Falling Through Glass (24 page)

Down to her last coin, Emmi was certain she’d get the comb this time. She was in the perfect position, and the last time she’d needed to add just a tiny bit more of a push to the throw… One… Two… Thr—

“Takeda-kun, is it my imagination or does that ‘geisha’ look like the woman you arrested for causing so much trouble in Shimabara not long ago?”

Emmi’s wooden ring went clattering to the ground just inside the booth after that disgustingly familiar male voice threw her concentration.

She turned around and forced herself to bow to the man that she’d hoped she would never have the misfortune to see again—Hijikata Toshizou and his fifth squad captain, Takeda Kanryuusai.

“You owe me a hair comb, Hijikata-san,” she said with a smile, gesturing to the one she’d lost. He and his companion smirked, but she noticed that Hijikata tried to stand straighter to compensate for the fact that in the high sandals she was taller than he was.

“I heard a rumor that your patron married you, apparently the rumor was false, judging from your appearance.”

“Apparently, the rumor was true,” Kae said, coming up behind the two samurai. They were no longer smirking, but Emmi was. She cozied up to Kae and rested her head against his arm when he moved next to her.

Unfortunately he pulled away almost fast enough to make her lose her balance. He motioned for the Shinsengumi to follow him off to the side between the two game stands and told them to pay an official call on a merchant named Masuya Somethingorother.

They hurried off, which was fine by Emmi, but then Kae said it was time for them to return to the palace.

“But do we have to? We still have things to see. You said there was dancing and—”

“I have work to do, and I can’t leave you on your own.”

“I’m not a baby. I can look after myself.”

“Like the last time you went out on your own?”

She very much wanted to wipe that know-it-all look off his face. “Fine. I’ll go home so you can go back to work.”

They took the secret passage route back into the palace compound. Emmi was not at all happy when Kae told her to change clothes right away so he could return the things to Aneko.

So that was the work he had to do.

She tried not to feel hurt, not to wonder why she wasn’t good enough in that department to satisfy him. Surely he knew the concept that practice made perfect. Of course, she knew the “mistress thing” was commonplace, very commonplace, and probably had some weird deep-rooted ties to an Asian version of the madonna-whore issue, but dammit, they’d just gotten married! Surely the novelty hadn’t worn off so this quickly…

Correction. Arranged marriage. How stupid she was to think, since she’d fallen head over heels for him, that he shared the sentiment—or any sentiment for that matter? She needed to go home.

“You’ll bring my mirror back, right?”

“What?”

“The mirror. The mirror at Aneko’s that brought me here. You’ll bring it back with you, so I can go home where I belong, right?”

Kae simply stood and stared a moment. Although he had promised Maeda-san that he would do everything in his power to help Emiko return to her own time and place, he was finding it very hard to let it happen. Obviously she wanted to go. She wanted to leave him.

They’d spent so little time together because of his duties to his father. He’d thought that might change soon, but the information he’d come upon this afternoon was proof that things would be getting even more hectic and dangerous here in Kyoto. It would probably be best if Emmi returned to where she belonged, even if this simple mention of her leaving made him empty inside. He reached out and took her hand.

“I have some time. Time enough for a quiet walk at least.”

Emmi nodded. “Give me a minute to change.”

She didn’t bother closing the sliding door to the bedroom all the way, since only the outer kimono wasn’t hers. Her pulse quickened when Kae moved to stand in the doorway and watch while she fought with the simple obi, which she had trouble tying behind her back over the new kimono she put on. This was ridiculous. She’d done it before, why wasn’t it working now? Her foot tangled in Aneko’s kimono, which she’d dropped on the floor, and she kicked it out of the way.

“You should have folded that first. It’s going to wrinkle.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Emmi mumbled, still trying to tuck in the long end of the wide sash properly.

Kae moved behind her. He brushed her hands away, then slid the obi around and finished tying it behind her back.

“I don’t think men are supposed to be so good at doing that.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice removing them. It’s only a matter of reversing the process to tie it again.”

Emmi grumbled. He laughed, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her back against him. Her grumble faded into one of those weird little whimpering sounds when Kae kissed her neck.

She reached up and touched his face.

“Maybe…we could just stay inside?”

She slid herself around and kissed him. He kissed her back, erasing her earlier doubts about his feelings and easing her desire to go home. She wound her arms around his neck, pressed in as close as she could and arched forward to feel the firmness of his erection through the layers of their clothing.

Without warning, he pulled away. He crouched down and began folding Aneko’s kimono. He placed it and the hairpins into a piece of cloth and tied it closed. Emmi was blinking back the tears from the corners of her eyes when Kae stood and placed his hand lightly on her back.

“Come, walk with me.”

Emmi hesitated but then let him escort her to the door, all the while silencing the part of her pride that screamed at her for being such a doormat after the way he’d just blown her off.

“Why are you so silent, Emmi?” he asked after they’d walked in silence for quite some time.

“It’s nothing.” She looked around. “I thought this forest was haunted by evil spirits after dark. Are you feeling especially brave, or are you hoping one of them will eat me for his dinner, making you the handsome young widower all the pretty girls feel sorry for and want to cheer up?”

Kae laughed.

He had such a nice laugh, so deep, yet light and happy. And he had such nice eyes, so sexy. And his face…

He brushed a fallen piece of hair back behind her ear.

“Do you fancy Kojima-san?”

Where the hell had that question come from?

“Kojima-san is nice enough for an older guy, but no. No, I don’t fancy him.”

Kae laughed again and stepped closer before leading her to a small stone bench farther along the path. They sat, and he held her hand in both of his and stared at her. His dark eyes sucked her in, making her want to freeze time.

“You are so unlike the other women I know. You are free like a bird that soars just out of reach. We can admire it and enjoy the happiness it brings us, but we can’t capture it and place it in a cage.”

“I don’t know if you’d really like the way the girls are where I come from. We’re not the dutiful, proper ones you’re used to having walk behind you and do what you say.”

Kae let go of her hand and ran his fingers along her cheek. “I would like to see this future world of yours. I would like to see it with you.”

Had she really heard what she thought she had? Oh, she wanted him to come home with her, but that couldn’t possibly be a good idea. If he turned out to be someone important to Japan’s future, someone that she hadn’t heard of or simply didn’t remember, to take him away could screw up the entire world as she knew it.

“Wouldn’t you want to be with me?”

“I would, but—”

Emmi was relieved when Kae’s father came out of nowhere and ordered him to get back to business.

Prince Asahiko wasn’t a large man, but he was a very scary one. He was a man accustomed to his high position, and Emmi hated the way he gave her that Evil Death Glare of Doom that seemed to say, “If the Maeda family wasn’t so stinking rich, you are the last person I would have had my son marry.”

The walk back to the apartment was quick, and Kae only accompanied her as far as the main corridor.

“I have many things to do for my father. I may be late in coming home. You don’t need to wait up.”

“All right. Please be careful. Please.”

He smiled. “I will. And I will bring the mirror. I promise.”

Emmi gave him a weak wave and watched him disappear into the dark.

She had trouble falling asleep, and when she finally did, she had a strange dream. She dreamed she was small, and her father was giving her and her brother one of his history lessons. He used her dollhouse and stuffed animals to act out the Shinsengumi raid on the Ikedaya Inn in Gion, where the Meiji rebels stayed as they planned to burn Kyoto. In the dream, she looked at the big flowery calendar on her wall. She stared and stared at the calendar and woke up with a start.

It was June 5. June 5, 1864.

Today is June 4, 1864.

What if Kae took part in the raid? What if he was hurt or killed? She knew people had been killed. She thought most of them were the Choshu rebels. But perhaps others had died that she didn’t know about, others who, for some reason, hadn’t been named in the books she’d read.

What if Kae had been one of the unnamed?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kae didn’t come home that night, or the following morning, or in the afternoon. By evening, Emmi was worried enough to ask one of the servants to take a note to Kae’s father. His reply was a snarky “Your husband will return in good time. Occupy yourself as a wife should”.

And mothers-in-law were the ones comedians made fun of?

Consumed with thoughts of Kae’s safety, Emmi didn’t even jump when that mysterious kid popped in out of nowhere.

“I saw you and Kae-san sneak out last night. Where did you go?”

“He took me to the festival. I guess your parents are taking you? I think there are two days left.”

“Is it fun? I hear festivals are fun.”

Emmi gave him a long look. That was like hearing a kid back home ask if Christmas was fun. “Of course it’s fun. There’s lots of food and music and dancing and games and parades. You know—the usual.”

“I have never seen a festival. I am not allowed to be outside.”

“I’ve seen you outside before—oh. You mean you’re not allowed to go outside the palace grounds?”

The boy nodded.

“That bites,” she muttered in English. Emmi gave him a nervous grin when she saw his eyes go wide, and she brushed it off as a Kaga-han saying. “I have no friends to play with. It’s boring here! I want to see the festival! I want to see the puppet show!”

Don’t even think of going there
, Emmi’s common sense cautioned.
Not tonight of all nights.

Yes, it was going to be a dangerous night, but the Shinsengumi raid wasn’t going to happen until after dark. Assuming all the movies had gotten facts correct on that point, they had at least two hours of daylight left. And if they happened to run into Kae and got him to come home with them, so much the better.

“Go ask your parents if I can take you. Do you want me to talk to your mother with you?”

The boy shook his head. “My mother does not live here. My father is very busy. I only see him when he gives me calligraphy lessons.”

Again, her common sense cautioned. Again, she ignored it. What else could she do? Kae’s life was in danger, and besides, she was a good babysitter. She’d babysat all the time back home and for kids way younger than this one.

True, their parents had put her in charge of those kids, but it wasn’t as if this kid’s parents were that conscientious. His mother lived elsewhere and his father made him stay cooped up here because he was too “busy” to watch him. She’d known many parents like that back home and had seen their kids get into all sorts of trouble, from jail time to long-term therapy.

Besides, what better sitter could this kid have than the wife of a prince? It would do the kid good, probably lift his parents up a notch in the palace social circle. It was a win-win situation, especially since they might be saving Kae’s life in the bargain.

“I’ll take you to the festival, but you can’t go like that.” Emmi gestured to his clothing, the same kind of formal court outfit Kae had worn at the wedding. “You need to lose the hat and that robe thing, and the long hakama.”

He gaped at her as if she’d sprouted another head.

“You can’t go outside the palace dressed that way. It’s warm, and you won’t be able to walk very far dressed like that.”

He continued to stare.

“You have a yukata on under there, right? I can see the collar.”

He kept staring.

“Take off everything but that, and I’ll give you one of Kae’s jackets to wear.” He was still staring. “I’ll buy you candy, and try to win you a toy.”

She could have sworn that kid stripped before she had a chance to blink.

Kae’s haori was too long, but Emmi figured it was good enough, despite the look the kid gave her.

“I want to wear a sword.”

“What?”

“A sword,” he announced, arms crossed defiantly in front of him. “I want to wear a sword like Kae-san. Two swords.”

Ugh. This kid was an Uber Pain in the Ass, which reminded Emmi of why she didn’t babysit regularly, unless one of her parents’ friends asked—twice.

She looked around. Kae had a wooden practice sword hanging on the wall.

“This is all there is, so unless you want to forget the toys and candy, it will have to do.”

He replied with a pissy look but nodded and held out his hand. Emmi pulled the sword back a bit.

“I’ll give it to you if you tell me your name.”

“I am Sachi.” He tucked the sword into his obi, tilted his nose in the air a bit in a way that reminded her of Kae’s father and said, “Take me to my people, wife of Kae-san.”

This kid really needed to get out more. Emmi rolled her eyes and led the way to the secret passage she and Kae had used the night before. Or rather, she tried to lead the way. Sachi pushed past her with some mumbled thing about “inferior women being where they belong.”

She grumbled. Oh yeah, this was why she’d never really liked babysitting all that much. Once they made it outside to that alley between the buildings, Sachi stopped and looked back. His eyes were wide with amazement, as though he was surprised to be truly out in the open.