Exactly as Inari-sama had said a few hours ago, the teahouse at the foot of the mountain was completely empty and dark. Its moss-covered stone walls and elaborate vines topped with Fuji* flower trees had the front and back gates closed and locked with black iron padlocks. Completely in the dark and under an unrelenting storm, Rin had her skin completely shivered from the lethal combination of wind and rain. Her kimono was heavy, soaked as well as her nagajuban, and now full of mud stains on the hem that went all the way to her hips. Her long black hair was barely dry from the shower and stuck to her skin and the fabric of her kimono, heavy.
If she ran into anyone, she had no doubt that they would think she was an apparition from the world of the dead, like a haunting. There were so many cemeteries in the area, as well as temples for cremation, that this kind of tale was becoming more and more common.
She walked all the way along the wall silently, her feet stepping in mud puddles, until she found the pink Fuji flower tree, exactly where the almond-eyed young woman kept the master key to the teahouse. She used her small hands to dig a space under one of the exposed roots, quickly becoming mud in her hands. The storm was still raging brutally and sudden flashes of lightning dominated the dark sky that night.
Lightning was striking across the region, deafening.
Her fingers touched a little box made of straw, making her smile with relief. Her secret was still there. She had been lucky enough to get hold of this key when she was in town one night waiting for men in the dark alleys, seeing one of the maiko* from this establishment walking briskly down the main street. A clink sounded in his ears, and the next thing he knew, he had the little master key in his hands.
They should have changed all the locks, but it seems that the maiko never reported that she had lost the key. As she opened the little straw box, it occurred to her that she had never seen her in town again after that night. "Maybe she ran off with some boy," Rin reflected, unlocking the back gate quietly. It was not that unusual. Geisha life was not for every woman, regardless of the comforts it brought.
Just as the life of a comfort* woman never was for Rin, but in her case there was no possibility of anyone liking her enough to want to burn herself with an entire society and run away with her. Reality was hard, but if it were easy...
"...it wouldn't be my life," she concluded in her thoughts, finishing unlocking the back door of the teahouse, entering the spacious kitchen of the establishment with a satisfied smile on her lips. He would offer incense to Inari-sama at the first temple that came along the road, wherever he was going after that night.
One night at a time.
This night she was safe.
She opened the door to the storeroom, taking out large quantities of stored rice and passing it into a cloth bag she found around the corners of the kitchen. She was going to steal as much food as she could carry. He examined some pickled vegetables, salted meats in barrels, deciding to be bold in his intentions, not knowing if his life would last more than a few days. She quickly lit the kitchen flames, cooking an indecent amount of everything she had never had in her life.
Even if someone caught her eating, at least she would die happy.
An excited smile filled her lips as she watched the huge filet, from whatever animal that was, cooking in the stew with some vegetables. She used all the ingredients she knew in that kitchen, for the first time enjoying cooking.
Anyone who cooks for pleasure has food to spare.
She brought her nose close to the point of the steam from the iron pot over the fire in the central space there, closing her eyes with the wonderful scent she could smell. She had never eaten meat from anything other than chicken, fish or pork. The fat from the meat dissolved into the stew, making it glow before the crackling flames. While waiting for the stew to be ready, the almond-eyed young woman checked the small pans in the stash, snatching the smallest of them as she placed it in her also-stolen cloth bag.
"Now I just need a new kimono," she reflected as she analyzed the condition of the wet and dirty fabric of her garments. A new nagajuban definitely. She extinguished the flames with a bucket of dirt and ashes when she thought the stew was ready, devouring it as if it were her last meal. No matter how hot it was, it was the best thing she had eaten in her entire life. The rich fatty broth from the meat and umami* from the vegetables could sustain her for days. Finally, when she could eat no more, she put the rest of the food in an iron container, saving it for later.
The satisfied smile would not leave her lips. If she was to die in the next few hours, she would make the transition happy. Her long hair finally began to dry with the help of the heat from the kitchen, but her clothes still weighed heavily on her body. She went through other closets in rooms that connected with the kitchen, finding two extremely simple pieces of kimono and nagajuban probably as reserves for people who worked in the teahouse. They were of a much better cotton than her own, although the colors were practically the same, without any dyeing. Finally, Rin picked up a geta from the corner of the kitchen to call hers. She quickly put them on, looking around, since she had never entered the establishment this deeply before. Every time she had gone in there she had lasted less than two minutes, going straight to the food stock and running away almost immediately.
She packed everything she had stolen in her cloth bag, tying it up. Everything was ready to leave when the storm abated, which apparently would happen soon. The late summer rain was dying down, although the lightning continued to sound in the distance. She went outside, while hiding among the vines on the balconies, and watched the disturbed night sky while sitting on the wooden steps leading to the back patio.
Now that her stomach was full, thoughts in the background flooded her mind.
Where would she go?
"I can ask the village I grew up in to take me back, if I tell them my parents abandoned me," Rin thought, having no idea what she would do after that night. The people there would still remember her, right? The world seemed too big for her, who could barely read and, after being ignored for so long, speak. It was hard, it was intimidating.
But Inari-sama had told her not to look back.
She shook her head, bewildered.
Before she could formulate any kind of plan, a noise in the middle of the forest put her on full alert. They were male voices being muffled by the rain, approaching the front gate of the teahouse. Her eyes widened like two large summer watermelons when she realized that none of them had the key, they just threw the heavy solid wooden doors to the ground after audible attempts. Rin had no idea how they had broken the lock, which meant they were not unarmed.
She crept silently, her heart beating fast, to the kitchen kimono closet. Since there were several shelves with boxes stacked on them, the young woman climbed up the wooden ladder with her cloth bag, but it wasn't until she lay down on the highest shelves to hide that she realized she had left the shoji* doors of the closet open.
Her heart was beating fast, even though her breathing was moderately controlled, when she noticed her mistake. The sounds of footsteps entering the teahouse, but from the main entrance hall, echoed throughout the sophisticated and luxurious structure. Voices in the distance reached her ears, although she could not discern their words.
Now she couldn't leave her hiding place.
Footsteps echoed through the corridors near the kitchen, coming extremely close to the closet that Rin was in. She tried to control her breathing as much as she could, knowing that they were probably youkais. It was a teahouse for youkais, as Ikejiri-san had said, so only they would have the courage to break down the front gates without any ceremony.
"Let me check this part", he heard a male voice speak, discerning the words for the first time. The shoji door from the kitchen had opened onto the corridor leading to the entertainment rooms. She decided to change the position of her head to try to see anything that passed in front of the cupboard, holding her breath as long as she could so that they wouldn't hear her. They said that the youkai senses were much sharper than those of humans, and although she was not exactly an expert in them, she had perfected her ability to remain invisible to the eyes of all. Only then could she explain why she had not yet been killed during her miserable nights in the city, in the dark alleys and cold lanes. "Some servant has been around, although they should all be in Fushizu-san's castle."
Rin frowned unconsciously, blinking her forehead. Why was he referring to the Daimyo of those lands so simply? She had never heard anyone call him by this honorific, not least because she had never met anyone who was above him in the hierarchy of whatever it was that was called Japan. "It should be Fushizu-dono," she reflected puzzled. She tried to spy once more, noticing that a strangely familiar man passed quickly in front of the closet doors, not allowing much time for scrutiny.
"There is no sign of a break-in at the back door", reported a second male voice that, this time, the young, almond-eyed woman knew who it came from. Her eyes widened. It was no wonder she had recognized the man's figure.
It was Ohime-sama's escort, the samurai who had pulled her arm through the crowd. The same one who had been ordered to divert the guards' attention, although she couldn't remember his name exactly. Everything had happened so fast that day that she decided she would eat a Yakitori even if she had to swipe one.
A silence took over the place, settling between them instantly. The footsteps had stopped and the voices had ceased. He felt as if he were in the company of ghosts, for all signs of life had completely disappeared. She blinked a few times in an attempt to understand if she had slept and dreamed about these visitors or if she was really going crazy. Before she could come to a satisfactory conclusion as to what was happening, she felt her thin arm being pulled out by a terrifying tan hand full of claws.
Her whole body was dragged off the wooden shelf, closing her eyes already foreseeing the pain she would feel as she hit the floor painfully. She stiffened all her muscles, however to her surprise, the impact didn't come. The bronze clawed hand had gently placed her on the ground, as if the weight of her body was practically nothing.
Still with her arms at chest height, in a clear defensive position, her feet touched the icy stone floor. The clawed hand dropped her without much ceremony, hearing in front of her the sound of someone sighing. She raised her gaze for a millisecond, puzzled, even though she knew she shouldn't have been. When she landed on the figure in front of her, she saw one of the most majestic things she had ever seen. Her long silver hair was tied up in a high ponytail, gleaming in the light of the newly lit kitchen fire. His skin had a light tan tone that contrasted with his hair slightly, as well as purple color markings stood out on his jaw and wrists. Dressed in an extremely elaborate black and gold hakama and haori ensemble, the young woman did not know how many layers of fabric it held, yet it was as if it weighed exactly nothing.
Amber-colored eyes stared at her intrigued by his presence, and before Rin could notice all the details of the tall, elegant being in front of her, her common sense kicked in and she looked down at her own muddy, dried feet.
"Do you work here?", asked the voice that came from him, much friendlier than she had previously thought. There was something calm that he was emanating, like an insurmountable serenity, even though he had caught her hiding around the corners of the teahouse. "I'll know if you lie."
Rin bit her parched lower lip, still looking down at her feet. She noticed that the youkai was wearing different shoes than she was used to. They were leather boots that protected the lower part of his refined garments. He had seen boots like that one time when a caravan of a Daimyo from other lands had passed in front of his village, heading for the main city in the region. Boots of samurai armor. "He must be important," she reflected in anguish.
Could it really be that that being that appeared before her in the lake was Inari-sama? For he would know that there would be visitors at the teahouse, even though he said it was empty.
This made her eyes fill with tears, feeling confused about Inari-sama's intentions. Why had he sent her there?
She didn't want to die now. Not tomorrow. Not in the next moon cycle. She had lived so little and so precariously, without knowing the true happiness of being alive. She had to know what it meant to live before she died.
She shook her head, and, to her perplexity, she heard him sigh with relief.
"No need to cry, miss, it's all right", he murmured, still with his friendly demeanor, although Rin caught a glimpse of two large katana* strapped to his hakama. It was then that she had realized that tears were running down her freely blushing cheeks, wiping them with the back of her hand afterwards. "Have you found anyone else, Ikoma-san?"
Hurried footsteps crossed the kitchen, revealing the familiar samurai figure Rin had seen accompanying Ohime-sama into town. His attire was extremely formal today, having an unknown emblem applied over his haori. It was the figure of a purple waning moon on a white background, being the same color as his haori and hakama. The same sword was still tied around his waist, as before.
"The property is empty, Tono-sama*", Ikoma-san warned extremely respectfully, bowing ceremoniously when the youkai turned his attention to him, then nodded.
It was at this very moment that the samurai's dark eyes located the presence of the young woman with almond eyes, and they widened. His jaw hung down for a few milliseconds, losing its pomp-filled pose. Rin felt her cheeks flush as she noticed the man's look of recognition, attracting the youkai's attention, whoever that majestic, yet friendly, powerful being was.
"If it was Nabushima-san, I'd have a broken arm by now", she thought, quickly analyzing him before averting her eyes once more as a sign of respect. If Ikoma-san behaved this way with him, she would be no different.
Then the last word Ikoma-san had said slapped her hard.
"Tono-sama...?!" she thought wide-eyed, not believing what she had heard. It had to be a lie, it could only be a lie.
His mouth turned to sand from being so dry.
The Shogun would never be in a teahouse at the foot of the mountains, much less touch a being as low and insignificant as she was. You must have heard wrong, though what could be easily mistaken for Tono-sama?!
"Wait a minute…", began Ikoma-san, quickly approaching the young woman, analyzing her closely. His dark eyes narrowed considerably, scanning Rin's long black hair and then her face. Still looking down and entirely intimidated by what her ears were hearing, her body unresponsive. "...I know this girl. Those almond eyes, long messy hair, and looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. The Hungry-chan."
"I guess there aren't that many young women in the same position as me," Rin thought slightly annoyed, looking down at the ground in an attempt to avoid both the curious gaze of the samurai and the... no, it seemed like something too far out of her reality to blindly believe that the one who stood before her was the Shogun. They said the man who had brought Japan together, whatever that meant, and he was a youkai of incomparable power, without weakness, untouchable. "I must have heard wrong," she tried to convince herself again. Not that his image was any different, it just…
...it seemed like something that didn't belong in her life.
Rin had always known that her life would be brief under the current circumstances she was living. His reality was quite different than Ohime-sama's, for example. It was much easier to think that the problem was with her, that she heard wrong, than to believe that who that elegant youkai in front of her really was.
His silver strands of hair glistened in the light of the fire.
"Okama-san, don't be rude", the youkai's voice sounded a little sterner, as if he was getting the samurai's attention. Rin's heart was beating fast, her eyes slowly understanding that she had heard right. Not knowing how to behave in front of him, she found herself falling to her knees on the floor in a deep bow, similar to when she thanked Ohime-sama in the city, with the tip of her nose touching the cold stone floor of the kitchen. "Get up and introduce yourself."
Rin felt her body immobilized in the same position as it had been, on the floor. Her trembling fingers could barely stay in the same position, although her legs were paralyzed by the fear of committing any act that would offend him. She didn't know who the Shogun was, didn't know about his life, had no knowledge of how to behave, much less lived with people who would talk about these matters. All she heard once in the city, on one of her nights working in the dark alleys, was that Fushizu-dono had established diplomatic relations with Tono-sama to avoid a massacre in those lands.
"Forgive me if I have offended Touga-sama, it was not my intention", apologized Okama-san's voice, already a little distant from where Rin had last seen him. "If it weren't for Hime-sama, she would never see the light of day again. Or worse. The penalty for theft is death, girl, at least in these lands."
"Not on her terms, although I understand that Fushizu-san has other convictions", commented Touga-sama's voice, apparently being exactly who it was. "I will not repeat it."
"Get up!" she spoke to herself, internally. She closed her eyes, still remembering what he had just said, trying to keep herself safe so that her voice didn't waver in nervousness. She put the weight of her body on her heels, standing up awkwardly now wearing the kimono freshly stolen from the teahouse storeroom.
She took a deep breath, noticing her throat parched in nervousness, before opening her eyes again, still looking at the floor.
"My name is Rin", she introduced herself as he had asked, not knowing what kind of honorific could be used with him. Her voice came out so low it was like a whisper, unsteady. "Just Rin. No... I don't work here."
"Then what are you doing here?", he asked, pressing the issue.
Rin heard the muffled footsteps, short and fast, of a third person walking through the halls of the estate. Unlike the Shogun's Daimyo boots and Okama-san's geta, those footsteps sounded feminine and delicate.
"I'm hungry", she answered almost immediately, still with a string of her voice. Her almond eyes, still looking at the floor, managed to spot an elegant and very tall black Okobo* with a lacquered sheen and orange cushions. The delicate feet were covered with white Tabi*, without a trace of dirt or mud. Her hikizuri style kimono had various shades of light blue, right down to her highly embroidered white nagajuban. Her gigantic orange obi hung down to the hem of her hikizuri glamorously. "I saw that the teahouse was empty and went inside... I found a key fallen on the path from the garden to the gates..."
She would never admit that had purposely stolen a key from a Maiko in the city. Even if he was the Shogun, Rin would like to keep her head above her neck. "It's one thing to steal food when you're hungry, it's quite another to strategically steal a place," she reflected fearfully, still keeping her eyes down and observing the rich fabric of the woman's kimono.
"I know her, Touga-sama", the woman had a familiar voice that it didn't take Rin long to figure out who it belonged to. Ohime-sama. It was a kind and affable tone of voice, very rare in the almond-eyed young woman's life... and perhaps that was why it had been so easy to memorize. "She is the girl from the festival that I told you earlier, it was impressive. There's no need to keep your head down, Rin-chan. Nobody is going to hurt you here."
Rin slowly raised the eyes to her, taking great care not to stare directly at her.
She was the most gentle woman in the whole world. Ohime-sama. A gentle smile had formed on her lips, painted in light shades of pink, matching her extremely elaborate and tall kanzashi*. There were flowers made of stones that sparkled, like jewels, bringing points of light to her bright and ornate black hair.
For Inari-sama, besides being kind and friendly, she was still the most stunning woman in the whole world.
"Ohime-sama", she greeted her respectfully as she bowed and stood there for a few seconds, raising her torso again soon after. Her voice was still shaky, although she felt a little braver about using it.
She smiled amusedly.
"Izayoi-sama is enough, Rin-chan", she informed her, still laughing at the way the girl had called her. "But if you like, you can call me Hime-sama. I smell a wonderful aroma in this kitchen, I hope you had a good meal tonight."
Still amazed by this woman, and partially forgetting about the presence of Tono-sama next to her, the young woman with almond eyes nodded respectfully.
Izayoi-sama.
"So this is the girl who managed to blend into the crowd without being caught by Fushizu-san's guards, huh?", began Touga-sama as he crossed his arms, reflexively. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen, Oyakata-sama*", she answered with her head bowed, showing respect... but still disbelieving that Inari-sama had sent her to that teahouse since they would be there.
"You look younger", he commented, still thoughtful as his amber-colored orbs looked at her, "but I suppose it's the lack of nutrition, given the condition you're in. Rin is your name, and your family? What is its name?"
"I don't have a family, Oyakata-sama", she replied, still with her head down, "at least I don't remember having a family name."
"I see", he spoke at last, and then looked quickly at Izayoi-sama. They exchanged meaningful glances, as if there was an intimacy to it. A woman could never face the Shogun like that, unless... "Izayoi-sama was impressed with your capacity to hide in the light of day. Where did you learn this?"
Rin shrugged, this time looking at Hime-sama, who was smiling amiably. "They talked about me, and... and... I impressed her," she thought shyly, feeling her cheeks blush. Besides owing her life to Izayoi-sama, she had still been praised.
"I have to survive, Oyakata-sama," she explained simply, not knowing how to detail the daily life of someone who had to pretend to be invisible in order not to be killed by the villagers, by the men who took her for themselves on dark nights in the city, and by the guards who always had their hawk-like eyes on her body, "I had no choice."
The two looked at each other once more, each time with their gazes coddling in a language that only they knew. "They are a couple," Rin noted in amazement, swallowing dryly. Thinking about this, she had never heard about the Shogun's human wife... and thought that youkais and humans didn't marry, didn't mix. It would definitely be a recurring issue in town if the Shogun married a human, even if she was a princess like Hime-sama.
Anyway, Rin didn't understand anything about their world. She only knew that humans and youkais didn't have relationships with each other, because when a teahouse opened exclusively for youkais, only youkais worked there. Humans were allowed only in certain cases, such as cleaning or cooking. That was all she had heard in the city, at least.
"Rin-chan, I would like to ask you a favor", Izayoi-sama began politely, her black eyes twinkling in the half-light of the kitchen flames. The young woman felt her heart stop for a moment, after all, what could a woman as stunning as Izayoi-sama ask of her? It made no sense in her mind. "Finish your meal quietly in this kitchen, Okama-san will stay with you. Wait for my return in a few hours, okay?"
Rin nodded, still confused about what that could mean.
Inari-sama really knew what he was doing when he sent her to that teahouse in the middle of a storm. She watched the couple walk away, looking at each other cheerfully without any shame in showing off their affection for each other. Their footsteps echoed through the teahouse, up the stairs, as Okama-san again entered the kitchen. Her geta echoed against the icy stone floor.
Still dizzy from what had happened, she noticed the samurai opening the empty pot she had been cooking in. She watched him for few minutes, preparing something to eat without worrying whether that food really belonged to him or not. She looked around for her cloth bag, locating it near the shoji door to the kitchen, which led to the back patio.
She untied the knot quickly, taking out the iron container with the remains of her dinner and walking over to the samurai, who stopped looking for food as soon as he saw her behind him. He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms with his hands tucked into the sleeves of his haori.
"Here is the rest of dinner, Okama-san", she offered him the iron container right away, for the first time in many years being the first to start a conversation, to use her voice without being obliged to speak.
"I won't steal your food, Starving-chan", he warned politely, nodding in thanks for the offer, "Take your time and eat again."
A grateful smile occupied her parched lips, and she nodded back. As she sat down on the stone floor to heat the iron container, and the food inside it, she reinforced the flames in the kitchen with the help of more firewood. And then moans that she was well acquainted with abruptly invaded her ears, coming from the upstairs of the teahouse.
She widened her eyes, feeling her cheeks blush in a scarlet shade. Izayoi-sama's voice echoed through the halls of the teahouse, and unlike what Rin had become accustomed to hearing, it was not one of pain. Her moans grew louder as noises of impacts upstairs were heard. "Is she... enjoying it?" thought Rin completely embarrassed to hear something so intimate from two people she should never, ever have met under normal conditions.
Okama-san sat down near the kitchen flames, pretending that those sounds simply didn't exist. Still with his arms crossed, he closed his eyes, apparently to rest. Rin, who was looking at him still embarrassed, turned her attention to the bubbling stew, giving off a wonderful smell throughout the room. Every liquid glowed because of the fat, salt and herbs on its surface.
However, it still did not erase her embarrassment at hearing Izayoi-sama and the Shogun in their most intimate moments, apparently not caring what Okama-san or herself would think of it. "Okama-san seems even used to it, not at all surprised," the young woman observed, puzzled.
Another thing that intrigued her was the expression of pleasure that Izayoi-sama emitted.
The act of sex was not pleasurable at all in her endless experience over the past two years.
"How could she enjoy such violence?" she wondered internally, finding it strange. It hurt, it stung, it was extremely invasive. A sacrifice that women should make to please their client, their husband, whoever, or even just to have children. How could something so bad and that made her cry sound so...
…good?