I get Makoto-chan and I ready to go and we join Hajime outside. Even though it’s just a short distance I do lock up behind us. Ito is a lot different than Tokyo but sometimes the tourists that come here can cause trouble.
Taking her by the hand, we walk down the hill. When I first moved here I found it rather steep but I am used to it by now, and I no longer have to carry Makoto. Coming to the Takikawa nursery, I indicate the front. It’s rather busy, on a fine spring morning. “That’s the front, but he locks that up at night, he told me you can come through the side.” I walk down the alley next to the wall and open the small gate. “Through here.”
I see Takikawa-san with a customer, and he waves at me before going back to work. “It’s this building here.” I lead them to the little place in the back corner. Stepping up on the little engawa, I open the door, I standing back to let them see and go in.
“It’s not much…” I say, hoping he’ll find it agreeable. It’s just the one room, enough for a table and a futon at night. Takikawa-san did put down fresh tatami, giving the room a nice clean smell, and I brought down spare bedding that I had, along with a lamp and things of a decorative nature.
While I -should- have maybe done an ikebana, it seemed rather superfluous in a place already surrounded by plants. Instead I brought out the wall hanging that I had in the tatami room back in Tokyo, of a river. He may not be here too often in Ito but it should at least be comfortable.
“So… what do you think?” I ask, looking back at him.
Saturday, April 18th 1885 – Later that Morning
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She leads me towards the side, that’s good, I want to be able to come and go unhindered and unwatched… Well as much as possible at least.
Once inside I go and inspect the room, quite bare with only the essentials and a wall scroll. The wall scroll looks familiar, although I can’t quite place where I’ve seen it before, probably in one of the markets when I used to go on patrol. The clean Tatami though is a very welcome thing and I nod, the room is just like what I have back in the Machiya although this one is separate from the rest of the house. A good change….
“It’s clean and if I open the shoji door and the windows, it should get enough light and air.” I go around and throw them open nonetheless, “Yes, just as I expected. This will do nicely.”
Clean and simple without the gaudiness of some of the places I’ve seen. Taking my bag, I set aside the clothes I had on the Tansu at the corner. There’s not much to arrange so I was done rather quickly. Then I sit on the tatami cross-legged, quite unusual as I sit Seiza most of the time.
“Ah now I remember!” I look up at Hide, “I need an ashtray… Does Takikawa-san smoke?”
“Ah… I’m glad it will work for you,” I say, watching him go around the room. Makoto-chan goes around as well, peering into things.
He starts to put his things away, getting settled. A good thing, that he feels comfortable. I walk closer to him and say in a quiet voice, “in the bottom drawer of the tansu is that yukata you had at my house, I washed it so it will be nice and fresh.” I was surprised to find it, in the years I had forgotten that I even had it.
I shake my head, “No, I don’t believe Takikawa-san smokes; it’s not very common in Ito. But I will get you an ashtray…” I think, remembering where I found them before when Sugiyama-san decided we needed to have some on hand for guests at the onsen. “I’ll get that when I go to the market.”
Realizing how quickly the morning is passing… “Hajime, I’ll go to the market and get what I need for the soba, will you take Makoto-chan back home? I’ll meet you there shortly.” After all, I don’t need to hover over them all of the time. I want them to have a relationship on their own terms as well.
Even if for now she can only know him as her uncle.
The yukata? I open the drawer and smirk… Well it wasn’t my Yukata to be honest, she just had it in her closet that day… Ah yes… Back then. That yukata was too short for myself, Hidejiro-kun was short just like Hide… My head swims for a moment remembering a few things, of the confusion back then on who was who, who was real, who was sincere… I shake my head slightly and close the drawer with a definite thud. Ah I think I did that a little bit too forceful.
“Sorry my hand slipped.” I tell her as I get up and scratch the back of my neck.
“I’ll take Makoto back to the house, don’t worry.” Answering back, I look towards our child. She’s still going about -inspecting- things. Smirking, I go over to her and pick her up by the waist from behind.
“Want to sit on my shoulder?”
His hand slipped?
Mmm… maybe I should have let him discover that on his own. Old things… I’m not sure what from the past he is confortable with.
Waving, I leave the two to meet them at my house shortly.
*exits thread*
Yamaguchi-san grabs me from behind and I giggle in surprise. I was so busy looking around I didn’t even notice him behind me.
Want to sit on my shoulder?
I nod, grinning. He’s very, very tall…
I wave at Okaasan as she leaves. I really don’t miss not having to be dragged around the market.
I settle her on the stronger side of my shoulder, securing both of her legs with my left hand.
“Don’t move too much or you’ll fall.” I tell her as we head on outside. I consider going through the front where the flower nursery is but decided against it. Takikawa-san might be a man whom Hide trust but I do not trust easily and who knows what he’ll say about my being all too familiar with Makoto. In this no touch society, where propriety is important, not knowing what the situation really is, they’d think of myself as suspicious.
“So where shall I take you little “princess”?” It’s then that I realized that, -that- word when translated to Japanese belonged to Hide. A term of endearment that slipped from my mouth that day in the garden.
I stay very still on his shoulder, I don’t want to fall off, but it’s not hard to balance. I’ve seen Isuzu-chan’s father carry her like this before. I do like being this high up… I spend a few moments just looking around.
So where shall I take you little “princess”?
“Princess?” I repeat the word. Another English one?
“Over there!” I point to an area where we go to play sometimes, a little forested area off of the road back up to my home.
“Princess?”
I decide not to answer her question, she seemed more surprised than anything else. She’ll learn what it means eventually I think, probably at school they do teach English.
“Over there!”
She shouts a bit too loudly, but I just chuckle at that enthusiasm. She’s probably been to this area before which is why she is rather fond of it. Perhaps as people grow older, like myself it takes a little more prodding to remember to appreciate the simple pleasures of life. There was a time long ago that I looked up towards the sky and saw how blue it -really- was. That was the day I knew that Hide and I would have a child.
I stop by the shade of a plum tree, who’s fruit looks like they’re right about ready for the picking. Setting Makoto down, I kneel.
“So is there anything special about this place?” I grin, “Since I had to carry you all the way here… There must be a reason right?”
I smile even brighter at Yamaguchi-san as he lets me down. That was fun, even if he didn’t explain the word. Princess. Princess. I’ll have to ask my teacher.
So is there anything special about this place?
“Special?” I think about it. “No. We come here to play sometimes, Isuzu-chan and I.” I look up at the plum tree. It’s a good one to climb. It was Isuzu-chan who showed me how to climb really well, even in a kimono.
I look around. There’s never many rocks here, but this is where we’ve found good sticks before. We have to leave them here, though… I remember where I left mine!
I go running off a short distance and come back with my stick. “This one is mine.” I say, nodding. “We watch the older girls at school, they practice with the naginata. They said we won’t be old enough for a few more years but we’re starting now.”
“No. We come here to play sometimes, Isuzu-chan and I.”
Before I could reply Makoto runs off. I have to tell myself that this will be fine, she’ll come back soon enough. Yes, any daughter of mine will not do anything foolish and yet I just stand around restless wondering when she’ll be back.
It’s a good thing she came back as quickly as she disappeared. Any minute longer and I think I will not hold back my tongue. Although, my temple right now has a definite twitch….
“This one is mine.” “We watch the older girls at school, they practice with the naginata. They said we won’t be old enough for a few more years but we’re starting now.”
“Naginata?” The word slid out of my mouth in an almost exasperated manner. I didn’t realize that they had started teaching this at school as well. Before it was just forced circumstances that women learned of the skill just like Tokio… I’m almost tempted to tell her to stop with the non-sense but I do not. Instead I take the stick and examine it’s length. “A little too long for you… Tell me, why do you want to learn how to handle a weapon?”
Watching her with a discerning eye, I wait for an answer.
A little too long for you… Tell me, why do you want to learn how to handle a weapon?
He doesn’t sound happy about it and I frown. “I don’t think they’re teaching us so we can fight…” I think of how I’ve watched them. “Muramaki-sensei said that girls should be active.” She doesn’t even frown at us like the other teachers do when we’re running around.
And if there’s something more fun than running around, it’s running around with sticks! We make up better stories now, too.
“Besides, even Okaasan has her tanto.” I say that and then cover my mouth with my hands, my eyes wide. She said -never- to tell people that she always carried that tucked in her obi.
“I don’t think they’re teaching us so we can fight…” “Muramaki-sensei said that girls should be active.”
She frowns but I take no heed to it. Children are after all -still- children. I was just about to suggest something else, or at least explain one more thing, when she blurted out…
“Besides, even Okaasan has her tanto.”
I could smirk at that… Yes definitely I could, a long time ago Hide used to for other reasons, quite amusing ones… But now, I don’t know if that still holds true. The reasons she had back then aren’t here now… Which only means one thing to myself.
Makoto covers her mouth and that confirms what I have been thinking. Clearing my face of the sour expression from earlier, I give her hand a tug as I kneel down.
“I’m not telling your mother that… But you promise not to tell her I called you my “princess”. It’ll be our little secret.” I force a smile, children are after all -just- children.
“Come I’ll hoist you up and you can get some persimmons up this tree.” I nod over to it.
I nod. “I won’t tell.” After all, he -does- know all about my secret base. ‘Princess’, I repeat to myself. I’m going to have to find out about that word…
He’s good at getting my secrets out of me. I wonder why…
Come I’ll hoist you up and you can get some persimmons up this tree
I take his hand and look up at him, waiting to be lifted.
Lifting her up, I guide her to one of the lower branches.
“Persimmons are in season but don’t pick the yellowish ones… The reddish ones should be ripe, it should be firm to the touch though. Over ripe fruit has bad texture.”
After Makoto picked a few, I put her back down quickly. She’s not heavy but I don’t want her to fall with the unreliability of shoulder.
“So let me see what you got.” I hold out my hand.
He doesn’t keep me up there too long, but I manage to get six of them. One is more yellow than the rest but the others should be okay.
It’s fun being lifted this high, though.
I hand them to Yamaguchi-san. “Is this enough for us?” Okaasan already knows what we’re having for lunch… I wonder if we can take them to the beach with us?
“Yes I think so, unless you have a bottomless pit.” I chuckle and take the fruit from her. Leading her down the path towards the small road that leads back to Hide’s house.
“Your mother might not like these though, she’s more fond of pears but they’re not in season.”
I walk on and let Makoto run ahead. She seems to be rather genki. It’s good that I have a good vantage view from behind and it’s better this way as I cannot keep on keeping a light face in front of her.