A short backstory for Takashi - in three parts. Here is Part One:
“Master Hotaka, what are these scrolls for?”
Hotaka Hideki, the Abbot of Sato Temple, looked up at his young ward. They had finished their training session for the morning. The Abbot smiled at his ward, and envied the fifteen year old’s ability to seem so refreshed after four hours of drills. Currently they sat in the Abbot’s chamber, where the educational part of his ward’s training took place.
“They are mostly for sentimental reasons,” Hotaka replied. “Over the years I like to collect odd things.”
“Do they have sutras on them?”
“They do indeed.”
“Then why haven’t I learned any from them yet?”
The Abbot smiled. “You won’t. While they can be read, they can never be taught.”
The boy frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“My boy, those scrolls contain sutras that are centuries old. They are a powerful and ancient magic that - like all things of power - carry a price. In this case, using one of those sutras will cost you your life.”
The boy, who’s name was Sato Takashi, threw back his head and laughed. “Master, this is the modern age. Nobody believes in magic anymore.”
“So you don’t believe in magic, Takashi?”
Sato Takashi turned to face his master. “Hotaka-sensei, we are trained at this temple to do things that look incredible to the unknowing eye, yet are nothing more than very simple science and physics. Knowing this, you still ask me if I believe in magic?”
Hotaka waved for the boy to come sit beside him. Takashi did so immediately. “Takashi,” Hotaka began, “what if I told you that I knew of a man who figured out a way to turn illusions into reality?”
“I - I don’t doubt you think it’s the truth, Master,” Takashi said carefully, “but I would need to see such a thing first.”
“You have heard of the secret sect, the Shishikyo, have you not?” Hotaka asked. The boy nodded, so the abbot continued. “You know they have been taught to induce illusions and mind control, but are also well known for their speed and knowledge of human anatomy. In fact, hit just the right chi point and you can induce your victim to see whatever you tell them is before them.”
Takashi continued to nod. Yes, yes - he was well aware of all of this. Chi points and chi manipulation were things he had studied.
Hotaka continued. “But what if I told you that the founder of Shishikyo actually figured out how to use kuji-in to manipulate energy and turn the illusion into reality?”
“I would want to know why they can’t do that now,” Takashi stated baldly.
“As the story goes, the founder of Shishikyo, a man by the name of Matashi Hitoro, was betrayed and killed by one of the four students he was training.” Takashi had heard all of this before, but politely listened. “The other three students hunted this rouge man down, but he killed two of them before he was finally felled by the fourth and final student. With only one person left in the world who knew Shishikyo, it is only to be assumed that the art of the kuji-in was lost in the three hundred years that have past.”
“Why tell me this, Master? What has this to do with the scrolls?”
“The sutras on these scrolls…and the magic itself…are a lot like the story of the Shishikyo. Passed down through time, things become…forgot. All that is left is the knowledge that use of the sutras on these scrolls will be at the cost of one’s life.”
“Then why have them?”
“For me? Novelty, I suppose. You see, secretly I have always dreamed of finding a way to bring back and control the ancient magic.”
“Master, what they called magic in those days we now know as science and physics.”
“You don’t think such a fantastical thing existed, Takashi?”
“No disrespect meant, Master, but no. I don’t.”
Abbot Hotaka ruffled the boy’s hair. “We are each allowed to our thoughts, are we not?” Takashi smiled warmly. He loved the Abbot, his master, teacher, and adopted father, but sometimes worried if age was causing him to loose some of his facilities.
Hotaka Hideki was only just forty-five years old -rather young, in fact, for an abbot, but Sato Temple was rather a special place. Takashi was but fifteen years old….from that age, anything over twenty-one was old. Takashi was a ward of the temple, an orphan left at the temple gates by his dying mother when he was about seven months old: victims of a war that Hotaka did not agree with. He was not alone, since many did not agree with the way the current shogun gained power, but since the genocide of the former shogun and his family, there was no one to rally behind and dethrone the current. The only blight was the mysterious disappearance of the former shogun’s wife and infant son. Half the damiyo believed them to be dead, the other half in hiding. Takashi was the victim of the war. Hotaka had been moved by the dying mother and her final request for her son to be raised at the temple, and had become an adoptive father to the young boy.
At fifteen, Takashi was tall and lanky. He had a wild shock of spiky black hair that framed a face that looked younger than he was. Hotaka often marveled at his ward’s high intelligence and ability to learn quickly. Many times the abbot had only to run through a lesson once and he seemed to have it memorized. It seemed to Hotaka that his ward forgot nothing. Although he lived at the temple and trained with the monks, Takashi worked directly for Lord Masayo, the damiyo who owned the lands that Sato temple sat on.
Sato Temple was one of the few remaining temples where monks were trained to fight. They had a very important job, a duty that remained at the temple for over eight hundred years. Generations of monks kept this duty. The temple itself sat inside the Kotoyama Castle walls, protected by the lord of Kotoyama. Over the centuries the people have changed, but the duty remained the same. Sato Temple housed a small collection of very powerful artifacts known as The Kotoyama Scrolls. Exactly what they were was lost within the mists of legend, but the duty, always, remains.
As an orphan, Takashi did not have a real last name, however, his original name of Takashi no Sato was shortened to simply, Sato Takashi. Hotaka often wondered if the life suited his ward, but Takashi had never been one to complain. His work for Lord Masayo more than likely satisfied a young man’s thirst for adventure. Which reminded him….
“Takashi,” Abbot Hotaka said, “Lord Masayo has a mission for you. When you are finished here, please go and see him.”
“Yes, Master.”
Takashi splashed his face with cool water and rubbed it dry with a thin towel. He wiped the sweat from the back of his neck and pulled up his shirt and fastened it. He wound his long, light blue scarf around his neck, leaving his face exposed. When he felt he was presentable, he left the temple and crossed the courtyard to the castle. He was shown into the waiting area, and was brought tea while the lord of the castle was fetched. Presently a bald man in hakama and a haori jacket entered. For his appearance as a kindly man, this was the lord of the castle and commanded a great deal of respect. He smiled when he saw the serious young man, and sat down informally across from him. Takashi gave a respectful bow and sat down in sezia.
“I’ll get right to the point, Takahsi,” Lord Masayo began. “In the north, on the border of my lands, there’s a small fishing village called Chitsu. I received a report that the children of that village are disappearing. I would like you to go there and bring back a full report.”
“Do you think it is a neighboring lord, sir?” Takashi asked after careful consideration.
“That,” Lord Masayo said, “is what I want you to find out. If it is, you must report back to me so that I can send in my samurai.”
Takashi nodded. “I can leave right away, my lord.” After he took his leave, Takashi returned to the temple to prepare for his trip. He packed a few rice balls wrapped in seaweed, six small smoke bombs, a few kunai, strapped his sword across his back, and set off.
Missing children? To Takashi, that just sounded insane. It was a coastal village, perhaps pirates were spiriting the children away to be slaves across the seas. Or perhaps it was a neighboring lord. Chitsu was probably the farthest village from Kotoyama….it could be possible that someone was trying to draw the samurai from the castle in order to invade. He would get the answers.