The single bloom is more exquisite

Perched upon a bleak precipice,

Softly tremulous upon the blade's edge

And disdaining that suitor named death.

Chapter 5: Shogun

Even from far across the bridge and over the soft murmuring of the little brook underneath, the visitors could hear and feel the deep reverberations of the drums. Beating steadily like the human heart, but deeper, more all pervasive like the heartbeat of the mother earth. The little boats one by one scraped gently upon the shore, the soft green-filtered light from the primeval pines above gently undulating upon them.

These foreigners seemed mildly curious, piqued even. From her high perch she could see not only the Englishmen and their wives, but a deep-skinned man with a turban, his lady wife draped in gaudily gold-fringed cloths and dripping golden jewelry, and her two maidservants. Mitsouko frowned briefly, for she had never seen anyone of such nationality before. Their gloriously scarlet-outfitted escort consisted of the foreign captain who had seen her in the garden and twenty men, and they marched with ceremonial sobriety up the two hundred steps of the Shinto temple, to see the enormous flared rooftops rise like a giant before them, looming darkly but with restful, awe-inspiring grace. A murmur passed through the little crowd, of the beauty of the temple. Hidekei merely smiled smugly, and beckoned in his guests.

After being seated around a low table- with many of the foreign women grumbling about the indecency of sitting oneself on the ground, although the foreign lady in gold seemed to have no trouble about it- Hidekei raised his arms and said,

"Lady wife, with the mysterious name, please come and meet our guests."

She had been concealed from the guests so far, and hesitated at appearing unveiled, but it was what Hidekei had ordered. When she did not immediately appear, he cleared his throat, as if prompting her. So as the foreigners were distracted by his clearing of the throat, she jumped down from her perch on a ceiling beam and seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

One of the foreign ladies gasped at her sudden appearance, and even a few soldiers looked on guard because of her mysterious entrance. She bowed low, and a soft breeze carried up her multitudes of silk gauze up into the air, floating like a ghost.

"Please be welcome." She said carefully and slowly. She clapped her hands and servants brought out tea and implements. However, there were no cups. So with a quick flick of her wrist, a tiny, blue-veined porcelain cup seemed to magically appear with each movement. The men seemed mesmerized, and the women seemed cautious of her. She poured and served, and quietly took a seat behind her husband at her favorite instrument. Her husband's instructions had been most specific. Now, there was only the last cue to wait for. As soon as he opened his mouth, she struck the exposed strings of the dulcimer with a dramatic chromatic scale, and played softly to accompany his speech.

It seemed that during the length of the negotiation for the future of Japan, the foreign captain, important enough to be seated at the table, glanced at her too often for hapstance. More than once their gaze met, and she always was the first to lower hers, cheeks stained pink. Sometimes when she raised her eyes again, he was still staring at her.

Within the lulls of the conversation, she would play louder, and as soon as one's mouth would move, she would quickly dim the sound of the strings. Within one such lull, she played quicker and quicker, but abruptly, she stopped with a discordant crash.

Hidekei looked around with a displeased manner. But in front of guests, he could not yell at her or hit her. His smile seemed frozen as he looked at her questioningly, with a hint of menace.

"Lady wife?"

But she was not even aware he had spoken. She was staring straight ahead, at something that she thought she was seeing. And quicker than a blink, she had whirled to her feet and snatched up a curved sword on her way.

As she landed so softly that there was no sound but a faint rustle of fine silks, there was a moment of confusion. Had Hidekei's wife become mad, to suddenly leap at nothing? But in the very next moment, the end of an arrow clattered with an inelegant noise to the stone floor, severed in half by her sword. Hidekei leapt to his feet, and screamed,

"It is the old guard! Where are the temple monks?"

Mitsouko felt a stab of terror. The old guard opposed the modernity sweeping the nation, and thus had set out by way of assassination to stop it, and Hidekei was high on their list. It was not unfeasible for them to have killed everyone on the temple grounds to reach him.

The captain had his sword out so fast that in one moment it was sheathed in its sheath, and the next the naked blade was out at a fighting stance. He barked quick orders for his soldiers to secure the perimeter. Before any had left the temple, however, another arrow, whose flight had been blocked by the milling soldiers and hysterical ladies took one of them down. The English ladies began to scream, and the foreign couple started for the door.

The assassins came from every direction, and those who were not immediately slaughtered had a choice to fight or flee. As they were greatly outnumbered, the captain beheaded with a quick stroke an assassin who had just killed the foreign lady, and pushed his way through several soldiers to her. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out.

"Stop it! Stop it and unhand me, you disgusting brute!" She kicked him viciously in the shins when he took away her sword. No one had ever done that to her before, but sadly, he only grunted as she kicked him with all of her might.

"We're leaving, and you are going to need to shut up." She did her best to punch him in the stomach. He grabbed her hand and twisted her wrist until tears came to her eyes. As he released her, she was thinking of how long it would take her to choke him, and if Hidekei would still be alive in that time, or if she should skip the choking and get him right away. But he was certainly capable of caring for himself.

That thought drained away as she saw him disappear under a group of five black-clad men.

"Hidekei!" She screamed. Kicking and struggling, the captain grunted again and told her to shut up, for the love of god.

He winced as she screamed directly in his ear.

"Good God." He muttered pessimistically.

"Look, will you stop with that infernal noise? I'm trying to save you, you know. There's no need to carry on." He stated coldly.

"My husband, he's dying, you idiot! Those assassins must have hit your head one too many times, because you obviously have lost all capability of using it!"

He rolled his eyes.

"I once saw your husband dispatch six men by himself. And you are a woman."

"And you might as well be one, for all the help you are!"

"Don't forget, madam, who your brother is. There would be a far greater price on your head, than his. At least it is more difficult to torture a man." He ground out, with a dark meaningful look. She closed her mouth. How dare he speak of such unspeakable topics to her, even in insinuation!

Before she could vent her indignation, he had a silver whistle that he blew, and horses, trained like dogs, were galloping over the ridge from the direction of the brook. Apparently, he and his escort had ridden along the brook. He tossed her on one horse, and hauled a cowering maidservant and her foreign mistress out of a bush. He set them on another, and took a third one and a spare. He surveyed the still-raging fight and saw only the dead or dying, but with some black-clad men heading towards them at a run.

"Damnation. Let us hope that they have no horses." So he spurred the horses, all of them, and headed for the pines.

Mitsouko looked back, but he tersely told her to keep her eyes on the road ahead.

"What is done is done, my lady. Better to first think of the living, then of the dead."

So she turned around, and watched as the pines seemed to rise above them, seemed to suddenly pierce heavenwards. May the Gods help Japan, and bless his soul, Hidekei. For although she could not bear to pray for him, he who would betray the soul of their Japan, she could ask the Gods in her stead.