Heaven’s Wind – [PART 2]

Yay for a two-chapter bonus :D

HEAVEN’S WIND
an Ohno Satoshi fanfiction

Rating: T
Genre: Historical romance
Banner: Lord Ohno Satoshi and Kikuchi Aki (modeled by Toda Erika)
Summary: When Aki arrives at the Imperial Heian Palace as a new lady-in-waiting in service to the Empress, she is filled with indescribable anticipation and anxiety, knowing a new chapter in her life will begin. What she knows not… is that her life will change completely, and it begins with a chance meeting with a mysterious man on the stone wall.
Note: If there is any factual inaccuracy in terms of historical facts of the Heian Period, it is not intended.

Glossary:
1 — haha-ue (母上) : mother.
2 — koto (琴) : a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument.

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Heaven’s Wind
Part Two

Satoko was hardly ever subtle when it came to fully expressing her emotions. This time she was almost weeping with motherly pride.

“I cannot believe the responsibility the Empress chose you to uphold. To carry the Crown Prince and stand in his place behind Her Highness! For that moment your position as lady-in-waiting was greater even than Her Highness’ most trusted lady!” she half-shrieked in delirious joy.

“It is a matter of no great importance, really,” Aki retorted with an air of nonchalance, though she was blushing profoundly. She unlocked a small wooden cage and immediately a snow-white cat scurried out and brushed her body against her calves.

“Tsuki, my love, are you weary from the journey?” Aki smiled, bending down to rub the cat behind the ears, and she was met with a loud, adoring purr.

They were in their bedroom unpacking their luggage. It was a small room with the most simplistic design, with space fitting two futons and a small rough-hewn wooden table at the corner of the room, and a row of cupboards on one side of the wall for their clothing and as well as storage purposes. Outside the bamboo lattice window was a view of the courtyard of the women’s living quarters, and further ahead, the tall, lush trees of the heron gardens.

“This is simply astounding – I just cannot put off the tremendous pride you have me inflated with, my friend,” Satoko breathed with furious passion. She was in such state of exuberance she could have kissed both Aki and Tsuki.

Aki knelt down at the table and poured o-cha into a cup, sipping it very lightly while half-glaring at Satoko. “For the hundredth time, it is of no consequence. I am just glad Her Highness trusted me with such a responsibility,” she said.

Satoko waved her hand airily, and changed the subject. “The young ladies behind me could not suppress their utmost jealousy. Above all, they were whining and clucking, they were no different from horses spoiled from too much malt. They wished they were in your place just so they could have such an ideal view of Lord Ohno!”

Aki choked on her tea and coughed. “Wh–what?” she croaked.

“Are you never aware of the people around you?” Satoko asked in mild exasperation. “There is no court lady – or female subjects, should I add – in this great palace who does not have any attraction for Lord Ohno.”

“Even the Empress can not elude his charm?” she muttered to herself.

“What did you say?”

Aki shook her head. “Nothing,” she quickly said. She was silent for a while, before she lowered her cup and warily asked, “Satoko-nee-sama… can you… tell me about Lord Ohno?”

Satoko paused her feverish march around the room. She peered at Aki with an arch of her eyebrows, then she knelt down by the table and leaned close to Aki with a smug grin. “Bless my dear sweet haha-ue – have you already fallen victim to Lord Ohno’s physical perfection?”

“No I haven’t,” Aki snapped, not sparing a withering look at her friend. “I am naught but curious, is all. Is he a nobleman of high rank?”

“A high rank would simply be an insulting understatement. Among all honourable nobleman with great power in the capital, he holds one of the highest position!” Satoko exclaimed, once again regaining her infuriatingly passionate way of speech. “By far, he is only second in rank to His Majesty his Emperor and the Imperial Family. Could you not tell? He is the Emperor’s army general and his right-hand man.”

“Army general…” Aki mouthed incredulously. She could not hide the astonishment in her rice-powdered face.

“He does not appear so, yes?” Satoko chuckled aloud. She sipped her o-cha delicately, her eyes gleaming with such fine amusement. “It is so very often a response of disbelief towards a man so young to have such an illustrious achievement. Although he is not quite so young; his age befits one who qualifies as an onii-sama to me, but many are quite contented to believe his features have not aged in the past ten years. He stands like a child among all the wrinkling ministers and ancient palace officials!”

“But…” Aki started, puzzled, “he is seemingly so… so…”

“Impassive?” Satoko suggested, and she laughed. “Do not be fooled by the never-aging semblance, he carries himself with the weight of a seasoned man and an air of calmness and dispassion. Nothing uncommon from a man of no words, I presume. Men worship him for the indispensable warrior skills he possesses and women throw themselves at his feet in utter abandon,” she said with her eyes narrowed in distaste.

Aki perked up and squared her shoulders in attention. “Warrior skills?”

“It is said he could kill fifty strong men and he would have escaped with only a mere scratch, and his ears are trained to hear a horse’s galloping hooves from miles away, that, he can easily tell the approach of a messenger or an unwelcome visitor towards the capital, and his eyes can watch a bird or a bug at a distance that even our human eyes can spot it not!”

“Amazing,” Aki breathed. She evaluated Satoko’s words with much consideration, and then it finally dawned on her. Perhaps that explained how Lord Ohno could have seen her when she was viewing the capital from the spyglass, with this pair of sharp hawk eyes of his? Or perhaps, that Lord Ohno did recognise her when she stood behind the Empress in the Throne Hall. For an unexplainable reason, she felt terrified by that very thought.

Then she remembered it all. The very mysterious reason Lord Ohno was watching the return of the Empress’ escort… and the very words the Empress spoke to him that still burned fresh in her mind. She had weighed the possibility a million times, one of which there was a forbidden relationship between Her Highness and Lord Ohno…

“Satoko…” Aki began hesitatingly. Her hands were taut and rigid around the o-cha cup, and her lips pursed in nervousness. “Is there any… chance… that Lord Ohno is… the Empress…” Aki gulped, “…lover?”

Satoko blinked once of twice in confusion, her cup hanging suspended in the air inches from her lips. Aki then quickly told her everything that brought her to this conclusion, but before she could finish her sentence, Satoko suddenly broke out into hysterical laughter.

“The Empress’ lover indeed!” she gasped, clutching her belly as she choked on incontrollable laughter.

Aki felt her cheeks heat up profusely. She felt embarrassed – or humiliated, likely – for ever suggesting that idea aloud. She could not help it; she could not find an easy way to accept the possibility of a secret affair under the very nose of the Emperor which could ultimately end with a scandalous beheading, but now she felt stupid for even imagining it.

“When you have recovered, I would very much like to know the hilarity behind my words,” Aki groaned.

Satoko wiped the tears in her eyes and very nearly smirked. “Lord Ohno is the Empress’ beloved cousin, my precocious friend! Hence, the very thought of Lord Ohno as a lover simply is preposterous! Lord Ohno is well loved by the Empress, for he has been her pillar of support and her dearest friend since the day she entered the palace as the Empress Consort. Why, the Empress is partly the reason His Majesty the Emperor holds such faith in Lord Ohno. Has it not occurred to you how Lord Ohno manages to get away for not donning the formal uniform of houko as required by the law for high-ranked officers?”

Aki averted her eyes and muttered a simple, “Oh,” in reply. She was much relieved, although in some ways guilty of ever doubting the purity of Her Highness, and she sighed deeply.

“Mreow,” came Tsuki’s delicate call, and she climbed onto Aki’s lap and curled around comfortably. Aki absent-mindedly rubbed the cat’s fur.

Satoko pressed her chin into her upright hand and stared at her with gleeful eyes. “Aye, I had an inkling your naïve heart would develop child feelings for the honourable lord, and it seems I was right,” she grinned triumphantly.

“Wishful thinking,” Aki refuted.

“I do not oppose it, if that is what clouds your mind,” Satoko giggled as she got onto her feet and crossed the room to the cupboards.

“I shall ignore your words, lady, for they bring no sense whatsoever,” Aki said coolly. “Come! We must dress quickly and be ready for the banquet.”

~

‘Twas true, the words of Satoko, that Aki had never truly seen what a banquet is like. The welcoming banquet in the Emperor’s grand dining halls was much like a roaring New Year’s festival in her homeland village. Merely an hour or so into the banquet, the Emperor was already beetroot red and considerably drunk from consuming too much sake, while the Empress and nearby ministers could do nothing but entertain his drunken words and obnoxious jokes. Courtesans brought on never-ending acts of entertainment in the form of koto performance and dances and singing, while the court ladies and courtesans were mingling and socialising at the back of the hall.

Satoko was adamant that she introduced Aki to a few ‘fine, lovely and available’ courtesans, to which was met with loud protests from the younger woman.

“Why should I meet these men when I share not the eagerness for courtship?!” Aki demanded.

“I am not asking you to court these men, but to socialise. I believe there is a fine line of difference in every aspect of those two words,” Satoko replied in impatience, though she was mirthful. “It does you good to be familiar with many people in the capital. You might never know when you find necessary to ask for a favour or two in times of need.”

“I always come to you for favours,” Aki replied, frowning at Satoko with a childish pout.

“I cannot be your blanket of protection always. It is time you grow up and find you place as a worthy woman,” Satoko admonished. Then, she smiled and pointed across the room. “Tachibana-san has been eyeing you for some time now. I shall call him over! Behave, you hear?”

“I hear, nee-sama,” Aki replied with much dread in her voice.

Tachibana-san was a man not many a year younger than Satoko and served as an assistant in the Imperial Physicians’ office. He was a fine and respectful man, who was kind and amiable and spoke with gentleness to Aki, but in the entire conversation he bored her beyond death with his talk of the many species of weed and the wonders of its uses in treating illnesses. What more, his face was as pale as the sheer whiteness of Tsuki’s fur. Aki was much tempted to suggest a morning walk in the gardens just to get him to absorb the glorious sunlight.

It was after much time that Aki felt she could no longer pretend to smile and be interested in weed. She excused herself and got up (stumbling a little with her sore and sleeping feet) and practically ran off. She decided she would go to Satoko, who was sitting at the other end of the hall with a number of other court ladies under the Empress who were currently engaged in a humourous conversation with some unrecognisable courtesans. She was walking so swiftly that she did not see the person in her path and she knocked into him.

“Ahh! Sumimasen deshita!” Aki exclaimed, and quickly bowed her head in apology. It was against palace etiquette to make physical contact with anyone of the opposite gender, and without another breath Aki straightened up and intended to ask his name so to plea that he excused her rude manner, but she stopped short. Her eyes widened with shock when she realised she had knocked into Lord Ohno.

“My lord,” Aki breathed, and she made to kneel down and bow, but Lord Ohno stopped her.

“There is no need for formalities, and I do not take to heart what was no more than a mere accident,” he said with a polite nod.

“Y—yes, my lord,” Aki stammered. “I wish you well, lord.”

With her head bowed, she quickly moved away and strode off past him. Her heart would not still its urgent pulsating in her chest, even when she had finally reached the table Satoko sat at.

“What troubles you, Aki?” Satoko asked with her eyebrows creased in concern upon noticing the anxiety set in the younger woman’s expression.

“Only the hurt impression your friend Tachibana-san has given me,” Aki grumbled quietly. She was determined not to let her dazed thoughts nor her still-disquiet emotions surface, and she swallowed the growing lump in her throat.

Satoko giggled softly and offered her sake cup. “Perhaps a cup or two to ease your mind, and then you would find interest in fine words of the respected Tachibana-san,” she said with much enthusiasm.

“I don’t drink.”

Satoko frowned. “Well, that is a shame. Sake is quite delicious, especially the rich, ripe ones served in the Emperor’s hall!”

Aki rolled her eyes and lightly slapped her friend’s arm as she tried to change the subject. “I shall take my leave now! I can stand no more of this socialising affair. I am returning to our room to feed Tsuki.”

“And what of Tachibana-san?! Please tell me you do not wish to take flight in his presence when he is much enamoured by you?” Satoko reprimanded with much disapproval.

Aki snorted aloud. “If he wishes for my heart, tell him I take no interest in conversing about the topic of weeds,” she refuted, and left the hall.

The merry noises of the dining hall soon faded away as she travelled towards the Greater Palace. The dimly-lit corridors of the palace were quiet save for the soft thudding of her cloth slippers on the strong wood. Nearly the whole population of the palace were attending the banquet, with exception of the usual presence of palace guards patrolling the courtyards and outskirts of the palace. One guard stopped her midway and questioned her business for leaving the banquet with such manner of caution, and Aki had to lie that she needed to fetch the Empress her koto, for she wished to play for the Emperor. After the guard was satisfied with his interrogation, she quickly retreated, much thankful the guard did not smell the tuna and raw salmon sashimi she carried in her handkerchief.

She reached the room she shared with Satoko, and quietly opened the lattice door and slid in before quickly closing it. “Tsuki, I have brought you food!” she called out.

She knelt by the table and unwrapped her handkerchief. “Tsuki?” she called out again, but the cat still did not appear.

She searched under the futons and the cupboards, even digging in her luggage bag and checking Tsuki’s cage. She brought the seafood bits around, hoping the smell would entice the cat to come out, but she was still nowhere to be seen. Aki’s heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. Had she not made sure the door was secure and locked when she and Satoko had left the room?

She tiptoed outside and searched the corridor, but still no sign of the white cat, and there was no mistaking as the cat’s snow fur was like a bright, illuminating light within darkness. She stood at the courtyard of the quarters, frantically thinking of any possible places Tsuki could have so adventurously ran off to. Then it occurred to her that the heron gardens were the closest, and she decided to start searching there.

The gardens were brightly lit with paper lanterns, casting an eerie glow in the dark ponds and surrounding rose bushes. She was partly glad there were the lanterns to illuminate the grounds, and quickly she began calling out.

“Tsuki! Where have you gone to, my dear little friend?”

She scanned the vastness of the gardens, hoping to find a trace of sheer whiteness among the green and brown of the trees.

“Tsuki!”

“Who goes there?!”

Aki turned around in panic and saw two palace guards at the west bank of the lake with their lamps cast high up. One of them saw her figure in the dark and pointed at her, and she gasped. Without another breath, she picked up her skirts and ran across the bridge towards the cluster of trees. She could hear them in hot pursuit behind her, and she picked up the speed. She cursed at the jyunohitoe she wore, for its many layers of cloth were heavy and they burdened her escape.

“Do not escape!”

Frantically she searched for a hiding spot, and she found one within the trees where their trunks were thick enough to hide her and dark enough to shield her from scrutinising eyes. She ran towards the spot and squatted down, hitching up her skirts as best she can and wrapped them around her legs.

“Where did the intruder escape to?!” she heard one guard yell, his voice mere metres away.

“We had best alert the other guards. It would not do well to have the Imperial Family’s safety threatened under our watch,” another said. Aki heard their heavy-booted footsteps trail away, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is ridiculous,” she groaned inaudibly, wiping the sweat that was ruining the rice powder on her face.

“I presume you are the intruder those guards speak of?”

Aki jumped a foot off the ground at the sudden voice behind her and she spun around. There was no mistaking from that voice nor the shape of the figure in the darkness. A candle lit and there, sitting cross-legged on the grass, was Lord Ohno holding a lantern. She would have groaned aloud in frustration, if it were not for her blood running cold in utter terror. Of all people to catch her red-handed, it had to be the Lord General.

“M—my lord!” she exclaimed, and without hesitation she bowed her head. “I am not an intruder as the guards claimed! I just came to the gardens in search of my—”

She stopped short. She looked up and noticed a white something snuggling deeper into the lord’s lap.

“Tsuki!” she cried out.

“This is your cat?” Lord Ohno inquired in an even voice.

Aki nodded. “I returned to my room to feed her but found that she had not kept still in her cage as I had hoped. I have searched for her around but all was in vain ‘til now! I apologise on her part for not respecting the lord’s privacy. I give you my word she shall receive punishment and henceforth to be locked in her cage at all times!”

Lord Ohno was silent, and then he spoke in a calm, unperturbed voice. “She is an eager one, this cat. I was passing by what must be the court ladies’ quarters and I believe she must have caught on the scent of the tuna in my onigiri, and followed behind me all the way here.”

Onigiri? Aki blinked in confusion. She adjusted her eyes to the bright light and scanned the lord intently. True as he had said, the lord was holding a half-eaten onigiri in one hand.

“I was hoping for some privacy,” Lord Ohno said regretfully, “as it seems I have no other choice but to entertain my company. Would you like an onigiri?”

Aki was stunned by the sudden offer, what more of the absurdity in the situation they were both in. Lord Ohno, well-respected General of the Emperor’s army, was hiding beneath trees and behind bushes and snacking on onigiri with a cat in his lap, and accompanied by a dishevelled young court lady. If Satoko were to discover, Aki was very sure she would find no end of amusement to this.

“No, thank you, my lord,” Aki replied. She moved forward very carefully and knelt at Lord Ohno’s side, and made to carry Tsuki but Lord Ohno shook his head.

“Let her sleep. She has eaten all the fish I can offer to her, let her rest away her bloated belly.”

Aki looked uncertain. She still felt it inappropriate for her cat to slumber in the lord’s lap, for it was indirectly disrespecting him, but Lord Ohno did not seem to mind, so she nodded and sat quietly. Awkward silence fell upon them; Aki couldn’t stop staring at Lord Ohno as he continued to eat his onigiri, absorbed deep in his thoughts as he rubbed the back of Tsuki’s ears.

“Are you a newcomer to the capital?” he suddenly asked.

“Y—yes, my lord. I was sworn into service of the Imperial Family not three months ago, when the Empress went into seclusion in the summer palace,” Aki answered.

“I see… and do you find the palace life fitting? I believe you are young and yet you must leave your family to serve in the Imperial Palace,” he said with surprising gentleness and compassion.

Aki gazed at him for a moment, contemplating if it would be appropriate to speak her mind in his presence. She breathed deeply before replying, “It is none other than a basic requirement of a court lady. I must forgo all familial ties and put the importance of my role as the Empress’ lady-in-waiting above all others.”

“Your maturity betrays not your young heart. Many would be deceived if they were to assume you age,” he said with faint respect. A small smile played on his lips.

“I am flattered, my lord,” Aki replied with a deep blush in her cheeks.

Silence fell upon them again as the night was quiet except for the inaudible sounds of Lord Ohno chewing on the onigiri and the faint purrs from Tsuki’s chest. Then, Aki tried to make conversation. “I… I hope I do not seem intruding, my lord,” she asked softly, “but why do you not eat in the Emperor’s grand hall?”

Lord Ohno peered at her with an expressionless face for a moment, then he replied, “I am afraid it is an undying habit of mine. I find discomfort to have my meals in company of so many unfamiliar people. I decided to come to the gardens and look for some peace.”

“Then forgive me, my lord, for disrupting the peace you wish for,” Aki said apologetically.

Lord Ohno waved his hand in dismissal. “You are not wholly a person who causes me discomfort. Sometimes, I do not mind a pleasurable conversation…” Then suddenly, his head perked up and he gazed far beyond the trees as though focusing on a noise far away. Then he seemed to nod to himself, before he threw the remaining of the onigiri into his mouth and stretched his arms out. “I believe the banquet has ended. It is best you return to your quarters when you are yet to be discovered.”

“Yes, my lord,” she nodded. She nudged Tsuki awake and carried her into the crook of her arm.

“Mreow?” the cat called to her with a sleepy look in her eyes, and she yawned. Aki glowered at her.

Lord Ohno got onto his feet and helped her up. “I will tell the guards the intruder has left the compound of the palace, and that he is of no threat to the Imperial Family,” he said.

“Thank you, my lord,” Aki replied in relief. “I shall take my leave. I bid you a good night.”

“And a good night to you, Lady Kikuchi.”

Aki stared at him, struggling to hide her surprise that he remembered her name. In that moment they looked at each other wordlessly, much like before, and Aki realised that, what Satoko said was true, he had an expression of a man seasoned by what he had seen in the world, but his eyes were still young, and warm.

She was the first to look away. She curtsied, and walked off quietly without another glance over her shoulder. She scanned left and right and there were no guards nearby, so she swiftly ran off towards the court ladies’ quarters. She hugged Tsuki tightly to her chest, and whispered furiously to her unapologetic cat, “You have no idea how much trouble you have caused me!”

Although despite her anger, she allowed herself a small smile.

- ~ -