Snippet 30: SisterJeanne
- Location
- Mountains of Appalachia
Interlude for Tanto and Katana
Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, Kamakura
Masamune-no-Tokunotakai, The Masamune of the Warrior's Virtues, took a deep breath as she stepped out from the dojo and descended the familiar stone staircase leading down from her shrine.
Unlike almost every other time that she had descended it, she was not in the white haori and red hakama that showed that she was a miko of Hachiman. No, today, she was instead in a pink silk kimono embroidered with butterflies and with her long dark hair up in an elaborate bun thanks to the ministrations of Mrs. Kokonoe who ran the beauty salon in town (and whose granddaughter Yae had advanced to prefectural regional competition as the shining star of Kamakura Junior High School's kendo club incidentally). Toku's lips flickered in a serene smile at the thought of her prize 13 year old kendoka pupil who took to her instruction as a rice paddy did to the spring rains.
She shook her head slightly as she made her way to the Torii showing the current outer boundary of the shrine, crossing over the bridge separating the Taira and Minamoto ornamental ponds. While Yae was a matter of quiet pride for her, and she expected to see her kendoka apprentice perform well in the All Nippon Kendo Championship if she continued to follow the Way of the Sword, her focus for today needed to be on other matters.
For today, her beloved oneesan Masamune-no-Honjo was returning home to the Tokugawa Clan.
Thanks to her eldest sister Kotegiri, Toku had gotten an invitation to attend the ceremony and the planned private party welcoming Honjo home. Kotegiri took her self-appointed role as the Masamune Momblade seriously, something that Toku could certainly respect for all that she was very much one of the youngest and most junior members of the family. Also it helped that Kote's legend had been formed in 1355 when she severed a enemy samurai's arm with a single stroke that cleft his armor and bone like water in her service to the Asakura Clan before their defeat by the Oda. None of her sisters and precious few of their foes wished to face Kotegiri in battle.
Kote's letter to her had indicated that she would be sending someone to pick her up. Privately Toku was thankful since she had not traveled outside Kamakura in nearly two centuries, and she was somewhat aware that the world had changed in her isolation.
Evidence of that suddenly appeared as a 1971 Lincoln Continental with gold paint pulled up next to her on the street.
Toku stared as a familiar tanto dagger's avatar with her short dark hair and golden hazel eyes leaned out of the driver-side window and gestured to her. Her mind flashed back to the same face in the retinue of the Inspector of Shrines visiting her in 1683 as the elder Masamune fingered the tanto that was her true self upon meeting her younger sister for the first time. She did not need to see the full-back tattoo of Fudo My'oo on her older sister to immediately identify her chauffeur. Why Kotegiri had appointed the hothead of the family to pick her up was less obvious.
"Toku-chan! Get in! Time's wasting, and if we are late, Kote-chan will have both our tsuba mounted in her room in the Imperial Household!"
Numbly Tokunotakai made her way to the passenger side of the car. After some fumbling with the door she got inside and buckled up. As the car pulled away from the curb with a squeal of rubber, she looked over at a face that she had not seen in decades. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Fudo-oneesama. It is good to see you once more," she spoke in a politely neutral tone.
Fudo grinned at Tokunotakai as they headed out of Kamakura. "It's nice to see you finally getting out of that stuffy shrine, imouto. I thought that you would rust away to nothing just sitting around there gathering dust."
Toku twitched as her sister's brash words hit a well-concealed sore spot. While she found her duties at Hachimangū rewarding and fulfilling she also dreamed of doing more; taking a break from them to wander the earth righting wrongs and protecting those in need of protection like her elder sister Musashi or Lady Chastity from her books.
She cast about to change the subject, nibbling her lip. Religion and politics were right out. Long experience with Fudo was evidence that those subjects would provoke an argument, and Honjo would be disappointed and more relevantly Kotegiri would be upset if two of their juniors showed up in such a state.
Her eyes landed on the car and she smiled serenely. "The automobile is new, Fudo-nee. When did you get it?"
Fudo beamed, clear pride in her car showing through. "Isn't it great? I picked this up in 1971 with some of my stipend from the Owari branch of the Tokugawas. I also got a degree in building design and construction to help with their company."
Toku blinked. "I...see. So the car was the reason why Kote-oneesama sent you to pick me up then?"
Fudo shook her head, as a magnificent scowl formed on her face. Which was unsurprising considering that her namesake and Buddhist divine patron Fudo My'oo was known for a perpetually angry expression.
"I fucking wish. No, there's some shitheel out there that is attacking tsukumogomi. Honjo-chan says that she's pretty sure that he was one of the Kamo supporters that worked with Kyoshu during the Pacific War. Learned some memory tricks from that sadistic uberbitch, probably one of the Demon Blade's star apprentices. A Muramasa clearly needs help taking one of us on you see, even you, imouto."
Toku blinked twice. This was news to her and somewhat at variance with what several of her other sisters had mentioned about the condition of Muramasa-no-Kyoshu after she resurfaced following the Pacific War. "I...see. I shall be on the watch then. Do you have a description?"
"For the apprentice? Naah, not yet. Honjo-chan faced and stabbed him, so she will supply it to us all after she's back home. For that fucking Kyoshu? Oh hell yes, and if you see her, strike to kill. She's totally cruel and heartless. Not anywhere near a real blade like us though, I kicked her ass the last time I ran into her in 1923 in Tokyo. She's been chickening out and avoiding me since." Fudo grinned smugly as she sped past a Toyota Civic.
Toku nodded absently and studied the approaching skyline of Tokyo. If a third the stories she had heard about Muramasa-no-Kyoshu were remotely true, such a foe would be a worthy test of her steel and a suitable foe to be struck down.
"She might be more of a challenge to you like that fucking gaijin who messed you up back in 1864. That reminds me, I need to track that bitch down and teach her a lesson. No one makes my little imouto cry like that, even if she's a stuck up sheath-in-the-mud shrine maiden who couldn't fight her way out of a bento box if push came to shove. Maybe I should swing by and help you learn not to be totally helpless in a fight." Fudo said with a cocky smirk on her face.
Toku sighed and pinched her nose as a headache began to form. "For the last time Fudo-nee, that is my fight to face. I will politely ask you to let me fight my own battles. Hachiman-dono even informed me to prepare myself since one day my steel will cross hers."
Fudo shrugged. "Only if I don't catch her first and beat her like an o-taiko for what she did to you back then. It would help if you had a name or anything past 'blonde tsukumogami with a gaijin rapier' for a description. Probably cheap pot metal from an inferior smith too."
Toku sighed and pinched her nose again as they entered Tokyo's sprawl. "I forgot to ask her at the time. As I told you. Repeatedly. Starting in 1864. Are we there yet?"
"Half a hour or so. Tokyo traffic blows goats." The Tanto then threw the finger at a Mazda that cut her off. "Go back to driving school!"
Toku slumped down a little in her seat in response.
Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, Kamakura
Masamune-no-Tokunotakai, The Masamune of the Warrior's Virtues, took a deep breath as she stepped out from the dojo and descended the familiar stone staircase leading down from her shrine.
Unlike almost every other time that she had descended it, she was not in the white haori and red hakama that showed that she was a miko of Hachiman. No, today, she was instead in a pink silk kimono embroidered with butterflies and with her long dark hair up in an elaborate bun thanks to the ministrations of Mrs. Kokonoe who ran the beauty salon in town (and whose granddaughter Yae had advanced to prefectural regional competition as the shining star of Kamakura Junior High School's kendo club incidentally). Toku's lips flickered in a serene smile at the thought of her prize 13 year old kendoka pupil who took to her instruction as a rice paddy did to the spring rains.
She shook her head slightly as she made her way to the Torii showing the current outer boundary of the shrine, crossing over the bridge separating the Taira and Minamoto ornamental ponds. While Yae was a matter of quiet pride for her, and she expected to see her kendoka apprentice perform well in the All Nippon Kendo Championship if she continued to follow the Way of the Sword, her focus for today needed to be on other matters.
For today, her beloved oneesan Masamune-no-Honjo was returning home to the Tokugawa Clan.
Thanks to her eldest sister Kotegiri, Toku had gotten an invitation to attend the ceremony and the planned private party welcoming Honjo home. Kotegiri took her self-appointed role as the Masamune Momblade seriously, something that Toku could certainly respect for all that she was very much one of the youngest and most junior members of the family. Also it helped that Kote's legend had been formed in 1355 when she severed a enemy samurai's arm with a single stroke that cleft his armor and bone like water in her service to the Asakura Clan before their defeat by the Oda. None of her sisters and precious few of their foes wished to face Kotegiri in battle.
Kote's letter to her had indicated that she would be sending someone to pick her up. Privately Toku was thankful since she had not traveled outside Kamakura in nearly two centuries, and she was somewhat aware that the world had changed in her isolation.
Evidence of that suddenly appeared as a 1971 Lincoln Continental with gold paint pulled up next to her on the street.
Toku stared as a familiar tanto dagger's avatar with her short dark hair and golden hazel eyes leaned out of the driver-side window and gestured to her. Her mind flashed back to the same face in the retinue of the Inspector of Shrines visiting her in 1683 as the elder Masamune fingered the tanto that was her true self upon meeting her younger sister for the first time. She did not need to see the full-back tattoo of Fudo My'oo on her older sister to immediately identify her chauffeur. Why Kotegiri had appointed the hothead of the family to pick her up was less obvious.
"Toku-chan! Get in! Time's wasting, and if we are late, Kote-chan will have both our tsuba mounted in her room in the Imperial Household!"
Numbly Tokunotakai made her way to the passenger side of the car. After some fumbling with the door she got inside and buckled up. As the car pulled away from the curb with a squeal of rubber, she looked over at a face that she had not seen in decades. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Fudo-oneesama. It is good to see you once more," she spoke in a politely neutral tone.
Fudo grinned at Tokunotakai as they headed out of Kamakura. "It's nice to see you finally getting out of that stuffy shrine, imouto. I thought that you would rust away to nothing just sitting around there gathering dust."
Toku twitched as her sister's brash words hit a well-concealed sore spot. While she found her duties at Hachimangū rewarding and fulfilling she also dreamed of doing more; taking a break from them to wander the earth righting wrongs and protecting those in need of protection like her elder sister Musashi or Lady Chastity from her books.
She cast about to change the subject, nibbling her lip. Religion and politics were right out. Long experience with Fudo was evidence that those subjects would provoke an argument, and Honjo would be disappointed and more relevantly Kotegiri would be upset if two of their juniors showed up in such a state.
Her eyes landed on the car and she smiled serenely. "The automobile is new, Fudo-nee. When did you get it?"
Fudo beamed, clear pride in her car showing through. "Isn't it great? I picked this up in 1971 with some of my stipend from the Owari branch of the Tokugawas. I also got a degree in building design and construction to help with their company."
Toku blinked. "I...see. So the car was the reason why Kote-oneesama sent you to pick me up then?"
Fudo shook her head, as a magnificent scowl formed on her face. Which was unsurprising considering that her namesake and Buddhist divine patron Fudo My'oo was known for a perpetually angry expression.
"I fucking wish. No, there's some shitheel out there that is attacking tsukumogomi. Honjo-chan says that she's pretty sure that he was one of the Kamo supporters that worked with Kyoshu during the Pacific War. Learned some memory tricks from that sadistic uberbitch, probably one of the Demon Blade's star apprentices. A Muramasa clearly needs help taking one of us on you see, even you, imouto."
Toku blinked twice. This was news to her and somewhat at variance with what several of her other sisters had mentioned about the condition of Muramasa-no-Kyoshu after she resurfaced following the Pacific War. "I...see. I shall be on the watch then. Do you have a description?"
"For the apprentice? Naah, not yet. Honjo-chan faced and stabbed him, so she will supply it to us all after she's back home. For that fucking Kyoshu? Oh hell yes, and if you see her, strike to kill. She's totally cruel and heartless. Not anywhere near a real blade like us though, I kicked her ass the last time I ran into her in 1923 in Tokyo. She's been chickening out and avoiding me since." Fudo grinned smugly as she sped past a Toyota Civic.
Toku nodded absently and studied the approaching skyline of Tokyo. If a third the stories she had heard about Muramasa-no-Kyoshu were remotely true, such a foe would be a worthy test of her steel and a suitable foe to be struck down.
"She might be more of a challenge to you like that fucking gaijin who messed you up back in 1864. That reminds me, I need to track that bitch down and teach her a lesson. No one makes my little imouto cry like that, even if she's a stuck up sheath-in-the-mud shrine maiden who couldn't fight her way out of a bento box if push came to shove. Maybe I should swing by and help you learn not to be totally helpless in a fight." Fudo said with a cocky smirk on her face.
Toku sighed and pinched her nose as a headache began to form. "For the last time Fudo-nee, that is my fight to face. I will politely ask you to let me fight my own battles. Hachiman-dono even informed me to prepare myself since one day my steel will cross hers."
Fudo shrugged. "Only if I don't catch her first and beat her like an o-taiko for what she did to you back then. It would help if you had a name or anything past 'blonde tsukumogami with a gaijin rapier' for a description. Probably cheap pot metal from an inferior smith too."
Toku sighed and pinched her nose again as they entered Tokyo's sprawl. "I forgot to ask her at the time. As I told you. Repeatedly. Starting in 1864. Are we there yet?"
"Half a hour or so. Tokyo traffic blows goats." The Tanto then threw the finger at a Mazda that cut her off. "Go back to driving school!"
Toku slumped down a little in her seat in response.
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