The Watchers
by Laura Bryannan

The sound of the bedroom door opening woke Isaac Kitching from his slumber and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Is it you, mijn liefde?” he asked rhetorically, smiling sleepily at the careworn face he could just make out in the moonlight.

Nanami Inuyaka slid the door shut behind him and dropped his bundles. “It's too cold for November,” he complained, shivering, “but I bring news.”

“Good or bad?”

“Mostly good.”

“How I've missed you! Come, tell me everything.” The big man turned back the blanket so his comrade could join him in the warmth of the bed. “Just be sure to keep those cold hands and feet to yourself.”

Inuyaka stripped and slid under the covers, smiling back at the beaming face before kissing it soundly. “I've missed you too, dear Jouji. Would you like the good news or the bad news first?”

“Good, please.”

“The assassin is no more. He has not returned to Edo and those responsible are incredulous. I believe one of the boys bested him, all the evidence points to it.”

“Ach!” Jouji cried in happiness. “That's wonderful news! Well worth waiting for this long month you've been away. What else can you tell me, my sly fox?”

“The Ryukyuian appears to have sailed south in September on a Portuguese trading ship, the ronin recently on a Japanese one.”

“And the little girl? What of her?”

Inuyaka shook his head sadly. “The one she was seeking, Seizou-san, is dead. They say he was her father.”

“Her father?!? Oh my god, I think my heart is going to break.”

“And now, the worst of it. I lost track of her. She worked at a teahouse in Nagasaki for a few months, but disappeared recently. I could get nothing from her former employers as to what might have happened, and found no further evidence of her myself. I'm sorry, Jouji.”

“I cannot bear to think of her all alone. The boys seemed to care, each in their own way, so I do not understand. Is there nothing else? Nothing you may have overlooked?”

“I don't believe so, my love.”

“Both of the boys sailed alone?”

“No, the ronin left with a youth of about twelve.”

“A youth?”

“Yes, he was often seen in the company of a whore's bastard the months before he left. I assumed he sailed with him, although...hmmm...now that you mention it, the descriptions of the two did not match.”

Jouji's heart lept. “Did Jin-san's companion on the ship have her unusual chestnut-colored hair?”

“Yes, that's what I was told.”

“Average height, light brown eyes?”

“Yes!”

The two lovers eyed each other with glee. “Could it be possible?” Jouji asked breathlessly.

Inuyaka smiled, nodding. “I believe so, my wise friend. She must have been dressed as a boy. I don't know why I didn't put two and two together before.”

Jouji shouted joyfully. “Fine news indeed!”

“I'm pleased to learn I didn't fail you after all.”

“Fail me? Never!” Jouji reached for the comfortably familiar, solid body, still emitting the scent of fallen leaves and blustery autumn winds. “You deserve a reward for such admirable detective work. What is your pleasure, weary traveler?”

“You know my tastes, carrot-top.” Inuyaka chuckled, his hands already busy. “But perhaps you can promise not to steal the blanket tonight as you always manage to do.”

“I can only try, mijn liefde, I can only try.”

end