Moon and Star: Book One

by Mike Bergonzi

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Yuri said. “Is that a problem?”

  “No, it just sounds so informal that’s all.”

  “Have you seen Kaito?” Yuri asked, changing the subject. “I need him to deliver a letter for me.”

  “You didn’t hear?” Shinobu said. “Kaito’s gone. Left this morning with Go-zhuk and his father.”

  Yuri took a few moments to digest the information. She about blurted out who the victims were, but stopped herself before she could utter a syllable. There was no reason he should know at this moment. But how could Kaito have gone with them if Go-zhuk and his father were dead. Did Mayumi kidnap him? No, that wasn’t in her nature. She and Jin were best friends as children. They grew up together. It didn’t make any sense for her to take his son. She had no vendetta against him, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t working for someone who did.

  Captain Kura looked at her inquisitively.

  "What is it?” she asked.

  “You know something, don’t you,” he said.

  Yuri shook her head. “Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Shinobu shrugged. “Well, if you hear anything, let me know. I want to get to the bottom of this before we have a war over nothing.”

  The man was right. Takato’s death and the lack of an heir for the Hatake clan was certain to bring tensions over the edge. The clan would require blood and who would be there to blame but their rival clan in Yoshino—the Kazuya. Out of the four noble families, the Kazuya were the most open towards foreigners. They even adopted some of their customs, making them their own.

  “Does Jin know about Kaito?” she asked.

  Captain Kura frowned. “I haven’t gotten the chance.”

  “I’ll do it. You just worry about getting the troops ready for war. Something tells me that we’ll need to strengthen border defenses.”

  She walked to Jin’s room and tapped on the shoji. The sliding door rattled in its frame, as if someone had knocked it off its hinges. No one answered after a few seconds. Yuri grew worried. He was probably asleep, but given the events of this morning … she opened the door as fast she could.

  “My Lord, Kaito's gone."

  Jin said nothing. His whole body was rigid. He collapsed backwards onto the floor. His eyes were pure white. Yuri ran to him in a panic. She searched all over for a wound, blood, cut, anything. Perhaps there was still time to save him.

  She found no blood, cut, or wound anywhere on his body.

  ***

  Shogun Jin Minamoto was dead. His burial was held earlier in the day, after the body was removed from his quarters. Everyone showed up, except for Jin's father: Lord Kasaju.

  The one man Yuri could confide in and trust was gone.

  An emptiness sat inside her. What troubled her most wasn't his death, but the events surrounding it. A man like Jin didn't commit seppuku without a reason. There had to be one, but what could it be? There was no sign of forced entry and no blood anywhere in the room. Who could have killed him without leaving any sign? Did he kill himself as everyone had suggested? A poison of some sort? Even Mayumi wasn't this good. Besides, she and Jin had a history together. A bond that no amount of money could break. If she killed him, her body would be lying at his feet, lifeless.

  She shook her head, trying to focus at the task in front of her. With the Shogun dead and Kaito missing, the title would be up for grabs. Why did Jin put so much faith in the boy? Now he was gone with someone she trusted less than Kaito himself. Yuri took one last glance at the room and locked the door.

  "The meeting's about to start," one of the guards said.

  Yuri nodded and made her way to the room where the now three heads of the four major houses resided to discuss the matter of Jin's death and the matter of succession. Originally the head of the Hatake clan was to be put in charge should there be no heir. Since they were both dead, it would be up the other three to decide amongst themselves. Yuri didn't see that happening anytime soon. When she entered the room, the three men were already at each other's throats.

  "Gentlemen!" she said. "Can we discuss this like civilized people?"

  They all looked at her frowning. Finally one of them spoke up.

  "How can we all just sit here when the Shogun's been assassinated?" Captain Kura said.

  Everyone looked at him.

  "Are you suggesting that Jin was killed by someone?" the Senjuya clan leader said.

  Shinobu nodded. "What other reason is there? Why would he kill himself?"

  "You just want to pin blame on someone," the head of the Kazuya clan said. "That way you can get closer to becoming Shogun."

  "That's not it at all. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this."

  "Oh please, everyone knows you'd like nothing more than to make Kyotomo a military state. Now's the perfect chance to implement your ideas. Except, you've got two other claims to the title to deal with. You probably plan on making us take each other out, aren’t you.”

  Shinobu looked taken aback. “I would never. How dare you accuse me of —”

  “Enough!” Yuri said, interrupting. “We have more important things to deal with than the matter of succession. Or did you all forget about the Yoritomo Clan.”

  The three men blushed and stared down at their feet, avoiding the slightest bit of eye contact with Yuri. She couldn’t believe the nerve of these clan heads. The Kazuya, Kura, Senjuya, and Hatake clans had the longest lineage in Kyotomo's history, each one with a viable claim to the title. But with the Taiho code, the heir needed to be chosen by the current Shogun. There were contingency plans, should there be no heir or the Shogun die before he can name one, but this matter was trickier than looking up the law.

  Jin had named Kaito his heir, but with him gone there was a gap in the law of succession. Any one of the people in this room, including herself, could claim the title of Shogun. Delaying the ascension was not a good idea, but giving the power to any of these people was even worse.

  Yuri cleared her throat. The three men looked at her impatiently. They wanted an answer and Yuri knew they weren't going to like it.

  "We need to strengthen or relations with neighboring cities. I'll remain here to deal with local matters, but I need each of you to try and patch things up with our rivals; see if they can be swayed to our side."

  "Why do you get to stay here?" the Senjuya clan leader asked. "Why can't it be one of us?"

  The other two men nodded in agreement.

  "Because I won't make any rash decisions," she said, looking at the Kazuya clan head. Yuri turned her head so her eyes were locked with Shinobu's. "I won't start a war that can be avoided." She looked at The Senjuya clan leader. "And I don't have my own agenda."

  She paused, letting them soak in what she'd said. "That is why I will be the temporary Shogun. Unless you want to give the title to one of the Yoritomo clan?"

  The men froze. Yuri knew she had them. Historically the Yoritomo clan had the right to the title. The original document that bound Kyotomo and Yoshino as one sub-nation was changed by Jin's father in the mid fourteenth century and legally the Yoritomo clan had no right to claim the throne. That didn't mean they weren't entitled to it. It was the main reason they agreed to give up Kaito. Yuri reckoned the Yoritomo clan heads thought that they could use him as means of gaining the throne. Most of them thought Kaito was dead, killed by his adopted father. This was a lie to shape Kaito in the Minamoto clan image. The one thing Yuri and the other political leaders didn't take into account was Jin's parenting skills. What they needed was a warrior. What they had was a boy with no military training and a motive for killing everyone in the place he called home.

  If he doesn't know now, he'll learn soon enough, Yuri thought. “I don’t want anyone to know about Jin’s death, outside the city walls, understand?”

  All three men shook their heads.

  The rest of the meeting was uneventful. They decided where each of them would go to try and forge new relationships with rival clans. This was mostly to dis
tract them. Yuri didn't have time to deal with the egos of three entitled clan heads. Finding Kaito was the main concern. She dismissed the men.

  When they left, she walked towards the back of the room and glided her hand across the wood, feeling stone. Yuri tapped the lightest part of the wood, near the top, and watched as the entire wall disappeared like it was never there to begin with. In the wall's place was another wall made of steel. It was positioned several paces back from the fake wooden wall and held a sword. Yuri glanced out the tiny window, to see the sun's fading light. Another time, she thought, and walked away. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow. It was best to get some rest while she could.

  ***

  Yuri stopped in front of the statue of the Enlightened One. People left as she approached, whispering amongst themselves. She couldn’t blame them. She was wearing clothing common in Yoshino, not her usual kimono she wore around the castle.

  Sometimes she needed to unwind, get back to her roots. It was a well kept secret that Yuri was once a citizen of Yoshino. Jin was the one person who knew and despite other’s hostility towards her people, let her take a position of high authority in the bakufu. Making a woman Kanrei was unthinkable, yet Jin stood by her every step of the way, even when his role as Shogun was compromised. Yuri wiped a tear from her eye. Part of her wanted to find out the reason Jin killed himself, but she knew the city as a whole mattered more.

  Perhaps Shinobu was right to think Jin was murdered. The evidence pointed towards seppuku as the cause of death, but the real question wasn’t who, but why. Yuri blinked. The people from before were long gone. There was nobody around.

  How long have I been standing here, she wondered. She sighed. The sun shined bright, morphing the statue into a silhouette before her eyes. She looked up and squinted. The sun itself seemed brighter than usual.

  The noise she heard last night had sounded like a typhoon. How could that … Yuri couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. Mayumi, she thought, of course.

  Who else had the power to control tides with such power and precision? Kyotomo remained untouched by the remnants of last nights storm, thank the Enlightened one.

  Did Kaito know what happened to his father? Someone should tell him about the recent events. If he knew their situation perhaps he could act as an ambassador between Yoshino and Kyotomo as originally intended. The boy had matured, but his interest in politics was still negligible at best. She needed to get him interested for the sake of everyone in Jakai. Jin's death might be the catalyst the boy required. She wished it would be enough to get him to think, before acting rash. As a child of both regions, he represented both the northern and southern courts. If anyone was able to achieve peace it would be through Kaito.

  Yuri walked towards the housing pen where the messenger animals were kept. Which one would get his attention? It had to be something small and non-threatening. A rabbit, perhaps? She nodded. Yes, that would do nicely. Now which one?

  There were several rabbits to choose from. Some white as snow, others brown like tree trunks and dirt. One rabbit in particular caught her attention. At first glance it appeared wounded, but Yuri knew this rabbit to be dependable. It would survive the journey to and from Kaito's location. The message however, was another matter entirely. Could she really trust something this classified to a messenger rabbit? She told the other's not to mention Jin's death to the other Shugo. It might give them ideas.

  Yuri scribbled her message on a scroll. The same one used by Jin all those years ago. The drawing wasn’t bad, but lacked the quality of a true master. Who was she to judge, though. Thinking about how Jin would never be able to paint again was heartbreaking. A knot began to tie itself in Yuri’s stomach. All he ever wanted was to change the world with his artistic expression. Whether or not his individual art accomplished it didn’t matter anymore.

  Yuri finished writing the note and stamped it with the seal of the Shogun. The note itself was encoded. She couldn’t risk this information falling into the wrong hands. Whoever saw the seal would think Jin was still alive. Kaito needed to come back and reclaim the title.

  She tied the note to the rabbit's foot, then handed it a piece of Kaito’s clothing to sniff. Its ears perked up and soon dashed south, towards Yoshino. I just hope I’m not too late.

  Chapter Five

  Mayumi came back with a basket full of berries. Kaito wanted to ask her were she went, but found it pointless. Clearly she was out looking for food, but why leave without saying a word?

  She began mashing them. Kaito’s stomach growled in protest. She looked at him and smiled, throwing him a large piece of purple fruit with her other hand. Kaito caught the fruit and took a large bite out of it. The sweet, tart taste slid down his throat like liquid. He took another bite, and another.

  “You were certainly hungry,” Mayumi said. “You ate that pretty fast.”

  Kaito looked down at the fruit to find he no longer held it. His stomach growled, again.

  “Don’t worry about your stomach. The fact it’s growling like that means it’s working.”

  “What did you give me?” Kaito asked.

  “A fruit not native to Jakai. I traded with some foreign merchants to acquire it. They say it decreases your appetite.”

  “What’s it called?” Kaito asked.

  She shrugged. “It had some strange foreign name. It doesn’t matter. Your stomach will quiet down in a few hours. Why don’t you help me crush these berries?”

  Kaito took a handful of the berries and crushed them in one hand. Their juices oozed through his fingers and dripped onto the grass. He took another handful and repeated, this time snatching it out of Mayumi's hand. She looked at him and sighed.

  “I realize you’re angry.”

  “At them, not you,” he said, continuing to squeeze the berries.

  “Why aren’t you mad at me?” Mayumi asked.

  “Because,” he said, standing up, “you didn’t lie to me. You’ve been up front with me from the start and I appreciate that. Back there, I was living a glorified lie. I can’t believe how stupid I was, believing that I could ever become Shogun. But that’s all in the past.”

  “Your past is what defines you,” Mayumi said. “Don’t dismiss it so quickly.”

  Kaito scoffed at the remark. What did she know about it? She wouldn’t even show him the blade after she promised. She had ample time to do it. Frankly, that was one of the main reasons he was still following her.

  Night approached. The fire grew in brightness as everything else turned dark in comparison.

  “Kaito, come here, I want to show you something.”

  He walked over to Mayumi. Her hands were on her belt, grasping not one, but both swords. She unsheathed the blades. One of them was smaller, probably used for indoor fighting. She stabbed the tip of the short tachi into the hilt of the larger one. In a flash of light, the two swords became a single tachi. The same one from the night before they left: a stacked double-crescent blade with a gap in the middle for the grip. She help her fist so that her knuckles faced him. The two tips—one for each side of the crescent were stacked on top of each other. The end of top edge dripped blood while the bottom glowed white. It was hard to see from the current angle.

  “This is tsuki no ha-ken,” she said. “Also known as the lunar blade."

  "Lunar blade?" Kaito asked. "It looks like an ordinary crescent blade, just … thinner. In fact that's the thinest sword I've ever seen."

  "You should've seen her just after the new moon. It was half the width of my smallest finger."

  Kaito raised an eyebrow.

  "You mean you've never heard of the legend?" Mayumi asked.

  He shook his head. "Out of all the story's father told me, the legend of a 'tsuki no ha-ken' wasn't one of them. Is there something special about the sword?"

  She nodded. "As the name suggests, the power relies directly on the moon. It has the ability to control any substance with water in its composition and can drain bodily fluids with
a single prick and absorb them. I bet you're wondering why I didn't show you this earlier like I promised."

  "Well, … yeah?"

  "This blade cannot be summoned when there's a new moon.”

  "I'm usually asleep when the time the moon comes out."

  "You weren't lying," Mayumi said. "Your father really didn't teach you much."

  “You're telling me," he said. "So the sword is at its strongest when the moon is full, right?"

  She nodded. "You catch on quick. Shame your father didn't take advantage of that mind of yours more often. Maybe this hostility could've been avoided."

  “How long have you known my father?” Kaito asked. “I mean how did you two meet?”

  “We were supposed to be married. A union of clans. But I suppose a more accurate term would be partners.”

  “Partners?” Kaito asked. “What kind of partners?”

  “Your father and I were the ultimate tag team. No one could stop us. Of course when each one of us had a tachi of light, there really wasn’t much of a chance for the other guys. The one thing that could was the thought of getting married to each other.”

  “Tsuki no ha-ken is a tachi of light, isn’t it.”

  Mayumi raised both eyebrows, as if surprised he’d made the connection. “It seems I haven’t given you enough credit, either.”

  Kaito felt his cheeks grow warm in embarrassment. At least she was giving him a chance to prove himself. People in Kyotomo still thought him immature. He was also starting to realize that everyone must’ve known about his heritage and right—or lack thereof—to the title of Shogun. Why else would they treat him with such disgust? Sure he’d been a bad kid when he was younger, but in the past eight years, he’d changed for the better.

  The sun rose from the East and tsuki no ha-ken turned back into the two normal katanas he’d seen before the transformation. When did she …

  “You’re wondering what happened to the blade, right.”

  Kaito nodded.

  “This tachi can only be present from nightfall until dawn. Its sister—who uses the sun as its source of power—is only active from dawn until nightfall. I would say I'm surprised your father never told you about tsuki no ha-ken, but after witnessing the effects of his parenting skills, I’d have to say I've come to expect it.”