The Beauty of the West: The Blue Route

Chapter Eleven:The Whole Picture

I traveled with the Tokugawa army all the way to Osaka. It was a long journey, and I was lucky to have found them. They gave me rice, and water. I felt better.

Ieyasu had this robot guy that followed him around. He was Ieyasu's most trusted General.  I had never seen anyone like him. He stayed behind the troops though, as he could easily trample everyone.

"Ready men! This is it!" Ieyasu riled up the troops and they all began to charge Osaka.  I just watched them, I didn't really care about anyone there except for Mitsunari,  whom I began searching for, right away.

It was hard,  looking at all the soldiers fighting eachother. Not only was it brutal, but I could barely tell the difference between the two sides once they collided.

I kept my eyes open to look for Mitsu, as I saw Ieyasu ride his horse towards a mountain top. I knew I should have trailed close behind, so I could say what I needed to say to my father. I just really wanted to find Mitsu first.

I kept looking around, while making sure no one wanted to start a fight with me, and being a face that the Toyotomi forces didn't quite recognize, I was a target more than omce. I held my own though, until someone hit me in the back of my head.

I fell over, blacked out for a while. I didn't know how long I was out, but atleast I was still alive.

"(Y/N)!!" I was shaken a little, and I heard an echoing voice, slowly becoming louder. "(Y/N)! Get up!" He yelled again.

I slowly opened my eyes. My vision was blurred, I opened my eyes slowly, seeing only the face of a man inches away from me.

"Dammit! Why the HELL are you here?!"

"...Mitsu? I was looking for you..." I touched his face, as my vision became clearer.

"I need to get you out of here. Hang on!" He picked me up, and began running to a safer place. 

Boom!

Thunder and lightening, or atleast what had sounded like it. Of course I flinched when I heard it. I never got over that fear.

Mitsunari looked towards a summit, as if he knew exactly where the sound had come from.

I held on as tightly as I could as Mitsunari made haste towards the summit. It took him seemingly no effort to make it to the top. I was impressed.

When we made it to the top, I heard Mitsunari's pulse quicken at the sight presented in front of us. Ieyasu had beaten back Lord Hideyoshi, he stood  ready to deliver a fatal swing.

"IEYASUUUU!!!" Mitsunari tried to set me down and meet his former friend in a battle to save his Lord's life. I didn't let go of him though, so he wasn't able to pull his sword to attack.

"Wait, Mitsu!" I held him back, then stood slowly to my feet. I know the tension rose as I made my way to a fallen Hideyoshi.

"You...so you really did survive." Hideyoshi smirked when he saw me.

"No thanks to you..." I crossed my arms. "Before Ieyasu kills you, I just want to know...why...why did you not value me more than money? I am your flesh and blood, and....I loved you. Please tell me why."

"I value no one, more than financed for war. Tell me, had I kept you instead and paid that ransom, what would happen if the Oda decided to attack that same night? We wouldn't be prepared without money."

Mitsunari spoke, disgusted at what he had just heard.  He didn't seem to be pissed at Ieyasu any more.

"We are  ...were... the mighty Toyotomi forces. We would have figured something out. I lost a piece of who I was that night. All over money."

"Your anger festered and made you stronger. You have me to thank for that." Hideyoshi stated. 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"So what you did, you actually think it was right?" Ieyasu asked.

"I did what was best for Osaka. You are all fools if you see it any differently. A great leader makes sacrifices...you are not the first.  The Oda approached me years ago and demanded your mother as well."

After Hideyoshi had explained, I felt myself go numb. I had never met my mother; well, I suppose I was with her once when I was a baby. But I never knew her, or what happened to her.

Now, my own pulse quickened. I started breathing faster. I turned and grabbed Mitsunari's sheathed sword and had every intention of running that sword through my father's heart. Mitsunari stopped me though, holding my arms.

"Let me go!" I screamed,  but he didn't he just held me tighter, before pulling me away from the situation.

"Do what you must." He told Ieyasu before bringing me back down the mountain. "Come with me, (Y/N)." He gently pulled me along.
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Ieyasu had called off his troops, and the battlefield soon cleared.  Mitsunari took me to Osaka castle, so that I could recover.

He brought me to a room with a really nice bed so that I could rest. Apparently,  it used to be my room.

It is good to see you." He attempted to start a conversation with me, but I was still in shock, not to mention I may have had a concussion.

I just lay my head down on my pillow.

"You know, I ended up here, purely by coincidence." I began. "You gave me the key to Kanbe's locks, and a bird took off with it. It flew in this direction. Ieyasu said they were going this way too. I just wanted to get the key and go home. I never imagined I'd...learn So much today. "

"Well, I did see that bird." Mitsunari reached in his pocket and gave me the key. I smiled a little.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"I suppose you will need to be going back. But I will not let you leave here with that head injury.  Stay a few days."

Mitsunari tried to sound concerned for my we'll being,  but I could tell he was acting a little. He really did cut out that compassion from his life all these years.

"Okay...but please write to Kojuro and tell him where I am.. I have been gone for a few days."

"I will." He sat on the floor next to my bed. "I will be here to make sure that you recover. I will be wrapping your wound too."

"Thank you, Mitsu. I am lucky you're here." I closed my eyes as he began to wrap a bandage around my head.

"No..." he mumbled under his breath but I heard him "I am."