When night approached, the birdsong gently shifted from cheerful to forlorn. The white clouds above resembled boughs of cherry flowers. Hanging from the eaves of every Fujiwara castle were tendrils of purple wisteria, their blooms awakening to welcome the Sun Goddess. In spring, nature was at its most beautiful at dawn, when Amaterasu’s robe touched the hills and dyed them red, and the blooming cherry trees turned a vibrant pink. Upon Hirotsugu’s birth, the Fujiwara clan made great plans for his future, and I watched from my throne of skulls behind the kagerō veil and laughed and laughed and laughed. The leader of the Fujiwara clan made a secret pact with Crown Prince Obito that on the day Hirotsugu turned twenty, he would marry Princess Abe, Prince Obito’s firstborn child. The greatest gift of all came from Hirotsugu’s grandfather, Fujiwara no Fuhito. But neither could they deny that the sword Hirotsugu received was of exceptional workmanship and extraordinary value. Since it was forbidden for anyone except the reigning monarch and the High Priest of the Ise Grand Shrine to lay eyes on the real Kusanagi, no one could actually tell how good the replica was. Even the old Empress Genmei, who had no love for the Fujiwara clan, sent Hirotsugu a gift fit for royalty: a sword replica modeled after Kusanagi the Grass Slasher, the sacred imperial heirloom of the Yamato Emperors. Gifts poured through the gates for weeks, coming not only from the greatest families living in the land of Yamato, but also from as far away as Silla and Tang. Servants from the palace went down the mountain to offer rice, fish, and sake to the poor in Heijo-kyo.
Yet in celebration of Hirotsugu’s birth, his father, Umakai, sent an order to his bailiff to decree half a day off for all workers. These were the days when finishing the paddy field work was paramount, lest next year’s crops be affected.
It was late May, close to the final days of planting the rice. The uguisu sang from dusk until dawn, and a crane appeared in the palace garden and didn’t leave for five days. On the day Fujiwara no Hirotsugu was born, Mount Kasuga was covered in golden shimmering kagerō rising from the ground to cloak the mountain in mist. Kagerō: The quivering appearance of the mist rising from the hot surface of the ground” It’s a 40-page short story and is FREE on Smashwords. The story is set during the Nara period of ancient Japan and will expand over a period of 25 years (715-740). While he battles to find his own path in life, Hirotsugu finds solace in a boy who will first become his secret friend, then his salvation, then, as they become adults together, the love of his life. The human world meets the yōkai world in a power struggle for the fate of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu.
Genre/s: LGBTQ fantasy, Gay fiction, Historical fiction (it’s NOT MM romance)Ī coming of age love story between the heir of the richest family in the Land of Yamato and an orphan.
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