.

    "You're damn right," Dororo said. "How long would it take to drink it all?"

    "I'm pretty sure that's impossible…"

    Dororo fished around in his pack and produced a summer melon. "Wanna eat?"

    "Sure." Hyakkimaru cut the melon up and shared it between them. He and Dororo sat on soft white sand and ate the sweet fruit.

    Hyakkimaru could taste that it was sweet. He'd gotten his tongue back from the three demon monkeys. His eyes widened in surprise after he swallowed down the first bite. "It's… good," he said.

    "It's great," Dororo corrected.

    Hyakkimaru sat with Dororo next to the ocean eating melons. He enjoyed it. He'd like to do more things like it.

    Dororo tapped out a rhythm on his hand drum. It was a cheerful sound; with the waves, it sounded a little like a song. Hyakkimaru's shoulders relaxed in contentment.

    He knew this couldn't last forever. The world was a frightening place, and there were still many demons that he had to fight. For now, though…

    The world was bright.

    The sea, the sky, the wind, Dororo sitting beside him… everything was bright.

    A bright future.

 

THE END