[X] Rumour Has It
You had wondered before why, even if he is her childhood punching bag friend, Tsuru was sent off with Nabiki. Katsuhiro makes sense, at least, because even if it turns out he isn't trained in that freaky power-up style Nabiki was using, he's obviously served the family a long time and, as an old fella, he makes a respectable chaperon. But Tsuru? From the look of things, he's still the shy tagalong he was at seven.
As it turns out, what you thought was shyness is actually politeness. Once you get him going, you quickly realize that
a) this guy loves to talk, and
b) this guy loves to listen.
Seriously, it's almost frightening how many anecdotes and family trees and lists of likes and dislikes he can keep straight in his head. Not to mention all the polite questions he asks you, making notes with his eyes the moment you answer.
All in all, you can think of worse wedding gifts. Congratulations, sweetheart, we wish you the very best, but just in case, have a PR manager.
Within twenty minutes you've learned that 'Kakesu-sama' is indeed your uncle, that you have six cousins of varying proximities (including your mother's cousins Oshibe and Himawari), that all the Takazono are named after either birds or plants, and that the whole damn family is one murder away from being the cast of a detective novel. Seems like Mom comes by her closed-mouthèdness honestly; every Takazono is hiding something, from the sounds of things.
Tsuru is not so tactless as to comment on most of the grey areas in the record directly, of course, and in fact does a pretty decent job of covering for his friends.
For a civilian.
Great, now you're starting to sound like a Lollypop. -_- But the point still stands! It isn't that hard to play spot-the-secret with someone whose only tactic is disinformation, and the gaps in Tsuruhiko's account tell you loads.
Kingyosou, the heir, has more of a taste for power games than his father does, but seems to stick to the shallow end of the pool. He hosts all the best parties, charms women of every age and rank, and generally seems to be having a thoroughly pleasant time being a wealthy young man.
His younger brother Ho'ojiro, despite/thanks to being equally-popular with the ladies, shuns these events; he has close friends only among his fellow scholars. Of all the Takazono children, Tsuru seems to know him the best, thanks to their shared interest in philosophy and calligraphy.
If he weren't so chummy with him, he likely wouldn't be able to clue you in to the fact that at least two of Ho'ojiro's friends have gone missing in the past year. You'd think he wouldn't bother to mention them in the first place, but no; they both appear as major players in a story Tsuru tells about 'Ho'ojiro-kun's' thirteenth birthday party, and yet they're absent from his list of the boy's best friends not two minutes later.
The really weird part is that when you ask about what happened to them, he needs a moment or two to work out who you're talking about. When he does, he neither knows where they went nor seems particularly concerned that he doesn't know. Katsuhiro doesn't even seem to be listening.
If the pair of them aren't under some kind of long-term genjutsu related to those two boys, you will eat your fan.
(And somehow it's contagious, because you've completely forgotten what their names are. >_<)
When it comes to Kingyosou, though, your travelling companion is obviously flat-out covering for a friend's embarrassing brother. If the Takazono heir isn't running a bordello on the side, he's at least facilitating the making of a lot of bad decisions. Through the bowdlerising haze of Tsuruhiko's obvious desire to 'shield your innocence', there's no way to tell for sure if Kingyosou's a manipulative dick or just someone who thinks everyone should find true lust and damn the consequences. Shame. Might be nice to find a kindred spirit among your cousins.
After phantom childhood friends and bedroom bingo, Himawari and her son Aoi seem almost pedestrian. Himawari is the tessen-duelling cousin your Mom calls onee-sama, and Aoi is a noted poet and painter. The only mystery there is who Aoi's father is, because Himawari clearly isn't telling. If it were public knowledge, Tsuru would have included it in the painfully-detailed lecture on your genealogy he launched into once it became clear you didn't know the first thing about your glorious antecedents. Since he didn't, and made no later mention of Himawari being married, divorced or widowed, you're left with no conclusion other than that the kid is an acknowledged bastard. It certainly explains why the lady and her son no longer live on the family estates.
Asagao sounds like the kind of girl Hinata would tell to loosen up. You get the impression Tsuruhiko only said 'Asagao-san and her friends' earlier instead of 'Reika-san and her friends' out of politeness; it's pretty clear who calls the shots in that clique. And when you hear that Asagao's mother is Oshibe, the woman your mom and Ami met that night at the theatre, the secret there becomes obvious: Oshibe's a player in the Tanzaku Gai underworld and the family doesn't want anyone to know this. If you were Asagao you'd lay low too.
Well, no, that's a lie.
As you might expect, Tsuruhiko knows a lot less about the adults. He knows that Himawari is a well-respected duellist and that she used to be your mom's best friend, but aside from that, nothing. And Kakesu's only barely beneath Nabiki's rung of the social ladder, so there's no way in hell Tsuru's going to say anything helpful about him. About Oshibe he knows almost nothing at all.
But your mother is another story.
Katsuhiro may have some weird psychosexual fixation on your Mom, but Tsuru's a straight-up fanboy. It's weird, seeing someone who's never even met her gush about her abilities as a musician. You knew from Ami that Mom had put out albums and stuff, but it's one thing to know that intellectually and quite another to realize the lady had a very public life before you were born.
"Y'know," you say, "if you have one of her records with you, I can take it back to Konoha, get it signed, and mail it to you."
"Would you really?" he asks breathlessly. "I mean to say, I wouldn't want to impose..."
"No imposition at all," you say, waving him off. "I'd be surprised if she weren't touched to know she's missed - I know I would be." You lower your voice, baiting the hook. "It's a shame she couldn't have had more time to shine."
Tsuru looks sad. "Such is life, ojou-sama; I can assure you that no one thinks less of her for falling in love."
"No one except Kakesu-san," you say grimly. Internally you fire up your victory dance; romantic shenanigans? Tsuru's on the hook and flopping, time to reel him in and whack 'im with an oar.
"Well," he coughs, "yes, I suppose. But Kakesu-sama doesn't dictate public feeling."
"I just don't get it." You pout in a manner you know to be utterly adorable, having refined it with the aid of a mirror. "If I had a little sister I'd want her to be happy, even if it didn't make me happy too. Why would Kakesu-san banish my mom?"
Tsuru bites his lip. "I cannot claim to be privy to his reasoning, but... a family head does not always do as he wills. He has to consider the wishes of the other clan members, as well as the good of the family as a whole." A thought strikes him. "Perhaps he didn't wish to appear insubordinate. A strong brother is more terrifying than ten threatening words, as the old saying goes."
You quirk an eyebrow sceptically, and throw out a test comment. "Would anyone really think he was getting ideas above himself just because his sister married a ninja?"
"If that ninja were heir to a clan allied with the Akimichi? I admit it is perhaps far-fetched, but nobler minds than mine have believed in conspiracies with less to support them."
Whew. Well, that's a relief. You were almost positive Mom's forbidden romance was with dad, but it's nice to confirm these things.
[X] If you still want to know about Nabiki, you are never getting a better segue than this. Go for it.
[X] See what else Tsuruhiko knows about your mom.
[X] Try to remove the genjutsu.
[X] Don't remove it until you know why it was put on.
-----
Ugh. God this was a fucking slog. Writing exposition makes me wanna punch someone.
