Takeo ][ CHAPTER 3 – Dreams Tell All


Takeo had never felt love before Kaede, so he was very confused about all of the emotions he was feeling about her. Ever since the spark happened between them when they had first met, Takeo had been intrigued with Kaede's grace and beauty, and now he was caught up in her loving personality as well. “What kind of a mess have I gotten myself into?” He asked the stars. It was after he had made love to Kaede that Takeo's rational side realized that they couldn't possibly live peacefully alone forever. The Tribe's sole purpose was to find people, and they were good at it. But, Takeo's side with the burning desire for Kaede to be with him always ignored this, and set it aside in the back of his mind. What he instead focused on was that he and Kaede were going to make a life together, and they were going to build it from nothing. Takeo's past life as a Lord in the Otori clan was gone now, as was Kaede's as a Lady in the Noguchi house. These thoughts brought sleep to Takeo in that meadow where no one could find them.

Takeo dreamed about when he was a boy, his name was still Tomatsu and he was still a child of the Hidden, a secret population that didn't involve themselves in the war going on in Japan between the four clans, two of which, were the Otori and the Tohan. While asleep, Takeo relived the day when the leader of the Tohan, along with a small army, raided Tomatsu's village, killing everyone. He remembered how he was in the mountain fields when it happened, so he had not been seen, but had been taught that killing things is cruel, so he shouldn't do it. Now, witnessing a massacre among the people who taught him to never do such things was almost overwhelming. Tomatsu vowed to himself that he would take revenge on his family and his entire village, and kill the Tohan Lord.

In his sleep, Takeo turned over when he relived coming face to face with the Tohan lord, who tried to kill him with his sword from his horse. Tomatsu, not knowing that he was the son of an ex- member of the Tribe, acted upon instinct and used one of his abilities. When the sword struck him, Tomatsu created a second self to stay in that position, while the Tomatsu in flesh and blood avoided the blade.

Unconsciously smiling in his sleep, Takeo saw again how the Tohan Lord fell from his horse – a thing regarded as punishable by death. Tomatsu recognized this, and ran. Two people from the army gave chase, one stopping after a long time of climbing up a mountainside. The run only stopped when the Lord of the Otori clan caught Tomatsu and fended off the pursuer. After that, it was when Tomatsu's name changed to Takeo and he became the heir to Lord Shigeru of the Otori..

Startled awake, Takeo suddenly sat up, and then laid back down again slowly. He suddenly felt like he had aged ten years. Looking over at Kaede, still sleeping in the meadow beside him after the night they had, Takeo decided quickly he didn't want to remember his past as one of the Hidden, even though his father was one of the Tribe. How could he keep something like that from me, his only son, who was bound to inherit the same talents? Takeo questioned the stars. Finding no answer, he tried again to sleep, without being burdened by his childhood life.