One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 31: Bunnies, and Banquets, and Weapons, Oh My!

Kenshin set his jaw, apparently not used to being put off at all.

"Fine. But you will tell me later."

He carefully kept petting the bunny in his lap, and looked at me, most likely making sure I was still smiling. Oh, I was, but mostly because he was still here with me. Being Kenshin's prisoner was a lot more exciting in my mind than it was in practice. No ropes or a bed involved, damn the luck.

"Sasuke said this morning that you were going to be hosting the neighboring daimyo tomorrow at a banquet. Any particular reason?"

A daimyo is a Lord, in this current era of Japanese society, who holds a large portion of territory. The more territory, the more power a daimyo wields both in wealth and in manpower. At this point in his career, Kenshin was very powerful indeed. Kenshin shrugged just a bit, thinking for a minute before putting a minimal amount of information into his reply. Well, minimal to his point of view I'm sure.

"I believe that seeing those whose lands border my own regularly in that type of setting allows me to best determine the next course of action."

It was a straighter answer than I expected, and for once, he put some thought into his wording before answering me. It almost sounded as if he was quoting Sasuke, and for all I knew he might. I smirked, getting a wealth of information from simply his tone and body language.

"So, in other words, you want to see who's plotting what and it's easier to do when you see and speak to them personally. Even easier when you have quite a few of them together. Saves time." Kenshin's head turned towards me abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he did so.

"What makes you say that?" I got the feeling I was being tested. Similar to the way Shingen did, but over a slightly different subject.

"In my country we have a saying. 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.' Sending out invitations to neighboring and controlled territories is just good sense."

The quote is actually from the movie, The Godfather, but Kenshin wouldn't get the concept, let alone the reference. I petted one of the rabbits in Kenshin's lap gently, the little fuzzy ball enjoying the sensation of my hand in the cottony fur as much as I was.

"By seeing who arrives, who does not, and what the rank of a replacement sent is, you can get a feel for what the state of mind is for that particular area." I turned bright eyes to his, a smile across my face. "I'm sure you are well aware of all this, though."

A tiny flicker of caution started to build as I thought about the subject of the conversation. Not everyone at the banquet would necessarily be an ally.

I scooped up a bunny from next to me and sat back down on my butt, my legs folded Indian-style right next to Kenshin. I sat good and close, wanting to have some sort of contact with him, even if it was just my leg touching his. I wanted more, but this would do. Kenshin tensed for just a second as my leg came in contact with his, and I could feel his warmth. He relaxed his muscles slowly, but didn't move away from me. Success! Now lets see if I can build on it. Kenshin cleared his throat briefly, coming back to the discussion after I so rudely derailed his train of thought by touching him.

"I was just wondering how you know..." Kenshin's tone and the look he had held an amazed respect. It was very clear that he didn't expect me to be quite so versed in this type of situation. "It is a tactical decision, and those invited were carefully chosen."

It was extremely clear to me that Kenshin was trying his hardest to ignore how near I was. It wasn't in his voice at all, or in his words, but his body language was anything but completely relaxed. I pretended to not care about how close I was to him, but my heartbeat was racing and I used our conversation to calm myself, just as he was doing.