The Jade Hand

[Hida Togeriso]

Greetings!!!

Another old fic. This was part of a series of short stroies that was to introduce the main characters of a much larger work. Despite several years now, that work in still in progress.

Date of writing unknown at the moment.

Please enjoy.

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Silent Rain, Moonlit Steel: A Tale of a Crab
by Hida Togeriso, Crab Clan Lorekeeper

Her name had once been Yasuki Ashiko. She had been my wife.

She was not the daughter of one of the Yasuki merchants, as many would mistake during her life before taking my family name of Kaiu. Instead, she was one of the Yasuki who trained in the arts of war more than the art of commerce. The merchant caravans of the Yasuki Clan need protection as they travel across the Empire and then return to the lands of the Crab, and who better to trust such a matter with than members of one's own family? After all, while it is often done with smaller envoys, who could trust ronin with protecting the funds and items that the Crab need in order to perform their duty to the Empire? The Yasuki may be mainly merchants, but that meant they were wily, not stupid.

Ashiko was trained in the art of the naginata, sword, and tetsubo-or training in reflex, precision, and strength as she explained. There were other weapons she was trained in, but she was proficient in the three I have just mentioned, and it was an honour to watch her as she practiced with each weapon. Her battles were fought against bandits and so the techniques a samurai are familiar with, as well as the tenets of bushido, were not used by her and the other caravan guards. Bandits do not have honour. They do not step forward and challenge you to a duel. They strike, and take every opportunity that is available. It sounded familiar to me as she described it-cautiously at first I might add, because she did not know how I would react to unorthodox techniques-similar in the way a samurai fight when dealing with the Shadowlands.

Bandits were not the only threat that the Yasuki faced however. Though it is not a topic of detailed conversation among the courtiers of Winter's Court, there are other Clans who seek the materials of the Yasuki. That the Crane and Yasuki have fought a shadow war for centuries now is common, but never spoken of, knowledge. The Scorpion have their 'concerns' in such matters as well, and sometimes a caravan will be surrounded by 'mounted ronin'. I am told that the Yasuki find it very interesting that there seem to be hordes of bandits that can ride great steeds in perfect formations. So many in fact, that the Empire should have been overrun with these raiders, but that is a matter for the magistrates and I am merely a samurai speaking of what I have heard.

I sometimes wondered who was worried the most when either of us left for our separate tasks. She as part of a caravan, and myself operating a siege team along Kaiu Kabe. I never tried to mention to Ashiko that a proper wife dealt with household matters while the husband fought for his Clan. The Crab Clan often alters tradition and I knew when the marriage arrangements were being made that Ashiko was still bound to serve the Yasuki, and therefore the Crab Clan. Duty to one's lord is first and foremost.

It was during one of these caravan journeys that Kaiu Ashiko was slain.

While on a journey to Otosan Uchi, Ashiko found herself walking near a young Daidoji samurai. The two had been walking towards each other when someone fell. Reaching out with his hands, the person struck Ashiko, who tried to move out of the way. In doing so, her scabbard struck against the scabbard of the Daidoji, and the dishonour had to be expunged.

There was no challenge. No declaration. Another Yasuki saw the entire matter. Ashiko was turning to see what she had hit. The Daidoji, acting no doubt on iaijutsu-honed reflex, struck before Ashiko even had a chance to reach for her sword. Thankfully, even as the Crane's katana cut deep and upwards, she was able to grip her katana, thus dying properly and with honour.

I received her ashes and swords a week after I was told of her death, along other tragic news. She had spoken to her sister before she had left with what she had hoped to be good news to tell me when she returned. A full timing of the moon had passed without incident for her, though she would know for sure after she had returned from her journey.

How could I describe what I felt? I was struck with grief. I mourned for a three days but then one of my fellow siege engineers came with a recall to duty. A goblin horde had been attacking the Kaiu Walls in what appeared to be a primitive probing maneuver.

For the next month, I though of nothing but defending Kaiu Kabe and the Empire. What else can one do? Oni do not wait for those suffering from loss, and duty to my Clan is first and foremost. I found it very odd that the samurai who had cut down Ashiko would never have to face an oni because of my efforts along the wall but that was all that could be said of the matter as I launched hot pitch into the face of a multi-limbed demon.

After a month had passed since the day I had received Kaiu Ashiko's ashes, I was visited by a friend. He had once served along the Kaiu Wall as a 'pony', a samurai from another clan who had been sent to the Wall. His name was Bayushi Mukaio, and I had saved his life when he had served under the Crab.

We met at a sake house, greeted each other, and drank as we discussed what we had done a year ago since we had last met together. Mukaio had heard of Ashiko's death, and had made sure that we were in a private area as we drank.

After emptying a third bottle of the warm sake, Mukaio reached into his kimono and withdrew a letter. Without a word, he passed it to me and asked that I not read it until I returned home. His eyes behind his mask told me that is was very important but I did as he asked. We drank some more, toasting Ashiko with each drink, and then we went our separate ways.
The next morning I opened the letter.

Mukaio knew my wife from when he visited, and knew how I felt about her. After hearing of the events of her death, Mukaio had made several inquiries. Something had bothered him. Something had bothered me as well, but looking back I see that I was too concerned with the attacks on Kaiu Kabe to have thought about the details of Ashiko's death.

The person who had fallen against Kaiu Ashiko had not been a peasant. The whole event had been staged as a distraction so that the Daidoji could strike down my wife.

I don't recall when Bayushi Mukaio arrived at my house, but he knew that I had many questions.

That my wife was slain as part of the Yasuki and Crane dispute was something I could regretfully understand. No one would question a samurai's right to cleanse his blade of dishonour, and I could see how it had been arranged so that it really had been no fault of my wife. However, a stain upon the honour of a wife is a stain upon the honour the husband. I had a duty to the Crab and to the Empire, but knowing this now, I had a duty to Ashiko.

I was given a week to 'place my household in proper order'. With the information provided by Mukaio, I was able to find the young samurai who had slain Ashiko in only three days.

It was raining and the moon was high above me when I found him. He was walking across a bridge and I met him at the foot of it. I declared who I was and that I was challenging him to a duel. The Daidoji suggested that we move to the fields alongside the bridge and I agreed.

I explained why I was challenging him and he merely nodded in acceptance. Then we fell into our separate stances.

It became very quiet as we began to focus. I had always noticed it when I practiced, but with the rain becoming silent I became more aware of the effect. I stared at the Daidoji, feeling my body gather chi as the moment to strike neared. It always seems to last several minutes, this gathering and focusing. Sometimes it actually does take time.

This duel however, was swift, the apparent length of passing time merely a moment. I stepped forward, my hand already moving to my left, the Daidoji doing the same. On the second step we drew our swords simultaneously. My blade arced up. His technique was different though, and nearly caught me in the throat. Of the two of us, I knew that he was faster. Had he struck in the traditional manner I would have been cut cleanly in two.

Instead, his different technique merely glanced lightly along the side of my neck and as my blood slowly-but not fatally-seeped out, my own katana struck true and deep.

He was dead before he fell to the ground.

Cleaning my blade, I was ready to leave when something caught my attention. When operating a siege engine along Kaiu Kabe, one must always make certain that nothing is nearby that may trip you up as you fight. To not check is to invite death to yourself and those around you. All Kaiu engineers know to look around and chastise those who do not remember this vital fact, and it was because of this habit that I noticed the moonlight shining off of the dirt in the field where the two of us had just dueled. I wondered if my victory had been because of fate. Perhaps a small rock wet with rainwater that tripped up the Daidoji samurai. Perhaps a small patch of fresh mud. Kneeling down, I decided to see what I owed my life to.

Even as I knelt, I felt something in my soul twitch, and when I finally looked down, I knew that neither the kami nor fate had anything to do with my victory.

Reaching down, I withdrew a metal caltrop from the ground, and it was not the only one. Going to my knees and digging around, I pulled out another metal barb, followed by another. Several of them had been placed there, each long enough to pierce the foot of a samurai who would have been stepping forward in a duel…

I knew at once that it had not been a different style of iaijutsu that had cost the Daidoji his life, and as I looked at the samurai's body I saw the metal stuck under his foot.

My mind raced with thoughts. Had the barbs been meant for me? Had they been placed to hinder the Daidoji? Had they been placed there for that specific duel? I did not know at the time. I did not know when I spoke to the magistrates about the duel, and I did not know when I returned to Kaiu Kabe. As I fought the Shadowlands however, and as the months passed by, I grew more and more certain of one important matter-the honour of my wife, Kaiu Ashiko, had not been fully cleansed, and therefore my own honour had not been cleansed.

Someone had interfered with my duel of revenge. I would need to wait and find out why, but not because duty to the Crab was foremost. This time I had to patient, and pray that I would find the proper moment to strike.

END
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See ya!!!
Hida Togeriso, Crab Clan Lorekeeper
Might have had a hand in this...

I have seen many like you, I have known many like you. You only need to know this about me: should you fall I will remember you and tell your tale. No one is forgotten.