"A haiku about a snail."
"Hello, Koiko," Yoshi said listlessly.
His back was to the wall, his hand near his sword and he wore a yukata of purple silk.
Outwardly he appeared calm but she saw through him and knew him to be lonely, frightened and in need of other skills.
Her smile was enough to brighten the blackest day.
At once she saw his eyes soften. Good, first hurdle. "Now," she said, with pretended gravity, "I have a poem for you: "It is not easy To be sure which End is which of A resting snail!"
His laugh resounded around the room.
Good, second hurdle. "I'm so pleased you allowed me to come to Kyoto with you." His eyes took on the other glow and her soul warmed.
Instinctively she changed what she was going to say, that he was so handsome in the flickering night lights. Instead she said what was deep within her: Those were sad times When, without you, I watched days come up And go down again.
She was kneeling opposite him and he reached out and caught her hand. No need for words. For him or for her. Now he was at peace, tension gone, loneliness gone and all fear. And she was at peace too. So much energy expended to take him out of himself. So much revealed. Unwise to reveal so much.
You are very important to me, he was saying without saying it, speaking as lovers will.
You do me too much honor, she replied with a tiny frown. Then her fingers, delicately caressing the back of his hand said, I adore thee.
Eyes locked with eyes. She raised his hand and brushed her lips against it. Silence gripping them, beginning to hurt, hurting and then in one swift movement, she slipped over to his side and embraced him tightly. Her laugh trilled.
"Too much serious is bad for me, Tora-chan!" She hugged him again, nestling into his embrace. "You make me so happy."
"Ah, no more than I," he murmured, glad the tension was broken so nicely. "You are adored and so are your poems."
"The one about the snail was by Kyorai."
He laughed. "It is by Koiko the Lily!
Is, not was."
Again she nestled closer, enjoying his warmth and strength. "I nearly died when I heard about this morning."
"Life," he said simply. "I should have been more prepared but I was fascinated by the street."
He told her how different it had seemed. "It was a rare experience--the feeling of invisibility --too good not to sample again, however dangerous.
Does the danger add a spice to it? I will experiment in Yedo. At night it would be easier and I will train special guards to accompany me."
"Please excuse me, but I would suggest you partake of that drug sparingly."
"I mean to." His arms held her, both of them comfortable. "It could develop into that, yes, easily."
The room adjoined his sleeping quarters. Like the whole barracks complex it was masculine, with minimum furniture, the tatami first quality but in need of replacement. I won't be displeased to leave this place, he thought. Their ears caught the pad of approaching feet, his hand snaked to his sword hilt. Both of them tensed. "Sire?" a muffled voice said.
"What is it?" Yoshi said.
"So sorry to disturb you, Sire, a letter has just arrived, from Dragon's Tooth."
Without needing to be asked, Koiko went to the side of the door out of the way and stood there on guard. Yoshi readied. "Open the door, sentry," he called out. The door slid opened.
The sentry hesitated seeing Yoshi in a defense-attack position, sword loose in its scabbard. "Give the scroll to Lady Koiko." The sentry obeyed then went away again. When he had reached the end of the corridor and had gone through that door, Koiko closed this one.
She handed him the scroll and knelt in her place opposite. He broke the seal.
The letter from his wife asked after his health and gave news that his sons and the rest of his family were well and looking forward to his return. Then the information began: The prospectors have been travelling diligently with your vassal Misamoto. As yet they have found no gold but report large--the word they used was "huge"--deposits of high quality coal, easy to mine and near the surface. I understand them to say this is "black gold" and could be profitably bartered with the gai-jin for money. They continue to search. We hear Anjo had been made tairo and boasts that you will soon be invited to retire from the Council of Elders. Next, the confidant you visited on the way to Kyoto tells the following: the code word he gave you about an enemy is correct and that a similar plan is ready as the enemy's state policy.
Crimson Sky. So a lightning attack is "State Policy"! Will my agreement with Ogama hold?
He put that question aside for later and continued reading: The ronin, Ori, who became a gai-jin spy, is dead in the gai-jin camp. The other ronin, Hiraga, is believed to be there also.
Your spy says also he intercepted the "maid" you sent back, as ordered, and sent her far north to a very poor brothel. Her ronin lover was killed.
Yoshi smiled. This was Koiko's maid who had whispered of Utani's secret tryst to her ronin shishi. Halfway to Kyoto he had dismissed her, sending her back to Yedo on some imagined slight--of course Koiko had not objected. Good, he thought. Utani is revenged in some small measure.
Next, the Gyokoyama: I have completed money matters. May I use the coal possibility as a further pledge for any armaments ordered? Perhaps we should try to deal with the gai-jin direct, perhaps using Misamoto?
Please give me your council. Sire, your presence and wise advice is greatly missed.
Last, so sorry, famine has begun.
Yoshi re-read it. Knowing Hosaki so well, the way she had used "further pledge" meant that the negotiation had been rough and the price high.
Never mind, next year there will be no famine and the Gyokoyamas, if they live that long in lands I control, will be repaid.
He looked up at Koiko. She was staring into space, lost in dreams he knew he could never share. "Koiko?"
"Oh. Yes, Sire?"
"What were you thinking about?"
"What leaves whisper to leaves."
Intrigued he said, "It depends on the tree."
She smiled sweetly. "A maple, a blood-red maple."
"In what season?"
"Ninth month."
"If they were watching us they whispered, "Soon we fall, never to return, But they are blessed.