Himitsu (Book One of the Kakureta Hana series)

V: Go

Jun has snuck off to somewhere again, and I am sitting in our rooms, composing a letter to Taro.  He wrote to the two of us to inform us of the arrival of Emi, who is masquerading as a healer once more.  He also spoke of a minor battle with Lord Neji and some of his men.

Since Jun appears to be too love-stricken to worry much about the affairs of the clan, all correspondence has fallen upon my shoulders.  If Taro has found that change to be strange, he has not said anything.

I, of course, have not dared to mention anything about Jun's true gender, feeling that is better left to her to tell Taro.  Instead, I ask the usual questions about the clan and answer some of the more pressing issues.
   
A glint of movement catches my eyes, and I turn slightly to find a shadow lingering outside the room.  Thinking it is Jun, I get up and open the door.

"Lord Igarashi," Saiko says, strangely somber, "may I have a word with you for a moment?"

Surprised that he used my title, I look closer at the shinobi, noting a bundle within his right hand and armor beneath his kimono.  He looks ready for a fight, and from the looks of it, it will not be an easy one.

"Come in, Saiko.  Might I ask why you are dressed as you are currently?"  I reply as he walks in and settles himself on the floor with a low sigh.

He sets the bundle next to him and looks at me through half-open eyes.  "The shogun has asked me to gather some information on the upcoming battle.  He seems to fear that something or someone is planning something sinister.  The natural response to that seems to be to send the shinobi into danger.

"However, I am not here to talk about the fears of those above my own position.  Emi asked me to give you something, and I must admit that rather than give it to you immediately, I have held onto it these past three weeks."

Saiko lays a light hand on the package next to his side and uses the other to gesture towards me.  "Will you sit down, Ryuu, rather than linger near the door?  This conversation was one I hoped to avoid, not out of fear for myself, but fear for Emi and Masumo."

Wary, I come closer and sink down across from him, noting a slight lump hidden near the shoulder of his kimono.  The shinobi appears to be no threat, but that hint of a weapon tells me differently.

"Emi gave me this before we parted ways.  There seems to be something that she trusts in both Junichi and you, and I hope that it is not trust misplaced.  You see, Emi and Masumo are like siblings to me, people that I would lay my life down for in a heartbeat," he levels a look at me with those words.  "I have known them for nearly twenty years, and those years have only confirmed whatever suspicions I had about them at the beginning."

"What suspicions, Saiko?  You dance about what you are saying as though fearful to engage some enemy.  None of this explains why you waited so long to give me a bundle that Emi likely meant to be presented immediately," I say, narrowing my eyes at him.  "Some things are meant to be told right away, yet you seem to keep everything that I might deem important until the last possible second."

Without another word, Saiko tosses the bundle lightly to me, a smirk gracing his lips when I barely manage to catch it.  "My mentors are peculiar, Ryuu.  You believe that you hold many secrets, but those two are far from an open letter read by everyone who beholds it.  There are secrets in that bundle that, once seen, cannot be forgotten."

One graceful motion propels him to his feet, and with no more noise than a leaf rustling slightly in the wind, the shinobi vanishes.  I can only stare at the cloth-wrapped shape in my hands.

Will these burdens of secrets never cease?  How closely I carry so many already only to possibly have more added to them.  Yet how quickly my curiosity is sparked though I feel that I should toss the bundle into a fire to be burnt away.