The Kurou family estate was a walled-in complex, featuring small butresses on its outer walls. Two guards manned the gate, both of them wearing blue kimonos and twin swords. Wild mushrooms grew on the outer path, which was kept sandy and was flanked by hills on both sides. The mansion itself could be seen well beyond the gate, built upon a flat stone wall with only a single set of stairs leading towards the central complex. The roof was in the Irimoya-zukuri style, built at some great expense, and there were a smattering of other buildings about the compound as well. A laundry room, a pantry, a medium-sized barracks for the Lord's retainers, a house for the servants kept in a seperate, gated compound, as well as a small armory, which was mostly packed with spears, a small collection of swords, and some bow and arrow. 

When Soichiro arrived, he saw Madam Murasaki folding laundry through the opening of a sliding door. Three geisha were practicing a Noh dance in the lower courtyard whilst their tutor played the shamisen. Soichiro went silently through the grounds as not to disturb them, though Kyonosuke babbled incoherently at great length, still playing with the blue knot.

''Yui, will you prepare the Lord his breakfast?'' Soichiro stopped by the laundry room to speak to a serving girl. She was a peasant, the daughter of a merchant, with a pleasant, if not simple face. She stopped what she was doing, then bowed to him deeply, and swiftly removed Kyonosuke from his pram.

''Yes, Shiretoko-san,'' she muttered, and held the babe to her breast. She then went off in a hurry, her zori pattering against the hard-churned gravel that made up the base layer of the estate.

Soichiro went up the stairs and into the courtyard, where he saw Hachiro Tsubohachi standing guard. The man called out to him at once: ''Hey, Shiretoko! Where have you been? A Shinsengumi is here. He looks very serious...''

Soichiro frowned remotely, then stopped before Tsubohachi. The man was tall and lean, somewhat dishivelled for a landed samurai, with a shaved blue scalp, distinctly well-worn robes, and a narrow, clean face. His hair at the back was quartered and kept in a chonmage style, though as usual, it was out of its knot. He looked like the type of a man you might find in a sake den well after midnight, a man with very little interest in taking a wife or doing anything other than bullying peasants and collecting taxes. Shiretoko happened to know he had killed six Rōnin one night over a a game of Mahjong. Shiretoko liked him. He was dutiful to the point of abolutism, often awake before sunrise and practicing his caligraphy regardless of whether he was hungover or not. A rough man, but by no means an evil one.

''A member of the Shinshengumi?'' Shiretoko hummed, studying the estate. Madam Murasaki had finished folding clothes, and without getting up, she retreated into the house upon her knees, sliding the door shut. ''Did he give you his name...?''

''Kondo Isami,'' Tsubohachi recalled, grunting softly. He then looked at Shiretoko, as if to ask him if he recognised the name.

[i]Kondo Isami?[/i] Shiretoko wondered. [i]What is the Commander of the Tokugawa's special police force doing here?[/i]

''Of course,'' Tsubohachi went on, letting his voice fall into conjecture. ''If a member of the Edo police is here, it can only mean bad news, either with the Gaijin, or a threat to the Tokugawa. Why else would he come to see our Lord...?''

Shiretoko hummed at this, and then saw Tsubohachi's expression. He was looking at him crucially, as if to confirm his suspicions.

It was true. For the past month or so there had been plenty of noise coming from Edo, all of which was stemming from the rich merchant classes. Had the Tokugawa had enough and finally deployed the Shinshengumi to stifle the agitators? Shiretoko thought back to Yui and her father, and how the peasant girl was now attending Lord Kyonosuke in private. He let his expression fall flat, then reassured Tsubohachi.

''I am sure it is nothing. Please, excuse me,'' he bowed his head, then went to enter the mansion. He removed his geta and placed them on the rack, then entered through the sliding door, closing it promptly behind him....

* * *

[b]Plan:[/b]
- Returns to the estate,
- Warns Tesshin about the horses.
- Kondo Isami arrives, warns him of the Black Ship, and the appearance of the Gajinn. When was this? 3 days hence. The same time as the horses drowned.