One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 29: Women and Sake

"Shingen! How dare you show yourself to me after what you pulled!" I started to get up, putting my hand on my sword, ready to cut Shingen down where he stood. Sasuke grabbed my hand, making me look at my ninja in irritated surprise.

"Let me go, Sasuke. I need to teach this bastard a lesson." He touched her. I wanted to kill him, or at least remove his hand as a reminder.

"You had better just thank him and get it over with. If it wasn't for him, you never would have gone down to see Alexis." I couldn't argue with him, but I wanted to.

"I.....would have.....gotten around to it...." My voice trailed off as even I realized how bad that sounded.

"Gotten around to it....I didn't realize that was a new phrase for 'never'" Shingen sat himself down next to Sasuke, careful not to sit too close to me. Smart man. I was still beyond pissed off, but sat back down.

"Well, as if I couldn't guess, but what were the two of you talking about so intently as we came in? You didn't even realize we were in the room."

Yukimura sat down next to Shingen as the maids placed trays in front of Sasuke and I, but the thing I really cared about was the jar of pickled plums. Before I could grab them though, they were quickly whisked away by Sasuke's deft hands.

"Real food first, Kenshin." It was a poor consolation that Shingen got similar treatment from his retainer.

"You too, Shingen." Yukimura quickly snatched the plate of sweet buns from Shingen's tray. "Dessert after food."

"We were talking about Alexis of course." Sasuke put the jar behind him and away from my sight, answering Shingen's question.

"She told Kenshin there were two things she wanted that would make her happy. One was a Shinai, but we hadn't gotten to the second yet."

"We came in on the tail end of that." Shingen stared at me, pouring me a cup of sake before filling his own. "So you are going to let her train?" I nodded, not wanting to engage him in actual conversation. Not yet. When it comes to talking with Shingen, you have to choose your words carefully, and even then, he can still twist them to suit his own purposes. Speaking with Shingen was a battle in and of itself.

"So, what was the second thing she said she wanted?"

"We hadn't gotten to that point yet." Sasuke grabbed a piece of vegetable with his chopsticks, tucking it into his mouth and chewing. I grabbed my rice, shoveling in a mouthful, hoping that Sasuke could keep Shingen's attention while I thought. He was talented at redirection. Good ninja.

The conversation forced me to think about what Alexis had said to me. Even with everything Sasuke had told me, it didn't explain her reasoning. I have kept her locked in the dungeon for a week now. She should hate me, but she wasn't acting like she did. She held my hand to her face, leaning into my palm as if she never wanted me to leave, and I didn't want to let her go.

"She had said to me that there were only two things in the world that would make her smile, and that I could give to her." Shingen made an odd noise, and I looked over at him.

"Well, she certainly wouldn't smile for me." Shingen downed his sake, a very disgruntled tone to his voice that made my heart sing to hear.

"And you have no idea how much that pleases me Shingen."

"Alexis had asked for a Shinai, and I was telling Kenshin that I was surprised she didn't ask for a sword." Sasuke drank more sake as Yukimura chimed in.

"Alexis said she had been sparring regularly with Ieyasu Tokugawa while in Azuchi. But it was the way she said it."

Yukimura almost went pale with just the memory. Ieyasu Tokugawa? He was her sparring partner in Azuchi? I was learning more about her than I had known previously, but it still wasn't enough. It bothered me, irritated me to no end. I wanted to know everything about her, endlessly, and here I was learning things I had no idea about. It was frustrating.