A Feudal Romance~Chapter Two

 

Blogger’s Note: I did not write this. A Feudal Romance strictly belongs to Comet.

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Kenji’s eyes fluttered open after a bit. He felt like his best mare, Chisato, had kicked him in the head. The man winced, feeling a warm cloth on his forehead. Opening his eyes, he let them adjust before he looked around at the room he was in, and the people around him. The dull ache in his behind gave some indication about what his young lord had done to him, he was ashamed.

When he looked around, he saw Amaya supporting Kagetora, Kagekatsu and Lord Kenshin himself. Looking up into the deep brown eyes of his lord, he went to get up, and leave the great god of war’s bed. Feeling a hand push him back into a laying position, he looked up at the lord again, blinking, he thought there was still work to be done. He noticed he didn’t ache where he was wounded anymore and looked, he was bandaged.

“Rest easy Kenji, Takeda’s forces retreated, all is well.”

“L-Lord Kenshin…W-Where am I?”

“In my room. Now please, just rest. My daughter tended

to your wounds. They looked bad the way Amaya described them.”

The great warlord himself had no idea about what his youngest son had done to his new war hero. Also, he wasn’t sure why the young man was in his bed while there were three beds in the room set aside for his two adopted sons and his blood related daughter. The god of war looked at his eldest son, being supported by Amaya. His cool gaze finally shifted to his younger son. He felt a sinking feeling that Kagekatsu had something to do with the unconscious Kenji he had found in his bed.

Kenji looked around some. This all felt like a dream to him, going from the front lines of a battle to being the guest in the house of the Dragon of Echigo. He tried once again to sit up, watching as the young woman lead Kagetora to his room to rest again. When he was alone, he stood up, finding out the hard way he was nude. While he was looking for any of his clothes, he heard the door open, looking up to see the great warlord walk in.

The great lord blinked when he saw his war hero nude. He handed him the simple black Yukata and matching Hakama pants. Leaving the young male to dress, he went to speak to his younger son. He had put the clues together and went to the room Kagekatsu spent most of his time in. He didn’t bother knocking on the door, he just walked into the room, looking at the empty armor room.

Kenshin looked around the room, puzzled until he noticed something. One of his swords were gone from it’s ebony stand. He looked up hearing Amaya’s scream echo through the halls of the palace. He stood up and ran to his eldest son’s room, throwing the door open when he got there. He froze seeing the scene before him.

There stood Kagekatsu, two blades ran through him, the missing Katana fell from the male’s hand as the life light left his eyes. One of the blades were through his heart by Amaya, inches from the face of the second blade’s holder. That blade actually went through his head, inches from Amaya’s face.

The other blade holder was another female. She was a few inches taller than 5′,4” Amaya and had beautiful sandy brown eyes. Her waist long black hair was pulled back out of her face, it as well as he light blue Kimono was spattered with Kagekatsu’s blood. The girl turned, and upon seeing the great warlord in the doorway, hit her knees an bowed.

“F-Forgive me..L-Lord Kenshin!”

“What is the meaning of this!?”

Before the girl could speak, she felt a light hand on her shoulder, looking into the eyes of her best friend Amaya. Amaya was only in her Hanjuban, the garment worn under kimonos. It showed off her body alot, though from where she used to call home, this wasn’t anything new. She got up from the bed fully and took a step towards her father, after stepping over her dead brother, staining her white tabi with his blood.

“Father! K-Kagekatsu tried to kill Kagetora!”

“And Daiyu? She was here for what reason?”

“I asked her to come and wake me from my nap, so I

could tend to Kagetora’s wounds, his presence woke up

me and my dearest Kagetora.”

Daiyu listened, but only slightly. Her eyes were trained on the man who’d came to the door. She had seen a man like him once, in her dreams though. The young woman walked over to him, her elegance came from the Tiger of Kai himself, though he’d not know it Shinghen Takeda, her own father, abandoned her at a brothel when she was born. He had needed a son, not a daughter. She had left with her best friend Amaya when she came to live in the palace of the God of War. She came to a stop in front of Kenji, shaking herself from her thoughts and smiling at him.

“P-Please sir, let me make you tea..”

“Is everything okay?”

“Y-Yes sir, let us go enjoy tea.”

The war hero nodded and followed Daiyu to the small back porch attached to the palace. It lead to the gardens which were alive with color and fragrance at the moment. He found it extremely uncomfortable to walk or sit, which added to the shame he felt. Kenji sat gingerly by the small table, watching her leave. He stared down at the wooden table in thought, only looking up when he heard her come back with the tea. He smiled at him softly, looking at her soft face, he had no idea what really did lie behind that natural beauty.

As hours passed, and running out of things to talk about, both Kenji and Daiyu looked over seeing the great young lord Kagetora being helped out into the gardens by Amaya. He watched interestedly at how delicately she handled the wounded man as she helped him to lean against the tree in the garden, his favorite place. This sight finally goaded Kenji to ask about the others in Lord Kenshin’s family.

“Amaya really does love him huh?”

“More than her life it’s self.”

“I’m interested in her story, do you know it?”

“Her mother was Kenshin’s secret wife, her father is the great

warlord himself. Her mother refused to present the great warlord

with a daughter so she took her to a brothel, and sold her to the head

of the house. She left the Lord’s sword with her and traveling back to tell

him his daughter was still born-”

“But wait, she was in a brothel? But, that I know from Kagekatsu, she is

still a virgin.”

“Her virginity was priced way too high. The whore was no fool, she knew if

it got back to the Dragon of Echigo that his only daughter was being sold

to his enemy-”

“That woman would pay in blood, but how would he know who she was?”

“She looks exactly like her father.”

Kenji nodded and let Daiyu continued. He listened to her every word of the story. How Amaya and Daiyu became friends at four. He also got to hear how they got out of the brothel by Amaya lunging herself at the first soldier she saw, luckily it was one of her father’s. Raising an eyebrow, he hated to interrupt but he did.

“Wasn’t that extremely dangerous for her to do?”

“Not to her. Amaya hated that place, prefer to die than waste another day

in a brothel as someone’s slave. As that went, she begged the man to take her

from the place, so he decided to take her back as a gift to Lord Kenshin. However,

Amaya was a solid friend, she wouldn’t leave me behind and begged the man to take

me as well. After the man agreed, she came back for me and the little belongings we had.

On our way out however, the whore stopped us to come clean. She told us who our father’s

were. Her’s was the famous god of war himself, Lord Kenshin Uesugi.”

Kenji blinked as he listened to her words. He took a drink of his tea, letting it all sink in. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Amaya had a pretty strange life, he couldn’t help but feeling sorry for the girl. He looked at Daiyu again after a second.

“Is there more to this Daiyu.”

“Yes, Amaya and I were taken here to the palace. They told Kenshin what she was here for,

and they were told to put Amaya in his room. When they did and tried to take her sword, she

kept it to her, claiming it was a gift for Kenshin. When the warlord came to, bed her, he was met

with his old sword to his throat, and a promise if he touched her in that way he would meet a slow

and very painful death. When Amaya wiped her makeup off, Lord Kenshin knew immediately knew

she was from his loins. It’s been three years since then, things have been so peaceful here.”

Kenji nodded though wasn’t satisfied. Something had been left from the story. He looked at Kagetora and Amaya again. Kenji felt something strange, despite his wounds and his pain, he wanted to hold Amaya. He looked back at Daiyu to keep from staring too long.

“How did Lord Kagetora and Lady Amaya become lovers?”

“Amaya was getting used to palace life and her royal blood line. Kenshin only had one room

set up, used for his two adopted sons. After a year of getting to know him, she selected him

when Lord Uesugi asked her if she had chosen a husband yet. Their wedding is in Autumn of this

year, picked by Kagetora himself because it is Amaya’s favorite year.”

Kenji nodded, finishing his tea finally. He blinked at Daiyu who excused herself hurriedly,taking the tray and hurrying out. He looked back over at Kagetora and Amaya, secretly jealous of the young lord. Looking up at the sound of footsteps, he had expected to see Daiyu, but the small smile on his face faded upon seeing Lord Uesugi walk out.

“I wish to speak with you Kenji.”

“Y-Yes sir, Lord Uesugi.”

Kenji nodded and looked at the warlord as he sat down across from him. He was unaware that Kenshin had heard him talking about his daughter. He was also unaware that it’d had raised a red flag in the man’s mind, wondering why this war hero was asking about his daughter.