Morning began long before I was able to deal. My whole body screamed at me while I shuffled around, getting things together for my trip to Kagoshima. I called Nikki at home and gave her the day off, changed the answering machine message at the office and generally puttered until it was time to get to the airport. Kagoshima was a big port and tourist area, but my flight was small, just a few businessmen, mostly higher class than me. I settled into my seat and prayed we didn’t hit turbulence. I wasn’t sure my muscles would be able to stand it. The flight was uneventful. I didn’t sleep, though – the two young men behind me were practicing their negotiating skills the whole trip. By the time I reached Kagoshima I was more than a little prickly. My body hurt, my head hurt, I was hungry and irritated. I figured this would be the best time to call this Saionji character and insist I see him immediately. I love doing that to "important" officials. There’s nothing so satisfying as walking in to their offices, looking like a rumpled rag doll and watching their carefully constructed masks crumble. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t with me and Saionji wasn’t in. Either office. Or home. I decided to give it a rest and find my inn, maybe get some food and take a long soak in the bath. And that’s what I did. I was just returning to my room, feeling marginally more human, when the hotel manger called me to say there was a phone call. I stepped out to get it, conscious of the passers by pretending not to listen in. It was Saionji and he sounded pleased. "I’m glad I caught you before you went to bed." I checked my watch – it was only 21:00, but hey, maybe he went to bed early. "I was wondering if you could come to my house tonight. I’d rather meet you here than in the office – too much paperwork and people always interrupting, you know how it is." Yup. I knew how he wanted me to see him, anyway. "I’m having a little party here – nothing formal, a few business contacts and I’d like you to come over. The drinks are good, at least." His laughter was genuine, and my eyebrows rose a little. Who was this guy fooling? He was trying to soft-soap me. I wondered why. I agree to come over and he gave me directions. A short cab ride, outside the city proper. I looked forward to meeting him. Not. Yawning, I dressed in my new good suit, gave the shoes a spit polish and popped some more painkillers. Not every muscle in my body hurt anymore, just nine out of ten of them. I asked the cabbie to drive carefully, as I wasn’t in a rush, but you know how they are. I think I picked up a few bruises on my bruises from being slammed around in the back. The house we pulled up to was nice, no more. Upper middle class, spacious without being a mansion. Neatly kept, very pleasant garden – nice mix of traditional Japanese and Western. I was expected and the door opened as I approached. A kid of about 15 with a serious face ushered me in and offered me a drink. I accepted. Saionji had been right – the drink was *very* good. I sipped happily enough and pretended to be invisible. The conversation around me was mostly business; taxes, tariffs, trade, the like. I looked for the ringleader and my host, but couldn’t see anyone who matched the picture. At last the kid approached me again and asked if I would follow him. We walked through the living room, and out the side door, where a covered walkway led to a largish shed on the edge of the property. We stepped in and immediately I felt a rush of air as a man went charging by me, wielding a shinai. I stepped back, but he had already come to a halt, his strike parried, his opponent’s sword at his throat. The match was over; the two men saluted, bowed, then smiled and shook hands. Laughing, they turned towards me. The man who had lost the bout bowed briefly and walked past me, shaking his head ruefully. The other man stepped up with a greeting for me and a rumple for the hair of the 15 year-old, who bore it with good grace. I checked out Saionji. He was tall, his hair pulled back into a loose unruly, ponytail. The thin lips I had noted in his photograph were fuller now and his smile no longer cruel. His eyes were the big surprise. In that picture from ten year ago they were bitter, unfulfilled; now they radiated good humor and contentment. I was feeling a little irritated – I was 0 for 3 so far on my interviews. I might as well pack it in on reading people. Saionji clapped me on the shoulder familiarly and asked me if I’d accompany him to his office. He waved the kid along with us, which made him stand just a little taller. Nice guy. I wondered what had happened to him that had changed him so much. We made ourselves comfortable, Saionji, the kid and myself. After drinks were refreshed, we got down to business. Saionji smiled broadly and said, "You say you’re looking for Tenjou Utena? How extraordinary. Who hired you?" Then he realized what he had just asked and blushed a little. Waving his hand in front of his face, he looked abashed. "Sorry, sorry – client privilege and all. I wasn’t thinking." "It’s okay," I said. "I can’t tell you, of course, but I’ll say that it is…a friend of hers." His eyebrows rose. "A friend? She was very popular." He grew thoughtful. "I owe Tenjou, I guess. I hardly remember her, but when I think about the Council – you’ve talked to Touga and the others, I suppose?" I nodded noncommittally. "Well, now. I don’t know that I’m going to be able to help you much. I remember her, of course – popular girl, very athletic, we didn’t get along well at first…" "Why not?" I interrupted. He looked up, surprised. Resting his hands on the desk in front of him he stared at them for a while. Then he looked at the kid and smiled ruefully. "Because at that time I was a very unhappy person." He turned back to me. "We quarreled over something…someone. It got me expelled for a while." His eyes closed and he pressed his hands to his face. Pulling them away, he looked me in the eye and said, "I had some problems then. But I don’t care about that kind of stuff now. I left the Student Council before I graduated, focused on my grades, my kendo and got myself into a good college, far away from Ohtori. I found something more important than power, or even prestige." "What was that?" I asked. These Council members hadn’t yet ceased to amaze me. I wonder what fireball Saionji was about to launch at me. He smiled again, the weariness falling from his face. "Love of course. What else can do that to us?" He glanced again at the kid, who chuckled. "When I was in college, I fell in love with an older woman. She was everything that the girls my age weren’t. I asked her out and she refused. She said it wouldn’t be seemly. I had never been refused anything before and it stung. I went away and brooded, then realized that brooding wasn’t going to solve the problem. I spent several years just trying to figure out who I really was, stopped comparing myself to other people – and I started to realize that you can’t find happiness in things. I worked hard at kendo and realized that my teacher had told me that along time ago…right before he had…before he denied it." Saionji sighed. "Pour Touga. I hear he’s a shadow of his former self." He sighed again. "I found myself. You have no idea how important that was to me." He sipped from his glass, his face serious again. "And when I had, I came back and asked her out again. And she agreed." The smile he shot me was infectious and I grinned a little with him. "We celebrated our third anniversary last week. Daiichi here," he gestured at the boy, "is her son from her first marriage – and my good friend. Isn’t that right, Dai?" And Dai nodded and agreed. Despite myself, I liked this Saionji. He had gone through a lot, I could see that. But unlike the others, he had gotten *through* it all and come out the other side, a winner. Good for him. But that didn’t solve my problem. The same thought must have occurred to him. "But that doesn’t help you much, eh?" He began to fiddle with an antique tanto that sat on his desk – a dangerous paperweight, I thought. "I’m not sure I can tell you anything that might help you find Tenjou. She wasn’t really one of us – I remember that. After we…quarreled, I harbored a grudge for a while, but when I left, I felt nothing towards her. I can’t even remember what she looked like." "What about Himemiya Anshi?" I asked. The change in him was astounding. Once again, my client’s name worked like a magical incantation. "That was it! That was her name! I remember now!" Saionji looked as surprised as I felt. "My god, I’ve been trying to remember that name for years!" He stood and walked around the desk. Taking my hand he pumped it convulsively as he spoke. "Thank you – that was it! I can’t believe I forgot her." At last he released my hand and stood, a saved man by all accounts. He shook his head in wonder and pleasure. "Well, now, that was it." He came back to the present and smiled that infectious smile again. "I may seem a simpleton to you, but I’m not you know. Himemiya Anshi was the name of the girl we quarreled over. I remember it being very important at the time. I thought I loved her, but you know –I never really did. I feared her. I feared them all, because I was always comparing myself to them. The last time we fought, I felt, I don’t know, freed somehow and it all became so much less important to me. I tried to tell Touga…" his voice petered out and he stopped, staring. "Tell Touga what?" I prompted. "I don’t remember." He said, his brows drawing close. "Something about…" He clicked his tongue against his teeth, frowned, then his face cleared. "Nope. Sorry. I can’t remember. It was a long time ago now and not very important, you know." Not to this man, perhaps, but to the others, it was still an unanswered puzzle. "So you can’t tell me anything about her that might help me find her?" I asked, sounding more defeated than I felt. Saionji looked unhappy at not being able to help me. "I am sorry. I hardly remember them." "That’s okay." It wasn’t, I was getting nowhere, but it was all interesting, wasn’t it? I stood and thanked him for his time and the drink. He offered to get me a cab, but I decided to walk back to the inn. I do my best thinking when I walk and I needed to get my sore muscles warmed up. The night air was warm and wet, and sounds were muffled. As I left the residential neighborhood that Saionji lived in, the night around me grew darker, more unreal. I was pretty well lost in thought when something behind me made a noise. I turned just slightly too late and the last thing I remember was the darkness of the night going sickly green, then black again, as I passed out, and the noise I made as I hit the ground.
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