To the Mountains
“Why are you here?” asked the old man with a stern expression on his face. He sighed and rested his arm on the table crowded with books.
The man in front of him anxiously smiled and bowed his head so low it reached the ground. He begged, “Master, please give me a few days to stay here then I’ll---“ he stopped. Asides from his Master’s place and home, he virtually had no place to go. His face crumpled at that thought but returning home would only mean his death.
The man kneeled his way closer to the table, “Master, please let me stay here---“
The old man interjected, “You might be one of my favorite pupils but I have to be blunt with you.” He paused, took a deep breath, and placed urgency in his voice, “Are you always going to escape your problems? You only ask to stay here when you have gotten into trouble you wished your Father would never discover.”
The young man lifted his head to meet his Master in the eye and angrily disagreed, “I’m not running! I’m simply buying time---“
“Kazuki---“ but before he could scold the man, Kazuki rushed in with his explanation.
“Master, they’re trying to kill me! Please try to under---“
His Master threw a book right at him and it hit exactly on his head. The young man pouted as he rubbed circles on where he was hit. In his mind, he noted: books are lethal. The Master shook his head and held out his hand. Kazuki brought the book back to him, only to be hit with it again.
He groaned, “That hurt---“
“Stop complaining! First of all, you were disrespectful, cutting me off when I was about to talk! Just because you are a prince doesn’t mean you can get away with that behavior. Remember when you walked into my class eleven years ago, you became my student! Should you not be respecting me? And have I not told you I will not be tolerant of you simply because you are a prince? I told you I fear no punishments! Second, are you not supposed to remain with your head on the floor until I forgive your disobedience?”
Kazuki bowed his head right down onto the wooden, dusty floor. He hated it---the dust was making his skin itchy yet he obediently muttered, “I’m sorry, Master. I do not mean it that way.”
The Master shook his head, “Why is it the more you are scolded, the more mischievous you become? You truly are the opposite of His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince (Nobu).”
He let a heavy breath out and clicked his tongue repeatedly, “I wonder how you act in the Palace. Surely, you are giving His Majesty the King a lot of problems. Oh, may the gods bless our King, His Majesty.”
Kazuki pouted. “*That is hardly true! Nobu is worse than me---you don’t know him the way I know him!” He wanted to protest but he resisted the urge to. He needed a place to stay and answering back won’t help him this time.
He stared at the prostrating Prince, “Before anything else, Kazuki, is it true?”
Kazuki glanced up, “What is---“
“The rumors about you helping the Northerner Prince.”
The man grimaced. Apparently, news of it has reached his Master's as well and that only meant that the whole country has heard about it.
He took a deep breath and grudgingly answered, “Yes, Master.”
The Master bit his lips, closed his eyes then clicked his tongue, “The ministers will influence his Majesty to have you killed.”
He turned to the man in front of him, “Was it because of your oath?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Well, I cannot blame you on that matter. Even around the village here, we are frowned upon because we practice the West’s ideologies and I made you swore that oath.”
Kazuki lifted his head up, “So that means I’m staying---“
“Head down!”
The young man quickly lowered his head. He murmured, “I apologize.”
The Master eyed Kazuki. He remembered the days when the man was just a small boy who would follow him around, offering to bring his things and do his errands, trying to be on his good side. When he thought about it deeper, the boy remained the same; he only grew a bigger shell.
“Alright, you can stay but only for a few days! Now, straighten up and unpack your things.”
-----
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, is here.”
Miurio looked up from her table to the doors. She only got up when the inner doors of her room were opened. Nobu seemed agitated and restless. He didn’t greet her. She didn’t even bother and just watched the man as he walked past her. There were dark circles under the man’s eyes. Miurio wondered if they were always there or if they had just recently appeared.
She scooted around and let her brother come to her seat. He sat; she followed suit. A heavy silence followed, mostly accompanied by Nobu’s heavy breathing. The Princess knows it’s the calm before the storm then the Crown Prince turned to her with gloomy eyes.
She took the cue to ask, “Did Kazuki return home after the banquet?”
Nobu took a deep breath in and let it out. It came out as dense as storm winds. He shook his head, “No. He ran away.”
“Again?”
“Again. He didn’t return home last night. He must’ve heard about the ministers discussing about his treason. They’re going to ask Father to punish him the usual way---“
“Death!? But c-couldn’t it he got kidnapped by the Northerners---and was it his fault that he had to swore an oath to help everyone including his enemies?”
Nobu took another deep breath in, “If he got kidnapped, the signals would have sent off from the North. There are no fireworks in the sky. As for punishment,” he gulped and looked skywards as if in prayer, “death is the remedy to treason.”
“But didn’t Father already punish---“
“That was as a Father. They’re asking him as a King and Kazuki as a Prince who has actual responsibilities.”
Miurio held her brother’s hands, “But you can try to persuade the King, our father, and the ministers to be tolerant of Kazuki, right? After all, he’s just the second-born prince. Politically, he bears no weight except for his marriage to Lady Gu and as a spare prince when you die but you have no plans of dying, right? You can save our brother! Plus, Lady Gu wouldn’t allow her husband to die, right---not without producing an heir!”
Nobu took a deep breath, “The rest of the Gu family may feel different---“
“But why does anyone want their son-in-law dead!?”
So they can have me, the Crown Prince, as son-in-law instead---he hesitated to answer this but Miurio’s eyes shined as if she demanded one. He gulped. Perhaps, he can answer the other question.
He nodded, “I’ll try my best to save him.”
....
His meeting with his sister repeated in his head the whole time. He could hear the voices of the Prime Minister trying to convince the King to kill the second-born Prince. However, Nobu couldn’t comprehend their words. He was anxious, thinking of reasons to excuse Kazuki for treason but he was brought back to reality when he heard the Prime Minister say the words:
“Your Majesty, treason is treason no matter who has committed it. We recommend death as punishment. Please be fair, your Majesty.” The man bowed down and the rest followed, repeating the last sentence and bowing down.
Nobu’s blood boiled and his skin grew cold. He gripped the edges of his seat and glanced toward his father. The man didn’t seem bothered at all. He sat there, emotionless. Nobu examined the man’s blue eyes for any hint of fear but there was nothing. Instead, he saw Kazuki. He felt a little dizzy in the head---he saw Kazuki sitting right there on the throne.
The room echoed the collective voices of the ministers and officials, “Please be fair, your Majesty.”
The man slowly watched Nobu through the corner of his eyes. That was when Nobu was pulled back into reality. He gulped and pleaded through his eyes. His father’s eyes turned away.
“Crown Prince,”
Nobu jolted from his seat. He quickly stepped down from his throne, walked in front of the King’s throne, and knelt before him. He took a deep breath, “Your Majesty.”
“Bring your brother home.”
---
Kazuki gaped the very moment he opened the doors to his old room.
Everything was the same the way he left it except for the layer of dust upon everything. His bed was still on the floor. The pillow laid crooked between the floor and his bed while his blankets were crumbled to a little ball the same way he’d always leave it back then every morning. His books remained untouched in his chest box near his table and his table, well, was still a mess. The ink he spilled that one night remained there albeit dried up. Papers and paints were spread out on the surface while crumpled balls of paper scattered around the table legs.
He remembered to laugh. Nostalgia and a little bit of disgust (for his messy room) washed over him. This was the place where he spent most of his childhood.
He shook his head, “They seriously need to have a cleaning service here.” And that was when he realized, that he was the cleaning service. He grumbled but slowly bent over to pick up the balls of paper on his floor. However, curiosity got hold of him and he straightened one of the papers. Written in messy strokes were some Chinese scripts Nobu tried to teach Kazuki. On the left side of the paper were Kazuki’s attempts while on the right were Nobu’s comments. Kazuki read one significant and it was “Your Writing Is Terrible.”
Kazuki erupted in laughter. Memories returned him to the time when Nobu visited and stayed the night with him. It was not a normal thing to stay in a little place for the Crown Prince to do neither for the second-born Prince but they did it, anyways. Kazuki has always remembered this moment. It was the first time he felt Nobu and him were the brothers that they were supposed to be. It was the first time he felt what a family was like with Nobu.
He sat and unrolled more of the papers. More memories flashed through him again. He remembered the reason why he wanted to be a doctor. A prince could never ask for any other career except politics but he fought teeth and bone to become one. It was so he could be by his brother’s side and help him if ever he got wounded in battles. He has always looked up to him. This was his way of taking care of his older brother.
The evening has fallen. Instead of cleaning his room or throwing the paper away, he remained leaning on a wall. He clenched the paper in his hand while the other sheets of paper were straightened out by his side. The one in his hand carried a message from Nobu. His mind repeated his brother’s words: take care, Kazuki, my dear brother.
He dreaded the possibility that he may never see his brother again----or his sister. He loathed the chance that next time he might see his brother---or his father---he may have to draw his sword with him so that he may live. He hated that Northerner---he shouldn’t have helped him in the first place. Now, everything he was used to has been slowly crumbling down.
Why didn’t he think it through?