The Scarlet Kimono (Choc Lit)

by Christina Courtenay

  The kimono Hannah was wearing was of cerulean blue silk, embroidered all over with white cherry blossom. It was beautiful and at any other time Hannah would have been thrilled to be given such a garment.

  ‘It is the same colour as your eyes,’ Sakura told her as she helped Hannah to tie the unwieldy belt called an obi. It was wide and covered the area from her waist up to under her bosom, and although it had felt strange the first time she wore one for her wedding, Hannah was becoming used to it by now.

  Her toilette completed, she was led towards the back of the castle and into a stunning garden. It was landscaped in the same way as the one outside the house in Hirado, but on a much larger scale, complete with miniature waterfalls and large trees and boulders. Some areas were covered simply with small round stones which had been raked into symmetric patterns. Others were lawns interspersed with trees and shrubs of perfect proportions. The ladies escorting her didn’t stop to admire these things, however, but continued on towards a low house surrounded on all sides by a verandah. There, on a large cushion, sat Lord Kumashiro and they stopped a few feet away from him and bowed as low as they possibly could, falling to their knees before him.

  ‘Konbanwa,’ he said.

  ‘Good evening, my lord,’ the ladies chorused.

  Hannah defiantly bent down slightly less than the others. He was not her lord, after all, and his men had captured her and brought her here against her will. Why should she show him deference, she thought, but if he noticed, he didn’t comment on her deliberate action.

  ‘Good evening, Hannah-san,’ he said with a small nod, then waved the others away. ‘You may leave now.’

  The serving women all bowed once more and set off back the way they had come, including Sakura. Hannah was left standing in front of Lord Kumashiro. She was determined not to speak until she was spoken to this time. She felt like the sacrificial lamb, but she’d be damned if she let him intimidate her.

  She lifted her chin and stared him straight in the eyes.

  Taro studied the strange woman before him in silence. She looked so much better clean and properly dressed and he couldn’t help but notice that in the weeks since he’d last seen her, she had blossomed. Her glorious hair shone, and not just from the oils his servants had anointed it with. Her face had lost the pinched look of near-starvation and her skin was glowing, even though it was so white it was almost translucent.

  Then there were her eyes.

  Their colour fascinated him and held him spellbound every time he met her. He couldn’t get enough of staring into the blue depths, so vivid against the paleness of her face. Yanagihara-san had said he found them cold, but Taro couldn’t agree. Whenever he’d gazed into them, they had sparkled like sapphires and since Hannah was usually so animated and emotional, there was blue fire there as well. The fact that they were surrounded by dark brown lashes which swept her cheek whenever she looked down was another source of wonder. He’d never seen eyelashes like those before, so long and curved, like feathers on a bird’s wing. He almost wanted to touch them to make sure they were real.

  He noticed she was trembling slightly and knew that despite her defiant stance, she was afraid. He didn’t want her to be frightened of him, he wanted to win her trust. Quite why he wished this, he had no idea. He could have just ordered her to stand there for as long as he felt like staring at her, and then forced her to answer all the questions crowding his mind. But somehow that felt wrong. Hannah was different from anyone he’d ever known and he would tread warily.

  For now.

  He finished his perusal of her and nodded his satisfaction. ‘Much better,’ he said. ‘Come inside. It’s growing cold.’

  It was indeed, and Hannah shivered as she followed him indoors. She wasn’t sure whether she was trembling with the cold or with nerves, probably a bit of both. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she told herself. ‘There is no point worrying about what might happen until you know for sure.’ Perhaps she just had to accept her fate, like Hoji was forever telling her. If Lord Kumashiro meant her harm, she would have to endure it, but for now, he seemed perfectly civilized. She clenched her jaw in determination. She would wait and see what he said.

  He closed the screen door behind her and gestured for her to sit down on a cushion next to a low table, on which a huge amount of food was laid out. Hannah’s stomach growled, reminding her that it was an age since she had last eaten. She felt herself blush with embarrassment, but Lord Kumashiro took no notice. Hannah had removed her sandals by the door, as was the custom, and quickly took the few steps over to the cushion. She dragged the heavy hem of her kimono into position behind her, making sure it wasn’t creased. Lord Kumashiro sat down opposite her.

  ‘We will eat first, then talk,’ he said, and it wasn’t an invitation, but an order. Hannah nodded and picked up her hashi once she had seen him take up his. She was exceedingly grateful now to Hoji for his tutoring. It gave her some confidence to know that she wouldn’t disgrace herself with her table manners at least.

  The food was excellent, tiny dishes of raw fish and grated radish to start with, followed by more substantial things like cooked salmon and rice. There were pickled vegetables of various kinds to cleanse one’s palate in between courses, and they finished off with fresh fruit, beautifully cut into intricate shapes. Hannah found to her surprise that she was hungry, despite the fear and anxiety swirling inside her. She tried as many dishes as she could and enjoyed most of them. They ate in silence, which was very unnerving. From time to time she also felt Lord Kumashiro’s gaze on her, but she tried to ignore it.

  ‘You enjoy food,’ he said, when she sat back at last, replete. There was a hint of amusement in his voice, although his expression remained inscrutable. Hannah suddenly remembered something Hoji had said about Japanese ladies eating sparingly. Did the daimyo think her a pig for eating so much? She felt her cheeks heat up once more at the thought.

  ‘I, uhm, I was hungry.’ It sounded silly even to her own ears and she was not surprised when he laughed out loud.

  ‘That was obvious. I hope you won’t grow too fat here.’

  ‘No, no, I never put on much weight.’ Which was true, Hannah thought ruefully. She seemed to be able to eat vast quantities without any effect whatsoever on her skinny body. In the time since she had left home, her bosom hadn’t increased noticeably in size and the rest of her still resembled nothing so much as a beanpole in her opinion. ‘I’m afraid I will always be this small and thin,’ she sighed.

  Lord Kumashiro’s eyebrows rose a fraction. ‘You wish to be fat?’

  ‘Not fat precisely, but perhaps more rounded in … in places.’

  ‘Why? It’s not necessary.’

  ‘Men in my country find rounder women more attractive,’ Hannah replied miserably, thinking again of Kate and her many admirers.

  ‘Strange. I see nothing wrong with your shape.’

  It was Hannah’s turn to be surprised. ‘No?’ Perhaps with all the layers of clothing she was wearing he couldn’t assess her properly, she thought. Yes, that must be it. She straightened her spine. What did it matter after all? She didn’t care what he thought of her.

  She looked at him again. ‘What would you like me to do now, Lord Kumashiro?’ She couldn’t stand the tension a moment longer, she had to know what his plans for her were.

  ‘Talk.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘I’m pleased that you speak my language. Finding an interpreter would have been difficult here. I have many questions for you. For example, I want to learn about your people and customs. You’ll tell me what I want to know?’

  ‘Of course, but is that all?’ Hannah blinked. She couldn’t believe he only wanted her to talk to him. Her mind had considered so many other possibilities, this seemed very tame in comparison. ‘I mean, you’ve brought me all this way just to answer questions?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what …?’

  ‘I also wanted to look at you.’

  ‘
You already did in Hirado.’ Hannah was puzzled. Surely she wasn’t that interesting a sight? At least, no one else had ever thought so.

  ‘Not for long enough. It wouldn’t have been prudent to seek you out there. Servants gossip. Besides, since I knew you were coming to my country, I had already thought about bringing you here. The ninja were ready and waiting for my command if I so chose.’

  Hannah frowned. ‘How did you know I was coming?’

  ‘Yanagihara-san saw you.’

  ‘What? Yana – who?’

  ‘Enough.’ He held up his hand. ‘I’m asking the questions. Now, tell me about your country.’

  ‘Very well.’ Hannah tried hard to suppress her curiosity, but couldn’t help wondering what he had meant. How could someone she’d never heard of have known that she was travelling to Japan? Especially since she hadn’t planned it beforehand. It was a mystery, but one she’d have to think about later. For now, she must do as she’d been asked. ‘What would you like to know, Kumashiro-sama?’

  ‘Everything.’

  Several days passed and each evening Hannah was bathed and groomed before being taken to see Lord Kumashiro in the little garden pavilion. They ate and talked, nothing else.

  ‘You say your queen had hair the same colour as you?’ was his first question one night.

  ‘Yes. Many people in England have red hair. It’s not uncommon, although you will find people with hair colours ranging from almost white to brown to darkest black, such as your own.’

  ‘Honto, neh? Really? Your captain had hair of gold, as I recall, and I did notice many different shades of brown, but no red as vivid as yours.’

  ‘It’s not as common as brown.’

  ‘I saw some other foreigners when I went south a few years ago, but they all had black hair. And large noses, not small like yours.’

  ‘Perhaps they were Portuguese? That would explain it. People in Portugal are mostly dark-haired I understand. As for their noses, I’m sure they vary in size.’

  ‘I see.’

  The questions continued. ‘Tell me about your country. How large is it? How many people live there? Are there other countries nearby? Do you go to war against them? Does your king have a large army?’

  His quest for knowledge was insatiable and Hannah was hard pressed to keep up with him. There were times when she wished that Rydon or her brother had been abducted as well, since she wasn’t able to answer Lord Kumashiro’s questions about warfare and trade very well. He seemed satisfied with what she told him, however, and listened attentively.

  The more time she spent in his company, the more he fascinated her. He was a complex man and very enigmatic. She caught herself staring at his face as he spoke, noting the intelligence in the dark eyes and also the humour which shone through from time to time. Mostly, he didn’t allow himself to show any emotion, but some of the things she told him broke through his steely reserve. As they were always alone, he relaxed a little more each day. He wasn’t at all the way she had expected a feudal lord to be, and so different to any other man she had ever known.

  She found to her surprise that she began to look forward to their nightly meetings.

  Hannah was left to her own devices during the day, although she was always surrounded by serving women. She was allocated a suite of rooms on the ground floor of a building near the garden, instead of in the tower. This included a verandah that overlooked a tiny private garden, but she wasn’t allowed to roam freely throughout the castle.

  ‘I feel like a bird in a pretty cage,’ she grumbled to Sakura. ‘I’ve always hated being cooped up.’ She didn’t tell the girl she wanted to search for some way of escaping, but Sakura seemed to guess.

  ‘You wish to go back to your people,’ she said shrewdly.

  ‘Of course. Don’t you want to go home?’

  Sakura shrugged. ‘I have no home, no family. I go wherever you go. And here is not so bad.’

  Hannah couldn’t dispute that, but still felt restless. To help her to pass the time, Yukiko took on the task of trying to teach Hannah to read and write in Japanese, and also the art of calligraphy. Since Hannah had always loved to draw, she quickly learned how to form the easier writing called kana. These were phonetic renderings of syllables, rather than individual letters, and didn’t take her long to master. The more complex characters called kanji were an entirely different matter, however.

  ‘I’m never going to learn all these,’ she complained one morning, and Yukiko smiled.

  ‘Perhaps not all of it, but the most common kanji at least. It does take time and patience to remember the more difficult ones.’

  ‘Well, I’ve had enough for today, my mind is spinning. Can I have a piece of charcoal instead to draw with, please?’

  A sharp piece was found for her, and to amuse herself she began a rough sketch of Yukiko. The woman had the kind of face that was easy to catch on paper, with distinctive, sharp features. Hannah worked steadily for quite a while, then when she was satisfied, she showed it to the other women. Yukiko gasped and the others exclaimed excitedly over it.

  ‘Hannah-san, that’s beautiful. It looks just like Yukiko,’ Sakura said, her eyes large with wonder. ‘How did you do that?’

  ‘I just looked at her and drew. Don’t you have portrait painters here? Surely you must.’

  ‘Well, yes, but a formal portrait never actually looks much like the person it’s supposed to be. It’s more stylised,’ Yukiko explained. ‘But this, this is me.’

  Hannah laughed and handed over the piece of rice paper. ‘Please, take it if you like it.’

  There was a chorus of, ‘Please draw me,’ from the others, and Hannah was busy for the rest of the morning.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ‘You have forgotten to do my hair this evening,’ Hannah said to Sakura when, two weeks later, they made their way to the garden house once again. They were walking slowly, enjoying the beauty of the garden. Tiny lanterns had been lit at intervals to highlight certain features, such as the waterfalls. It was like the setting of a fairytale.

  ‘No, not forgotten. Lord Kumashiro ordered us to leave it natural today. He wanted to see the swirls.’

  ‘The swirls?’ Hannah assumed he meant her curls and wondered why his lordship was suddenly interested in them. Although her hair had been oiled into sleek submission every day until now, a few tendrils always escaped and curled around her face. Perhaps he wanted to see if the rest of her hair was the same. Or maybe he had another motive entirely, one she’d rather not think about …

  He was sitting immobile on the verandah as usual, and his expression didn’t change at the sight of her hair floating freely around her. Although it had grown some more, it wasn’t as long as some of the other ladies’ hair which hung halfway down their thighs or even further. Having just been washed and dried, the red tresses curled wildly around her head like a cloud of vivid silk threads. She wondered whether he would find it ugly. Her mother had always told her to keep it hidden, since it was such a violent shade of red.

  ‘Come inside,’ he ordered, still showing no signs of noticing anything unusual. She did as she was told.

  The door slid shut, and suddenly he was standing very close behind her. He didn’t speak, just picked up one strand of hair after another, holding them up to the light. Then he wound the curls around his fingers before watching them slide off again. Hannah stiffened and stayed motionless. Having him touch her hair in this way was oddly exciting, but terrifying at the same time.

  She realised she’d been holding her breath and let it out slowly, trying to control the fear that had risen inside her. Was this it? Had he decided to bed her and therefore ordered her hair to be left loose? Perhaps he had satisfied his curiosity with all those questions, so was he now turning his interest to her person? She trembled when he picked up yet another length of hair, studying it closely.

  ‘It’s remarkable,’ he said at last. ‘Look, it changes colour in the light when I twist it.’

  ‘I �
�� yes. Yes, I suppose it does. I’ve never thought about it.’

  ‘Strange that it swirls like this.’

  ‘Yes. I was born with it this way. About half the people in my country are and the others have straight hair or something in between.’ Hannah was still aware of him standing so close and it was having a strange effect on her. She had a sudden urge to lean back and rest her head on his broad chest, then remembered where she was and with whom.

  ‘Amazing,’ he said again and stroked her hair from the crown of her head down to her waist. She shivered and tried to stand still. ‘It’s so soft too, each hair like a baby’s. See, feel mine, it’s completely different.’ He took her hand and put it on his head, where she reluctantly fingered a strand of his topknot. His hair was thicker than hers, but still fairly sleek and smooth.

  ‘Yes, you’re right, but your hair is a nice colour too.’ Hannah didn’t know why, but she thought it best to try and compliment him out of this strange mood. ‘It looks to me as if it changes from black to blue in the light, and it’s much shinier than mine.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ he conceded. ‘When Yanagihara-san told me of your hair, I thought he’d gone mad. Some people say he’s a bit crazy, but I’ll never doubt him again.’

  ‘Who is this Yanagihara-san?’ Hannah frowned. She remembered Lord Kumashiro had mentioned him before. ‘And how could he possibly know what I looked like when I’ve never met him?’

  ‘He’s a seer and he has visions. Usually warnings from the gods, but when he told me about the images of you, we didn’t know what to think. That was partly why I had you brought here, to see if you were a threat in any way.’

  ‘Me, a threat?’ Hannah laughed. ‘Hardly.’ She grew serious once more. ‘But he actually saw me in a vision? That’s terrifying.’

  Lord Kumashiro nodded. ‘You gave him quite a fright, you know. He thought your hair was made of fire tentacles. And as for your eyes …’ He smiled and Hannah was very aware of his dimples yet again. Her fingers itched to explore them, but she suppressed this urge and buried her hands inside the deep sleeves of her kimono. ‘I’ll have to take you to see him.’