I wanted to talk with Akiko about what had happened, so I got up early the next morning. My head was pounding from the previous night’s drinking, but I was concerned I had upset her with my late return. The preceding few days, she had seemed less happy, less comfortable with me. I feared that the previous day’s events might further estrange her from me, so I wanted to explain.

I found her already awake, sitting in the main room. She stared pensively out at the lightening sky.

I sat down next to her and cleared my throat. “About yesterday…”

She gave a wan smile. “Don’t worry about it. Surei already sent a message over explaining you’d been detained by your investigations.”

I was simultaneously grateful to Surei for saving me from having to explain what happened and angry at her for not allowing me to deal with the situation myself. “Yes,” I said, “events kept me tied up till late. Sorry to have worried you.”

“Did you discover anything at the Minbushou?”

I explained what I had found. When I finished, I took the deed from my robe and handed it to her. “Here, put this away again. You can’t afford to lose it.”

Akiko seemed unable to accept what I had told her. “I can’t believe that about Ikeda Minbukyou. He has been nothing but helpful and kind to me since the death of my husband.”

“Akiko, he signed the forged documents. I saw his signature and seal myself.”

“That may be, but I am sure someone else was responsible for the forgery. He probably just signed them as a matter of routine.” Still shaking her head, she stood and began pacing around the room. “What possible reason could he have for doing something like that? What could he hope to gain?”

“He wants to marry you. You have repeatedly refused him. If you are in dire straits financially, then there is a much better chance you will agree to be his wife.”

A look of shock passed across her face. She slowly sat back down. After a few moments, she resumed shaking her head. “No, no.” Her voice was anguished.

I wanted to console her, to make her feel better, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. Her obvious distress tore at my heart.

“Akiko, is there anything I can do to help?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and pounded her fist on the floor. “This is all just too much. First, I have to leave my home and stay here at a stranger’s estate. It is much nicer than my home, but I can’t help it, I just don’t feel comfortable here.” She turned and looked out the window. “Now you tell me the man I have relied on most heavily since my husband’s death is actually trying to ruin me.”

She waved her hand around the room. “I’m stuck here. As a noblewoman, I’m not able to do anything on my own, but I have to rely on other people like you and Surei. It’s just so confining. It wasn’t so bad at home, but now I feel trapped.”

She laughed bitterly. “I have always been a good girl. When I was little, I wanted to join you and Surei in your adventures, but I was too much of a coward. I rarely went. That’s why I tattled on you. I was jealous.”

She stood and walked to the edge of the veranda. “Being good certainly hasn’t worked out well for me. Surei was always in trouble, and now, despite all the unfortunate things that have happened to her, she is successful and wealthy. But me? I can’t even feed my children without her help. I sit here being a perfect lady while my world falls apart around me. Someday I am going to put on a guard uniform and sneak out like Surei. I would watch dancers and musicians. I could talk to vendors. I might even go into a saké house.”

I looked at her in astonishment. I had never imagined she felt that way.

She gave her first real smile that morning. “You look shocked. Why, now that you are teaching me to use a tachi, I could wear it and strut around like a real imperial guardsman.”

She started swaggering around the room.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her. “If that would cheer you up, we might be able to arrange it.”

Her eyes widened in horror as she shook her head. “Oh no! I couldn’t.” She stared at me. “Could I?” she said uncertainly.

“I can get the uniform Surei uses. I’ll find someone to accompany us. Maybe Mouse. I don’t think we want Surei knowing about this, so we can’t use one of her people. But Mouse can keep his mouth shut.” I looked at her. “We could do it if you want.”

“Oh. Oh. I don’t know.” She put her hands over her face. “Yoshi, you are so bad. You shouldn’t tempt me like this. My mother was right about you after all. You are a bad influence.”

She paced back and forth, her face animated. “Maybe this evening. Yoshi-kun has been terrible about his studies. I have to keep after him. Once he is done, Sachiko can put the children to bed.”

“All right, I will make the preparations.”

I felt a great sense of satisfaction. The intensity of the emotion surprised me a bit. I examined my feelings and was startled to realize how much Akiko’s unhappiness had affected me and how greatly it pleased me to make her happy. Akiko was more important to me than I had believed possible. I was even more surprised when I realized I had been unconsciously assuming we would be continuing our relationship once we resolved her problems.

But that couldn’t happen. I needed to complete my quest for vengeance if I was ever to get peace from my nightmares. I could not simply forget about clearing my family name. A short pause to help Akiko was acceptable, but nothing longer.

In any case, there was no way she and I could ever get married, even if she didn’t have to marry someone else to provide for the children. Society wouldn’t accept it. More importantly, there would be tremendous pressure brought to bear through official channels to prevent such an “unsuitable” match.

But none of that mattered, tonight Akiko was going to have her own adventure. I hurried out to find Mouse.

*****

“You want me to do what?” Mouse stared at me in dismay.

“Steal an imperial guard uniform for me.”

“And I am doing this so we can take some lady out on the town?”

“Yes, she will be wearing an imperial guard uniform too,” I explained.

“First the Hyacinth and now this new one, what’s her name, Akiko? Where do you find these women, anyway?”

“It must be my karma,” I said. “Now, are you game? It won’t pay well, but we can give you something.”

Mouse smiled. “Only if I get to be an imperial guard too.”

*****

Masanori went for his tachi when he saw Mouse and me enter the garden, but the old bushi relaxed when he saw my face. He was clearly puzzled to see us in imperial guards uniforms but said nothing. Mouse gave him a formal bow and waited outside the house. I went inside.

“Akiko, I have the uniform. Are you ready?”

Akiko ran to me. “Yoshi, I can’t do this. I’m too scared. I don’t know how to behave. What if I do something wrong?”

“Here, put this on.” I held out the uniform. “It’s going to be fine. Mouse and I will be with you. Mouse is very capable. We’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

Akiko took the uniform and looked at me uncertainly. Then she took a breath and hurried behind a screen to change.

I stepped out on the veranda with Mouse to wait. It took a while, but she finally came out. She had scrubbed all traces of makeup from her face and hidden her floor length hair somewhere.

When Akiko saw Mouse, she covered her face in horror. “People will see my face! I can’t go out barefaced! Oh, Yoshi, this was a crazy idea. I am so sorry I even brought it up.”

I looked apologetically at Mouse. This wasn’t going to work. Akiko was just too conventional.

“So?” Mouse said. “You’re a guardsman, not a lady. Guardsmen can show the world their faces. Just remember that. You’re a guardsman.”

Akiko peeked at Mouse through her fingers. “I am a guardsman? Would anyone believe that?”

“If you believe it, they will,” he assured her. “That is how the Hyacinth does it.”

“I’m a guardsman,” she repeated uncertainly.

“You are as convincing a guardsman as Sur—The Hyacinth is,” I assured her.

“A guardsman. I’m a guardsman,” she said with more confidence. She straightened and dropped her hands. “Oh, I need my weapons!”

As she dashed back into the house, Mouse leaned over and whispered to me, “How is it you keep getting all these good-looking women. You sure aren’t much to look at. Maybe I should work on the tragic bushi routine. It might work for me.”

I had a hard time imagining Mouse as a tragic bushi, but then again, I’d been wrong about him before.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When Akiko returned, I helped her attach the weapons to her belt. We went out into the night with Masanori staring after us and shaking his head.

*****

I was determined that nothing bad happen that night. Checking the jug around my neck to make sure it was full, I vowed Benkon’s boiled plant juice would be the only thing I would drink while we were out. I uncorked the bottle and took a long pull.

Akiko turned to Mouse and asked him, “Have you known my cousin Surei long?”

At Akiko’s use of “Surei,” some of the drink wound up going down my windpipe, and I started coughing.

Mouse grinned at Akiko and said, “Oh, about ten, eleven years now, I guess.”

“Oh, then you must have met her just after Yoshi’s family was killed in the ambush.”

Neither one of them paid any attention to my renewed choking and coughing.

Mouse nodded his head. “Yes, she had only been on her own for a little while. I saw right off, though, that she had some real talent.”

Mouse looked at me sideways and got another sly grin. “She kept talking about a boyfriend she expected to come back for her. When he didn’t come after a month or so, she had some pretty unkind things to say about him.”

Akiko looked at me, too. “Oh.”

Desperate to change the subject, I called out, “Do you want to stop at the market? It’s this way.”

Akiko looked at the stalls of the merchants but shook her head. “No, I’ve been to the market. I’ve never been in a saké house. I want to visit one.”

“There’s a good one down this way.” Mouse turned right and led us down the street.

I stopped just inside the door and looked the place over. It was rougher than what I would have wanted, but I really didn’t know the saké houses in Kyoto, so I had to rely on Mouse. The crowd was mostly bushi and imperial guards.

At least no one will give us a second look here.

Akiko stood close beside me, taking it all in with wide eyes.

“Yoshi’s buying,” Mouse called out, grabbing saké bowls from a passing serving girl. I pulled out what money I had and counted it. It wasn’t much, but I could afford a few drinks.

Akiko watched a group of bushi toss back their saké. She picked up her bowl and tried to follow suit. She swallowed most of it in one gulp, but then gasped and choked as it burned its way down.

A passing bushi saw her and laughed. “Just keep trying, lad. It gets easier.”

Akiko giggled. “He really thought I was a bushi,” she whispered.

A cheer sounded from a corner of the saké house. Akiko looked in that direction. “What are they doing?”

“Gambling,” I answered. I craned my neck to get a better view. “It looks like a cricket fight.”

“Ooo, I want to see.” Akiko slid between the spectators until she stood beside the arena. I followed.

“Next, we have Susano-O’s Fist,” the promoter held up a cage while the audience cheered. “He’s facing Blue Bottle Mandible.” I joined the jeers, remembering what I lost on that cricket before.

“Why don’t you just let that useless bug go?” one man shouted.

“He is pretty,” Akiko said to me. “Look at the iridescent blue on him. Why don’t they like him?”

“Because he keeps losing fights,” I answered. “You don’t bet on a cricket because he is ‘pretty,’ you bet on him because he is a winner.”

“Ten to one odds,” shouted the promoter. “One mon will get you ten mon. Come on. Where else are you going to find odds like this?”

Blue Bottle Mandible’s handler, an old man, held his cage and looked around hopefully, but no one wanted to bet on him even at those odds.

“Someone should have faith in that poor cricket,” Akiko said. “Let’s bet on him.”

“I don’t have enough to bet on a cricket fight. Besides, betting on him is what got me into this mess to begin with,” I told her.

“Well, I have some money.” She reached inside her robe, pulled out a purse, and counted out ten mon.

“Ten mon on Blue Bottle Mandible for our young friend here,” the promoter said. “Do I have any other bettors?”

People made a few more bets on Susano-O’s Fist. The crickets were placed in the arena, and the fight began. At first it looked like it was going to be a repeat of the last fight I watched Blue Bottle lose, but in the end, he rallied and beat Susano-O’s Fist.

Akiko’s luck is better than mine.

Once she collected her winnings, the promoter announced the next fight. Akiko turned and started to walk away.

“Wait,” I said. “Don’t you want to bet on the next fight? You could get a lot of money if your luck holds out.”

“Luck never holds out,” she answered. “And now we have enough money to buy all the saké we can drink. Let’s go watch the dancers.”

We sat down and a serving girl immediately appeared with more drinks. Akiko paid her and put her fattened purse back in her robe. The dancers were not very good and the musicians were worse, but Akiko seemed to enjoy it. While Akiko and Mouse drank saké, I kept my promise to myself and drank Benkon’s boiled plant juice.

One of the patrons grabbed at a dancer as she came near his table. He attempted to pull her down into his lap. She struggled against his attentions, but she couldn’t get away. With a panicked expression, she redoubled her efforts. The bushi pawed roughly at her chest. She freed herself from his clutches, but he tore her robe open, baring her breasts. She fled the room trying to cover her nakedness. The other bushi at the table jeered at their fellow.

Akiko watched the incident with a frown and a furrowed brow. “Why did he do that to the poor girl? Why didn’t anyone try to stop him?” she demanded of Mouse and me.

Mouse looked at her in surprise. “She’s just a dancer.”

“Does that happen to all the dancers? Did that happen to Surei? I always thought it was all just fun and music.”

Mouse coughed in embarrassment. “At the very beginning, one group of idiots kidnapped her to sell her to a brothel. They decided to take the opportunity to ‘prepare’ her for her new job before they made the sale. After she cut the balls off Tanaka, the leader of the group, and left him there to bleed to death, they were wise enough to let her go in peace.” He smiled. “Of course, her appearing to turn into an oni might of had a part in it, too. That’s when I knew she wasn’t going to be any ordinary dancer.”

Akiko’s sick expression matched my response to the story.

Mouse seemed surprised at our reaction. “Didn’t you know that? I thought everyone had heard that story. That is why Stone is scared of her. Tanaka used to be his boss. When he died, Stone ‘inherited’ the gambling house. Anyway, we partnered up after that. She would walk alone through the streets until someone started shadowing her. Someone would always try to rob her.”

He gave a feral grin. “Instead, she’d lure them into a dark alley and we’d rob them. We ran some con games. ‘Course, she didn’t stick to minor stuff for long. She was never meant for the streets.”

I looked away. How could I have failed to see what would happen when I abandoned her? No wonder she wanted nothing to do with me. Could any vengeance be worth what I put Surei through?

Mouse was looking at the two of us. He put down his cup. “I think I’ve had too much saké. I’m talking too much.”

Akiko was drinking steadily, throwing back the bowls of saké. Before long, she was in a much better mood and began exchanging off-color stories with Mouse. I shook my head.

Why did I bring Mouse along, again?

When a group of bushi started singing a crude folk song, Akiko enthusiastically joined in the chorus:

My husband is away today.

Come in, sit down, and while away

The time. Why don’t you stay the night

And lie with me ’til morning’s light.

I sat there with my mouth open. Was this the same prim and proper Akiko who had been afraid of people seeing her face earlier in the evening?

Mouse leaned over to me. “See those four against the wall?” he murmured.

I casually let my eyes drift across the room. There were four bushi at a table, and they seemed to be paying unusually close attention to the three of us.

“What about them?”

“Ever since the lady won the bet, they’ve been eyeing us. Could be trouble.”

And that’s why I brought Mouse along.

I groaned inwardly. Just what we needed.

Over in a corner near the entrance, two groups of bushi were engaged in a heated argument.

“Emperor Go-Shirakawa has no claim to the throne. By rights, Junior Retired Emperor Sutoku’s oldest son, Prince Shigehito should be emperor.”

“Senior Retired Emperor Toba decides who becomes emperor, and he said that would be his son, Emperor Go-Shirakawa.”

Mouse got a nasty glint in his eye. “I have an idea.”

He stood up and staggered like he would almost fall over. He raised his bowl and in a loud, slurred voice, called out, “To the true Emperor!”

The two groups in the corner stood and took up the toast.

“To Emperor Go-Shirakawa!”

“To Prince Shigehito!”

They glared at each other over their raised saké bowls before gulping their drinks down. They remained standing. I could feel the tension in the room. The other patrons began sidling away from the two groups.

The four men watching us stood and seemed to come to a decision. With one last look in our direction, they threw money down on the table and started to leave.

“I think they might be going out to set up an ambush,” Mouse said. “I’ll take care of it.”

He staggered in the direction of the bar, weaving in and out of the customers. As he passed close by the four who had been watching us, he lurched into one of them, knocking him into the middle of the group in the corner and overturning one of the tables, scattering saké jugs and bowls of drink all over.

With a snarl, one of the bushi took a swing at the man who spilled all the saké. In moments, the entire saké house had devolved into a free-for-all.

We need to get out of here before someone gets hurt, particularly Akiko. She is probably terrified to be in the middle of this mêlée.

When I looked around for her, she had disappeared. Someone hit me in the head from behind. My vision flashed for a moment. I turned and drove a fist into his stomach. He gagged and doubled over in pain. I smashed him on the temple and he collapsed to the floor.

I searched frantically around the room for Akiko’s huddled form. I finally spotted her near a group of bushi and imperial guards.

One of the bushi put his hand on her rear and grabbed her. She jumped in surprise. “Come on, boy, let me show you what a real man is like,” he said.

I hurried towards her. A thrown jug flew at my face. I dodged and knocked it out of the way with my left hand. It shattered, the shards cutting deeply into my palm.

Akiko had turned to face the man that grabbed her. With an outraged expression on her face, she cocked her leg back and kicked him in the crotch. He howled in pain and stumbled backwards into another bushi who began hitting him with a saké bowl.

Shouldering my way through the crowd, I grabbed her by the arm. “Come on, we have to go. Now.”

She turned me and kicked me in the knee.

At least she didn’t try and kick me in the crotch.

I yelped in pain and jumped back, managing to stay upright. When Akiko realized what she had done, she gasped and raised her hands to her mouth. “Oh, Yoshi, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you…”

I limped forward and grabbed her by the arm again. “It’s not important. But we need to get out of here.”

Akiko and I slipped outside. Mouse was already waiting for us and motioned us over to where he stood in the shadow of a building across the street.

Akiko stood with her head down, silently shaking like a leaf. Her shoulders quivered with suppressed emotion. I was concerned she was suffering from a delayed reaction to the fight.

“Akiko,” I said, lifting her chin so I could see her face, “are you all right? It’s over, there is nothing to worry about, now.”

Tears were streaming down her face, then she exhaled with an audible gasp. “Oh, I can’t believe it,” she said, then gave out peals of laughter. “I have never had so much fun my entire life!”

It seemed to take her forever before she got her merriment under control. “Yoshi, Mouse, I don’t know how to thank you. This was wonderful tonight. Can we do it again soon?”

Mouse assured her, “I am available anytime you want to do this again. As long as Yoshi is buying.”

I just shook my head.

What have I done?