Prologue: Part 1 - Aki's Journal
Book 3 of Legend of the Bell Flower. Not a standalone. First 2 must be read first.
Mitsuhide stayed at Kunlun Mountain for a week. There, he walked its gardens, climbed its mountains, traversed the bridges over misty drops between steep valleys. He explored the bamboo groves, and floated across the lakes and rivers on bamboo rafts. He fed the cranes, meditated, watched the White Tiger disciples train, and he discussed and debated with High God Bai Hu, and the Matchmaker God Yue Lao.
The air was pure here, in more ways than one. And though it was a foreign land to Mitsuhide, he felt strangely at peace here. More at peace than even in his own realm of Yomi, Japan’s Underworld. There were no politics in Bai Hu’s grove, no discrepancies between the other residents of the mountain. The Kunlun Mountain ranges were places of learning, cultivation and enlightenment, where study and knowledge came before the petty games of power and political struggle.
Kunlun was separate from the Middle Kingdom’s Heavens, and perhaps that was what made the greatest difference.
Though Mitsuhide was so different to everyone within Kunlun, he felt welcome. And during the week he stayed, he noticed such a stark difference between his own land, and that of the Empire of the Middle Kingdom. The people of the Middle Kingdom were curious of outsiders, welcoming and most hospitable.
The same could not be said for those of his own Land of the Rising Sun. Such a welcome and warmth would be rare if it were the other way around.
He wondered if Aki would be willing to leave this place once her memories returned. Though she had lived in Japan for near a decade and integrated fully into Mitsuhide’s society, her blood originated from the Middle Kingdom.
Mitsuhide watched her from afar as she swept one of the training courtyards with three other disciples. Scattered around the White Tiger God’s temple, the disciples fulfilled their chores for the day. They were diligent and polite, well behaved and respectful. They also bantered amongst each other and laughed together. They were martial brothers and sisters, spiritual family and friends for life.
Aki was Tao Hua here, using the name she had been given at birth, rather than the one she had given for herself to fit into Japanese society. Here, Aki seemed more at home than she ever had been in Mitsuhide’s castle. Her responsible and mature mentality was still fairly prominent, but she was also more playful here, more like a girl than the woman who had to act as her rank as Lady and officer dictated. She felt younger.
For Mitsuhide, it was a bittersweet feeling. Amongst her own, Aki was sweeter than he'd ever seen, and perhaps here he saw more of her true personality, the type she often used to describe when she was with her real sister, but never revealed as it did not fit into Japanese society.
Therefore Mitsuhide also felt bitterness. Despite what Yue Lao destined, was Mitsuhide truly the right man for Aki? He would take no other woman but her. But how could he feel worthy if she could not be this comfortable in his own home? How would he keep her this safe in his own lands as she was here in Kunlun?
Aki was the only disciple amongst the White Tigers with short hair. And the only mortal. She looked quite different, but still instantly recognisable to Mitsuhide. To have her hair cut as a samurai was a great dishonour.
However, it had to be done to treat the head wound she sustained during the attack. Hair could always grow back. A life and a mind could not.
Her memories were disconnected, her original and samurai identity lost. But during the week Mitsuhide spent in Kunlun to observe, he found much of Aki’s mannerisms were unchanged. It gave him hope that Bai Hu’s intention of expediting her training and cultivation would return the connection to her lost self in ten years.
There was much Mitsuhide could do in ten years. There were many alliances to reform across Yomi, Izumo and Takamagahara, and much to be done in the human realm to safeguard against the Oda and punish them for their insolence.
Therefore, though Mitsuhide was reluctant to leave Kunlun, he did not go with a heavy heart. Though the woman he loved had been attacked and lost her memory, she was in safe hands, better hands than Mitsuhide could offer at this moment in time.
He was still young, with many tasks ahead of him. While Bai Hu trained Aki, Mitsuhide knew this was a chance to build himself. Despite the violent and bloodied circumstances in which this opportunity had come, it was an opportunity nonetheless.
Mitsuhide vowed to not waste it.
Thus he returned to his homeland. Yue Lao came with him, as a good faith exchange. Through Yue Lao, Mitsuhide would obtain insight into the ways of the Middle Kingdom and learn the fluency of their language, and Yue Lao would be Mitsuhide’s guide when visiting Kunlun over the following years.
In the meantime however, Yue Lao returned to trading to maintain appearances, and Mitsuhide re-entered Aki’s quarters. The story having to be spread was Aki had gone to travel on a quest for enlightenment and study after the attack, which ironically, was indeed the truth. Therefore the story was believable enough for people to accept without question, especially given her origin in this world, of magically appearing from a lake.
She was the water spirit of Mino. A deity, in the eyes of the people.
Questions remained, however, as to why the castle had been attacked and how Aki was driven away. Prayers had been offered for her safe return. The lake of her origin became holy ground since her disappearance, where incense was burned by the people of the town and offerings were made.
As the news gradually spread, Mitsuhide found himself in Aki’s rooms often, always noting how Yuko continued to sweep the surfaces clean and kept the environment tidy and prepared, as a way to keep Aki’s memory alive and her presence a constant in the castle, regardless of her actual absence.
Today though, Mitsuhide finally decided to open Aki’s chest. He remembered as a boy spending many an evening with her, pouring over her foreign belongings and talking so much that he often fell asleep with his head on the box after tiring himself out.
Mitsuhide smiled at the memory. As he grew into his adolescence, he refrained from being so nosy, and his curiosity gradually calmed.
But it never went away completely. How could it?
Mitsuhide knelt down in front of her chest and opened the wooden lid, where he leant over the side and peered in. It smelt of her, and her sweet scent made him ache for her in a way he could never have imagined.
The chest contained her original clothes, the strange attire she wore when she first came to his time. That memory too was as fresh as day in his mind. He had fallen into the lake, and collapsing rubble trapped his foot. Aki appeared from the water at the same moment in time and saved him from a watery grave.
There were scrolls; of paintings and calligraphic poems she'd written. There were some from Mitsuhide, those he had done in his childhood and showed her proudly. His skill had since become far superior since then, but it surprised him to see she kept the ones he had given to her as a boy.
Pressed and dried flowers slipped out from between the sheets of parchment and bamboo scrolls.
A handkerchief was tucked neatly away, one which Mitsuhide had given to her recently after she shed some rare tears. Chigusa’s golden hairpin rested carefully between two folds of silk.
Pebbles and rocks lay at the bottom of the chest, glistening with unusual colours and shapes. Conkers were scattered between them, once rich in colour, smooth and round. More memories returned to Mitsuhide of the game Aki had taught him and Nou as children.
Many feathers were tied together into a bundle, with the roots of the feather cut diagonally and stained with ink at the ends. Quills, she called them.
Many of these possessions Mitsuhide understood, while many he did not. But he was quick to realise that Aki’s chest possessed her most valuable possessions, even if to others they appeared like objects which made no sense and could be thrown away.
At the top of all of Aki’s belongings however, was her journal, and a rolled piece of parchment resting atop it.
The parchment was address to him.
Mitsuhide frowned, took it and unrolled it, wondering what it was and why she addressed it to him. His heart began to beat a little faster.
’Dear Mitsuhide,
I hope I will not have to give this letter to you, but I am writing it just in case my instinct proves right. If I am proven wrong, then I will discard this and you will never know of its existence. But if not, I hope you find it.
Since you left for Yomi to ascend, I have a growing sense of unease. I haven't used my Sight to See what it means, in case its spiritual signature is detected by those who serve the Oda, therefore I can only go based on what I feel in my heart.
This sense of foreboding, I feel, does not relate to your coronation, thankfully. I trust that you will be safe during it and will ascend as planned. You are surrounded by the strongest and most loyal individuals I know. Therefore it puts my mind at ease knowing that harm will struggle to find you, if it ever does.
What I mean to write here though, is that I feel this sense of foreboding has something to do with what awaits me. I do not understand why I feel it or what it means, but somehow, I feel like I will not see you for a long time. I feel I will not see any of the Akechi, and our friends in Tara, for many, many years, and I am overwhelmed by a desire to begin saying goodbye.
I said goodbye to Kenji.
I write this in preparation for such an event if it were to happen. I pray it does not. But unfortunately, anyone with an ounce of understanding in the mysteries of fate and coincidences, knows better than to ignore signs when they start to appear.
In the event that somehow I am no longer able to see you in the future, I want you to have my journal. There is something in there you need to know; dates and possible guidance, and my thoughts and worries surrounding them. They are written in English, therefore you will be the only one able to read them.
Let no one else have it. It is imperative it stays only in your possession and no other.
I hope you do not need to read this letter and therefore hope you will not need the journal either. Because I myself still have little idea as to what to do with these dates. Nearly coming these ten years, I have tried to uncover and decide what my purpose is here, and still I have not yet reached an answer.
Perhaps after your ascension, you can find and speak with the Kami who brought me here. Maybe they have a better idea.
I strongly advise you to exercise caution when reading the timeline in my journal. But I also want them to provide you guidance. You will understand what I mean when you see it.
In the meantime, I look forward to your return. I want to greet you in person, for I miss you terribly, and there is so much yet which I wish to say to you, but do not have the courage to say what is in my heart.
In the impossible scenario that I cannot, then may my journal do what it can in my stead. My loyalty to you is absolute. My secrets are yours.
Your faithful retainer, loyal friend, and more,
Aki’
Mitsuhide felt his expression fall as he read her letter. Her farewell to him and his uncles and mother when they left for Yomi, flashed into his mind. He thought her expression was strange, but did not dwell on it, as whatever she'd been feeling at the time, disappeared a moment afterwards.
Little had he known it was because of this sense of foreboding, a premonition of her ordeal to come.
Guilt swelled within him like a well overflowing, and he hunched over, as if the position could somehow ease the terrible ache in his heart.
It did not, but it did bring him closer to the journal awaiting on top of Aki’s belongings. He struggled to take a breath in, a breath to come to terms with what had happened, a breath to accept the past was now the past, to forgive himself, as Yue Lao, Bai Hu, and his family had told him to.
Sometimes, in order to have the power to protect, one had to also make a sacrifice. Mitsuhide sacrificed Aki’s safety for his ascension.
It was the greatest cost he could ever pay.
As a result, he swore an oath to himself - to become strong, so strong that he could protect everyone. He swore to never let Aki come to harm again. He would gladly give his life if it meant keeping her safe.
He exhaled a heavy sigh. Mitsuhide straightened, and rested the scroll of parchment on his lap. With his long and slender fingers, he picked Aki’s journal from the chest, and opened it.
Her writing was far finer here, made possible by the narrow nibs of the quills she made, for the Japanese calligraphy brushes would not have been able to write such a thin script in limited space.
The pages were worn and old, with lines and lines of writing across the paper. There were sketches, odd diagrams and lines pointing from circled script to another. More flower presses rested between the pages, and Mitsuhide wondered how Aki had done so much without him ever noticing.
She played the role of a male officer far better than being a Lady. Most of her time had been spent training in the dojo and immersing herself into the administration of governing a province. She practised embroidery and calligraphy and Ikebana as well, though it did not appear as much compared to her role as a Lord, as opposed to her role as a Lady.
Yet here, Mitsuhide found so many delicate pieces of work in her chest, especially between the pages of her journal. It matched the girlish side of Aki he had seen in Kunlun.
Even though he had known her for almost a decade, Mitsuhide was still discovering more.
As Mitsuhide flicked through the pages, he came back to the middle, and realised something quite different about the structure of how she laid out her words around her central pages as opposed to the rest of the journal.
There were predominately numbers around the central pages, and as Mitsuhide read the annotations next to the numbers, he felt the hairs of his skin stand on end. His blood turned cold.
'1537 – I come to Muromachi Japan.
1538 – Akechi Mitsukuni dies (What am I supposed to do about this? I love Mitsukuni as if he were my own father. Is there a way to prevent this? It didn’t say how he dies. It just says that he dies this year).
1542 – Saito Dousan overthrows Toki Yorinari and claims Mino for his own. Forces Miyoshino to be his wife (Should I be stopping this? Especially now I know the Toki and Akechi are Pureblood demons and can defeat humans easily? History describes Dousan as a vile man. The Viper of Mino, he is called. I don’t like the idea of the Akechi having to serve him).
Firearms are also introduced to Japan this year by the Portuguese who are shipwrecked (would have been better if the western northern hemisphere never came here. The Whites bring nothing but blood, violence and death to the Far East).
1544 – Mitsuhide takes position as administrator of Mino. Supposed to have Hiroko and Chigusa as his wives (edit: looks like it never happened).
1546 – Mitsuhide becomes clan chief. Hojo Ujiyasu – who won the Battle of Kawagoe – becomes ruler of the Kanto region.
1547 – Dousan defeats Oda Nobuhide in the Battle of Kanoguchi.
1549 – Catholic missionary Francis Xavier arrives in Japan (Gives birth to the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638. Enormous bloodshed! The religion clashes too much with Japanese culture in the early days).
Also in 1549 – Dousan defeated by Nobuhide. Political marriage arranged between Nobunaga and Nou-hime (I’m pretty sure I can prevent all of this. But the matter is knowing whether or not I SHOULD. It'll change so much of what will happen after that. My own history will change. Must find a way to speak to the Kami to ask if this is what they mean for me to do, to change the past).
1551 – Nobuhide dies unexpectedly. From then to 1559, lots of infighting in the Oda household, until Nobunaga eliminates all opposition and becomes master of Owari. Fool of Owari/Demon King. (See page 133 for more details).
1556 – Internal fighting between Dousan and Yoshitatsu. Yoshitatsu kills his father and becomes next master of Mino.′
The years and descriptions of what happened – or was to happen – continued until it stopped at 1582. This date had no annotation however. It stood alone.
Beneath it, was something else written in her hand.
‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. Because I don't want to follow the original timeline. Originally, I thought it probably wise to just stick with what has already been dictated, but much has changed since I first wrote down the timeline of the history I know. I cannot lead him to what awaits at the end in 1582. So what am I to do?’
Mitsuhide was reminded of the day in the stables, when Aki finally told him really of where she was from. When she had first been introduced to the Akechi family, she explained her origins, but none of them ever truly understood what it meant. It made far more sense to say she came from another world.
Aki had not come from another world at all. She came from the same world as him, but one which was five hundred years in the future. The events of Mitsuhide’s present had already happened for her, and here in this journal, she had written it all down.
Mitsuhide found himself holding in his hands something more valuable than the sun itself. Aki’s journal was the answer to everything. With this, he could shape the land by having the advantage of knowing all that was to happen, and to either maintain it, or prevent it, mould it, manipulate it.
The power of this knowledge was so invaluable, so forbidden, that even Mitsuhide – as a newly ascended God – struggled to feel worthy holding it in the palm of his hands.
He suddenly understood why Aki had been so conflicted, so torn and tormented, especially when Mitsuhide’s father, Mitsukuni, had been killed. She held all of this knowledge, held all of this power, and was terrified of what to do with it, for it could change everything. Aki could save those who were mean to die. She could kill those who were meant to survive.
From Mitsuhide’s perspective however – as terrifying as the power of knowledge was – he was better able to understand how he could utilise it for this time period. With this knowledge, he could unify the Land of the Rising Sun himself, in the easiest way possible with the least amount of bloodshed. With this, he could bring safety and security, peace and prosperity across the land.
Was this why the Oda changed their minds and attempted to capture Aki instead of assassinating her?
It was most certain.
However, there was a difference, which only Mitsuhide now understood. Aki’s knowing of the major events in time for the next hundred years was a matter of her studies from her own time era. They were different to her abilities as a Seer.
Therefore how were the two interlinked?
The answer was close, but it was just beyond Mitsuhide’s grasp, and no matter how much he tried to reach for it, it floated just beyond his hold, like a fading dream slipping through his fingers.
He found himself stumped. Though he discovered himself more than capable of utilising the secret Aki had given him, he, ironically, asked himself the same question Aki had pleaded in her journal.
What am I to do? What do I do with this information?
Time was not something to be interfered with. Interfering with time resulted in dire consequences. Aki’s greatest fear was of her own existence and ancestry disappearing. By changing history, would she render her birth family non-existent? Would she fade into nothing?
For the first time, Mitsuhide comprehended the constant stress and fear Aki shouldered in silence for all these years. Because he himself, now felt the same.
Her simple journal - held in his hands - had the power to change the world.
