#kyubae

He spent the day assembling his lord’s travel pack - careful to source everything from different places so that no one would guess his intent. A strategy Mitsuhide taught him many years ago, when he first came into his lord’s service. Food, water, a weapon, and clothes. Then he took one of the horses from the stable out for some exercise. 

The food and water stayed with the horse, hidden in a small clearing where no patrol would come across it accidentally. The weapon and clothing would be delivered in person, just before the prison break.

No one questioned him. Even with Mitsuhide imprisoned, he was only Kyubei, vassal. Harmless. It rankled to be overlooked, but there was benefit in it as well. A warlord would be watched, his movements marked. A servant was nobody. To most, anyhow. He did not think of the chatelaine’s face. He did not think of her at all. 

Then he went to his lord’s manor, and there in his office, opened the secret hollow in Mitsuhide’s desk. This was where he kept sensitive correspondence, and the few personal items he collected. The correspondence was already gone. Burned to ash. 

All that remained was the hairpin, a small paper packet of crackers, and an oddly stamped coin. The crackers were a gift from the chatelaine, the coin was hers as well. From the strange town she lived in. He took the crackers and the hairpin, then closed the panel carefully. 

Mitsuhide did not think he would survive this mission, but Kyubei would still not see his secrets exposed. 

Then he had only to wait. It began to rain, the water coming in unpredictable waves as if the sky was weeping. 

The bribed guard finally came on duty, and as expected, hurried off to check on a ‘disturbance’ nearby. Kyubei extinguished the torches along this side of the dungeon entrance and slipped inside. His lord was waiting for him, golden eyes alight in the darkness. 

Without a word, Kyubei slipped the clothes and sword through the bars and set to work on the lock. It was a simple thing - three tumblers that clicked into place in a few breaths. He swung open the door, cursing his luck as it squealed. Some of the other prisoners called out, but their voices were muffled by the rain. 

Together, they fled. Out into the courtyard, ducking between the buildings, racing for the wall. Kyubei half hoped Mitsuhide would simply flee, forgetting the hairpin he’d requested, but his kitsune master was not so fickle as that. 

Mitsuhide stopped in a sheltered alcove, holding out a bandaged hand to still Kyubei. “Do you have it?”

“Yes. Would you like me to give it to her?” He imagined for a brief moment what that might be like. Her eyes tearing up. His shoulder, a place for her to cry. Wrapping his arms around her as she grieved. It made his chest ache, a bittersweet pain to think of himself as the man she would turn to.

“No, I . . . I must see her before I go. I will give it to her then.”

Kyubei shook his head, torn. It was a risk for his lord to go to her, and he wanted to disagree with Mitsuhide for that reason alone. But in truth . . . he felt the poison-hot burn of jealousy. 

Mitsuhide was silent a moment. His gaze set on his vassal, unyielding. “Kyubei, I know it is a risk. And I know -” He stopped, considering. “I know she will need someone to comfort her when I am gone. Someone that will protect her, as I have.”

His vassal looked up, eyes wide. 

“You cannot hide anything from a kitsune,” Mitsuhide smiled his razor-thin smile. 

Kyubei returned it with his own pained grin. “Of course not, my lord. I will do my best to honor your request.” He handed Mitsuhide the hairpin. Even in the dim, stormlit night, it sparkled. Everlasting love, wisdom, loyalty, and beauty . . . a gift fit for an empress.

“I know that you will.” Mitsuhide took the hairpin, and with a final nod to his vassal, disappeared into the gloom.