[Senkumo Saga: Book of Blossoming]: I Felt Nothing

Several weeks later, the summer sun rose and unleashed its hot wrath upon the land. To Bishamon, this was the perfect time to train.

Blindfolded, Tsukiakari baked inside of her black robes as she speedily ran and chopped down practice targets in the base’s gardens. They were nothing more than scarecrows, but good practice for a novice war goddess. Her blade sliced cleanly through the bundle of straw and cloth, each successful strike confirmed by the heavy thud of the scarecrow as it fell to the ground.

“Beautiful. Next one," Bishamon called out, spectating with his arms crossed.

The goddess twirled her blade in her hand and threw her sword at the next scarecrow, roughly thirty meters away. It hit with deadly accuracy, piercing right through its stomach. Even with her vision blinded, she still maintained spectacular spatial awareness, as expected of a goddess. 

She yanked the sword out of the scarecrow and proceeded to the last target on foot, charging in at full speed. Taeko, Mayumi, and Ebina all hid within the tall crops, waiting for just the right moment before they each tossed two shuriken at the blinded goddess. She leaped high into the air, launching herself off the ground and deflecting the incoming shuriken with her sword. In one smooth movement, she flipped herself forward, holding her blade above her head in preparation for a vertical slash on the last scarecrow.

To her shock, the final scarecrow unleashed an agonizing scream, its straw feeling more like meat and bone as her blade ripped through its torso. Suddenly, Tsukiakari's nostrils were invaded by the smell of blood and iron. She hurriedly threw her blindfold off to see exactly what she had just slashed in half.

There he was, a young man stripped naked and tied to the wooden post, his body split open from the chest down, and his entrails falling out of his riven stomach. Tsukiakari gazed upon his corpse without flinching in the slightest. The shock of what happened caused her ears to ring so loudly that she could barely hear anything other than the blood rushing inside her own head.

“He was an escaped convict,” Bishamon said as he approached Tsukiakari. “He ran with a gang of bandits before the war. Apparently, they’d try robbing mansions in the wealthier areas of Kyoto, then share the loot amongst themselves. His crew botched their last job, and they ended up killing a pregnant woman as they tried to escape the house. He was supposed to be executed, but then the war broke out. He escaped, and the government issued a bounty for him, dead or alive.”

“How did it feel, Tsukiakari,” Bishamon asked, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.
He eagerly awaited her response as Taeko, Mayumi, and Ebina emerged from the tall crops. The little goddess simply turned her head towards them with a nonchalant expression and the blood of the slain man splattered on her rosy cheek.

“I didn't feel much of anything, Bishamon," she replied with a dry tone.
Bishamon smiled. “See? It becomes a little bit easier the more you do it. It becomes effortless when you know they would’ve gone on to hurt someone else.”

Bishamon knelt to his knees, holding his hands out for Tsukiakari to see. “I’m going to teach you something. Press your hands together and interlock your pinkies and ring fingers like this. Press your thumbs together, and cross your index fingers over your middle.”

“Okay…” Tsukiakari mumbled, doing as instructed. She curled and contorted her fingers into the exact hand seal Bishamon showed her. Bishamon then stood up and gently patted her back, giving her a nod of encouragement.

“Good, now point your sword at his body. Imagine your blade as a branch of lightning, a branch you control. Envision yourself hurling that lightning at his body. Visualize, and then actualize.”

Tsukiakari closed her eyes, trying her hardest to follow Bishamon’s instruction. She pictured herself as a god roaming the clouds, plucking lightning right out of the sky. She imagined it slithering around her arm like snake and coursing through her veins like blood suffused with blinding light.

Then, to her fright, she felt a jolt in her sword that pushed her shoulder deeper into its socket. The air popped and rattled around her as a bolt of lightning launched forth from the tip of her blade and struck the convict’s corpse. The odor of burning hair and charred flesh wafted into the air from his smoking body, his skin bubbling and the fluids in his eyes melting and coagulating into a fetid, white paste. Taeko, Ebina, and Mayumi staggered in awe at what they saw, and for a moment, Tsukiakari forgot to breathe.

“Kuji-in hand seals,” Bishamon said. “This power is native to my Buddhist pantheon, and it is something we’ve shared with you Shinto gods. These hand seals can open your affinity with the elements, and if used correctly, will allow you to wield the mightiest thunderclap or the wildest flame without hurting yourself. The one you performed just now is the Pyō seal, the Seal of the Great Thunderbolt. I will teach you more of them. We’ll find out which ones you possess the most aptitude for.”

Tsukiakari, seeing the potential of her own power, gazed upon Bishamon with the dazzle of wonder in her eyes. “Please teach me everything you know, Bishamon.”

Tsukiakari honed her strength and amassed a deadly array of skills for six whole years. Within that time, she had grown into a young woman and a novice war goddess. Taeko, Ebina, and Mayumi had grown splendidly alongside her. All the while, Bishamon collected fleeing and disaffected nobles and children, making them part of the Senkumo clan.

Because the fighting in Kyoto raged on through those years, it became the perfect playground of recruitment for the Senkumo. That year, 1473, was the year their hard training would pay off. Yoshimasa Ashikaga, the Shogun himself, finally stepped out of his private life of tea and poetry, and exercised his authority over his crumbling nation.

However, for all of the power and respect the seat of Shogun once held, it meant nothing in this newborn era of covetous usurpers and warlords. There was no law Yoshimasa could write, no edict he could create that could ever reverse the chaos consuming Kyoto. He was wise enough to know that if he could not find the solution to all of this, the solution would find him.

Having retired to their villa in the Higashiyama hills, east of the ruined Kyoto, Yoshimasa and his wife Tomiko were safe from the ongoing Onīn War. Their two-story pavilion was built facing a large pond, partially shrouded by the towering cluster of trees around it. A rock garden behind the building provided a sense of calm and simple beauty with its low-cut grass and bed of flowers.

Yoshimasa commissioned the villa’s construction with the idea that subtle beauty and aesthetic should be curiously hidden, rather than flagrantly boasted. As such, the interior was simple and clean, with no fancy architectural features to speak of. Each room was large and square, partitioned by sliding doors. The wooden floors were smooth and waxed to perfection. It made the the villa a perfect getaway from the troublesome life of Shogun.

That quiet night, Tomiko approached her husband at the pond. He seemed to be captivated by the twinkling stars in the dark sky, as well as the golden, full-moon lingering above their heads. Tomiko’s long, unbound hair flowed freely in the breeze of the night.

“Yoshimasa,” she called out.

“Tomiko, do you ever just gaze at the night sky? It’s truly an under-appreciated wonder.” Yoshimasa marveled, ignoring Tomiko’s urgency. “Everything in the heavens is so…deliberate, and yet, so effortlessly beautiful. All we can do is try to capture that beauty, recreate it with our own hands. I feel like I’ve almost achieved that with this villa. Perhaps a radiant, silver overlay might help this place flicker like these stars above us.”

“Your own city lies in ruins, and yet you decide now is the time to stargaze?” Tomiko hissed. “I take it you’ve put no thought into how we will retake Kyoto, or how our son is supposed to rule over a city burnt to cinders.”

“Tomiko…” Yoshimasa sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Well, luckily, I have done the thinking for you. I’ve been informed that there’s a rapidly growing clan southwest of Kyoto. It’s a fairly new clan with its own land and military. I think we should enlist their help," Tomiko advised with her arms crossed.

“And why should we ask for their help? What good would it do if we involve yet another army with yet another daimyo, Tomiko?”

“That’s the thing. See, this army isn’t sworn to any daimyo, nor are they sworn to you. The only allegiance they hold is to the gods.”

“The gods?” Yoshimasa asked, as if he couldn’t believe what he heard.

“I’ll arrange for a letter to be sent to them. If you won’t take the initiative to fix this mess, then I will. You can just continue about your day-to-day life, sipping your tea and watching the stars. Let your wife bring an end to this war," Tomiko bitterly suggested as she made her way back inside.

“Yes,” Yoshimasa calmly replied. “The war that you started.”

Tomiko angrily slammed the sliding door shut as she went back inside. Her heart raced with fury upon hearing that last remark, but she soon calmed herself and marched towards the stairs. She passed by the second bedroom on the first floor, stopping upon hearing the voice of Yoshimasa’s concubine from behind the sliding door.

“Gods, protect my unborn child from harm. Let this child emerge into this world in good health. Let Yoshimasa see, with his own eyes, that our first child will prosper and bring us good fortune. I beg of you…” she prayed, unaware of Tomiko’s eavesdropping.

Without a word, Tomiko ascended the stairs with a boiling rage in her chest. As the official wife of the Shogun, she was in a class above any other wife or lowly concubine. Still, Tomiko paid special attention to the concubine’s wish, that she wanted their first child to prosper.

“How dare you, lowly wretch. You think your first child won’t share the same fate as mine?” Tomiko whispered under her breath. “You won’t even get the chance to name that child…”

As Tomiko wished, a letter was written as sent out. Wary of receiving direct mail, Bishamon had set up of a system of ‘cut-outs’, as he called them. These cut-outs were nobles who didn’t know the exact location of the Senkumo base.

Upon receiving any mail addressed to the Senkumo, they were to deliver it to their assigned partner, who would then deliver the letter to their own partner. Any and all mail meant for the Senkumo reached at least seven different nobles before finally being delivered to a Senkumo checkpoint ten miles east of the base.

Once the letter had finally gone through this system, it arrived in Bishamon’s hands almost a week after it was sent out. Delighted that their first real client would be the wife of the Shogun, Bishamon wasted no time in dispatching Tsukiakari and Taeko to the Higashiyama district to establish an agreement.

And so, after a long day of travel, Tsukiakari and Taeko met with Yoshimasa and Tomiko in their villa. The shogun loved his tea, so the two were forced to sit down and drink with him. Though it felt like an honor to meet the shogun, both Tsukiakari and Taeko were thrown off by his nonchalant demeanor, how he drank tea and read poetry so blissfully despite what was happening to the country. The man truly lived in a royal bubble, though his title as Shogun had become all but meaningless to his subjects.

“My wife is the one who dispatched the letter. I am honored to have you here at my estate, Tsukiakari.” Yoshimasa said. “I must express my shock. I didn’t think that your commander would send such a young woman to meet with me.”

“Young in appearance,” Tsukiakari sharply corrected. “A goddess’s looks hardly ever reflect her true age.”

“Yes, of course. My apologies. I did not mean to offend you. I wanted to talk to you precisely because I believed whoever came would be powerful enough to help end this chaos, Yoshimasa explained with careful words.

“So, then, what do you need," Taeko asked, leaning against the wall behind Tsukiakari.
Yoshimasa put down his tea and clasped his hands. The delightful smell of peppermint flowed from his breath. Tomiko sat on her knees with her back straight, speaking with much greater confidence and authority than her husband.

“This civil war has gone on for far too long. Sozen Yamana and Matsumoto Hosokawa are both dead, yet their armies continue to fight each other. The powerful clans that took part in this war are starting to get tired as more and more people die, and no winner emerges from all the fighting," she explained.

“I don't care how you do it, but I beg of you, Tsukiakari...” Yoshimasa pleaded.
Tsukiakari's heart raced as Yoshimasa, the shogun himself, bowed his head so humbly and gratefully to her as he pleaded for her assistance.

“Quell the chaos in these lands. Cease the war that engulfs us so. Perhaps then, I may finally retire. Please, allow this one prayer to be answered.”

Taeko shifted her eyes to Tsukiakari, nodding to let her know that whatever decision she made, she, as her comrade, would support her.

“Raise your head. I accept the task," Tsukiakari declared. “However, I will not take the side of any particular army at your request. I will do whatever I feel is necessary to end the civil war.”

“Do as you see fit.” Yoshimasa begged, his head still touching the floor.

While her husband bowed before the young war goddess, Tomiko stood up and extended her arm for a handshake. Tsukiakari gladly shook hands with the strong-willed Tomiko, noting her firm, confident grip.

“Tsukiakari Senkumo, I leave the rest to you. Should you require any assistance, inform me immediately. I will make sure you get any help you may require," Tomiko assured.

“Thank you, Tomiko. Actually, I would appreciate it if you could draft us some false intelligence reports” Tsukiakari suggested. “Two sets of them, with conflicting information. I can use them to mislead both the Yamana and the Hosokawa into coming out in the open.”

“Of course," Tomiko replied with a slight bow. “My husband and I can prepare some according to any of your specifications. I’ll be sure to let both of them know that someone representing us will be delivering those letters. You should be able to get in with ease.”

The four of them departed the room with Yoshimasa leading them down the stairs and Tomiko following close behind. As the four of them emerged from the room, Yoshimasa’s concubine, who was attempting to descend the stairs herself, stepped aside to make room for everyone. Since she was so late into her pregnancy, her mobility was greatly hampered.

The brown-haired woman smiled and bowed her head as the guests walked by. Upon seeing the concubine in the corner of her eye, Tomiko continued on her way, as if she wasn’t there. Then suddenly, the bowing concubine felt something push her forwards, sending her tumbling down the stairs with a frightened scream.

Everyone gasped in shock as she crashed down the steps and writhed in pain at the bottom of the staircase. Yoshimasa and the others immediately ran to her aid.

“Okura! Are you all rightt!?” Yoshimasa cried, noticing the blood pooling underneath her lavender kimono.

“She needs a doctor immediately! She could miscarry," Taeko urged.

Tomiko stepped forth, lifting Okura’s head off of the floor with her right hand.

“I’ll get her some help! Yoshimasa, I need you to get a surgeon down here immediately!” Tomiko suggested.

“Is there anything we can do to help," Tsukiakari asked with panicked breath.

“Please, don’t trouble yourself any further. I can keep her stable until a surgeon gets here. I’ll prepare those letters soon, like you asked," Tomiko replied.

Yoshimasa hurriedly escorted Tsukiakari and Taeko to the villa gates. All three of them mounted their horses and galloped down the road, hoping to flag down the surgeon at the foot of the hill with haste. After watching those three disappear down the hill, Tomiko smiled, then returned her gaze to Okura’s sobbing and pained face. She gently caressed Okura’s tear-soaked cheek with the back of her fingers. Knowing the child would die, Tomiko allowed her sly grin to spread across her face.

“Shhh. It’s okay, Okura. It’s okay. The gods will protect your first child, won’t they?”

For Tomiko, both the errors in the country and the errors in her own home were corrected in a single day. Okura’s unborn child did not survive the fall, resulting in her shaming and excommunication from the villa. After all, how could a woman of such low status be so careless as to kill the shogun’s child? Such points were made by Tomiko in the following days, when Yoshimasa had to decide what to do with Okura from then on.

Tomiko ensured two things that day. First, that all those who would rob her son of his birthright would be met with fire and steel. Second, that those who sought the help of the gods in humiliating her would pay the price.

With their first client locked in, the Senkumo were given a down payment in both prayer and coin. The prayers were to heighten Bishamon’s power and popularity as a god, which deities depend on to stay alive and reincarnate. The coin on the other hand, was used to purchase the finest gear and weaponry in the country. They used that gear to arm their small, but well-trained army of two-hundred and fifty battle-ready troops.

After their trip to visit the shogun in hiding, Tsukiakari and Taeko journeyed back to the Senkumo mansion. Once they returned, they knew it was time to draw up their plans of attack. Somehow, someway, they needed to drive the Onīn War towards a foreseeable conclusion. And so, Taeko, Mayumi, Ebina, and Tsukiakari all sat together around the tea table in their room, in the middle of the night, carefully considering their next course of action.

Candles lying around the room gave light to the table and filled the air with the aroma of hydrangea as the wax melted and pooled around the wicks. The girls had all grown beautifully under Bishamon’s care. They were slender, had defined muscles in their arms and abs, and each one of them grew their hair out to the end of their backs, letting them flow freely in the privacy of their own quarters.

Their tired, heavy eyes carefully examined the reports from Yoshimasa passing down information on the whereabouts of both Yamana and Hosokawa forces.

“Kyoto’s a mess. The streets will be filled with rubble and broken houses," Tsukiakari examined.

“That might actually make it easier for our troops to traverse the city and lay ambushes," Taeko added. “That should be fine for us since we don't have a lot of equipment or men to move.”

“Exactly. We can use this to our advantage. If Yoshimasa's report is correct, the Yamana clan has forces around these key marketplaces," Tsukiakari said, tracing her finger across highlighted points of the map of Kyoto. “I suppose this is how they're feeding their troops. The Hosokawa clan, on the other hand, has been supplying their troops via these supply lines that run into the city from the outside. They've also made several makeshift depots in the outskirts.”

Ebina, still soft spoken and fiercely beautiful with her snow-white hair, put down her tea and spoke. “We're outnumbered, so a direct assault would be fruitless. However, I’m guessing you have a plan, Tsukiakari.”

It was impossible to hide the excitement in her scarlet eyes. Tsukiakari knew she had the brilliance to pull any strategy off, even with limited resources. 

“Is that true, Gekko," Mayumi asked with pleasant surprise.

“This is Plan A. Right now, no one is winning the war. It’s become a fruitless war of attrition," Tsukiakari explained. “No one has gained or lost much territory in the past few years of fighting, and these months in particular have seen even worse diminishing returns. Do you know what this means? Neither side will just brush off an opportunity to either gain more supplies or more territory. So, we're going to bait the Yamana and the Hosokawa.”

“How exactly do we go about doing that," Mayumi asked.

“Simple. Take a look.” Tsukiakari replied.

She held up the false reports she had requested from Tomiko, all signed and marked with the imperial seal.

“We'll use these. We'll say that we, the Senkumo clan, with direct authority from the Shogun, received sensitive information regarding the enemy, as well as the authority to act on it. We're going to walk right up to both the Yamana and the Hosokawa, and dangle these in front of them.”

Taeko snickered to herself, amused by Tsukiakari's strategy. “You’re so devious sometimes, you know that? You're going to use these to rouse the spirits of both forces, making them each think the shogun is on their side. Tsukiakari hopes to mobilize the main Yamana force in the center of the city for an offensive, only to have them walk right into a Hosokawa assault," Taeko explained. 

“And that...would make destroying both sides much easier…” Ebina realized.

“Giving us the chance to cut them all down despite having a much smaller force..," Mayumi added, rubbing her chin. 

“We’ll be pitting them both in an offensive that neither side can afford," Tsukiakari continued. “Before either side realizes it, their supply lines will be razed, their reinforcements cut off, and their main forces will be isolated in the middle of a war torn city.” 

“Tsukiakari, you are really something else! The little ones grow up so fast," Taeko shrieked with excitement.

“There you go being the gushy, older sister again," Mayumi complained.

“I’m sorry! She's just so smart and beautiful! I could just eat her up!”

Tsukiakari's cheeks turned red as she calmed down and sipped her peppermint tea, easing her brain from the strategy she had laid out.

“Really, I'm not that amazing. I'm just taking advantage of a few things I know can help us, such as the fact that the Senkumo clan has no reputation built up yet. Because of that, no one can assume our allegiances.” 

“Bishamon will be very proud of you, Tsukiakari," Ebina assured with a blank expression and blushing cheeks.

“Yeah...I hope he will," she replied with downcast eyes.

Taeko stretched her arms as a long and drawn out yawn escaped her mouth. She rubbed her eyes as her voice grew more and more exhausted.

“Well, we've got some good notes here. Let's look over all of it in the morning and share it with Bishamon.” said Taeko.

“Agreed. I'm getting pretty tired," Ebina added.

“All right, who wants to sleep naked with me," Taeko asked as if her question wasn’t insane.
Mayumi stiffened her hand and slammed it into the back of Taeko’s head. Taeko was brought to tears as the power of her chop rattled her head and shook her bones.

“M-Mayumi," Taeko shouted in tears.

“Get to bed before I turn you into a corpse, like Izanami," Mayumi threatened.

“Ah, speaking of which,” Taeko recalled, “I heard she's actually really beautiful! Bishamon told me Amaterasu got her out of the Underworld after what happened with Izanagi.”

“Tsukiakari, did you ever meet Izanami in Heaven," Ebina questioned.

“I have, but I was too young to remember most of it. I heard my mother appointed her as the goddess of death, but there's some sort of condition where Izanami can't just step into Heaven whenever she feels like it. Everyone always spoke ill of her when they thought I wasn’t around to hear it.”

“Seriously? That sounds so harsh..," Taeko said.

“Yeah, who knows why it's like that. Maybe she did something in the past to upset everyone back home. It’s the only reason I can think of," Tsukiakari surmised.

“Well, maybe we can go to one of Izanami's shrines sometime and see for ourselves," Mayumi added to lighten the mood “I'm sure she'll answer you, Tsukiakari! In the meantime, let's head to bed. We have an early day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, goodnight everyone,” Tsukiakari said, followed by Ebina and Mayumi.

“Good night!”

“Nighty night!”

The candles were blown out, and peaceful quietude fell onto the room as the girls went sleep in preparation for their first live battle together. The Senkumo name was about to become very well known.