Akiko ran toward her father"s study.
"Jiko-"
She began, as she pushed her way into the room. She had thought he was already awake, but there Gengyo was, fast asleep, drooling onto the table.
She held back a giggle at the sight of him. He looked so harmless when he lay like that. Perhaps it was because his eyes were closed, so instead you could only see the delicate features of his face. They were average enough, to most, but to her, the more she looked, the more things she found she liked.
She admired him a while, and peaked past his head to read the scroll that he had been reviewing.
"In strategy, one must know himself before he seeks to know his opponent…"
She whispered, reading it aloud.
"Hmm…"
She contemplated that sentence a little trying to understand it"s profundity. But her thoughts were distracted, as she saw Gengyo"s fist clench, and his eyebrows twitch. His face adopted an aggressive expression, and his arms moved slightly, as his brain struggled to tell the difference from dream and reality.
Seeing him so worked up, and clearly experiencing a bad dream, she dared not put off waking him any longer, as she put her hand on his shoulder, and gently shook him, trying to get him to stir.
"Tadakata… Tadakata, come on, wake up."
She said softly. But his dreaming only seemed to grow more intense, and his movements more vigorous.
"Tadakata! Wake up, Tadakata!"
She said a little louder, shaking him harder, growing worried.
"Mm…"
He opened his eyes, squinting from the sunlight that shone through the open window, as he looked towards her, attempting to figure out who she was.
"Akiko… Good morning."
He said lazily.
"Morning? It"s early afternoon already… Sorry for waking you."
She said guiltily. She was well aware of the difficulty he was having with sleeping lately - it was evident within his face. His skin had become pale and bags had formed under his eyes, but they still retained their piercing sharpness.
With him gazing up her like that, she could not help herself, and was compelled to kiss his forehead.
"Hm..? Am I still dreaming?"
She smiled sweetly, and moved to walk away before he tease her any more, but then she remembered why she had come in the first place.
"Stupid… I just wanted to let you know that Jikouji"s back, and he"s brought some friends with him."
He stretched out and yawned lightly as he heard that, before he moved to his feet to join her.
"Let"s go see these friends of his, shall we?"
Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he moved down the stairs, greeting some of the servants as he went. Akiko followed just behind him.
Within the courtyard, Jikouji was busy instructing the servants as they unloaded some goods from the various carts that had now appeared.
"So, you managed, eh Jikouji?"
The old man whirled around as he grinned. He was rather proud of what he had achieved with the small amount of money that they had. Six oxen were strapped to three carts, as they stood there, lazily staring.
The load they had drawn had been significant. The carts were piled high with rice seeds, and each contained a plough. Gengyo could only imagine how difficult it had been to load such a heavy piece of equipment into the carts, but he was glad he"d done it.
"Aye lad! It"s all here, come and take look!"
He motioned enthusiastically toward the goods.
He looked at the oxen rather hard. In essence, they were not much different from cows, though slightly larger, with huge curving horns that seemed capable of inflicting a good deal of damage. But the six picked seemed healthy. There was nothing wrong with them that stood out at first glance.
Akiko seemed to think that they were cute, as she petted one of the head, playing with it"s long fringe. It let a loud moo, as if to say: "can I help you, young lady?"
"I"ve never seen an ox before…"
She revealed.
"Neither have I."
Gengyo said in agreement, letting her know that she was not alone in this. Jikouji shot them a glance, as though he was staring at some exotic bird.
"Seriously..?"
He asked quietly. They were not exactly rare beasts, and even with that aside, the lad seemed to have a clear understanding of their capabilities. He would have expected for him to see them at work at least once.
"Aye. Let"s have a look at these ploughs then, Jikouji."
"Er, alright."
He had difficulty putting that aside, but his enthusiasm was quickly resumed as he revealed three brand new ploughs.
"Just like you asked. The blacksmith made ploughs to be used by two oxen. Look at the size of it – the fields will get done in no time!"
It was certainly a fine looking piece of machinery, but appearance was not something he cared much for. He moved forward to grab one of the blades of the plough, and he tugged at it, as hard as he could. It did not budge in the least. Then, he picked a small rock from the floor, and bashed at it, using a considerable amount of force, to see whether the iron had been made cheaply, rendering it brittle.
"Perfect. Brilliant work Jikouji. How much did you pay for all this?"
His smile only widened at that, as he reached inside his kimono, and presented Gengyo with a coin pouch. There was still a decent amount of weight in it, leaving the young man rather surprised.
"20 gold left, lad. I think I did rather well, eh?"
"You"re a miracle worker, Jikouji. As you said, the field will be done in no time."
"Which field, Tadakata?"
Akiko interrupted, curious as to what all this was for. This had come quite of the blue for her.
"You didn"t even tell her, lad?"
Jikouji asked, rolling his eyes.
"Akiko, we"re going to plough the land between Toyne and Tobis.h.i.+ma. We should be able to plant a good amount of seed on it."
She understood quickly, and nodded, not showing nearly the same dramatisms that Jikouji had when he had first heard.
"Oh, I see. That"s a good idea."
Gengyo smiled at her favourable response, and raised his eyebrows at Jikouji. The old man understood what he was trying to say, and shook his head.
"Aye, well, I did as you asked. Any progress with the other thing?"
"There is. I met with someone yesterday. We should be able to set the plan in motion in a few days."
He nodded.
"Good. Good, indeed."
He smiled genuinely. He was pleased that the boy appeared to be keeping his promise. He had his doubts earlier, but even with this project of his, success now seemed likely, and it would be greatly beneficial to them when harvest season came.
"Will you see to it that the villagers know to begin work tomorrow? I will come out and oversee them, to be sure that progress is as intended."
"Got it, see you later lad."
They said their farewells, and he said his to Akiko, as he left her and walked quietly inside, before heading upstairs to the dojo.
He took off his shoes ceremoniously, as was always to be done, and he reached for a bokken.
The cold wood felt good in his hands. He had come here often as of late. It helped to keep the stress that threatened to overwhelm him at bay. His only fear was of being interrupted.
He a.s.sumed the ready position, as he remembered Imagawa"s words, and anger overwhelmed him.
"FROM YOUR MOUTH COMES THE WORDS OF A COWARD!"
He had said.
That was all he required to be spurred into action.
"Who the f.u.c.k are you!?"
His face twisted as it a.s.sumed a degree of malice that would be unimaginable to that of an ordinary person, and he struck out with his sword, sending his blade through an imaginary Imagawa.
"You were born into your f.u.c.k.i.n.g position, you"re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g non-ent.i.ty!"
He cursed, his body completely consumed by the rage by now, and he pushed well past his limits, striking again and again, not feeling the pain of his aching muscles, tearing Imagawa to pieces inside his mind.
He relived that instant, where the order had been given. Instead of calming when Nakatane spoke, he had grown angrier, and leapt on Imagawa, cutting his head off there and then, as he hacked his corpse to pieces.
Within seconds, he had been surrounded, but he fought on, breaking free.
Of course, such a thing was unrealistic, but it helped to deal with the pain, even just a little. It hurt to keep the rage he felt inside a bottle. But he knew if he did not keep it under wraps, it would consume him, and dictate his every action, even more so than it did now.
"FROM YOUR MOUTH COMES THE WORDS OF A COWARD!"
"RAH!"
That scene replayed once more, and he flung his sword in blind rage, sending it blade first into the wall.
"F.U.C.K!"
He cursed.
Realizing the destruction he had caused, he attempted to calm himself.
"Empty your mind, Gengyo… Breathe."
But the demon would never leave that easily, and he clenched his fist, uttering an involuntary snarl. It was odd. He felt inclined to allow he demon loose, but as soon as he did, he felt not better, but worse, as his whole body tensed up in agony, and he felt further away from his goal than he initially was.
He brought his fist up, bringing it down fast, stopping just an inch away from the floor. He barely held himself back. How good it would feel, that demon reckoned, for him to simply cause carnage within this room, and b.l.o.o.d.y his fist in the process of the dojo"s destruction.
But he could not. No matter how badly he wanted to. He could not give in yet. The wall was explainable, but a hole in the floor was not. He had to keep his reputation, if he wanted any chance at vengeance, least he spent eternity regretting his own actions.
"I can"t wait to fight…"
He realised, staring at his shaking hands. He recalled the words of Togas.h.i.+, expressing his own desire to fight. Did the men feel the same as he? Somehow, he did not think so. This… This rage that he felt was unshareable.
"But carnage will come."
He a.s.sured himself. His plans went far beyond that of the Toyokawa robbery. He would take that chaos, and multiply it many times, until they had acc.u.mulated enough wealth to burn Mikawa from the ground up.
He glanced back at his sword, and flinched, as it was now covered in blood. A frightening deep red blood, that looked like it had already been left to clot for a while. As he lifted his sword, it did not even attempt to drip away, and clung to the bokken, as though immune to gravity.
He flicked the blade with distaste, attempting to get rid of the blood. It was something he did out of habit. But the blood did not fall to the floor with the soft plop that he was accustomed to, and as he looked back on it to see why the stubborn liquid had not yet departed, he saw that it was not there at all.
He blinked, startled, before he began to process what had happened.
"Jesus, Gengyo, are you stupid? Where would that blood come from in the first place? You need to be getting more sleep – start thinking more clearly."
He a.s.sured himself that lack of sleep was all there was to it, as he went over, and put his bokken back to where it belonged, and took a deep breath, before donning his shoes and rea.s.suming his ident.i.ty as Miura Tadakata, master of the Niwa household.