Mirage of Blaze, book 16 notes redux

[petronia]

Kagetora once called Kitsukawa Motoharu smug. And smug he is, definitely ("Ah, I apologize, you look so young in that body it made me start lecturing you"), but one almost likes him for it and not in spite of it - he so well parallels the reader's own self-righteous failures of imagination. ^^; He wants to sympathize but he has no idea what he's trying to sympathize with, let alone judge. Being an edumacated Heike-reading sort you get the impression he expects a more - literate? aesthetic? - angst out of the Uesugi wackos: the sad tale of my lord blah-de-blah's excessive worldly attachment to blah-de-blah, karmic debts incurred forthwith, et cetera. Naoe obliges him too, but what he gets out of Kagetora every time is a barrelful of crazy. And he doesn't learn! Dude, I can't believe he honestly felt sorry for Kagetora because hey, Motoharu lost his retainers at Itsukushima as well! The last time he tried to josh Kagetora by telling him Naoe was leaving his service, Kagetora caused a volcano to erupt - shouldn't that be a warning sign that my lord is not going to react to retainer-related stimulus on the same order of magnitude as the next sane person, Motoharu included?

Mind you Kousaka (back and as entertained as ever) thinks Motoharu is kind of gay for Kagetora, which possibility cannot be discounted given that - as aforementioned - everyone is kind of gay for Kagetora. Well! See the illustration on page 105 where Kagetora's in his sickbed and all misty-eyed with fever etc., and forgive Motoharu's excesses of misguided sympathy. =_= At any rate one must be forever grateful to him for asking Naoe the question on every reader's mind, namely, "So you lived through the Bakumatsu, huh? ...How was that?"[1]

***

While moping in the car[2] on the way to Aso[3], Naoe casually remembers that Nagahide objected vociferously when Kagetora ordered Naoe to leave with Minako, as the decision to remove one-fifth of the Yashashuu from the upcoming final battle with Nobunaga was strategically disastrous. The problem was that Minako had become Kagetora's Achilles' heel, and everyone knew it. So Nagahide tried to kill Minako, as hey, easy way out - no more girl, no more Achilles' heel! - but Kagetora found out and put a stop to it. Naoe thinks the incident played a large role in why Nagahide went AWOL afterward.

......

DAMMIT, KUWABARA, I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT.



[1] Boring, except for the time Sakamoto Ryouma came to bang on the front gate canvassing for money to build a naval school. (Although supposedly other Uesugi members were more heavily involved in the politics of the day; I have this disturbing mental image of Nagahide razzia-ing the Shinsengumi in Kyoto, just because he can neener neener.)

[2] You can tell Naoe's come up in the world because now he has a chauffeur and never drives himself anywhere.

[3] Coincidentally where the infamous events of thirty years past took place. Kuwabara makes it sound like the ultimate boondocks. ^^;

Comments

[sargraf.livejournal.com]

.....this makes me wonder about Nagahide, it really does. And, damn! What does everyone have against Kagetora showing a little neediness? Stuff like that makes it clear why Kagetora keeps hiding behind that cold wall of his, whenever he can. =_=;

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

DAMMIT, KUWABARA, I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT.

Thank you. *weep*

(I recall blinking, facepalming, and moving on with the books in favour of agonising over the Nagahide-Kagetora dynamic later. XD;;)

Also:

I have this disturbing mental image of Nagahide razzia-ing the Shinsengumi in Kyoto, just because he can neener neener.

Naoe: These new swords are from...you didn't.
Nagahide: Ohhh, you don't think so? Makoto da ze. *smirk*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Done - sorry about that, I saw the notification but forgot about it somehow! ^^; Hope you find what you're looking for here.