Chapter Twenty-One – Splish Splash

While the rain continued to pound on the walls, I gathered my things together in preparation for packing. Hopefully, even with the addition of the clothing Mai had made for "Katsu," they would all fit in my saddlebags – I liked them too much to leave them behind.

Last night, my mind had whirled with images of what might have happened if I had stayed with Shingen. Eventually, I had collapsed my futon and, with my fingers, briskly taken care of a physical need that had nowhere to go, hoping the release would send me into slumber. Even after that, sleep had been fitful.

Every time I closed my eyes, I was haunted by the look on his face, the look I had put there. I needed to repair that damage, not for myself, but for him. An apology wouldn't even be a butterfly bandage for that wound. It would be best if I simply disappeared, dropping a letter in my wake, one that absolved him of everything, that thanked him for being kind to "Katsu."

At first, I thought to go back to Aki's home in the mountains to spend the next few weeks penitently scrubbing floors and stripping willow bark for Fume's medicinal tea, but a pre-dawn visit from the ceiling ninja gave me a better idea…

Sasuke had knocked softly, then hung upside down from the ceiling to let me know he and Yukimura had lost Iekane in the rain. "Don't worry, though, we'll keep looking."

"Thanks. You two are the best." I combed my fingers through my hair. Not that I thought Sasuke cared what I looked like, but my scalp itched. I'd never managed to fix my hair after getting drenched yesterday. "Do you know who was with him? There were three horses that left… yes?"

"According to the stablemaster, two Imagawa vassals went with him." Sasuke swung back and forth from his perch and his glasses nearly dislodged from his head. He clapped his hand over them to keep them on his face.

Susumu's information had been correct, then. The Imagawas, or at least some of them, were interested in Yoshiaki's offer. "Do you think Iekane is headed to meet up with Yoshiaki?"

"If he was telling the truth about working with him, it's a distinct possibility. If that is indeed the case, Yoshiaki is a figure that even Kenshin would hesitate to take on – unless he actively marched on Kasugayama. Kenshin would happily meet him on a battlefield, but Yoshiaki's playground is court politics. Kenshin is not-" Sasuke cleared his throat. "A politician."

No. If Kenshin were to attack Yoshiaki, it would be considered a symbolic attack on the Emperor. In fact, it was unlikely that even someone as powerful as Nobunaga would take that on without careful planning. However, a single person, a sneaky liar like myself, could probably insert herself into Yoshiaki's orbit.

Sasuke hesitated a moment, then added, "I'm feeling rather embarrassed that I never realized, especially as it makes so much sense in hindsight."

About Iekane? Oh, my disguise. "Look." I grabbed my hair, yanked it down and behind my head, showing him how it changed the shape of my face when pulled that tightly. "Plus, some of it is basic theater tricks. I use ink to make my brows bushier too. Leather across here," I gestured to my middle, "to even things out." Again, I was slapped with the memory of Shingen untying that binding, his hands gentle on my …I shook my head. "Mai's the only one who figured it out, so you're in good company. I'm sorry for lying to you."

"Why? I imagine you were safer dressed that way." Sasuke, matter of fact, and logical as usual. "Alright, I'm getting a blood rush headache, so I'm off to my quarters." He pulled himself back into the ceiling and was silently away.

Sasuke was good people… but he wasn't aware of what had happened after he and Yukimura left to chase Iekane. I'd have to write a nice goodbye letter to him as well. And to Yukimura. Mai, I'd say goodbye to in person, I decided, and not just because I wanted to know what had happened with Kenshin after all that – mess – last night. And Yoshimoto? He and I needed to have a little talk before I left.

As it happened, Yoshimoto and Mai came to me before I had a chance to find them. I was rolling up my clothes, when I became aware of a rhythmic knocking on the door. It was nearly indistinguishable from the rain.

"Katsuko? Are you in there?" Mai sounded anxious.

Immediately after, I heard Yoshimoto's voice. "I hope she isn't."

"I'm here – although I promise, I'll be gone as soon as I've finished packing." I slide the door open. "But I'm glad to see you because I need to ask how to fi-"

"That wasn't what I meant," Yoshimoto looked past me into the room with a frown.

"You can't leave!" Mai said. She grabbed onto me with both arms, sort of a hug, sort of a cage. "I won't let you! And if you plan to run away, I'll have Kenshin throw you in the dungeon!"

What is it with these people and their dungeons?

"Mai, Kenshin is rubbing off on you in all the worst kind of ways." Yoshimoto frowned at the damp and wrinkled clothing that was erupting from my pack. "There will be no talk of dungeons."

"It's a very nice dungeon," she said, half to herself. "He rubs off on me in the best of ways too."

"Do tell," Yoshimoto said. He grabbed the ugly brown kimono and winced as if it had assaulted his eyes. Well. It probably had.

"No, don't." Apparently, they made up last night, and I hope he groveled. But I did not want to hear the details. I grabbed the kimono back from Yoshimoto. Yeah, it was ugly, but I might need it still.

Yoshimoto took my hand, enacting another European style bow over it. "What Mai is trying to say is that Kenshin is sorry for the events of yesterday and has extended an invitation for you to stay here as an honored guest, for as long as you wish."

"Did he actually say all that?" I hadn't ever heard him put more than six or seven words together at a time. I mean, I'm sure he could speak in paragraphs, but likely only to people he thought worth the effort.

"Loosely translated, yes," Yoshimoto said. He grabbed the kimono again. "This is suitable only for kindling."

"I can't stay. I mean even if everyone wanted me to." I reached for the kimono but Yoshimoto held it out of my reach. "I have an idea… and I need your help. Two Imagawa vassals left with Iekane last night."

Looking pained, Yoshimoto closed his eyes and sighed. "I know."

"They probably went to Yoshiaki." Giving up on retrieving the brown kimono of doom, I made a show of shaking out the hakama I had worn yesterday. "Eventually Iekane may end up there as well. I'm guessing that you know where Yoshiaki is."

I could find that out through other methods but asking Yoshimoto was faster.

"I do, but even if I told you where he's staying, the information would be useless to you. You'll get nowhere near Yoshiaki looking like that." He eyed me from the top of my head to my feet. "Or, wearing this." He flapped the kimono at me.

"That's not very nice." Mai frowned at him. "Katsuko is pretty no matter what she wears. Although, yes, that brown thing needs to be burned."

"It doesn't matter that she's pretty." Yoshimoto sat down on the futon and began unpacking my things. "I know Yoshiaki. He doesn't see other people as people. Things. Tools. Animals. If you were a Princess… perhaps only then he'd admit you to his presence. He wouldn't see you though. You'd still be a tool to him."

"A princess?" A new idea, or rather a refinement to my first idea was taking shape. "What about… an… Imagawa Princess?" I could work with that. Aki had trained me in court manners. I hadn't had use for court manners until now. But I could remember them. Probably. "Would you take me there? Between the two of us, we could figure out what he's up to."

Yoshimoto got up. He walked over to the window and stood there for a long moment with his head bowed. "That is not a place – or a life- I ever wished to return to." He clenched his fist, then took a deep breath and turned back to me. "If I take you, you'll need a completely new wardrobe." He threw the kimono at me. "Not this. Not even the lovely kimonos Mai has been making for you."

Mai shrieked. "Yoshimoto! That was supposed to be a surprise!" Then she smiled. "I'll get to make court clothing?"

"Er, Yoshimoto… how long is it going to take before you think I'd be ready?" Maybe the Princess idea was too complicated. This was beginning to sound like a project - an involved one if it included the kind of wardrobe fit for court. Without modern equipment, it could take Mai weeks to make just one elaborate kimono. I wanted to be on the road as of an hour ago.

"Mai?" Yoshimoto gave her a long look.

"If I put every seamstress in the castle on it and send out for some of the simpler things? Maybe I could have one kimono done in a month – though that's if I worked late into the night." She looked down at her hands and rubbed her knuckles.

No way Kenshin would allow her to work that hard. "I'll have to go as Katsu then. I don't have time." Once again, I tried to roll up the brown kimono.

"No, if you're going to do this, then you'll need my help. I'll acquire the outfits from my cousins – Mai could alter them and add embellishments, so they don't look like they've been previously worn," Yoshimoto said. "Two weeks. I'll need that much time to get ready myself. Can you stay here two more weeks?"

Internally I shuddered at the thought of awkwardly running into Shingen several times over the next two weeks, but the most efficient way to get to Yoshiaki, and by association, hopefully Iekane, was to go with Yoshimoto. "If I must." I'd have to figure out how to avoid Shingen.

"Wonderful." Mai took my arm and dragged me out into the corridor. "We have some fantastic plans."

Plans? There were plans pre-existing my Yoshiaki plan? "Um, wait, what kind of plans, I really just want to stay in my room," (and avoid running into Shingen).

"I know you've really wanted a real bath, a hot bath, and this time I will stand lookout at the bathhouse," Mai said.

"After that, if you want to be presentable enough for Yoshiaki, I'm going to do something about your hair – I am certain I can make it look better." From Yoshimoto's tone, it could hardly look worse.

"And, since Yoshimoto spoiled my surprise, yes, I made a couple kimonos for you – actually, been making them since you got here, and I really hoped that I would have an occasion to give them to you," Mai burbled on, happily talking about it being a fun challenge for her.

Apparently, I was getting a spa day.

"Here," Mai said, as she presented a yukata and a packet of soap. "You can put this on after you bathe."

"Wait." I put my hand behind my back. "Is it safe? This isn't, say, something you wore when Kenshin first realized he had feelings for you?"

She laughed. "I swear, no one has ever worn this. In fact, the fabric was sent to me from my friends in Azuchi, so Kenshin would likely be glad that I'm giving it to you."

I handled the yukata like it was an unexploded bomb. "Still. Every time you've given me something fabric related; it's all gone horribly wrong."

"I don't know," she said as we made our way toward Kasugayama's bath house. "I think the first time it went quite well."

You would think so, Anastasia.

That reminded me… "Shingen seemed to believe that I had been waiting for him at the lake on purpose." I hadn't been, but had Mai arranged the encounter?

Mai understood my unasked question. "I swear, I had no idea." She stopped for a moment. "He's angry? I can't imagine him angry at anyone, except for his longstanding hatred of Nobunaga."

"He has a right to be." I didn't want to discuss it right then, so I pinged the conversation back to her. "You and Kenshin seem to have reached an understanding." And again, I thought, that ought to have been an epic grovel on his part.

She looked down at her hands and twisted her fingers. "We talked, for a long time. And yes, I'm aware there are still some issues he and I need to work on."

I considered that a major understatement, but… it's not like I don't have my own set of issues I need to work on. Glass houses, and all that. So, I didn't comment other than to say, "Well, I'm happy for you, if that's what you want."

We dashed through the rain to the bath house, Mai peered inside. "Empty, as promised. Go forth and bathe."

Not that I didn't trust her (Who am I kidding? I did not trust her), but I double checked before I stripped down, then gratefully slipped into the copper tub full of steaming water.

Oh bliss!

The heat felt lovely on my sore muscles and bruises, old and new. I leaned back and closed my eyes. In here, muffled by the steam, the sound of the rain on the roof was relaxing, and it was tempting to empty my mind and drift. I didn't allow that though. I needed to have a plan in place for when I found Iekane again.

"Katsuko?" Mai's voice floated through the wall, waking me out of my hazy half-sleep.

"Yes?"

"Nothing. You weren't making any splashing noises – I wanted to make sure you hadn't drowned."

"Still alive." I made a few splashing noises to prove it. I broke open the packet of soap – it had sort of a woodsy scent, exactly the kind I liked. It reminded me of the cedar trees that would, in the future, line the path of Togakushi Shrine. "The soap smells nice. Is it made here?"

"Um, actually, that's made in Azuchi." She sounded hesitant, all of a sudden.

The mystery of her hesitancy was solved a moment later when I heard, "It is? Katsuko, you are to keep that soap." That had been Kenshin's voice.

"Mai, what is Kenshin doing out there?"

"Well." I could just picture her wringing her hands. "I did promise to be a lookout for your privacy, but since Iekane still hasn't been found-"

"I am protecting Mai." Ah, there was the icy growl I was familiar with.

Mai cleared her throat.

"And you as well. I will skewer anyone who tries to go into this bath." A rattle of steel accompanied that statement.

"Oh. Thank you." Completely unnecessary, but I suppose if Kenshin doesn't get in his daily threats of stabbing he'll become seriously ill. Like an apple a day keeps the doctor away, except with stabbing.

"In the interest of full disclosure, I'm also here. As Kenshin's retainer." Voice number three.

Translation, Sasuke was here to make sure Kenshin didn't go off-piste. That… actually might be more necessary than Kenshin here to protect me. "Um, anyone else out there?"

"Yeah. Here to keep Sasuke company." Long pause. "Um last month when I said that I hate talking to women, I didn't know you were one, so I want to make clear that didn't count as hating to talk to women, you're obviously good to talk to when you're not dressed like a – OW! Mai, that hurt!"

Welcome to the Katsuko bath time radio hour. I splashed around some more, but now it felt totally weird knowing that there was a listening audience. To cover the sound of my washing, I asked, "Is there any new news about Iekane?"

Yukimura said, "Not yet, but, Shingen has already sent out some of his mitsumono – we'll find him eventually."

"They must bring him back alive so I can fillet him and soak his bones in a vat of vinegar."

"Thanks to that image I may never eat raw fish again," Sasuke said. "Katsu…ko, Iekane said he's tried to kill you several times?"

Hm, he had said that hadn't he? I'd forgotten that in the confusion of it all.

"I honestly only know about one time. The rest might have just seemed like accidents?" I had gotten food poisoning when I was at Aki's, which had felt like death… oh and there was that time that Moonlight's saddle had gotten that thorn in it. The time that Takauji was climbing up a wall and the rope broke – I had been next in line to climbing that, but Fume had called me away. "Now that I think about it, there were a few near misses when he was around."

"How did he try to kill you?" That was Kenshin, and I wondered if he was stockpiling "interesting ways to kill people."

I took a moment to scrub the soap out of my hair before I answered. It always felt awkward to explain, especially since the near success of the attempt rested on my utter stupidity. "He locked me in a crate and left it in a warehouse. I was in there at least a day before someone heard me yelling." Screaming and crying too, but… details. "The crate was bound for a ship of some kind, but I'm a bit vague on when it would have been picked up."

"That's awful!" Mai said.

"Hmph! If he wanted to be sure you were dead, he should have run his sword through the crate a few times." Kenshin would make a terrible magician. He'd probably kill off half dozen assistants trying to perform the "woman in the box" trick.

"Or dumped the crate into the ocean – OW! Mai, stop kicking me!"

Considering that had just upped the terror factor of my worst nightmare, I considered Mai justified in kicking Yuki. "Are you people actually discussing the most effective murder by box method?"

Well. That did shut everyone up, until I heard a strangled noise, like choked off laughter from Sasuke.

"What? Did you think of something, Sasuke?" Mai asked.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "No. Rather, my mind was invaded by a pun, but it was in poor taste, and no one here with the possible exception of Mai would understand it."

Well, that had made me extra curious, but before I could ask, I heard Yuki say, "That's never stopped you before… Ow! Mai, it's not fair for you to kick me when you know Kenshin will stab me if I even think about retaliating."

"Are you thinking about it, Yuki?" Mai said, in a very sweet tone of voice.

"Yes, are you?" Kenshin. Not a sweet tone at all.

"What's this? Are we having a party outside the bath house?"

If I hadn't already recognized his voice, the silence would have clued me in that Shingen had joined the listening audience. The silence went on for so long that it passed awkward and uncomfortable, and was closing in on painful, before Mai finally called the race on account of unsustainable tension. "We're making sure no one bothers Katsuko."

This was followed by the sound of a steel blade being unsheathed. "Anyone who tries will taste my sword."

"Don't worry. I have no intention of going anywhere near her." He hadn't needed to pitch his voice louder. I heard him loud and clear.