"A ghost, you say,
A ghost, maybe?
She was just like a ghost to me.
One minute there, and she was gone."
("Red and Black," Les Misérables)

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A fat, red, and white koi fish disturbed Kaoru's reflection. When the water stilled and her face reappeared on its surface, she continued combing her hair. Himura's room in the Kohagi-ya didn't have a mirror, so she had to use the ornamental pond in the courtyard as a looking glass. She had too much pride to face death, looking unkempt. 

Oka-San used to say that a woman's mirror, like a swordsman's blade, held her soul.  "Beauty is to a woman what a weapon is to a man," Oka-San would tell Kaoru as she combed her hair before the bronze mirror Kaoru later inherited after her death. "It is her strength and power." 
The reflection looking up at Kaoru pouted. Much good beauty will do me now.

Another koi fish, this time an orange one, made the surface of the pond ripple. Kaoru had to wait for everything to settle before pulling back her hair into a low tail with a white ribbon.  If there were more time, she would attempt a more complicated style as best she could without a mirror or a maid. But Katsura-Sama mustn't be kept waiting.
"Come, Kamiya-Dono." Himura's reflection appeared in the koi pond. Kaoru rose and followed him to the Kohagi-ya's tea house.

Kogoro-Katsura sat at the head of a table with several other Choshu Inshin-Shishi around him. While Himura went to greet his lord and comrades, Kaoru took a few moments to steady her nerves before stepping through the doorway.
The only other woman in the room was a geisha in an elegant dark green kimono who poured tea for the men. She gave Kaoru a friendly bow. Kaoru bowed in return.
It was nice to see a kind face.

Katsura-Sama looked up from the table as Kaoru approached. "So this is the Mibu she-wolf who's caused so much trouble," he said. The men around him each raised an eyebrow. Like a snowball, Kaoru's story must have grown as it rolled from Mibu to Kyoto. They were probably expecting a second Tomoe Gozen, not some slip of a girl.
Nods of appreciation followed the raised eyebrows as Kaoru executed the graceful and dignified bow drilled into her since childhood. The Kamiya didn't cower before their enemies.
"Welcome, Lady Kamiya." Katsura-Sama gestured for Kaoru to rise. "I hope you aren't too exhausted from your journey."
"I'm not," Kaoru said. Soon, I'll get plenty of rest.
"Himura, you never said your guest was so beautiful." 
Himura's eyes widened with embarrassment, and he mumbled, "Oro."
Kaoru bit her tongue. A beautiful head for Katsura-Sama to have as a trophy. Would he have the hair arranged, the face painted with makeup, and display it like the warlords of the Sengoku period?  
"You do me too great an honor," Kaoru said.

The geisha poured tea into Katsura-Sama's cup. Katsura-Sama raised the cup to his lips. "I'd bet you're wondering why you're here." He took a sip of tea.
Kaoru looked into the eyes of the man who held her fate in his hands. Kogoro-Katsura was a younger version of her father: large, broad-shouldered, and rugged-looking. This resemblance normally would have brought Kaoru some comfort, but...
Otou-San must be worried sick about his only daughter, his Kao-Chan, and will be devastated when he learns what happened to her. She could at least make him proud with the courage she showed at the end.
"To answer for my crimes against the Choshu Clan." Kaoru made another bow. Don't crumble. Don't crumble. "To atone with my life."
Please, my lord. Do me the kindness of getting this over with quickly.
Katsura-Sama laughed. "What do I care about some brigand who had it coming?" Kaoru blinked at him. "You're more valuable alive, Lady Kamiya, so don't be so eager to die. A pretty young girl should be thinking about her wedding, not her funeral." He glanced in Himura's direction. 
Himura just stared at an arrangement of irises on the table.

If Himura didn't want Kaoru to go through his things, then he shouldn't have left her alone in his room while he went off to do who knew what.
Most nights, one of Himura's superiors slipped him a black envelope, and he went out from sundown to almost sunrise while Kaoru ate alone in Himura's room and tried not to die of boredom. Usually, she waited for a servant to come collect her tray after she'd finished, but tonight, she might as well bring it down to the kitchen herself. Just to shake things up a bit.
Himura's room was in the east wing of the Kohagi-ya; the kitchen was in the south wing. So, Kaoru had to pass through the courtyard to get there.
Three Choshu men sat on the engawa that enclosed the courtyard. They looked up when Kaoru crossed the small bridge over the koi pond and whistled at her.
"Looks like Amaterasu's left her cave."
"Is that Himura's girl?"
"She's scarier than he is."
Kaoru glared at them. She preferred being alone to eating in the common dining room, where the Choshu Ishinshishi all slobbered like dogs when she walked through the door or raised a cup to her lips. This wasn't exactly a compliment to Kaoru's beauty. Those men would ogle a donkey in a kimono if it had pretty wrists and a nice backside. And they were bound to be curious about "Himura's girl," the warrior maiden who'd taken on Yukishiro Enishi.
But when would the shine wear off?
In the kitchen, Kaoru found Okami-San, the Kohagi-ya's matronly proprietress, cut from the same cloth as Hana-San back in Edo.
"I could help wash those if you'd like me to?" Kaoru said. A Mount Fuji-sized pile of dirty bowls from dinner filled the sink.
Okami-San shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of asking a lord's daughter to sully her hands with such work." 
"But..." Kaoru would have gladly got down on her hands and knees and scrubbed the privies just for something to do.
"No buts, Lady Kamiya." Okami took Kaoru's tray and shooed her out of the kitchen. "You'd just get under foot. Good night."
And that was that. Lords' daughters and assassins' girls must stay in their rooms.

When Katsura-Sama told Kaoru she was more valuable alive, Kaoru assumed he would hold her for ransom. Both her father and uncle were very rich and could afford to pay any sum Katsura-Sama asked. All Kaoru had to do was be patient until the ransom was paid and she could go home.
But patience was never her strong suit and what better way to pass the time than trying to figure out the enigmatic guardian under whose care Katsura-Sama had placed her.
Kaoru rummaged through the storage chests in Himura's room for clues to this mystery. Himura didn't own many personal items. A few changes of clothing, most of it old and shabby. Some uchiko balls and bits of flannel for cleaning his blades. A carving knife he used to make wooden toys for the nearby children.
At the bottom of a clothes press, underneath a pile of neatly folded hakama, Kaoru found a bundle of letters tied with a red hair ribbon. Himura's carving knife was wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief. Both the letters and the handkerchief smelt of plum blossoms.

Kaoru smiled. This should be interesting.
She lifted her oil lamp and brought the letters to the window seat, where the moon would give her more light to read by. Her fingers undid the red ribbon. Sure enough, the handwriting in the letters belonged to Tomoe. The style was also pure Tomoe as well: short and formal and filled with pleasantries ("Father and Enishi are in good heath. I hope you and Lord Hiko are as well.") and small talk ("the weather in Edo is unusually warm for this time of year.")
An unexpected reference to herself caught Kaoru's attention. "We visited Lord Kamiya's estate today. His children are little better than a gang of ruffians and Kaoru-Chan is as bad as any of them. But the poor thing has no mother or older sister to guide her and Father says I must provide a good example."
Kaoru rolled her eyes. Don't flatter yourself.
A shadow crossed the courtyard below to draw water from the well. Kaoru rose from the window seat. Himura must have returned. He usually washed up in the courtyard after a mission.
With a smirk, Kaoru stashed the embroidered handkerchief in her sleeve. He would need something to clean to his blades with.

Himura was washing the blood from his face and hands when Kaoru entered the courtyard holding her lamp. His gi and hakama were stained crimson. Kaoru wrinkled her nose. The poor laundress who would have to clean them.
"Why are you still awake?" Himura looked up at Kaoru, who produced Tomoe's handkerchief from her sleeve. His face went pale and he avoided her gaze, like a husband caught with relics of his mistress. "Where did you get this?"
"In the box where you keep the rest of your cleaning rags," Kaoru replied. She dropped the handkerchief in his lap.
Himura's eyes flashed golden. "Who gave you the right to go through my things?"
"I also found Tomoe's letters. I'm surprised you kept them." Kaoru giggled. "They aren't exactly The Tale of Genji." It was a miracle they hadn't put her to sleep.
"Goodnight, Kamiya-Dono." Carefully, Himura folded the handkerchief and placed it by his side. He then pulled an old piece of flannel out of his sleeve.
Kaoru lifted the hem of her kimono and turned to leave. "That samurai you killed tonight, if you searched through his room, would you find letters and handkerchiefs from a woman he loved?" Chew on that, Battousai.

Ikumatsu, the geisha who'd performed at the Kohagi-ya's tea house on the night Kaoru was presented to Katsura-Sama, called upon Kaoru the next day. Kaoru wasn't normally shy around strangers, but she blinked at Ikumatsu for several minutes before she could manage a simple greeting. Geisha were ethereal creatures from the stories Sanosuke, Aoshi, and Akira told about their visits to the floating world, not someone Kaoru would be expected to chat with over tea. But sweet, bubbly Ikumatsu quickly won her over.
"This one doesn't think she's a proper companion for Kamiya-Dono," Himura said to Katsura-Sama when Ikumatsu arrived.
Katsura-Sama laughed. "The young lady could have no better tutor in grace and refinement than Ikumatsu," he said.
Ikumatsu blushed underneath her white makeup.
Himura later explained to Kaoru that Ikumatsu was Katsura-Sama's woman. This explained why Katsura-Sama trusted her to look after Kaoru.
It was under Ikumatsu's supervision that Kaoru first explored Kyoto's Gion district. Ikumatsu had promised to take Kaoru to visit the Yasaka Shrine, which would be the center of the upcoming Gion Festival, and along the way, she pointed out her fellow geisha. She told Kaoru whether they were friends or rivals, which okiya they belonged to and which tea houses they frequented, and the important men they entertained.
These delicate, colorful, butterfly-like creatures fascinated Kaoru and she couldn't take her eyes off them.

The Yasaka Shrine claimed to house Kyoto's patron kami, Susanoo, and his consort, Kushiinada-Hime, who were venerated during the Gion Festival. Though the festival was still several days away, a sizable crowd had gathered in front of the main sanctuary to leave prayers and offerings to gain the divine couple's protection, worth any number of coins in these tense and dangerous times. 

After an endless wait, Kaoru had her turn to ring the bell. She said a prayer for her father and brothers, and they would all see each other again soon before departing with a bow.

They left the same way they came in, through the Yasaka Shrine's famous Vermillion Gate. On the front steps, they passed a pleasant-looking young nobleman and his beautiful wife, who turned heads all around her in a simple kimono of purple silk.
Kaoru did a double take. Tomoe?

"What I'd give to return
to the life that I knew lately.
But I know that I can't
Solve my problems going back."
("Home," Beauty and the Beast)

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Himura went out on another assignment that night, so Kaoru was left alone to sit by the window and watch the courtyard below, hoping something interesting would happen. Some servant girls carried fresh towels to the bathhouse. A young Choshu samurai snuck out to visit his sweetheart. Chickens pecked about in the grass and dirt.
Nothing noteworthy at all.
Kaoru wrested her cheek on her left hand. Had it been Tomoe at the shrine that afternoon? If so, what were she and Akira doing in Kyoto? Merciful Buddha! She couldn't get away from that wretched woman, could she?
"I know it's late..." Kaoru turned away from the window. Katsura-Sama, flanked by a bodyguard on each side, stood behind the shoji screen door. "...but can I come in?"
Kaoru got up to open the door. "Himura-San is out, I'm afraid," she said. That must be the reason why Katsura-Sama was there.
"I'm aware." Katsura-Sama bid his two bodyguards to stay in the hallway and slid the door closed behind him.
"Then you've come to speak with me?" Kaoru knelt down on the floor and arranged the skirt of her kimono. "Have you heard from my uncle?"
Her heart pounded. Maybe Uncle Saito had paid her ransom, and she would be going home soon.
Katsura-Sama sat down next to her. His brow was creased, and he avoided Kaoru's gaze. "I received a letter from the General." Kaoru's heart pounded harder. "In response to our ransom demand, he replied, why would I want to buy a plum when someone's taken a bite out of it?"
Balling her fists, Kaoru cursed her uncle. She
and Saito had their quarrels in the past, but she'd never thought he would abandon her like this. And Otou-San would never stand for it.
"I know it sounds harsh." Katsura-Sama put a hand on Kaoru's shoulder. "But, I see Saito's point. People are saying that Himura... made you his wife, to put it politely, and I don't believe he spent all that time alone with a girl like you and didn't try anything. No man is that honorable."
Kaoru folded her hands. She wouldn't dignify such an accusation with a response.
"If you return to Mibu, then your prospects will be greatly diminished. The noble suitors you deserve will have been put off by your time here. Your best bet is stay here and hope Himura does the right thing."
A traitorous part of Kaoru whispered that marrying was hardly a terrible fate. Far from being a monster, he'd treated her with more kindness than she'd expected or deserved. She respected and admired him as a swordsman- hadn't she sworn that she would only love a great warrior. He was the heir to a wealthy and powerful daimyo and not bad to look at, even with those scars. But Kaoru silenced that voice.
After Katsura-Sama bid her goodnight, Kaoru grabbed a pillow and threw it against the wall. She cursed Himura, Uncle Saito, and Tomoe most of all. It was Tomoe's fault she was in this mess. If she hadn't run away, then Enishi wouldn't have demanded to marry Kaoru, Kaoru wouldn't have been attacked and had to kill that man, and Himura wouldn't have spirited Kaoru away to Edo and then Kyoto. And the worst part, three men, Akira, Enishi, and Himura, had risked everything for Tomoe. Only poor, rooster-headed Sano had lifted a finger to save Kaoru.
Kaoru picked up the cushion and threw it again. I hope I live long enough to piss on your grave, Yukishiro Tomoe!