Happy Chinese New Year for tomorrow guys! It is tomorrow, right? Guys?
Chapter Twenty-Five: New Year's
After the mind numbingly dull meeting (how a group of people could make food seem uninteresting, remained a complete mystery,) I made my way back into the house, spotting Ranmaru and Itsuki in the garden, cloud watching. Holding the small pouch of dango balls that Hanzo had brought back, I stood in the doorway, wondering how to deliver my peace offering, eventually tossing it so it landed neatly between them. At the soft tap, Ranmaru sat up, looking at me with a quirked eyebrow. "Don't lock me out tonight." I warned, going back inside.
Something didn't sit right with me. When I'd finally caught up with Saburo, and asked about his arm, I received a pathetic story about how he had fallen off a ledge and twisted it. And then there were those maps that Hanzo had bought that day in town, something I'd completely forgotten about until I'd noticed them on the shelf near the Elder's writing supplies, plain for now, but clearly supposed to be marked later.
It was highly likely that my questions could be answered with a little bit of snooping, but every time I so much as thought about it, my stomach would lurch suddenly, and a heavy feeling of guilt would cover me. I rationalised it in my mind, deciding that my skills were likely to be deteriorated from lack of practise, but when I bothered listening to it, my heart told me that it would be trampling on everything the village had already done for me.
Besides, New Years was inching closer, and that meant giggling meetings with Asuka and Chihiro, choosing what to wear, and strategy making with Hanzo and Saburo, working out the perfect method to snatch the sake right from under Nobu's nose. So far, my choices had been forcefully narrowed down to the light blue yukata, and talking to Nobu while the boys grabbed a flask full.
More troubling though, at least for me, was how with every passing day, I was reminded of how this year had started, and what had occurred. We had arrived at the end of June, and things hadn't exactly been going rosy before then. Oda had told me New Years was celebrated so people could show gratitude for the past year, and speculate on what the fresh dawn would bring. But could I look forward to another year, knowing what could happen in such a short amount of time?
Holding my head in my hands, I shook it slightly, chiding myself for thinking that way. The bad times had come and gone for me, not without sacrifices admittedly, but I had taken my turn as the heaven's plaything. As the sun rose for the first time, I'd make my promise, that even if the land fell into discord again, I'd stay clear, and protect only my loved ones when I absolutely had to.
Poking her head out of the backdoor, Asuka spotted me sitting on my deck, whistling a little to catch my attention, "Come on, Chiyome wanted to show us something!" Tilting my head in confusion, I followed her, hopping the fence as opposed to bothering with my gate. Sure that I could keep up, Asuka led the way to Chiyome's house, forced to slow down a few times, but her smile never wavering.
Inside, Chiyome was subjecting Mizu to a mild form of torture, while Chihiro watched closely, memorising her method. The raven haired huntress's teeth had sunk deeply into her bottom lip, her curls resisting every tug that the comb gave. Raising an eyebrow at Asuka, who gave a subtle shake of her head, I began to back out of the door, her hand on my arm guiding her backwards, "Hold it you pair."
"Busted." I murmured, getting a dirty look from Mizu, who had finally been set free. "What do you need?"
"For you three to sit still for half a minute." Catching the word three and doing a mental count, Mizu quickly got to her feet, grabbing her shoes and bow with a hurried goodbye to Chiyome as she raced out between us, leaving Asuka staring at me in horror. "Relax, it's not painful."
"The running water begs to differ." I quipped, receiving withered looks for my pun.
Rolling her eyes slightly, Chiyome held up the comb she had been using, "I wanted to show you girls some styles to consider for the party. Unfortunately, Mizu was inclined to disagree."
Briefly looking over at Chihiro, whose bangs had been pulled away from her face with a pretty lilac ribbon, revealing a large grin, I shrugged my agreement, kneeling in front of Chiyome. Untying the tie at the base of my hair, she hummed thoughtfully, settling for combing my hair through first. I was going to be her challenge, I could tell. When it was completely loose, my dark brown hair framed my face at a noblewoman's length, far longer than Asuka's or Chiyome's, and definitely past Chihiro's bob.
After every part of my hair had been brushed, my bangs camouflaged in the rest of it, their ties on the table, she suddenly took the front strands, pulling them level behind my head and twisting them about, getting impressed noises from Asuka.
"This is called a lover's knot." Chiyome explained, more for their benefit than mine. "Pass me that other mirror down?" Squirming slightly, I made to reach behind myself to feel for the knot, but had my hand slapped away, just as Chihiro perched in front of me with the required mirror.
With guidance from the herbalist, she soon had the mirror positioned so that it reflect the surface of the one Chiyome was holding behind my head, making it easy for me to see the confusingly intricate knot at the base of my skull. Spotting my face, Chiyome laughed kindly, putting her mirror down and undoing her work,
"Come here before the party starts, and I'll redo it for you." Nodding, I sat through Asuka's session, watching her hair get piled into a bun on the back of her head with her large bang still covering one eye, wondering how Hanzo would react to me wearing a lover's knot at midnight.
Apparently I had overestimated the skill of men when it came to recognising hairstyles, or the significance of them. Still, considering that his and Saburo's plan to get at the alcohol went amazingly well, I decided to let him off.
The best part had to be that I was hardly needed, because Tsukiko and Sora had already dragged Nobu over to the food table, leaving the barrel unguarded. Like the responsible citizens they were, Hanzo and Saburo decided to make his job easier to deal with when he got back, even if they got a look from Chiyome.
Between the three of us making our own trips to beg sake off of him, and the flask we'd stolen, by the time the fireworks started, there was a pleasant buzz in the back of my skull, and my cheeks were steadily getting warmer in the lantern light.
Although the fireworks were nothing compared to what we'd seen at the harvest festival, it didn't stop the kids going absolutely crazy every time one burst. Smiling at their antics, Nobu placed his arm around his wife, laughing when she moved her lantern away from him. Heads tilted back, me and Hanzo watched until the fireworks went quiet, and the smell of gunpowder faded onto the breeze. Looking at me, he wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me close, "A new year, a new start, huh Yomi?"
Nodding mutely, I dimly registered the watchtower's bell ring, once, twice…"Happy New Year," Hanzo whispered, leaning in close. Something happened then, and I wondered just who to blame, myself, the sake, or Ieyasu. Because in the second it took for Hanzo to meet my lips, I was transported to last year, when it had been Ieyasu leaning towards me, stealing a kiss and making a promise that we'd keep close.
I mean to go through with my promise.
Tokugawa Ieyasu has been killed.
You were blushing, Sayomi. Like you used to whenever Ieyasu was around.
With his face in my mind, and their voices echoing in my head, I pulled away from Hanzo, turning my face away from him. It appeared that I'd misunderstood my own drunkenness though, because my feet tripped over each other, sending me flying to the ground and tugging Hanzo with me, the hand meant to catch me becoming his undoing. "Had too much to drink you pair?" Mizu cackled from somewhere, evidently too far gone to really notice the fact that her brother was on top of me.
Not fully realising our position yet himself, Hanzo was laughing quietly, as he tried-and failed- to prop himself up. "Now there's the proper way to…Hey, you okay?" The concern taking over his face killed me inside, and it was Ieyasu's hand that reached for my cheek, burning against the frosted ground.
"I'm sorry," my throat finally gasped, my arm pushing against him so I could escape. Hanzo didn't fight me, but his eyes drooped, and as I found a small trace of sobriety, Chiyome's arm reached out, the question dying on her lips when I yanked my elbow away.
