shiroi_tiger | Entries tagged with places: japan

"On behalf of the United States of America," the ambassador proudly announced as he faced the Emperor, "the signing of this treaty will usher in an era of unprecedented prosperity and cooperation between our two great nations."

Nobody paid any heed as the door slid open, and one of the Emperor's servants made his way up, quickly, toward the front of the room.

"On behalf of the Emperor, we are pleased to have successfully concluded this..." Omura tapered off. Well, he noticed, certainly. "... Negotiation."

The Emperor's man bowed, and then whispered something to him, so silent that nobody else in the room could hear.

( Is he here? )

( Nathan supposed it was only a matter of time... )

[NFB, NFI, BYOB, LMNOP, Etc. Preplayed once again with

not_ironmaiden, who has been nothing shy of amazing through all of this. And, as this is the last (and still spoilery) chunk of my canon, here is where I go, "Omg, guuuuys, if you liked that, watch the moooovie." Because it is my job to shamelessly enable. And because I had to cut alot out because The Last Samurai is two and a half hours of pretty and I would have been posting eleven of these a day, otherwise.]

"//Will you fight the white man, too?//" Higen had asked Nathan upon his return to the village.

Nathan had answered yes. And, when the boy had asked why, the answer was simple.

"//Because they come to destroy what I have come to love.//"

And so it was to be. The Emperor's troops against the Samurai. Nathan made his peace with Taka and her family, and she'd helped him into the armor of her late husband. The red armor of the man that Nathan himself had killed, when he was fighting on the side of those who were now his enemy.

"With any luck," Nathan said, looking sidelong at Tony, "you'll be able to use my ID to get back to Fandom."

No, he wasn't really banking on getting out of this alive. But then, that was the risk that you took, when you fought for that which you loved.

( Tony shot him a look... )

( Nathan and Katsumoto met Bagley and Omura... )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with

not_ironmaiden, who will paaay for making me wibble so omg. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

Packing. Packing to leave. Nathan had gotten in touch with Portalocity, informed those who he was working under that he was heading back to America. He didn't have to specify when in America, or where. Gone was gone, after all.

He was busying himself with his revolver, removing the bullets between shots of whiskey, when Colonel Bagley knocked at his door.

( Heard you were leaving... )

( Well into the night, a small group of men... )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with the ever-traumatized

not_ironmaiden. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

The trip into Tokyo itself had been quiet, to say the least. The arrival into Tokyo, on the other hand, escorted by at least a dozen Samurai on horseback, was an event to be remembered. Those who didn't scream and scatter from the streets lined up by the side of the road, bowing as the group of them made their way into the city.

Once they were there, Katsumoto had business of his own to see to, with the Emperor. Nathan, meanwhile, had to tend to his own. He'd been here to do a job, after all, and his duties were... Over, perhaps. He really had no desire to crush the Samurai rebellion. But he couldn't simply run away, either.

The military that he saw when he entered the training camp was definitely not the same one he'd left behind half a year ago.

Howitzers.

( I named mine Jericho... )

( It was an unfortunate truth that taking care of business meant... )

( Nathan was not a happy man... )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with

not_ironmaiden, who kills me ded with win. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

Ah, the theatre. While Nathan had kind of failed at all aspects of it back before his time spent at Fandom, he could certainly appreciate the art of it from his viewpoint in the audience as the members of the village put on a rather entertaining kyōgen performance in the late evening, well after the sun had set.

Winter was now over, and the snow in the village had melted entirely. But Nathan's mind was on the play. Not on the possibility of being released to return to their lives elsewhere. Not on what would be waiting for them outside of the village, in Tokyo or Fandom or beyond. It was on the actors in costume, following one another across the stage.

.... Alright, fine, his attention was on Katsumoto's sister, Taka. She looked particularly attractive when she was laughing at the actors. So sue him.

( Which you would be blind not to notice... )

( That was it, then. )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with

not_ironmaiden, who is totes a ninja too, omg. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

Nathan had managed, by some miracle, to keep some lolling sort of semblance of consciousness as the Samurai took him and Tony back to their stronghold in the mountains of Japan. Through some sort of haze, he watched Katsumoto lop off the head of General Hashigawa. The rest, haze. There were moments, when he almost had enough focus to look to make certain that they hadn't disposed of Tony along the way. The trek might have lasted hours, days, might have lasted weeks. And then, they were hauling him from the back of the horse he'd been loaded onto, threatening him, spitting in his face. Demanding his name.

He didn't give it.

Winter was coming. There would be no escaping whatever settlement they'd been dragged to.

And then, the haze turned to bright white swimming behind his eyes, and then to black.

( Coming to with a start... )

( The first time Nathan had handled a sword... )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with

not_ironmaiden, who is smarter than I am and understands the glories of e-mail, omg. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

Another day. More training. The men seemed eager to learn, though the going was slow. After all, they were working with weapons that even a decade before, they might never have dreamed of using. Algren supposed, as he surveyed the troops attempting with little avail to riddle their targets with bullets, that he should at least be grateful they were all firing in the same direction.

( Ah. It was the Colonel. )

( They weren't ready. )

[NFB and NFI for distance and time. Preplayed with

not_ironmaiden, who is awesome like an awesome thing. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]

The boat (ship, really) that Nathan and Tony had been whisked away to was none other than the same one that Nathan had been passenger on, en route to Japan before he'd even wound up in Fandom. He supposed it was entirely too kind of the universe at large to have his own timeline wait up for him to return, but the circumstances of his arrival could have stood to be a little less... Unannounced.

Portalocity did send a letter of apology, which somehow made it to Nathan on the ship, informing him that it was going to take them some time to work out the kinks in their system, but he would be able to collect a full refund and a lift back to Fandom as soon as things were in order. Of course, he'd have to be the one to order the replacement portal. It was on his credit card, after all.

Needless to say, Tony bitched all the way into Yokohama Harbor. He bitched to their translator, one Mr. Simon Graham. He bitched to Nathan. He bitched to Nathan's friend, Zebulon Gant. And he bitched all the way up the steps en route to Nathan's appointment with the Emperor himself.

( You owe me... )

( And so, the preparations for war began... )

[NFB and NFI for distance and tiiiiime. Preplayed with the loverly

not_ironmaiden, who rocks my socks. Large chunks of script lifted from The Last Samurai, and as such, there are spoilers within.]