Secrets (2)

Harumi was still half asleep when they arrived back at Azuchi castle. Nobunaga helped her of his horse near the stables. Masa-kun was already waiting for her to take her back to her own quarters. Drunk from sleep Harumi followed her head maid back to her own rooms. She walked straight to her bedroom and didn't even bother taking off her clothes before she fell face down on the futon. She fell asleep immediately. Her maids had a hard time removing the blacked from under her without waking her up, but eventually they persevered.

When Harumi finally woke up the sun was already high in the sky. Only now she realized that she stank. Her clothes, and herself for that matter, reeked of fire, sweat and horse. She felt nauseous just smelling herself. Luckily her maids had already prepared a bath. Still tired she followed them to the bathroom. Rike-chan and Lin-chan removed her clothes and Harumi slouched down on the small stool while Masa-kun but a bucked with warm water next to her. They washed her hair until there weren't any knots in it and scrubbed her back, arms and legs. After that Harumi slowly rose and went to the bathtub that was already filled with warm water. They had put some herbs in the water that gave a nice smell and had a relaxing effect on her sore muscles. Harumi wished she could stay in the hot water for ever but sooner than she wanted the water turned cold and it was time for her to get out of the bath. Her maids dried her and put her in an extra warm kimono. Harumi was still tired and just wanted to get back to bed when her stomach began to growl.

"Okay, first eating something and then back to bed." She mumbled to herself while she made her way to the main living area. She sat down at the table while Lin-chan poured some tea for her while Masa-kun served the food. Rike-chan was still busy with cleaning up the bathroom. Since Rike-chan was the youngest, Lin-chan and Masa-kun were her subordinates. So Rike-chan mostly got stuck doing the pesky chores. Masa-kun was her head maid and the one who made the decisions. Masa-kun made the menu and made sure everything was in order. If it was an army Lin-chan would be her second in command while Rike-chan was a normal foot soldier. Apart from their own tasks that they had to do they all had their own strong points. Even though Masa-kun was the supervisor within Harumi's quarters, some tasks were for the other to. For example, it was Lin-chan's task to make sure Harumi was always well clothed, had enough kimono's and got new ones on a regular basis. Although the rules were strict, in reality it wasn't so bad. Harumi was very lenient towards all her maids and she didn't need that much care with gave her maids a lot of free time.

Harumi was almost finished with her meal and ready to go back to bed when Nobunaga walked in. Harumi welcomed him with a smile while her maids made deep bows for the lord of the castle. Harumi was, even though her tiredness, extremely happy to see Nobunaga safe and sound back at the castle. Nobunaga gave her a small, slightly forced smile. Something was amiss but Harumi didn't know what. She gave Nobunaga a questioning look while he sat next to her. Rike-chan immediately poured Nobunaga a cup of tea.

"Could you please give us a moment?" Nobunaga asked Harumi's maids before even addressing her. All three maids made deep bows again and left the room.

"Is everything okay?" Harumi asked worried as soon as they were alone. She had put her hand on his arm and looked at him with concern. Nobunaga looked at the table in front of him while he sighted. Finally he looked at her with a strange look that made Harumi only worry even more.

"How did you know it was an ambush and that Honno-ji was burning down?" He asked, not willing to make small talk. Harumi's face paled. She couldn't possibly tell him the truth. He would never believe her and he would probably lock her up on the account that she had gone mad.

"I got the message from a guard." She lied while sweat began to pile up on her back.

"Please." Nobunaga said, trying to keep his patience. "I know the message only came after you had left." Harumi had no idea what to do. She couldn't come up with a good lie, and honestly, she didn't want to lie to him.

"Nobu..." She began while she looked him in the eyes with a pleading face. "I can't tell you how I know and I don't want to lie to you, so please don't ask me to." She said while tears began to form in the corner of her eyes. From day one she had found it hard to read Nobunaga. It was as if he had a wall all around him which nobody was permitted to enter. Within the last months she had made small progress and learned to recognize his moods and such but now she had the feeling she was sating at a fall made out of ferroconcrete. The silence between them grew lager up to the point Harumi almost couldn't take it anymore. Finally Nobunaga sighted again, pulled Harumi closer and gave her a tight hug.

"It's okay, I won't ask." He whispered while he still hold her.

But it was not okay. In the next few weeks Harumi noticed that she had lost the trust of Nobunaga. He didn't came nearly as much to her quarters as he had done before until he finally stopped coming at all. Even when she tried to visit him she was always stopped by one of his personal attendants. Always telling her the same story; Nobunaga is busy at the moment, Nobunaga is in a meeting, Nobnaga is out and so on. Even her help with running the castle wasn't needed anymore. Her desk was removed out of Nobunaga's study and she was told that she shouldn't concern herself with those type of things. She had much more important things to do. Things that were much more soothed for ladies. Harumi had no idea what she had done wrong, and nobody was willing to tell her anything. Everybody in the castle seem to avoid her, Even Hidemasa didn't visiter her anymore eventually.