Shichiro felt tears drip onto his face where his eyes had once been, and he sighed softly. “Do not weep for me, wife. I do not need them--all I need is you, and whatever strength or skill that the Heavenly Emperor sees fit to grant me. Besides,” And he laughed, “What other blind man can say they have fought a Shogun and won?”
Hanako laughed at that, and Shichiro dreamed of the gentle smile that was no doubt upon her lips. He could imagine it so very clearly, so clearly that he felt as if he could see it.
He blinked, and the breath was stolen from his lungs.
“I had forgotten,” he said, “How very blue your eyes were, Hanako.”
For a moment the words did not make sense in her head, and then she reared back, nearly tripping and falling in her shock. There, staring back at her, were her husband’s eyes, in her husband’s face, just as they once had months ago. The only difference now was that they were framed by a silvery scar.
“Y-you can see me?” She stammered, and he nodded.
“You are wearing a navy and green kimono, your hair is fallen all around you, and you have a smear of blood on your forehead.” he said, his own voice sounding breathless.
She stared at him, and then felt such a stirring of joy in herself that she thought she could burst. “Oh, thank the Heavenly Emperor-sama!”
“That shouldn’t be possible.” Ichiro--Shuichi, to be precise--said. “The properties of the Pearl-blessed blood are unable to heal such old wounds, and hte damage inflincted was of a type that was beyond its power already.”
“Ah, Ichiro-san,” Isao said with a laugh. “The Heavenly Pearl flower was a blossom created by the hand of the Heavenly Emperor and gifted to the First Emperor aeons ago. Who are you to say which miracles a flower of miracles can perform? I believe that is up to the Heavenly One that made it.”
“Truly, we have bleen blessed,” Hanako smiled, and she gazed at long last into her husband’s eyes.
******
The army of Masaki and Akiyama, understandibly, were rather skeptical when Hanako appeared before them, with her husband at her side and flanked by a tiny princess and the Shogun of Nagisa. THey listened as Hanako proclaimed her status as Empress, and as Shichiro informed them that he was the Emperor, and now that their leaders were dead, it was strongly advised they would surrender if they didn’t wish for a similarly unpleasant fate.
There was a moment of silence, and then the jeering started. It stopped, however, on a few seconds later, as Tamotsu Eiji became tired of the abuse they were throwing at his charge and slipped out of her sleeve, soaring into the sky, and instantly becoming a far greater size than any of them (save perhaps Akashi Keiji) had glimpsed before.
“This mortal child is indeed who she says she is,” He boomed. “She is the Chosen heir whose coming i foretold three hundred (i think) years ago, a descendent of Hansuke the Lost Prince, the last heir of the Imperial Throne. The time has come at last for the Imperial Throne to be restored, and I highly suggest you accept her offers of mercy.”
The entire joint army immeidiately surrendered. After all, it was rather unwise to outright disobey they gigantic dragon.
*****
EPILOGUE -- THE DRAGON AND THE HOME
The Imperial City, which was long abandoned, was in surprisingly good shape for haveing been left empty for three hundred years. Hanako had been informed that the Guardians had kept it ready all these years, waiting for the one who would come and dwell within the palace once more.
And now that time had come at last, and the streets of the Imperial City of Nakajima Hachito were filled with the voices of people.
The Empress had returned to the Imperial Throne.
People from all over the seven lands--from Taura of the rivers in the east and the rocky coast of Yamazaki in the west, from the snows of Miyukimura in the north and the rice marshes of Karigane in the south, from the mountains of Akiyama and the forests of Masaki and the beaches of Nagisa--had gathered to see the Empress crowned. They gazed in wonder at the noble lords and ladies, the Shoguns and the Princesses and their noble consorts, and they stared in awe at the tall, otherworldly forms of Celestial Guardians.
It was truly an event that would go down in history, when the seven warring nations were united at last under one crown, beneath the gracious and gentle hand of the Empress Hanako.
She stood before them all, on the steps of the Grand Temple, clad in a long silk kimono colored in green and blue, purple and gold--the colors of the Emperors and the Imperial Dragon in days long gone.
She was small and delicate, as lovely and refined as the blooms of the royal chrysthanthemums, and the people swore that never before has been and never again will there be a lovelier Empress.
At her side stood the Emperor, tall and strong and noble , his face regal and protective, his hand on the hilt of his ancient sword.
The Imperial Dragon stood before the Princess Tatsuoko Hanako, holding the royal headdress Empresses had worn in ages past, and he bent his vermillion gaze upon her. He was tall and impossibly regal, and several people in the crowd later swore that where he stood there knelt the serpentine body of a jade dragon.
“Do you, Nishimura Hanako, daughter of the line of Takahara Hansuke, son of the Last Emperor, Miyatatsu Hanshin, swear to rule your people with wisdom and justice and mercy, guiding them together as they walk the path into the future? Do you swear to lead them upon a straight path of light, free from regrets, as best as you are able? Do you swear to follow the precepts and laws in imitation of the court of the Heavenly Emperor for all the days of your life, until you breathe your last and ascend to join his train?”
“I swear, by the Mark of the Dragon upon my back and the blood of the Emperors in my veins. I will do so, and continue to do so, until the smoke of my pyre ascends to the stars, and the cherry blossoms bloom over my grave.”
“Then, by the power given to me by the Heavenly Emperor Himself, I crown you Empress Tatsuoko Hanako, and I give unto your line the name Nishitatsu--Dragon of the West.”
And Princess Hanako of the Dragons bowed her head, and the Imperial Dragon Tamotsu Eiji placed the ancient headdress of her ancestresses upon her head. Then she raised her head and turned to face the crowd, and she was forevermore remembered as Nishitatsu Tatsuoko Hanako, Empress of the whole land of Azuna-no-Kuni, from the far eastern border of Taura to the beginning of the Western Sea.
*****
The festivities surrounding the coronation of the Empress lasted well into the night, but at last the celebration had died off and all was quiet. It was in this quiet that Shogun Hamasaki Isao at last found his brother and sister, who were quietly cloistered on the engawa next to the private Imperial gardens.
Shichiro cradled his daughter Misaki in his arms, and Manami was twisting her face into a funny shape, babbling cheerfully in hopes of making her tiny niece laugh. With a grin, Isao plopped down next to them, eyeing the way that Shichiro stared at his daughter’s face with endless wonder.
“How does it feel, being a father?” He asked, and Shichiro shook his head slowly.
“I… I don’t know, honestly. I just met Misaki-chan the day before yesterday, and I first held Kenshin-chan only a few weeks ago. But… when I first held Kenshin-chan, and when I first laid eyes on both my children, I… I can’t describe it.”
Isao nodded solemnly. “I know what you mean. I only wish you were here for all of it.”
Shichiro averted his gaze, staring up at the full moon. “So do I.”
With a smirk, the Shogun nudged the Emperor in the ribs. “Guess that’ll teach you to run off in a fit of self-pity from now on, eh, baby brother? Next time you do that, you might return to find your pretty little Empress of a wife’s had triplets!”
His baby brother snorted, and Manami giggled, and Misaki cooed cluelessly, and Isao grinned. All was right with the world, at long, long last.
“I was speaking to Hanako-chan today,” he said casually. “She says that now she’s established as Empress,
she’s going to help stabilize Yamazaki, Akiyama and Masaki. Akiyama will be pretty easy to deal with--the Fox has already got someone ready to step onto the seat of the Shogun, but Yamazaki is going to be a bit more tricky. Still, I have faith that the two of you’ll manage to sort things out soon enough.” Isao smirked. “After all, it’s rather hard to say no to the Empress and her pet dragon.”
Shichiro rolled his eyes. “And what about Masaki?”
“Well… that happened to be a large part of what we were speaking about, Hanako-chan, Daimyo Saito-dono, and I.” THe elder brother admitted. “All the other children of our honored and regretfully passed father are traitors to the Imperial Throne, so none of them are eligible to take the Shogun’s seat. That is, of course… except for Manami here.”
Shichiro and Manami stared at Isao in shock. “You’re serious? Really?” THe princess gasped out, and Isao tried his best to hide his grimace. Manami was competent, truly, but she was still so young still…
“Yes.” He admitted.
He wasn’t expecting her to fling her arms about his waist. “Oh, thank you, Biggest Brother Isao! Now I'll be able to fulfill my dream!”
“What dream?” Isao asked, rather stupidly, and Manami beamed at him.
“I wanted to be grand lady, like Mother Tomoko or Grandmother Kazuka-hime-sama, one who can take care of her people and keep them safe. I’d never thought I'd be able to do it, but now!” Words failed her, and instead she hugged him again. Bemusedly, Isao patted her head, and thanked the lucky stars that she wasn’t upset at the unexpected burden.
Shichiro smiled and added his own hand to Manami’s head, and she turned to look at him curiously.
“Congratulations, usa-chan,” he said seriously, “I know you’ll be a very grand lady indeed.”
Manami beamed happily, hugged him, and then rushed off, no doubt to deliver the good news to Kenta, her faithful guardian. Isao and Shichiro were left alone, save for Misaki, and together they silently stared at the moon.
“Do you think you’ll miss it?” Isao said after a while.
Shichiro glanced at him out of the corner of his eye curiously. “Miss what?”
“Wandering.” Isao gestured to the world at large. “You told me once how you loved to smell the winds in every land, and how you would follow them where they willed. Do you think you’ll miss it, now that you’re Emperor?”
Shichiro laughed. “It’s not like I'll be stuck in the palace all the time, big brother. Hanako-san is the Empress and will govern the minutia and the politics. I am Emperor and will therefore be often out in the world, checking on the state of the seven lands for my Empress. I will be able to feel the winds plenty enough, never fear.”
He sighed thoughtfully then, directing his gaze back to the moon. “I suppose I shall miss wandering, eventually, but I am far fonder of what I have here to let the desire to chase the winds rule me.” He looked down at his slumbering daughter in his arms, and smiled. “Someday, my heart tells me, I shall go wandering again. But I pray that that day will be far, far off indeed, for all that I need is right here, for once, and I am not barred from it.”
ISao nodded, and smiled gently in relief. He stood, softly tapped his sleeping niece on the head, and then clasped his brother on the shoulder. “Good. I’m very proud of you, Emperor Shichiro.”
Shichiro nodded, and Isao walked off. He paused just as he was about to turn the corner, and looked back, a smirk on his face. “Y’know, I was right, in the end.”
Shichiro cocked his head at him in confusion, and Isao’s smirk widened. “I always told you, little brother, that you were far worthier than you believed yourself to be. And look at you now--my foolish little brother is the Emperor.” His grin grew even further. “It seems that all along, the Heavenly Emperor agreed with me.”
The last words were delivered with great relish, and Shichiro scowled at him.
“I told you so.”
And with that parting shot, Isao disappeared around the corner, whistling happily.
Shichiro indulged in making a face at his brother in Isao’s absence, then stood, careful not to jostle and disturb Misaki. He slowly strolled his way along the engawa, musing upon his brother's words.
He stopped in front of a shoji door, and adjusted his grip on Misaki to slide it open. Perhaps, Isao really was right, all along.
He stepped inside to see his wife and Empress just finish tucking a drowsy little princely heir into his futon, and he smiled in content. It wasn’t that long ago when he never would have seen such a thing, and Shichiro would never take such a gift for granted again.
Hanako turned at the sound of the door sliding shut behind her husband, and she turned to look at him with as smile.
“Welcome home, Shichiro!” She said, and her blue eyes lit up with delight and contentment.
Shichiro stared into her imperial eyes and felt an answering warmth in his heart. “Yes. I’m home.”
The End
The Dragon's Flower Page 36