One result of the attack was Surei insisted Akiko move someplace else that very night. Akiko objected, but Surei wouldn’t hear of it. “There is a vacant estate not far from the Spring Palace. The owner is serving as a provincial official in Mutsu, and he asked me to keep an eye on it for him. You will actually be doing him a favor by staying there since you will prevent the place from falling further into ruin from neglect.”

It took only a short time for Surei to send for some people to gather up all of Akiko’s things and have them transported to the new location. Akiko was unhappy with the situation, but Surei kept reassuring her. “Look at it this way. No one will know where you have gone, so no one will be able to find Yoshi. We’ll be careful to ensure no one follows you to your temporary abode.”

It was past midnight before we were situated in the new lodgings.

After getting to bed late, I kept waking up with my usual nightmares of the massacre of my family. It wasn’t until just before dawn I finally fell into a deep sleep.

Akiko personally came and opened the shades of my room to the rising sun. She appeared almost giddy, calling out in a loud, cheerful voice, “Time to get up, Yoshi.”

I groaned and rolled over, opening one bleary eye and greeted her cheerfulness with some cheer of my own. “Go away.”

She laughed and poked me through the covers. “Get up. Food’s ready.” She left the room.

I stumbled into the main room where Akiko, the children, and servants were gathered. Still feeling less than human, I sat down and started eating. It took nearly the entire length of the meal before I started feeling myself again. I have never been at my best early in the morning, and late night fights and burning eyes only made the situation worse.

While I ate and slowly recovered from the previous night’s ordeal, I noticed Akiko had made another change in her appearance. “You’ve put your hair up in combs.”

She pretended not to care, but I believe she was secretly pleased at my comment. “Well, these combs were just sitting around, and I thought I would celebrate staying in this beautiful new house by doing something different with my hair today.”

Before Surei had left the night before, she had reminded me of my promise to help train the women. I needed to get to the Spring Palace. I told Akiko, “I’d love to look around the property with you, but I told Surei I would come by today. I don’t know when I’ll be back, so don’t wait for me,” I told Akiko. “Though, if there is any trouble, you know the Spring Palace is just down the street.”

I lingered a few more moments, enjoying her presence and watching her work with Sachiko to gather the dishes.

*****

When I got to the Spring Palace, I found Surei in the kitchen tasting a new dish Cook had prepared. “Perfect,” Surei told her.

She turned to me. “Yoshi, we will be practicing at the north end of the estate. You go ahead, I’ll be right there.”

I started out to the practice field. Surei caught up with me before I arrived. She was dressed in a simple white robe and hakama and carried both a steel-bladed tachi and a bokken, a wooden practice sword. The bokken was no toy, though. In the right hands, it was deadly. Some bushi preferred the wooden weapon over steel.

The Ume twins had rounded up all the students, gotten them dressed, and put them into ranks on the practice field. There must have been nearly a hundred. I hadn’t really understood how many staff Surei employed until I saw them all together. They were all dressed similarly to Surei and carried blunt bamboo sticks instead of the heavier bokken. There was enough room between ranks to prevent the students from striking each other while they drilled. Dimples and some of the other girls were in the first rank. They were chattering away.

Surei pointed to several bokken in a stack. I found one I liked, then stood beside her. With both of us there, the conversations gradually died out.

Surei addressed them. “Yoshi-san has kindly agreed to instruct you in the use of the tachi and yumi. We still need to set up targets for archery, so today he is going to show us the basics of handling a tachi.”

She walked over to me and, without warning, whipped out her bokken in a strike at my head.

Reflex took over. I twisted my bokken through a lightning-fast corkscrew that weaved its way around Surei’s blade and knocked it out of line, forcing it to the ground. I ended with my foot on her weapon, pinning it to the ground, while I held mine raised over my head for a strike. It was all I could do to keep from screaming at the sudden pain from my shoulder and ribs. However, my expression didn’t reflect my agony. The students gave a quick intake of breath and stood in stunned silence. Apparently, I had impressed them.

I gritted my teeth and turned back to the formation. “All right, I need a volunteer.” The entire front row stepped forward together. “Wait, wait, I need only one.” I pointed to the middle girl in the front row. “You. Bring your bamboo practice weapon.”

Giggling, she skipped forward holding her weapon. Using her as an example, I showed the group chuudan-no-kamae, the middle guard position. My volunteer was having trouble getting the form correct, so I had to adjust the position of her hand and arm a couple of times. Each time, she tittered nervously and blushed bright red.

When she finally held her weapon to my satisfaction, I had the others copy her. Many of them were having trouble, so I started to walk into the formation. Surei stepped in front of me and gently touched me on the arm. She moved forward among the group and made the corrections herself. With Surei helping the students, there was no more giggling or blushing, and they adopted the correct form much more quickly.

I had my volunteer draw and present her weapon a few times, demonstrating how to properly bring it into action. At that point, I sent the girl back to the rest of the group. Surei returned to the front and stood next to me.

From then until breakfast, we worked on basic drills. The students were quick to learn and surprisingly adept.

I commented to Surei, “They are picking it up a lot faster than I would have expected.”

She smiled. “They are all smart. The girls, in particular, are very motivated. They don’t want to disappoint you.”

*****

I spent the rest of the day working with Professor on defenses. It wasn’t until after dark that I returned to the borrowed estate.

When I stepped into the room, Akiko sprang up. She fetched some of Benkon’s rainwater concoction and poured it into a bowl for me. I accepted it from her without much enthusiasm. On reflection, I wasn’t sure I was thirsty.

She sat down again and smiled at me. “I was wondering if you would be back today. I was sure you would find the company more congenial there, with all those beautiful women anxious to please you. I assumed you would stay the night.”

I snorted. “Not a chance. Surei uses romances like Genji Monogatari to teach the girls to read. As a result, too many of her girls have their heads filled with romantic mush. One girl, Dimples, is convinced Surei and I are some sort of great tragic love story—cursed lovers who have been driven apart by evil magic. She is certain we are really of imperial rank, but our curse forces us to pretend to be commoners. She has all the girls and even some of the female staff calling me ‘Hikaru Genji.’ ”

Akiko had her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter. “What did Surei say to all this?”

“She dropped broad hints I really was some kind of prince and told everyone to be careful about bandying my name about. That I had hidden enemies who were desperate to find me. She has managed to get everyone to keep quiet about my presence at the Spring Palace, but only by implying Dimples is right. She said, and I quote, ‘Alas, dear one, all our secrets are out. There’s no point in pretending anymore, my sweet, shining, Hikaru Genji.’ She is just encouraging this foolishness.” Grudgingly, I admitted, “Still I suppose it will keep the girls and other staff from talking about me to outsiders.”

Akiko had her mouth covered again. Her shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. I gave her a hurt look. “Why does everyone find this all so funny?”

Indignantly, I said, “But that is not the worst of it. She has me training these same girls in yumi and tachi.” In a slightly more even tone, I continued, “She is convinced there will be fighting here in the city, and insists that her people be trained to keep them from being victimized by rioters and looters. She is adding some substantial defenses to the property, and plans to have all the staff help with protecting the Spring Palace. I thought we had gotten rid of peasant armies hundreds of years ago.”

Akiko frowned. “You don’t think there will be fighting in the capital, do you?”

“There almost certainly will be. Junior Retired Emperor Sutoku and Emperor Go-Shirakawa are on a collision course once Senior Retired Emperor Toba is not around to keep them in line.” I had a worrisome thought. “One old bushi, no matter how valiant, won’t be enough to protect you then. You need more than just Masanori. Once Toba dies, we should move you and the children to the Spring Palace for protection. I’ll talk to Surei about it.”

Akiko clapped her hands in excitement. “Oh, I’ve never been to a saké house. Are many of the women there learning the tachi?”

I shuddered. “Lots of them, of all ages. The worst part of the training is the reaction of some of the sillier girls, who seem to think the whole thing is just play-acting. They’re swooning at the chance to have me work with them.” I mimicked a high, female voice. “Oh, he touched my hand. I’m never going to wash it again.”

Akiko was laughing so hard she was gasping for breath. I gave her a dirty look. “It’s not funny. This is serious business, and some of them are treating it as a game. Their lives are at stake here. If they don’t learn, they will be helpless in the face of an attacker.”

Akiko stopped laughing and laid a hand softly on my arm. Without a trace of humor on her face, she looked me directly in the eyes and said, “But you are such a brave and handsome instructor.”

I growled at her and brushed her hand off her my arm as her serious expression cracked, and she began laughing again. I was irritated that everyone found my predicament so humorous.

Akiko said, “I want to see what you are doing with these girls that makes you so uncomfortable.”

I said, “What, you want me to train you to wield a tachi?”

In a serious tone, she said, “If Surei is right, there will be fighting in the city. I may not be able to reach the Spring Palace in time, and if I do get there, it is only proper I help guard it. I should know how to defend myself and my children.” She stood up. “I have decided. I need to learn to fight. You will teach me.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I looked at her, my mouth open in astonishment. Akiko learn to use a tachi? I never met a person with less killer instinct. She saw my face and started laughing again. “Oh, come on Yoshi. If you can teach dancers, how much harder can it be to teach me? Besides, I really do want to learn. I was always jealous when you and Surei would practice weapons because you never let me join you. That’s why I tattled on you so often.” She marched out to the garden.

That revelation came as a surprise. She had never hinted she was interested when we were children.

Teaching her was a strange experience. I put Akiko through the same drills I had given the students at the Spring Palace, but it felt very different. When I taught the students, I was mostly irritated that they didn’t take it seriously enough. With Akiko, I was keenly aware of her as a woman. Every time I touched her, I felt a secret thrill. When I moved her arm to correct her stance with the weapon, my hand lingered a trifle longer than was necessary. I reached over and made minute changes of position of her arms and hands more often than was really warranted. A couple of times, I lost my train of thought mid-sentence as I was holding her around the waist to help her position her torso.

It seemed to me that the distractions were not all one way. I got the impression Akiko was slower at understanding my points than she needed to be. This required yet more hands-on adjustment of her position. She also seemed a little clumsier than I remembered her being. Several times her foot landed badly, and she lurched into me, forcing me to grab her to steady her. She seemed in no hurry to disentangle herself from me on these occasions.

By the time we had finished, I was keyed up to an extraordinary degree. When we got back to the house, Akiko said, “I think I’m going to go to sleep. Thank you for the lesson, Yoshi.”

Just as she was about to leave the room, she turned around and said, “By the way, I have decided to take the next step in throwing off the habits of widowhood. I am going to take a handsome young bushi as a lover. Do you know where I might find one?”

I stared at her with no idea how to reply. Not waiting for an answer, she gave me a coy smile and walked out.

I went back to my sleeping area. I was as nervous as a youth pursuing his first conquest. Of course, Akiko was far from my first romantic entanglement, but, other than Surei, most of them had been farm girls or a craftsman’s daughter. A liaison with someone like Akiko was entirely different from bedding some willing peasant girl. Akiko would be waiting in her sleeping room, surrounded by her mobile screens to protect her from prying eyes. I would go and quietly tap on the screen, pretending I had lost my way in the house and just happened on her by accident. It was a transparent ploy, but the polite fiction was necessary to keep up appearances.

It seemed an eternity until everyone was in bed. I kept standing up and pacing back and forth in my room, not wanting to fall asleep and disappoint Akiko. In actual fact, I was so nervous and excited I could not have fallen asleep if I tried. Eventually, the sounds of movement in the main house died down. I waited a bit longer, then made my quietly through the corridors to where Akiko awaited me.

As expected, she was ensconced behind her portable screens. I could see the glow of a small lantern from under the barriers. Stepping across the floor, I scratched on the screen, then quickly stepped inside when she said, “Yoshi?”

I slid them shut after me. My breath caught in my throat when I first spied her. She wore only a sheer silk underrobe, and her hair was unbound. It spread out around her on the bed like a dark cloud. She was lovely.

As I sidled closer to her, I ran my hand down her soft cheek. She reached up and took my wrist in both her hands. As I bent down to join her, I tripped over the bedcovers and sprawled across her. Her body shook with laughter as she tried to control her amusement. Finally, she pulled me over beside her on the bed and blew out the lantern.

*****

It was very early. Through the wooden slats of the shutter, I could see the sky lightening in the east. I struggled to rouse myself. Under my breath, I cursed the romance authors who glamorized the early morning separation of lovers. They wrote numberless paeans to the paramour who is reluctantly forced to leave his love at daybreak lest they be discovered. They went on endlessly about his unwillingness to withdraw from his lady and the pain their separation causes him. Personally, I think the part he hated most was having to climb out of a nice warm bed at a stupidly early time of the morning.

I stumbled back to my sleeping pad and dropped into my bed. Just before the darkness took me, I had a panicked thought, Oh no, the letter! I sprang from bed and went over to the writing desk.

This was yet another of the silly rituals the nobility loved. When it came to romantic activities, these rituals bordered on the obsessive. I resolved to comport myself according to these rituals with Akiko. I had waited until late at night to go see her, so our tryst would remain a “secret.” In the same spirit, I had left her bed at dawn, purportedly to prevent “discovery” by a servant or child. Now, however, I faced the most arduous task of all. I was expected to write a kinuginu no fumi, the morning-after letter, to her before I went to sleep. The letter had to have a poem expressing my deep distress at having to leave her side.

When Surei and I were seeing each other, she insisted on being treated the same way as all the highborn ladies in the romances. She would tremble her lip and look hurt whenever I raged against all the stupid formalities. “If you loved me, you would do it,” she used to declare.

Eventually, Surei beat me down enough I stopped complaining. She so obviously enjoyed the extra attention these little flourishes provided I didn’t have the heart to stay angry about them. I was afraid Akiko would be likewise hurt if I didn’t act the way she expected.

I also worried that if I didn’t do these things with her, Akiko would see it as an indication of a lack of respect for her and her station. She was certainly aware I had observed all the formalities with Surei, and I didn’t want to show her any less regard than I had shown her cousin.

Thus, I found myself with brush and paper sitting at the writing desk in my room, struggling to use entirely formulaic imagery to express my feelings in a poem.

It should mention the dew on the petals, and the cock crowing, complain about having to leave her…

My thoughts were entirely taken up with what I remembered of the poetic conventions of the after-separation poem. However, every time I tried to get something down on paper, it came out flat and insipid.

Akiko has taken a bushi for a lover, so she is going to get a bushi’s poetry. She can’t really expect much more. She will know I have tried, and that is all that matters.

I spent a long time struggling with the imagery and scansion of the poem, but at last, I came up with something I was happy with.

Drenched from morning dew

The grass is no more sodden

Than my sleeves from the

Tears at our cruel parting in

The light of the heartless dawn.

I tied the paper in a decorative knot. Taking my brush, I scrawled Akiko’s name across the folds. Out in the garden, I found a particularly decorative branch on one of the mulberry trees. I broke it off and carried it back to my room. Using a red cord, I tied the letter to the branch, and then went into Akiko’s sleeping chambers and laid the note on the bed next to her. Finally, I went back and fell asleep.

*****

It was the fifth day of the fifth month—Boy’s Day. On this day families celebrated their sons and prayed for their success. There was no weapons practice, so I didn’t go to the Spring Palace. Instead, I spent the day celebrating the holiday with Akiko and the children.

For breakfast, we served the children mochi, sweet rice cakes—a traditional food on the holiday.

Then, we went out and took some carp streamer kites and flew them in the garden. The boys ran back and forth, trying to outdo each other in how high they dragged their kites. After they tired of kites, I showed them how to carve bamboo into a double-bladed shape, attach it to a rod, and fly it through the air by spinning it between their palms.

By mid-afternoon, the children were sitting quietly in the house, worn out from the morning’s activities. It seemed an opportune moment. I went into my room and retrieved some items I had been keeping at the Spring Palace.

Akiko gazed curiously at the wrapped bundles.

I smiled at her and said, “Some small things for the boys. And others.”

I picked up a long thin item wrapped in silk and handed it to Akiko’s son. “I thought it was about time you had one of these. I think you will enjoy it.” He untied the strings around the package and just about ripped the silk in his hurry to see what it was. The cloth came off to reveal a black lacquered bokken. The wooden practice weapon was cut down to be readily usable by a boy his age. I gave another, slightly longer one, to Sachiko’s son.

Yoshi-kun’s eyes grew wide. “Is that for me? Oh boy!” The two boys launched into a frantic sword fight.

After Akiko had to duck to keep from being hit in the head by one especially wild swing, she said, in a mildly disapproving tone, “Yoshi-kun! Put that down. No playing with swords in the house.”

The boys reluctantly put the wooden weapons down.

I smiled at the girls. “I wasn’t here for Girl’s Day, but I have some things for you, anyway.”

I took a flattened package wrapped in exquisite silk and handed it to Akiko’s daughter. “I think every girl needs one of these, and I want you to have it.” She was much more reserved than her brother, taking her time with the ties to the package and stopping to admire the quality of the silk wrapping. Finally, she pulled away the last of the silk to reveal a black lacquered box. Opening the box, she gasped as she saw the mirror the high priestess had given me nestled in its wooden frame.

She turned the mirror over in her hands and then looked at herself in the highly polished surface. She turned to her mother and said, “Oh mama, look! Isn’t it beautiful!”

I gave the other two girls quality mirrors I had picked up in the marketplace.

Akiko was astonished. In a distressed tone, she said to me, “Yoshi, we can’t possibly accept this. It is much too expensive for a girl as young as Aoi-chan.”

I held up my hand to stop her. Smiling, I said, “This mirror was given to me by the High Priestess of the Great Shrine in Isé. I have no use for it, so I am giving it to Aoi-chan. Her joy in the gift is my reward for saving the high priestess. Would you deny me that?”

Akiko gave a small sigh of exasperation. “When you put it like that, how can I say no?”

She looked at Aoi-chan. “You will keep the mirror in a special place in your room. You are only allowed to bring it out with my permission. Do you understand?”

Aoi-chan eagerly nodded her head.

Akiko sighed. “Go back to your room. You girls can play with your gifts now if you wish. I will be along in a bit.”

She looked at Yoshi-kun. “You can take your new toy and play with it, too.” The children sprang up from the floor and grabbed their new bokken. Akiko called after them, “Remember boys, outside!”

Shaking her head in mock despair, Akiko asked, “What possessed you to give those to the children?”

I smiled. “Yoshi-kun is at an age where he needs to start training to be a man. The bokken will give him something to focus his energies on.” I shrugged. “Surei has a lot of lightweight bokken for the women. The ends on these two were damaged. I cut off the damaged parts and cleaned up the lacquer. Did you see the look on his face? He loves it.”

Akiko’s expression softened. “He does, but I’d always hoped he would follow his father into government service. It seems like we already have too many warriors. I pray he will grow to be like his father, but I worry about the wildness in him. More than anyone else, he reminds me of Surei.”

She stood up. “Time to light candles for the evening devotions. Do you want to join me?”

“Yes, I have to get my own candles. I will meet you in the chapel.”

*****

The butsudan had been moved into a small building behind the main residence. Akiko had converted the structure into a miniature chapel. When I joined her, she had already lit a candle for her husband. Rice and mochi sat on the altar. Four other candles remained unlit. I added four more.

Akiko looked at me curiously.

“Warriors like myself often die unmourned and unnoticed. When I have killed a man, I feel offering prayers for his soul is the least I can do for him.”

She smiled at me. “That is good of you.”

I am really trying to keep their spirits from haunting me, but I don’t have to tell her that. Let her continue to think I am a better person than I am.

First, we lit candles for my father and brothers. I chanted a sutra for them.

I sighed inwardly. I was not very faithful in paying my respects to my dead. Doing so now made me feel guilty about my neglect.

Father, I still have not found the man responsible for our betrayal. I have been trying to help Akiko with her difficulties but will turn my mind to fulfilling my oath as soon as I can.

I then lit one of the candles I brought and chanted another section of the sutra.

I don’t know your name, but we met in the wilds of Isé. We fought briefly, and while you were not skillful, you were brave. I pray you have moved on to what will be a better life.

I said similar prayers for the three men who had attacked me at Akiko’s manor.

I stared at the four candles burning for my assailants.

How many times have I done this? How long until I have to do it again? Will it ever end?