When Masaki had been told to report to Motonaga he had felt only irritation, yet now as he stood inside the estate of Oyasippuri he fumed at how he the head of the Shōtoku branch of the Takimoto was made to bow before the Emishi-King rather than continuing the prosecution of the war.
Sulking he was to scowl at every man he came across, "I shan't believe I must endure such a humiliation; to bow to the nobility is one thing yet to kneel before this Emishi-King is a different matter altogether!"
Accompanied by more than a half dozen retainers, along with his renowned son Katsurō, the most venerated archer in the whole of Hokutō and the favourite of his many sons. It was him alone he tended to consult with regarding every single matter that pertained to the clan. Lord of Shōtoku, since he had first turned sixteen years of age Masaki had ruled over the lands left to him by his father, who was executed as a traitor after he had refused to pay his tithes and those of his people to the third nephew of the then head of the Western Tahara clan, Tahara no Michinori. Only Yoshinobu had ever treated him with honour, for which he had liked him and had wished to wed his eldest son to the man's third daughter, Akemi. It was because of the man's preference to save her hand for a guard's son, that had stung his pride. What was worse was that the man had wed his own son to Tahara no Nobunori's daughter, Michi no Hime, passing on another of Masaki's children a second time. The knowledge that the other bushi had chosen to mingle his bloodline with that of Michinori was thus more than Masaki could possibly bear.
Masaki grumbled under his breath, "I shan't believe, I must endure this!"
"Yet endure it we must father," said Katsurō shortly as he advanced by his side.
His choice in words did not go unnoticed by his sire who asked of him, "We?"
"Our fates are bound together, father, your victory is mine and mine yours," the heir of the Shōtoku branch of the Takimoto retorted bringing tears to the eyes of his father wherefore the youth added sharply with a glance at the older man. "And your betrayal is my own, and thy sin is my sin also."
The rebuke behind his words were as a knife in his father's heart, so that the older man looked on his son with a wounded look. "What I did, I did for all of us."
"Why you did it is immaterial, all that matters is that we show the proper respect to this… akuma!"
Nodding glumly Masaki turned one corner only to give the wooden beam that supported the roof another glance just before he let loose a great cry, one that echoed throughout the whole estate. "What is this?"
"What is it father?" Katsurō asked of him bewildered.
"Someone has slashed at this beam here!" Masaki howled not unlike a wounded wolf such was the offense he took at the damage done to a single beam of the grand estate they currently found themselves in. It was but one heartbeat later that he brought even more attention to the vandalized bit of wood for his cry soon echoed still farther inside the estate. Such was the panic it caused among the residents of the estate that half a dozen men almost tripped over one another to reach him. Each of them had but words of consternation on their lips, and none of action. "What has happened?!"
Others shrieked, "Someone has damaged the property of the Kiyomoto clan!"
It was the first man on the scene; a youth with flashing eyes and a large wide-brimmed wooden hat atop his head, dressed in the travel garments of one of Hidemasu's men, he had come barrelling out from one of the rooms across from their present position in the exterior hallway of the estate. Sliding the door open he had arrived hither with a sharp cry and a greater howl of horror at the sight of the wooden beam than even the likes of Masaki. "This is worse than any act of murder!"
His cry was one that won for him the immediate approval of Masaki who was to proclaim loudly, "Good man! Now let us find the man guilty for this act of wanton vandalism!"
"Well said tono!" The man declared before he turned away to address the servants in a severe voice. "You three alert the local carpenters and have this block replaced," turning to another group, "You four I shall task with the honour of alerting all the men in the estate of this travesty. And you five ought to close the estate to any people not already present herewith us at present. Will this suffice tono?"
Both Masaki and Katsurō blinked in surprise. Whoever this man was, he was not simply some lesser Samurai but a man of some worth. He was a man gifted with a natural talent for authority and could thus be trusted not to abuse that which they might grant him. Whispering between themselves father and son turned as one to those servants and guards who had not done as bidden.
Commanding them to do as they had been told, Masaki rounded upon the man he assumed to be one of the Emishi men in Hidemasu's service and said. "Follow, you shall present what has happened here to Kiyomoto-dono."
"Yes, tono," murmured the stranger with a flash of relief in his dark eyes.
Bowing the bushi fell into step after them, comporting himself with all the humility of one who knew himself to be a Samurai and not a Lord. This was a rare quality in any man, Masaki mused rather more impressed by him than he wished to admit. It was the way of the world in that age that men knew not when to be humble and when to take command.
If the father was impressed by the youth, his son glanced from one man to the other with his gaze darkening with suspicion when he glanced over the shoulder of the Lord of Shōtoku, while he addressed the newcomer. "Why were you in yon room?"
The other bushi stopped walking wherefore he muttered, "I was in the midst of a nap as it was not yet my shift on watch-duty, we men sworn to Hidemasu must do our part or wait to do so as is proper."