Sakura sighed pensively as the train slowed to a stop at the station platform. Certainly the excitement that came from knowing she was about to experience a world beyond familiar flooded fields excited her but somehow the parting filled her with a foreboding she found hard to push aside. The Daimyo had accompanied her to the station, a great honor and at their final bow had pressed a small fortune in yen into her tiny hand.
"You must live as I would want you too sakura. Enjoy each moment to its fullest but never forget who you are."
Sakura had wept. All she had ever loved and wanted stood before her but now simple circumstance and her need to further her education was forcing her away.
"I don t want to leave Daimyo."
Raion had smiled at her in a way she found disconcerting. Certainly His face was full of kindness and understanding but also a tinge of some deeper thoughts were written on His lips.
"The world is much bigger than this place. You must see what will soon invade our simplicity to prepare yourself for the future. Yes you understand the technology, certainly you have the ability to grow, but I need you to see everything that threatens us before we are engulfed and suffocated by the cloud of change. Your journey is of vital importance. My eyes cannot fathom the sights and sounds you will behold. My mind cannot absorb the wonders that will be at your fingertips, you are My eyes and ears, My understanding. It is but a few months till you will return and when you do your new gained knowledge will hone My blades edge."
She had watched Him walk away, never looking back, no hesitation, His black kimono outlined starkly against the white gravel path that led homeward to the dojo. His hair was grayer in the light and His frame somehow stouter than she remembered.
"So where are you headed?"
The question snapped her back into the present.
"College. I am going to Tokyo to college."
Her questioner was about her own age, a tall impressively handsome boy with an air of overwhelming self-confidence.
"Going to the big city myself. Got a job at my uncle's factory. Going to be a manager."
Sakura smiled. She hadn't much knowledge about the world of factories and finance but was certain the boy's prospects had more to do with family connections than ability.
"I saw you with the Daimyo. Are you related?"
"I was lucky enough to be one of His pupils and He honored me by accompanying me to the train. He is a great and wise man."
"Never met Him myself so can't say anything to His wisdom. As for being great I imagine it's not too hard taking a hereditary position."
Sakura smiled politely enough but noted the tone of the conversation seemed to reinforce her first impressions. She had become used to two kinds of men, the older quiet controlled ones who had real power and authority and the boastful younger ones who thought they owned the world by right. This one was decidedly the later.
"Rather like becoming a manager in your uncle's factory you mean?"
Sakura watched the boy's face and was surprised to read no reaction. Perhaps his eyes darkened just a little but the fixed smile stayed the same.
"Very much so I would imagine. You are an astute girl."