Would this damned, damned winter never end? The last few days had been deceptively warm, but this morning there was frost on the ground and in the air
as well, biting at his cheeks and fingers. Daiichi hated the cold. He hated even moving down the corridors in cold snaps like this, but he had to go to the
damned council. He moved quickly, trading speed for the added discomfort movement of air in his face. He did not want to be outside a warm room with a brazier
for longer than he had to. In his hand he held the latest documentation of the military forces stationed on his estate. The Emperor was demanding a reckoning
down to the last sandal and dagger, and the Takayama estates were the largest of the far-flung border states, and so came in for extra suspicion. It didn't
help that
Daiichi's father had apparently systematically lied about the extent of their standing forces in his previously submitted assessments, leading Daiichi into a lot of awkward questions when he unwittingly submitted a substantially different correct assessment. He darkly suspected that the Emperor was going to make him stand large numbers of men down. He was going to have to fight for them and risk the Emperor's displeasure, and that put him in an even worse mood than the cold. And he had been expecting the assessment from the last of his town governors yesterday and the fool hadn't sent it in time.
"My lord!" Daiichi turned. It was one of the palace messengers - no, someone from the post rooms, Daiichi was starting to memorise the subtly different designs of the servants' clothes. What was this man doing running messages? He stopped in front of Daiichi and bowed deeply - more deeply than was strictly necessary. Daiichi was instantly. He held out a document bag, stamped and sealed, but soiled with dirt, and with several rips and a horse's hoof print. Daiichi took it with distaste, feeling his bad mood grow several times worse.
"Explain," he snapped. The man's eyes slid sideways, confirming Daiichi in his suspicion that the man's colleagues had sent him because he was the one to blame for this.
"It arrived in yesterday's delivery, my lord. It... fell out of a hole in the bottom of a bag." Very likely. Daiichi thought grimly. He would have no time now to review it properly before he had to present it.
"Why did nobody check? Why did nobody find it before this?" he demanded, the words lashing out like a whip. "My- my lord, we did our utmost-" "You are employed to deliver the packages entrusted to you!" Daiichi shouted, his annoyance at everything boiling at this utter -incompetant-. The man fell to his knees, but that did nothing to alleviate Daiichi's anger as he looked at the documents inside - spoilt as well.
"My lord, - they may have come in today's post, come to think of it..."
Dai struck the man across the face. "I will not tolerate liars," he hissed. It was very, very rare for him to strike anyone, but he was in a filthy mood and the man didn't even have the imagination to think up more than that insultingly transparent lie.
Sohma's errands were done, Korin was deep in the throes of translating some text that had him excited, and Fei Lin's mood was wonderful today (she had taken to pregnancy well, and Rou had not had to get her anything strange for a few days now). The Ozawas were laying low, Yukihiro had not made another appearance since he'd tried to kill Rouichi, and Sai was looking good. All and all, things were going well. It felt like a lifetime ago that the Masagaoist Party - while still around - had been a problem. It was almost hard to believe that it had only been a few short months ago. Typical Erion palace: life almost seemed to reset here after every huge outbreak of trouble. Rouichi whistled a chipper tune as he passed through the palace corridors with an unhurried gait. He smiled to himself, lost in a dreamy thought about Fei Lin, but sudden shouting drew him out of his happy place. His jade eyes turned in the direction of the disturbance. Up ahead of him there was a noble and a post rider - he recognized the robes and the official uniform of the messenger.
"I will not tolerate liars!"
Rou started forward even before his brain could catch up with himself. "HEY!" he bellowed, scaring the messenger even more than he was already. He didn't immediately know who the noble was assaulting the poor man, but he didn't really care, either. His mind had snapped back in time to a place he didn't often go, of Keichi and his violence, and righteous fury burned in his eyes. "Big man there, assaulting servants and people lower than you. The hell's your problem!?"
Daiichi's head jerked up at the shout, the first reaction pure shock at being interrupted like this. Great Lords were never interrupted except quietly and politely. "The hell's your problem!?" Daiichi's eyes narrowed. He recognised the red-headed barbarian barrelling towards him. Sohma's slave, Tokushima. Daiichi had only met him once, and Tokushima had displayed no behaviour out of the ordinary. Certainly nothing like this. He nodded curtly to the messenger to get out of his sight - he had disciplined the man, he wouldn't forget to be careful again - and folded his arms as Tokushima stopped just out of arms reach. "Lower your voice, barbarian," he said flatly.
He said something he immediately regretted. "Fuck you," Rouichi responded. He recognized the man now that he was facing him. Takayama Daiichi, the newest Great Lord to the court. There was a part of his mind that warned off swearing to a man of this kind of rank, but Rouichi had done a lot worse in the past. He had actually attacked Benikura. Then again, he had known Benikura wouldn't take it to the courts. "Where do you get off slapping people around? Nobles," he spat, the word dropping like poison off his tongue. He folded his arms over his chest. "Bloody barbaric is what the lot of you are."
"What did you say?" Daiichi said, staring at Tokushima. He would have thought he had misheard, if it hadn't been so clear. The shock had actually pushed back the anger for a moment, but now it was starting to trickle back. He automatically flicked his eyes to the side, but of course he had left his guards behind, since this was a private council. Normally Kenji would be there, but Daiichi had sent him off to the other side of the city with a message. He looked back at Tokushima, irritated at this situation, and raised his chin and fixed the man with his most disparaging glare. "Are you quite finished questioning my actions?"
Rouichi lifted his chin and gave Daiichi his best 'you're so far beneath me I couldn't care about you if I stepped on you', which at his impressive height looked quite ominous. He didn't have the rank to use the look, but he had plenty enough attitude. "And if I'm not?" he replied, raising both eyebrows questioningly.
Daiichi put his head a little to one side and stared at him in something approaching fascination, as if he had discovered a new species of insect. And it was talking back to him.
"Rouichi!" Rouichi opened his mouth to say something deliberately obnoxious, but the sound of his name cut him off. Turning his head, he clamped his mouth shut. He recognized the voice. It was Shizu, still wearing the blue page uniform he was accustomed to with its Sohma crests on the front, his black hair tousled. Asano walked directly behind him, identical save the traditional Japanese warrior's clothing that he had taken to wearing. The twins stopped together. "Shizu, Asano. What's up?" Shizu smiled at Rouichi and bowed deeply to Daiichi. Asano did the same, and although he did not go near as low as his brother, managed to remain polite. "Sohma-san wants to see you immediately."
Daiichi spared a glance for the two pages - one of them not even dressed properly - and dismissed them as being of no further interest. Thanks to Sohma's jumped-up slave he was even more irritated and nearly late for the council. Tokushima was lucky he had no time to follow this up. But he could not just leave with nothing said. "Be more careful how you talk to men above you, slave," he said, deliberately curling his voice around the last word in a sneer. Tokushima seemed entirely unrepentant, but that made no difference to the fact he would have been in very deep trouble - if he had been worth Daiichi's time. Daiichi turned his head away, dismissing him without even a nod, and walked away.
"I'd watch what I said, IF there were men present above me, Daiichi-kun," Rouichi called, but Daiichi was too far down the hallway to turn around and bother with him now. Rouichi shrugged and turned away, stuffing his hands into his pockets and wandering away. Shizu and Asano looked between the two, baffled.
Daiichi's father had apparently systematically lied about the extent of their standing forces in his previously submitted assessments, leading Daiichi into a lot of awkward questions when he unwittingly submitted a substantially different correct assessment. He darkly suspected that the Emperor was going to make him stand large numbers of men down. He was going to have to fight for them and risk the Emperor's displeasure, and that put him in an even worse mood than the cold. And he had been expecting the assessment from the last of his town governors yesterday and the fool hadn't sent it in time.
"My lord!" Daiichi turned. It was one of the palace messengers - no, someone from the post rooms, Daiichi was starting to memorise the subtly different designs of the servants' clothes. What was this man doing running messages? He stopped in front of Daiichi and bowed deeply - more deeply than was strictly necessary. Daiichi was instantly. He held out a document bag, stamped and sealed, but soiled with dirt, and with several rips and a horse's hoof print. Daiichi took it with distaste, feeling his bad mood grow several times worse.
"Explain," he snapped. The man's eyes slid sideways, confirming Daiichi in his suspicion that the man's colleagues had sent him because he was the one to blame for this.
"It arrived in yesterday's delivery, my lord. It... fell out of a hole in the bottom of a bag." Very likely. Daiichi thought grimly. He would have no time now to review it properly before he had to present it.
"Why did nobody check? Why did nobody find it before this?" he demanded, the words lashing out like a whip. "My- my lord, we did our utmost-" "You are employed to deliver the packages entrusted to you!" Daiichi shouted, his annoyance at everything boiling at this utter -incompetant-. The man fell to his knees, but that did nothing to alleviate Daiichi's anger as he looked at the documents inside - spoilt as well.
"My lord, - they may have come in today's post, come to think of it..."
Dai struck the man across the face. "I will not tolerate liars," he hissed. It was very, very rare for him to strike anyone, but he was in a filthy mood and the man didn't even have the imagination to think up more than that insultingly transparent lie.
Sohma's errands were done, Korin was deep in the throes of translating some text that had him excited, and Fei Lin's mood was wonderful today (she had taken to pregnancy well, and Rou had not had to get her anything strange for a few days now). The Ozawas were laying low, Yukihiro had not made another appearance since he'd tried to kill Rouichi, and Sai was looking good. All and all, things were going well. It felt like a lifetime ago that the Masagaoist Party - while still around - had been a problem. It was almost hard to believe that it had only been a few short months ago. Typical Erion palace: life almost seemed to reset here after every huge outbreak of trouble. Rouichi whistled a chipper tune as he passed through the palace corridors with an unhurried gait. He smiled to himself, lost in a dreamy thought about Fei Lin, but sudden shouting drew him out of his happy place. His jade eyes turned in the direction of the disturbance. Up ahead of him there was a noble and a post rider - he recognized the robes and the official uniform of the messenger.
"I will not tolerate liars!"
Rou started forward even before his brain could catch up with himself. "HEY!" he bellowed, scaring the messenger even more than he was already. He didn't immediately know who the noble was assaulting the poor man, but he didn't really care, either. His mind had snapped back in time to a place he didn't often go, of Keichi and his violence, and righteous fury burned in his eyes. "Big man there, assaulting servants and people lower than you. The hell's your problem!?"
Daiichi's head jerked up at the shout, the first reaction pure shock at being interrupted like this. Great Lords were never interrupted except quietly and politely. "The hell's your problem!?" Daiichi's eyes narrowed. He recognised the red-headed barbarian barrelling towards him. Sohma's slave, Tokushima. Daiichi had only met him once, and Tokushima had displayed no behaviour out of the ordinary. Certainly nothing like this. He nodded curtly to the messenger to get out of his sight - he had disciplined the man, he wouldn't forget to be careful again - and folded his arms as Tokushima stopped just out of arms reach. "Lower your voice, barbarian," he said flatly.
He said something he immediately regretted. "Fuck you," Rouichi responded. He recognized the man now that he was facing him. Takayama Daiichi, the newest Great Lord to the court. There was a part of his mind that warned off swearing to a man of this kind of rank, but Rouichi had done a lot worse in the past. He had actually attacked Benikura. Then again, he had known Benikura wouldn't take it to the courts. "Where do you get off slapping people around? Nobles," he spat, the word dropping like poison off his tongue. He folded his arms over his chest. "Bloody barbaric is what the lot of you are."
"What did you say?" Daiichi said, staring at Tokushima. He would have thought he had misheard, if it hadn't been so clear. The shock had actually pushed back the anger for a moment, but now it was starting to trickle back. He automatically flicked his eyes to the side, but of course he had left his guards behind, since this was a private council. Normally Kenji would be there, but Daiichi had sent him off to the other side of the city with a message. He looked back at Tokushima, irritated at this situation, and raised his chin and fixed the man with his most disparaging glare. "Are you quite finished questioning my actions?"
Rouichi lifted his chin and gave Daiichi his best 'you're so far beneath me I couldn't care about you if I stepped on you', which at his impressive height looked quite ominous. He didn't have the rank to use the look, but he had plenty enough attitude. "And if I'm not?" he replied, raising both eyebrows questioningly.
Daiichi put his head a little to one side and stared at him in something approaching fascination, as if he had discovered a new species of insect. And it was talking back to him.
"Rouichi!" Rouichi opened his mouth to say something deliberately obnoxious, but the sound of his name cut him off. Turning his head, he clamped his mouth shut. He recognized the voice. It was Shizu, still wearing the blue page uniform he was accustomed to with its Sohma crests on the front, his black hair tousled. Asano walked directly behind him, identical save the traditional Japanese warrior's clothing that he had taken to wearing. The twins stopped together. "Shizu, Asano. What's up?" Shizu smiled at Rouichi and bowed deeply to Daiichi. Asano did the same, and although he did not go near as low as his brother, managed to remain polite. "Sohma-san wants to see you immediately."
Daiichi spared a glance for the two pages - one of them not even dressed properly - and dismissed them as being of no further interest. Thanks to Sohma's jumped-up slave he was even more irritated and nearly late for the council. Tokushima was lucky he had no time to follow this up. But he could not just leave with nothing said. "Be more careful how you talk to men above you, slave," he said, deliberately curling his voice around the last word in a sneer. Tokushima seemed entirely unrepentant, but that made no difference to the fact he would have been in very deep trouble - if he had been worth Daiichi's time. Daiichi turned his head away, dismissing him without even a nod, and walked away.
"I'd watch what I said, IF there were men present above me, Daiichi-kun," Rouichi called, but Daiichi was too far down the hallway to turn around and bother with him now. Rouichi shrugged and turned away, stuffing his hands into his pockets and wandering away. Shizu and Asano looked between the two, baffled.
