Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda

Chapter Twenty-One - Splish Splash

While the rain continued to pound on the walls, I gathered my things together in preparation for packing. Hopefully, even with the addition of the clothing Mai had made for "Katsu," they would all fit in my saddlebags – I liked them too much to leave them behind.

Last night, my mind had whirled with images of what might have happened if I had stayed with Shingen. Eventually, I had collapsed my futon and, with my fingers, briskly taken care of a physical need that had nowhere to go, hoping the release would send me into slumber. Even after that, sleep had been fitful.

Every time I closed my eyes, I was haunted by the look on his face, the look I had put there. I needed to repair that damage, not for myself, but for him. An apology wouldn't even be a butterfly bandage for that wound. It would be best if I simply disappeared, dropping a letter in my wake, one that absolved him of everything, that thanked him for being kind to "Katsu."

At first, I thought to go back to Aki's home in the mountains to spend the next few weeks penitently scrubbing floors and stripping willow bark for Fume's medicinal tea, but a pre-dawn visit from the ceiling ninja gave me a better idea...

Sasuke had knocked softly, then hung upside down from the ceiling to let me know he and Yukimura had lost Iekane in the rain. "Don't worry, though, we'll keep looking."

"Thanks. You two are the best." I combed my fingers through my hair. Not that I thought Sasuke cared what I looked like, but my scalp itched. I'd never managed to fix my hair after getting drenched yesterday. "Do you know who was with him? There were three horses that left... yes?"

"According to the stablemaster, two Imagawa vassals went with him." Sasuke swung back and forth from his perch and his glasses nearly dislodged from his head. He clapped his hand over them to keep them on his face.

Susumu's information had been correct, then. The Imagawas, or at least some of them, were interested in Yoshiaki's offer. "Do you think Iekane is headed to meet up with Yoshiaki?"

"If he was telling the truth about working with him, it's a distinct possibility. If that is indeed the case, Yoshiaki is a figure that even Kenshin would hesitate to take on – unless he actively marched on Kasugayama. Kenshin would happily meet him on a battlefield, but Yoshiaki's playground is court politics. Kenshin is not--" Sasuke cleared his throat. "A politician."

No. If Kenshin were to attack Yoshiaki, it would be considered a symbolic attack on the Emperor. In fact, it was unlikely that even someone as powerful as Nobunaga would take that on without careful planning. However, a single person, a sneaky liar like myself, could probably insert herself into Yoshiaki's orbit.

Sasuke hesitated a moment, then added, "I'm feeling rather embarrassed that I never realized, especially as it makes so much sense in hindsight."

About Iekane? Oh, my disguise. "Look." I grabbed my hair, yanked it down and behind my head, showing him how it changed the shape of my face when pulled that tightly. "Plus, some of it is basic theater tricks. I use ink to make my brows bushier too. Leather across here," I gestured to my middle, "to even things out." Again, I was slapped with the memory of Shingen untying that binding, his hands gentle on my ...I shook my head. "Mai's the only one who figured it out, so you're in good company. I'm sorry for lying to you."

"Why? I imagine you were safer dressed that way." Sasuke, matter of fact, and logical as usual. "Alright, I'm getting a blood rush headache, so I'm off to my quarters." He pulled himself back into the ceiling and was silently away.

Sasuke was good people... but he wasn't aware of what had happened after he and Yukimura left to chase Iekane. I'd have to write a nice goodbye letter to him as well. And to Yukimura. Mai, I'd say goodbye to in person, I decided, and not just because I wanted to know what had happened with Kenshin after all that – mess – last night. And Yoshimoto? He and I needed to have a little talk before I left.