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Clambake
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#1
Old 02-06-2008, 09:52 PM

The Samurai and the Daimyo's Daughter

Shizuka cried into her younger sister's shoulder. She had just received the new that she was to be moved to the Heian-kyo, the capital of Japan at the time. She was to marry into the Fujiwara family, for they were a powerful family in the emperor's court. Even so, she had already been struck by Cupid's arrow. She had fallen in love with a samurai, Mizoguchi no Daichi.

Daichi was her father's most trusted friend and the greatest, most honorable samurai under his command. Mizuno no Hideaki was a powerful daimyo who had around three thousand samurai under his command alone. Hideaki would do almost anything for his friend, except allow him to marry his eldest daughter. He wanted his daughter to marry someone from above his position to create ties with other powerful families.

“Little sister, I can't marry Fujiwara no Katsuro! I have no desire to be a secondary wife to a man that I don't even love,” Shizuka sobbed.

“Shh,” said Aya, her sister. “It will be alright. Father may not understand your feelings for Daichi-kun, but he has your best interests at heart.”

“I'm tired of everyone choosing the best thing for me! I love Daichi and that's all that matters to me,” Shizuka said in nearly a whisper.

Tears were a sign of beauty, the transient of all that is good and beautiful. Shizuka was the very living carnation of her times. Her physical beauty as well as her calligraphy skills, poetic of words, and her soul was fine examples of the golden age in which she lived.

“I'm sorry, elder sister,” said Aya, “But there is nothing that I can do for you. She patted her sister on the back and told her that she should go and visit Daichi that very same night. She also said that it was her duty to tell Daichi the news before it reached him through someone else.

“I must go there to him,” said Shizuka. “Perhaps I should disguise myself as a servant or a traveler?”
“A traveler would be better. Everyone already knows all of his servants, so they would recognize you immediately,” said Aya, using common sense.

Shizuka agreed that it may be a better idea. She would have to change out of her beautifully woven silk kimono. On it was a floral design of sakura blossoms, or cherry blossoms. The sakura blossoms were so detailed that they looked as if you could just pick one up and hold it in the palm of your hand. She would instead change into a deep blue kimono and take out the intricately woven flowers in her hair and elaborately ornate bun style and substitute it with a plain bun style. Even when she dressed simply, her beauty could be hardly oppressed.
She snuck out of her house and walked silently over to her love's home. “May I please speak to Daichi-sama?!” she asked and elderly servant who answered the door. “Please let him know that Shizuka is here to see him.” She bowed slightly to her elder out of a common respect.

“My lady!” the woman gasped and kowtowed immediately. “I shall return momentarily, for now would you like some green tea or sake?”

“No, that’s alright... Please get up, I don't want somebody to spot me,” she said softly. She assisted the elder up and removed her own shoes before entering, as was the custom. She walked inside and was lead to a small table on the ground, where there were four velvet cushions, fit for the emperor himself! As a daughter of a well-to-do daimyo, she was already accustomed to her lavish surroundings. She sat and awaited the company of the Samurai.

Daichi walked into the room after a few minutes wait. As soon as he saw the distressed look on Shizuka's face he hurried over to comfort her. “My dear Shizuka,” he said softly as he held her in a warm embrace. “What has happened to you? And why are you dressed as a commoner?” he asked her gently.

“My sister suggested that it might be better if I came over in disguise,” she explained, burying her head into his shoulder.

“I suppose so, especially because it isn't exactly safe for you to be traveling around in your normal attire,” he replied. “Now what ails you, my dear?”
“I have just received word I am to be married...”
“To whom?”

She was silent for a minute. “Not to you, my darling.”
“That is apparent in your actions. Now who is the man?”

“Fujiwara no Katsuro and I am moving to Heian-kyo to be his secondary wife,” she replied, restraining herself from tears.

Daichi let go of her, stood up and walked around the room with his hands folded behind his back. He decided to walk over to a cabinet, and took out a bottle of sake. “Do you know where the rice used to make our sake comes from?”

“My father once told me when I was young, but I have long since forgotten,” she replied, holding herself in the dignified posture of one of noble birth.

“The grain was imported from Korea, and early on it became the standard article of diet for the upper classes,” he explained. “Eventually farmers began to grow it here. Now it is so important that it is our system of currency.”

“Well, that I already know,” she said haughtily.
“Your father chose you marry you off to a man who has more wealth and power than your own clan. It is your destiny to be married off to someone with more honor and wealth than a mere samurai.”

“I don't care about what is best for my clan's status! I care about you and your
happiness,” she said, standing up.

“Please try to forget about me. It may be difficult, but it is the only way for you to
live with honor!” he said very firmly.

“I wish that I could just accept my fate, but I know that I could never be truly happy with anyone but you! I can never love the Fujiwara,” she cried, as she fell to her knees. In this world of sensitive people, men and women were expected to act as readily to sadness as to joy. Both sexes cried freely and frequently, and neither felt any hesitation about expressing self-pity. Daichi was the exception to his era, he held in his emotions and restrained self-pity.

“I- I can't do that at this point...” she said. “I have already lost my honor, and I don't wish for yours to be lost forever with it. There is something that I have been hiding from you for a few weeks now.” Daichi's eyes opened wide with horror with a fear of what she might say next.

“I am with child.”

“Who is the father?”

“You are, who else would be?”

“Only you would know,” he sighed. He poured himself a cup of sake and drank it down in one gulp. He set his cup back down again and moved to sit across from Shizuka.

“I don't doubt your words.”

“Thank you,” she said. She stared at the table and avoided his eyes. “I'm sorry for keeping this from you. It's just that I didn't know how to break it to you.” She looked up and her eyes met his. Her face turned red and she looked away once more.

“To let you know, I'm not angry with you. To be honest, I'm half-way glad,” said Daichi, “I'm glad to know that it is my child. I wouldn't want you to have to give him up, though I do wonder how our society will react.”

“There would be great dishonor on my father. You are an honorable man, but my father will refuse to see past that and he would send one of us away. He doesn't react very well to much of anything,” said Shizuka. She looked very weary for it had been a long day for her. She decided that it was time to go home before anyone noticed her missing. “I should really go home now. I need to think about everything.”

“I should send you home escorted. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you or the baby, ” he said. She arose and said that she wouldn't need someone to walk her home. It would only attract attention. She finally left Daichi's house and walked silently to her home, not forgetting her shoes behind. When she returned to her home, she was careful to remove her shoes and to place them just where they had been before she had left.

Despite the fact that she was very careful to be quiet it didn't do her any good. When she opened the front door, awaiting her was her father and her younger sister, Aya. He was furious! She had never seen such an enraged or hurt look on his face.

“YOU!” his voice thundered throughout the entire room. He was directing this at Shizuka. “Just what do you think you're doing? You WILL marry Fujiwara no Katsuro! You will not marry a common samurai, and that is the final word! I am your father, and I know what is best for our clan!”

“Father, you listen to me right now! I love him and there is nothing that you can do to stop me from feeling like I do!”

“You are a woman. The opinion of a woman does not matter in this world. It is time that you learn your place or else I will have to teach it to you,” he said so sternly that she dared not disobey him.

“I'm sorry, father,” she said, a tear rolling down her cheek. Her tears softened the look in his eye. She reminded him so much of her deceased mother, that he couldn't bear to see the tears in her eyes.

“I order you to go to bed,” he said a little less severely. “Tomorrow you will be going to Heian-kyo. My most trusted samurai will see that you do not go and visit that idiot Wantanabe no Toshiro ever again! He will stay in town with your new family and he will make reports back to me on your behavior and serve as your body guard.”

Shizuka was completely confused until she saw the smile on Aya's face. Her sister had made sure to tell their father that she was with a different man than who she was really with. In other words, their father was completely oblivious to the fact that Daichi was actually the one who was seeing his daughter in secret.

“Shizuka, let me go to bed with you,” said Aya, leaving her father's side. Shizuka nodded her head in agreement. The sisters walked to Shizuka's room before they spoke with one another. They changed into night clothing, and without the aide of servants they laid out their pallets and were ready to lay down themselves and talk until they were tired.

“Shizuka, I didn't want for you to be unhappy,” Aya whispered to her sister. “You have always been there for me, so I thought that it was my turn to help you for a change.”

“Thank you, Aya-chan,” said Shizuka. “So, who is father's trusted samurai going to be?”
“Daichi-kun, of course.”

“Does Toshiro know that you framed him?”

“Yes, and he owed me big time, so his debt is paid.”

“That's good, at least he knows,” Shizuka replied and then fell asleep.

“Good night, sister,” whispered Aya. “May your baby be a healthy boy and may he know his true father someday.” With that, Aya fell asleep and neither sister woke until the morning.

The two awoke to a servant woman knocking on the door and asking the two to wake up. Shizuka got up first and yelled to the woman that it was alright to open the door and come in. Shizuka's father had already ordered the servants to pack her bags, so the only thing that needed to be prepared for departure was she. The woman scurried into the room and then the process of bathing, the hairstyle, and the wearing of the kimono were put in order. There was a long rode ahead for Mizuno no Shizuka, or soon to be Fujiwara no Shizuka. With her love at her side, she was ready for anything.

... The End...

Sorry if it was a little cheesey at points, I wrote this a few years ago! Just your criticism would be cool, however bad or good. Just plain honesty is the best policy! :D

Chou Bunen
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#2
Old 02-12-2008, 07:06 AM

So close, and yet so far! :( I can tell you did some of your research, and it almost worked out for you, which is why it's so sad to see it fall apart in the final 30% or so. Since you said it was written "a few years ago," I imagine you know now that the Fujiwara clan was dislodged from its dominance in state affairs long before the samurai class was invented, and that popular aesthetics well up until the Tokugawa bakufu held doomed love to be the most beautiful sort, which any girl would inwardly be delighted to be so lucky as to take part in.

 


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