Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda

Chapter Thirty-Three: Cover-up

THUMP!

Shooting arrows at targets wasn't doing much to improve my turbulent emotions, but on the upside, I hadn't missed any shots either, even during my speed drills. So at least there was a comfort in knowing that my muscle memory wouldn't fail under the stress of internal upset. In fact, I might have been more accurate than usual.

THUMP!

"You could be Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the hunt." Out of the corner of my eye, I'd seen Yoshimoto come into the practice yard, but he'd politely kept quiet until I finished loosing a round of arrows. Trust him to be familiar with Greek mythology.

"Isn't one sweet talker in your family enough?" Apparently, the silver tongue gene was dominant.

"Standards must be kept," Yoshimoto said, before following my example and speedily sending off seven arrows, one after another, into the targets. "I was told that you were looking for me. Why?"

I jogged out to collect all our arrows before replying. "Two reasons. One, I managed to get my hands on a letter you'd be interested in." I'd read the stolen letter already – it contained the names of the Imagawa vassals who were interested in joining the Shogun. Although I planned to give the original letter to Shingen, Yoshimoto needed to know which of his vassals were disloyal. The knowledge that more vassals were dissatisfied wouldn't be welcome news, but at least it was a short list.

He sighed. "Sounds ominous, and probably like something that is going to cause me a lot of stress and headaches... what's the other reason?"

I handed him his arrows, giving him the first full view of my eye. "Getting the letter involved a bit more effort than I planned for."

He put down his bow, then put his hand under my chin, examined my face carefully. "I see."

"Can you cover it up?" I figured either Mai or Yoshimoto could help here, but Yoshimoto was more likely to be able to cover up both the black eye and my secret. "With cosmetics? You were going to teach me those in any case." My make up skills were limited to making my eyebrows seem more 'boyish.'

That comment gained me another sigh. I had a feeling that sometimes Yoshimoto thought I was exhausting. Still, I would take Yoshimoto's exhaustion over Chiyome's amused condescension or Sute's sly hints that she knew Shingen 'very well.' "Fashionable cosmetics will involve painting your entire face and neck with a layer of thick white powder."

Oh. That wouldn't work. Or rather, it would work, but it would likely create additional questions. "Could you ... blend shades together with my skin?"

"Interesting concept." He picked up his archery equipment. "I can try. And in the meanwhile, you may tell me about this letter that you went to such trouble to acquire."

***

A short while later – after, upon a very strong suggestion by Yoshimoto, I had bathed off the odor of fish guts – we reconvened in his quarters. While Yoshimoto busied himself with his supplies of cosmetics and watercolor paints with the attitude of an alchemist who has been set the task of transmuting lead into gold, I read him the letter and copied down names for him.

"What will you do about them?" I squinted at the list. Lucky for Yoshimoto my handwriting wasn't as terrible as my drawing.

"Truthfully, there isn't much I can do. As long as it's a minority of vassals wishing to join Yoshiaki, the status here will be unchanged. The majority will stay here in Kasugayama, especially when the weather turns colder. The Imagawa are prideful – but they also like their creature comforts. Those who want to leave on their own - I cannot stop them... if they later wish to return to the fold of the Imagawa, I cannot prevent that either." He tested a couple different tints on my wrist. Everything faded right into my skin. "Needs to be thicker."