Someone ran into me as I was leaving the building. He was in a hurry and not looking where he was going and nearly knocked me off my feet.
He turned to me angrily and said, “Watch where you’re go—Inspector Minamoto!”
It was one of the imperial guards officers from the high priestess’ poetry contest. I was astonished to see him, but I shouldn’t have been. The regimental headquarters was located just across the courtyard of the Daidairi from the Minbushou, and most of the guards officers had duty there at least twice a month.
He seemed as surprised to see me there in the Daidairi as I was him. After a moment, he recovered and said, “I am on an urgent errand. I’m sorry, but I have to go.” He hurried off.
I need to get out of here, quickly. Just my usual bad luck to run into one of the few people who can identify me by sight.
Professor was leaning against the wall near the entrance, casually observing the officials, courtiers, and ladies-in-waiting hurrying by, each on his own important business. I had to admit it made a fascinating spectacle, but there was no time for it now.
“We’ve got to get out of here, I think someone is after me,” I told Professor. “One of the men who were with us on the caravan to Isé just recognized me. I expect he is on his way to get troops.”
“Was this one of men who attacked the high priestess?”
”No, but he might be working for some of the people who tried to kill me.”
Professor pursed his lips and cocked his head as he looked at me. “I never met anyone who had as many people after them as you have. You have a real talent for making friends.”
“You should have the Hyacinth let you tell jokes to her customers. You’re hilarious.”
We hurried to the Suzuka Avenue gate and moved out into the street, intent on putting some distance between us and the palace. Before we had the chance to lose ourselves in the crowd, the guards officer raced out the gate followed by a number of bushi. Spotting us, he gave a yell and pointed. The bushi sprinted after us, and, within moments, we were surrounded.
A bushi wearing expensive lacquered armor with gold inlays pushed his way through the group surrounding us. My heart sank as I saw the Taira family crest emblazoned on his helmet. Like my own Minamoto family, the Taira were a numerous and powerful bushi clan. The Taira clan were rivals with the Minamoto for the few imperial honors available to bushi. Undoubtedly the commander would relish to opportunity to get back at one of the hated Minamoto.
Of course, he may not know who I am. I may be able to pretend I am from some small bushi clan—
“Ah, Inspector Minamoto. Some very important people are anxious to speak with you about what happened with the high priestess.” the commander said.
Oh well.
He continued, “It is amazing how difficult it has been to find you, almost as if you were hiding from official scrutiny. Is there something about your activities you don’t want known, perhaps? Something that won’t stand up to close inspection?” He looked at me with his head slightly cocked to one side, a slight smile on his face.
“Oh, nothing like that,” I assured him. “I’ve been ill since I returned from Isé, and have been spending my time indoors.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “No matter. We found you.”
Turning to his men, he said, “We’re going to the Rokuhara headquarters. Don’t let anyone interfere with our passage.”
I began to get nervous. Rokuhara was located just across the Kamo River, to the east of the capital. It was the residence of Taira no Kiyomori, the head of the Taira clan and military advisor to Emperor Go-Shirakawa. It also served as his military headquarters and garrison for the Taira bushi under his command in Kyoto and its surroundings. Unlike shinden-zukuri in the capital, it was a proper military fortification with high walls, a moat, and guards. If they took me there, it would take some real work to get out.
I was up to my neck in trouble, but I could try and get Professor out of this mess.
If he gets away, he can tell Surei, and maybe she can call in some favors and get me freed.
“Is there any real need for my friend to accompany us? He was merely keeping me company, and I’d hate to have him inconvenienced on my behalf,” I said to the bushi commander.
He turned and studied Professor carefully for the first time, looking him up and down. The commander smiled and shook his head. “I think I would feel better if your large friend weren’t running around loose. He is almost a one-man army, and if he has any more friends as big as he is, they could cause us real trouble. I prefer not to take chances, so he’ll be coming with us.”
With a rueful smile, I shrugged at Professor.
Well, I tried.
The commander held out his hand. “May I have your weapons, please?”
Neither Professor nor I were carrying anything larger than a kodachi. We hadn’t wanted the attention a tachi or my naginata might have attracted. With a sigh, I handed mine over. Professor silently did the same.
As we started off, Professor leaned over and whispered to me, “You didn’t tell me Taira no Kiyomori was after you.”
I whispered back, “He isn’t. At least I don’t think he is. I’m not sure why these people want to talk to me. It can’t be good, though.”
Without looking at us, the commander snapped, “No talking.”
No one said anything as we made the trip to the east gate. Once across the Kamo River, it wasn’t long before we arrived at Rokuhara. Just as I had feared, there were substantial gates, guards checking people going in and out, and watchposts at even intervals along the walls.
I gave Professor a sour look. He was openly admiring the fortifications and troop deployment of the Taira bushi. While I had as much professional admiration for a well-run military camp as anyone, I was more concerned about the difficulties these extensive fortifications and strict security were going to present later, if and when we were able to escape.
We were escorted to a nondescript building deep inside the compound. Dismissing most of the bushi contingent, the commander, accompanied by only two men, took us inside.
The building had been set up as a barracks. There were a number of sleeping mats arranged in rows, with tall, free-standing cabinets against the walls, presumably for personal items. The middle of the room was cleared, and six or seven men were sitting on the floor in various states of undress. They were gathered around a mat that held several bowls of saké and some dice. They looked up as we entered. At the sight of the commander, they scrambled to their feet and bowed. The commander waved them to sit back down.
The commander pointed at one of the men who was almost entirely dressed. “Sergeant. You and your people are now assigned the duty of watching Inspector Minamoto and his large friend here. Make sure they don’t leave this room until I come back for them. It may be a while—we have to find the minister.”
“Sir, we are supposed to be off-duty. We pulled guard duty all last night,” the sergeant protested.
The commander smiled faintly. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your drinking or dice games. Just make sure you keep an eye on these two. I will get you get extra time off tomorrow to make up for this onerous duty. I would have my men take care of it, but we have to go back into the city to search for the minister.”
The sergeant’s eyes narrowed, and he got a crafty look on his face. “You know, sir, someone might come and try and put us on duty for something a bit later. We are scheduled to return to our posts at nightfall.”
Throwing up his hands and laughing, the commander said, “All right, you old fraud. Get me a piece of paper and a brush.”
He scribbled a few lines on a scrap of paper, then took out his seal and stamped it at the bottom. He handed it to the sergeant. “Will that do?” he asked.
The sergeant read the paper. “Know that these men are under my specific orders and not available for further duty until I release them. They are to be extended all possible cooperation in the accomplishment of their mission.” With a serious expression, he answered, “Yes, sir, that will do fine.”
The commander set our kodachi on the table. Still shaking his head and chuckling, he left the building.
The sergeant’s demeanor was not nearly so pleasant when he turned back to us. “All right, you two, over there.” He pointed to the wall farthest from the door. He and his men sat between us and the only exit.
Without a word, Professor and I sat with our backs against the wall.
This was a disaster. We had been captured, and now they were going to hold me for interrogation. And I was still carrying Akiko’s deed stuffed in my robe. If someone took that from me, everything that Surei and I had done would be for naught, and Akiko would never have her rightful properties returned to her.
I tried to think of some way to get us out of this mess. I started to take a drink from the saké jug to try and foster some inspiration, then I remembered it was just Benkon’s boiled plant juice.
Great. I sure could use a drink, and all I have is boiled plant juice…
Leaning my head over in Professor’s direction, in a soft voice, I said, “Follow my lead, I have an idea.”
The sergeant’s head snapped up from the dice game. “Silence!” he barked at us. “No talking!”
“I’m sorry, sergeant, I was just surprised someone as wealthy as your clan chief doesn’t provide a suitable ration of saké to his soldiers. Do all the Taira troops receive so little?”
The sergeant glared at me. “I told you to be quiet!”
I sat there, trying to put an abashed expression on my face. The men played another round of dice. The sergeant looked up at me. “What do you mean, a ‘suitable’ ration of saké? Lord Kiyomori gives us as much saké as we want.”
“Ah. We understand,” I said, and gave Professor a knowing look. I am sure he had no idea what I was doing, but he nodded his head and shrugged, playing along. I said nothing further.
It was the sergeant’s turn to throw the dice, but rather than continue playing, he put them down on the table and looked at the two of us, his gaze traveling from one to the other. “What was that? ‘We understand?’ What is that supposed to mean?”
I said, “Well it’s just—no, never mind, it’s not important. Go ahead with your dice game.”
The sergeant stood up and walked across the room until he was looming over the two of us. Well, he was looming over me. Even sitting down, Professor was big enough the sergeant didn’t loom very well. “You better explain what you are talking about. The commander didn’t say anything about you being in perfect health when he comes back. We could work you over a little and you would still be fine for answering any questions they might have.”
I sighed. “Well, if you insist. It’s not really important, it’s just I was surprised you were drinking so little saké while you were off duty. If it was a group of bushi from the Minamoto,” I said, laying especial emphasis on the last word, “we would be playing drinking games and downing a lot more saké.” I shrugged. “To each his own. I understand some people can’t handle saké as well as we Minamoto—”
“We can damn well handle saké as well as any Minamoto born,” growled the sergeant. The other men in the room muttered their agreement. “You’re going to show us this Minamoto drinking game, and we’ll see who can’t handle their saké.”
He glared at me and motioned to the table in the center of the room.
Feigning reluctance, I stood and joined the men at the table. The sergeant took our kodachi and the signed order from the commander and placed them in one of the small standing cabinets against the wall. I made careful note of which one he used.
Professor still sat against the wall. When the sergeant noticed, he motioned him to get up. “Come on, Tiny, you’re going to play, too.”
The sergeant sat down then fixed me with a hostile gaze. “All right, let’s hear this game.”
I laughed a little weakly. “Well, it is kind of stupid…”
“Never mind. Get on with it.”
I nodded my head. “All right. The game is called pin pon pan. The rules are simple. The first person says ‘pin.’ The person to his left says ‘pon.’ The person to his left says ‘pan,’ and then points at someone else around the table, who says ‘pin,’ and the whole thing starts over again.”
I demonstrated what I meant by saying “pin” and then encouraging Professor, who sat on my left, to say “pon,” then motioned for the person to the left of Professor to say “pan.”
I continued, “When choosing someone to start the next round, you can’t pick either of the two that came before you. If someone makes a mistake, everyone says ‘ichi ichi ichi,’ and he has to down his bowl of saké. Then he starts it over, with ‘pin.’ You have to go as fast as possible, so if someone takes too long to speak or choose someone, they have to take a drink.”
The sergeant sneered at me. “This is what the Minamoto do? It sounds like a stupid child’s game.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I smiled inwardly. This game was a favored pastime of the bushi out in the provinces. When they weren’t fighting, they were probably drinking, and if they were drinking, they were probably playing some version of this game. I wasn’t anything like a champion, but I was a reasonably experienced player, having spent more time than I should have drinking saké with other bushi.
Of course, the challenge of the game was that once someone made a few mistakes and had taken a few drinks, he was correspondingly less capable of playing correctly. This led to him making more mistakes and having to imbibe even more drinks, rendering him even more incapable. I was hoping the Taira would be deceived by the simplicity of the game and Professor and I could outlast them. Of course, I planned to cheat.
Professor looked at me like I’d gone mad. No doubt he had heard some garbled report of what happened in Isé and was wondering if I was reverting to drinking under pressure. I hoped he had enough faith in me to play along.
The sergeant got a couple of extra drinking bowls and slammed them down on the table in front of Professor and me. He started to pour us some saké, but I held up my hand to stop him. “I wouldn’t want to take up your limited supply. Besides, I really like my brand of saké, so I carry around my own supply.” I lifted the container of drink from around my neck and poured some of it into my bowl. I put the jar down on the table. “My friend and I will drink my saké, so you can save yours for yourselves.”
The sergeant looked like he wanted to take offense at my refusal, but then seemed to decide it meant more for him and his men, so all the better.
Professor chose that moment to throw himself wholeheartedly into his role. “Actually, if it is all right with you, I think I will accept your offer. I am familiar with that brewer, and it is very much to my taste.” He reached over, took a jug of saké from in front of the sergeant, and filled his bowl.
Oh great. I hope he can hold his drink.
Since I had suggested the game, I went first. While the bushi to the left of Professor picked people at random, I noticed most of the other bushi were choosing Professor or me so that we had to play the game. So, pretty much every other round resulted in us being chosen. Deliberately, I made the first mistake, saying “pan” instead of “pon.”
I downed my bowl to much hooting and jeering from the Taira bushi. “See, a simple child’s game. Funny how you were the first one to lose, Minamoto,” the sergeant sneered. Fortunately, Benkon’s concoction tasted like slightly tart, lemony water, so it wasn’t too hard to get it down. I smiled in embarrassment and refilled my bowl from my container.
For a while it went on like this, the Taira bushi taking every opportunity to make me play the game. I lost a few times but mostly held my own. When it became apparent they couldn’t get me to fail as often as they would wish, they began picking on each other. The sergeant became a favorite target. He failed often enough he was soon showing the effects of the saké.
The real surprise, though, was Professor. At first, his pedantic nature stood him in good stead, and he went several rounds without mistake, speaking precisely and slowly. Not slowly enough that he got “ichi ichi ichi,” but slowly enough you could tell he was considering his actions. After a couple of mistakes, though, he became a little more exuberant in his behavior, warming to the game and guffawing as hard as anyone when he blundered. At one point, instead of whatever he was supposed to say, he yelled “pin pon pan,” gave a tremendous laugh, downed his bowl of saké and poured himself another one.
His behavior alarmed me. My plan, nebulous as it was, depended on Professor and I remaining sober enough to walk out of the compound. At the rate he was going, I would have to carry him out. Given his size and weight, I wasn’t sure that was possible.
After a run of errors in which Professor joyfully made mistakes in three consecutive rounds, I put my hand on his when he reached for the saké jug to refill his bowl. “Really, Professor, you don’t want to drink all our hosts’ saké. Go ahead and take some of mine.” I filled his bowl from my container.
He shrugged and took it in good grace. After his next error, he took his bowl and downed it one long pull. His choked a little and his eyes opened wide. He blinked at me owlishly and, in a husky voice, said, “I forgot what that tasted like. I think I will have some more.” He refilled his bowl from my jug.
Since I wasn’t getting drunk, I wasn’t making many blunders. Thus, I hadn’t actually been drinking much from my bowl and had been able to conserve my precious store of boiled plant juice. Professor, on the other hand, was pretty drunk. He continued making mistakes, but not nearly so enthusiastically. With each mistake, the level of drink in my container got lower. It wasn’t long before I made one of my rare mistakes and emptied the jug as I refilled my bowl. After that, both of us had to drink the Taira saké.
Thankfully, most of the Taira men were very drunk by then, and Professor managed to keep from getting much more inebriated than he already was.
Shortly thereafter, the first Taira bushi dropped out of the game. It was a rather informal resignation—he belched after downing a bowl of saké, sat there for a moment, then closed his eyes and toppled over backwards. His compatriots found this immensely amusing, and it further stimulated our activities.
One by one, the other men succumbed. Finally, only the sergeant, Professor, and I were left.
The sergeant’s bombastic claim he could “damn well handle saké as well as any Minamoto born” turned out to be regrettably true. Long after his compatriots had succumbed, he stubbornly sat there, “pin pon pan”ing for all he was worth.
Professor and I had been drinking real saké for quite some time, and I was becoming both pleasantly drunk and alarmed at my state. Much more and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to think well enough to get us out of the Taira headquarters.
After losing four rounds in a row, I had finally had enough. “This is ridiculous,” I said, grabbing my empty saké container. With the sergeant looking on with a bemused expression, I leaned over and broke the jug over his head. He blinked a couple of times, then pitched forward onto the table.
“Finally! I thought he would never pass out,” I said. I staggered over to the cabinet the sergeant used and retrieved our kodachi and the written orders from the commander.
Professor still sat at the table, looking at me with a furrowed brow.
“Come on Professor, we need to get out of here before the commander returns.”
He got to his feet but weaved so badly when he tried to walk he staggered sideways and wound up leaning against the wall.
I groaned inwardly. It was going to be a real problem if Professor couldn’t get out on his own.
Taking his arm, I helped him as we left the building and headed for the gate. He dragged me from side to side as we walked.
We stopped when we got close to the gate. In a low tone, I told him, “I am going to try and use the commander’s pass to get us out of here. Do you think you can walk through the gate on your own? I don’t believe they’ll let us out if you can’t.”
“No problem, I can do it,” Professor assured me as he stood on his own and took a couple of steps then fell to the ground. I rushed over to help him up but he waved me away. “I can do it,” he said.
When he stood again, he started walking very deliberately. Though he didn’t stagger or fall over, anyone who looked at him closely would realize he was very drunk. I could only hope the guards would be bored and not notice anything strange in the dark.
The gate guard watched me suspiciously as I approached. “What do you want?” he asked.
Presenting him with the commander’s note, I said, “We have a message for the palace.”
He looked at the note, then back at me. He looked back at the note and stared at it for several long moments, apparently mulling over what to do. Finally, he handed the note back, and opened the gate.
Inside, I was jubilant.
We’re going to make it!
Professor staggered and almost fell as he went through the gate. Catching himself, he looked back at the gate guard. He pointed near his feet and said, very precisely, “There is a rock there. I almost tripped. You should remove it.” Then he marched out onto the road.
I couldn’t believe we were actually escaping from Rokuhara. I kept looking over my shoulder, afraid that at any moment, someone would find the passed-out bushi or the commander would return and raise a hue and cry. As soon as we were out of sight of the gate, I grabbed Professor by the arm and hurried him along. We went around a bend in the road and I dragged us out into the surrounding rice paddies to confuse any pursuers.
Securing our escape had taken longer than I anticipated, and it was now full dark. I didn’t want to backtrack along the route we followed traveling to Rokuhara. That was the most likely path any pursuers would follow when searching for us.
The closest bridge south of us was along the road that passed by Stone’s place. I observed the gambling house carefully as we passed it by, but no one appeared to take any notice of two men walking along the road in the dark.
My heart was pounding as we crossed the bridge into the city. Professor was feeling the full effects of the saké, and he sang a folk song at the top of his lungs. I had never heard it before.
He wasn’t the only one affected. After Professor sang the song three or four times, I was feeling pretty good myself and went ahead and joined in with him, even though I didn’t know many of the words. It was a real effort to keep reminding myself we needed to get back to the saké house because otherwise, bad people might find us again.
We had just finished crossing the bridge when a large figure stepped out of the shadows between two buildings to block our way. There was only one person I knew that big.
“I told you this wasn’t over. Now, we are going to finish what we started,” growled Yamada.
My happy mood suddenly turned sour. It just wasn’t fair. I raised my head to the sky and started screaming. “Oh perfect! Just what I need! What have I done to deserve this?”
Mere chance couldn’t account for all these misfortunes, one after the other. Somewhere, a malign kami was laughing, pleased with the tortures he was visiting on me. I wanted him to know how I felt. I continued at the top of my lungs, “Why don’t you just kill me right now? Or would that end your fun too quickly?”
Yamada stared at me. “Who are you talking to?”
“Whoever is responsible for this.”
“There you are!” a voice said, sharp with accusation and irritation.
I turned to see Surei, in her usual disguise as a young imperial guardsman, striding down the street to us.
I groaned. “And things just keep getting better.”
Yamada turned to the newcomer. “This man stole a valuable naginata, and I am here to retrieve it.”
“Shut up, Yamada. I paid off his debt to Stone and you know it. You have no business with him,” Surei snapped.
He studied her carefully then exclaimed in surprise. “Hyacinth? Why are you dressed in a guard uniform?” Yamada was not very quick on the uptake. Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t care. They say he beat me at the gambling house. I have to show everyone no one escapes me.”
Surei’s voice became low and menacing. “This man is in my employ. What will Stone do to you if you start a war with the Spring Palace? I’ll drive him out of business.” She turned her attention to me. “Besides, there won’t be anything left of Yoshi when I am done with him.”
Yamada backed away.
Professor finally seemed to take note that something was going on. He looked around, blinking slowly. When he spied Surei, he tried to stand up straight. “Mistreth Hyashenth-shama,” he exclaimed. Trying to bow to her, he overbalanced and fell to the ground. He started laughing hysterically.
“You’re drunk!” Surei sounded furious.
I couldn’t help myself. The sight of Surei standing angrily over Professor lying on the ground unable to get up struck me as unbearably funny. I started laughing.
Surei turned on me. “Oh, you’re both drunk. Akiko was worried you were in some kind of trouble and sent me an urgent message. I had to leave my guests and go searching for you and what do I find? You aren’t in trouble—you and Professor have been out on a binge. Did you even stop for a moment and think you might be worrying Akiko?”
Through my laughing, the thought penetrated that Surei seemed to be upset about something. I stopped laughing and tried to think of how to reply. The perfect answer came to me.
“If I wasn’t in trouble before, I am now.” I started laughing again at my brilliant joke.
Surei wasn’t amused. She started shouting. “It was bad enough when you abandoned me to wander around the country drinking and whoring, but I hoped you would treat Akiko a little better. At least for a couple of months.” She glared at me. “If you hurt Akiko, you had better never set foot in Kyoto again.”
“Hurt Akiko?” I said, suddenly outraged. “I would never do that!”
“Oh, so it’s fine to hurt me, but you would never hurt Akiko, is that what you’re saying?”
“No. That’s not what I said.” I turned to Yamada. He was standing there with his mouth open, watching the two of us. I appealed to him, one man to another. “I never said it was all right to hurt her, did I?”
He shook his head, the expression on his face clearly saying “Leave me out of this.”
“I knew when I asked you to stay with Akiko you would end up sleeping with her,” Surei accused me.
“Why do you care? You made it very clear you want nothing to do with me other than having me do your dirty work. What did you expect? For me to become a monk?”
“Of course I don’t care,” she shouted again. “Why should I care? You and I were finished eleven years ago. You can do what you want.”
I turned to Yamada. “Is she making any sense? Because I think she’s crazy.”
She grabbed my robe and jerked me back around to face her. “I’m not crazy. I’m just mad because you upset Akiko with your irresponsible behavior,” Surei yelled.
She wasn’t the only one who could shout. I could shout with the best of them. “Irresponsible behavior? What irresponsible behavior? Maybe if you ever stopped yelling and being angry about your ridiculous imaginings of bad behavior, you might find out what actually happened!”
Yamada spoke up. Turning to Surei, he said, “Are you going to let him talk to you like that?” He laughed. “This is better than beating him up any day. Wait until I tell this to everyone at Stone’s.”
Surei whirled to Yamada and elbowed him in the stomach with enough force to knock an average man to the ground.
Yamada blinked a couple of times. “Ow. That hurt,” he complained.
“You will leave now,” Surei hissed, between gritted teeth.
Slowly Surei’s shape changed. Her shoulders got broader and she grew taller, until she towered above Yamada. Horns sprang from her forehead. Scales appeared as her skin darkened and became slimy. Her lips writhed, growing to cover half her face. She opened them to reveal a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth as long as my finger. “If you ever mention this to anyone, I will come for you in the night.”
Yamada screamed and ran away.
It was a very impressive illusion, but I was too irritated to admit that. “Your shadow hasn’t changed size. It also doesn’t have any horns. The scales and slime fade out around the wrist,” I told her. Considering the oni for another couple of moments, I continued, “And I think brownish fangs would be a lot more frightening with that skin color. White fangs look too clean.”
The illusion disappeared. Surei glared at me. From the look on her face, I was sure she was going to attack me next. I took a step back.
Instead, she bent down and struggled to lift Professor from the ground. He was much too large and heavy for her. She slapped him a couple of times and he woke up. However, he was still too drunk to get up or walk straight.
I walked over to her and took his other arm. With one of us on each side of him, we managed to hoist him to his feet. We half-walked and half-dragged him down the alleyway towards the Spring Palace. While staggering along under his weight, Surei kept up a stony silence.
I didn’t say anything either. I really didn’t feel like explaining myself to Surei. The fact she thought so little of me hurt.
This went on for a bit. Finally, I relented. I felt like letting her stew, but I didn’t want Professor to get in trouble.
“We didn’t go out drinking tonight,” I told her. I didn’t need to see her face to sense her incredulity. “One of the guardsmen from the high priestess’ caravan recognized me at the Minbushou and we got grabbed by a bunch of Taira bushi. They said they were holding me for some high-ranking minister who wanted to ask me about what happened with the high priestess. They took us to their Rokuhara headquarters. When they left us under guard, we challenged the people watching us to a drinking game. When they passed out, Professor and I escaped.”
More silence. I don’t think she believed me. I changed the subject. “How did you find us in that alley?”
After a moment, Surei spoke. “There is a strong spiritual bond between us. I can see it. No matter how far away from me you are, I can see the bond going off in your direction.” She shot me a cold look. “Keep that in mind. I can always find you if I want to.”
“Then why didn’t you find me in the provinces after the battle? You didn’t have to wait for me here in the capital.”
“What? A woman wandering around the provinces alone? I couldn't do that. I would have had to be mad to try it. I had enough problems in Kyoto without haring off into the countryside.”
We turned onto Sixth Street. The lamps of the saké house lay just ahead of us.
“Not back then, anyway,” she continued. “Besides, you made it clear by your behavior you didn’t want to see me. I certainly wasn’t going to chase you around the country if you couldn’t even be bothered to contact me.”
When we got to the Spring Palace, Surei sent for a couple of yojimbo to take Professor off our hands and put him to bed.
I turned to Surei. “It wasn’t like that. I wanted to come back. But I swore to find who betrayed my clan to the ambushers first. When I finally looked for you, no one knew where you were.”
“How long did it take you to find the traitor?”
I looked off in the direction of the Daidairi. “I haven’t, yet.”
Surei shook her head. “Akiko is waiting. She is worried about you.” She walked into the saké house.