Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 27: Rose: More History

After wandering through the museum for some time almost at random, reading the displays as she went, Rose had learned a lot.

First and foremost was that Edo was one of the names by which Tokyo was known before it was named Tokyo. It was also the name of the era when the Tokugawa clan had reigned as Shogun, from 1603 to 1868. During that time, the Tokugawa had made it a matter of national policy to have as little to do with the outside world as possible. Any and all foreign trade had to be conducted on the islands of Nagasaki and Decima, all ships were deliberately built to be too flimsy for long ocean voyages, and those who left Japan, except on state approved missions, were not allowed to return, ever.

The result was over two hundred and fifty years of peace, during which the arts and culture flourished, but scientific discovery and technological development froze as if trapped in amber. When Japan eventually rejoined the world in progress, it was as if the entire country had gone to sleep in Shakespeare's day and not woken up until the Victorian Era was well underway. The culture shock was tremendous.

What she hadn't yet learned was why it had been thought necessary to cut the whole country off in the first place. Any progress toward solving that mystery was halted when she turned a corner and discovered the weapons display. The swordsmiths of Japan had produced some fine, fine steel, and to her, looking at the naginata, katana, and wakizashi was just as appealing as wandering through the jewelry cases in a Tiffany's store.

Naturally, Slade Wilson was also admiring the blades. He nodded to his daughter as she came up beside him. "Hey, Dad," she responded. "Can I—Oooh, that's a gorgeous blade!" Although it was not mounted in a hilt at the moment, it was clearly meant for a two-handed sword, something that had to be carried on the back due to its length.

"Yes," he agreed. "A nodachi by Masamune. The mokugame-gane on it is superb. That's a blade that could be bent in half, pommel to point, and spring back without breaking or kinking."

"'Mokugame-gane?'" she asked. It wasn't a phrase she knew.

"The wood-grain effect on the flat. It's produced by heating the steel, folding it, and hammering it out, over and over again. That blade has over sixty-five hundred layers of metal to it."

"It reminds me of a Lamborghini," Rose said, looking at the way the metal curved. "You can tell just by looking how fast it'll go and how well it will handle."

"And how expensive it will be," he added. "That blade wasn't for the ordinary samurai getting by on four measures of rice a year. That was for a daimyo or a prince of the blood. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I am. It's not fun like, say, Disneyland Tokyo or anything, but it's interesting. You know, I don't think I ever realized how…biased our history books are in school. I mean, we study world history, but they make it sound like everything that happened up until right now was on purpose just to bring about democracy and the American Way—like we're the point of it all. But we're not. All this was just as real as the Civil War and the Louisiana Purchase and everything else. I don't think I expressed that very well," she finished with a frown.

"Oh, I don't think you did badly. What you mean is, you're learning something."

"Yeah. I am! Uh—Dad?"

"I sense a prying question coming on," he remarked.

"Kind of—. Do you think—I mean, are you and Yukie planning—not right away, of course, but somewhere down the line—." Better to ask than to wonder about it, right? Yet she couldn't find just the right words.

"Just spit it out," he advised her, eyeing her curiously.

"Are you and Yukie going to have a baby together someday, do you think?"