by C. J. Anaya
Perhaps Aiko was much braver than she had ever let on.
It took a great deal of time to make our way through the forest and arrive at the current base camp location. We were forced to travel slightly deeper into the woods than usual, but Akane and Musubi had marked the trees for me with distinctive carvings only I would recognize.
A few yards outside the camp, I let out a sharp whistle to announce our presence. A figure materialized around a broken structure to our left. A torch was lit, and Akane revealed herself. I let out a noisy sigh of relief, grateful she received my message in time.
I rushed over to embrace her and she gave me a fierce hug in return.
“Are you safe?” she asked. “Has something gone wrong?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“Who is this young lady?”
“This is Aiko, my lady’s maid, and she is in desperate need of our help.” I turned to Akane and whispered, “Do you think you and I could talk privately for a few moments?”
She nodded and walked over to Aiko, giving her an encouraging pat on the arm. I saw her freeze momentarily as she made contact with my maid, but I couldn’t see her expression in the weak torchlight.
“Aiko, I have some supplies in that tented structure just beyond those trees.” She pointed to a large tent nestled between two smaller banyan trees. “Why don’t you gather some food for yourself and wait for us in there?”
She acknowledged Akane’s offer with a smile and then looked at me. “You will be fine in my absence, mistress?”
“Of course, Aiko. Please retrieve some food for yourself. I know you didn’t get a chance to eat before we left.”
She gave me a grateful look and walked toward the tent, disappearing inside.
I began walking with Akane in the other direction and quickly related to her what I had uncovered.
Her surprise was soon overrun by her outrage.
“So he forced Aiko to bleed you? It was your blood the soldiers were drinking?”
I nodded.
Akane’s anger spiked to a level I’d never before sensed in her.
“And how do you know your maid can be trusted?”
“I know how this looks, but she has taken care of me for most of my life, and my father threatened her. You know his character well enough to believe he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Aiko if she so much as looked at him the wrong way.”
Akane shook her head. “That’s what troubles me about this entire situation.”
My eyebrows narrowed. “How so?”
She paused for a moment, having some kind of internal debate over an issue I couldn’t begin to fathom.
“Do you remember Cho?”
“Cho?”
“Yes, that young woman I sent to you several months ago. She had a leg wound that soon became infected. I sent her to you to pass along a message, but also because she was a perfect candidate for what your betrothed, Katsu, had in mind.”
“Yes, I remember. I wondered how you knew she was meant to die.”
She drew in a deep breath. “I failed to answer that question, but I think I must do so now in order for you to believe me when I reveal something to you concerning your maid.” She hesitated for a moment, as if the delay might give her more courage. “I’m gifted with visions, the ability to know when and how a person is going to die. My visions are always accurate unless certain events occur to change them.”
I couldn’t help but feel elated by this information. “Akane, this is incredible. How does it work?”
“All I have to do is touch them and their death is made known to me. Most people die of natural causes, some of starvation and pestilence, but many, such as my soldiers, are killed in battle, unless of course I foresee it and do what I can to prevent it from happening.”
My jaw dropped. “That’s how your forces have always managed to be one step ahead of my father’s.”
Akane gave me a faint smile. “My men know about my gift and allow me to do what I call a routine check before we make a single move. Whether it be raids, battles or simply moving from one base to the next, I am always vigilant. I can predict the future of any decision we make because I can see death before it reaches us. Murder or accidents, those are the only deaths I have any control over, the only outcomes I am allowed to interfere with.”
“Cho’s death was certain. That’s how you knew to send her to me.”
Her shoulders slumped a little at that. “It had to have been one of the hardest moments of my life, sending her away from me, using her death as a means to an end. Cho understood her future and wanted to make her last moments on this Earth count. It ate at me, being helpless to save her. I suspect you’re quite familiar with that particular scenario.”
I nodded, taking in her slight form and fierce, determined stance, gaining new insight and even more respect for a woman I felt honored to call my friend. Though our gifts were not employed in the same way, we both desired the same outcome. We simply wanted to save lives any way we could. I hadn’t thought it possible to love Akane more than I already did, but she was my family, my sister, and I would fight for her safety just as I would fight for Saigo or Kenji...or Musubi.
“What does all of this have to do with Aiko?”
“My gift behaves differently with people who are never meant to die. When I touch you I see nothing but light, like a blank space with nothing set in stone. You will one day become a kami, and kami never die. Now, when I touch your maid, Aiko, I see the same thing, only darker.”
Anxiety slowly curled its way within my gut. “Akane, what exactly are you telling me?”
“Aiko isn’t human, Mikomi, she’s a kami. And as a kami, she had absolutely no reason to go along with the emperor’s despicable plans. He was in no way a threat to her.”
I felt a kind of numbness settle in at this level of betrayal. Betrayal from a woman I had trusted my entire life.
“I can’t believe she would do this to me. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“She is a spy for your father, dear friend. It is as sad and as simple as that.”
I looked at her, feeling lost and bereft inside. “What do we do?”
“I think we should see just exactly what she is up to. I will arrest her, and my men can begin uncovering the details of her involvement with the emperor.”
“That’s too dangerous, Akane. If she is a kami she could kill you all within seconds.”
“Are you forgetting we have some fairly powerful kami fighting on our side? They’re quite adept at torture as well. You needn’t worry about our well-being, dear friend.”
I felt sick inside imagining my maid experiencing any level of torture, but I knew it had to be done. Her treacherous behavior had forced our hand, and there was simply no way I could save her from the consequences of her actions.
“Will you alert Musubi to this now or later?”
“I’m not certain it is wise to discuss this with Musubi. She might reveal your identity, and I would rather only a few specific kami have charge over her. They know who you are either way.”
“Why are you still so insistent upon keeping my identity a secret from Musubi? Surely as your close friend, and someone who practically raised you, you can trust him.”
She shook her head. “There are other factors involved. A history you are unaware of. When there is more time, I will give you a more satisfactory explanation.”
I despised the lies and secrets I had to keep from a man I wished to share a future with, but I trusted her and her judgment. If she held doubts where Musubi was concerned, then I would heed her advice and remain silent on that front. My anxiety for Akane spiked as I considered leaving her with a kami spy.
“It is better this way,” she said, resting a comforting hand on my arm. She called Aiko out from the ramshackle building she was in, and Akane introduced herself as the leader of the rebel army, stating that she hoped Aiko might consider joining with them.
The calculating glint in Aiko’s eyes merely
confirmed the truth of Akane’s words. My maid was more than happy to join the rebel forces, creating an opportunity for further infiltration, making her job as a spy that much more effective.
When my maid turned to hug me before they departed it took me everything I had to behave as if all was well. Tears should have been shed for such a final goodbye on behalf of a woman who had loved and cared for me my entire life, but the most I managed was a less than enthusiastic embrace.
As I watched Aiko and Akane depart toward the camp, I tried to bat down all of my worries. Perhaps confronting Aiko now and demanding an explanation was a better alternative. An uneasiness settled over me like a heavy blanket, fairly suffocating me with its weight and oppressive texture. I feared for what tomorrow might bring.
I was so distraught over Aiko’s betrayal that I didn’t hear anyone’s approach until it was too late. My assailant took full advantage of my distracted state by coming from behind, snaking his arm over my shoulder and covering my mouth with his hand while wrapping his other arm around my waist, lifting me from my feet and dragging me kicking and flailing backward toward a denser area of the forest.
We reached the edge of a grouping of trees, but instead of entering, my captor lowered me to the ground and spun me to face him.
I let out a frightened scream before I recognized Musubi wearing the most infuriating smile on his all too handsome face.
“Why you…you…” My fists flew as I began beating against his chest, punishing him for scaring me near to fainting.
He merely chuckled, as if my fists were about as effective as a small swarm of pesky gnats. He grabbed each of my wrists in his hands.
“Calm down, Mikomi.”
“Calm down? Do you have any idea how badly you frightened me? I thought you were one of the emperor’s guards or a thief…or worse.” He didn’t appear at all contrite, more satisfied than anything else.
“And when you assumed the worst, did you employ any of the basic defensive techniques you learned over the last few weeks?”
I raised my eyebrows at this. Heat infused my cheeks.
“Your mind became blank and you forgot everything. Correct?”
I nodded, cursing myself for my own stupidity.
“If anyone else had attacked, you would already be dead, Mikomi.” He let go of my wrists, fisting his own at his side. “You would be dead. Am I getting through to you yet? Do you understand the gravity of your current predicament, what you have agreed to be a part of?”
I sighed. “We’ve been over this before. I am aware of the danger I face. I know the risks by heart now.”
“And yet you still have no intention of disassociating yourself with the rebels, do you? Even after I’ve demonstrated to you how fast it can happen, how quickly everything can change? Do you understand how easy it is to lose control of a situation, to lose your life in the process?”
“If anything you’ve done a masterful job of showing me my weaknesses. It is obvious I could use more training in this department.”
Musubi rubbed a hand over his tired face in a frustrated attempt to hold back a few expletives that still managed to come through.
“Mikomi, don’t you understand? Soldiers train from the time they are children, and they continue their training long into adulthood. You will never be an accomplished fighter in time for what is coming.”
“I’m learning much faster than most. You yourself said so.”
“By normal standards, yes. You are fine tuning your technique leaps and bounds ahead of most pupils I’ve trained, but for our timeline and our initial purpose it simply isn’t fast enough. You will never be ready to defend yourself against the emperor’s soldiers. Not in time for what we have planned.”
His words echoed that of Daiki’s and Hatsumi’s. It proved more irritating than discouraging. I wasn’t interested in crying defeat.
“You knew this before you started training me. I train and learn as much as possible, but you will be by my side as my main protector. Nothing has changed.”
“Everything has changed,” he stated. He cupped my face in his hands and leaned his head close to me. “Everything. You aren’t simply a woman of medicine any longer, nor are you just a pupil, Mikomi. I…you have become family for Akane and myself, though her faith in you exceeds that which is prudent or even logical. I don’t know why she thinks you are our only chance for success in this endeavor, but I cannot bear the worry I experience between our sessions, waiting to see you again, praying you are still breathing, still speaking...still alive enough respond to all of my teasing with your subtle rebelliousness and spirit.” He rubbed a thumb along my jawline while I did my best to process this unexpectedly emotional outburst. “It is time we put this foolishness behind us. I want you to leave this place, Mikomi. I will take you to a new location, someplace where I know you’ll be safe.”
My hopes plummeted, as if I had been soaring free of any and all restraints only to fall to my death. He didn’t want me here any longer. He believed me too weak to see this through.
I eased away from him, and my heart rebelled at the self-imposed distance. “You wish me to leave?”
“It is the only way to keep you safe.”
“I gather Akane has no knowledge of this.”
“And why should she?” He nearly exploded. He raked his fingers through his light hair and began to pace much the same way I did whenever a problem became too much to simply riddle out in a normal fashion. “She is the one encouraging this, allowing you to put yourself in danger. For what? A location? A shipment of gold? What if you are caught, Mikomi? I will not be there to protect you.”
“I do this for a far greater goal in mind and you know it. The fate of the Kagami empire is hardly a trivial matter.”
“Semantics,” he muttered.
My stiff shoulders relaxed ever so slightly as I now understood the catalyst for Musubi’s uncharacteristic behavior.
After months of his standoffish demeanor and inaccessible emotions, I was grateful that the idea of my impending death managed to spark some life into him and encourage him to behave like a human being instead of a stiff statue. It didn’t say much for his faith in my abilities, but progress is progress.
“And your plan is to simply drop me off at the next widow’s house much the same way you dropped off Akane? You do realize I am not in need of parenting, correct? I’m a grown woman, and I can make these decisions for myself.”
“One cannot help but notice that you are a woman, Mikomi, but for all intents and purposes, you are my woman, and any husband with half a brain would never place his wife in the kind of danger that I have placed you in.”
My confusion reigned supreme at this point. Our marriage was nothing but a farce, and yet he pulled rank on me as if he had a right to.
“I suppose it is lucky for both of us that these burdens a normal husband carries are merely circumstances we play at, and nothing we take too seriously. Am I right, Musubi?”
I leveled a challenging look at him. If he wanted to discuss what rights he had as my fake husband then it was time for him to have an honest conversation with himself for both our sakes.
His mouth quirked into a sardonic half-smile as he weighed his next words. I didn’t give him time to answer.
“Or would you rather that this farcical arrangement of ours be turned into something more permanent and binding?”
The silence lengthened until he cleared his throat and then clenched his jaw, clearly torn between his desire to take care of me and the vengeful anger that tore him away from any and all thoughts of forever.
“We may not be married in a legal sense, but as your teacher and protector I have every right to decide what is best for you.”
“No.”
His eyes widened at that, but I was no longer interested in customs or cultural dictates that governed etiquette and social behavior between a man and a woman, much less a teacher with his student. If I was going to rebel against everything I had ever been taught
to follow and adhere to, then I was going to rebel in every aspect of my life with every person who dared to take what little independence I had managed to gain throughout this exhausting and draining ordeal.
“No?”
“Musubi, you seem to be under the impression that as my fake husband you somehow have a stake in my future or control over my actions, and if we were married in a legal sense then I admit I would most likely be forced to acquiesce to your wishes, but I am unfettered by you or any other man dictating my choices much less my life. The only way you’’re going to be able to lay claim to those rights is if you take me right now and legally claim me as your own.”
“And if I did that, you would leave here and never return?”
“I would if it meant you left with me.”
“But—”
“You would marry me and desert me?” I tsked at this, attempting to appeal to his sense of duty. “Doesn’t seem like the honorable thing to do, does it? And who will protect me with you gone fighting a war you have already deemed a lost cause?”
His concern over my well-being and his other inner demons were waging a war so ugly I wasn’t sure I wanted to remain in his presence any longer.
“If you wish to order me about then marry me; otherwise, we’re wasting valuable time.”
The corners of his mouth drew up, a rueful smile giving way to the logic of my little speech.
“It seems to me that any man brave enough to marry you would most likely be the one receiving orders and carrying them out. No doubt the consequences for failure would be brutal.”
“Floggings if I don’t get my way.”
“I suspected as much.”
Now it was my turn to fight off a smile.
“This conversation isn’t over, young lady, but I agree that we need to utilize the rest of our time with more training and less arguing.”
My relief that the discussion was over was overshadowed by his obvious deflection of my brazen proposal. Marriage had been thrown rather indelicately before him, and he hadn’t appeared even remotely interested, not even enough to keep me protected. I wanted independence, and I wanted protection. I wanted Musubi to save me, and I wanted to save myself. Was I strong or weak or simply in love?