Chapter 2: Hahakigi (The Broom Tree)

In which Genji can't be with the one(s) he loves.

So we start out five years after the end of the previous chapter. "Shining Genji" is 17 now, and still gorgeous:
...he looked so beautiful that one could have wished him a woman.
I'm not sure who "one" is, but his best friend is apparently some guy called the Secretary Captain. The two of them, and some other dudes, are hanging out and talking about the ladies.

Things they find attractive in women:
Living hidden away in an overgrown house
Speaking in a very quiet voice, and not saying much
Writing in faint ink
Putting up with things that deserve reproof
Nice handwriting

Things they find unattractive in women:
Hair tucked behind the ears
Doing nothing but housework
Wantonness (e.g. indulging in shameless banter)
Being pious and stuffy
Garlic breath
Cursive writing

So after this illuminating conversation, Genji is supposed to be traveling somewhere, but he can't because that direction is forbidden. (There's a whole complicated thing about which direction you can go on which day--it's totally crazy.)
So anyway he decides that he'll go stay with this guy the Governor of Kii, whose house is in a better direction. AND whose house just happens to be full of a bunch of visiting ladies!
Fun!

AND it turns out that one of the ladies happens to be known for being proud, so this piques Genji's interest, even though he still has a crush on Fujitsubo, his sort-of stepmother. And this is funny, because the proud lady (Utsusemi) turns out to be the Governor of Kii's stepmother. Who is young and might possibly be hot, if anyone ever saw her!

So Genji sneaks into her room in the middle of the night, and it's hard to tell, but I don't think they have sex. But they talk all night until he has to leave in the morning, so he takes her little brother with him as a servant so the brother can take messages back to her.
Romantic!

However, even though Genji sends Utsusemi many lovely poems, she is cruel and unmoved.

So, as we end the chapter:
"Very well, then you, at least, shall not leave me." Genji had the boy lie down with him. The boy so appreciated his master's youth and gentleness that they say Genji found him much nicer than his cruel sister.
I bet!