Chapter Eighteen – A New Player and an Old Adversary

Ugh. Make that sweet, sweet insomnia, would you please leave me alone! Though I was exhausted, my brain wouldn't shut down, even as my body managed a fitful doze full of bizarre dreams. I was in an old time American western movie set? Or maybe just the American west in general, since all I knew of the place was from movies. Akihira was there, and he threw Sasuke through plate glass window. The broken glass turned into arrows that chased after us both. Shards of glass landed on the ground and took root, bursting into giant Redwood trees.

Weird as that was, it was better than what followed - my recurring dream about Iekane burying me alive in a tiny coffin, that as per usual, had me waking myself up with a gasp. Had any time passed at all? It was impossible to tell from the rain, and I was as tired as before.

Ugh, if I was going to be plagued by dreams, why couldn't they be hot and sexy? I pondered that – the few times the dream Gods had gifted me with a sex dream, I always woke up before we got to the good stuff. My subconscious was undermining me.

Alright. Sleep was a necessity. Determined to get some rest, I focused on the patter of rain on the roof, trying to time my breathing in the rhythm, until at last I dropped off into at least a semblance of sleep. Until…

Arrows!

I sat up. Though it was possible the archer who had attacked Mai had been hired from another part of the country, perhaps one of Oda's territories, Mitsuhide had said there had been an attack in Azuchi as well. Could that assassin have been hired from here? While I was sure Mitsuhide would have investigated that, if he had learned something, it was the kind of information that he would not have shared. But that didn't mean I couldn't find that out on my own.

It was still raining when I returned to Shingen's room to grab the messages he wanted me to deliver. "The good news is, it's not snowing," he said, sounding apologetic about the idea of sending me back out into the deluge.

"I like snow, actually," I said. Having spent so many winters in Aki's home in the mountains (not to mention growing up in Nagano), I knew how to handle snow. You could brush snow off, and wear winter furs to keep warm. "It's fine. If I run fast enough, I can duck between raindrops."

"I'd let you use my mino, but you'd be dwarfed in it." He said, glancing at where his rain cape was hung next to his armor.

"Yeah, I'd look like a little kid wearing his dad's clothes." Shingen had at least twenty centimeters on me, and the mino would have been made to fit over his armor. Although the thought of wearing his clothes – something about that made me feel...

Nope.

Anyway, I hadn't been complaining (out loud anyway) to Shingen, so his apologetic attitude must have had more to do with sending me back into the storm while he stayed inside – which, "Don't worry about it… it is my job." What was it Americans said about their postal service… neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail… something something?

It would have been nice though, to have that towel that he had stolen from "Angel," because I was certain I was going to need it when I came back. But it wasn't like this version of me would be able to ask for its return.

After delivering the messages and checking all the drop sites, I detoured to Susumu's restaurant before heading back to the castle. Given that it was located close to two Inns and a posting station, his clientele was more transient than most places – if someone was looking to hire, they might just begin by asking questions here, were few would stick around and remember them.

Normally at this time of day, it was not very crowded, but the rain had chased many people indoors. I waited for Susumu to be able to take a break, realized that he couldn't, then followed him into the kitchen area. Given how busy he was, I offered to help wash dishes in exchange for information – I would have offered to help cook, but my skills in that area aren't up to restaurant level.

"What is it you would like to know?" he asked after I had made a dent in the to-be-cleaned pile.

"Many travelers pass through here." I scraped at stubborn bit of leftover rice glued to a bowl. "I wonder, do you know if any recent ones have been recruiting for a mission in Azuchi?"

"I wouldn't necessarily know, unless I happened to be standing in the correct place at the correct time… and if such recruiters were careless enough to allow me to hear." Susumu chopped ginger nearly as fast as Kenshin worked his sword.

"Oh." With a sigh, I cleaned a few more bowls. Once again, I thought I had had a flash of inspiration, only to reach a dead end. "So much for that idea."

"Recruiting might not have been necessary. There's a fair percentage of Imagawa vassals who chafe at Kenshin's inactivity and their own loss of status." Susumu didn't look at me – and it didn't take a lot of effort to see why not. The head of the Imagawa clan was Yoshimoto – Shingen's cousin. I was sure that Susumu was hesitant about telling tales of my employer's relatives.

At the moment, I didn't care about that. Yoshimoto had been with me when the attack was made on Mai. He'd saved her. That ought to clear him of any wrongdoing, unless he was of the mind to unsettle Kenshin. And maybe he'd been able to save Mai because he had knowledge about the attack ahead of time? "A split faction? Or most of them?"

"The Imagawas suffered a terrible defeat by Nobunaga. They were a proud, some say over-proud clan, and some would do anything to reestablish themselves. I have heard…" Susumu trailed off and shook his head. "I should not talk of such things."

"I will keep your name out of it." It was an easy enough promise to make, and I meant it.

"Yoshimoto does not have the respect of his people. They believe he has not done enough to restore the clan to its former glory." Susumu lowered his voice. "They seek someone who will promise to do so."

Hm, that at least nominally cleared Yoshimoto, I suppose.

"Has someone promised that?" Who could promise that? Kenshin was more interested in battle for the sake of battle, Shingen wanted to reestablish a community in Kai – neither of these seemed to be on the grandiose level that Susumu hinted at.

"It is said that even from his exile Ashikaga Yoshiaki continues to try and raise troops against Nobunaga and –" Susumu quieted as a server entered the kitchen.

While the two of them conferred, I considered the information. The fifteenth shogun Yoshiaki had been driven from Kyoto by Nobunaga. It was said he had become a monk. It was also said he unwillingly became one. Unlikely that he had an army of his own. Yes, I could imagine that he would want to raise an army. I couldn't imagine him succeeding though. But maybe my image of a weakened and deposed leader raging ineffectively to the hills was incorrect.

"Can he do that – I mean, can he succeed?" I asked once we were alone again.

Susumu shrugged. "The ways of the powerful are unknown to me. Yoshiaki only has his name left to trade upon. But to some, to those who value lineage and history, it's still impressive currency."

I considered asking Susumu how much he thought Yoshimoto knew about all this, but retracted the question unsaid. Such information was better off coming from Yoshimoto himself, rather than further involving Susumu.

I finished the dishes, thanked Susumu, and went back out into the downpour.

Upon my sopping wet return to the castle, I was unable to find either Yoshimoto or Sasuke. Never had I so badly missed having a phone! While I was still lurking outside Sasuke's quarters, I was waylaid by Mai, who exclaimed dismay over my sodden state.

"Oh, Katsuk-"

I gave her a warning look before she could finish speaking, then looked around to make sure no one had heard. Once again, I had that feeling that someone was watching – but maybe Mai's almost use of my true name had me feeling paranoid?

"Sorry. Katsu. You're soaked." She glanced down at the floor, where even as I stood, a puddle was forming as water dripped off my clothes.

"Yeah, water is wet. Who knew?" I gestured at Sasuke's quarters. "Do you know when he'll get back?"

"Sometime today? I don't know." Mai dug around in her kimono and pulled out her hand towel, which she handed me. Well… that would dry my face anyway. I wiped the water out of my eyes, from where it was continuously dripping from my hair. It didn't seem right to hand her back a wet towel, so I figured to wash it with the rest of my clothes. At this point, even with the additions to my wardrobe, I was going to run out of dry clothing soon. "He's off on some kind of mission for Kenshin, and well, he's been acting a bit odd."

"Sasuke?" Sasuke was generally a bit odd, what would Mai consider to be odder?

"No, Kenshin." It sounded like it was painful for her to admit that.

Oh, well then. I'd been planning to wait until after I talked with Sasuke, but since I had an opening. "Do you think maybe he it's because he can tell you're lying to him?"

Now it was Mai's turn to shush me, and furtively look around. "I don't know."

"Honestly, I think you should tell him what's going on." I heard a soft whisper of a door creaking open and hurried out of earshot of whoever that was.

"I can't. I'm scared he'll…"

Right. Got it. "Bad things will happen." I turned toward my own quarters. Mai held up her kimono so it wouldn't drag in the wet trail I was making.

"Uh huh." She rubbed her arms. "He's wonderful and so sweet. But he worries so much about me, I just want to ease his mind."

I would have to take her word about his sweetness; and it was clear his friends and vassals loved him. Certainly, I respected his leadership and skills. But it sure seemed like a lot of people here were awfully worried about his mind.

Apparently taking my silence as disapproval – which, it was, Mai continued. "Anyway, you have no grounds to talk about keeping secrets. At least there's only one of me."

Alright, point to Mai, especially given that she only knew about Katsu and "Angel" and Katsuko, and not about Kaya who had… oh, that reminded me. "I encountered a friend of yours last night."

"Really?" We paused in front of my door. "A friend who doesn't live here?"

I raised my hand about 15 centimeters above my head. "About this tall, silver hair, permanent smirk, and a vicious sense of humor."

"Mitsuhide! Where was he? I've missed all of them so much." She smiled fondly.

I couldn't imagine Mitsuhide prompting a fond smile and gave her a look.

"Deep down. Deep, deep down, he's a sweetheart."

I coughed. Mai saw the best in everyone.

She fidgeted with her obi. "He doesn't want anyone to know he's sweet, so he teases a lot. How did you run into him?"

We were still outside my room. I knew I should invite her in for a longer conversation, but honestly, I just wanted to dry off, and have a moment to myself. "Broke into his room and he threatened to kill me." Of course, later, he had given me some sincere advice, so maybe deep down he really was a sweetheart. "Just another day in the life – but I'm still soaking wet from the rain, so I'll have to give you the details later."

I scooted into my room, and without any guilt, closed the door in her face. "Ack! Katsu! You can't leave in the middle of a good story!"

I could. And I did. Mitsuhide is not the only person who knows how to tease. Besides, if I told her the whole story about last night, I'd also have to tell her about Kaya/Angel's encounter with Shingen, and I wasn't ready to share any of those details. I knew what Mai would say about that anyway, something along the lines of "Hit that, have fun, and tell me everything."

But would it be right to have that kind of fun without telling him I was also Katsu? Ironic, considering how many lies I had already told him, but this was one thing I didn't want to lie about. Or, maybe less that I didn't want to lie, and more that I wanted him to see all of me at once – in the individual sense, not in the naked sense… well, he had already seen me naked. To treat me like I was both smart and attractive – he thought Katsu was smart. He thought Angel was attractive. For that matter, I wanted to be with him and have him not call me "Angel." It made me feel like a generic grocery brand.

I just wasn't ready. It would alter things, and not in any manner that would be pleasant for me. We were past the point where Shingen would welcome the knowledge of my identity. Identities.

I was about to change into dry clothes when I heard that "toc" at the ceiling. "Sasuke?"

He swung down. Happy to see him. Wished he'd waited another five minutes so I could change out of my wet clothes. "I heard you were looking for me?"

"Yeah. I am. I mean, I was, since obviously I have found you. Well, you found me. So therefore, no longer looking."

"Uh oh." Sasuke shot a worried glance at me.

"What?" Ok, at least I could take off my wet footwear.

"You tend to word vomit when you're trying to figure out how to start a difficult conversation." He plopped down on my futon, apparently ready for a long haul.

"I do?" I thought about that. I suppose I do.

"Alright. I'm braced for whatever it is." Sasuke grabbed the cushion from my pillow block and hugged it.

He looked so ridiculous that I relaxed a little. "Alright. First of all, it wasn't my decision not to tell you about this, but last week, someone tried to kill Mai."

Sasuke's hand tightened on the cushion, and he muttered something to himself, that … ok, weird, that almost sounded like Klingon. He took a deep breath. "That was not the kind of difficult I expected. Start from the beginning, please."

"How far back do you want? From after that attempt last month?"

Sasuke blinked rapidly. "The thing last month was an attempted assassination?"

I closed my eyes. Shingen hadn't even told Sasuke? "Sorry. I guess you really do need to catch up. Shingen didn't want Kenshin to be told, but I thought that at least he would have mentioned it to you, since you were there that night."

Sasuke took out three ground spikes and began idly juggling them. "If he was trying to keep information from Kenshin, he'd have kept it from me, and if he wanted it kept from me, he would have kept it from Yuki. What exactly is the situation, since you appear to have all of the pieces."

No, only the assassin had all the pieces. The rest of us were scrambling. From the beginning, I explained what I knew and why I thought keeping it from Kenshin could backfire.

"I agree. If Kenshin senses… although if he thought… I mean… bad things could happen." He sighed. "There are a lot of wonderful things about Kenshin. I would do anything for him, but when he cares about people, that caring doesn't manifest in – conventional ways."

Why couldn't anyone here admit that Kenshin was a bucket of pigs' blood away from a psychotic break?

"At this point, someone needs to talk to him." To get him to look at me, I stole a ground spike. "Since Mai refuses, Shingen left the decision as to who and how up to you."

"Me?" Sasuke looked as surprised as he ever did, which is to say, not much, but his shoulders tensed up. "Why?"

"Not that you've been around lately, but aside from Mai, rumor has it that you're the only one who has any mitigating influence on Kenshin." I thought that was kind of obvious, even to me, but maybe not.

Sasuke flopped backward onto the futon and stared up at the ceiling. "That… may not be true any longer. He listens to his vassals, especially Iekane, who for whatever reason, appears not to like me very much." Sasuke continued to ramble in that direction, but I have no idea what he said, because as soon as I heard the name "Iekane" everything faded into a Peanuts style, "wap wap wap wap wap wap."

It couldn't be. Could it?

I sunk down next to Sasuke and grabbed the cushion away. Now I was the one who needed a security blanket.

"You're not going to be sick are you?" Sasuke asked. "Because right now you're looking extremely green, and there is a potential for sympathy vomit if I am too close."

"No. No vomiting." At least I hope not. "Um, how old is this Iekane?" Is this what my brain had been trying to tell me? Had I caught a peripheral glimpse of him, not enough for recognition, but enough to trigger my unconscious mind? But if he's been living in Kasugayama, how did I manage to not run into him? Unless he very early on figured out my patterns – damn it, I did have a daily pattern – and made sure to avoid me.

"I don't know. Maybe about a year or so older than I am," Sasuke replied.

"Does he smile a lot, but only with his mouth?" I almost asked if he had dead eyes, but that was only my imagination and warped memory that made him look that way to me.

"I haven't paid attention. Maybe. Katsu, you're scaring me." He grabbed the cushion back.

"You're good at probabilities, yes?" He was the guy most likely to be winning bets.

He nodded.

"What are the odds that Kenshin's vassal Iekane is the same smiling bastard Iekane who tried to kill me four years ago?" I didn't even have to work out in my head how Iekane could have risen to the status of vassal in four years. If he fooled Aki, he could fool anyone.

Sasuke pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "It's a common name and factoring in age, locality, and potential murderous instincts-"

I am never asking Sasuke a rhetorical question again.

I jumped up and grabbed my sword, then thought again and picked up my daggers as well. "It could be a coincidence." I was practically begging Sasuke to tell me it was a coincidence. "I mean, it's probably a coincidence."

Sasuke was already climbing into the ceiling. "I don't believe in coincidence. Kenshin is likely in the training room at this time – meet you there."

It was obvious what kind of state of mind he was in that I could actually hear his feet above me even as I took off running at ground level.

Damn it, why doesn't anyone here talk to each other? And yes, I was as guilty as everyone else, but how much of this could have been avoided if we had all been sharing information instead of hoarding it?

My bare feet slapped against the floor as I dashed along the corridor.

After skidding to a halt in front of the door to the training room, I reached for the –

Sasuke's face appeared above me – dang, the crawl space really is faster. "Katsu," he said in a stage whisper. "Don't open the door."

"What's wrong?"

"Very bad things."

The door slid open, and I was face to sword with Kenshin, his expression carved from a block of granite. Behind him, a continent of his personal guards, all of whom had their swords drawn as well.