anything out of them. She is normal and protects the young male. His name is Tojiro. He ran. They caught me when I followed him.’
Kobe frowned. ‘Was it that damned Kiyowara case again? You never would listen. See where it got you this time. I hear the censors have their claws into you because of it. And you with a new child to support.’
Akitada hung his head. ‘It was another case,’ he said wearily. ‘I was trying to earn money I had already spent. A question of honor rather than stubbornness.’
Kobe was not to be distracted from his lecture by mere ideals. ‘Whatever it was, the risk was too great to follow your usual obsession with solving a puzzle. Your duty is to your family first. If you needed money, all you had to do was ask me.’
The accusation was unfair, but Akitada felt tears come into his eyes at the offer of money. He was glad the light was still faint and his face was wet from rain. He was too tired for this. Hiding his emotion, he said, ‘Perhaps you’d better dismiss your men. You don’t need witnesses to read me a lecture on duty.’
Kobe muttered an apology and turned to the policemen. ‘What are you standing around for, you dolts? Get on with it. Dismissed.’ The men bowed and shuffled off.
Turning back to Akitada, Kobe said gruffly, ‘Come, we need to get you to a bathhouse.’
To Akitada’s dismay, Kobe decided to have a good soak himself. Akitada wished for nothing so much as sleep.
At this early hour, the bathing area was still empty except for a couple of attendants. They stripped. Akitada was only half awake. They sluiced themselves off, then attendants scrubbed them vigorously. This revived Akitada somewhat as his blood coursed through his body and his skin tingled. When they finally submerged their bodies in the large tub of steaming water, Akitada leaned back with a sigh and closed his eyes. His lacerated fingers burned at first in the hot water, but the pain in his knee subsided, and his sore muscles relaxed. A greater contrast between his condition in the pit and his present bliss seemed unimaginable.
‘Don’t go to sleep – at least not yet,’ Kobe said loudly.
Akitada blinked at him through the steam. ‘What?’
‘You’re still angry with me?’
Akitada was embarrassed. ‘No.’
‘I apologize. I had to try to stop you. You were headed into deep trouble. Of course, nothing I said made a difference, but I had to try.’
Overcome by the apology, Akitada said nothing for a moment, then muttered, ‘Don’t be silly. I also said some unforgivable things.’
Kobe persisted in trying to explain his motives. ‘I was afraid that you wouldn’t consider the dangers. You never do, you know.’
‘I know you thought me foolhardy. Perhaps you even thought me a fool.’
‘Never a fool.’ Kobe sighed. ‘I expect I’ll be called in today. My dismissal is overdue.’
Akitada sat up. ‘What? Why?’
Kobe chuckled mirthlessly. ‘It seems I, too, am disobedient.’
Akitada’s disobedience went back to the very beginning of his career in government, and yet he had managed to hang on – until now. ‘How did you offend?’ he asked.
‘I think they’ll call it ‘interfering in official policy’. I insisted that your only offense was trying to solve a man’s murder.’
‘You made someone angry by helping me?’
Kobe gave him a crooked grin. ‘It was the right thing to do, so don’t feel responsible.’
Akitada stared at Kobe. Their uneasy banter had turned serious.
Kobe’s lips twitched again. ‘Don’t look so worried. If anything, you’ve done me a favor. This is my chance to retire to my family’s estate in the country. I’ll be leading the simple life. Hunting, fishing, and sitting on the veranda on a summer night to compose poems to the moon.’
‘You could always have done that.’
‘Ah, but others had expectations. My aged father wished to brag about his son in the capital. My wives liked their carriage rides to visit other ladies. My sons hoped to make brilliant careers. My servants… Well, you know what servants are. They take personal pride in their masters’ worldly success.’
Akitada felt slightly sick. ‘Think how many enemies I’ve made in your household alone.’
‘Well, we must all bear the burden of our karma.’ Kobe said lightly, then changed the topic. ‘Let’s get you home.’
By the time he reached home, tiredness had seized Akitada to such an extent that he staggered. Genba had to restrain Trouble’s enthusiastic greeting. Akitada clutched the banister for a moment to steady himself. This was not good. He had to face the censors in a few hours.
Genba offered an arm, and Tora came, looking drawn and pale. Akitada was ashamed of his weakness. He pulled himself together, refused assistance, chided Tora for being out of bed, and patted Trouble’s head.
‘I’m fine, sir,’ Tora said, then added fiercely, ‘Genba told us what happened. I’ll get the bastards that did this, if it’s the last thing I do.’
Akitada wanted to protest, but Seimei joined them, looking anxious. And at the door of the house stood Tamako in her rose-colored gown, the one he liked so well, and he forgot everything else.
Though he was dreadfully tired, he found that he could walk quite well and went to her with a smile. It was not proper, but there were no strangers present, and he took his wife into his arms. For a moment, they clung to each other.
‘Are you well enough to be up?’ he murmured into her scented hair.
And she asked, ‘Are you hurt?’
They answered together, and laughed.
‘I’m just tired,’ he said, releasing her. ‘And you?’
‘Quite well, as you see.’
‘And our daughter?’
‘Come and see for yourself.’
They went to Tamako’s room, where he held his daughter until she fell asleep. He told Tamako about the pit, trying to make it sound like an adventure. The rat featured prominently in his account of their efforts at escape. It was in vain. Tamako shuddered in horror. Fortunately, the maid brought in the morning gruel, and they ate together and talked about Trouble’s latest offenses. For a short while he almost forgot the pit, as well as the dreaded hearing. But Seimei came soon enough to remind him to change into his court robes.
When he got up, Akitada found that he could barely stand. Every muscle and bone in his body, so recently soothed by the hot bath, now protested again. He gritted his teeth so Tamako would not notice, but as soon as he was out of her room, he shuffled like an old man. He had never felt less ready to fight for his reputation.
He was still struggling with his full court trousers, and trying to keep the food down, when the sound of a horse and voices outside announced a visitor. He hurried into his robe as Genba admitted the same guard officer who had brought the summons from the censors.
This time, the young man bowed. He presented a letter from Minamoto Akimoto, who told him that the hearing was postponed. He apologized for the delay, which was caused by the censors needing more time to review his documents.
The gods were not without pity.
Akitada took off his court robe and spread his bedding. He was asleep instantly.
When he woke, he blinked at the cloudy sky above the treetops and wondered what time it was.
Somewhere in the distance he heard male voices in conversation. Suddenly worried that he had slept away the whole day, he got to his feet, rolled up his bedding, and went to look for Tora, who had received short shrift earlier. After that, he would pay Kobe a visit.
He saved himself a trip. Kobe and Tora sat on the front veranda, chatting amiably.
‘I’m afraid I fell asleep,’ Akitada said sheepishly. Kobe looked as tired as before.
They smiled at him. Kobe said, ‘Seimei refused to wake you, and Tora came to keep me company. They look after you well.’
Akitada sat down beside them. ‘Yes. Too well. I meant to come to see both of you.’ He rubbed a hand over his face and found stubble. ‘What time is it?’
