It all began with a letter, something that Sasaki always knew better than to ignore. It was how the Shogun will always do things at least when he was serving the shogun. It was something that he had expected to do when the time came. The Shogunate could not be traced to anything, lest the imperial family turned it against them.
He had came at the command as it was the perfect timing. He had wrote to the Shogun about that possibility, but at the end of the day the Shogun must have something to talk to him about in the first place. This was almost certain in such an exchange. The Sasaki clan had failed the shogun in some ways. And thus is why they were now here.
He raised his head a moment later. The man was stoic, but still young. He was barely into his forties in this year. And showed through a simple goatee. Dressed in gold, as much as he kept his eye onto Sasaki. It was normal to wait for him to speak. It will have been a command regardless and he knew that there was not going to be anything more to it.
"Sit with me." Before the servants took the chance to exit, knowing that it was something best left unknown. They may never know what could be leaked out later and what could become necessary to silence from them.
Tea had been brought in. He had came back here to get close to the Shogun, to know just what Kazuho had meant about the Saitou clan. Doing his own investigation was risky and he will have less protection, than if he was here. He had more control as the Shogun will not be looking at his movements all that closely. He had to be logical, if Kazuho was lying then why bother going through this much to tell him that. But he held his own doubts for later, it will show if he lied and he could still do something then.
"I need you to investigate the Saitou clan." It was an order, one which he expected. They were the clan which had been the most pressing as of now. One which could threaten the Shogunate and spark another civil war. And something that must be put down at all costs. He expected it, as the Shogun was facing much opposition.
Enough that it made it necessary to revive the Sasaki clan while doing this. "And also one more person."
The name had managed to give him a surprise. It was that of Daishin, but none of Kouya. The only surviving portrait of the man. He picked it up, one of his primary contacts and supporters had been an influential geisha by the name of Ayakazu. She was someone that supported him and she remained low key even after his disappearance. Never supporting another.
Many assumed that she was tired of it but Sasaki could guess a lot more with the situation at this point. She was suspicious as Daishin had not been her first, and for her to remove herself often meant a lot more than just being afraid or tired. She had not retired, simply becoming the next proprietress of the house. It was not uncommon but she was still in contact with many.
And thus why the Shogun had done this to get him to focus on her. Daishin had disappeared but she was one of his supporters, and benefactor. Someone who helped him with his cause and covered up a lot of things for him. At least at this point. It made sense to go after her. She was someone that made a lot of contribution and was still around.
He knew just what he was planning to look at the next time.
"Report back to me when there is something." He nodded and left. This had been something that was expected of them. Something that he admitted did not make much of any sense at this point. This was an expectation that many thought of at this point.
He left in that instant. Even as his own plans went well. Better than well even, as he was able to do something. But he remembered his father's words here, something that he never guessed he will use again. That he could have decided to think of them now. The shogun could assure him but it was normal to have someone observe him, usually his Shinobi. And why it became necessary for them to think of how he avoid it.
He was right to have made this gamble. To have made this decision. It had been something that he hesitated but realized that it was the best way. And it was worth the shot, no one could see him having any other intention than being eager to restore his family's fortunes. Or even thinking that it was so. He was young when his father died, and few expected him to follow it instantly. Perhaps when he was older and more capable, but the shogun will simply have to deal with the lack of anyone.
It was not uncommon, sometimes having happened with a young heir. And his mother was dead by that time, thus making it unlikely.
Not to mention keeping a low profile helped him in the long run. He did it to investigate, but he was rather limited in his selection as well as choices. Which allowed him time to piece things together.
And thus why he made the choice to come here. It was a tough decision at the end of the day, but he had something he wanted to pursue. Something that he could not go any further with if he did not choose this path. Or will have ended up on someone stopping him.
The deal he made with Kazuho was something that he knew went both ways. It gave Kazuho a chance to focus on something else, as much as he knew that it had to do with Sachiko. Which made it ideal for him to get close to her.
He walked away, knowing that he had gotten somewhere and now was simply time for him to do one thing, get close to Sachiko. And he knew how since she was in Okiban, being courted by the Shogun's only son.
Kazuho flipped open the book, having had little chance to really think about it. Other than to begin looking immediately. There was no need for any form of heavier thinking. He was stuck in a precarious situation, and Ayakazu forced him to admit that he was rather unable to do much.
And that he needed to seek other ways. Trusting Ayakazu was impossible by this point, the price that he paid for this information reminded him of the times when he was under Daishin. A price for everything. It was fair, but he could not keep paying it. He had no idea just what she would extract next.
Mamoru gave him a letter that suggested one thing, Kaede was in Okiban as well. Which meant finding the Saitou household, which he did the same. He went there, knowing that Kaede will entertain him at this point. She could come up with a reason, it won't be too ridiculous to think that it was unusual. He won't embarrass her either. She had a reputation to uphold, and thus he needed to be seen as a friend or a relative. And why he bought the best wine there was to offer.
A servant came to ask him. A girl in the kimono, with eyes. But one thing that stood out had been her earrings, suggesting that she may have came from a tribe. "Who are you looking for?"
"Kaede."
"That wine, you bought it for her didn't you?" He nodded. Guessed Kaede was known and it helped to lower the suspicion despite the fact that he just showed up here.
"We're friends, we haven't met in quite a while. So I'm making up for all those presents."
"Are you a merchant?"
He nodded, giving a nice courteous smile.
"Kazuho, it's been so long since we last met." Her tone was gentle, even as the girl raised an eyebrow. Something that was uncharacteristic of Kaede, which was all the better. It suggested that they knew each other from childhood.
"It's the same as the last one."
"But it is the same age as yours." He gave a nice smile. She looked up, knowing that he had repaid the debt with the last gift.
"I'll leave the two of you since hime-sama isn't around." She walked away. Clearly not wanting to intrude on them at all.
"Where is Sachiko-hime?"
"At the shogun's palace, she is being courted by the Shogun's son." She opened it, happy to be drinking something after all. And Kazuho bought far better wine than she was able to afford on her salary. And thus she drank it without much hesitation.
Sachiko was at the Shogun's palace. Something which kept him quiet, when "Is there anything wrong?"
Kaede knew how Kazuho was, as she had spent years with him. "You didn't receive the letter."
She raised an eyebrow, clearly not knowing anything. And whatever it was it had been from there was important. He sighed. "She's the girl I'm looking for."
"Such a coincidence. I didn't receive anything as I left Fukusei half a month ago, and then I went back to Senwari with her. And she was coming to Okiban to be courted under her clan's wishes." And thus Mamoru may have forwarded the letter but it could mean that she did not receive it. Even as her eyes remained on him.
"Was she Sachiko then?" She narrowed her eyes. Even as she could guess that there was far more than that. There was something.
"Yes she was." Even as he was trying to figure out why. Meeting with her now was pointless, it will raise too much suspicion. It was better to find someone else who could do this.
"That girl who gave you the pendant."
"You still remember that?" He had only spoke of it once, when Kaede asked just why he was holding it. Why he treasured something like that. He could have lied but at that point he had not. They were his friends and accompanied him in a particularly difficult time.
"Yes. But if she is Rin, then how can she be Sachiko?"
"She took her identity." The explanation that made the most sense to them at the end of the day. And one that Ayakazu confirmed. Rin had not came from a rich family, she spent her childhood following her mother who worked. "Rin didn't grow up in a single place, she often traveled."
"So, she has visited this place?"
"She should have. But we met somewhere else." He was running the risk of revealing that his mother had came from a foreign land. But married over when she met his father. But she often brought them back into her homeland to get a breather. A place to mostly relax. He had met Rin there, each time it had been the summer. Or when his father was busy with work.
"The place you ran off to."
"Yes, we met there. That was my mother's native land." It made sense too. It was uncommon but not unusual for a woman to marry a foreign man and vice versa. As much as he knew having courtship go abroad allowed more options to choose their spouse. And the option of seeing how it worked out.
Even as she kept her eyebrow up. He sighed, no one apart from Masami and Shinrou came here. They knew about his life as Kouya but not the full detail of it. They knew that he had killed, and plotted. But not of his contacts there.
"So, if Sachiko is Rin then what became of the real Sachiko?" It was an answer. And could the same thing mean a bigger hint. Kaede was staring into the eyes.
"Tono-sama refused any visitors a year after the death of the shogun. He was never seen in years." Was Kaede giving him a hint? A hint that she could not give. And telling him to investigate the Saitou clan. "No one even know what he looks like now, but it was then the Saitou clan changed its direction."
She left in the next. With her waving at him. "See you again."
Before leaving him to only think of one thing. That Daishin had came here, and Kaede was being held against revealing anything explicit. And the only people who knew about her past had been them as well as Daishin.
And it was enough to convince him that it was so. But he needed something far more concrete at this point. He sighed as things had gotten a lot more complicated than even he thought. But he had planned for things to become so at the end of the day. Guess he will simply have to take things one step at a time.