Death and the Maiden

Prologue: Keeping A Promise to Father

"Chandeliers and caviar,
The war can't touch us here."
"Prologue" Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

Before leaving for battle, Lord Kamiya Koshijiro summoned his three children and assigned them each a duty to perform while he was away.
His eldest son, Sanosuke, approached him first, looking worse for wear after a night of drinking and brawling. Lord Koshijiro shuddered to think how much money the boy had gambled away last night. "I've picked you out a wife," he said. "An early marriage should straighten you out."
Sanosuke bowed to his father, then walked away with a smug grin. His intended bride, Megumi, was said to be a great beauty and was the sole heiress to the fantastically wealthy Tanaki family. Little did he know that Takani Megumi would soon wipe that smug grin off his face.
Lord Koshijiro's younger son, Yahiko, approached next. "Why can't I go with you, father?" He said.
The boy dreamed of being a great samurai like his ancestors before him. His fencing lessons were the only ones he didn't need to be dragged to kicking and screaming and didn't try to avoid if he could.
"Someone needs to stay here and protect your sister." Lord Koshijiro tousled his younger son's hair. "Kami knows your brother's too useless to do it."
Sanosuke's mouth fell open like a fish. The sister in question giggled behind her fan.
"And what is my task?" Kaoru, Lord Koshijiro's middle child and only daughter said.
"The most important task, my dear. Please leave offerings at your mother's grave whenever you can."
Kaoru looked from brother to brother to see their jealous faces. She never could resist rubbing it in that she was their father's favorite.
Lady Saito Atsuko, Lord Koshijiro's wife, was buried at a temple three miles away from Wolf's Castle in Mibu, the power base of her brother, General Saito Hajime. General Saito took in his late sister's children while their father was at the front. Sanosuke and Yahiko served as a squire and a page, respectively, and Kaoru, a pretty girl of marriageable age, would find a husband among General Saito's officers. They all found time to keep their promises to their father. Sanosuke married Takani Megumi, and she came to live with them. Whenever Kaoru could get away for a few hours, she made the three-mile walk to her mother's grave. She made these trips without telling her brothers because they would insist on going with her for "protection."
"The roads aren't safe," Sanosuke would say. "They're crawling with bandits and ronīn and other kinds of Choshu scum."
Kaoru smiled and nodded but ignored his words. Hadn't she studied the family fencing style, Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, even though she would only ever be expected to wield a wooden bokken in sparring matches with her brothers? Didn't she practice with her naginata every day? She could take care of herself.
And leaving offerings at Mother's grave was a sacred duty Father had entrusted to her alone.
While at the temple, she also prayed for her father's safe return and that Uncle Saito would choose a good husband for her.