24 partehh (1/2)

Nobunaga wasn't particularly happy about the way Nohime's face turned red when she saw the blond missionary. While they both walked out of his office he sat back at the cushion. For the first time in days his head was clear and he could focus on his work. When there was some turmoil outside he looked up from the documents and walked over to the window. In the courtyard he saw the ”shop” of their guest and his wife standing beside it. Her maids were looking at things while she stood a bit to the side, again talking to Jean-jaque. Within minutes of him looking at them they were finished. For as far as he could tell Nohime only bought one thing for herself.

After all his work was done Nobunaga decided to take a look at the courtyard for himself. He didn't neer anything. They had gifted him a set of pistols and a dagger so he was all set. When he walked out some of his Warlords were looking around. Some for themselves, others for gifts for their wife's and daughters. Jean-jaque came to him immediately, bowing before he spoke.

”In wich items was my wife interested in?” Nobunaga asked.

”Ah.” Jean-jaque exclaimed happily. ”Your wife has a good I and her french is incredibly!” Nobunaga didn't show it but he was surprised. He didn't know Nohime could speak french, or any other language than Japanese for that.

”Eventually she only bought a drip pen for herself. She was very generous towards her maids though.” Jean-jaque explained while he showed Nobunaga the kind of drip pen Nohime had bought.

”And was there anything else she liked?” Nobunaga asked. The blonde man showed him a few items, ending with a European style dress. Since there would be a party for their guest tomorrow, maybe Nohime would like to wear this dress to the party. Nobunaga thought.

Harumi was busy with some flower arranging when there came a knock to the door, indicating that she had a visitor. Nobunaga almost never knocked, just as Hidemasa. She had no idea who it could be. Nevertheless she was happy for the distraction. Most of the flowers she was working with were already broken or bend in weird places. Harumi sucked at flower arranging. Why couldn't they just put some flowers in a vase and be done with it?

Rike-chan opened the door and two older ladies walked in. They had a few nicely wrapped boxes with them. It turned out to be the light blue dress she was looking at yesterday, and the two ladies were here to help her put it on since this type of dress was very different than the traditional kimono so her own maids had no idea how they should dress her. The two older ladies dressed her while her three maids were looking closely and making mental notes on how to put this dress on so they could help her in the future. The kimono wasn't very comfortable but this dress with the corset was a thousand times worst. Harumi had the feeling like she could hardly breath or bend. But when she was all dressed up it looked really cool. In the 21st century she wore a kimono or yakata now and them. Mostly for old timey festivals and stuff so she knew how a kimono looked like but this was something completely different. She didn't have a very large bussom but thanks to the corset everything she had was hoisted upward giving her a décolleté for the fist time in her life.

The rest of the day Harumi loved and hated her new dress. With the corset in it it was almost impossible to sit down. But the bottom was nice and twirly what was really fun for a change. The party was also very different than what she had imagined. She didn't really know what to expect, since the only parties she even went to were birthday parties from her friend or family in the 21st century. She had to sit next to Nobunaga for the whole night. Tere was some entertainment like dancers, musicians and poets. It was all very dull, luckily there was plenty of food. One of the maids poured a glass of expensive sake for her and Nobunaga. Harumi never had even one sip of alcohol and wasn't exactly ready to start drinking now.

”You have to drink it.” Nobunaga said while holding his own cup. Harumi swallowed her extra saliva and picked up her own cup. When she held the small cup to her face she could already smell the alcohol. It smelled like something you would disinfect wounds with. Carefully she took a sip while Nobunaga downed the whole glass in one go. Harumi had to try her hardest to not choke on the strong liquor. She new she had to drink the whole cup, if she didn't want to offend someone. It took her the better half of an hour to finish the small cup while Nobunaga drank the sake like it was water. Harumi blinked a few times trying to unblur her vision. It didn't help. The whole room was spinning and she saw everything double. She tried to stay seated but she swayed from left to right without even noticing it. Luckily Nobunaga noticed that Harumi was hammered and took her away. She managed to make a bow to the guest while Nobunaga had to support her so she wouldn't fall forwards and then she stumbled out of the big dining room.

”Fucking shoes.” She mumbled while she let herself fall on the cold hard floor.

”What are you doing?” Nobunaga asked, not managing to hold his smile.

”Take them offffff!” Harumi wined while she lifted up the many skirts and pointed her feet in the air. This way highly inappropriate. Nobunaga didn't know were to look even though it was his wife in the alluring position. As Harumi put her feet in the air two guards came around the corner. When they was the lord and lady of the castle, especially in the state the lady was in, they quickly moved around and walked away.