by Susan Spann
Toshi’s expression slowly changed from sorrow to suspicion. “Where is your poison box? You accused my cousin of blaming you for a crime you did not commit . . . and now he dies? Show us your supply of torikabuto and prove your innocence.”
“You have no right to question me.” Anger rose in Kiku’s voice. “Remember your place.”
Toshi took a step toward her. “If you did not kill him, prove it. Show us your torikabuto remains untouched.”
Steel flashed in Kiku’s hand as she leaped across the corpse and landed at Father Mateo’s side. “Forgive me, Father.” She pressed the point of her dagger to the scar at the base of the Jesuit’s neck. “I believe your god calls this a sin.”
Hiro reached for his cuff.
“Don’t do it,” Kiku warned. “I’ll kill the priest before your shuriken clears your sleeve.”
Slowly, Hiro raised his hands, palms up. “Let the foreigner go, and we’ll resolve this situation peacefully.”
“I fear that is now impossible.” Kiku seized the Jesuit’s arm and backed him toward Midori’s room, keeping the blade against his neck. “Someone paid the Iga ryu to escort this foreigner safely to Yokoseura. I know enough about foreign priests to know they wouldn’t hire you themselves, so Iga’s client must be Japanese—most likely, a daimyō—which means that someone important finds this foreigner exceptionally valuable.”
“He is not as valuable as I am.” Hiro took a small step forward, careful not to seem a threat. “I am Hattori Hanzō’s cousin. I will take the foreigner’s place.”
“A valiant bluff,” Kiku said, “but everyone knows Hattori-sama will lose more face if the foreigner dies. A cousin, he can sacrifice.”
“Kiku . . . why did you kill Fuyu-san?” Toshi’s voice held the quaver of unshed tears.
“I did not kill him,” she replied. “Clearly, Iga wants to ensure that no one from our delegation lives to return to Koga.”
“No one wants to keep you here.” Hiro motioned to the exit. “Free the Jesuit and leave.”
“She murdered Fuyu.” Toshi turned to Hanzō with a pleading look. “She killed him.”
“I didn’t kill anyone, you fool. Someone from Iga did this, either with his approval”—Kiku nodded to Hanzō—“or to stop the alliance. Either way, our lives are in danger. You and I will wait here until dawn, with the priest as hostage, and leave for Koga as soon as there’s light to travel.”
“Don’t believe her,” Hanzō said. “If she killed Fuyu, she will kill you also.”
“Toshi.” Kiku’s tone made the younger man turn. “You must believe me. I did not kill Fuyu. Or Yajiro.”
Toshi bit his lip. “Show me the torikabuto.”
“Will that convince you?” Kiku asked. “Wait here.”
With the priest in tow, she entered Midori’s room.
A moment later, they reappeared in the doorway. Father Mateo looked worried, and Kiku’s knife remained at his neck, skin puckering from the pressure of the blade.
“Someone is trying to set me up.” Kiku glared at Hanzō, then at Hiro. “My medicine box is gone.”
CHAPTER 43
“Are you certain?” Hanzō asked. “You claimed that Fuyu had it—”
“And I hid it, after our confrontation,” Kiku interrupted him. “Beneath a secret board in the bedroom floor.”
“My mother showed you her hiding space?” Hiro found that difficult to believe.
“I searched and found it,” Kiku said. “There’s one—or more—in every shinobi house.”
A weighted silence fell.
Hiro breathed deeply and slowly. He needed time to decide which facts were worthy of belief. Unfortunately, he did not possess the luxury of time.
Father Mateo raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Hiro, let me stay with her. It’s only for the night.”
“It isn’t.” Hiro spoke to the priest, but looked at Kiku. “Whether or not she murdered the others, she cannot afford to let you go. The moment she does, someone will kill her, if only because she threatened you.”
“Not if you don’t permit it,” the priest said evenly. “Hiro . . . swear you won’t.”
“I do not speak for Iga, and she knows it.”
“But I do,” Hanzō intervened. “Kiku-san, I give my word that no one will hurt you, if you release the priest unharmed.”
She nodded. “I give you my word that I will do so . . . at the border of Koga Province.”
“I don’t believe you,” Hiro said.
“Fortunately for him”—Kiku nodded at Father Mateo—“your belief is not required.”
“I will be fine.” Father Mateo sounded completely at ease despite the dagger at his neck.
“He is correct,” Kiku affirmed. “As long as he does not try to escape and you do nothing foolish.”
“What about Fuyu-san?” Toshi asked. “We can’t just leave him lying here.”
“I will have his body moved to the guesthouse,” Hanzō said.
“I want to carry him there myself.” Toshi’s nose began to redden as his eyes filled up with tears. “He was my cousin.”
“Iga can move the body.” Kiku’s voice dripped disapproval. “Do not risk your life for the dead.”
“He was my cousin,” Toshi repeated. “I cannot live with the shame of allowing a stranger to wash his corpse.”
“You cannot carry him alone, and only a fool would go out there in the dark with a killer stalking us.”
Unless the killer is still here, with us, Hiro thought. “I will help Toshi-san move the body, and guarantee his safe return, if you will promise not to harm the priest.”
“Thank you, Hattori-san.” Toshi bowed and looked at Kiku as if for approval.
She shrugged. “I already gave my word. No harm will come to the foreigner, as long as I reach the Koga border safely. As for him”—she indicated Toshi—“only death will cure a fool.”
Toshi straightened. “I am a man of honor, not a fool.”
“You will need a cloth to wrap the body,” Hanzō said. “Does Midori have one?”
“I will check.” Hiro searched the house but found nothing suitable.
“Neko has one,” Hanzō offered. “I can borrow it for you.”
“And arrange an ambush in the process,” Kiku said.
“If I go with him, he won’t have a chance to plan an ambush,” Toshi said.
Hiro found the young man’s courage both surprising and impressive. “I will go as well.”
“You will stay here,” Kiku countered. “Toshi stands a chance against one man . . . especially if Hattori-sama leaves his swords behind.”
Hanzō watched her for a long, tense moment. “As a show of good faith.” The Iga commander slipped his swords from his obi, still in their scabbards, and handed them to Hiro—who barely managed to hide his surprise at his cousin’s acquiescence.
Hanzō left, with Toshi on his heels.
Standing there, holding Hanzō’s swords, Hiro wondered what he would do if the Iga commander returned alone or, worse, if he did not return at all.
Kiku’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You are wondering why I let him go.”
Ignoring the ambiguous pronoun, Hiro replied, “Actually, I’m wondering why you want to stay the night in a place so dangerous you feel you need a hostage.”
“As opposed to taking my chances in the dark, on unknown roads?” She paused. “I will release the priest when I reach Koga.”
“Why not seal an alliance with Hanzō and secure your safety permanently, along with that of the Koga ryu?” Hiro asked. “Although, admittedly, that would require you to reverse your position on peace between the clans.”
Her expression darkened.
“I first suspected it at the welcome feast, when you showed up in peasant clothes. Since then, you’ve offered several clues—most recently, taking a hostage.”
“For clarity: it isn’t peace I’m opposed to. Only alliance. Yajiro knew my true position, but asked me to keep an open
mind, and to pretend I favored the treaty in order to balance the delegation.”
“You humored him because of your past?” Hiro asked.
“He was my friend,” Kiku said bitterly. “Now, I wish I had told the truth from the outset. Koga does not require Iga’s help, and I have no intention of swearing fealty to Hattori Hanzō.”
“Alliances do not equate to servitude,” Hiro countered. “Hanzō intended for Iga and Koga to work together, as equals.”
“Truly?” Kiku asked. “Which daimyō does Iga support for the shogunate?”
“I do not know, and it does not matter. We could reach consensus.” Hiro noted Father Mateo’s unusual silence. “Are you all right?”
“Splendid,” the Jesuit said, “except for the dagger at my throat.”
Kiku glanced at the priest. “I apologize. It cannot be avoided.”
Hiro would have argued that, but Father Mateo spoke before he could.
“You loved a man who wanted this alliance. Won’t you support it, in honor of his memory?”
“Before his death, perhaps. But now?” She shook her head. “Also, Koga Yajiro was my friend, but I did not love him.”
“Surely even a friend would not have wanted you to hold me hostage?”
“A fair attempt at persuasion,” she replied, “but ineffective. I will release you, as promised, upon my safe return to Koga.”
“Don’t you mean, when you and Toshi return to Koga?” Hiro asked.
Kiku shrugged. “Assuming he doesn’t get himself killed in the process.”
“If I discover who murdered Yajiro and Fuyu before morning,” Hiro said, “will you release the priest before you go?”
In the silence that followed Hiro wondered, if Kiku was the killer, whether she would gamble on his failure.
“I cannot,” she said. “I need him to ensure my safety, and Toshi’s, on the road. However, if you discover the murderer’s identity by dawn, I will let you travel with us to the border of Koga Province and release the foreigner to you there.”
“Acceptable.” It wasn’t, of course, but Hiro only needed to ensure the Jesuit’s safety long enough to figure out another plan.
“I am sorry. I do not understand what is happening.” Father Mateo switched to Portuguese. “Has it occurred to you that she might be the killer?”
“Obviously,” Hiro replied in the Jesuit’s language. “But I need the time to plan a rescue.”
“For me?”
“Do you see someone else in need of rescue?”
Father Mateo smiled and switched to Japanese. “Thank you. Now I understand.”
As he finished speaking, Toshi and Hanzō returned with a bolt of cloth. After handing back the commander’s swords, Hiro helped the other men spread out the cloth and move the body onto it.
Toshi knelt and gently wrapped the cloth around the body.
When he finished, Kiku said, “Do what you must and come back quickly. Use the coded knock when you return.”
The young man nodded.
Kiku looked at Hiro and then at Hanzō. “Anyone who enters this house without the proper knock will cost the foreigner his life and get a dagger through the eye. I recommend you do not test my patience . . . or my aim.”
CHAPTER 44
Hanzō accompanied Toshi and Hiro along the path back through the village. He carried a lantern, but did not offer to help them with the corpse. At the base of the hill that led to his mansion, Hanzō asked, “Would you like to take the lantern?”
Hiro nodded toward the moon that glowed above the trees. “That will suffice.”
Hanzō started up the hill as Hiro and Toshi continued along the path with Fuyu’s body.
“I humbly apologize for shaming you.” Toshi sounded both sorry and serious.
“Shaming me?” Hiro echoed.
“By asking you to defile yourself by carrying the body of your enemy.”
“Fuyu was not my enemy,” Hiro said, “and corpses cannot defile the living. The dead are merely dead and cannot hurt us. Even Father Mateo knows this truth.”
“The foreigner believes this also?”
“More than most Japanese people do. According to his holy scriptures, only the evil inside a man can defile him.”
In the moonlight, Toshi lowered his head to look at the body. “Fuyu-san’s insides did not make this happen.”
Technically, they did, when they fell out of him. Wisely, Hiro kept the thought to himself. “I am sorry about his death. It was unfortunate.”
When the younger man nodded, Hiro continued, “You said he was your cousin?”
“Through my mother’s sister. When I was young, my father sent me to live and train with Fuyu’s family. In many ways he seemed more like an older brother than a cousin.” Toshi paused. “May I speak honestly?”
“An honorable man would do no differently.”
Toshi did not answer for several seconds, as if struggling with the words. “I wish Fuyu-san had not died, but he was a difficult man to know, at times.”
“Some men are like that,” Hiro said.
“Some women too.”
It was the opening Hiro hoped for. “You accused Kiku-san of killing him. . . .”
Toshi did not answer immediately, but Hiro let the silence hang.
At last, Toshi made an embarrassed sound. “It seemed safer than accusing Hattori Hanzō. When I realized Fuyu hadn’t killed himself, I worried someone would start a fight, and that I might end up dead as well. Seeing Fuyu on the floor, I realized I didn’t want to die. That sounds cowardly, but it’s the truth.”
“And now,” Hiro continued, “do you believe she killed him?”
“I don’t think so,” Toshi replied, “mainly because I don’t believe she murdered Yajiro-san, and it seems more likely that the same person killed them both.”
“Have you any idea who that might be?”
“With no offense intended, I can tell you why I think it’s someone from Iga and not Kiku-san,” Toshi said. “The night we left Koga, I had an upset stomach, and I ran to the latrine all night. On one of the trips, I heard moaning coming from Yajiro’s room. At first, I thought he was hurt, so I ran to help. . . .”
After an awkward silence, he continued, “I saw Kiku leaning over him. . . .”
Once more, the young man’s voice faded away.
“I see,” Hiro said.
“I wish I hadn’t.”
A twig cracked in the darkness north of the road. Hiro and Toshi froze on the path. Overhead, the waxing moon sent silver beams across the fields, but in the forest, shadows ruled. A chilly wind rustled through the trees.
“Who’s there?” Toshi called.
They heard no answer. Hiro did not expect one. Only two people would follow them in secret: Neko and the killer. And if he was honest, he wasn’t certain whether that was truly two people or only one.
“Keep moving,” he said, “it’s just the wind.”
Toshi must have believed the lie, because he continued along the path and also continued talking. “The following morning, I told Fuyu about the affair. He flew into a rage and planned to confront Yajiro when we reached Iga. He also said that he and I would expose the truth to Koga when we returned.”
“Are such affairs forbidden?” Hiro asked.
“They are when the participants are promised to someone else.”
Once again, Hiro appreciated Fuyu’s hesitance to leave the younger man unsupervised. Toshi trusted far too quickly, revealing information a more experienced spy would keep to himself.
Before Hiro could settle on a sufficiently innocuous follow-up question, Toshi continued, “Yajiro-san’s father hadn’t announced the betrothal, but I overheard Yajiro-san discussing it with Kiku, the night I caught them together. Actually, they were arguing. She seemed angry that he wouldn’t break it off with the other woman and agree to marry her instead.”
“You are certain you heard correctly?” Hiro asked.
“Absolutely.” Toshi’s head bobb
ed up and down in the moonlight. “Kiku said, ‘You promised me that you wouldn’t allow this to happen.’ Yajiro said he had tried to break it off, but wasn’t strong enough to resist the woman’s tears.”
“Did either of them mention the woman by name?” Hiro asked.
“No, but Kiku said, ‘No man should ever be a slave to tears.’ I shouldn’t say any more, but now you know why I believe that Iga is to blame.”
Inside the guesthouse, Hiro and Toshi laid Fuyu’s body gently beside the hearth.
Hiro stirred the coals to life. Someone had left a well-banked fire, presumably as a show of respect for Yajiro’s body in the adjacent room.
“May I help you make arrangements?” Hiro asked, mostly out of politeness.
“No, but thank you,” Toshi said. “I wish to wash his body, and arrange him properly, before he stiffens.”
“Shall I bring you a bucket of water?”
“Thank you, but I must do this myself, so I can tell his father—and mine—that I handled everything personally.” After a pause, he added, “If you do not mind . . . I would prefer to be alone.”
“I gave my word that I would ensure your safety until you returned to Midori’s house.”
“With respect, I do not need a bodyguard to wash the dead. I will explain to Kiku and take full responsibility.”
Hiro nodded and started toward the door.
Unexpectedly, Toshi asked, “If I persuaded Kiku-san to release the priest, would Hattori-sama still agree to a treaty with the Koga ryu?”
Hiro turned around. “He might.”
Toshi looked down at Fuyu’s empty eyes. “This death has made me realize, even more deeply, how much I stand to lose if Iga and Koga go to war.” He looked up. “I wish to know if a chance for peace remains.”
“I cannot speak for Hanzō,” Hiro said, “but I will speak to him on your behalf, if you arrange the Jesuit’s release.”
“Thank you.” Tears filled Toshi’s eyes. “Perhaps these men will not have died in vain.”
CHAPTER 45
After leaving the guesthouse, Hiro stood in the darkness beneath the trees and plotted his next move. He needed to rescue Father Mateo, but doubted he could manage it alone. Unfortunately, he didn’t know who he could trust to help him.
