Heian fic, chapter 11

[tuulikannel]

Chapter 11

The next morning turned into a bright day, but still there was no sign of Akira's father. Last night's dreams still lingering with him, Hikaru wandered around the mansion much like a restless ghost himself, at times stopping to play a game or two with Akira, but even that wasn't anymore enough to distract him. When finally a messenger arrived, advising them that Tadayuki would stay still one day at the palace, but without any other real information, Hikaru could barely conceal his annoyance.

"What's he doing there?" he exclaimed, thankfully when the messenger had left and they were alone again. "It can't take this long! Why don't we go to check what's the matter?"

"You can't go there just like that, especially not now," Akira pointed out.

"But you could, couldn't you? So-"

"If my father had wanted me there, he would have said so," Akira snapped. "So calm down. Fretting like that won't do you any good."

Hikaru bit his lip and said nothing. Instead he marched out, into the garden, and Akira decided it might be best to leave him alone for the time being. He settled down to replay some of their games. An hour or so later he was interrupted by his brother and Seimei.

"Where is he?" Yasunori asked.

"In the garden," Akira said without taking his eyes from the board.

"We didn't see him there."

He shrugged. "Then he's somewhere else."

"Weren't you supposed to keep an eye on him?" Yasunori snapped, and with an annoyed sigh Akira finally tore his attention from the board.

"Fine. I'll find him for you."

He didn't. After a careful search they had to conclude that Hikaru wasn't anywhere in the mansion.

...

In truth, Hikaru hadn't meant to go out, at least not without telling anyone. And when he did, he really didn't mean to go far, just to walk a little to cool his nerves. He simply happened to get lost.

He was standing in a street corner, looking this way and that, flipping a white go stone in his hand, one that Akira had removed from his bowl after seeing that there was a little crack in it. Hikaru thought of his go stones, and the fact Akira had once said that a fancy board wasn't needed for a good game. He had pocketed the stone, secretly, and was planning to add it to his own – well, maybe they'd be Akari's, now. Anyway, it'd be one of the best, among those stones. Now, he threw it into the air, and placed it against the back of his hand. "No crack, left; crack, right," he muttered, and looked at it. Crack. Right he turned.

He walked a while, until he came to the conclusion that the stone probably had guided him wrong. He looked at the sky, wondering in which quarter the sun was – but then again, it hardly helped as he didn't know in which quarter Akira's home was. He sighed and looked back. Perhaps he should just ask for directions. The street was quiet, though. He only saw one carriage rather far away, and it was going away from him.

He remembered he'd heard voices from a garden he had passed, and returned there. The place was surrounded by a thick and high hedge, and he couldn't see in, but there were faint voices coming from there. He stopped, hesitating, and wondered if he should look for a gate. "Excuse me!" he shouted, and the voices fell silent. "I'm sorry to bother you, but... I'm a bit lost. Could you tell me which street this is?"

There was a moment's silence, then he heard the rustling of cloth from the other side. He also thought he heard faint laughter, and frowned.

"Lost?" a voice said. "It is a beautiful day to get lost in this city, isn't it?" The voice, female, was perhaps a little teasing, but still so genuinely cheerful that Hikaru's bad mood tempered a little.

"Maybe," he said. "One could wish for a cooler day, though."

"Ah, yes, this strange weather. It makes one feel as if it were midsummer... as if, high in the skies, larks would still be singing."

She spoke still so lightly, as if she had no worries in the world, and Hikaru smiled a little crookedly. "Or crows, maybe. That would fit my world better."

"Oh? How can that be?"

Hikaru was silent. "Could you just tell me which way the fourth street is?" he then asked quietly.

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the hedge, too. He thought he saw movement through the tiny holes in the hedge, and, perhaps, an eye peeking at him. On the spur of the moment he almost peeked in, too, but luckily realized in time that it might be close to scandalous behavior, especially if it was the lady of the house he was speaking with.

"If you are facing us," the woman said more solemnly, "then the fourth street lies behind your back."

"Thank you." Hikaru bowed a little. Thought of going his way, but didn't, yet. "It is a beautiful day," he said more amiably, perhaps a little apologetically. "I wish it truly were still last summer – that was the happiest time in my life. But... I guess all summers come to an end."

He flipped the stone in his hand again and was about to leave, but the woman's voice stopped him.

"The summer did end," she said quietly, "the little birds are all gone. Only the crow stays. Does he not find any joy in these quiet autumn days?"

To his horror Hikaru realized that this was a Poem. And it required a reply poem from him, did it not?

"I... I..." he stammered, clutching the stone in his suddenly sweaty hand. "Here's all joy I've left," he said in desperation, and flung the stone across the hedge. After a hasty bow he fled from the place.

At least he now knew which way to go. But he really should avoid getting into situations like that in the future. Slowing down, he glanced over his shoulder toward the hedged garden. How would he ever survive among these poetry sprouting weirdos if he truly were adopted among them?

He turned to the direction of the fourth street, and soon found himself in a more familiar area. As he approached Akira's home, he noticed two people at the gate, talking with a servant.

"Hey!" he shouted, starting to run. "Kimihiro! Tetsuo!"

The two turned to look back. "Hey, there you are!" Tetsuo exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how hard it has been to find you?"

"Don't exaggerate, it wasn't that hard," Kimihiro put in. "We saw your mother, and she told us you'd left somewhere with Kamo no Akira, so we just had to figure out where he lives. The only problem was that once we found his private mansion, he wasn't there, but we claimed we've got a message for him and they told us he's at his father's."

"Do you?" Hikaru asked. "Have a message?" he went on when the two gave him blank looks. "Have you found out anything?"

"If we have!" Kimihiro cried out, clearly excited. "We've got a lot to tell!"

"Let's go in, then. I'm sure Akira wants to hear this too. Besides, we can't be talking here." Hikaru looked meaningfully at the confused servant, who let them in.

"Where have you been!" Akira burst out the moment he saw Hikaru. "I think you were told not to go anywhere!"

"Well, I..." Hikaru gave him a little embarrassed grin. "Sorry, but I just wanted to get out for a moment. I tried to stay on the quiet streets."

Akira obviously would have wanted to say more, but seeing as they had company he drew a shaky breath and shook his head angrily. "Whatever. Why are they here?"

"They've got information," Hikaru said a little smugly. "Did you really think servants wouldn't gossip?"

Yasunori and Seimei both arrived to the place too, and after short introductions they all sat down.

"So, did you learn something from that pretty kitchen girl of yours?" Hikaru asked.

Tetsuo snorted. "Pretty she might have been, but that's it. Stupid bitch," he muttered under his breath.

"I had more luck," Kimihiro said. "I followed a boy who'd been sent to the market, and helped him there when he happened to have some trouble with a merchant. We walked back together, and though he was really nervous, it was surprisingly easy to get him talk. Or maybe it was just because he was so nervous – I think he really wanted to get it out of his chest, but couldn't talk about it with anyone at home. Actually, he was asking me if I knew a place where they'd need someone like him... apparently he's really not feeling at home at Akitada's, and..."

"That's too bad for him," Hikaru cut him off. "But what did he tell you?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. It hasn't really that much to do with this... this ghost business, but it's still quite important. You see, those two..." he dropped his voice as if someone might have been listening to them, "they've got a plan. Akitada is trying to use his influence at court to get his onmyouji friend a strong position, so that he could, in turn, use his position as a court onmyouji to, well, influence things. In their favor."

"What?" Yasunori breathed. "You mean he would abuse his power for personal gain?"

"Something like that," Kimihiro agreed. "I gather the onmyouji have a pretty strong influence on... well, everything."

"They're planning to use the ghost for their own ends, too, somehow," Tetsuo put in. "But the boy didn't know how."

"That's... that's just..." Yasunori was still puffing. "It can't be true."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it is," Seimei said much more calmly. "You obviously don't know my uncle," he stated as Yasunori gave him a shocked look. "He's only interested in power."

"Those are serious accusations, though," Akira said. "Can we really trust this boy?"

"I trust him," Kimihiro said. "Why would he be lying? And he seemed to be genuinely scared, convinced that staying in such household would bring him bad karma. I promised to find him some other place, away from there."

"We should let father know," Akira mused. "If there's even a small chance it's true..."

"I bet it is!" Hikaru exclaimed. "We're talking about a cheater here. So, are we going?"

"Going?" Akira gave him a surprised look.

"To the palace! To tell your father!"

"Oh. No, we're not going there. I'll send a message to father and ask him to come home right away – or, hmm. Maybe I should go there myself rather than send any messages. But you'll stay here." Hikaru opened his mouth to object, but wasn't given a chance. "You can't go there with a ghost! Not right now, at least. I'll go to get him, and you will wait here. Wait here, do you understand?"

The look on Hikaru's face pronounced a very clear no, but nevertheless, he stayed behind.

...

As Akira arrived at the palace, he was in for a surprise. He didn't find his father there – instead he was told that Kamo no Tadayuki had left a while ago, together with Sugawara no Akitada, Abe no Toshirou and some other onmyouji, to Akitada's mansion. To exorcise a spirit.

"You have certainly heard the rumor, haven't you?" the helpful courtier went on, paying no attention to Akira's dumbfounded look. "Of Fu... of a ghost making the emperor sick? Toshirou-sama said that it's true, that he had managed – can you imagine! – to capture the ghost, but it was too strong for him to exorcise alone. So he asked the court onmyouji for help."

Akira stared a moment at the man, wide-eyed, raised then his sleeve in front of his face to cover his laughter. "They have... gone to Sugawara no Akitada's mansion to exorcise the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai?" he asked, quite amused. "They're in for something of a surprise, too," he muttered, but frowned then. "My father went with them? What kind of a game is he playing... well, nevertheless, thank you for the information."

He left the palace and hurried to Akitada's mansion. There was something of a commotion going on there, and he was able to enter almost unnoticed. Servants were scurrying all over the place, and once he caught a glimpse of Abe no Toshirou, striding, tight-lipped, through a walkway that connected different parts of the mansion. Here and there in the yard stood onmyouji, quite relaxed in strong contrast to the members of the household, and most of them looking very amused.

"Evening, Akira. It's been a while," someone said. Turning to look, he saw one of his father's closest onmyouji friends, Ogata no Seiji.

He nodded in greeting. "Is my father here?" he asked, skipping the pleasantries. Seiji pointed, and he spotted his father standing a little apart from everyone else, and hurried to him.

"What are you doing here?" his father asked after noticing him.

"I could ask you the same," Akira replied in a low voice. "What is this farce about?"

"Oh, it's been quite a show, I can tell you. It seems that poor Toshirou-sama has misplaced both a ghost and his apprentice."

"Has he now?" Akira muttered, shaking his head. "I have new information," he whispered then, and quickly told his father all they had learned from Hikaru's friends.

Tadayuki listened quietly, and his amusement seemed to die away.

"I see," he muttered, sharing a look with his friend Seiji who had been close enough to hear it all. "Perhaps it is time to bring this farce, as you called it, to a finish." He was about to go to look for Akitada, but the master of the mansion had noticed a new guest had arrived, and was already coming to greet Akira with a smile.

"Akira-sama! I'm sorry I didn't welcome you earlier, I didn't see you coming."

Akira nodded his head slightly. "It seems that I always come at a bad time."

Akitada's smile faltered and his eyes darted nervously around the yard.. "Not at all," he muttered. "But, ah, this is a difficult time. Quite unfortunate..." He was mumbling too quietly for Akira to hear the rest of the sentence.

"There are other unfortunate things we should discuss," Tadayuki said quite sternly. "Like, the suicide of someone wrongly accused. And the ghost that has been haunting you."

"M-me?" Akitada stammered, and his eyes widened. Having noticed that something was happening, the other onmyouji were beginning to gather around them, and this clearly made him grow even more flustered. "I... I don't understand what you're talking about."

"I think you do." Tadayuki's voice calm and quiet, but still commanding. "There is no use to try to hide anything, anymore. Just tell us everything, what really happened during the game between you and Fujiwara no Sai."

"During that game?" one of the onmyouji asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I truly don't know!" Akitada's hands were twitching nervously, his sleeves fluttering, and he was grasping his fan so hard it had to be quite close to breaking. "What is this nonsense about?"

"As it is," Tadayuki said, "there really has been a ghost here, the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai. But he had nothing to do with the emperor's sickness. It is you he was after," his eyes locked with Akitada's, "or, perhaps he wasn't really 'after' anyone. Just attempting to understand your deeds that led to his death."

"He is dead then?" Seiji asked with a raised eyebrow. "But where is the ghost? There certainly isn't one here."

Tadayuki nodded. "Yes, he is dead. I have myself seen – and spoken to – his ghost. As for the whereabouts... well, he's elsewhere. He followed someone away from this place."

"Followed someone?" Akitada blurted out in surprise.

"The boy who was his student."

For a moment Akitada didn't seem to understand. Then rage flashed over his face. "That brat! I should have..." He fell silent, catching himself before he said too much. "Toshirou!" he yelled suddenly, spinning around on his heels. "Where are you! Get out here and tell these people... tell them..."

"What are you yelling there?" came Toshirou's rather annoyed voice from inside. He appeared in a doorway with a deep frown on his face. "Damn that foxy boy," he muttered. "Can't find a trace of him."

"These people," Akitada went on, pointing at Tadayuki with a rather shaky finger, "He... he, he is...talking about that game and that ghost, and, and saying things..."

"What's the matter with you?" Toshirou snapped, coming to the small group. "Saying what things?"

"Mainly that I know the truth," Tadayuki said. "I admit I wasn't yet quite certain whether everything I had heard was true, so I decided to let you proceed with your little show and see what you were up to. But now, having received new information from my son, which fits quite well with what's been going on here, I can't be silent about this any more."

Toshirou blinked. Akitada, on the other hand, stood completely still, pale as a ghost.

"What?" Toshirou finally managed to get out.

"The truth," Tadayuki went on, very quietly. "Of Fujiwara no Sai's suicide, your little expedition to find his body after his spirit came to haunt you, the quick funeral by the Kamo river – and how, even after the funeral, the ghost still remained here. And," he added almost as an afterthought, "the fact it is quite controversial who truly cheated during that famous game."

Still for a moment Akitada stood all rigid. Then he suddenly snapped out of it. "I don't have to listen to trash like this at my own home!" He spun around and sleeves flowing began to march away. "It's obvious no exorcism is happening here tonight, so please leave," he yet spat over his shoulder.

Tadayuki bowed slightly. "As you wish. But you will have to listen, once you'll be summoned to the court. Both of you," he added with a glance at Toshirou, who stood dumbfounded, as if not quite understanding what was going on.

"This certainly turned into an interesting evening," Seiji muttered as they left from Akitada's mansion. "You couldn't tell us what's going on any earlier?"

"Sorry," Tadayuki replied quietly. "Just wanted to make sure." He shook his head at any further questions. "All will come clear in good time," he simply said, and the group headed back to the palace, where he promptly requested that both Sugawara no Akitada and Abe no Toshirou would be called to the court to explain their actions. Where onmyoudo matters were concerned, Kamo no Tadayuki did have some prestige, and his accusations were taken quite seriously. The most auspicious day for the hearing was decided to be three days from then.

...

"Three days!" Hikaru exclaimed, once they had returned home and told him the news. "Why do we have to wait three days?"

"You should be happy the date was set so soon," Akira pointed out. "They could have decided for three months." He was, maybe, exaggerating a little, but the other's impatience was beginning to make him annoyed.

"Three days," Hikaru still muttered. "Whatever. I guess it isn't that long. But what if they do something, now that they know we're on their track?"

"What could they do?" Akira shrugged. "Run away? They've got no choice but to appear at the court. All they can do is to come up with some new lies."

"I guess," Hikaru said again. Then he shot a glare over his shoulder. "Can you at least tell those two to stop following me everywhere?" He pointed an accusing finger toward Seimei and Yasunori. "You could imagine they were ghosts haunting me."

"Just making sure you won't disappear again," Yasunori stated.

"If you're staying here for three days – as I think you should – maybe you should send a message home," Akira said, changing promptly the subject as Hikaru's eyebrows twitched.

"Yeah, you're right," Hikaru said, for a moment forgetting his annoyance. "I should let mom know." A little uncertain how much he should tell her, he simply ordered the messenger to say that he would stay away for at least three days to finish the matter about which he'd told her earlier.

Once the messenger returned having delivered the message, he decided he might as well go to bed even though he doubted he'd be able to fall asleep. On the way, however, Tadayuki stopped him and had him tell him everything over and over again to make sure he hadn't missed anything, apparently quite indifferent of the late hour. He had sent Kimihiro to fetch the servant boy from Akitada's mansion, and once the poor boy arrived, he was subjected to such intense questioning he probably wished he'd never opened his mouth on the matter. When Tadayuki was finished with him, though, he was promised he could stay there if he wanted,and his mood improved a lot. Once Hikaru finally could go to bed after all the interrogation, he had no problem falling asleep at all.

...

The next day passed slowly and a little awkwardly. Uncertain of what to do and unable to settle down, Hikaru kept on wandering around in the quiet rooms, visiting the garden, coming in again – and attempted to ignore the two young onmyouji who were still tagging along after him. There was always go, of course, but his concentration wasn't quite what it should have been for playing against an opponent like Akira.

"You know..." Hikaru said thoughtfully during a game he was losing, "Do you think your father could do it again?"

"Do what again?" Akira asked without raising his eyes from the board. Even if Hikaru wasn't at his best, he wasn't about to play carelessly.

"That... possession thing. So that I could speak with him? I mean, with Sai?"

The hopeful tone made Akira look up, and he met the other boy's gaze. He shook slowly his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't think he would. We can ask him, of course, but I know he doesn't do things like that unless it's absolutely necessary."

"But we can ask him, right?" Hikaru glanced around. "And Sai... he'd want to play with you, I'm sure of that. Maybe we could give him a chance?"

Akira gave a short laugh. "I'm afraid playing go isn't something father would consider 'absolutely necessary.'"

Hikaru sighed. "It just feels so weird... to know that Sai is here, right now, probably watching our game..." He frowned at the board, then dropped a handful of stones on it. "I sure hope he wasn't watching that game!" he muttered angrily. "Let's start another one. This round I'll play better."

He didn't.

"We could do something else," Akira suggested after yet another game that had mainly served to increase Hikaru's agitation. "I could teach you calligraphy. Or... do you play any instrument?"

"What?"

"Every gentleman should master at least one instrument. Flute, or maybe koto, or..."

"I don't play," Hikaru snapped.

"You should," Akira snapped back. "Don't you like music?"

"I like listening to it. Like, when Akari and Akane used to play in the evenings... they're pretty good."

"If they play, why don't you?"

Hikaru shrugged awkwardly. "It's not my thing."

"Come." Akira stood up. "You could try my koto."

Hikaru followed him with a sullen look on his face. It didn't take Akira long to decide that perhaps something else indeed might be a better way to pass time, but Hikaru rejected both calligraphy and poetry without a second thought, and in the end Akira ran out of ideas that wouldn't have been go-related.

The day dragged slowly to the end, and the next day started even slower. Akira wondered if he was the only one beginning to get affected by Hikaru's agitation. His father was mainly not home, and Seimei and Yasunori, always together nowadays although never far away from Hikaru, were clearly absorbed in a world of their own.

In the afternoon heath, he gave up trying to distract Hikaru and headed to the garden, planning to cool his own nerves with some music. He was currently sitting in a shadowy spot, softly fingering his flute, thinking of a new song he had recently heard and trying to remember how it went, when a rather wild-eyed Hikaru rushed out and ran to him.

"Akira!" he yelled. "Help!"

"What is it?" he asked, lowering his flute. He noticed that the boy was holding a letter in one hand and a small branch of a bush in the other, and raised his eyebrows.

"I got this!" Hikaru pushed both the letter and the branch toward him. "What should I do?"

"You got a letter? Who knows you're here?"

"I don't know! I mean, I don't know how, but... it's, it's... help?" he finished a little weakly.

"Oh, I get it. You can't read it, right?"

"Well..." Hikaru looked at the letter as if it were a poisonous snake. "It's written in the syllable writing, so I managed to read it. I think. But what should I do?"

Akira gave him a long look. "You've got a letter from a woman? Let me see. Come now," he said, a little annoyed as Hikaru hesitated. "How can I help you if I don't know what it's about?"

Reluctantly, Hikaru finally let go of the letter. He shot an annoyed glance at Seimei and Yasunori who had followed him and were eying the letter with open curiosity. Akira gave them a look as well.

"Leave us alone for a moment, won't you?" He made shooing gestures with the letter. "This is none of your business, anyway." He waited for the two to shuffle away before finally taking a proper look at the letter. His eyebrows rose as he read it.

"The stones were scattered and the game left unfinished, the crow flew away. Just a feather left on grass, now my sleeves are wet with dew," he read it aloud. He looked at Hikaru. "When did this happen?"

"You know, the other day... when I left out without telling you? Somehow, I think I took a wrong turn and got lost, and I asked her way... I don't know how she found out I'm staying here, or why she sent that!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I don't even understand it!"

"As I don't know exactly what passed between you two, I can't be certain of everything," Akira said, eying the letter. "The crow must refer to you, right? And you must have spoken of go, for her to use that imagery. And did you leave something behind? Picking something up from grass, her sleeves got wet with dew – well, wet sleeves are commonly used to refer to crying, you know. Crying because she misses the crow that flew away..." His tone was teasing, but as he saw Hikaru's shocked face he fell silent and cleared his throat a little self-consciously. "So... I guess the question is, how do you want to answer? Are you interested in her?"

"Interested?" Hikaru's eyes bulged as if they were about to drop down.

"Yes. You know, as a mistress, or, possibly, even as a wife? Much depends on her station, though. Who is she?"

"I've no idea," Hikaru admitted miserably.

Akira looked at the letter. "It's a poem of a good quality, and her calligraphy is quite refined, too. Not to mention her choice of paper and ink... she might be a woman worth pursuing."

A somewhat strangled sound escaped Hikaru. "Worth pursuing? Why would I want to pursue her!"

"Come now. Isn't that a little childish reaction? If you're really getting adopted into the Fujiwara clan, you should start thinking about getting your first wife."

Hikaru spluttered a moment. "Are you making fun of me?" he asked then a little bitterly. "First wife? And how many wives do you have, pray tell?"

"Just one, for now," Akira said, and Hikaru's eyes widened.

"You... you're married? Where is she?" He glanced around as if expecting this surprise wife to be hiding behind a tree.

"She lives with her parents. I visit her – well, I guess I should visit her more often. In fact she probably should move to my private mansion some day soon."

Hikaru was speechless. Akira sighed. "Let's talk about that later. We need to reply to this now – is the messenger still waiting?" As Hikaru nodded, he stood up. "We shouldn't keep him waiting too long. I'll write you something that doesn't close any doors but still won't put you under any obligations. That way you'll have time to think about this. Perhaps we can find out who she is, too."

Hikaru remained quiet as he went inside and chose an appropriately colored paper. "Of course, this isn't quite fair," Akira muttered as he started writing the poem. "She'll get a much too good picture of you, with me composing your poems. In the future, you'd better do this yourself. There. Shall I read it to you?"

"Never mind!" Hikaru snapped. "A much too good picture," he muttered under his breath. "Well, thanks."

"You're welcome," Akira said a little dryly. "Say, what is the significance of that branch?"

Hikaru threw it a morbid look. "It's from her hedge. We talked through it."

"I see," Akira muttered. He went to the garden and after a moment returned with a branch that had a few red leaves attached to it. After carefully tying the letter to the branch, he gave it to Hikaru. "Here. Take it to the messenger."

Without saying a word, Hikaru took the letter and left. After a short moment he returned without it.

"Do you remember where she lives?" Akira asked.

Hikaru shrugged and sat down next to him. "I'm not sure. I might be able to find there again. But I don't think I want to."

His gruff tone made Akira decide it might be best to change the subject. "Perhaps I really should start teaching you calligraphy," he stated conversationally. "Why don't you write something so that I could see your level?"

Hikaru fell back on the pillows they were sitting on with a great groan.

...

The settled time could, Akira thought, have arrived sooner. At least Hikaru's mysterious lady friend had provided him with some distraction (not to mention amusement) even if she had managed to unsettle Hikaru quite badly. He would have wanted to do some research about her, but his father had told him to wait until everything was over. After all, Hikaru had been unable to show her house on the map, and even if he had been able to retrace his steps, they didn't get a permission to go out. Not for such 'frivolous reasons', as his father put it.

But now, finally, they would be heading to the palace.

Notes:

Heheh. No, I'm not setting up any pairings here, just having a bit fun at Hikaru's expense. I wrote that letter scene once just for fun, and back then I didn't even know if I could fit it somehow into the story..

Oh, and, btw... I was rereading The World of the Shining Prince after writing this chapter, and, in the part where they talk about the lack of privacy – it really must have been hard to keep anything secret in those days, or, rather, in those houses – I came across this: “The word kaimamiru (lit. peeping through the hedge) recurs throughout contemporary literature...” C'mon, Hikaru! Be brave! Be bad! Take a peep! The Shining Prince Genji would, too. xD

...and talking about that encounter, I couldn't stop my brain from trying to write some kind of a reply poem. Here we go:

The days were gloomy
I thought joy had flown away.
Then, from a garden,
came the song of a skylark...
has one truly stayed behind?

Yep, yep. I think I'd have failed as a Heian lady. Please don't laugh at my “poetry of good quality.” xD (Gah, trying to figure out English syllable count is a pain. “Stayed” has one syllable, right? At least English words are short. Lot easier to write poems like this than in Finnish.)

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