Gloria Oliver (35 page)

He was beginning to warm up, his body shivering in reaction, when the ninja’s eyes flashed as the latter sat up in one fluid motion. Toshi crouched as the skeleton reached for his wakizashi on the floor. Without hesitation, he brought up the kettle and shoved it bottom first at the ninja’s exposed breastbone.

The ninja had been about to plunge the wakizashi into Toshi’s side as he and the kettle connected. The skeleton’s head reared back, his unnatural scream filling Toshi’s mind to bursting. The kettle was covered in frost as he let go of it, instinctively trying to cover his ears as they protested in pain at the sound. The moment he released the kettle, the scream died.

Toshi forced himself to look and found the kettle on its side, the ninja a collapsed heap behind it. The skeleton’s breastbone was charred, an imprint of the kettle’s bottom now embossed on it. Breathing heavily, he reached for the kettle, still staring at the ninja, trying to catch any signs of movement. Seeing none, he raised the kettle above his head and brought it down with all the might he could muster. The kettle landed directly on the ninja’s breastbone and shattered it like brittle wood.

Ignoring the damage he had caused, he raised the kettle again and brought it down hard. Over and over he repeated the maneuver, smashing the kettle against every part of the ninja’s body. His shoulder started bleeding again, burning, but he ignored it. This time he would make sure the ninja never got up.

Toshi let his head hang, sweat dripping off his brow as he felt dizzy and faint. He was safe. The ninja would be unable to hurt him anymore. His stomach heaved.

“Kazete-san?” It was Kirin.

He glanced up, noticing for the first time the bright light that had for some moments flooded the hallway.

Yuko stood by its source, her arms wrapped tightly about herself. Beside her stood Kirin, and two guards holding lanterns. He saw Kirin take a hesitant step forward as he once more called Toshi’s name.

Not sure of what would happen to him now, he struggled to stand, the kettle gripped tightly in his left hand. The small group came forward. He felt his knees quiver just before they gave out on him. One of the guards was able to grab him before he hit the floor.

“Kazete-sama, you’re wounded!”

He flinched as Yuko pressed the kettle’s bloodied cloth back against his shoulder.

“You cannot remain here,” Kirin said. “Yuko will get your things. You must be moved.”

He ignored the words, instead staring dazedly at the ninja’s remains. Kirin helped him up and tried to lead him away. He resisted. “Get … get it out into the sunlight—full sunlight … no shadows. I don’t know if it can come back, but I—we—” He swallowed hard, his throat sore.

“I understand, Kazete-san,” Kirin said. “It shall be done just as you ask. But, please, we must get you away from here. You are not safe.”

He nodded and let Kirin pull him away. He stumbled as they walked along, not really aware of where he was being taken. He didn’t even realize they’d reached their destination until they made him sit down and a warm cup of sake was pressed to his lips. A blanket was thrown over his shoulders.

As the sake wove its way down, warming his throat, he put the kettle in his lap and reached to hold the cup still being held for him. After he’d finished it all, he extended the empty cup and it was refilled.

Finishing that one, he felt his gaze clear a little.

“Kazete-san, I will be gone but a moment to get someone to tend to your wound,” Kirin said. “These men will remain here to guard you. I won’t be long.”

He nodded, not quite able to focus on Kirin’s face. Time meant nothing after the old man left, so he wasn’t sure how long Kirin had been gone before a keen-eyed old woman was brought in to see him.

The old woman bowed as Kirin introduced them. He barely nodded as she pulled his blanket aside to get a look at his wound. He placed his hand protectively over the kettle as she noticed it in his lap. The old woman nodded at him and then concentrated solely on his shoulder. Pain rushed through him as she prodded the area around the wound.

The woman turned away from him for a long moment and then handed him a cup of darkened sake.

“Drink, boy. It will help the pain and make you rest.”

He stared dubiously at the cup.

“Come now, do as O-baa-san tells you.” She prodded his hands to bring the cup closer to his face.

He gulped the cup’s contents down and soon felt his mind losing coherence. Darkness gathered around him, and he gratefully let it take him away.

“Will he be all right? Are you sure? You should have had someone send for me sooner!”

Toshi frowned at the familiar voice and the concern that lay within it.

“I’m sorry, my lady, but it wasn’t possible to do so,” Kirin said. “Yuko tried to gain entry to your rooms several times last night, but Tsuyu’s men wouldn’t allow her. She could not insist, for this might have brought her to the interest of others. I thought such would not have been your wish.”

Toshi allowed his eyes to crack open.

“I’m sorry, old friend,” Himiko said. “You did what was right, as always. I should have known better.”

Wondering what Kirin and Himiko were both doing in his room, he tried to sit up. He hissed as pain stabbed in his shoulder and fell back down. Immediately, he was the center of everyone’s attention.

“Toshiro-san!”

He ignored Himiko’s excited whisper as he recalled all that had happened to him the night before. He whipped his gaze around, looking for the object of his mission. Spotting the kettle sitting innocently beside him, he brought it closer and sighed with heartfelt relief.

“Toshiro-san, how do you feel?” Himiko asked.

He looked up into her worried face and felt himself blushing at her concern. “I’m all right, I think.

Kirin-san and Yuko-san have been taking good care of me.”

Her smile made him tingle all over. He stared at her delicate face, drinking in the sight of her. If things had gone just a little differently, he would have never been able to see her again. His heart shrank from the thought, and he bade his mind to dwell on other matters.

“Kirin-san, what was done with the ninja’s remains?” he asked. “Were they placed in full sunlight?”

Himiko stared from one to the other of them, obviously lost. He waited expectantly for Kirin’s answer.

“Yes, Kazete-san.” Kirin’s voice had fallen to a mere whisper. “Fortunately, we were able to remove what remained before it could be discovered by others. The clothing was burned and the bones were set out in a private spot, which is fully open to the sun’s purifying gaze. I personally made an offering to Amaterasu as her sphere rose into the sky. I was informed that as soon as the sun’s rays fell fully upon the bones they began to disappear. Nothing remains of them.”

Toshi sighed as if a weight had been lifted from him and briefly touched his bandaged shoulder.

“All traces of the previous evening have been disposed of as well,” Kirin said. “Your room and the hallway are once again as they have always been.”

He stared in admiration at the older gentleman. It seemed he’d somehow made an ally.

“Disappearing bones?” Himiko’s confused and disbelieving tone pulled at his attention.

“Himiko-sama, I know this will be hard to believe, but my attacker last night was a restless spirit, one I had met before.” He waited for a look of incredulity to cross her face but instead she looked at him in awe and wonder.

“You have met a spirit? Like in the Noh plays? Truly? How did you do it? Are you a priest in disguise?”

He looked away, taken aback by her eager questions. “No, Himiko-sama, I’m not a priest, but I’ve met spirits. Fate brought me into contact with a group of them, and it’s for their sake I’m here.”

He almost missed the slight widening of Kirin’s eyes, as if the thin man had just realized something. Toshi waited to see if he would speak of it, but Kirin said nothing. Toshi glanced back at Himiko and could tell there were things she wanted to ask. He looked away, hoping she wouldn’t. There were questions he wasn’t yet ready to answer.

As if on cue, Yuko appeared beside him with a tray holding bowls of rice and soup. “Breakfast, Kazete-sama?”

“Thank you.”

With Kirin’s help, he sat up, and Yuko placed the tray on his lap. Silence hung over them as he tried to master the art of eating one-handed. During his reprieve, he couldn’t help but notice Himiko’s gaze lingering on him. Kirin, on the other hand, seemed far away.

While he ate, he studied his surroundings and realized he’d been brought to Kirin’s office. With a touch of misgiving, he also noticed the four guards stationed at the corners of the room. Himiko noticed what he was doing.

“These men are here to protect you, Kazete-san,” she said. “They are loyal only to the Asano clan and have seen the danger posed to it by Tsuyu, as we do.” He felt bumps rise up his arm as she touched his hand with her own.“I’ve already begun preparations to get you safely out of the castle,” she added.

“Please, Himiko-sama, don’t.”

“But an attempt has been made on your life,” she argued. “There are bound to be others if you remain here.”

He stared at the floor, a number of emotions flowing through him. “I can’t, Himiko-sama, I must stay.

Leaving would serve no purpose. I’m sure Tsuyu knows who I am now and why I’m here. He won’t let me live with what I know and carry.”

“My lady, he is right.”

Toshi stared at Kirin in surprise.

“Lord Tsuyu can’t afford to let him live. What he’s involved in is too important.”

Now it was Himiko who stared at Kirin. The surprise on her face was promptly subdued, turning her expression into a blank mask.

“You seem to know more than I, Kirin-san. Would you care to enlighten me?” The question was toned more as a command than a request.

Kirin glanced at Toshi, who nodded, also curious as to the enlightenment he might give them.

“Many years ago, when the great Daimyo Shura disappeared, his lands were split into equal shares and given to his most loyal vassals. It was part of a provision contrived by the Daimyo, since he’d yet to succeed in begetting an heir,” Kirin began.

“The provision was unusual, and many wondered at it. The Daimyo could have easily adopted any one of the three men and had them continue his line. Such things were not unheard of. Rumor had it he’d been actually preparing to do just that when he mysteriously disappeared.

“When the Daimyo could not be found, his written wishes were followed and the lands were divided.

Lord Asano was honored in that he’d been given the general’s most prized lands. Our lord had expected trouble to come from this, for one of the others was an old rival and had coveted these lands. Yet, trouble never came.”

Toshi fidgeted as Kirin paused to drink some tea.

“Everything proceeded as it should until a servant uncovered a hidden letter addressed to our lord,”

Kirin said. “What the letter contained, I do not know, for after reading it, Asano-sama destroyed it. An immediate inventory was ordered of all that was to be found in the castle. There was no need for it, but our lord never gave any explanation for the order.

“Once the list had been compiled, Asano-sama went over it with excruciating care. He would roam the castle at odd times of day and night to look for something he’d found on the list. After a time he stopped.

“Yet, it was around this time he sent for the son of one of his most remote vassals. Rumors ran rampant.

What possible need could our lord have from such a removed clan when here he had vassals waiting on his every command? Asano-sama met with the young man alone. Never had his lordship been so secretive. No one but he knew what was being planned.” Kirin sipped his tea.

“The young samurai stayed with us for only a few days. We knew he was about to undertake a journey on behalf of our lord, but no one knew where. He left here with Asano’s blessing and a number of sealed papers. The only thing we were ever able to learn was the young samurai’s name. Asaka.”

Toshi waited for Kirin to continue, his excitement growing.

“The young samurai never returned. Within a year, his family was accused and convicted of crimes whose details were never made totally clear. It was the Tsuyu clan who found the evidence against them, and they who carried out the sentence. The Tsuyu clan assumed the lands once occupied by the Asaka clan and made them their own.”

“Tsuyu. That clan seems to exist only to perpetuate misery.” Himiko’s hard gaze locked with Toshi’s.

“So, somehow you come from this man, Asaka, and with what my father sent him out for. Tell me, what did you bring for my father? What is so important as to drive the Tsuyu clan to do as they have done even after all this time?”

Hesitantly, still pinned by her blazing gaze, he brought the kettle before him. Saying nothing, he studied the growing look of disbelief taking hold on her face.

“A kettle? All this over a kettle? I don’t understand!”

He stared down at the object of their scrutiny. “I can’t enlighten you, though I’d like nothing better, Himiko-sama. But I was told nothing other than that getting this kettle into your father’s hands was the most vital of tasks.”

Kirin pensively stared at the kettle. “It doesn’t appear to have ever been used. There are no marks of a fire’s touch around its base.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Himiko insisted.

“I know, but I’m sure there’s got to be a reason; and, even if there isn’t, I’ve got no choice but to try to deliver it.”

The three sat in silence.

“Himiko-sama, I hadn’t dared ask before because you hadn’t offered it, but things are getting desperate.

Is there not some way you could help me to get in to see your father?”

She didn’t look at him. “Oh, if I could have done so for you, Toshiro-san, I would have days ago. But, just as he has cut me off from going into the city, Tsuyu has also kept me from my father. That’s how I discovered I was being watched. It was on my last visit to him I could stand it no more and spoke violently against the dog invading our home. The very next day Tsuyu’s men stopped me from entering my father’s rooms. When I confronted Tsuyu about it he was only too delighted to tell me my father had agreed not to see me until after our marriage.”