Ikemen Smut Peddler

It was not unusual for Nobunaga to call all of us into the great hall when one of his various guests delivered a gift or tribute of some sort. In the five years I’d been in the Sengoku, I’d witnessed all number of amazing “discoveries” from foreign missionaries that were, in fact, commonplace in my time. Having the advantage of not being Japanese meant I could share my knowledge with him in a way that satisfied us both.

Often I’d sit with Nobunaga on his dais late into the evenings after the guests had retired to explain the items and their purposes. He’d had me read to him from texts written in the Latin alphabet. His appetite for knowledge was…well, voracious was an understatement. The man loved to learn almost as much as he loved to make love.

And that was saying something.

It was a sunny afternoon in late March when an envoy of missionaries—always Nobunaga’s favorite visitors due to their exotic gifts—appeared with a selection of books, artwork, and, strangely enough, food. Crates of foreign fruits and vegetables were opened and placed before us, and the missionaries were not only thanked, but invited to stay for a banquet to celebrate.

The crates of fruit were sent to the kitchen along with Masamune, who was more than ready to dive in and start playing with it. As much as I wanted to follow him and help, my services as Princess Mira of Azuchi were needed in the hall. I enjoyed the visitors’ stories and songs, but…but damn it, I wanted some of that fruit. I also didn’t trust Masamune not to mutilate it in a fit of confused anger.

Nobunaga, sensing my displeasure at not being in the kitchen for this new adventure, brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles.

“Gentlemen, if you will excuse my lovely Princess…she would like to oversee banquet preparations. Her knowledge of foreign produce is needed in the kitchen.” He turned his carnelian gaze on me and I nodded, offering a tiny smile in thanks before rising and bowing to our guests.

“Excuse me, please,” I said, echoing Nobunaga’s words, and ducked out of the room. No sooner were the doors closed behind me than I ran for the kitchen, shoes in hand. With Hideyoshi otherwise occupied in the council room, I didn’t have to worry about his scolding. The burst of speed felt good; I spent too much of my time sitting around being adorable at Nobunaga’s request.

As I neared the kitchen, I slowed to a stop and placed my shoes back on my feet. It was strangely quiet inside as I walked the last few steps, which worried me.

“Masamune?” I called out, “Are you in there?”

“Mmm-hmm…” came his distracted reply. I took a deep breath and peeked around the corner to find…

Chaos. Absolute freaking chaos.

The three crates of fruit had been emptied and were littered across every available surface in the kitchen. Some had been cut. Some were piled in various pots and bowls. There were peels and piles of fruit pulp everywhere. There were oranges, cherries, strawberries, apricots, and the thing that had Masamune’s undivided, if not frustrated, attention. He glared down at the thing with his arms crossed, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

“What the hell is it?” he asked as I moved to stand beside him.

“It’s a pineapple.”

“A what?”

I bent down and picked the fruit up, bringing it to eye level. “A pineapple. It’s a sweet, tangy tropical fruit. Nobunaga will love it. You will too.”

Masamune frowned. “I get all the others—they actually look like fruit. But this damn thing looks like…”

“A porcupine?”

“I was gonna say it looked like Ieyasu, but yeah.” The corner of his mouth quirked up into an annoyed half-smile. “It’s about as friendly as he is, at any rate.”

I turned the fruit over in my hands, enjoying the rough, prickly feel of its surface. “Pineapples can be tricky, but trust me, they’re worth the work.”

“It doesn’t taste very good, so what the hell do you do with it?”

“You have to peel it,” I explained. “The inside is bright yellow and really sweet.” I continued to turn it over in my hands, and as the back side of the thing came into view, I nearly choked on my tongue.

There were teeth marks in the skin, just below the leaves. I looked over at Masamune who scowled at the pineapple, and then I doubled over with uncontrolled laughter.

“Masa…did you…did you really try to bite it?!” I choked out, holding my belly as it ached from my laughter.

“They said it was a fruit…” he muttered. “Stupid pineapple.”

I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my kimono and tried to rein in my laughter…but this was just too good.

“It’s not that funny,” he added with a snort.

“Yeah…yeah, it really is,” I answered, gagging in a breath and trying to stop laughing. The pineapple, still clutched in my hand, dangled from my fingers. Masamune alternated scowling at the fruit then at me. “I’m supposed to be cooking these things.” He pointed to one of the crates, which had five more pineapples inside. “But I have no idea how.”

“Well,” I said, wiping my face as I knelt and placed the pineapple on the table, “the first thing we need to do is peel it so you can taste it. Hand me a really sharp knife and I’ll show you how.”

I laid the fruit on its side and held out my hand, only to receive the hilt of Masamune’s sword. I rolled my eyes and turned to glare up at him. “Really? REALLY?”

“What? It’s sharp.”

“Your head’s not. I can’t cut up a pineapple with this!”

With a dramatic sigh, he knelt next to me and produced a very large, very sharp knife. Step by step I walked him through the process of peeling and coring the pineapple, explaining that if we kept the tops, we could grow our own. Masamune let his annoyance fade in favor of learning about the new food source, and when I held up a piece of the juicy meat, his eyes lit up. He bit the end off the fruit straight out of my hand with a suggestive smirk—classic Masa—so I ate the rest. The bright, sweet flavor exploded over my tongue. I didn’t realize I’d moaned until Masamune’s eye went wide.

“I’ll admit that it’s good, lass, but I wouldn’t go that far.”

“I didn’t think I’d ever get pineapple again!” I replied. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“That thing is the jerk,” he muttered, petulant.

“You’re just mad because it outsmarted you. Now watch.” I quickly cut the remainder into thin slices which Masamune arranged on a platter with the various other fruits. Masamune picked up where I left off, following my example to prepare two more of the remaining five pineapples while I started slicing vegetables and sorting ingredients for the dishes on Masamune’s list.

“What else can we do with it?” Masamune asked as he placed another tray of fruit to the side.

“Well, we can make rice with it. Do you have any coconut?”

“Yes…” he drew the word out, raising his eyebrow at me skeptically. “What are you going to do with coconut though?”

“I need the water from the coconut and I need some of that pineapple crushed up. Oh, and I need to you shave some of the coconut pulp and toast it for me.”

“I’ve seen you do some weird things, Mira, but this one might be at the top of the list.”

“Just shut up and get me a coconut.”

Forty-five minutes later, I lifted a spoonful of steaming, sweet rice concoction to Masamune’s mouth. He smirked as he allowed me to feed him, and his indulgent, ridiculous expression turned into one of satisfied glee.

“That’s really good,” he admitted.

“Are you willing to forgive the pineapple for being mean to you earlier?”

Masamune smiled that cocky smile I loved so much. “I’m still mad at the pineapple, but I’m willing to let it have the win since it means so much to you.”

“I’m so glad. Now let’s go feed everyone. I’m sure they’re hungry.”

“Yeah, okay. But first…”

“Good evening, Princess,” Shingen said with a deep bow. “It appears that ridiculous young man to whom you’ve given your heart has better things to do than escort a beautiful woman to the festival, so he asked me to see to your happiness.” The syrupy sweetness of his words made me roll my eyes.

“You’re such an idiot, Shingen.”

He pressed a hand to his chest and took another deep bow. “Any attention is a compliment when paid to a mere mortal from the goddess of the moon herself.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt, but I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up my throat.

“Your laughter is like chimes on the wind,” he continued.

“Stop right there. Save your flattery for the ladies in town, please. There will be plenty of them for you to pick from tonight and you are something like a hero in these parts.”

He smiled then, a genuine, beautiful smile brimming with affection. “I am pleased to see your happiness has returned.”

“I’m excited for the festival,” I answered, which wasn’t exactly a lie. I was excited for the festival, among other things. “I assume we’re meeting Yukimura there?” I asked, and when I placed my book on the table and rose, Shingen’s eyes went wide. He laughed, a full, loud belly-laugh.

“Does Yuki know that the two of you are a perfect match tonight?” he asked, indicating my red kimono made specifically to match Yukimura’s haori. I felt a little strange wearing the Sanada crest on my own sleeves, but we’d been telling each other for a year now that we were going to stay together forever. And with Kenshin spilling the big secret…

“No,” I answered. “I gave him the haori this afternoon when I saw him because he’s been so…gone.” I tried to force sadness into my expression, which was a waste of time considering Shingen could read me like a damned book. “He left in a hurry afterward, so I was going to surprise him when he came to get me.”

Shingen’s already-wide smile widened further. “I see.” There was something almost fatherly in the way he looked at me…like he was ready to give me away or something. He turned and offered me his arm. “Shall we go? I would hate to keep Yuki waiting. You know how impatient he can be.”

I took his arm and allowed him to lead me out of the castle. Not surprisingly, Kenshin waited at the gates, somehow looking both bored and impatient. “Took you long enough,” he muttered before turning on his heel and walking ahead of us.

“Ignore him,” Shingen said with a chuckle. “He’s hungry.”

“Apparently.”

The sun was nearly gone by the time we reached the market, and a hundred different sensory points descended on me at once. Sweet and savory scents of various treats floated on the breeze that jostled the brightly-colored lanterns. Jovial conversation and peals of happy laughter wove in and out of the sights and smells, mingling with the warmth of the late-summer air. I was, I realized, happier than I’d ever been in my life. Or would have been, if Yukimura had been there with me.

As Shingen guided me through the marketplace, Kenshin occasionally turned to push some kind of food on a stick or a cup of something to drink into my hands.  It almost felt like I was being spoiled by a pair of overindulgent dads. All I needed was for Nobunaga to show up and add to the insanity…

Which, I remembered, was very likely given my boyfriend had gone to him in search of approval of our union. As soon as my mind turned back to the upcoming event, giddy excitement filled me. My hands began to shake and my heart picked up its pace. It could have been a sugar rush from the sweets forced on me by Kenshin, but the way the butterflies flapped around in my belly told me it was much more.

Beside me, Shingen laughed. “Are you anticipating something, my dear?”

“I…oh…um, no. Just excited to see Yukimura,” I stammered. “We, um, haven’t seen much of each other since we got here and I just really want to spend some time with him.”

Shingen made a quiet musing sound and patted the hand curled around his elbow but said nothing else. Kenshin, I noticed, was sticking closer as we made our way toward the end of the street, and it was then that I realized why.

Everyone else at this festival had come to a stop and they lined the street, watching as we passed. Kenshin was right when he said I was probably the only person in Japan who didn’t know what was going on.

“Um, Shingen?” I asked, tugging on his elbow. He bent toward me to hear my question. “Why is everyone staring at us?”

“Not at us…at you.”

“Why?” I was pretty sure I already knew why, but I wanted to see if he’d tell me.

“No reason in particular,” Shingen lied, “though you are stunningly beautiful tonight.”

He guided me around the corner, away from the prying eyes of the shopkeepers and toward the shrine only to come to a dead stop in the middle of a similar crowd, all craning to get a look at me…and the man standing directly in our path.

“Mai…” Nobunaga’s deep voice rumbled through the night air, startling me so much that I stumbled and would have fallen were it not for Shingen holding onto me. “You kept me waiting. I do not like to wait.”

My jaw flapped like a broken hinge a few times before the reality of his presence sank in. Yep…this was really happening. Either that or I’d gone totally insane and was now hallucinating all sorts of nonsense.

I blinked, then blinked again.

Nope…still there.

“How was I supposed to know I was keeping you waiting if I didn’t even know you were going to be here in the first place?!” I almost shouted in my excitement.

Nobunaga laughed. “I see you’ve lost none of your fire.” He offered me is hand and, pulling away from Shingen, I rushed over and took it only to be pulled into a tight embrace. “You have been missed, Mai. Are you certain you don’t want to come back to Azuchi?”

“I’ll always come back to visit, but you know full well my heart is here with Yukimura.”

Nobunaga snorted as he pulled my arm into the crook of his elbow as Shingen had before. We walked side-by-side, drawing all sorts of attention from the festivalgoers.

Is that THE Oda Nobunaga? Here in Echigo?

That’s the Oda Princess! Isn’t she lovely?

Is she really marrying one of our samurai?

Why is Kenshin allowing Nobunaga to walk before him?

Nobunaga chuckled at the not-so-quiet whispers. I looked back over my shoulder to find that Shingen and Kenshin walked beside one another… and that all the people who had watched us pass had now fallen into line behind us.

This wasn’t just a crazy proposal setup…this was a damned wedding procession. And I’d unintentionally added to it with the matching clothes I’d made for us. And I was wearing red. All I needed was the elaborate headpiece and I’d be a perfect picture for the history books.

“Um, Nobunaga? Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Am I getting married tonight?”

Nobunaga laughed, long and loud. The sound drew the stares of everyone around us and it kind of annoyed me. I was tired of being laughed at, coddled, head-patted, and treated like some dumb little girl. So far the only person who had been straight with me at all was Kenshin and I was willing to bet a year’s salary that he was only doing it to be spiteful.

“I assumed when Yukimura came to me asking permission to wed you that he had discussed the arrangement with you first.”

“No…no, he hasn’t.”

That only made Nobunaga laugh harder. “Then it appears I’ve ruined a grand surprise.”

“Kenshin already beat you to the punch. Sort of. He told me Yukimura was planning to propose. He didn’t tell me the rest.”

“Well, then I suggest you act surprised, because he has gone to a good bit of trouble on your behalf.”

“Thanks…that doesn’t make me nervous or anything.”

Nobunaga glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, ignoring the continued stares and whispers around us, and when I looked up at him, I discovered the humor had gone from his face. He looked every bit the imposing warlord…or yet another concerned father. I had the dad-trifecta going on here…all I needed was Hideyoshi to be waiting at the end of this mess to fuss over me a little bit.

“Do you love him?” Nobunaga asked, startling me out of my thoughts.

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

“Then what is there to worry about?”

He was right, of course. Nobunaga was always right. As the shrine came into view, the anxiety that had crept into my mind vanished. I loved Yukimura more than I’d ever loved another person. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Just because he jumped the gun a bit with the plans didn’t mean I wasn’t ready to take that dive with him.

The sea of excited onlookers parted to reveal a truly magnificent sight – flowers everywhere, candles and lanterns, and nearly every person I’d come to care about during this time. It was such an over-the-top setup that I began to laugh.

It was not a delicate giggle befitting a princess. No, this was an out-loud, braying horse-laugh that rattled up and out from my toes.

“Mai?” Nobunaga questioned though he couldn’t hide the humor in his voice.

“This…this is…ri-di-cu-lous!” I barked out, leaning into his side to keep myself upright as the hilarity of this situation took over my better sense.

Yukimura was not, and never had been, the romantic type. We weren’t a lovey-dovey couple that surrounded ourselves with hearts and rainbows. We were loud and obnoxious, stubborn and argumentative, and passionate in both our beliefs and our love for one another. In that moment as I stared at the carefully-orchestrated circus my soon-to-be-husband had created, everything began to make sense. I understood exactly why was so weird.

He’d embarrassed himself trying to make me happy. Silly boy.

Besides, I knew it wasn’t him at all. This whole thing smacked of Yoshimoto’s influence, down to the very last, perfectly-placed flower. He was also conspicuously absent.

“I agree that it is a little…extravagant,” Nobunaga said as we neared the shrine where Yukimura and Sasuke waited, groom-and-best-man-style.

“Yukimura is an idiot,” I said once I reined in my laughter. It would do no good to let him see me laughing. “I don’t need all of this nonsense and I have no idea how Yoshimoto talked him into it. It’s almost embarrassing.”

“Almost?” Nobunaga asked, raising one eyebrow at me. “The fact that your face is bright pink says otherwise.”

“Hush.”

Nobunaga chuckled again and let me past the point where the onlookers halted, onto the grounds of the shrine. Hideyoshi and Masamune waited for me to pass—bringing about another near-hysterical giggle in the process—before falling in step behind Kenshin and Shingen, followed by Mitsunari and the ever-grumbling Ieyasu. Only Mitsuhide’s presence was noticeably absent. But I didn’t have time to wonder, as I was suddenly face-to-face with the love of my life.

“Hey,” Yukimura said with an infuriating smirk.

“Hey yourself,” I answered. “You gonna tell me what’s going on here?”

“No,” he replied curtly, though he held out his hand. “Not yet. Now come on.”

I let go of Nobunaga’s arm and reached for Yukimura’s hand, and that’s when he noticed my clothing choice. His eyes went wide and perfectly round while his mouth fell open with a small gasp. Heat bloomed up the back of my neck and over my cheeks, rising in time with the flush of his skin.

“You…what? What are you wearing?!”

“Surprise?” I tried to smile but my nerves kicked into high gear and my heart started to race. “I thought…it might be fun if we, you know…matched.” Yukimura continued to gawk at me, and the look of shock on his face made me wonder if I might have made the wrong choice. “Do you like it? I…um…I can go change if—”

“No!” he shouted, startling me and causing everyone around us to laugh. “I mean, yes. I do. I mean…changing would take up too much time. Just…come on.”

“A word of advice as your Best Man,” Sasuke said, stepping up beside us, “you might want to compliment your bride. And, uh, you know…ask her to marry you now,” he stage-whispered.

“Damn it!” Yukimura growled. “Yoshimoto…”

“Where is he, anyway?”

“Inside with… wait. No. This is stupid. I’m not doing this.”

He tried to pull away but I held tight to his hand, making him stay beside me.

“Yukimura, look at me.” He hesitated but ultimately turned back toward me, keeping his gaze on his feet. “I figured out what was going on a long time ago, okay? You didn’t exactly keep your plans a secret from anyone except me and all of our surprise guests kinda gave away the punchline here.”

“You think this is a joke?!”

“No, you idiot! I think it’s sweet. A little overdone, but sweet. And beautiful. And romantic.”

“Oh gods!”

“And you don’t need to ask me to marry you, Yukimura. My answer is yes. It has always been yes.”

“You don’t have to—what?” He finally looked at me, his surprised expression almost comical.

“I said yes.”

“But…why?”

“Yuki,” Shingen chided, reminding both of us that everyone we knew was watching, “stop talking and accept the poor girl’s lapse in judgment. Or are you now trying to talk her out of it?’

“No!” Yukimura snarled.

“Then shut up and marry her before I steal her away!” Masamune called out, earning groans from both of us and an elbow to the ribs from Hideyoshi.

“Don’t ruin this for her!” he hissed, causing our one-eyed friend to giggle.

“Go, Yuki,” Shingen ordered. “One step at a time. Left-right-left-right…”

Yukimura groaned audibly and pulled me along with him. We glanced at each other again and started to laugh.

“This is dumb,” he said.

“It’s your fault,” I told him.

“No, it’s yours. I was told girls like this kind of thing.”

“By who?”

“Sasuke and Yoshimoto ganged up on me. And Shingen told me I had to be romantic. Like I said, stupid.”

“And sweet. It’s beautiful.” Yukimura went silent as we entered the shrine and found Yoshimoto waiting with a wide grin on his face. “Do you really need me to tell you why I said yes?” I asked as we turned to enter the shrine.

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Because I love you, dummy. Now let’s get married.”

Yukimura groaned beside me. “This did not go at all how I planned.”

Whatever it was, it had been bothering him for days. From the minute we arrived at Kasugayama, it was like a switch had flipped and my adoringly-sweet-yet-m oderately-awkward boyfriend became a totally different person. I wondered if I’d inadvertently said or done something to upset him on the trip in, but I couldn’t think of a thing. And since we arrived, I’d barely even seen him.

He hadn’t mentioned it. Hadn’t said anything at all, as a matter of fact. It wasn’t like Yukimura to not speak at all. He always had something to say, even if it was just snark. But the fact that he’d not only not talked to me, but gone out of his way to avoid me told me something was definitely up…

…which was exactly why I was standing in the garden with Shingen, waiting for him to answer my question.

“He was so excited to come back to Kasugayama for the festival,” I added after explaining my dilemma to Yukimura’s surrogate father. “But since we got here, he’s been so…weird. I mean, he’s always an awkward idiot, but this goes way beyond that.”

“If there were a problem, surely Yuki would come to you first,” Shingen told me after several long, agonizing moments of pretending to ponder my question. I could see the lie in his eyes. Shingen knew something. I mean, he was only feudal Japan’s greatest master of information…second maybe to Mitsuhide…so I knew he knew what was going on. And he knew that I knew that he knew. I could see that too. I hadn’t spent the last year with these knuckleheads without learning how to read them the same way they did me.

“Okay,” I responded with a curt nod. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine.”

I turned and left, ignoring Shingen’s calls for me to come back. He might not be willing to help me, but I knew there was one person in Kasugayama who would.

***

“I would, but you know the saying—bros before—”

“I would not finish that statement if I were you, Sasuke. He may be your bro, but I am certainly not the other.” My moderately awesome ninja friend swallowed with an audible gulp and took two steps back from me. I didn’t blame him; if I looked anything like I felt, then I looked like I wanted to wring his neck. “This routine is starting to get old, you know. Yukimura hasn’t said a word to me in three days. He’s avoiding me since we got here. He didn’t come to bed last night until…well, I don’t know when, and he was gone again when I woke up. Shingen is being his usual, obnoxious self, and even you aren’t willing to tell me what’s going on even though despite your weak facial muscles, you have a terrible poker face!” I threw my hands up in the air and groaned. “If I wanted to be left in the dark with everyone I know plotting against me, I’d have just stayed in Azuchi!”

“Mai…”

“NO.” I held up a hand. “You’re not going to betray Yukimura’s confidence and I don’t want to hear anymore excuses. You tell that idiot that when he’s ready to apologize for being such a moron, he can come find me. I might still be here.”

My voice cracked on the last word right alongside my heart and for the second time that day, I stormed away from one of my friends, though this time I did it so nobody would see me cry.

***

If I’d thought for one second someone might find me hiding behind a sakura tree in the most remote, well-hidden corner of the garden, I wouldn’t have gone there to have my little pity party. And if I had thought someone would find me, I certainly wouldn’t have expected it to be who it was.

“This is why I find women so tiresome,” Kenshin said, scaring a shriek out of me. I’d been so absorbed in my own silliness and the absurd plot to steal a horse and ride back to Azuchi to be with the other half of my Sengoku family that I hadn’t even heard him approach. I wiped my face on my sleeve and looked up to find a hard scowl marring the ethereal beauty of his face. Those mismatched eyes, though… they were full of concern.

“Sorry to bother you, Kenshin,” I said through my sniffles. “I’ll just go.” I started to rise but he placed a cold hand on top of my head.

“Stay,” he said, his touch softening as he stroked my hair with almost brotherly affection. “You are clearly upset about something and came here to hide.”

“I did.”

He surprised me by sitting down beside me. I’d grown used to his weird mood swings even if I’d not grown entirely used to the man himself. Even in repose, Kenshin was still the most intimidating thing I’d ever seen. Disarmingly beautiful…but decidedly lethal. I knew full well he could take my head from my shoulders if the spirit moved him to and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. I’d already be dead before I could even think to react.

“I assume the cause of your distress is your lover,” he said, raising one thin eyebrow at me. I nodded and hid my face in my sleeves so she couldn’t see just how much of a mess I was. “I am not surprised. Since the two of you arrived, he has been quite…obnoxious. More so than usual.”

“He’s avoiding me,” I said, my voice crackling like dry tinder from the torrents of tears. “We argue all the time. It’s kind of our thing. But even when we were supposed to be enemies, he never went out of his way to hide from me.”

“That boy is a fool,” Kenshin answered. His tone was harsher than usual and when I glanced up at him, I may as well have been staring down a pair of knives for all the sharpness in his gaze. “You would think, having been in Shingen’s service nearly his whole life, he’d have at least learned something about women.”

I snorted. “That’s pretty funny coming from you, you know.”

“I know a great deal about women,” Kenshin replied defensively, his lips pressed into a thin line to hide the smile teasing them. “I am no monk, Mai. However, I choose not to waste my time with frivolities.”

“Then why are you talking to me?”

“Because you were crying. Women should never cry.”

That time I did laugh. “Then if you know so much about us, tell me…why are women so emotional?”

“That, little one, is one of life’s great mysteries.” He smirked then turned his gaze away from me, looking out over the garden. He heaved a sigh, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “If you must know, Yukimura wishes to marry you,” Kenshin said, and my heart stuttered to a shocked halt.

Say what now?

“But…”

“You didn’t know?” he asked, though he knew full well I didn’t know. “I would apologize for ruining that surprise, but I am not sorry in the slightest. I am weary of you moping about my castle and his frantic idiocy.”

“How did you find out?” I asked, hoping to wrap my mind around this. His initial statement rang through my mind again and again, but it seemed no more real than a daydream.

“I am actually surprised you didn’t know before now. That fool has interrogated every person in his path for three days seeking guidance in the matter. He sent letters weeks ago informing both Nobunaga and myself of his plan to ask for your hand during the festival. As it seems I inherited care of you in that alliance,” his nose wrinkled as he thought of the Alliance between Echigo and Azuchi and the resulting custody arrangement between himself and Nobunaga, “it was up to me to provide the blessing for this upcoming union.”

“So you’re saying Yukimura wrote to you and Nobunaga and asked permission?”

“Yes. Now that you have arrived, he and Sasuke have cobbled together some elaborate nonsense for the occasion that involves Shingen escorting you to the festival. I find this whole affair a waste of my ninja’s time.”

I laughed at that. “I do too. I don’t need anything elaborate. I thought Yukimura knew that.”

Kenshin shook his head. “The boy is daft. If I understand correctly, Sasuke has commissioned fireworks from the artisans in Oshu.”

My jaw fell slack. “Sasuke went to Masamune for fireworks? What on earth are they planning?”

Kenshin shrugged one shoulder as if he’d grown bored with the conversation. “How many people know?”

Kenshin chuckled. “It appears you are the only person in all of Japan that didn’t. I suspect you will have quite the audience this evening.”

Excitement replaced my shock. I’d never known Kenshin to lie. But one thing still didn’t make sense to me. Here I’d begun to think I’d done something to upset Yukimura, and that wasn’t the case at all. I’d wracked my brain for the memory of even the tiniest transgression, but there was nothing. And now this bombshell…

“But—but why is he avoiding me?”

Kenshin fixed me with a hard, impatient stare. “You already know the answer to that question. You, yourself have said more than once today that he is an idiot.”

“Because he is.”

“I agree.” Kenshin rose in a fluid, graceful motion, then took my hands and pulled me to my feet. I felt like a tromping elephant beside a gazelle as I rose. Even after I stood, Kenshin held onto my hands. “He intends to ask at the festival tonight.” Kenshin reached up an smoothed a lock of my hair back into place. “I suggest you pull yourself together and go get ready. I shall send the maids to assist you.”

Kenshin gave me one last, lingering look before turning away and leaving me alone in the garden with a head full of bubbles.

Yukimura wants to marry me…

***

Every bit of anxiety was washed away as I turned and ran back to our shared room. Our first “date” had been at a festival. My insides still fluttered when I remembered our first kiss under the fireworks. My heart skipped a beat at the memory of the fire in his eyes when he looked down at me, the way the bright colors in the sky reflected in his gaze. I remembered the feel of his hands on my waist and how I’d clung so desperately to him, not wanting to leave his side. I remembered the sweetness and innocence in that moment, before the world saw fit to try and tear us apart.

Yet we’d survived, we’d come through it all together. And now, a year after my return to this time and the man I’d fallen desperately in love with, we were on the cusp of this grand, new adventure. He was, in his own ridiculous way, trying to make this night special for me. And I…I wanted to do my part.

In all the excitement, I’d forgotten that I had something for him until that moment. Since I was now in on his secret and I knew he wasn’t going to come back before tonight, I dug through my bag until I found the two wrapped packages at the bottom. I set one off to the side and went to the desk with the other, prepared to write a letter to Yukimura when the door slid open and he appeared.

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. His clothes were rumpled and his hair windblown, as if he’d just spent the last fifteen minutes either sparring with or running from Kenshin. Either was possible, except that I’d been with Kenshin until about five minutes ago. Whatever the reason for his huffing breath and disheveled state, it must have had something to do with his “surprise”.

“Oh, um…I’ll come back,” he stammered, breathless, and started to close the door.

“Yukimura, wait!” I shouted, rising with the package still clutched to my chest. He hesitated, panic flashing across his face, and I could see him consider just closing the door and running again. Now that I knew what was going on, his awkwardness was adorable. “I, um, have something for you. For tonight.”

Fear. Blind, bald fear flashed across his face. “Why?”

I closed the distance between us, noting how he stiffened as I neared. When I reached out and took his hand, he froze, the urge to bolt even more evident in his posture. Though when I tugged his hand, pulling him inside, he came willingly.

“Do I have to have a reason to give you a gift?”

“No, but…”

“But what?” I pushed. Yukimura began to sweat, tiny beads of perspiration appearing at his hairline. “You give me gifts all the time.”

“That’s different,” he replied, turning his hand to lace his fingers through mine.

“How so? It’s only fair that I do things for you once in awhile.” Before he could escape, I closed the distance between us and laid my head on his chest. Despite the weird gurgling noise he made in his chest, Yukimura’s arms went around me. My heartbeat jumped into high gear as I inhaled the scents of incense and woodsmoke lingering on his clothes. He was definitely up to something. “I made something for you,” I said against his chest. “Since our first official date was at a festival a lot like this one, I wanted to give you something to make it extra special.”

“Mai…”

Yukimura hooked a finger under my chin and tipped my head back to kiss me. His cheeks, ears, and nose glowed with embarrassment, which only made him more adorable. Though when his tongue swept between my parted lips to tangle with mine, all thoughts of sweetness evaporated. His arms tightened around my waist and the package I was holding thumped to the floor so that I could wrap my arms around his neck. He poured all of his love and affection into that kiss. His hands roamed over my sides and back, pulling me impossibly closer while I threaded my hands through his messy hair. It would take nothing at all to drag him across the room to our futon, but we both had plans now. Both had roles to play in tonight’s little drama.

When we parted, we did so breathless and clinging to each other for support. “Gods…I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I pressed my cheek to his chest and listened to his hammering heart.

“You said you had something for me?” he asked, his usual cheeky tone returning as his breathing slowed.

We sank to the floor together and I placed the package in his hands, watching with a mixture of excitement and nervousness as he unwrapped the bundle to reveal the haori I’d made for him.

“Mai…you…you made this?” he asked, his eyes going wide as he unfolded the garment and laid it out for inspection. His fingers traced over the black coin-crests embroidered into the shoulders of the deep, red garment—the Sanada family crest—and over the fine gold threads woven through the decorations along the neck.  “This is amazing…”

“I’m glad you like it. I thought you might want to wear it to the festival tonight.”

“You bet!” he chirped, then as if remembering the festival, his nervous energy returned. His shoulders tensed and the anxiety returned to his eyes. “But, uh, I have some stuff to—er—do before then. I’ll, um, be back in a little bit.” Yukimura leaned in like would kiss me again then thought better of it, placed a quick peck on my forehead, and all but ran from the room, nearly bowling over the two maids Kenshin sent to help me get ready.