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Strangled Time
Chapter 13
A fat droplet of rain landed on Kagome's eyelid, jolting her awake. Then another hit her cheek. The fire beside her sizzled as the drops came into contact with the red hot embers.
Nope, nope, nope!
Pulling from the covers was like stepping out of a sauna and into a refrigerator, but she wasn't about to allow her new kimonos to be ruined so soon after getting them. Kagome scrambled to her knees and fumbled a bit in the darkness. Black, heavy clouds had blocked out the moon. She unlatched her backpack and rummaged in it for a second before realizing that the thing she was looking for wasn't in there. She was on her feet in seconds, wet grass beneath her bare feet.
The picnic tarp was right where she had left it last on the other side of the well, folded under a little rock to keep it from flying away on the wind. It crinkled when she shook it open, loud and plastic.
Frantic, she dragged it around the perimeter of the Bone Eater well and tossed it over the statue of Togashimaru's sitting form before returning to collect her bag. The oversized pack was shoved beside him under the pink tarp. Next to go under were her kimonos, and lastly the ripped sleeping bag that she had been using as a bedroll.
Only when all of her things were safe from the impending downpour did Kagome crawl in and begin building her relocated nest. The demon said nothing as she settled beside him and cocooned herself in fabric. The rain tapped and pattered on their heads, growing stronger with every passing breath, but the two remained dry. Shared body heat warmed the tent.
"Thanks for waking me sooner." Kagome said when she was finally satisfied with her position, sarcasm brittle on her tongue.
"Your sleep was so sound; it would have been cruel to disturb you preemptively." He responded, but the priestess didn't buy the excuse.
"Admit it. You just wanted to see my panic mode."
"It was rather impressive, I will say. Your reaction time is not entirely horrendous."
"Gee, thanks." The teen snapped back. The skies let loose then, water pounding and thunder shaking the earth beneath them. "You're such an inspiring cheerleader."
"You are welcome."
Kagome lifted her head to glare at him, but he had already closed his eyes to feign sleep. She stared. His lip twitched, betraying his amusement.
"I hope you get a splinter." The priestess cursed under her breath before flopping back onto her bed and curling tight.
Eventually, the warmth lulled her back to sleep.
...
The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time morning came, making the day dreary and wet. Kagome's mood when she woke matched the gloom perfectly. The sleep that she had gotten could have been great. It could have been the best night's sleep that she'd had yet, if not for that jarring interruption that left her feeling groggy and stiff.
She left her cheery yellow umbrella with the demon lord—to protect his clothes, not him; she was mad at him—and ambled down the hill to the city wearing the ratty yukatas that she'd hoped to have seen the last of. Breakfast was the first thing on her mind, but as soon as she stepped onto the marketplace street, she thought better of it. Her feet turned and stepped back down the way she came before taking a left. Two blocks later she found herself standing before the entry door of a very familiar shopfront.
Kagome looked up at the sign, almost confused by how she had gotten there.
The door slid open before she got the chance to knock, startling the priestess.
A man that she didn't know greeted her. And even though he was a stranger, the structure of his cheeks and the shape of his eyes were familiar and warm. Despite being much taller and thinner, the relation was clear.
And here she had assumed Saburo would be the tallest of his siblings.
"The shop isn't open yet." He said in a smooth voice. "But is there anything I can help you with?"
Kagome pulled her eyes down from the loop of his top knot that she had to crane her neck to see. His face wasn't lined yet, but he was balding a bit at the temples. Or perhaps he just had a naturally high hair line there. "Is Saburo in?"
The man shook his head before crossing the threshold and shutting the door behind him. He placed down a potted plant that she hadn't noticed him carrying. "I'm afraid he isn't available at the moment." After brushing off his hands he smiled at her. "You must be Miss Kagome."
Foul mood be damned. He had a pleasant face and that smile was infectious.
"I am." Kagome replied with a timid little grin. "Can you let him know that I'm looking for him?"
The look he gave her was open and concerned. She probably looked like a soggy rat. He slid the door to the blacksmith shop again, just wide enough to pull out one of the parasols that were leaned in the corner of the entryway. He opened it.
"Do you need him to run another errand with you?"
"Sort of, I think." She flushed when he held the umbrella over her. It was mostly from embarrassment. "Yeah, actually. If he doesn't mind."
"Is it something that I might be able to lend my assistance with?"
The young woman studied him. She should have learned her lesson about dealing with strangers at that point, but was he really a stranger? He was Saburo's older brother. He knew her. He looked so nice. If he could help her, then why not?
What could she possibly have to lose?
Kagome ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head that answered.
Money.
...
Ichiro was charismatic to a fault, and he knew everybody.
They were stopped four times on his street alone by friends and neighbors wishing him a good morning. He spoke circles around their prying questions and gossip as he guided her along, holding close beneath the parasol.
"That brother of yours is a lucky boy." An old woman cooed at one point.
To which the eldest of the blacksmith siblings replied, "We are all lucky in our own turn, but he has yet to bear the fruit you're seeking, Mrs. Murasaki. In due time, the orchard is young yet."
Kagome asked him what he had meant by that once they had passed, and he responded to her just as easily.
"Shiro has recently taken an apprenticeship under me, although he's yet to let his true talents shine. I believe the two of you have already met, yes? He is the youngest of our brothers and not the best conversationalist, but he has a knack for small details and jewelry is his passion."
His words were liquid.
What should have been a twenty minute stroll turned into an hour long dance from stranger to stranger as that pattern continued.
Eventually they made it to their objective. The currency vendor's building was modest on the outside, but the interior showcased a grand meeting hall with painted screens of gold, reds, and greens. Other than the flowers and birds decorating the ostentatious walls and a low black lacquer writing table in the middle, the room was bare. That made it look even bigger than it already was.
It was intimidating.
She was glad she didn't have to go alone.
Ichiro knelt assuredly beside her. Across the table, the coin trader gave the senior blacksmith a withering look. The click of a coin being set on the tabletop filled the loud silence between them. Their opponent picked it up.
He studied it close with his naked eye, then again with a looking glass. He felt the weight of it, and the compared it to a different coin from the box he had brought in with him. Kagome tried not to focus on his scrutiny. She felt small enough already without the trader's lofty gaze appraising her as She didn't want to know what he thought of the mess her hair was in. That being said, the priestess couldn't help but notice the older man's mustache and braided beard. If he was an old man with white hair, it would have made him look like a wise master, but as it was it made him look an awful lot like a pirate.
Fitting, considering that a good amount of Japan's currency in that time had been looted from Chinese ships.
Yeah. She did her homework.
Kagome looked back at the coin when he set it down.
"What are your thoughts?" Ichiro asked, taking the reins of the deal from her. She let him have them gratefully.
The trader hummed with a scowl. "I've never seen a coin such as this. The material is real enough, but this printing is strange. If I didn't know any better, I'd accuse you of forgery."
The time traveler's heart plummeted. Of course he hadn't seen one before; Japanese Mon wouldn't be made for another hundred years. She had hoped he wouldn't notice, since they looked close enough like—
"They are still an extreme rarity, this is true, but surely you can recognize it as the newest printing of a Chinese Song." Kagome perked and looked up at Ichiro. The tall man leaned to circle the round piece of metal on the table. "Note the design and complexity of the bronze. No Japanese forger has the technology to craft such intricate dies. Not even my own kilns could produce such a fine piece of art." He looked up then and met the trader with a loose and friendly smile. "However, I am surprised that a businessman of your caliber has not yet come across such a gem. Your travels this summer have done you a disservice."
"And yet one has fallen into the hands of a blacksmith. Master smith or no, your wares surely have never attracted such notice before."
"Ah." Ichiro said, transitioning into a smooth disappointment. "Much as I wish it to be so, this is not of my possession. It was by a happenstance of acquaintance that we've come to be here today." He smiled and gestured to Kagome, rubber emotions springing back to pleasant formality. "Allow me to introduce to you Lady Kagome. To protect her safety, I am unable to divulge the details of her circumstance with you. What I can say is that she hails from the capitol, far to the south. I've no doubt you've already heard the rumors, and I shall not affirm nor deny any of them, other than to assure the legitimacy of her station and coin."
Kagome bowed low, because what else could she have possibly have done in that situation? She stared wide-eyed at the tatami mat. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple.
He was lying through his teeth!
She could practically feel the trader's eyes follow slowly down the curve of her back and the bare of her neck. Each breath she took in had to be closely monitored.
"You offer very little to sway my belief."
"Disputes have been settles for less. What I have offered was already too much, and should not leave this room."
There was a pregnant pause where Kagome held her breath. Then the trader made a noncommittal noise which was followed by another click of a coin. More, smaller clicks followed after that in quick succession. Each metallic tap echoed through the hall. Curious, the priestess dared to peer up from beneath her lashes at the pattern of little copper disks that the man was laying out on the table. Beside her coin he had placed one that was identical to her own.
It had been one of her own.
So much for him never seeing a coin like that before.
He caught her stare, but quickly averted his gaze back to his work.
"I would have been less inclined to accept your tall tales, Ichiro, if I hadn't already had an encounter with Madame Chie." Madame Chie was the Mama-san of the seamstress shop, Kagome noted. The coin merchant studied the makshift abacus he'd built on the table before taking away three coins from a row and moving two to another. "It seems Lady Kagome's influence has already disrupted market circulation."
Oops.
Kagome looked up to the taller man to see how he would respond.
remained silent.
The trader stayed focused on his disks as if he were reading her fortune when he finally said, "I can offer you fifty three copper Mun."
"You insult me, Tabenosuke."
"How so? The Mun is experiencing exponential growth and will be worth twice its current value come winter."
Ichiro didn't miss a beat. "Perhaps in the North, but in any other region Mun is too volatile a boar for modest use."
The priestess stayed as still as a board to keep from ping ponging back and for the between the two men.
"How modest would have me be?"
"Four hundred bronze Song."
"Four hundred? Have you started growing golden peaches? For bronze, one hundred and fifty."
"Is that how you treat all of your clientele? Through crookery and slight? Three hundred and eighty bronze Song."
"One seventy five. Only with those who repeatedly seek to twist ankles."
Ichiro calmly placed both palms on the table. "Three hundred and fifty bronze Song, and the names of three merchants looking to consolidate their wealth and move to larger pastures."
Tabenosuke didn't reply right away.
"Dealer's share?"
"Eight percent."
Silence fell around them, filled only with the metallic click click of the trader's makeshift abacus. Then he glowered and twisted the braid of his beard.
"Your father would roll over in his grave if he learned of the vulture you've become."
At that Ichiro laughed. "Then let us not tell him."
"Chi."
"Tabe."
The grin they shared then was familiar and mischievous—a look shared between old friends after a fierce competition. And then Tabenosuke scoffed.
The currency trader sorted out the exchange for the three coins that the blacksmith slid towards him. Before leaving the establishment, Ichiro pulled five little bronze coins from the purse that his long time business associate had filled for them. He held them up between his fingers to show Kagome; a pleasant smiled decorating his face.
Thanks to his back and forth with the pirate man, Kagome didn't believe that his smile was completely innocent.
Not for a second.
"Finder's fee." He said to her.
And then he pocketed his measly share.
...
Ichiro led Kagome behind the blacksmith's shop when they returned instead of taking the front door. Sounds of laughter greeted her before the garden came into view.
Saburo was back there, growling and stomping around the hidden nook of their backyard with a child under each arm and a toddler hanging from his neck. His smile was as loose and free as his hair blowing in the wind. A woman was sitting on a garden bench behind him, hiding her own demure smile behind the sleeve of her kimono. It was a heartwarming scene.
The broad man brightened further when he saw her. Then he saw his brother and the vibrancy of his excitement faltered.
"Miss Kagome, did you just arrive? I'm sorry; I didn't hear you enter the shop."
It was hard not to giggle with him still draped in children.
"No, I stopped in a bit ago while you were out. Your brother helped me run an errand."
Kagome didn't miss the look he shot his eldest brother.
"Oh? I coulda done that for you." Saburo replied, still looking at the taller Ichiro. "Why didn't 'cha let me know she was here? I wasn't far."
"Now, don't be upset little brother." Ichiro soothed in that liquid voice of his, all smiles and kindness. "I wanted to meet her, and it happened to be a task that I was better suited for."
Saburo's flat look was the closest to annoyed that she'd ever seen him.
He walked over to them and held out the squealing kids in his arms. "Take yer monkeys." Ichiro complied and hefted the both of them over his shoulders like sacks of rice, rekindling their laughter. Then Saburo pulled the tiny boy from his neck and set him on the ground.
The toddler blinked up at Kagome with wide, curious eyes before hobbling back to the open arms of his mother on the bench. He was the spitting image of Ichiro, hairline and all.
"Well, come on in!" Saburo redirected and motioned for the priestess to follow once his hands were free. He brushed past his brother and headed towards the shop's back door. "Let me show ya what I've got so far"
...
"Jerky?"
Togashimaru looked cross-eyed up at the salty smelling meat dangling in front of him before inclining his head further to see the human girl standing behind him. She was chewing on a stick of her own.
"Does this mean that you are no longer upset with me?"
Kagome waved the preserved meat above his nose until he took it from her.
"Nah." She affirmed. "I probably would've been cranky no matter how I woke up. And your senses still aren't their best; I'm sure if you knew it was going to rain that hard you would have told me before I even went to bed."
The demon lord declined to answer that.
Instead, he took a bite from his meat stick and said, "So you are no longer wishing splinters upon my person?"
Kagome laughed. "Sometimes, Toga, I wish all the splinters on you."
"But not currently?"
"No, not currently."
"That is appreciated." He replied with a shit-eating grin. "To even a powerful demon such as myself, splinters can be a fate worse than death"
Rolling her eyes, she pulled a parchment from her sleeve. "Here." She said and balanced it on Togashimaru's forehead before walking away. "Saburo wants you to pick a pattern for the guard."
End Chapter