.oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo.
When I look at the moon
I am overcome by the sadness
of a thousand different things—
even though it is not for me alone
that Autumn has come.
- Oe no Chisato (23/100百人一首)
.oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo.
Kyoto - 9th Month, Keichō Year 15
The Maeda manor in Kyoto was a two story building which was easily twice the size of their old house back in Kaga. The family rooms were situated on the second floor. Sho even got a six-tatami bedroom all to himself since there was space to spare. The receiving room, dining room and kitchen were all situated downstairs. There was even a guestroom which had an engawa overlooking the koi pond at the back of the house. It was easily the best room in the house and it was currently occupied by Kyoko's visiting uncle who hailed from Suruga.
His mother was more than happy to receive the young lord, stating that it was such an honor to have a prestigious nobleman as himself grace them with his presence. Sho tried hard not to roll his eyes while hearing such obvious panderings.
Dinner was finally being served and he was tasked to escort their guest to the pine room where the family take their meals. Sho trudged down the long corridor and stopped before the shoji screen of the guestroom.
"I knew it was a mistake to come back to the capital."
Sho had his hand poised to knock against the shoji frame, just barely managing to hold back at that last moment when he heard Saena's voice from within the room. He silently inched the shoji open as he slowly backed away from the paper screen, slithering towards the relative safety of the wall. He could only see Kyoko's uncle from his angle but it was far better than nothing.
"He has eyes everywhere, it would have only been a matter of time before he found you." The man bowed his head and apologized in a voice heavy with remorse, "I am so sorry, ane-ue. But it would seem that I could not protect you anymore."
"You've already done so much for us for the past ten years; for that I am eternally greatful." She poured light tea into the pre-warmed cups, but the slight tremor in her hands belied the tension that seemed to be building up inside her. "Iechika, does he- does he know about Kyoko?"
"I don't believe so, and I think it's safer that way. If he doesn't know, then his wife cannot possibly know as well."
The man named Iechika reached for his cup and drank his tea before continuing, "A very cunning shrew, she is. It was a marriage of convenience, ordered by the kampaku himself. She was six years older and had already been married twice. The first ended in a divorce and the second left her widowed. She knew she'd be in a precarious position if he takes a concubine. So she told him right after their marriage that she would order the death of any child he fathers with another woman."
Saena managed a very unladylike snort as she poured tea for her brother, "That never stopped him from touching me."
"You never rejected his advances in the first place, ane-ue!" he said, his tone rising in reproach. He sighed and shook his head, a bittersweet smile on his face. "But that o-baka really loved you. I think he fell in love that night he kidnapped you from the Jurakudai sixteen years ago. He was totally devastated when I had to tell him that you and the baby died during childbirth."
"And now, after a decade, he finally knows the truth." Saena quietly concluded.
"I think he was happy for all of five seconds before remembered that he was supposed to be very angry at me," he mused aloud.
"Did he demand you cut open your belly for such insolence?" she asked while pouring him a second cup.
"No, he didn't. Besides, he wouldn't want to displease the ōgosho with my demise. I'm too valuable a vassal after all," he replied half-jokingly to lighten the mood as he downed his second cup. "But the o-baka did challenge me to a duel. I think I should call him o-bakemono instead since he managed to beat me half to death with a bokutō."
"You look suspiciously lively for someone who was beaten half to death."
"I am nothing if not resilient after all. I could still ensure Kyoko's safety since he seems to be ignorant of her existence. It is you, whom I'm worried about."
"I have arranged for Kyoko to marry the Fuwa heir." Saena said, trying to choose her next words carefully, "The children have grown fond of each other these past years. Fuwa-dono and his wife would be more than happy accept her into their family."
Her brother's face fell at her words. He was clearly displeased by the fact that his precious niece was marrying below her station.
"I could officially adopt Kyoko into my family instead," he declared, putting forward a suggestion of his own. "But since I was technically adopted by the ōgosho himself, and Otou-sama is still officially the daimyo of Dewa, this means that Kyoko would be registered under the shogun's branch family."
"No, it's too risky. They would need to investigate her background and it could only lead to questions that would no doubt trigger suspicions," Saena said, pointing out the obvious flaw in his plan.
"That is true," Iechika conceded as he sighed in defeat. "Then the only other option I could think of is to send her home to Dewa."
"NEVER! You will NOT send my daughter to Dewa!" Seana countered fiercely, her voice dropping to a low dangerous hiss, "I refuse to let that old weasel use my child for a political bid for power, just like he did with us."
"Otou-sama never thought to abandon you! When we heard of the taiko's order to purge the kampaku's household he rushed to Fushimi Castle. The proud Lord Mogami knelt down before the taiko to beg for your life, onee-san! It was the first time I had ever seen him humble himself in front of anyone."
"If he could afford to ride into the capital, then he should've saved me himself!" she replied bitingly, "That way, he could have preserved our clan's dignity and his own."
Her brother looked so helpless even as he earnestly pleaded with her, "It's been over a decade, don't you think it's about time you forgive otou-sama?"
"As far as he's concerned, I died that day of the massacre at Sanjogawara." Saena's voice was like tempered steel, "The dead cannot afford to forgive those who failed them. It would do you good to remember that, otōto-san."
.oOo..oOo..oOo.
Sho was left reeling from everything he had learned in the past half-hour.
Who would have thought that Kyoko's visiting uncle, Suruga-no-Kami, was the adopted son of the the ōgosho, a hatamoto of the current shogun and heir to the province of Dewa? It perfectly explained why Kyoko and her mother were riding a kago bearing that kamon when they first arrived in Kaga.
Mitsuba Aoi.
He got the character for 'Aoi' totally wrong - It was not 'blue' but 'hollyhock'.
Three hollyhock leaves. The shogun's family crest.
And that was just half of it.
Kyoko's grandfather, on her mother's side of the family, was apparently the fearsome Lord Mogami of Dewa. The Mogami clan could clearly trace their lineage all the way back to the Minamoto of the Heian era. He figured the requisite family tree would be documented in well preserved scrolls, locked in a secret place within their castles, with a copy furnished to the local shrine or temple for safekeeping. Only a handful of the present day samurai clans could boast of of such noble bloodline. His own clan claimed descent from the Fujiwara, but none of them have would have been able to produce any solid tangible proof if someone were to ask for one.
And Kyoko's father was the biggest mystery of all. His identity was the key to all of this secrecy.
"Does she even know who her father is?"
"No, she doesn't. And she's better off not knowing him."
Sho almost jumped out of his own skin, startled by the reply that seemed to have come from the shadows. He whipped around to find the 'Stupid Cow', who apparently was Suruga-no-Kami's yojimbo, standing in the hallway behind him. The man had a dark frown creasing his forehead, a battered-looking kiseru dangled from the corner of his mouth.
"Eavesdropping is a dangerous hobby, boy. You never know who might catch you."
"I live here. It's only right I get to know what's going on," Sho declared, ignoring the underlying threat and ventured to ask instead, "Ne, Ushi-jisan, do YOU know who he is?"
"Well, I ain't telling a little punk like you, that's for sure!" The boorish yojimbo hit him upside the head with the long thin pipe as he passed by, "And the name's Kurosaki... Kurosaki Ushio. I suggest you remember it and address me respectfully the next time you want information."
No sooner had the yojimbo finished speaking than a senbon was thrown and struck someone hiding in the ceiling beams.
He could only watch in amazement as a shinobi dropped soundlessly on the floor and threw a shuriken in return. Kurosaki deflected the metal star with a flick of his kiseru. With the yojimbo momentarily distracted, the shinobi swiftly jumped through the open shoji that led outside and broke into a dead run.
"Friend of yours?" Kurosaki asked the baffled young man, "You two seem to share the same hobby."
Sho shook his head and chanced upon the bloodied senbon lying on the floor. He bent down and was just about to pick-up the weapon when Kurosaki's harsh command stilled his hand. "Don't touch that!"
The yojimbo picked up the senbon with a cloth, carefully wiping off the blood before placing it back in a small flat leather pouch hidden behind the ties of his obi. Sho blanched when he realized that the senbon was most probably poisoned. He watched as Kurosaki entered Mogami-dono's room without announcing himself and came back out the hallway wearing a haori and a katana at his hip.
"Where are you going?!" Sho shouted even as the older man brushed past him.
"Hunting."