It was less than two hours to Fuchu. Kyutaro rode in front while Hideyoshi himself rode in the middle of the vanguard. They were soon in sight of the castle walls. Inside the castle, the men were naturally feeling extremely tense. Viewed from the top of the keep, the columns of men and Hideyoshi's standard of the golden gourds looked close enough to touch.

The order to halt had not yet been given. And, as Hideyoshi was in their midst, the soldiers of the vanguard were sure that he would surround the castle immediately.

Moving toward the main gate of Fuchu Castle, Hideyoshi's men—now like a rushing river—displayed the "crane wing" formation. For a moment, only the commander's standard did not move.

Just then, the entire structure of the castle spat out gunpowder smoke.

"Move back a little, Kyutaro. Move back!" Hideyoshi ordered. "Don't have the soldiers spread out or take up battle array. Order them to regroup and stand out of formation."

The soldiers in the vanguard retreated, and the muskets within the castle were silenced. The fighting spirits of both sides, however, could have exploded in an instant.

"Somebody take the commander's standard and advance twenty yards ahead of me," Hideyoshi ordered. "I won't need anyone to lead my horse; I'll be going into the castle by myself."

He had not informed anyone of his intentions beforehand, and spoke quite suddenly from the saddle. Ignoring the shocked expressions of his generals, he immediately went forward with his horse at a canter toward the main gate of the castle.

"Just a moment! Wait just a moment so I can go ahead of you!"

A samurai went stumbling quickly after him, but when he had gotten barely ten yards in front of Hideyoshi, bearing the commander's standard as he had been ordered, several shots rang out, their fire directed toward the golden gourds.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"

Yelling in a loud voice, Hideyoshi galloped in the direction of the musket fire like an arrow shot from a bow.

"It's me! Hideyoshi! Don't you recognize me?" As he approached the castle, he took the golden baton of command from his waist and waved it at the soldiers in the castle. "It's me! Hideyoshi! Hold your fire!"

Astonished, two men leaped from the armory next to the main gate and pushed the gate open.

"Lord Hideyoshi?"

This turn of events seemed to be totally unexpected, and they greeted him with some embarrassment. Hideyoshi recognized both of the men. He had already dismounted and was walking toward them.

"Has Lord Inuchiyo returned?" he asked, then added, "Are both he and his son all right?"

"Yes, my lord" one of the men replied. "They both returned without mishap."

"Good, good. I'm relieved to hear that. Take my horse, will you?"

Handing his horse's bridle over to the two men, Hideyoshi went in through the castle gate exactly as if he were walking into his own house, accompanied by his own attendants.

The warriors filling the castle like a forest were overawed as—almost in a daze—they observed the behavior of the man. At that moment Inuchiyo and his son ran out in Hideyoshi's direction. As they approached each other, the two men spoke out at once, like the old friends they were.

"Well, well now!"

"Inuchiyo! What are you up to?" Hideyoshi asked.

"Nothing at all," Inuchiyo replied with a laugh. "Come in and sit down."

Accompanied by his son, Inuchiyo led the way in to the main citadel. Expressly avoiding the formal entrance, they opened up the gate to the gardened area and led their guest directly toward the inner apartments, stopping to look at the purple irises and the white azaleas in the garden along the way.

It was the same treatment one would give a close family friend, and Inuchiyo was acting the way he had acted when he and Hideyoshi had lived in houses separated by a hedge.

Finally, Inuchiyo invited Hideyoshi inside.

Hideyoshi, however, stood looking around without even moving to untie his straw sandals. "That building over there—is that the kitchen?" he asked. When Inuchiyo answered affirmatively, Hideyoshi started walking toward it. "I want to see your wife. Is she here?

Inuchiyo was completely taken aback. He was about to tell Hideyoshi that if he wanted to meet his wife, he would call her right away, but there was not enough time for that.  Instead, he hurriedly told Toshinaga to take their guest to the kitchen.

Having sent his son to chase after Hideyoshi, he himself hurried down the corridor to warn his wife.

The most surprised of all were the cooks and the maidservants. Here was a short samurai—clearly a general—in a persimmon-colored armor coat, walking nonchalantly into the kitchen and calling out as if he were a member of the lord's family.

“Hey! Is Lady Maeda here? Where is she?"

No one knew who he was. Everyone looked puzzled, but upon seeing his golden baton of command and formal sword, they all quickly knelt and bowed. He had to be a general of high rank, but no one had seen him among the Maeda before.

“Hey, Lady Maeda, where are you? It's me, Hideyoshi. Come on, show your face!"

Inuchiyo's wife was preparing food with some of the servants when she heard all the commotion. She came out wearing an apron and with her sleeves tied back. For a moment she simply stood and stared. "I must be dreaming," she murmured.

“It's been a long time, my lady. I'm glad to see you're well as always."

When Hideyoshi started to step forward, she roused herself and, quickly loosening the cord at her sleeves, prostrated herself on the wooden floor.

Hideyoshi artlessly sat down. "The first thing I want to tell you, my lady, is that your daughter and the ladies in Himeji have become good friends. Please set your mind at ease about that. Also, although your husband saw some trying moments in this last campaign, he showed no confusion about whether to advance or retreat, and you could say that the Maeda camp came away from the battle undefeated."

Inuchiyo's wife placed the palms of her hands together beneath her bowed forehead.

At that point Inuchiyo came in looking for his wife and saw Hideyoshi. '

“This is no place to receive you properly. Before anything else, at least please remove your sandals and come up off the dirt floor."

Husband and wife did everything they could to persuade him to step up onto the wooden floor, but Hideyoshi declined, speaking to them as informally as before. "I'm in a hurry to get to Kitanosho and really can't spare the time right now. But may I take advantage of your kindness and ask for a bowl of rice?"

"That's an easy request to fill. But won't you come in just for a moment?"

Hideyoshi made no move to untie his straw sandals and relax. "We'll do that on another day. Today I have to move fast."

Both husband and wife knew the good and bad points of Hideyoshi's character.  Theirs had never been a friendship that placed great value on obligations or pretense. Inuchiyo's wife retied the cord holding up her sleeves, and she herself stood in front of the cutting board in the kitchen. It was the kitchen for the entire castle, and a great number of maidservants, cooks,and even officials were working there. But Lady Maeda was not a woman who did not know how to prepare a savory meal on short notice.

Both on that day and the day before, she herself had looked after the wounded and helped with the preparation of their food. But even on uneventful days, she would come to the kitchen to prepare something for her husband. Now the Maeda clan governed a large province. But in the poverty of their days in Kiyosu, when their neighbor Tokichiro was no better off than they, the two families would often go to each other to borrow a measure of rice, a handful of salt, or even an evening's worth of oil for the lamp. In those days they could see how well off the neighbors were by the light shining in their windows at night.