Chapter 10

Sumire swayed back and forth, frazzled as she traveled through the halls of the back palace. The sun was beginning to shine over the rear walls and she hadn’t made it to the comfort of her bed yet. Along with Jiro, Sumire had spent the better part of the night getting all but her head chopped off by Hinoki, the so-called ‘Jewel of the Back Palace’, and, more importantly, Kaede’s mother.

“For a so-called jewel… she’s got quite a mouth…” Sumire muttered as she finally made it to the bedroom she shared with her younger sister, Sayuri, utterly exhausted. She quietly made her way inside, hoping not to wake the younger girl early.

Those hopes were quickly dashed as she closed and leaned against the door, Sayuri already fully awake, sitting up in her bed as if she were waiting for her older sister.

Sumire let out an exasperated sigh, before crossing the room and sitting on the edge of Sayuri’s bed.

“Did you have a fun night with Jiro-san?”

Sumire gave a sidelong glance at Sayuri. “Where would you learn to ask such a question like that, Sayu?”

“Some of the other ladies-in-waiting have said you two should enjoy a ‘romp in the sheets’.”

“I need you to stop talking to all of them, immediately.”

Sumire brought her fingers up to her temple, rubbing them softly. As if she didn’t have enough problems this morning, hearing her younger sister talk like that was going to give her a headache.

“If you weren’t having your fun, why do you look so tired and disheveled?”

“Sayu!”

Sayuri turned and looked out the window, feigning innocence as Sumire was incredulous. It wasn’t shocking for a thirteen year old girl to know or say things, especially when she was surrounded by a myriad of ladies that served the court, including the courtesans. However it was also not the kind of talk she wanted to hear about herself and one of the guardsmen from her own little sister!

Sumire fell back onto the bed, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, I did end up spending most of the night with Jiro, but it was definitely not fun, especially not the type you’re imagining.”

“So you do want to take him to bed...”

“SAYURI!”

Sayuri rubbed the back of her head, sticking her tongue out at her elder sister as she received a menacing glare to go along with the outcry.

“Sorry, sorry.” She clearly had no remorse.

“If you want to know, we were both getting ripped apart by Hinoki-sama.”

“So it’s true that Kaede never came back last night.”

Before the last words left Sayuri’s mouth, Sumire was upright and staring directly into her younger sister’s face. “How do you already know about that!?”

Sayuri was plastered to the wall, trying to escape the close proximity of Sumire. “You’re kind of scary right now, onee-sama…”

“How. Do. You. Know?”

“Two of the ladies-in-waiting came back through the halls late last night when I was waiting up for you and they said that the four of you hadn’t shown back up. Seemed to think that Kaede had a plan to try and roam free of the palace now that she was allowed to go to the matsuri.”

“You are definitely not talking to any of them anymore.” Sumire sighed, pulling back from Sayuri and grabbing her head.

“Kaede wouldn’t just run off like that, onee-sama!”
Sumire gazed at Sayuri’s sincere face and nodded. “I know that. She takes her responsibility and her ancestry with the utmost importance. It’s just a strange situation and the ladies in the back palace love a good gossip.”

Sayuri nodded along as Sumire got up and started to remove the disheveled kimono to swap to something proper to sleep into.

“That’s why they said you and Jiro should just give into your mutual passion!”
“Sayuri!”

The younger girl ducked under her sister’s grasp, before sprinting out into the hall.

Jiro sat under the plum tree in a daze, staring up at the early morning sky. Sleepless nights were common for soldiers, so it wasn’t fatigue that was keeping him unfocused.

Hinoki had ultimately cast the blame on both of them, which was to be expected, since it was their efforts that convinced her to let Kaede outside the palace walls. Still, he had fought seasoned warriors that gave him less anxiety and fear than that woman…

A few of his fellow guardsmen acknowledged him as they made their rounds, a gesture Jiro returned in kind while he was trying to figure out a way to resolve this to get both himself and Sumire back in Hinoki’s good graces.

“First, I will punish that foolish apprentice of mine so badly that he won’t ever forget the sanctity of his oath to the court again…” An aura of bloodlust started to emanate from Jiro, causing some of the younger guardsmen to take a wide berth around him as he stood up, grasping his sword tightly in his fist.

A gaggle of nearby apprentices, crossing the back garden to go to the training area, froze in their path as they witnessed Jiro march towards the barracks.

Hinoki was always the model of grace and beauty. The Jewel of the Back Palace, as she was referred to, had honed those skills since she could walk, following in the footsteps of her own mother, Sakura. As skilled with a koto as she was with ikebana, any noble lucky enough to be in her presence spoke highly of her wit and elegance, as well as her intellect, showing that she wasn’t just a pretty face skilled with the arts.

Some said the taste of her tea was like drinking nectar cultivated by the deities themselves, Hinoki’s hands the vessels meant to serve the taste normally reserved for divinity itself.

Yet one would not know such things, today, if they were to gaze upon the oiran Yumekawa Hinoki.

Or rather, the mother, Yumekawa Hinoki.

A lady-in-waiting, Chisato, was straightening the hem of Hinoki’s kimono, when she noticed the listless gaze of Hinoki out into the garden. Hinoki’s room was on the second floor of the back palace and the large window had a wonderful view of the back garden along with a decent view over the western palace walls, to the village surrounding it.

“Hinoki-sama, Kaede-sama will be just fine. She has a stout mind and her resilience is quite something.”

Hinoki’s hand twitched, her fingers fiddling with the hiougi fan in her hand. “I am well aware of my daughter’s capabilities, Chisato.” She snapped the hiougi closed, her gaze still distant, as if she were searching for Kaede’s location from this vantage point. “But, tell me, does one of such steady mind cause problems like this on their very first venture into the outside world?”

Chisato flinched when she heard the hiougi snap, but her fingers deftly kept moving across the elaborate silk of Hinoki’s layered outfit. “I suppose you have a point, Hinoki-sama…”

“Of course, I do. I know all too well what Kaede is thinking, after all.”

That statement hung in the air as Chisato stood to full height, removing every crease in Hinoki’s dress before stepping around to the front, adjusting the obi.

“I know this is out of line, Hinoki-sama, but I don’t believe you know Kaede-sama’s thoughts as well as you think.” Another snap of hiougi echoed in the large room, but Chisato didn’t flinch this time, her adroit hands flattening even the slightest imperfection in the oiran’s silk garb. “Kaede-sama is an intelligent, responsible teenage girl, that is true. She is almost your splitting image in both appearance and skill. Yet, it is of great importance that we remember she is a teenage girl who has never been outside the palace walls. As dutiful and honor bound that she is, she must also feel suffocated.”

“I know that you aren’t daring to say that Kaede’s ineptitude with music comes from me in any form.” Another snap of Hinoki’s hiougi resonated. “But you are right.”

Chisato stood in front of Hinoki, her hands flat against her much simpler kimono, bowing slightly to the oiran, hoping her words got through to her.

“You are completely out of line, Chisato.”

The lady-in-waiting’s shoulders drooped, knowing she should have expected that.

Hinoki turned quickly, but with extreme elegance, her multi-layered kimono flowing naturally behind her, like her own shadow, as she stepped across the room and thrust open the door.

Chisato grabbed a box, which held Hinoki’s kanzashi, before shuffling down the hall after her.

“Hinoki-sama, where are you going? I wasn’t finished!” The statement was about both the decorative headpiece and Kaede.

“I’m going to speak with the Emperor, of course.”
Chisato hastened her pace, struggling to keep up with the oiran, despite wearing a far lighter kimono.

“The Emperor!? You’re just going to barge in there, without a planned audience!?” Chisato was practically sprinting to keep up with Hinoki’s urgent steps.

“We’re talking about letting my daughter, the next Jewel of the court, parade around on an island that has no loyalty to his Imperial highness! That doesn’t require a scheduled audience!”

Chisato was holding up the box, as they exited the back palace towards the main complex of the expansive grounds.

“At least, Hinoki-sama, let me put your kanzashi on before you see him!”

Hinoki didn’t break her stride as the Imperial guardsmen, bowing their heads in reverence despite the surprise appearance of the oiran and her lady-in-waiting, as the two women stormed their way into the main palace.