Of all the men she had slept with, Yoshi was the most serene while asleep. Awake he was the most difficult. To stay ahead of. To satisfy.
Not physically. Physically he was strong and practiced and as much as she was trained to be uninvolved within an embrace, he would guide her so she too, most evenings, would gain the sheen of pleasure.
Katsumata was more of a magician.
He caressed her imagination and thoughts, stimulating her beyond anything she could have imagined. He was delighted when she mastered a new skill--like training her ears to hear underspoken words: "That is where the golden knowledge is, the important parts, signs of danger, of safety, of what is within the secret heart within the secret heart.
Remember, all of us here, men and women, have three hearts, one for all the world to see, one for their family, and one for themselves alone. Certain men have six hearts. Yoshi is one of these. He is your goal, the one for whom you must be the foil."
She chuckled to herself, remembering how she had said that Lord Yoshi was completely beyond reach and Katsumata had smiled that smile of his and told her to be patient, "You have time enough. You are eighteen, there is not much more I can teach you. You must begin to expand yourself. Like every serious student, follow the most important law for all students: repay your teacher by making it your duty to surpass him! Be patient, Koiko, at the correct time your mama-san and I will ensure the Lord Yoshi becomes aware of you..."
And they had. Within the year. The first invitation to the castle six months and five days ago. Racing heart and fearful she would fail, but not really. She was prepared and had done her duty to her teacher.
But am I guide enough for Yoshi? I know he enjoys me and my company and my mind. Where should I guide him? Katsumata never said, just told me that that will become clear. "Sonno-joi sums it up. Bind Lord Yoshi to you. Help him change. Gradually you will help him move even more to our side. Never forget, he is not enemy, on the contrary, he is vital to us, he will head the new Bakufu of loyal samurai, as tairo --there will no longer be any need for a Shogun or Shogunate--with our new and permanent Council of Samurai helping him..."
I wonder what it will be like in the new era, if I will live to see it, she thought, lying there comfortably. Now, what about Sumomo?
It had been completely unnecessary to send her to another room--as if it mattered that she was next door, she would not be listening to their cries or thrashing about. That was not the reason. When Yoshi told Koiko quietly she would not be going on with him, she thought she had heard movements in the outer room, as though Sumomo had shifted closer and was actually trying to overhear what they were saying--an astonishing invasion of privacy, and bad manners.
Only a nasty busybody would do such a thing, she had thought. Or a spy. Ah! Is Katsumata dispassionately playing one of his intricate games within games, using me to wheedle a spy in to watch my Tora-chan and me? I will deal with her tomorrow, meanwhile she can sleep elsewhere.
When this had been arranged, telling Sumomo only that Lord Yoshi preferred to be alone, she came back and quickly searched Sumomo's bundle, not knowing why, for she was not certain the girl had actually tried to spy on them.
There was nothing unusual in there. A few clothes, a bottle of some kind of medicine, nothing else. The neatly folded day kimono was ordinary and merited only a cursory glance.
Relieved, she had retied the bundle. As to the bottle... surely it could not be some kind of poison?
Before rejoining Yoshi she had resolved to make sure that it wasn't. Sumomo would take some.
Never wrong to provide against a potential danger. Yoshi had said, "That's what killed Utani. He did not post proper sentries."
So sorry, what killed Utani was the news of the tryst whispered to my maid from the samurai barracks that I allowed her to pass on, to Meikin who told Hiraga. I wonder how Hiraga is? As a client, the two times he was a client when I was sixteen, he was no better or worse than the faceless others, but as a shishi, the best. Curious...
Yoshi snuffled in his sleep but did not awaken. Her hand touched him lightly, encompassed by his warmth. Sleep, my dear one, you please me more than I dare tell myself, she thought, then continued thinking about the past.
Curious that I remember only two faces amongst all the others: just Katsumata and Hiraga. Curious that I was groomed to be Lord Toranaga Yoshi's Lady--for a time. How fortunate I am. A year, perhaps two, no more than three and then I will marry. Tora-chan will choose him for me. Whoever he is he will be samurai. Eeee, how many sons shall I have? The old woman soothsayer said three sons and two daughters, the Chinese monk two sons and two daughters.
She smiled to herself. Oh I shall be so wise ruling my husband's household and so good to my sons and so strict with my daughters but, never mind, they will marry well.
She awoke a few seconds before Yoshi.
He was up instantly, one moment asleep, the next completely ready for the day. She held his padded yukata for him, then clasping her kimono tightly around her, she opened the shoji door, then the other one, knelt and helped him into straw slippers. The guard began to bow, caught himself in time and watched all around again as Yoshi padded off to the outhouse area.
Sumomo was kneeling near the door, waiting patiently, a maid beside her with a brazier and hot tea and breakfast trays. "Good morning, Mistress. It's cold this morning, may I make you tea?"
"Yes, yes please, Sumomo, quick as a wink. Close the door, it is chilly."
Koiko hurried back to her inner rooms, calling out, "We will leave midmorning, Sumomo. We can change into travelling clothes then."
"Yes, Mistress." Sumomo was still standing at the outer doorway trying to contain her shock. She had seen at once that her bundle had been moved, the knot tying the square of silk holding it together not exactly as she did it. Her day kimono was still folded nearby but it too had been moved.
Hardly breathing, she waited until the maid left, then unfolded the kimono. When her fingers felt the hidden shuriken in the secret sleeve pocket her heart started again.
But wait, she thought, blood rushing into her face, just because they're still there does not mean that someone hasn't discovered them. Do not panic!
Think! Who would search my bundle here and why?
A thief? Never! Abeh? A guard? Koiko?
Yoshi? If one of them, logically I would already be dead or at least roped and answering questions and ...
"Sumomo, is the tea ready yet?"
"Yes, I'm coming, Mistress..."
Quickly, and because of the cold, she put the kimono on over her sleeping yukata--she had already done her early first wash and brushed her teeth and her hair that was still in a conventional braid-- tied her obi and replaced her sheathed knife, all the time her mind working at full speed: Was it one of them? Perhaps the searcher wasn't careful.
He could have missed them, easy if not expecting them. Perhaps the searcher wasn't practiced?
Koiko? Why should she search my possessions now? Of course that had been done by the other maids when she had first arrived in Koiko's quarters--the shuriken had been on her person.
As her mind raced she set the rice gruel to keep warm, made the tea and took a cup into the bathroom where Koiko had finishing bathing herself from the buckets of hot water made fragrant with extract of flowers. The water was delivered at dawn through a small trapdoor so that none would be spilled on the tatamis, and the guests not disturbed. Night containers were removed in the same way.
"I'll wear my brown kimono with the carp,"
Koiko said, sipping gratefully, the cold crinkling her skin however much she willed herself to pretend the cold did not exist, "and the golden-colored obi."
Sumomo hurried to obey, heart still grinding, fetched the garments, helping her to dress.
When the obi was tied to her satisfaction, Koiko knelt on one of the futons. Sumomo knelt behind her to brush her lustrous, waist-long hair. "That's good, Sumomo, you're learning, but please make the strokes longer and smoother."
Outside the tempo of the awakening Inn was increasing. Maids and soldiers and people calling to one another, Abeh's voice and then Yoshi's. The two women listened but could not distinguish what was being said. The voices moved away.
"Twenty more strokes and then I will eat and have another cup of tea. Are you hungry?"
"No, Mistress, thank you, I have already eaten."
"You did not sleep well?" Koiko said, noticing a nervousness about her.
"No, Lady Koiko. So sorry to tell you my problem, but sometimes I have difficulty sleeping, then when I do sleep I have bad dreams," Sumomo said ingenuously, still distracted. "The doctor gave me some medicine to calm me. I forgot to take it with me last night when I changed rooms."
"Ah, is that so?" Koiko hid her relief.
"Perhaps you should take some now."
"Oh but that can wait an--"