“She let -who- in?”
“Shhh…” Tamesaburou grabs me and pulls me around the corner. “She didn’t know. I mean, he’s rude, but not the subjects of stories, and apparently being an ass didn’t get you special notice in the neighborhood, so Hanako had no idea.”
“What does he want?” I ask, testy. He was one of the traitors, and he just -had- to come by at the end of the war to taunt us – and punch my brother in the stomach. And now we know that at least some of that group were responsible for Kondou-san’s death…
“No idea. He told Hanako that he wanted to ‘talk about old days.'” It’s a common enough request, and there’s enough Shinsengumi that she couldn’t know them all.
But I don’t trust this guy. It doesn’t look like my brother does either. But we might as well… “Fine, but don’t bring any sake – I don’t trust him drunk.”
My brother grins at me. “I just told Hanako to bring tea. In tiny cups.” He grins and straightens his tie, and we go into the formal sitting room.
“Abe Juro!” says my brother. “It’s been a while.”
“Mmph,” he says, engrossed with looking around. “I thought I’d see this place looking as shabby as most other old samurai family homes. But it looks like you two boys made out alright.”
Hakano-san pops in with tea (which is indeed in small cups) and scoots back out. “Eh, cute wife you got there, boy.”
I can -feel- Tamebo bristle beside me but his tone remains even. “We’ve been lucky, and we’ve been careful. The years after the war were indeed rough.”
“Careful? Lucky? Is that what you call it?” He laughs. “Typical shogunate dogs. Always getting something -special-.”
Tamesaburo only smiles. “Ah, but there’s no more shogunate.”
“Yeah but there’s still -connections-.”
My brother smiles, affably. This is not unique territory. “Sadly, most everyone we knew is now dead, and those who live are not in positions of power.”
“Nah, that’s not right. There was money.” He gives us a sly look. “A buddy of mine said, in the days right after the war, this house got a lot of mysterious deliveries.”
My brother laughs, “ah, the old legend of the Shinsengumi gold,” he shakes his head. “Too bad, it’s only a legend – I need a new roof over the east side of the house!” If only he knew that the deliveries were just -paperwork- – which do have a value but not in gold.
Abe screws up his face. “Feh. They were paid -so- well. They could have lived almost as well as a minor daimyo – and Aizu had the gold to spare and lavished it on them! Ito-san said that of course, he was left out, but how could they have spent so much on women and drink…” he laughs. “So many of them, nasty with women.”
“That’s some of the stories,” I answer, speaking up. We have many sorts of visitors. Most just want to reminisce. Some come in, very sad, weeping and bereft at the changes that took place. And some… some are just angry. But this one is a different sort of angry?
“Ah! And I just saw one of the worst – and he’s not changed -one bit-. Saitou Hajime. Panting after the big boss’s girl,” he laughed. “Such a nasty man.”
“Oh? We’ve not heard much about Saitou-san over the years, we weren’t even certain that he was alive,” my brother says, his tone even. I try not to look at him – what was Saitou-san doing? With another woman?
“Yeah, he’s just another washed-up former samurai who can’t make anything of himself. Grubbing around, I suppose.” He smirks. “Drinking and whoring – with that same whore he used to chase around in Kyoto, but I thought he had bought her freedom – that’s what I heard, when he stole all of that money from Ito. Guess it didn’t take, because she’s back in that game, but he was still having his way with her – right under the nose of the big boss – I saw her heading over to his room!”
“Ah, and what is your current situation?” I ask, wanting to steer the topic away from Saitou-san’s behavior. We can’t look too interested, but what has my sister’s… I don’t know what to call him … really been up to? “You have a ‘big boss’ now?”
“Never mind you that. I don’t rely on anyone else, so it’s none of your business. I’m not some Meiji dog nor am I still scraping by on shogunate connections.” Well, we had heard that he was actually a -farmer- now. He’s the sort that would both defend his “honorable” profession and scoff at those who work the land.
He gulps down the last of the tea, then looks at us. “Seems like your sister is in Tokyo as well. I didn’t see her, but I know some people who did. She’s knocked up, and living with some cop – just a kid, they said.” He laughs. “Even the women around here were up to no good. Probably trapped him with the kid – she’s got to be ‘past her prime’, and women get desperate…”
Tamesaburo shakes his head, and responds with a tight smile, “it can’t be our sister that you saw – she’s out, living a quite life in the countryside.” That’s been our standard line since she left for Tokyo.
“Oh, now that’s a dirty lie,” he has a wicked smile. “She was spotted by someone who was in Okita’s group, and since she was always -hanging- around, he knew exactly who it was. She was very rude to him, poor fellow.” He laughs. “Guess she couldn’t stay loyal to Okita. Poor guy. Women – they aren’t loyal at all, are they?”
Suddenly Tamesaburo stands up. “Great to see you again, Abe-san, but I’m afraid we’ll have to cut it short today. Since we have to work for a living, we both have places we need to be.”
He stands and stretches. “Sure, sure, bad tea, good -lies-.” He laughs again. “You shogunate dogs area always the same.”
Abe continues a stream of rude talk all the way to the gate.
Tamesaburo locks the gate behind the man, and turns and walks to the house, without a word to me, a grim look on his face. “Wait!” I call out, but he’s off to his office, slamming the shoji door behind him.
(OOC – to be continued….)
“So… are you going to Tokyo?” my brother asks the next morning.
“Of course not. I have a hearing today for one of my clients,” I answer, sipping my tea. Hanako fusses over my collar, as she does when I need to dress particularily nice. “Why would you think that?”
He looks down. “Umm… from what Abe said. You seemed… upset.” Yuubo… I hold in a sigh. Always trying not to upset Hide-neesan, but overlooking that the role of a brother is to -protect-. Even if you’re younger, and the sister is very, very stubborn.
I shrug. “Abe said a lot. You know what he’s like.” However… there had to be some truth to that. There’s enough in the archives to corroborate what Saitou-san was like in the -past-. And indeed there’s a battered account book that somehow made its way from the Goryo Eiji group to my files, and it’s noted that they were left with next to nothing upon disbanding as Saitou-san cleaned them out. “For a whore”, it is noted.
“Yeah, but how much did you believe?” He looks up at me, above the line of his glasses rims. “Which is -why- I’m asking when you’re going to storm off to Kyoto.”
“As the head of the family, it’s my business, and why do you need to know?” I wave off Hanako, to stop fussing. “To warn her? Send her a telegram?”
He only glares at me. “Are we even sure it’s Saitou? He’s not some ‘grubby ex-samurai’, he’s a cop, and Saya-san has said that he goes undercover -”
“What I do as head of the family is what I will do.” Undercover, for “work”, whatever. If he is entertaining another woman… what does my sister know? What -all- is she tolerating? And who is the “kid” who is also with the police? There are too many mysteries, all while they’re having another child? A child who will also remain off of any family registry, like my older niece? I know, I looked.
I stand up. “I have to get to my meeting.” Hanako silently hands me my coat. I -know- she has more to say, and she’s more reasonable about neesan than Yuunosuke. I kiss her cheek. “We’ll talk tonight,” I tell her.
“And you – stay out of it,” I remind Yuubo. He won’t, of course.
“You have a letter from Hide-niisan?” Tamesaburou looks at me as Sachiko-chan brings in the mail.
He’s… calmer over the past few days. We’ve not talked about our sister, or our visitor, since the last time. I’ve left messages for Saya-san but I have to be careful what I put in the notes. But she maybe knows something… maybe the woman Abe spoke of was someone who helps him in Tokyo? But it’s rare I hear something. She’s so busy with her work. She loves it.
I’ve seen it, though. I’ve seen -them-. The way they look at each other.
My brother hasn’t.
I take the letter, and skim over it. “Ah, she just wants advice.” I let it hang there for a moment, before adding, “her stepson, Satiou-san’s oldest, is struggling with some of his subjects in school and she’s asking for any advice I may have.”
“He’s not a stepson if they’re not married,” my brother mutters.
“Close enough!” Hanako-san finally chimes in. Maybe she’ll bring him to his senses. After all, neesan was unwavering in her support for them, even selling off the -best- part of her dowry to make it happen.
“Enough – just answer her questions about -education- and leave family business to me.” He stands up and leaves, and Hanako-san gives me a look before going after him.
I’ll write what I want.