Concubine's Tattoo (9 page)

Sano rode his horse through the narrow streets of the Nihonbashi merchant district, past commoners' houses and open storefronts that sold sake, oil, pottery, soy sauce, and other products. Merchants haggled with customers. Laborers, craftsmen, and housewives thronged lanes patrolled by troops. Sano crossed a bridge that led over a willow-edged canal to a greengrocer's shop, a stationer's store, and several food stalls. Pedestrians called friendly greetings to him: by a not entirely surprising happenstance, his quest for Lieutenant Kushida had led him to his own home territory.
When he'd questioned the palace guard commander regarding Kushida's whereabouts, the man had said, "Lieutenant Kushida has been reinstated to his post, but he doesn't go back on duty until tomorrow. However, I've heard that since he was suspended, he's been hanging around the Sano Martial Arts Academy."
This was the school founded by Sano's deceased father. Sano had once taught there and had planned to run it after his father's retirement, but when he'd joined the police force, his father had turned the academy over to an apprentice. Yet Sano had never lost his love for the place where he'd learned the art of swordsmanship. His mother, who didn't want to move to Edo Castle, still lived in quarters behind the school. Upon Sano's promotion to the post of sosakan-sama, he'd spent some of his large stipend on improving the academy. Now, as he dismounted outside the long, low building, he proudly surveyed the results.
The leaky, sagging tile roof had been replaced, and the fa‡ade given a coat of fresh white plaster. A new, larger sign announced the academy's name. The space had also expanded to fill two adjacent houses. Sano entered. Inside, rows of samurai dressed in white cotton uniforms wielded wooden practice swords, staffs, and spears in simulated combat. Shouts and stamps echoed in a thunderous cacophony, the background noise of Sano's childhood. The familiar reek of sweat and hair oil permeated the air. However, the enrollment had increased from a handful of students to over three hundred, and the teaching staff from one to twenty.
"Sano-san! Welcome!" Toward Sano walked Aoki Koemon, once his childhood playmate and his father's apprentice, now proprietor and chief sensei. He bowed, then shouted to the class: "Attention! Our patron is here!"
Combat ceased. In perfect silence, everyone bowed to Sano, who was embarrassed yet gratified. His own reputation had enhanced the academy's status. Once only ronin and low-class retainers of minor clans had studied here. Now Tokugawa vassals and samurai from the great daimyo families came, hoping to curry favor with Sano and acquire his famous fighting skills in the classes he sometimes taught.
"Continue as you were," Sano ordered, sad that his rank set him above the place of his childhood, yet pleased to honor his father's spirit by sharing his success with the academy.
Activity and noise resumed. "What brings you here today?" said Koemon, a stocky, pleasant-faced man.
"I'm looking for Kushida Matsutatsu."
Koemon pointed toward the back of the room, where a group of students was taking a lesson in naginatajutsu-the art of the spear- from a short, thin samurai. His bamboo practice weapon had a narrow, curved wooden blade padded with cotton. "That's Kushida," Koemon said. "He's one of our best students, and often acts as instructor."
As Sano moved closer to watch, Lieutenant Kushida demonstrated strokes to the class. He appeared about thirty-five years of age, and wore ordinary white practice clothes. His face was creased like a monkey's, with glowering eyes beneath a low forehead. A jutting jaw, long arms and torso, and short legs increased his simian appearance. He seemed an incongruous suitor for a beautiful young woman like Lady Harume.
Kushida arranged his twelve students in two parallel lines. Then he crouched, spear held in both hands. "Attack!" he shouted.
With blood-curdling yells, the students rushed him, spears outthrust. Originally used by warrior monks, the naginata had been adopted some five hundred years ago by military clans such as the Minamoto. Spearmen had scattered armies during Japan's civil wars; until Tokugawa law restricted dueling, bands of enthusiasts had roamed the land, training with different masters and challenging rivals. Now, as Lieutenant Kushida sprang into action, Sano gained a new appreciation for the power of the naginata and a respect for this man who wielded it.
In a dizzyingly fast circular dance, Kushida whirled amid his attackers, his spear carving the air. He used every part of his weapon, parrying blows with the haft, slicing opponents with the padded blade, jabbing the blunt end into chests and stomachs. As bodies thudded to the floor around him, Kushida seemed to gain stature; his monkey face acquired a blazing ferocity. The students cried out in pain. But Kushida continued fighting, as if for his life. Sano glimpsed in Kushida the type of samurai who kept his emotions under tight control and found release at times like this. By now he must know about Lady Harume's death. Was this brutality his way of showing grief? Or the expression of murderous tendencies that had led him to kill her?
Within moments, every student lay defeated, groaning and rubbing their bruises. "Weaklings! Lazy oafs!" Kushida berated them. He was breathing hard; sweat dripped off his shaved crown. "If this had been a real battle, you would all be dead now. You must practice harder."
Then he caught sight of Sano. His body tensed and he raised his spear, as though preparing for another battle. Glowering, he said, "Sosakan-sama. It didn't take you long to find me, did it?" His normal speaking voice was quiet and tight. "Who told you about me? That cow, Madam Chizuru?"
"If you know why I'm here, then wouldn't you rather go outside where we can talk in privacy?" Sano said with a pointed glance at the curious students.
Shrugging, Kushida stalked to the door. He moved with a taut, wiry grace; the muscles in his thin arms and legs were like steel cords. From a wooden bucket he dipped a cup of water. Sano followed him onto the veranda, where they sat. A continuous parade of peasants and mounted samurai filled the street.
"Tell me what happened between you and Lady Harume," Sano said.
"Why do we have to talk about it, when you must already know?" Kushida threw down his spear, drank deeply from his cup, then glared at Sano. "Why don't you just arrest me? I've been suspended from duty; I've disgraced myself and my family name. How could things possibly get worse?"
"The penalty for murder is execution," Sano reminded him. "I'm giving you a chance to tell your side of the story-and perhaps escape further disgrace."
Sighing in resignation, Kushida put down his cup and leaned back on his elbows. "Oh, well," he said. "When Lady Harume came to the castle, I was... attracted to her. Yes, I know the rules against improper behavior with the shogun's concubines, and I've always obeyed them before."
Sano recalled what Kushida's commander had told him when asked about the lieutenant's character: "He's a quiet, serious one-he doesn't seem to have any friends or much of a life beyond work and martial arts. The other guards don't like his air of superiority. Until now, Kushida has controlled himself around the concubines so well that everyone thought that he didn't care for women. He assumed his post at age twenty-five, when his father retired from it. We were a little uneasy about letting such a young fellow loose in the Large Interior; usually we choose men who are past their prime. But Kushida has lasted ten years-longer than many other men, who've been transferred because they got too friendly with some lady."
"Never before had I ever allowed myself to be tempted by any of the women. But Harume was so beautiful, with such a lively, charming manner." Kushida's gaze softened in reminiscence. More to himself than to Sano, he said, "At first, I was content just to look at her. I listened to her talk to the other women and take her music lessons. Whenever she left the castle, I volunteered to be part of the military escort. Anything just to be near her.
"But soon I wanted more." His voice gained intensity; he seemed eager for confession. "I found excuses to start conversations with Harume. She was pleasant to me. Yet I still wasn't satisfied. I wanted to see her naked body." Lust burned behind the gaze Kushida turned on Sano. "So I started spying on her. I'd stand outside her room while she undressed, and watch her shadow move against the paper walls. Then one day she accidentally left the bathchamber door open a crack. And I saw her shoulders and legs and breasts." Lieutenant Kushida's voice grew hushed with awe, his expression bemused. "The sight drove all caution from me."
Had Harume really left the door open by mistake, or had she been playing the same game with Kushida as described in her diary? As yet, Sano had an incomplete sense of her character; he must learn more about her. But now, seeing on Kushida's ugly face the haunted look of obsessive love, Sano felt his heartbeat quicken in excitement. Such obsession could lead to murder. "So you made advances toward Lady Harume?" he prompted.
The lieutenant frowned, as though angry at himself for speaking too freely. Hunching over, arms folded upon his knees, he stared at the ground and said, "I sent Harume a letter, saying how much I admired her. But she never answered, and she began avoiding me. I was afraid I'd made her angry, so I wrote another letter, apologizing for the first one and begging to be her friend." Kushida's voice tightened; his fingers dug into his arms. "Well, she didn't answer that one, either. I hardly ever saw her anymore; she stopped speaking to me.
"I was so desperate, I cast aside discipline and wisdom. I wrote her another letter, saying I loved her. I begged her to run away with me so we could be with each other as man and wife for a night, then die together and spend eternity in paradise. Then I waited for her reply- for five whole, miserable days! I thought I would go mad." A high, shaky laugh burst from Kushida. "Then, while I was patrolling the corridor, I happened to run into Harume. I grabbed her shoulders and demanded to know why she hadn't answered my letters. She yelled at me to let go. I was past caring who saw or heard. I said I loved her and wanted her and couldn't live without her. Then-"
Kushida rested his forehead upon his arms. Palpable waves of unhappiness emanated from him. "She said I should have guessed from her behavior that she didn't share my feelings. She ordered me to leave her alone." The lieutenant raised his face, a mask of bleak misery. "After all my dreams, she rejected me! I became so angry my vision turned black. For that ungrateful whore I'd sacrificed discipline, risked my position and my honor!
"I started shaking her. I heard my own voice saying, `I'll kill you, I'll kill you'. Then she broke free and ran away. Somehow I managed to pull myself together and resume my duties. Eventually my commander told me Harume had reported everything that had happened. The guards threw me out. I never saw Lady Harume again." Kushida exhaled forcefully and looked out on the busy street. "End of story."
But was it, Sano wondered. A forbidden love, nurtured over a period of eight months, didn't just suddenly die, even after official censure. Deprived of all hope, it could fester into an equally obsessive hatred.
"How much time passed between that encounter with Lady Harume and your expulsion from Edo Castle?" Sano asked.
"Two days. Long enough for Madam Chizuru to hear Lady Harume's complaint and notify my superiors so they could punish me."
And long enough for Lieutenant Kushida to exact revenge on the woman who had rejected him. "Have you ever seen this before?" From his pouch Sano removed the ink jar-now empty and rinsed-and gave it to Kushida.
"I heard that it was a poisoned bottle of ink that killed her. So this is it?" Lieutenant Kushida cradled the jar in his palm, bending his head so that Sano couldn't see his expression. His fingertip traced the gilt characters of Harume's name. Then he handed the jar back to Sano, grimacing with impatience. "I know what you're thinking: that I killed Harume. Weren't you paying attention when I told you what happened between us? She despised me. She would never have tattooed herself for me. And no, I've never seen that jar before." He added bitterly, "Harume didn't make a habit of showing me gifts from lovers."
Sano wondered if Kushida had lied about his relations with Harume. What if she had really welcomed his advances, and they'd become lovers? In spite of the disparaging reference to him in her diary, it wasn't impossible that the lonely, bored concubine would have accepted an unattractive suitor if he was the only diversion available. Maybe she'd agreed to tattoo herself as proof of her love for Kushida, and he'd brought the ink. Then, afraid they would be discovered and punished, had she tried to break with him? When Lieutenant Kushida objected, Harume might have reported him in hopes of saving herself. But Sano still planned to question the lord of Tosa Province, of whom he believed Harume had written in her diary. And the lieutenant's last remark offered another possible motive.
"You knew Harume had a lover, then?" Sano said.
"I'm only assuming now that she must have, because of the way she died." Rising, Kushida leaned on the veranda railing, his face averted from Sano. "How could I have known before? She didn't confide in me."
"But you watched her, followed her, eavesdropped on her conversations," Sano said, standing beside Kushida. "You might have guessed what was going on. Were you jealous because she not only rejected you, but had another man? Did you see them together when you escorted her away from the castle? Did you poison the ink he gave her?"
"I didn't kill her!" Kushida snatched up his spear and brandished it menacingly. "I didn't know about the ink. The rules forbid palace guards to go into the concubines' rooms except during emergencies, and never alone." Emphasizing his words by jabbing his spear in the direction of Sano's face, Kushida said, "I did not kill Harume. I loved her. I would never have really hurt her. And I still love her now. If she had lived, she might have come to love me. I had no reason to wish her dead."
"Except that her death resulted in the charges against you being dropped, and your reinstatement to your post," Sano reminded him.
"Do you think I care about that?" Kushida shouted, his face livid with rage. Curious pedestrians stared. "What do position, money, or even honor mean to me now that Harume is gone?"
Sano backed away, hands raised palms outward. "Calm down, " he said, realizing how dangerously love, grief, and anger had unbalanced the lieutenant's mind.