Chapter Thirty-Two – Spilling the Tea

Unlike the other times I had visited Chiyome's household, instead of being taken to her official reception room, I was shown into what must have been her private quarters. The décor was austere: she took the concept of minimalism to new levels – almost no furniture, no personal items, no tapestries or decorative screens and … no clothing. She was lounging on her futon with a young man. Neither were dressed.

Why am I always walking in on naked people?

Chiyome patted the man-boy's cheek. "Leave us." With a pout, he picked up a silk kimono, carelessly slung it over shoulder, and basically flounced out of the room.

"Don't gape, child. I'm sure that was no more than you must have seen working for Shingen." She stretched, then slowly and theatrically dressed in a pair of European style breeches and a shirt.

The performance was aimed toward me, possibly to shock, possibly out of her own sense of personal amusement, and I did my best to keep an impassive expression. I wasn't shocked. Mostly I was annoyed that she chose to make me her captive audience. "I wasn't embarrassed… only, he seems a bit… lightweight for you."

"Child, I'm not concerned with what's between his ears as long as he knows what to do with what's between his legs." She gestured for me to sit down. I sat. "Given what I do every day, that last thing I want to do in my free time is talk. Or think. I just want a straightforward fuck."

Ok then, and more power to her. That didn't explain why I'd been invited to her private rooms. At least, I hoped it didn't. Was she warning me off Shingen? Did she even have that sort of relationship with him? I imagined coming up with all sorts of clever and impressive things to say to her. Unfortunately, what came out of my mouth was, "why am I here?"

Ugh, Katsuko can you at least try for some semblance of wit?

"For tea, of course." She gave me a look that clearly said, 'you're an idiot,' and I suppose I was, because it had never occurred to me that she would want to take tea with me.

Nor did I want to have tea with her, as the thought of trying to make conversation with her over the course of a tea ceremony filled me with dread. I was feeling awkward and gauche enough already. "You want to have tea with me?"

There was mockery in her laughter. "No. I am giving you tea." There was a movement outside the room, and then, likely by some pre-arranged signal, a woman my age glided in. Hm. Glided was not the right word. She moved as silently as a ninja, but there was a restlessness about her that suggested she was holding back on a stockpile of energy that could explode from her at any moment. Chiyome addressed the newcomer. "Sute, this is Katsuko. Please get her a supply of tea."

Until that moment, I had no idea that Chiyome knew my name. Which meant that Shingen had probably mentioned it to her… had this meeting been his idea? If so, it would have been nice to have been warned yesterday. Or maybe he had intended to mention it last night when I came back 'after dark.' As promised, I had returned to say goodnight, but he'd already been asleep, and I'd left without trying to wake him up.

Sute's eyes skimmed me over with amused interest. "The girl from the Inn. So, he finally found you. You'll definitely need tea." She turned back to Chiyome. "How much?"

With a wave that indicated she didn't really care, Chiyome said, "use your own judgement. I'm well aware you have experience with this particular matter." It felt like they were having a conversation around and over me. Obviously, I was a joke to them, but it was difficult to understand what exactly about me was the joke.

The woman went to a cupboard, withdrew a large tin, and poured most of its contents onto a square of paper, which she then neatly folded into a packet. "Here."

I automatically took the packet and sniffed it. Yes, it smelled like tea, although, I caught the scent of… carrots? Wild carrot tea?

"Don't look so worried." Sute laughed. "It's actually rather tasty – we all drink it." She gave Chiyome a look. "She must think it's poison."

"No, I don't." Although I would feel better if I could witness them drinking some of it too. "If it were a fast-acting poison, you wouldn't have given me such a lot of it. It would be a waste of poison. And there are more efficient ways to kill me than a slow poison. I imagine that a signal from you would have Sute slitting my throat with the dagger she has in her sleeve." Despite my bravado though, I intended to double check with Shingen before I drank this stuff. If Chiyome had any intention of killing me, I figured he'd have picked up on it.

"Hm." Chiyome finally displayed a spark of interest in me. She withdrew one of those obnoxious cigars from a red lacquered box and lit it from the flame in a lamp. "It seems you might have a brain after all."

"Does this mean you and I won't be getting naked?" Shouldn't have said that. But I was tired of her treating me like I was a child.

That got a laugh out of her. "Drink one cup every day, unless you're having your monthly courses."

Oh.

Sengoku era birth control.

"Unless you want babies. I always said I'd like a few around to play with but Chiyome-," Sute paused and gave the older woman a mischievous look, "said that I would get bored and forget to feed them."

I looked down at the packet of tea. I hadn't thought. I should have.

Sute continued to babble into my silence. "You don't want a baby, do you?"

"Oh. God no. Not now." My life was far too complicated to bring a child into it. I could just see the expression on Aki's (and Fume's) face if I showed up on their doorstep with a child in tow. Not to mention… temporal paradox? I wouldn't want to give birth to my own grandmother. Or would the timeline naturally prevent that somehow? Maybe it wasn't possible for a time traveler to get pregnant (or father a child) when they were out of their own era?

This, however, was a theoretical discussion that I ought to have with Sasuke – if, I could manage to do so without hideously embarrassing the both of us.

"You may go." Chiyome waved me toward the door.

"Er, thank you." Truthfully, I wasn't sure whose benefit the tea was for – mine or Shingen's - but I was grateful to have it. Even if… at the moment there wasn't any urgent need for it.

I bowed and left, with Sute at my heels. As we made our way out of Chiyome's manor, she chattered away as if she'd decided we were to best friends. "Why were you hiding? How did he finally find you? Did you actually work for Mitsuhide? What's he like?" Even once we were on the road toward the main part of town, Sute stuck with me.

Absently, I answered her questions. My attention, however, was not on her, but on a hooded figure in dark violet clothing who was following us. I couldn't get a good look at him – he was good at slipping into the crowd whenever I stopped to look his way.

"Do you know we're being followed?" I interrupted Sute's fit of giggles – the revelation that I had been living under Shingen's nose for weeks was highly amusing to her.

"The ninja? Yep, He's good, but I'm better." She made an adjustment to her clothing, pulled a hood up over her hair, and palmed one of her daggers. "I'll take care of him if you want to go back to the castle. I haven't had a good chase in a while."

Without waiting for my agreement, she whirled and took off. When our pursuer realized she'd turned the tables, he ducked into an alley. In moments, I saw him, then Sute, scurry up the side of a building.

I could have done that too! But it was too late – they were already zipping across the roofs.

Feeling left out of the fun, I headed back to the castle. The whole day seemed like it was conspiring to make me as insignificant and useless as possible. Was it true that the only possible use I could be to Shingen was as a bedmate? He'd treated both 'Angel' and Katsu as if they had more intelligence and agency than he treated me as Katsuko.

Could I be something more than that? As Katsu, I had been investigating the assassination attempts and learned from Susumu of Yoshiaki's involvement. As Katsuko – I hadn't done much – yet. I stopped in the middle of the street, to the displeasure of the merchant who had been walking behind me. What was stopping me from picking up that investigation? If I wanted to be something more, I would have to make that happen for myself.

I about faced (annoying that merchant even further) and headed for Susumu's restaurant.

The restaurant was in its post-breakfast lull, although a few patrons were lingering over the tea and hot soup Susumu always kept ready for travelers.

"What may I get you, miss?" Susumu didn't recognize me. Another day I might have left it at that, but I had spent too much time cultivating him as a source to want to begin again. I pulled my hair away from my face. "It's me. Katsuhira."

To his credit, his surprise only lasted a moment before he smiled. "Good morning, Katsuhira. I see it has been an eventful couple of weeks for you."

I acknowledged this with a wink. "Lord Kenshin came a bit too close with Himetsuru Ichimonji, and this," I gestured to my feminine appearance, "is the result."

Susumu laughed so hard at the joke I was afraid he would herniate himself. Then, more quietly, he said, "I'm happy to see you today." He lowered his voice. "The men in the corner – I've not seen them before, but they were meeting with another of Imagawa's vassals today. The vassal passed the taller one a message." I sneaked a quick look over my shoulder. Two men, non-descript, dressed as in travelling clothes. Neither were overly armed, aside from the swords anyone would carry for defensive purposes. Susumu then returned to his normal speaking volume. "Yes, the fish soup is fresh and hot today. If you'll take a seat, I'll bring some out right away."

Joy. More. Soup.

I gave Susumu a quick smile, then casually took a seat directly behind the men in question, hoping they were the careless sort and I would be lucky enough to overhear something worthwhile.

I … was not that lucky.

Maybe only TV detectives are able learn important information while eavesdropping? All I heard was a bunch of slurping and a brief comment about wanting to get on the road before it got much later. While I listened to the nothing useful, I considered my options. Following them would be a waste of time. They weren't planning to meet anyone else; they were simply leaving town. Nor could I join their table and subtly question them myself. In this era a woman couldn't simply sit down and join a table of strange men without being thought a prostitute. Anyway, I didn't want to talk to them – I wanted to get my hands on the message from the Imagawa vassal.

For a quick moment, I reconsidered the prostitute angle. Obviously, it was a ploy that Shingen and Chiyome's spies employed on occasion – otherwise there would be no use for the tea that as Sute said, 'we all drink.' If I pretended to be a prostitute, maybe I could leave with them, and steal the message somehow? But how?

No… I discarded that idea. Too many variables, and I had no idea how good these two were in a fight.

I might be a daredevil, but I'm not stupid.

However, I needed to come up with a plan fast because it sounded like they were nearly finished. Maybe I wasn't stupid, but I still felt like a failure for missing out on this opportunity. In my head, I heard Chiyome's mocking laughter, while I stared into my nearly empty teacup. Dammit, that information was less than a meter away from me, right for the taking.

What would Aki do in this situation? His most-used ploy was to play a drunk to get close to his mark, then surprise them when their guard was down. While that wouldn't work here, it occurred to me that… I didn't need to pretend to be drunk… just clumsy.

I took my teapot up to Susumu and asked for more. Mentally, I apologized in advance for what I was about to do to his crockery. He replaced my pot with a new full one, and then I paused, waiting for the men to stand up in preparation to leave and then put myself on a trajectory that would -

WHAM!

SPLOOSH!

CRASH!

"Oh no! I am so sorry! I hope you were not burned!" While the man was still sputtering angrily, I dabbed at his clothes with a hand towel. Under the pretext of drying him off, I lifted the message and his coin purse (if I were caught, it would be safer to be thought a thief than a spy. Probably.)

Susumu did his part, adding distraction as he barreled over and yelled about the broken teapot and the wet floor. He grabbed my arm and dragged me into the kitchen, complaining all the while about the existence of clumsy maids. Pitching his voice loud and shrill (too shrill… my ears were ringing) he monologued about the woes of owning a restaurant where every odd traveler did nothing but spill food and break his dishes, culminating with a capper, "I should have become a stableman! At least horses are useful!"

(That… didn't actually make sense, but I supposed he was going for volume over content).

He took a quick peek into the dining area. "They are gone, Katsu."

"Thank you. I never knew you had hidden talent as an actor. Sorry about the teapot." I tossed him the stolen coin purse. "I hope there's enough in there to pay for a replacement."

He rifled through it. "More than enough. I could build a new restaurant." He thrust the purse in his kimono.

"In that case, may I buy, or rent one of your kimonos?" As much as I loved the one I was wearing, Mai's handiwork was pretty distinctive. I'd be better off slinking out of here in a plainer outfit.

He agreed to load me a spare kimono he wore when he was gutting fish. "The smell alone ought to keep people away – though you may end up leading a parade of cats." He let me change clothes in his storeroom and when I left through his back door, he was recounting the coins from the stolen purse.

I walked through the alley in my most casual I-don't-have-a-stolen-message-tucked-into-my-kimono manner. It ought to have been simple to simply stroll my fish-scented self back to the castle.

It would have worked.

Except… there he was again - the man in the dark violet clothing. He seemed to have managed to evade Sute, and whoever he was, he was not fooled by my new outfit. As soon as he saw me, he ran right at me.

No idea what he wanted, but the chance of it being something good was low to zero. I didn't stick around to find out.

Before he got any closer, I led him on a chase through crowds…

…weaving around people,

…jumping over barrels,

…before rolling under a fruit vendor's stall.

I dove into a passing a hay cart and held my breath while his feet pounded past.

A few minutes later, when I was sure he wasn't coming back, I climbed out of the cart and emerged in the innyard…

Where I ran right into the two men from the restaurant.

Well. Hell.

Keeping my head down, I muttered a fast, "pardon me," and turned to take off again.

The man whose purse I had stolen grabbed my wrist. "Not so fast, little thief." He yanked me to him and held me tight against his body. "I think you have something of mine."

It was the middle of the day, and we were in the castle town, so I wasn't afraid that they would carry me off, but I didn't want to be in this fight I either. "I have no idea what you are talking about. Let me go!"

"I think not." His grip on me tightened. "Not until you return my… things."

"You must have me confused with someone else. I work at Kasugayama. I'm no thief." The implied relation to Kenshin ought to have given them a pause, but since they didn't let me pass, I lashed out with my fists and feet.

One of them grunted when I got him in the stomach, but I took a hit almost in my eye, so we'd call that even, I guess. I managed to free up one of my daggers – just in time, because the one who hadn't grabbed me came at me with his sword.

I slashed the arm of the grabby one – he swore and let me go.

The one with the sword charged toward me, and I deflected with the dagger. The other one drew his own sword, and I found myself outflanked.

I wasn't worried yet… I still had my patented best move ready, the never-fail, 'duck out of the way and run like hell' maneuver.

And that was when the man who had been following me reappeared.

Great.

"Oh, this looks like fun," he practically chirped. "Can I play too?" He pulled out a pair of daggers and…

…launched himself at my attackers in a flurry of metal.

He was helping me?

By this time, the innkeeper had come out to see what was going on, and the two men must have decided that was too much attention to attract in what was likely enemy territory for them. They grabbed their horses and fled.

I turned to my follower/rescuer. "Thank you for the help."

"Just evening the odds." He pushed off his hood and turned to me with a cheerful grin on his face. "Katsuko, don't you remember me? I do consider myself extremely memorable."

My brain slowly de-aged this long-haired ninja, replacing him with the memory of a chatterbox young monk I had met nearly five years ago. He'd changed a lot. But the smile was still there. "Ranmaru? But… why were you chasing me?"

Another smile, then he bowed deeply. I wondered how and why he had made the transformation from monk to ninja but this wasn't the time or place to discuss such matters.

"I didn't know it was you! Not at first." Ranmaru withdrew a thin packet from his sash. "I have a message from my former master to Shingen. I thought to leave it with Lady Chiyome, then you were pointed out as his personal courier."

"Former master? Then you no longer work for Kennyo?" Given the list of crimes Kennyo had committed against both Nobunaga and Kenshin, it was understandable that Ranmaru might want to distance himself from the man.

"There is not much I can do for a man condemned to live out the remainder of his life in an Azuchi dungeon." Ranmaru's smile faded. "It's complicated as I am Nobunaga's page." He handed me the letter.

"I hope Kennyo doesn't want Shingen to intercede with Nobunaga." I couldn't imagine that going over well.

Ranmaru shook his head. "Nothing like that. The two of them were friends at one time. I believe Kennyo wishes to apologize … and to say farewell, before…"

Before it's too late.

Had word of Shingen's condition travelled to Azuchi? Or maybe Kennyo had another reason to say goodbye. "Thank you. I will make sure he gets it. And thank you again for your help back there. I doubt I would have gotten through unscathed otherwise."

Given Shingen's lectures to me on my so-called daredevil behavior, it would probably be a good idea to keep today's adventures from him.

No need to worry him when he was still sick.

Or well, worry him about this at all.

No, I wouldn't mention any of this – I'd just have to come up with a good story about how I'd gotten my hands on the message from the Imagawa vassal.

Ranmaru preened before giving up and laughing. "It was fun. But you're not completely uninjured." He reached out and touched my cheek, and I winced at the unexpected pressure. "You're going to have quite the black eye."