Chapter 21
"You talked your father into taking you to war" said Buntaro "When it starts again I wonder if I should forbid you, as the She-Snake has such antipathy to you."
"Can you guarantee that she has not a war band that would attack our house just to have bad news brought to you, my love?" asked Akiko.
He grunted.
"No, I suppose not" he said. "And you will quote the Empress Jingo to me as well I suppose."
"Well my lord, she did her duty" said Akiko, glancing up at him through her lashes "And Tomoe-gozen went to war with her lord as his consort; and more recently, indeed at Sekigahara, there was Komatsu-dono though Komatsuhime's main role was defending her husband's castle… many ladies fought during the Age of the Country at War, Goroda's sister for one, who was Ochiba's mother…"
"And as I recall Tomoe Gozen was not the only female warrior of her age" said Buntaro "The wives of the Sato brothers fought in their memory. The Heike Monogatari says that Tomoe Gozen is dextrous with the bow as I recall. She was consort to the Minawara Shogun's brother, so of the family of Lord Toranaga; it is appropriate. I do not forbid you, my dear wife; but I do implore you to take care."
"I shall take care of myself as carefully as you take care of yourself my lord" said Akiko.
Buntaro grunted.
"Wretched woman to so twist my words! Be assured though, that though I do not fear to die and would prefer death in battle to old age, I am not wishful that it be this battle; for I have so much to live for with you; and any children we may have."
"As you say my lord" said Akiko "we will not be reckless but we will do our duty to the best of our ability and if that leads to death so be it; for could anyone be happier than we?"
"I could be happier if you stopped talking" said Buntaro, reaching for her.
Akiko giggled happily; and there was very little further conversation for a very long while.
oOoOo
Buntaro disappeared for a long portion of the next day; and Akiko tried not to feel too disappointed. If he had gone out, it was because there were things he needed to do; she need not feel neglected or slighted for he had shown much pleasure in her company and in their pillowing so it was not that he wished to get away. He had left while she slept; and she had duly risen to see whether he had gone to sleep elsewhere as she had not withdrawn from his presence, but he had left a note that he had gone out and would return later.
He returned in time for the noon rice; and with a cloth-wrapped package. He presented it to Akiko with a shy smile.
"I have been searching for this" he said. "I scoured the town; and I was lucky to find one."
Akiko pulled off the wrappings impetuously; and unrolled what turned out to be a scroll.
It was a painting of Tomoe Gozen!
She cried out in pleasure!
"Arigato goziemas' my lord!" she gasped; and knelt to him to express her gratitude.
Buntaro flushed, pleased that he had given her a gift that pleased her so well.
"I thought it would be an inspiration to you, my wife" he said gruffly.
There were no maids in the room, nor guards; and Akiko rose to wrap her arms about him and raise her face for a kiss.
The noon rice got cold.
oOoOo
Toranaga was not demanding of Buntaro's attention for the first few days after the wedding; the happy couple barely emerged from Buntaro's rooms which tended to tell its own story. Toranaga was no fool nor was he unversed in the ways of the emotions of others; and he had seen looks exchanged.
Sometimes to be too wrapped up in each other meant a married couple were diverted from their duty; sometimes and especially when it was his doing it but heightened loyalty. Buntaro accepted the lie he had been told so many years before; knew it was a lie, Toranaga realised that. But the peace between him and the Anjin was worth having Buntaro's attention wandering a little. It had wandered to less purpose over Mariko-dono after all; and Buntaro had remained loyal through all of that mess. He deserved his reward. Akiko would still be a young widow when he died and could be a prize for another man, unless she became a nun.
Toranaga permitted himself a whimsical smile.
Doubtless a rather martial nun.
And that would not be the first time either, for there had been martial nuns in the Ikko-ikki that Goroda had crushed ruthlessly. The ikki, popular fronts organised by peasantry or religious sects and bringing in the peasantry, were dangerous organisations and Goroda had been correct to crush them. The idea of peasants ruling their own destiny was a laughable one!
Toranaga laughed and prayed briefly to his ancestors and any Kami that watched over him that Toda Akiko would not feel any urge to organise an ikki against any of his descendants.
He had an uncomfortable feeling she might manage to win.
He turned his thoughts to another rebellious ex nun; Ochiba.
The moment she moved….
oOoOo
Buntaro and Akiko rode back to his lands together as man and wife; and though they went part of the way with Blackthorne and Midori and the children and with Kasigi Omi and his family, it was different.
Akiko would not return to the place that had been home again; she went to a new home.
That must be hard, she reflected, for a wife who was but a pawn. She however went willingly and happily, home was where Buntaro was; her wonderful husband and lover whom she adored.
She glanced across at where he rode; and ran the tip of her tongue along her lip as he turned to smile at her. He inhaled; and she knew that she had made him hard.
"You little fox spirit" he murmured.
It was not necessarily a rebuke; and she smiled at him. He narrowed his eyes and permitted the fingers of one hand to drift down the pommel of his saddle, the way he ran them down her belly when they pillowed.
It was Akiko's turn to gasp; and to see him grin at her.
Oh what a magnificent game to be had, to pillow each other without touching! They must work out other signals that meant certain actions! Akiko turned her mind to it right away; it was a good way to pass a long journey and to get more aroused than any harigata could manage!
She suggested this to Buntaro when they stopped overnight at a tea house, eyes modestly downcast but peeping up through her lashes.
Her husband's response was prompt and very gratifying and he picked her up without ceremony to lay her down upon the futon in order to demonstrate fully what he thought of the idea. And if clouds and rain came rather quickly that first time, further pillowing was less frenetic and more tender.
oOoOo
Buntaro's home was not a strange place to Akiko when he brought her home as his bride; she knew most of his servants and retainers, and if she might wonder ruefully how many of them still perceived her as a little girl full of pride and wilful stubbornness begging lessons in archery, none at least displayed any such thoughts!
She was welcomed by the maids and shown to her sleeping chamber and formally shown around the house, greeting the servants she knew with cheerful familiarity of what names they used.
And then she must be mistress of the house, ordering its day to day management. Akiko had no fears that she would prove deficient in this; Midori had trained her well. And Midori had also warned her to ask the most senior servants how Lord Buntaro liked things to be done so as not to cause any trouble with the wa of the household.
Akiko was fairly well aware of how the household was run in any case, having been as much underfoot in her childhood as if she had been a member of the family. The one duty that caused her some concern was that it would be her duty to broker a marriage between Saruji and the widow of Yaemon, should they go to war again at Osaka.
They would be at war with Osaka. It was inevitable; and Buntaro drilled his men ruthlessly in anticipation now he was back on his own lands. Akiko oversaw the few archers to free him to drill the rest; and that was an irony that she felt more comfortable with this than with brokering a marriage.
Buntaro had laid the groundwork while they were still in Edo, putting it to Lord Toranaga and Lord Sudara that Saruji would make a suitable husband for Lord Sudara's daughter; and Sudara had agreed. Saruji would be a kind husband and a good step father to her adopted daughter; for Naahime was the child of a dead consort. Nineteen year old Sen had not yet given her husband a child of her own and presumably loved this little girl as if she was her own. She would have been thirteen when the baby was born and was already living in Hideyori's household, being trained by Ochiba. Akiko could not say that she envied her.
It was not to be supposed that the son of Hideyori's consort, could be permitted to live if his father were killed in battle or had to be invited onward. Hideyori's daughter however might be permitted to live especially if adopted by a reliable clan, as Sen saw her as her own child; though even so she might still be forced to become a nun. Akiko had every intention of doing her best to save the child from that; and to instil in her personal loyalty to the Toda clan. What would be difficult would be her position of mother-in-law to a woman several years her senior. Still, Akiko knew Sen; when visiting Edo as a small child she had been familiar with all of Lord Sudara's children. And Sen had been kind to her and stood up for the girl with foxy hair that some of the other castle children would have tried to bully had not Akiko had such support shown. Now she could return that favour and support Sen.