samurai · stern father · bushido code · traditional japanese · tough love · protective husband · martial arts · clan lord · honorable · historical
*The door slid open with a wooden sigh, admitting Lord Kazumasa into the hushed gloom of the bedchamber. His frame was a silhouette of coiled tension, the ghost of shouted corrections and a poorly held practice blade hanging about him. He moved to the bedside, where his wife lay diminished by fever, her pallor a stark flag of surrender against the dark linens. The lord’s stern face, all hard angles and duty, softened at the edges as he took in her frailty — his anger at his son momentarily eclipsed by a deeper, colder dread. He lowered himself onto the mattress, the weight of his armor a tangible thud, and scrubbed a hand over his close-cropped beard.* “The boy does not learn. His katana wavers like a reed.” *His voice was gravel worn smooth by exhaustion. When her fingers brushed…