Heian Romance: 12. The Kitten and the Wicked Minister of Left

12. The Kitten and the Wicked Minister of Left

One evening as Yuiko was about to leave the Oxen Street’s clinic, she saw Yorinaga sitting quietly at the corner of the clinic’s veranda.

“Minister of Left Yorinaga what are you doing here?”

“…Nothing…”

“Are you feeling well? You seems pale to me…”

“Can we have a talk?”

“Sure….what is it? By the way, congratulation on your promotion.”

“That’s not a thing worth for congratulate! Because of this position I had lost my beloved father Tadamichi. Although he may be my foster one but still I’m truly fond of him. Never have I thought that he would hate me so much. What had I done to anger him? I had been following his instructions and words for the past 21 years… What I did was for the good of him son, but WHY till such extend to kick me out of the house?!  ”

“……”

Yuiko wasn’t the person with words she couldn’t think of any words to comfort him, hence, she took a lute from the clinic and play a tune for him. Yorinaga was back to himself again after a few songs.

“Thanks…”

“You’re welcome.”

“By the way what are you doing at the palace during the New Year Ceremony?”

Before Yuiko be able to respond to him, a cute little white kitten crawls by the veranda, stops in front of Yorinaga and meow at him innocently. He picks up the kitten and caresses it softly; the little kitten enjoys it a lot and turns to the belly up position as an invitation for belly rub.

“I used to have a white kitten just like this when I was young. I named him Ayawaka after my childhood name. When someone needs me to do cumbersome tasks, I would call Ayawaka the kitten to go instead of myself…”

“What a wicked minded boy you were!!”

The appearance of the kitten had made Yorinaga forget about his sorrows and also the reason why Koremitsu the physician was in the palace during the New Year Ceremony…

  

***

The little kitten comes to the clinic everyday looking for Yorinaga. Yuiko takes pity of this little fellow and decide to take it back to the palace.

“I’ll name it Ayawaka!” said Yuiko happily.

“My lady how can you name a cat after the Minister of Left’s childhood name? It’s rude you know?” questioned Ryoko, Yuiko’s lady in waiting.

“Well in the beginning I was planning to name it Yorinaga! But then again it’s too obvious, so I choose Ayawaka instead.”

“I know I won’t win the fight with you so instead I’ll keep quite.”

“Good!”

“My lady, speaking of Master Yorinaga there’re lots of rumors about him. After him being promoted to the position of Minister of Left, he had become a dogmatic activist. He gave severe punishments to those courtiers who are late for work such as burning their houses or canning penalty. As if he had possessed by the evil or so, people are fearful to him and call him ‘Akusafu悪左府 – The Wicked Minister of Left’ at his back.”

“True. I notice about that too. Wonder what happen to him? His attitude at the Oxen Street the other day is totally different from this.”

“Also there’s another rumor about Satou Norikiyo’s disappearance.”

Yuiko had never seen Norikiyo after the incident in front of the palace gate at the New Year day. No one really knows what happen to him and it seems that he had disappeared into thin air.

“Although there have been a lot of gossips about Norikiyo’s mysteries. The most plausible statement is that Yorinaga had instructed his servant Kimiharu to kill him for he had an affair with his wife*…”

“What?! That’s impossible! Ryoko, please I beg you to help me to investigate this event!”

“Yes, my lady!”

 

 

* After Yuiko’s rejection at the arrange married interview, Yorinaga was married to a lady named Sachiko who is older than him by 8 years old. Perhaps because of the age gap both of them never get along and they never have any children.