The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon

give Rakushun a hand around the house. She steadied the pail with her right hand, still wrapped with bandages. Beneath the bandages the wound had almost completely healed.
    Rakushun was restocking the stove with firewood. He looked up at her. "Don't have a father. My mom's out."
    "Is she on a trip? It seems to be taking a long time. Has she gone far?"
    "Not really. She went to the nearby village. She's got a job there. She was supposed to get back the day before yesterday."
    Which meant that she would be getting back any day now. Youko made a mental note of this fact. "What does your mother do?"
    "During the winter she works as a maid. She's called on for odd jobs during the summer as well. Otherwise, she's a tenant farmer."
    "Oh."
    "So, Youko, where are you headed?"
    Youko turned the question over in her mind. She wasn't really headed anyplace in particular. She didn't want to say she was just walking around. She said, "Have you ever heard of a guy named Keiki?"
    Rakushun plucked a chip of wood out of his coat. "You're looking for somebody? Do you think he's from around here?"
    "I don't know where he's from."
    "Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't know anybody by the name of Keiki."
    "Oh. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?"
    "No, no, nothing else. You're still on the mend. You'd better sit down."
    Youko lowered her tired body into the chair. The creaky old table and chairs sat on the bare earth floor of the small dining/kitchen area. The sword was on the chair next to her, wrapped in its shroud. She would not let it out of her sight for an instant, and Rakushun had not taken her to task over it. She had no idea what his thoughts on the matter were.
    "So, tell me, Youko," Rakushun said in his childlike voice, the sleek, glossy coat of his back to her, "why are you pretending to be a boy?"
    He would have figured that out when he changed her into the nightdress. She said, "It's dangerous for a girl traveling alone."
    "That makes sense."
    He brought over an earthenware teapot. Whatever he had brewed filled the small room with a rich aroma. He set two teacups on the table, raised his eyes to hers. "I was wondering why you didn't you have a scabbard for that sword?"
    "I lost it."
    As she answered, even now, she could remember losing the scabbard. When they crossed the Kyokai, she had been told to never separate the sword and scabbard. Yet no disaster had followed directly from losing it. Obviously, the intent of the admonition had been to preserve the jewel.
    Rakushun mumbled something to himself and climbed onto the chair. The way he moved rather resembled a rat mimicking a human baby. "If you don't get yourself a scabbard for that thing, a person could really hurt himself."
    "Yeah, a person could," Youko answered in a flat tone of voice.
    Rakushun looked at her, his head tilted to the side. "You said you came from Hairou, right?"
    "Yes."
    "Hairou is not in Kei. Isn't Hairou a village in the county of Shin, along the eastern coast?"
    If he says so, that must be where it is, Youko thought to herself blankly. She said nothing.
    "It seems the place was thrown into quite a turmoil recently."
    Youko continued to hold her tongue.
    "A kaikyaku washed ashore and then ran away, something like that."
    Youko scowled at him. Without giving it conscious thought, she reached for the sword. "What are you getting at?"
    "A redheaded girl of sixteen or seventeen, last seen carrying a sword without a scabbard. Should be considered armed and dangerous." He paused and said, "You've dyed your hair, Youko."
    Her attention focused on Rakushun, she grasped the hilt of the sword. She couldn't read the expression on his face. His countenance was too many degrees removed from the human.
    "Well, at least that's what the local magistrate has been saying."
    "The local magistrate . . . . "
    "Why the mortified expression? If I had intended to turn you in, I would have waited for the constables to show up. I hear there's a big reward on your head."
    Youko unraveled the shroud from the sword. She stood and brandished the naked blade. "What do you want?"
    The rat looked up at her with his jet-black eyes and quivered its silky whiskers. "You have quite the short temper."
    "Why did you take me in?"
    "Why did I take you in? Well, when I come across some poor chap dying along the wayside, I can't very well just leave him there. So I brought you home. I would think that taking care of you obviously means not turning you over to the authorities, don't