My man (2)

It took a lot longer than Harumi had anticipated before all the ladies had left. Now all that remained was a giant mess. Her tree personal maids, plus four other maids were cleaning up. Harumi hated house work but she felt guilty seeing them work so hard while she didn't do anything. She walked over to one of the tables and began to stack the porcelain.

"Please, lady Nohime-sama. This isn't something you should do." One of the maids quickly came to her side and took the plates out of her hands while bowing.

"Nohime-sama, why don't you go to Nobunaga-sama. I think he is waiting for you." Masa-kun said while she also came to the same table to help the other maid clean it. If it were just her maids she would have stayed and helped. They were a lot closer and a lot less formal with each other. But that had taken some time and the other maids were not used to it so she wasn't allowed to help. But now she could go and see Nobunaga. He had been so busy that for the past week she had only managed to see him at the banquet the previous day. At that time they couldn't really talk so she was happy that would have a few hours alone before they had to socialize again.

"Okay, I'm taking some of these cookies with me for Nobunaga." Harumi said while she took a plate with untouched cookies on them with her.

Happily she walked trough the halls, greeting people as she walked past. Even though the castle was busy with people, at the moment it felt like any other day. Everyone had some back to their own rooms to rest before the banquet tonight. The only people she encountered were people who worked at the castle. When she reached Nobunaga's quarters she walked in without knocking, like she always did.

"Sorry it took so long but I have some sweets for..." Harumi said while she entered. Halfway though the words became stuck in her throat while she looked at the scene that was playing before her. Lady Nishi had just took of the top part of her kimono, revealing her undergarments. Nobunaga looked at her chest while his face and ears were bright red. It seemed like forever before Nobunaga registered that Harumi had entered the room. Lady Nishi let out a small shriek while slamming her kimono shut again.

"Ha..Nohime." Nobunaga said nervously. Quickly he rose. While he jumped up her bumped into the low table, spilling his tea everywhere.

"What is going on?" Harumi asked, trying to keep her calm. She wanted to trow a tantrum but she kept herself in check and gave him the opportunity to explain himself. She hoped for him that all this was one big misunderstanding. If she had learned one thing in this era was it to not just assume things because the consequences could be far graver than the twenty first century.

"It is not what it looks like!" Nobunaga immediately said stuttering.

"And what do you think that it looks like?" Harumi asked while staring him down. Both of them had completely forgotten that Lady Nishi still was in the room with them.

"She said that you asked her to keep me company until you were done." Nobunaga tried to explain. Now Harumi's attention shifted to the other girl. Lady Nishi had tucked her kimono back in and slowly rose to her feet.

"I'm so sorry, I think there was a misunderstanding. I'll excuse myself first." Lady Nishi apologized to Harumi. Her face had an apologetic expression but her eyes were cold as if she blamed Harumi for walking in on them. Lady Nishi made a small bow and left the room.

"What would I have seen if I arrived five minutes later?" Harumi asked while the anger began to spill out. Now that they were alone she could drop the facade of mature legal wife and just be herself.

"Nothing, I was just about to tell her of!" Nobunaga tried to defend himself. But the sight of him looking at her breast was already etched into her memory.

"Sure." Harumi sneered. "I saw how you looked, it didn't look like you were about to kick her out."

"Then how did I look?" Nobunaga asked, also getting angry by the way his wife was treating him. He didn't tolerate someone yelling at him and it made him angry. Who dared to yell at him, this whole country should gravel before him! But he tried to contain his anger. He knew why Harumi was upset. And he was quite fond of her so he didn't want her to see the malicious side of him.

"It looked like you were two seconds away from devouring her!" Harumi yelled on the top of her lungs while her eyes began to sting. She scared herself with her own reaction. Why did it bother her so much?

"And what do you want from me?" Nobunaga yelled back. "I'm a healthy man in the prime of my life. I have been withholding myself out of respect for you. Do you have any idea how hard it has been?"

"You think that your life is so unfair just because you didn't have sex for half a year?" Harumi screamed while tiers were rolling down her face. Nobunaga was taken aback by her reaction. For one, he still wasn't used to Harumi's speech. screaming to word sex so everyone could hear was unheard of. And second, he felt like a total moron. He knew she had it a lot harder than him. Only recently he had found out she wasn't from this era. For more than half a year she couldn't share that secret with anyone and she was desperately trying to get back to her own family.

"I'm sorry." Nobunaga said calmly, all his anger had disappeared in a flash. He walked to his crying wife and hugged her tight. As soon as he put his arms around her delicate frame she clenched the sides of his kimono while crying on his shoulder. He held her until she finally had calmed down.