Once upon a time, peasants grew rice in Japan. The peasants in turn paid their rice to the samurai that ruled the land as a form of taxation.
There was also the occasional beast or demon running around that might ruin a rice field or perhaps eat a samurai that was bold enough to face it.
Sometimes the peasants cheered on the beast when it ate a particularly bothersome samurai.
Then they usually ran in terror before they became snacks.
Down the dusty trail traveled a palanquin, essentially a covered seat for one which two porters carried on their shoulders.
Inside this particular palanquin, there sat a particularly lovely Japanese beauty, resplendent in her clean silk kimono.
Her porters in particular were curious as to why such a fine young lady was so sad.
She of course knew the truth, which was that she was no longer wanted and essentially being thrown away.
Two years ago, she had been Akane Tendou, a proud young girl. As her father had only three daughters, she had grown up trying to make him of her as heir of his school, as well as bring honor to their house as a warrior. While it was rare, it wasn't unheard of for there to be women warriors, even samurai. It did have its difficulties however as many samurai were as traditional as they were sexist, thus she had a hard time being taken seriously.
Unfortunately, a young lord named Tatewaki Kuno had taken her seriously. He had wanted her.
She had refused, often, loudly, and sometimes violently.
Eventually representatives of the Kuno family had seen fit to end the little lovers squabble by approaching her directly. She had initially refused, but their final offer had been a bit too much for her.
Either she stopped saying no to the young lord and making a fuss, or her family would suffer. The family school would be destroyed, her father made a ronin, and her sisters forced into prostitution in a brothel.
It had been heartbreaking, but she had submitted for the sake of her family. While she'd ceased fighting, she'd never been particularly cooperative.
To her chagrin, the confident tomboy had been wrapped in silk, made pretty and taught to act feminine and submissive.
The eventual had happened, and she was soon with child.
It was around the time that her pregnancy started showing that Tatewaki had lost interest in her.
In the end, she'd never so much as seen her child. She'd passed out during the labor, and woken up in confinement at another house. It had turned out to be a brothel, which had been an appropriate final insult. Apparently Kuno had lost all interest in her, but she was expected to make herself useful and earn a little money. It hadn't really mattered at that point, she'd always felt like being with Kuno was worse than whoring herself out.
Now after a few months she had mostly recovered from the labor, yet there was little remaining of the formerly proud tomboy.
Now she was on her way as a 'gift', like a bag of rice.
Of course, if she were being given to a samurai, considering the low status of her family and as impure as she was, she would be more of an insult than a gift.
Eventually the porter's curiosity outweighed their manners. "Hey Miss, what's got ya so sad?"
Frowning slightly, Akane answered softly as she'd been trained. "It has nothing to do with you. I was not informed of where I am to be taken, so I can not be sad about my fate."
The porter on the other hand was a little too incredulous to be quiet. "Ya don't even know wheres ya going?"
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(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:47)
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