The Fate of Books: The Great Eight Treasures [Episode 184688]

First he had gone to the Shinto Priests to have his fortune read, and was told that for him, it would be in his best interests to go with eight children. Believing their words, (although not listening to see if they meant all sons or not) he started on his project quickly, and decided to speed things up as he would not only take a wife, but three concubines as well, to assure his legacy would be secured and that the name of Yaro would be wide-spread throughout the land for generations to come.

Kan, the firstborn son of the Yaro family, born from Kyosei’s legal wife, Keikoku. He was the one expected to take on the family traditions when the father, Kyosei passed on. He was raised with great care, love, and admiration of his father, mother, and attendants, as he would be the one to receive the vast fortunes and land-holdings, in effect, being in charge of the family. No expense was spared on the boy's education, and he became a very good scribe in time.

Riki, the second son of Kyosei, and the only child of his first concubine, Kusabana. Seeing as how he practically tore his way out into the world during childbirth, (unfortunately ruining the woman’s uterus), Kyosei had the child named Riki for the show of what he felt was great strength. And indeed, it was fitting as Riki grew up to be a harsh laborer, and expertly skilled with his hands. He would come to be the wood craftsman, and an overseer and farmer in the Yaro family’s rice fields.

Kogane and Shippo were the third and fourth sons, twins born of the concubine Jueru. They were named such as while it was a blessing to have twin sons, truly a golden moment, one was the fourth son, which was often seen as a terrible omen. Thus were the names of gold and silver, for it was believed that due to birth order, these boys who, while looked almost exactly alike, would be anything but.

And Kyosei was right about that. Seeing Kogane as a treasure, the first-born twin would be pampered and so grow up to become a lazy lay-about with his whims tended to. Shippo, on the other hand, would take to the battle fields, perfecting his skill in archery and naginata-battle via horseback like a true Samurai, in hopes of trying to win favor with a father who believed him jinxed. Ironically, because of his need to be accepted, Shippo would be the only one of Kyosei’s children to actually go out and openly follow the path of a samurai, truly making him more of a worthy heir than the children born of Keikoku.

The fifth child, Enjin, was born of the third concubine Seijun. While quiet as a child, this was because he proved to have similar interests to Kan, and followed the path to being a scribe. Since he was not afforded the same luxury as having numerous teachers and scholars teach him as they did his eldest brother, Enjin applied himself harder into his studies. He became and excellent jeweler and financial consultant, working close with Kan to keep care of the family's finances, even though the handling of money was considered beneath the notice and standard of one with Samurai heritage.

When the next year came, there was the arrival of the next wave of sons. Jueru would bear Kyosei his sixth son, Amatsu, named such due to the pale complexion of his skin at birth, giving him an almost powdery white look; almost heavenly. While Kyosei did not think it anything all that glorious, Seijun felt more excited about this birth than she did with Enjin. She did what she could to see that he was brought up to follow the path of becoming a Shinto Priest, which was seen as a most honorable profession by the Samurai.

Niban was the seventh child and the second of Kyosei’s proper wife Keikoku. He was kept, loved, and trained to similar extents as Kan. This was due to the fact of who his birth mother was, so he was seen as a proper heir as well; second in line to inherit his father's wealth and prestige, despite the order of birth. Thus, he was trained as such should anything have happened to Kan. However, unlike the proper heir Kan, Niban displayed more of a physical outgoing attitude, and had quite a passion for archery, although his marksmanship was nowhere neared as skilled as his brother Shippo’s.

Still while Kyosei might not have taken as active a role, he did look out for his youngest child. He saw to it that the boy was taught martial arts, as to best defend himself and the weak, as would be befitting of someone of samurai heritage.

Oddly enough, it would be these teachings that gave Heta some positive outlook on life. Rakki, feeling bad for his older brother, looked out for the poor diminutive person when he could, trying to teach him the ethics of what it was to be a martial artist, helping hide the young man when their father Kyosei was in one of his ‘moods’, and just treating the poor short man like a human being.

Sadly though, this would also prove as a stepping stone towards the path of Heta’s downfall. Constant bullying from his fellow half-siblings, outright hostility from his father, indifference from his mother as she put all her attention to his true brother, pushing him to become the financer for the family and leaving Heta to rot...

Yes, evil is not something we are born with. It is something we learn over time.

First was the goal of restructuring the Yamato Court. The Kyushu and Kanto had officially been joined as allied stats of the Shogunate. This caused for a reconfiguration of where responsibilities should be held and what power should be granted to whom, and the amount of taxes of what should be paid to the ruling class and when they should be paid.

The second facet of the Asuka Period was to strengthen Japan’s ideals. Realistically, this included the Samurai class above all others. They were put in charge of much of the transition, and so were the ones to not only create most of the layout of the government’s structuring, but the laws that they felt should be in place, and enforce them as well. This is what lead to the third and most important aspect of the Asuka Period.

Isolationism and Nationalism.

Although much of Japan’s culture was based on China, from cooking styles, to fashion, to literature, the idea was that they were changed enough that they were distinctly Japan’s own, and should be celebrated AS being Japanese. Anything that wasn’t of Japanese origin and held too much of a foreign influence was to be confiscated by government officials and destroyed. They even named the country’s name from the Chinese script of ‘Wa’ to what they felt was the more appropriate ‘Nippon’.

And this is where Heta came in. Everyone of the Samurai Class was being used to make the transition from the Kofun Period into the Asuka period as quickly as possible, that meant everyone had to work, including someone who was considered as insignificant as the ‘deformed’ son of Kyosei Yaro, due to him being samurai only on technicality of birth.

Because of his disability, Heta was chosen to work behind closed doors. He was given the job of keeping record of what was brought in and by whom. Then he was to sort the items of foreign influence into three categories; precious metals, salvageable, and discard. Precious metals, of course, were gold jewelry and such of foreign influence that were melted down and made into gold bars or coins. Salvageable were items of iron or copper ore, and items of bronze that could be melted down and reused for other items. And of course, Discard was reserved for stuff that was deemed useless to the needs of the Yamato Court, and had to be burned.

It was among the discarded items that Heta came across something that, while obviously of no use to the government, was of use to him, something in need of him. Going through the pile of items, Happosai found a small wooden box that was carved with the Chinese characters of the five elements; Fire, Water, Wind, Wood, and Metal. The container wasn’t just an accessory box, it was a prison for the demon Urca.

Too bad the Samurai took it as part of their raid on ALL Shrines, removing anything REMOTELY of Chinese influence. The outright Chinese character carved on the sides and the lid made it a target for confiscation and destruction.

And now Happosai had it, his own soul having called out to the demon, in resonance with the evil it contained. They both wanted the same thing.

True Power.

Both had hungered, starved for it. It was what brought Urca into the human realm. The power, the sustenance Urca craved were emotions; power growing within the souls of humans. Hate, fear, pride, jealousy, anger, all were the coating to a powerful emotion so dark, so horrifying, that humans haven’t dared to acknowledge it, let alone ‘name’ it.

Humans aren’t born evil. They are taught. And once it’s out, it can’t be sealed away.

Urca was astonished by the power bottled within Heta’s soul. Power that smoldered and festere, thanks to the seeds of cruelty sown by those who surrounded him from the very moment he was born! From their cruelty, he developed his own, but had no release for it. So it twisted and ripened to the depths only Heta himself could fathom. Heta’s heart was something Urca had never seen before. Perfection. And together, they would be the perfected darkness.

Heta wanted the prestige, land, wealth and the head of the Yaro family destroyed.

And that’s just what Urca did, taking great delight as he towered high into the sky, crushing ineffective soldiers underfoot, razing and poisoning the earth of their farms, and burning down the estate that had served as Heta’s home. It was a sight Heta delighted in happily, and would forever cherish the sound of Kyosei’s screams as Urca brought the Samurai up to his mouth and chewed him slowly, keeping him alive as long as possible as teeth gnashed and stabbed into limbs and organs. Even though this was technically a favor to Heta, Urca took great delight in the destruction and terror he created.

Finally, with the Yaro clan pretty much in shambles thanks to the treachery of Heta and the attack from the powerful demon, the eight child of Kyosei was quick to claim his next favor. He wanted not only the power and skill to be able to defend himself, but to pretty much become near as immortal as the demon Urca, for he was sure there would be those that would come after him for vengeance. Urca was inclined to agree, but he wanted something out of this in return. Usually, a Demon would take a soul for such a deal, but Urca wasn’t about to take Heta’s. Not only did a darkness like this needed to continue, to ruin life of others around, but that would negate the latter half of the favor.

So it was agreed that the payment would be two-fold to the demon, as it was a dual-reward to Heta. In return for creating the school of Martial Arts Heta could use, the short man allowed that the school would Curse all of the practitioners... and for the school to give Heta near-immortal life, the eighth child of Kyosei sacrificed his brothers.

Urca took great delight in eating the children of Kyosei, gaining sustenance from not only flesh, but power from their souls. However, he had only chose seven of Heta’s eighh brothers. The youngest, Rakki was left alive not because of any words on his older brother’s part, nor because the demon felt particularly like having mercy on him... he was left alive because Urca needed seven souls for seven sins. He got what he needed.

And Rakki was the first ‘student’ of Heta. If Heta were to survive the likely outcome of the Shogunate’s wrath, he was going to need a student alive to give him immortality.

Rakki was counted as a student because during most of their lives, he took care of Heta as best he could. It was also his style of Martial Arts that Anything Goes was best after, technically, making him a founder... but since he did not practice the ‘proper’ style of Anything Goes, he was also a student, and therefore a lifeline for Heta to hang onto after Urca physically left and the army of the Yamato Court came after him.

As would be expected, Heta was formally executed, hanged and buried. Similar fate probably would have befallen Rakki, but he disappeared, unable to face the dishonor that had fallen his family. The Yaro family was completely stricken from the record and any land holdings and finances left were seized by the government.

And so in Autumn of 547, Heta rose from his grave, the power of the Anything Goes School keeping him alive. With the Yaro family gone, Heta forsake the damnable and hated name his father had bestowed upon him, and took up a name that he felt was fitting and held a certain ring of irony for those who knew about the Yaro.