The General's Daughter

a/n: The chapter marks the finishing of one of the best stories I believe I have written.

Chapter 10

Two months later found us two days out of Fuzhou.

I leaned over the stern of the boat, too seasick to move. For the last week, I had been fighting this seasickness and I was not a happy ronin.

“You okay?” Taki put her hand on my shoulder and helped me to a sitting position against the building across from the rail. The watchman looked at us with disinterest; he snorted and turned back to his duties.

“Yuki, you’ve been sick like this for the last week. You need to see a cleric!” Taki insisted.

“It’s just seasickness. I’ll be fine once we dock.” I wiped my mouth and graciously accepted the tea the ninja had offered me. “How’s Hei-chan doing?”

“He’s okay; he’s seasick, too, but not as bad as you. We’re docking in a few days; if you don’t feel better when we dock, then I’m dragging you to a cleric.” Taki stubbornly said.

“. . .okay. Excuse me—“ I leaned over the railing again and threw up the tea I had just drank.

Taki sighed and went back to her cabin, stumbling a little on the way. “Drink some water; you’ll feel better.”

“ . . .female ronin . . .searching for Soul Edge. . .”

“. . .forget the ninja. . .formidable. . .”

My haze disappeared when I heard ‘female ronin’. I heard footsteps from the other passageway, the one Taki hadn’t gone down.

“All . . .formidable. . .ronin. . .Matsudaira’s . . .child.”

“. . .kill. . .then?”

“No. . .find Soul Edge. . .lead. . .right to it.”

I stood up, knowing that whoever was talking would be opening the door. The one Taki had gone down was locked. . .

A few moments passed and the door didn’t open. I looked down the hallway; no one was there. Dismissing the voices as a figment of illness, I staggered back to my room.

I entered my room to find Mitsurugi sleeping; good, he needed to be. Draping my hand over his waist, I went to sleep.

~~~

Several days later, we were in port. I was feeling much better, but still throwing up somewhat.

“We are getting ready to leave now to Fuzhou, ‘Yuki; are you sure you don’t want to stay and get better?” Taki asked me as she tied a bag onto the back of the horse.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” I smiled.

I had had a vision last night: Taki, Maxi, Yoshimitsu and Mitsurugi were in a temple, surrounded by people I could tell were good people. They were chatting about something important—I could sense the urgency in the people’s voices. There were several loud crashing noises and shouts. Different sensing people—evil people—came and cut down several of the good warriors, including Yoshimitsu and Taki and Maxi. Mitsurugi eventually held off, but he fell. He was the last to fall.

I would not let that happen.

We rode for several hours before we rested and set up camp. Solemnly, I walked around the campsite, restless. Taki joined me while Maxi and Mitsurugi began a heated conversation about some golem named Astaroth. Maxi said it was still alive while Mitsurugi firmly contended that it was dead.

“Something’s troubling you.” Taki stated.

“I’m afraid.” I said simply.

“Of what?”

“The future.” I answered quietly. “I. . .I had a vision the other night, before we left; this is why I chose to come with.” I stopped, not sure if I should proceed.

Taki motioned for me to continue. She grasped my wrist and placed her other palm on my forehead.

“. . .you, Heishiro, Maxi and that Yoshimitsu character where traveling. You came to a castle and met up with non Japanese people. All of you were ambushed and none survived. . .”

I stopped, my throat catching with something other than worry. “Excuse me—“ I dashed off into the nearest woods and threw up the remainder of my rice and tea lunch.

When I returned to Taki, she looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a little smile. “I’ve figured out your problem.”

“With what: the dream or the illness?” I sat down and accepted the water she had offered me.

“The illness.” Taki sat down besides me. “You’re pregnant.”

I choked on the water. “WHA--?! *cough* *hack* I CAN’T be, I can’t get pregnant!!”

“That’s the only other explanation I have for you.” Taki leaned against a tree and smiled. “Congrats!”

I finished hacking up the water. “But I CAN’T get pregnant! When I was 18, I was in a fierce battle. I was wounded in the womb and the clerics said I would never have a child! I don’t even have the monthly bleeding!” Hiking up the haori and pushing down the hakama, I showed her the scar than fan from two inches from my left leg to just to the left of my belly button. I had been depressed for weeks!

Taki shrugged. “Suit yourself. I know what I know and I know you’re seven weeks pregnant. Guess you’ll find out in a few months, now won’t you?” Without further ado, she stood and left the clearing, leaving me to hyperventilate.

Me, PREGNANT?! How could this have happened?! I could not have children; the clerics said it was impossible!

Not that it was a bad thing, but it had been declared impossible. . .Not, I was not pregnant. Taki was just trying to get my hopes up. It was just a bug from something I had eaten; it would pass in a few more days.

Still wide-eyed from shock and somewhat angry at Taki, I returned to the campsite. Mitsurugi was poring over the papers and Taki and Maxi were nowhere in sight. “. . .the other two disappear or something?” I asked.

“Mmhm.” He said, distracted.

“Can I ask you something?” I chanced.

Apparently, that chance was enough. He put down the papers and looked me lovingly in the eye. “What’s wrong?”

“Suppose the impossible happened. . .would you take that chance with me?”

“It would have to depend: what’s the ‘impossible’?”

I sat down across the fire. “. . .I cannot bear children, due to an injury.”

Mitsurugi moved over to the log I was sitting on. “I gathered, from the scar over your womb. But if it did happen, I would be more than willing and readily able to take that chance with you.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me close.

That was what I needed.

Later that night, Mitsurugi fell asleep with his head in my lap—apparently his studies were exhausting him.

I sat facing the fire, his head in my lap and my back against a tree. Stroking his long black hair, I thought about what had happened over the last six months: from my defeat and capture to Junko to Shinjiro to the clan releasing me.

Taki sat down besides me with yet another cup of diluted tea. “. . .have you told him?”

“I’m not pregnant, Taki; stop getting my hopes up.” I sighed. “I wish I could have children, but I know I won’t. I’ll never be able to give him the son he would want to be samurai.”

Taki looked down at Mitsurugi. “He sleeps like a rock! I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he’s not a samurai—“

I had known that. “But I am. I have had formal training, my father was a samurai and his father and his father before that.”

“I forgot about that; my apologies. But still. . .this journey. . .it’s a big one for you, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. I can’t explain the reason why I feel it is, but it is. So here I am.” I drank the tea, expecting to throw it back up; it didn’t come up.

“Let’s get him a blanket and go for a walk, hm?” Taki gently lifted Mitsurugi’s head from my lap and placed a roll of cloth under his neck. I draped a thin blanket over his form and just sat back, watching him.

“He’s not as fun when he’s sleeping. . .” I pouted playfully.

“Once he’s had his ocha. . .” Taki teased back. “Don’t worry; he’ll be okay. Anyways, the reason I wanted to talk to you is this. . .” We got up and, weapons at respective places, walked around. “You know Soul Edge is evil; you’ve read the papers he’s let you read, but do you know WHY it’s evil?”

“Vaguely, but go on.”

“It steals a person’s soul in exchange for that person’s greatest wish. Hei-kun wishes for revenge; he’ll get it with Soul Edge, but at the cost of his soul. He would turn evil and he would kill for fun to satiate the sword’s want for souls and his lust for blood. By day, he will remember nothing. He will see the results of his wants and he will be a hunted man. By night, he will kill, slaughter, feast. . .He won’t be human anymore.”

By this time, I had gotten incredibly pale and weak. “Whoa. . .is there. . .more. . .?”

Taki nodded gravely. “The first people to die will be the ones closest to him: you, me, any more of his friends. Then when his friends are all dead, he will hunt. . .”

I swallowed—my mouth was suddenly dry. “I-is there any way to prevent this. . .?”

“Destroy the sword.” Taki promptly replied. “Shatter the blade.”

We had walked in a circle around the perimeter of the camp by this time. “You should get some sleep, ‘Yuki; we have a long couple of weeks. And like it or not, you are pregnant.”

Am not.

~~~

A week later found us outside of Canton at a large temple. . .like the one in my dream. My illness hadn’t gotten worse; nor had it gotten better. I drank some water; my stomach clenched, but did not heave.

“. . .we’re here.” Mitsurugi dismounted the horse and approached the front gate.

A bush rustled. The hair went up on the back of my neck and I glanced at Taki. She nodded and put a finger to her mouth in a shushing gesture while she slunk around the side of the building.

Mitsurugi took notice with a brisk nod and Maxi went to the corner casually, as if he needed to relieve himself. He waited.

We didn’t wait long; a few moments after she had left, Taki was back. In front of her she pushed a dark, slumped over figure. I couldn’t tell the gender, but I could tell someone was trying too hard to look older then they really were. “Lady and gentlemen, we have a spy.”

She pushed the figure out in front of her and the person landed with an audibly feminine ‘oof!’.

All four of us surrounded the woman, prepared to do anything. She did nothing, the hood of the cloak still covering her face. She seemed to be looking straight at Maxi.

Taki hauled the woman indignantly to her feet and yanked back the hood. The face revealed was that of a twenty-ish woman with big doe-brown eyes and short, closely cropped brown hair. “You wanna explain this, kiddo?”

“Don’t call me kid!” The woman didn’t struggle; instead, she just kept her arms at her waist. “I was told to meet someone here; they had information about Soul Edge. If you are not that person, I would ask that you please leave before you meddle in things you don’t understand.”

Taki raised an eyebrow. “I remember you now; you’re the Ming Emperor’s prized warrior, Chai Xianghua.” She released the woman. We were told to meet someone here as well. . .who all is here?”

“Kilik, myself and a few Westerners. Two from Greece and one from France. . .”

“So what is going on?” Mitsurugi asked when the introductions were made.

“I followed some weird guy here, some old and grizzled Western guy. He said he had info about Soul Edge, so I went with my gut.” The boy called Kilik said. He was very young-looking, but once I stared into his eyes, like I have a tendency to do with everyone, I could see that there was far more to him.

We were joined later by two blonde women, one of which Taki knew. “Sophie?! Is that YOU?! You look to die for!” The older blonde woman embraced the ninja and said something none of us could hear. Taki looked at her, expression wide, then got up and followed the older woman, while the younger was left to meekly stare at us.

“Uh. . .konbanwa. . .erm. . . watashi-wa Alexandra Cassandra desu. . .did I say that right?” Her green eyes gazed around frantically for any kind of ally.

“Easy, kiddo, we’re not gonna hurt you; here, take a sit.” Maxi pulled the kid down where Taki had been sitting.

We gave the girl a rice ball, which she promptly inhaled. “Thank you.”

The little gathering of us spoke some of the other person’s language, the largest group speaking Japanese. That group had myself, Mitsurugi, Taki and Maxi, though his was a dialect. Cassandra, or Cass as she preferred, spoke a bit of Japanese, as did the Chinese woman, Xianghua and the man Kilik.

We swapped stories about Soul Edge. Cass was looking so her sister-the older blonde Taki had taken off with-would not have to worry. Apparently, their village was worrying about the younger Alexandra not coming home one night, so Sophitia went out looking for her. They had just missed each other by days.

Maxi wasn’t looking for Soul Edge, just Astaroth. Apparently, the golem thing had slaughtered his crew. I knew Mitsurugi’s story, so I kinda toned him out.

Xianghua was looking for it for many confusing reasons that I didn’t bother to sort out.

I leaned against Mitsurugi, feeling my stomach go queasy again. He discreetly wrapped his arm around my waist and I felt somewhat better.