“Tenth Rank Taira, see me.” A breeze kami blew Ministry Head Fujiwara’s voice in Reizo’s ear. The puff of air was refreshing in the late summer heat. Reizo saw the breeze kami still had words inside of it.
“I’m very sorry, sir—”
“I said now. It’s important.” The empty breeze kami drifted off, it’s task over and forgotten.
Reizo walked quickly to Fujiwara’s office which was filled with fat air kami who ate all sound and made conversations completely private. How does he keep them there that long?
Fujiwara looked harried. That was unusual, normally his mental state was inscrutable. “Remember those rumors of entire villages drowning? There’s been three more, and one is less than a day’s walk from The Capital. The time has come for The Ministry to investigate.” Fujiwara pointed to the villages on the map, then looked at Reizo for the first time. “I can see you are in the middle of something, go. Visit me tonight at home.” I was pinching my nose again, I’ve got to stop doing that.
“Breeze kami, surround me and show others what is behind, in front, and to the side of me, but not me.” The streets of The Capital shimmered as the kami overlapped each other like a crane’s feathers. Reizo was invisible to all but the kami-sighted. Reizo ran towards the jail. He caught his breath a block away so he arrived at the jail the very picture of dignified composure.
With his kami-sight he saw two terrified furry Kitsune. This is quite a shock, Reizo thought, the guards finally caught not one, but two Kitsune. They were young, scrawny Kitsune who’d missed too many meals. The younger sister hid behind her brother.
I see kami and Kitsune without thinking now, I’ve forgotten what a struggle it was in my youth.
Reizo’s emotions ran a gamut during the interrogation. First was relief that neither had broken any major laws so no scandal would fall on him or the Ministry. Then he felt sorry for them. He had to suppress laughter several times.
Finally Gin’s demonstration of what happened in Big Fork terrified him. The laughter made him queasy. Gin can’t concentrate on her illusions, she hears it all the time. That explains the “Friendly Kitsune” at West Market.
I can conscript these two young Kitsune like Fujiwara has Taru Papermaster and Kado Kitsune, Reizo decided. By the end of two months, this mystery will be solved. And by then, I’ll know if I want to keep them around or not.
After Gin and Ichiro agreed, Reizo said to Gin’s kimono, “Restitich yourself and be whole once again,” Gin laughed and spun around in her new kimono. Ichiro smiled indulgently at her.
Reizo towered over Gin and Ichiro as he followed them out of the cell and to the prisoner processing desk. Ichiro put his arm around Gin’s shoulders to keep her quiet.
Reizo tossed coin on the desk. “Here is the fine. There is no need, as you can plainly see they’re not Kitsune. One is a girl!” Reizo snapped. The cowed guard looked apprehensive. It’s the yellow robe and our mysterious reputation.
Reizo looked meaningfully at the coin then the stack of paperwork next to the guard. When the slow guard figured it out, he grabbed everything written about Gin and Ichiro. Reizo tucked the stack of paper into his sleeve and left.
Outside Ichiro said, "Lord Taira, I am acting in a play tonight. It is the only way I know to earn money." Reizo nodded. His Kitsune tricks help, but it’s this kid’s presence that make him a good actor.
"How much longer are you with your troupe?"
"Just tonight, sir. Tonight is the last performance." Ichiro shifted nervously.
Reizo realized he was pinching his nose again. "Go on. I’ll be by the granary tomorrow morning."
Ichiro grabbed Gin's hand and they bowed before hurrying off into the twilight.
Reizo watched until the dark swallowed them. His day wasn’t over yet, he still had to visit Ministry Head Fujiwara's manor. Suki will not be happy that I didn’t send a messenger telling her I’d be late. I am not looking forward to an angry wife.
Ministry Head Fujiwara’s manor was what Reizo had always imagined an onmyoji's house would be. The entrance to the garden was actually through a hedgerow that only appeared solid. The kami-sighted could see through the hedge into a peaceful garden. Other people would follow the path along the hedgerow and end up somewhere around the outhouse.
All kami in Fujiwara's garden were content. How did Fujiwara find time to cultivate happy kami and enjoy the wonder of it all? Life weighs on me, but I feel young here.
Taru Papermaster greeted him when he stepped through the hedge into the lantern lit wonderland. "Lord Taira, this is a rare honor. Lady Taira is visiting as well." Taru said in his customary mild voice. Reizo sighed. Fujiwara was meddling again. He meddled in everything, it seemed.
“Since you would be home late, Lady Fujiwara decided she wanted to see her old friend,” Taru said. Just then, three women’s laughter drifted from the veranda facing the garden. Junko Papermaster, Lady Fujiwara, and Suki were doing whatever silly things women did. What would Lady Fujiwara have in common with a country official’s daughter? Old friends, hah!
Reizo merely said, "Thank you, Taru Papermaster, is it good to see you again.” He followed Taru, who moved without a sound, to the center of the garden where Fujiwara sat on one of several stone benches. There was a full tray of food on another. Reizo’s stomach grumbled.
“Tenth Rank Taira, what brings you to my humble house this evening? Oh that’s right, I summoned you." Fujiwara greeted him flippantly. Reizo smiled in spite of his bad mood. I have a surprise for him this evening.
Reizo ate and watched joyful kami while Taru and Fujiwara waited patiently. Tension left his shoulders.
“Enough enjoying yourself,” Fujiwara said when Reizo finished. “You and Taru must investigate the latest village rumored to have fallen. Take Gogo. And Suki, you must take Suki. She misses her family.” Reizo bowed his head. And now my wife owes him a favor. Something to negotiate later.
"Ministry Head, you once told me of another dead village. Today I met two survivors of Bigfork. It was indeed a Kitsune village.” Reizo paused for the dead.
“I thought as much, that Bigfork was a Kitsune village,” Fujiwara mused in a voice that conveyed respect for the fallen.
"Gin, the younger Kitsune, said she heard laughter the day her village died. Even her memory of it set my teeth on edge and made my skin crawl. She is still traumatized and can’t control her illusions. Ichiro told me that it happened over the winter, and then they walked three days to The Capital.” This is it, the time to impress him. “The two of them are coming with me to the latest village.”
“The Kitsune are coming with you? How did you cross paths with a…clumsy Kitsune?” Reizo heard a hint of admiration in Fujiwara’s voice.
“They were arrested and I paid their fine.” Reizo pulled the guard reports out of his sleeves.
“Was that where you were going so quickly this afternoon?” Fujiwara’s eyes smiled even though his mouth stayed straight.
“Yes.” So much for impressing him.
“And why were you rushing off on word from the idiot Law Ministry?”
Reizo pinched the bridge of his nose. “They’d been staying in my family’s granary,” he admitted.
Fujiwara laughed first. When they finished, Reizo held up the arrest paperwork and said, “Fire kami, leave the lantern and eat this, then return home to avoid water,” The kami in the nearest lantern whooshed out and burned the paper and fled back to the lantern’s safety.
“Very good, young Taira, very good. I’ve taught you well. And your fire control is impressive, too.”
“Thank you, Ministry Head Fujiwara.” Praise was rare.
“Don’t get cocky and try that in an open field, especially this late in the summer.”
“No sir.” Reizo watched the garden’s kami in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
Might as well get this over with, Reizo thought. “What do you mean, take Suki and Gogo?”
Picture by Daphne Zaras - http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/headlines/dszpics.htmlOriginally uploaded at en.wikipedia; description page is/was here., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2130165