Chapter Twenty-Four – For the Rain It Raineth Every Day

Once she realized the implications of the flooding, Mai snapped into action, telling the maids to set up a supply chain of food and dry clothing. In a tone of voice that dared Kenshin to argue (he didn't argue), she said, "Have some of your vassals set up tents for shelters. We can use the training room as temporary housing for anyone too frail or too sick to be outside."

Seeing as she had herself – and the situation in the castle- under control, I decided to join the evacuation efforts and slipped out of the room to change clothes – and personas. Mai caught up with me in the corridor. "Katsuko, I can always use…" She paused. "You'd rather be outside helping, right?"

"Yeah – I'd be more effective out there." If she was desperate for an extra set of hands, I would stay inside, of course, but there were enough maids and younger pages who could do what she needed as well – probably better – than I could.

She waved me off, and I dashed back to my quarters and became Katsu again – more or less. I didn't bother with the dratted binder or make the effort to do anything more with my hair than to yank it into a ponytail. There wasn't any time to waste. No longer any need to hide - everyone knew Katsu was female.

When I got back to the Main Hall, the first groups had already left, and Mai was handing out packs of supplies. "This isn't a wormhole storm, is it? Or a typhoon?" she asked, as she pressed an oilskin wrapped bundle into my arms.

"It doesn't feel like either." Granted, I'd only experienced one wormhole storm at close range, but in hindsight, knowing that Honno-ji had been one as well, this deluge felt different. As for a typhoon… it would be rare for this part of the country to receive a direct hit from one. In any case, the winds didn't feel strong enough for that. No this just felt like plain old seasonal wet. Exponential seasonal wet "What did Sasuke say?"

"I didn't catch him before he and Shingen left to go upriver to see if they could – science it." She waved her hand like science was some kind of magic. "Or, I guess, engineer?"

I didn't envy either of them that task. It would be grueling work. The further up into the mountains they went, the worse it was likely to be. At least no one would be shooting at them. Hopefully not.

I stuffed the bundle she'd given me in my pack and hurried out.

At the first village, I reported in to Yukimura, who was leading the evacuations. "Aw geez, Katsuko, don't you want to stay inside and help Mai?"

"She's got it covered. I'll be more useful out here. Pretend you never learned about Katsuko." I glanced over at where the Akazonae soldiers were helping the villagers carry their belongs to the temporary camps up in the hills. "I've done this kind of thing before – only then it was because of an invasion, not weather."

Yuki was busy enough and needed too much help not to make further issue out of it. "Thanks then." He looked down at a map and directed me to the south end of the town. In his official role, Yuki was a revelation. As he gave orders calmly and authoritatively, his men all leaped to obey without question. He'd drawn the hero-worship of a couple of pre-teen boys, who followed him around and hung on every word he said. Although they must have been a nuisance, he was incredibly patient with them, making sure they felt respected and at the same time, keeping them out of trouble by delegating simple tasks to them.

The remainder of that day and all night, passed in a blur as I knocked on doors, helped mothers grab their most necessary belongings, made sure houses were deserted (in one, I discovered a man who had slept through all the commotion), passed along instructions to the oldest girls (all the able-bodied men and boys had gone to help Kenshin fortify the riverbank), and occasionally gave the littlest children piggyback rides up the hill to where Mai had organized a camp outside of the flood zone.

Everyone was soaking wet – I didn't even recognize the normally elegant Yoshimoto when we crossed paths: he looked like the Swamp Thing. "I tripped," was the unprompted explanation. "Then I slid." He pointed to a spot halfway up the hill. "From there."

"I've heard mud is good for the skin." I patted his shoulder.

"I'm not entirely certain it's all mud." He sniffed his muck-caked sleeve with suspicion then sighed before getting back to work.

When darkness fell, it all became trickier to maintain our pace, as the wind and rain kept blowing out the lanterns and torches, making it difficult, and occasionally impossible to see. More than once, I saw a mother clap her hands over a child's ears as one of the castle servants swore bitterly over the difficult task of keeping the oil in a toro lit.

We worked our way downriver, through several villages, as the night grew dark, and the water continued to rise. It didn't look like the houses were going to be saved, but so far, we'd managed to get all the villagers to either to temporary shelters in the hills or into the castle.

At daybreak, I stole a moment to grab a couple bowls of warm rice and vegetables that Mai had sent to everyone, via the castle maids. I took a serving to Yukimura, who was huddled with one of his men over a map. Every time we passed each other, he'd been working, and I was certain he'd not stopped once. Shoving the bowl at him, I said, "Eat."

He looked up, glanced in surprise at the bowl, as if wondering how it ended up in his hand. "Thanks."

I turned to get back to work, but Yukimura called after me. "Do you know if Shingen and Sasuke are back?"

"They would have checked in with you if they were." I hadn't seen them, but if they'd come back, I wouldn't have been their first stop either. Or their last.

"Katsu, will you head up there," he pointed to a location on the map where they were trying to engineer some kind of last-minute lock/dam/I honestly don't know what they were doing. "Tell Shingen to come back to the castle and rest. Sasuke can handle things for a while."

I didn't argue the point that Sasuke was the person I would most trust to be able to science things, but he didn't have Shingen's leadership skills. Not only that, but… "Yuki, I'm the last person he would listen to right now." He was unlikely to even want to see me.

"Maybe he'll leave just to get away from you," Yuki said, blunt as always, but there was potentially an element of truth in that.

"Possible. But… why?" Why Shingen when everyone else was still out in this?

Yuki stepped away from the other men and looked at me for a long time, as if he was having an internal debate. Finally, he sighed. "If he overworks himself in this weather, he'll get sick."

Sick? How sick? I was about to ask what he meant by that, but Yuki stopped any further questions. "Please. Do whatever you can to get him to rest."

His tone of voice and the bleak look on his face did more to convince me than his words, so I told him I'd try my best and took off running as fast as I could.

It was a few hours later when I presented myself at their base upriver a few hours later. I looked around – they were building up some areas and digging trenches, and while the mechanics escaped me, it looked like Shingen knew exactly what he was doing. And to think I once dismissed this man as a brainless flirt.

"Why are you here?" Shingen asked me when he noticed me standing in the middle of the organized chaos.

"Yukimura asked me to deliver a status report and a message," I said in my most businesslike and impartial manner. Alright he hadn't asked me to deliver a report, but since I had one, I hoped it would lessen the sting of a message that more or less was, 'mommy wants you to come in now.' So, yes, I'm still telling lies to him, but this one is for a good cause.

"Well? What is it?" The 'I haven't got all day' went unsaid, but was clearly implied, especially when he turned and yelled to Sasuke, who was a bit further upriver. "Sasuke! Tell them to bring more rocks to shore up that retaining wall!" Sasuke gave a salute and disappeared into the trees.

Finally Shingen turned his attention back to me.

"Kenshin's got the banks of the lowest point of the river built up about," I raised my hand about hip level, "this high, and we've evacuated all of the towns up to the coast. Yukimura said," I paused, trying to figure out how to phrase the rest for optimal cooperation, "That you should return to the castle and have Sasuke take over for a while."

He acknowledged that with a brief nod. "Message delivered. Tell Yuki no."

Should I push it? I stood there a moment longer. Yukimura had been really concerned – but Shingen was an adult and presumably could be trusted to make his own decisions. He did look tired – but we were all tired and I imagined I didn't look much better. But I had promised Yuki I would try my best.

"Anything else?" Shingen's attention was half on the river.

"Um. N-no. It's… j-just that Yukimura was pretty insistent that I make you leave, which, I know I have no way of doing, but I've never seen him look that worried about anything." Shingen didn't react to that, aside from giving me an impatient glare. I glared back. I was doing this for Yukimura, not for Shingen. "I guess if you're not going to leave, can you at least go inside that tent over there and eat something, so I can at least tell him you're not," I tried to think of an acceptable word, "pushing yourself."

Something went out of his stiff posture at that. "Tell him this is worth the risk. And not to worry. I'm doing fine."

So … there was something to be worried about. But I couldn't argue with the finality in his tone, so I nodded and started back down river, though at a slower pace this time. With Yuki's assignment completed, I had been hit by a wave of exhaustion. Well, no wonder. It had been at least four nights since I'd even had the hope of a good sleep.

I'd gone no more than a couple hundred meters from the areas that I mentally referred to as the engineering project, when someone shouted at me from across the river. "Hey! Boy! Helloooo!"

I looked over – a man was waving at me – a farmer? No, with all the furs stacked up on his wagon, a trapper or a trader. Behind him, what must be his entire family, from grandparents, all the way down to a toddler, waited on the bank of the swollen river. They all carried bundles of their possessions on their backs, and a couple of pack mules were tied to their wagon.

"Excuse me!" The man yelled. "Can you tell me where the river is fordable?"

Is he insane?

"It's not! Don't try it!" I hoped he could hear me over the pounding water, or the noise his family was making. His wife was trying to sooth the screaming toddler, two of the older children – teenage girls – were arguing with each other, and a young boy was wandering along the riverbank, poking at the water with a stick. With both words and hand signals, I tried to tell him to head back into the hills. "It's too dangerous!" To hammer home the point, I gestured to the trail behind him. "Go back!"

He took one final look at the river and herded his family toward higher ground.

Once again, I started back to Kasugayama, but less than a minute later, a piercing scream grabbed my attention. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the family yelling and pointing at the river – one of the kids – the boy – was in the water.

I could see his head bobbing around in the rapids and when the water slung him around to face me, there was desperation in his eyes as the water carried him away.

Shit.

Shit.

Ok.

Think.

Think.

I glanced back toward the engineering post, but no one was anywhere close enough, even if they had seen or heard what happened. If I ran back for help, it would be too late. Obviously, the boy's family was helpless – because if they could do anything, they would be doing it, instead of screaming.

Up to me then.

I ran along the bank of the river, trying to keep up, or even get ahead of the boy while my brain shuffled through various scenarios. I'm not a strong swimmer. I can swim, but not well enough to make diving in a viable strategy, especially the way the river was behaving. I doubted I'd even be able to get to the boy that way, let along pull him out. There had to be another answer.

Keeping my eye on the floundering boy, I continued running alongside the rapids – if I was remembering the geography correctly, there ought to be a bend in the river up ahead. If I could reach it before the boy swept past, maybe I could find a stick or something to reach him – except would he see it? Could he grab it if he did?

Putting on a burst of speed, I passed the point where the river turned sharply to the left, and there was a tree that, thanks to the rising waters, was already halfway in the river, with one thick branch hanging out almost to the center of the water.

Even better than a stick – I could work with that.

I vaulted myself into the tree, scurrying along the branch until I reached the place that overlooked the main current, then lowered myself down. While I hung by one hand and one knee, the river swept beneath me. Where did…? Ah, there was the boy.

I reached down, fingers trailing in the water, and when the boy flailed past, I managed to snag the back of his kimono.

Thankfully, the boy was smart enough and adult enough to grab onto my arm and hang on with both of his hands.

Yes!

Now, all I needed to do was to pull-

CRACK!

The boy's added weight was too much for the branch. It dipped lower, then split entirely, pitching me into the river.