Heian fic, chapter 7
Aug. 10th, 2011 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tuulikannelChapter 7
Akira really was planning to go to the imperial palace just as he'd said, but first there was another place he wanted to visit. As soon as Hikaru was out of sight, he turned toward Sugawara no Akitada's mansion. The best way, he reasoned, to judge a man's character was to do it by yourself. But once he arrived at the mansion, the servants told him that their master had left to the palace, and it was uncertain when he would return – or if he would, in fact, stay there the night. Akira was a little disappointed, as he would have wanted to have a word with the man alone, and at the palace this would be difficult. Then he came to think of something else.
“I have heard an onmyouji is visiting him. Is he still here?”
“Abe no Toshirou-dono went to the palace with our master,” the servants replied. “His nephew is still here, though.”
Abe it was, then. “Would it be possible for me to meet him? I have not met an onmyouji from this clan before, and I would be interested to make their acquaintance.”
Kamo clan was well known for its onmyouji, and so the servants found nothing odd in this request. They took Akira to the mansion's garden. There, he saw a young boy kneeling on the ground in one corner, as if examining something closely, and he stopped, confused. The servants, however, pointed at the boy, and he bit his lip. He hadn't been expecting a child.
Deciding nevertheless to proceed – and he could have hardly backed away now without offering an insult – he approached the child, only to stop soon again, in even greater surprise. The servants were about to call the boy, but he raised his hand to stop them and sent them quietly away. If his hearing didn't betray him, the boy was muttering some kind of an incantation. A quick look around proved to Akira that this spot at the edge of the garden was hardly randomly chosen. The little mound built in the garden was north-east from it, a protection from evil influences from the unlucky direction, and the location of the lake and the small brook leading to it made this truly an auspicious spot.
Akira stood still, not knowing what to think about this odd display. It took a little while, but finally the boy finished what he had been doing and stood up.
“Could I ask...” Akira started, eying the ground curiously, as the boy turned to face him. It looked like the boy had buried something.
“Preferably not.”
Taken a little aback by the curt reply, Akira bowed. “My apologies. I'm Kamo no Akira.”
“Abe no Seimei.”
“I...” Akira cleared his throat, surprised to find himself at a loss. “I hear your uncle is an onmyouji,” he finally said. “And apparently so are you.”
The boy continued to watch him with an expressionless face, saying nothing, and he stifled a pang of annoyance. “I don't believe I'm familiar with your uncle. Is he strong?” The question, placed so blatantly, bordered on rude, but the boy's aloof manner didn't tempt him to waste his time on pleasantries.
“He is my teacher.”
“I see.” The reply didn't tell him much – and at the same time, a lot. If this was all the boy had to say, it didn't speak well about the man's skills. The double bind of kinship and apprenticeship would stop him from saying bad things about his teacher, but he didn't have to lie either. That was, Akira reminded himself with a frown, assuming this strange boy behaved like a normal person.
“Do you know when they will return from the palace? I was hoping to have a word with Sugawara no Akitada.”
The boy shrugged. “They will probably still take some time. They are both too stubborn to give up easily.”
Akira raised his eyebrows, wondering what the boy was talking about. “I see. Then I guess I'll go to the palace and see if I can find them.” He turned to leave, but suddenly the hair on his neck bristled, and he spun around. “What was that?”
“What?” For the first time there was some emotion on the boy's face; mild curiosity.
“I... I felt something.” Akira's eyes darted around the garden and stopped on the little spot where something had been buried. He narrowed his eyes. “What is going on in this mansion?”
Now, the boy actually smiled. “Strange things. Say... do you know how to speak with a ghost?”
“Speak... ghost?” Akira stared at the boy with wide eyes. “What?”
“It is annoyingly complicated,” the boy went on, his aloofness suddenly disappearing into thin air. “I have been trying to figure this out, but in vain. It would hardly do any good to ask my uncle – even if he knew, he wouldn't tell me. I'd imagine it depends a little on the type of the ghost, too.”
Akira stared at him, trying to understand where this weird conversation suddenly was heading to. “Most likely,” he said, deciding to humor the boy. “Ghosts, in general, don't really belong to this world, and so communication with them is hard. Most of them don't even want to communicate; they have other, rather single-minded goals to achieve.”
“Yes,” the boy muttered. “But how to figure out the goal, if they don't speak?
“Why would you want to find out the goal of a ghost?” Akira asked, beginning to get genuinely curious.
“Why not? If the ghost, by chance, is in the right.”
Akira paused to consider this. “I have never really thought about it like that,” he admitted. “If a ghost appears, it is the onmyouji's job to exorcise it. But... usually, ghosts don't appear unless they have been somehow wronged. So perhaps the correct approach isn't – at least on all cases – just to get rid of the ghost as soon as possible.” He smiled a little, and tried to remind himself of why he was there. “But interesting as this is, theoretically, I have other things on my mind right now. Although...” He looked at that spot on the ground behind the boy, and frowned.
Strange goings-on at Sugawara no Akitada's mansion? At a time when the said gentleman had been adventuring around in the middle of the night, fishing the corpse of his dead rival from a river... A coincidence? He didn't quite believe in those.
He looked sharply at the boy. “Could you tell me...” he started, but commotion at the front gate cut him off.
“It seems I was wrong,” the boy stated. “My uncle and the master of the house are back.”
Neither Sugawara no Akitada nor his friend seemed to be in the best of moods coming home. As Akira and the boy entered the house, the angry voices grew louder, approaching them. Two men appeared in a doorway, arguing heatedly about something, but seeing them, they came to an abrupt stop. One of them shot an angry glare at the servants swarming behind them.
“Why didn't you tell me I have a visitor?” he snapped.
The servants bowed deep. “We tried, master...”
Akira bowed as well. “I'm sorry if I have intruded on you at a bad time. Kamo no Akira, at your service.”
“Kamo?” The man looked at him with interest. “You wouldn't happen to be an onmyouji?”
“No... no, sir, not me,” Akira said, straightening his back. “My father, Kamo no Tadayuki, is skilled in that area, and so is my younger brother, but the talent seems to have passed me.”
“Kamo no Tadayuki...” the man muttered, something glistening in his eyes. “There's a name even I know. I wonder if he would be able...”
“Would you really want to get an outsider involved?” the other man asked sharply.
Sugawara no Akitada – at least so Akira had concluded, noting that neither of the men had bothered to introduce themselves – gave his companion an angry look. “You have spent here two whole days, and what have you accomplished?”
“These things take their time! Impatience won't get you anywhere.”
A moment the men glared at each other. Akira bowed again, reminding them of his presence. “It is perhaps best if I return at some other time,” he said. “It would seem you are otherwise preoccupied right now.”
“Oh no...” Sugawara no Akitada started, but the onmyouji cut him off.
“Yes, perhaps that is wisest. There are things we should talk about, now.” He gave his friend a meaningful look. “Besides,” he turned to the boy, “Did you deal with... it?”
“Yes,” was all the boy said, his face again quite impassive.
Akira decided to probe a little more before taking his leave. “If there is a message you would wish to send to my father, I'd be happy to carry it,” he said. “It seems to me that you are having some trouble with... otherworldly things.”
It was something of a guess, but seemed to hit home. The man paled a little, and shot a nervous glance at his onmyouji friend. “Well, yes, that is...”
“We should talk about these things, Akitada-sama,” the man said, now more calmly. “Let's not do – again – anything rash.”
Akitada seemed still hesitant, but in the end nodded. Seeing the time for him to leave getting closer and closer, Akira decided to make one more shot in the dark.
“Strange things certainly are happening,” he stated. “I wonder just how much everything has to do with Fujiwara no Sai...”
“F-fuh-fuji...” Akitada choked. His face turned an interesting shade of yellow. “You... you have heard that rumor too? Is it true?”
“Well, it's possible...” Akira said without any idea of what rumor he was talking about.
“Of course it isn't,” Abe no Toshirou cut him off. “But if you would excuse us, my friend isn't feeling well.” Akitada truly looked like he was ready to faint.
Akira took his leave, a little disappointed. He had found more questions here than answers. But still, he reflected as he headed toward the palace, that meant he had found something.
~
Unable to figure out what to do, Hikaru had decided to go to meet the monk and take care of their business. He didn't have a clue what one should give a monk for funeral services, but he hoped it wouldn't be anything excessive. He came to the eastern temple, where he remembered the monk had headed, and walked in.
“Excuse me,” he said to a young monk he noticed. “I'm looking for...” Who? He suddenly realized he didn't even know the monk's name. “A... monk, who... well, he's middle-aged, and a bit thin, and...” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Wise?”
He looked hopefully at the monk who gave him a blank look. “I would hope for the latter to be true for all monks.”
“Well, yeah... he came here last night, pretty late, from performing funeral rites, uh, out there.” He waved vaguely toward the Rashomon, and the young monk stared at him in confusion.
“I am quite certain that none of our monks have been out during the night,” he stated, and Hikaru wavered.
“But...” he glanced over his shoulder wondering if the man had after all gone to the western temple. “I'm sure he came here, and... I should pay him...”
For the first time, interest flashed in the monk's face. “If you have an offering for the temple, I can certainly...”
“You can certainly pocket everything you can get, yes, I'm sure of that,” another voice put in.
Turning to look, Hikaru saw the monk standing in the temple's doorway. “There you are!” he exclaimed happily.
The other monk's face fell. “Oh, you,” he muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“Just visiting. But come, boy.” He nodded at Hikaru and walked out. “It's a nice day, let's walk outside.”
“I came to pay you,” Hikaru said as he hurried after the monk. “I'm not sure how much I own you, but...” The monk waved his hand and silenced him.
“Come now, it is bad manners to start directly discussing such things,” he stated. “How are you? I must admit I was a little worried about you, last night.”
“Oh, I'm fine, thank you.” Hikaru bowed his head lightly. “Kind of you to ask.”
“Have you decided what you're going to do?”
“Yes. Not the details – but I will not let things lay as they are. I've got some friends who're helping me to find out the truth.”
The monk nodded. “That's good. This is a peculiar case, and I'm sure you can use all the help you can get.”
“Yeah.” Hikaru sighed. “Actually, friends or not, I'm not sure what we can do – but I'm not giving up.”
“Have you found out anything?”
“Not much. No prove that they're lying – but they don't seem to have anything to prove their lies, either.”
“ If you want a suggestion...” the monk said quietly, and Hikaru looked at him eagerly.
“Yes?”
“Go to have a word with Seimei. He might have some knowledge useful for you.”
“Huh?” Hikaru blinked. “Wait, you mean that kid? Really? But he's just a child!”
“Not your average child, though. But if you'll excuse me, I have things to do. If you wish to talk, you'll find me around here.”
With a nod of his head, the monk was off. Hikaru bowed after him, and only when the monk had disappeared from sight did he realize he still hadn't paid him.
Talk with that kid? Well, out of that threesome he had met last night, the boy definitely had been the most sympathetic. And, if he had been living at Akitada's mansion, he might know something. So he set out for Sugawara no Akitada's mansion, arriving there quite soon after Akira had left.
Hikaru eyed the main gate a moment distrustfully. Deciding he didn't want to make any official visit – they most likely wouldn't even let him in – he headed for the side gates and slipped in unnoticed. Now, he would just have to find the boy without running across anyone else.
As he sneaked on in the quiet corridors he suddenly became aware of angry voices, arguing heatedly over something. He considered a moment – would it be wisest to head away from the voices or... to give in to curiosity? He decided on the latter and soon the voices grew clearer, and quite familiar.
“I've been patient! But I'm beginning to reach the end...”
Sugawara no Akitada. As silent as he could, Hikaru tiptoed closer to the thin paper wall that separated him from the men.
“As if you hadn't been trying my patience, too!” That was clearly the onmyouji's booming voice. “We spent hours at the palace, and weren't even allowed into the emperor's presence! Now where's your 'influential position' at court?”
“These are exceptional times...”
“And obviously you're not quite as exceptional as you'd like to imagine!”
Someone puffed behind the wall. “But truly, I am the one here who has the most to complain. I called you here for a job, and if you're not doing it...”
“I'm telling you to be patient. Things like this aren't done overnight.”
“That's what you keep on saying! So how long is it going to take?”
There was a long silence. “I admit that this is a tricky situation,” the onmyouji said in a much more conciliatory tone. “But come, let us not fight – didn't I just explain to you how we could turn everything into our favor? You should not fret so much... this plan cannot fail.”
Akitada sighed. “Perhaps. But I'm not sure if I like this plan of yours. And this whole matter is just getting so badly on my nerves. I think I might move to my apartments at the palace. I don't like sharing my quarters with a ghost.”
Hikaru froze. A ghost?
“It probably wouldn't help. The ghost will, most likely, simply follow you – and all things considered, it'd be best for us to keep it here, right now.”
Akitada's second sigh was heartfelt. “I think I need a drink,” he murmured. “Sake!” he yelled, and Hikaru gave a start as footsteps started approaching from behind his back. Where to hide?
That instant Seimei suddenly stepped into the corridor. “This way,” the boy whispered, grasping his arm. “Don't panic; try to behave as if you belonged here.”
Servants arrived carrying the sake and certainly had to see him, but no one said anything. Most likely they had to take him as the boy's servant.
They walked to another part of the large mansion where the boy finally stopped and, after closing a slide door behind their back, turned to face him. “What are you doing here?”
“I... actually I came to see you.”
“Why?”
“Well, that monk...” Hikaru swallowed, trying to get over his nervousness. He was considerably older than this boy, so why was he feeling so jittery? “The one you got for us last night, he said you might be able to help me.”
The boy gave him a long look. “Did he? Why?”
“What do you mean why?! How should I know? He just said... and I thought... so can you help me or not?” Annoyance growing, Hikaru glared down at the boy.
“It depends on what kind of help you need.” The boy sat down on the floor by lattices which opened into a garden. The light of the soon setting sun still poured into the room, and colored the wooden floor golden. The corner of the room where they were had been separated from the rest of the room with a screen, in which a few storks flew across a setting sun. It was hardly a coincidence that this particular screen was located in a place where the evening sun lighted the colors of its painted counterpart most charmingly.
Hikaru noticed nothing of this as he sat down opposite the boy. “I want to find out the truth,” he said earnestly. “That's all – no, it's not all. I want to find out the truth, and I want everyone to know the truth, too. I want to clear Sai's reputation.” He hadn't ever quite thought of it in those terms, but having said it aloud, it was perfectly clear to him. “That's what I want. Can you help me with it?”
Seimei watched him quietly a long while. “You think he didn't cheat?”
“I know he didn't! And they've got no prove he did, either. My friend went to speak with this guy who saw the match, Watanabe... whatever his name was, and he said no one actually saw it happen.”
“I've had my suspicions,” Seimei said quietly. “Akitada-sama clearly hasn't been quite honest about this case.”
“Will you help me, then?” Hikaru exclaimed. “That'd be great, I – hey, those two... what ghost were they talking about?”
“The one that has been fluttering around like an overexcited butterfly ever since sensing you.”
“Wha?” Hikaru shot a startled glance around the room. “You mean there's a ghost here?”
“Indeed.” Seimei smiled a little. “He was the one to notice you, not me. And the moment he did, he forgot all about Akitada.”
“He's... here?” Hikaru whispered, gulping. “Like, right now?”
“He's sitting on your left side and seems to be trying to tell you something.”
“Oh.” Instinctively, Hikaru pulled first a little away. “That is... I mean, Sai?” He gulped again. “You mean it's him? Why is he here?”
The slide door slammed open. “The correct question is, why are you here!” The enraged voice belonged to no other but Sugawara no Akitada, who stomped into the room with the onmyouji on his heels. “What is going on here!”
Hikaru sprang to his feet, glancing around. He could hardly get out through the lattice, and so the only way out was blocked by the two men. He straightened his back and turned to face them.
“I'm here to finally get to the bottom of this thing. I know you've been lying, and I...”
“Get this garbage out of my house!” Akitada yelled. Running steps approached, and servants burst into the room. “Out!” Akitada kept on shouting, pointing his finger at Hikaru.
“Hey, don't...” the boy started as the servants grasped his arms. “You can't just...”
“I can't?” Akitada's face was seething with rage. “You are intruding in my house! I could have you flogged for this, commoner trash!”
“I'm not...” Hikaru started to object, but he was already being dragged out of the room.
“Get him out and see he won't be back!”
Seimei had got up too and took a step to go after them. Toshirou placed his hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“Where do you think you're going?” Without waiting for an answer he spun the boy around to face him. “I don't know what you're up to, but you'd better stop these games right now.”
“I'm not the one who's playing games here,” Seimei stated quietly. “I'm merely trying to figure out what is going on. If the truth is...”
“Enough! Go to your room and stay there.” Toshirou turned to the servants who were gathering to the place. “See to it that he won't be wandering around.”
“Do you really think they could stop me if I wanted to leave?” Seimei muttered.
Toshirou gave him a strict look. “Need I to remind you that your parents have entrusted your education to me? If I tell you something, you'd better obey. Now, to your room.”
Without a word Seimei turned on his heels and went.
By now, the servants had dragged Hikaru all the way to the closest gate, and, following their orders quite literally, threw him out to the street. He stumbled quickly back to his feet and turned to face them, but when he saw that Sugawara no Akitada had not bothered to follow them all the way to the gate, he just shot one final enraged look at the servants, spat on the ground and stomped away. Ignoring the angry shouts of the servants behind his back, he rubbed his hand which he had painfully scratched on the ground and pondered darkly on how to proceed with his new information.
Notes:
Heh. No notes?
Oh, maybe I could mention that Kamo no Tadayuki is a real person from history. He got the honor to adopt Akira for the purposes of this story. In other words, just to make it completely clear, Akira's father in this story is not the Meijin.
Next chapter
Previous chapter
First chapter
Akira really was planning to go to the imperial palace just as he'd said, but first there was another place he wanted to visit. As soon as Hikaru was out of sight, he turned toward Sugawara no Akitada's mansion. The best way, he reasoned, to judge a man's character was to do it by yourself. But once he arrived at the mansion, the servants told him that their master had left to the palace, and it was uncertain when he would return – or if he would, in fact, stay there the night. Akira was a little disappointed, as he would have wanted to have a word with the man alone, and at the palace this would be difficult. Then he came to think of something else.
“I have heard an onmyouji is visiting him. Is he still here?”
“Abe no Toshirou-dono went to the palace with our master,” the servants replied. “His nephew is still here, though.”
Abe it was, then. “Would it be possible for me to meet him? I have not met an onmyouji from this clan before, and I would be interested to make their acquaintance.”
Kamo clan was well known for its onmyouji, and so the servants found nothing odd in this request. They took Akira to the mansion's garden. There, he saw a young boy kneeling on the ground in one corner, as if examining something closely, and he stopped, confused. The servants, however, pointed at the boy, and he bit his lip. He hadn't been expecting a child.
Deciding nevertheless to proceed – and he could have hardly backed away now without offering an insult – he approached the child, only to stop soon again, in even greater surprise. The servants were about to call the boy, but he raised his hand to stop them and sent them quietly away. If his hearing didn't betray him, the boy was muttering some kind of an incantation. A quick look around proved to Akira that this spot at the edge of the garden was hardly randomly chosen. The little mound built in the garden was north-east from it, a protection from evil influences from the unlucky direction, and the location of the lake and the small brook leading to it made this truly an auspicious spot.
Akira stood still, not knowing what to think about this odd display. It took a little while, but finally the boy finished what he had been doing and stood up.
“Could I ask...” Akira started, eying the ground curiously, as the boy turned to face him. It looked like the boy had buried something.
“Preferably not.”
Taken a little aback by the curt reply, Akira bowed. “My apologies. I'm Kamo no Akira.”
“Abe no Seimei.”
“I...” Akira cleared his throat, surprised to find himself at a loss. “I hear your uncle is an onmyouji,” he finally said. “And apparently so are you.”
The boy continued to watch him with an expressionless face, saying nothing, and he stifled a pang of annoyance. “I don't believe I'm familiar with your uncle. Is he strong?” The question, placed so blatantly, bordered on rude, but the boy's aloof manner didn't tempt him to waste his time on pleasantries.
“He is my teacher.”
“I see.” The reply didn't tell him much – and at the same time, a lot. If this was all the boy had to say, it didn't speak well about the man's skills. The double bind of kinship and apprenticeship would stop him from saying bad things about his teacher, but he didn't have to lie either. That was, Akira reminded himself with a frown, assuming this strange boy behaved like a normal person.
“Do you know when they will return from the palace? I was hoping to have a word with Sugawara no Akitada.”
The boy shrugged. “They will probably still take some time. They are both too stubborn to give up easily.”
Akira raised his eyebrows, wondering what the boy was talking about. “I see. Then I guess I'll go to the palace and see if I can find them.” He turned to leave, but suddenly the hair on his neck bristled, and he spun around. “What was that?”
“What?” For the first time there was some emotion on the boy's face; mild curiosity.
“I... I felt something.” Akira's eyes darted around the garden and stopped on the little spot where something had been buried. He narrowed his eyes. “What is going on in this mansion?”
Now, the boy actually smiled. “Strange things. Say... do you know how to speak with a ghost?”
“Speak... ghost?” Akira stared at the boy with wide eyes. “What?”
“It is annoyingly complicated,” the boy went on, his aloofness suddenly disappearing into thin air. “I have been trying to figure this out, but in vain. It would hardly do any good to ask my uncle – even if he knew, he wouldn't tell me. I'd imagine it depends a little on the type of the ghost, too.”
Akira stared at him, trying to understand where this weird conversation suddenly was heading to. “Most likely,” he said, deciding to humor the boy. “Ghosts, in general, don't really belong to this world, and so communication with them is hard. Most of them don't even want to communicate; they have other, rather single-minded goals to achieve.”
“Yes,” the boy muttered. “But how to figure out the goal, if they don't speak?
“Why would you want to find out the goal of a ghost?” Akira asked, beginning to get genuinely curious.
“Why not? If the ghost, by chance, is in the right.”
Akira paused to consider this. “I have never really thought about it like that,” he admitted. “If a ghost appears, it is the onmyouji's job to exorcise it. But... usually, ghosts don't appear unless they have been somehow wronged. So perhaps the correct approach isn't – at least on all cases – just to get rid of the ghost as soon as possible.” He smiled a little, and tried to remind himself of why he was there. “But interesting as this is, theoretically, I have other things on my mind right now. Although...” He looked at that spot on the ground behind the boy, and frowned.
Strange goings-on at Sugawara no Akitada's mansion? At a time when the said gentleman had been adventuring around in the middle of the night, fishing the corpse of his dead rival from a river... A coincidence? He didn't quite believe in those.
He looked sharply at the boy. “Could you tell me...” he started, but commotion at the front gate cut him off.
“It seems I was wrong,” the boy stated. “My uncle and the master of the house are back.”
Neither Sugawara no Akitada nor his friend seemed to be in the best of moods coming home. As Akira and the boy entered the house, the angry voices grew louder, approaching them. Two men appeared in a doorway, arguing heatedly about something, but seeing them, they came to an abrupt stop. One of them shot an angry glare at the servants swarming behind them.
“Why didn't you tell me I have a visitor?” he snapped.
The servants bowed deep. “We tried, master...”
Akira bowed as well. “I'm sorry if I have intruded on you at a bad time. Kamo no Akira, at your service.”
“Kamo?” The man looked at him with interest. “You wouldn't happen to be an onmyouji?”
“No... no, sir, not me,” Akira said, straightening his back. “My father, Kamo no Tadayuki, is skilled in that area, and so is my younger brother, but the talent seems to have passed me.”
“Kamo no Tadayuki...” the man muttered, something glistening in his eyes. “There's a name even I know. I wonder if he would be able...”
“Would you really want to get an outsider involved?” the other man asked sharply.
Sugawara no Akitada – at least so Akira had concluded, noting that neither of the men had bothered to introduce themselves – gave his companion an angry look. “You have spent here two whole days, and what have you accomplished?”
“These things take their time! Impatience won't get you anywhere.”
A moment the men glared at each other. Akira bowed again, reminding them of his presence. “It is perhaps best if I return at some other time,” he said. “It would seem you are otherwise preoccupied right now.”
“Oh no...” Sugawara no Akitada started, but the onmyouji cut him off.
“Yes, perhaps that is wisest. There are things we should talk about, now.” He gave his friend a meaningful look. “Besides,” he turned to the boy, “Did you deal with... it?”
“Yes,” was all the boy said, his face again quite impassive.
Akira decided to probe a little more before taking his leave. “If there is a message you would wish to send to my father, I'd be happy to carry it,” he said. “It seems to me that you are having some trouble with... otherworldly things.”
It was something of a guess, but seemed to hit home. The man paled a little, and shot a nervous glance at his onmyouji friend. “Well, yes, that is...”
“We should talk about these things, Akitada-sama,” the man said, now more calmly. “Let's not do – again – anything rash.”
Akitada seemed still hesitant, but in the end nodded. Seeing the time for him to leave getting closer and closer, Akira decided to make one more shot in the dark.
“Strange things certainly are happening,” he stated. “I wonder just how much everything has to do with Fujiwara no Sai...”
“F-fuh-fuji...” Akitada choked. His face turned an interesting shade of yellow. “You... you have heard that rumor too? Is it true?”
“Well, it's possible...” Akira said without any idea of what rumor he was talking about.
“Of course it isn't,” Abe no Toshirou cut him off. “But if you would excuse us, my friend isn't feeling well.” Akitada truly looked like he was ready to faint.
Akira took his leave, a little disappointed. He had found more questions here than answers. But still, he reflected as he headed toward the palace, that meant he had found something.
Unable to figure out what to do, Hikaru had decided to go to meet the monk and take care of their business. He didn't have a clue what one should give a monk for funeral services, but he hoped it wouldn't be anything excessive. He came to the eastern temple, where he remembered the monk had headed, and walked in.
“Excuse me,” he said to a young monk he noticed. “I'm looking for...” Who? He suddenly realized he didn't even know the monk's name. “A... monk, who... well, he's middle-aged, and a bit thin, and...” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Wise?”
He looked hopefully at the monk who gave him a blank look. “I would hope for the latter to be true for all monks.”
“Well, yeah... he came here last night, pretty late, from performing funeral rites, uh, out there.” He waved vaguely toward the Rashomon, and the young monk stared at him in confusion.
“I am quite certain that none of our monks have been out during the night,” he stated, and Hikaru wavered.
“But...” he glanced over his shoulder wondering if the man had after all gone to the western temple. “I'm sure he came here, and... I should pay him...”
For the first time, interest flashed in the monk's face. “If you have an offering for the temple, I can certainly...”
“You can certainly pocket everything you can get, yes, I'm sure of that,” another voice put in.
Turning to look, Hikaru saw the monk standing in the temple's doorway. “There you are!” he exclaimed happily.
The other monk's face fell. “Oh, you,” he muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“Just visiting. But come, boy.” He nodded at Hikaru and walked out. “It's a nice day, let's walk outside.”
“I came to pay you,” Hikaru said as he hurried after the monk. “I'm not sure how much I own you, but...” The monk waved his hand and silenced him.
“Come now, it is bad manners to start directly discussing such things,” he stated. “How are you? I must admit I was a little worried about you, last night.”
“Oh, I'm fine, thank you.” Hikaru bowed his head lightly. “Kind of you to ask.”
“Have you decided what you're going to do?”
“Yes. Not the details – but I will not let things lay as they are. I've got some friends who're helping me to find out the truth.”
The monk nodded. “That's good. This is a peculiar case, and I'm sure you can use all the help you can get.”
“Yeah.” Hikaru sighed. “Actually, friends or not, I'm not sure what we can do – but I'm not giving up.”
“Have you found out anything?”
“Not much. No prove that they're lying – but they don't seem to have anything to prove their lies, either.”
“ If you want a suggestion...” the monk said quietly, and Hikaru looked at him eagerly.
“Yes?”
“Go to have a word with Seimei. He might have some knowledge useful for you.”
“Huh?” Hikaru blinked. “Wait, you mean that kid? Really? But he's just a child!”
“Not your average child, though. But if you'll excuse me, I have things to do. If you wish to talk, you'll find me around here.”
With a nod of his head, the monk was off. Hikaru bowed after him, and only when the monk had disappeared from sight did he realize he still hadn't paid him.
Talk with that kid? Well, out of that threesome he had met last night, the boy definitely had been the most sympathetic. And, if he had been living at Akitada's mansion, he might know something. So he set out for Sugawara no Akitada's mansion, arriving there quite soon after Akira had left.
Hikaru eyed the main gate a moment distrustfully. Deciding he didn't want to make any official visit – they most likely wouldn't even let him in – he headed for the side gates and slipped in unnoticed. Now, he would just have to find the boy without running across anyone else.
As he sneaked on in the quiet corridors he suddenly became aware of angry voices, arguing heatedly over something. He considered a moment – would it be wisest to head away from the voices or... to give in to curiosity? He decided on the latter and soon the voices grew clearer, and quite familiar.
“I've been patient! But I'm beginning to reach the end...”
Sugawara no Akitada. As silent as he could, Hikaru tiptoed closer to the thin paper wall that separated him from the men.
“As if you hadn't been trying my patience, too!” That was clearly the onmyouji's booming voice. “We spent hours at the palace, and weren't even allowed into the emperor's presence! Now where's your 'influential position' at court?”
“These are exceptional times...”
“And obviously you're not quite as exceptional as you'd like to imagine!”
Someone puffed behind the wall. “But truly, I am the one here who has the most to complain. I called you here for a job, and if you're not doing it...”
“I'm telling you to be patient. Things like this aren't done overnight.”
“That's what you keep on saying! So how long is it going to take?”
There was a long silence. “I admit that this is a tricky situation,” the onmyouji said in a much more conciliatory tone. “But come, let us not fight – didn't I just explain to you how we could turn everything into our favor? You should not fret so much... this plan cannot fail.”
Akitada sighed. “Perhaps. But I'm not sure if I like this plan of yours. And this whole matter is just getting so badly on my nerves. I think I might move to my apartments at the palace. I don't like sharing my quarters with a ghost.”
Hikaru froze. A ghost?
“It probably wouldn't help. The ghost will, most likely, simply follow you – and all things considered, it'd be best for us to keep it here, right now.”
Akitada's second sigh was heartfelt. “I think I need a drink,” he murmured. “Sake!” he yelled, and Hikaru gave a start as footsteps started approaching from behind his back. Where to hide?
That instant Seimei suddenly stepped into the corridor. “This way,” the boy whispered, grasping his arm. “Don't panic; try to behave as if you belonged here.”
Servants arrived carrying the sake and certainly had to see him, but no one said anything. Most likely they had to take him as the boy's servant.
They walked to another part of the large mansion where the boy finally stopped and, after closing a slide door behind their back, turned to face him. “What are you doing here?”
“I... actually I came to see you.”
“Why?”
“Well, that monk...” Hikaru swallowed, trying to get over his nervousness. He was considerably older than this boy, so why was he feeling so jittery? “The one you got for us last night, he said you might be able to help me.”
The boy gave him a long look. “Did he? Why?”
“What do you mean why?! How should I know? He just said... and I thought... so can you help me or not?” Annoyance growing, Hikaru glared down at the boy.
“It depends on what kind of help you need.” The boy sat down on the floor by lattices which opened into a garden. The light of the soon setting sun still poured into the room, and colored the wooden floor golden. The corner of the room where they were had been separated from the rest of the room with a screen, in which a few storks flew across a setting sun. It was hardly a coincidence that this particular screen was located in a place where the evening sun lighted the colors of its painted counterpart most charmingly.
Hikaru noticed nothing of this as he sat down opposite the boy. “I want to find out the truth,” he said earnestly. “That's all – no, it's not all. I want to find out the truth, and I want everyone to know the truth, too. I want to clear Sai's reputation.” He hadn't ever quite thought of it in those terms, but having said it aloud, it was perfectly clear to him. “That's what I want. Can you help me with it?”
Seimei watched him quietly a long while. “You think he didn't cheat?”
“I know he didn't! And they've got no prove he did, either. My friend went to speak with this guy who saw the match, Watanabe... whatever his name was, and he said no one actually saw it happen.”
“I've had my suspicions,” Seimei said quietly. “Akitada-sama clearly hasn't been quite honest about this case.”
“Will you help me, then?” Hikaru exclaimed. “That'd be great, I – hey, those two... what ghost were they talking about?”
“The one that has been fluttering around like an overexcited butterfly ever since sensing you.”
“Wha?” Hikaru shot a startled glance around the room. “You mean there's a ghost here?”
“Indeed.” Seimei smiled a little. “He was the one to notice you, not me. And the moment he did, he forgot all about Akitada.”
“He's... here?” Hikaru whispered, gulping. “Like, right now?”
“He's sitting on your left side and seems to be trying to tell you something.”
“Oh.” Instinctively, Hikaru pulled first a little away. “That is... I mean, Sai?” He gulped again. “You mean it's him? Why is he here?”
The slide door slammed open. “The correct question is, why are you here!” The enraged voice belonged to no other but Sugawara no Akitada, who stomped into the room with the onmyouji on his heels. “What is going on here!”
Hikaru sprang to his feet, glancing around. He could hardly get out through the lattice, and so the only way out was blocked by the two men. He straightened his back and turned to face them.
“I'm here to finally get to the bottom of this thing. I know you've been lying, and I...”
“Get this garbage out of my house!” Akitada yelled. Running steps approached, and servants burst into the room. “Out!” Akitada kept on shouting, pointing his finger at Hikaru.
“Hey, don't...” the boy started as the servants grasped his arms. “You can't just...”
“I can't?” Akitada's face was seething with rage. “You are intruding in my house! I could have you flogged for this, commoner trash!”
“I'm not...” Hikaru started to object, but he was already being dragged out of the room.
“Get him out and see he won't be back!”
Seimei had got up too and took a step to go after them. Toshirou placed his hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“Where do you think you're going?” Without waiting for an answer he spun the boy around to face him. “I don't know what you're up to, but you'd better stop these games right now.”
“I'm not the one who's playing games here,” Seimei stated quietly. “I'm merely trying to figure out what is going on. If the truth is...”
“Enough! Go to your room and stay there.” Toshirou turned to the servants who were gathering to the place. “See to it that he won't be wandering around.”
“Do you really think they could stop me if I wanted to leave?” Seimei muttered.
Toshirou gave him a strict look. “Need I to remind you that your parents have entrusted your education to me? If I tell you something, you'd better obey. Now, to your room.”
Without a word Seimei turned on his heels and went.
By now, the servants had dragged Hikaru all the way to the closest gate, and, following their orders quite literally, threw him out to the street. He stumbled quickly back to his feet and turned to face them, but when he saw that Sugawara no Akitada had not bothered to follow them all the way to the gate, he just shot one final enraged look at the servants, spat on the ground and stomped away. Ignoring the angry shouts of the servants behind his back, he rubbed his hand which he had painfully scratched on the ground and pondered darkly on how to proceed with his new information.
Notes:
Heh. No notes?
Oh, maybe I could mention that Kamo no Tadayuki is a real person from history. He got the honor to adopt Akira for the purposes of this story. In other words, just to make it completely clear, Akira's father in this story is not the Meijin.
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