Dreams of Paper Flowers

Chapter Five

Hinata stared at the blade placed in her mother's shrine. Over and over again, she read the hiragana carved on the katana's handle: ひなた. Her mother hadn't learned the kanji until she married the Shogun. It was quite rare for women to learn the Chun characters that were mixed into Kuniga's written language.

Hinata read the hiragana once more. It was her own name, written by her grandfather's hand. Hinata's mother had always sworn to defend the land of the rising sun, and it was at the tender age of fourteen that she picked out her first child's name.

It had been eight years. Eight years. Naomi was mere days older than Hinata. Both of them had been ten when Ushio died. And Naomi knew? She had been hiding that secret for nearly a decade.

Every smile must've been forced. Every tear must've been earnest. Naomi had hidden it. Not for her own protection.

"We would've been dishonored..." Hinata murmured.

"Hinata-hime?" A voice said from behind her.

"Akira-sama!" Hinata gasped. "What are you...?"

"I came to find you," her fiance said. "Is something on your mind?"

"You shouldn't be here with me, alone. If the court were to find out..."

Akira stared at her. "I need to talk to you! It's about the gaikoku."

Hinata paused.

"I knew it! I knew I wasn't the only one who was apprehensive," Akira said. He turned towards the small altar, where Hinata's mother's katana laid.

"Ushio-sama wanted you to have that," Akira pointed out.

"It was her most treasured possession."

"No, you were, Hinata-hime. And so was her country. Ushio-sama would have never let it fall to the foreigners without a fight."

"My mother picked you for me," Hinata blurted out. She didn't know why she did. Instantly, she regretted it.

"I know. I see it in the way you look at me. I've always been onii-chan to you, especially before you understood what our betrothal meant. I suppose I'm always going to be 'big brother' to you."

Hinata stayed silent. She did not wish to lie, nor did she want to confirm his words.

"Do you know about how the gaikoku's country came to be? They overthrew a king who had much greater might. Yet, the people won, against all odds. They fought and won."

"Do you mean...?"

"Let that to mean what you want, Hinata-hime. I will leave you to be, now."

Akira walked away, his footsteps echoing as Hinata stared after him.

Hinata stared at the blade. Was there a way to protect Kuniga?

She bowed in respect for her deceased mother. "If this is what honoring your legacy means..." She gazed at the blade. "Than I shall defend our land, our people, our way of life, from these foreigners."

***
"Hinata-chan, what troubles you?"

The Shogun and his daughter knelt before one another, sipping their jasmine tea. It was the from the finest planters near Daiyama, the great mountain that looked over the land.

"I miss the days when we did this with Ushio-sama," Hinata's father said. "It has been awhile since we have met for tea"

Hinata was surprised at the honorific title attached to her mother's name. Murakami-san rarely mentioned his late wife by name, so the title made sense, how odd it might seem."Why did you marry Mother?" Hinata asked.