“Myo, is this really you? Was it you in the bath as well?” he asked, the excitement causing his voice to sound higher than usual.

  She smiled in the darkness. “Oh yes, samurai-san. It was me. You do not think I would let you go after telling a perfect stranger in the bath that you wanted me, did you? You cannot escape from me, my gallant warrior, now that I know the truth. I’ve waited my entire life for a man who is strong enough to protect the weak yet honest enough to win my heart.”

  Myo rained kisses all over Hideki. However, each time he felt like bursting, she would do something that would bring him back from the brink and then start all over again. He thought he would go mad with desire. Several times he reached for her and several times she moved his hands away as if instructing a child. Nevertheless, when she crawled up and impaled herself on him and he felt her breasts on his chest and her sweet breath on his face, he entered a world that he had never known but would never forget.

  Chapter 14: The Castle

  The cock had crowed when Yoshi entered the Gumsumgumi hotel and started down the corridor to Hideki’s room. Something was not right. Haragai. He darted into an empty room and waited to see from which direction the danger would appear. He did not have long to wait. Out of Hideki’s room stepped a very beautiful young woman dressed in a loud kimono. The kimono did not bother Yoshi. The woman did.

  She was humming contentedly to herself as she walked and semi-consciously fussed with her hair. She was obviously happy. Yoshi waited until she had turned the corner and slipped out into the hall, then he raced to Hideki’s room. He threw back the shoji door and found Hideki snoring. Yoshi sank to the floor. “Buddha be praised,” he said softly. It was enough to wake Hideki.

  “Yoshi, what are you doing here?” Hideki asked.

  “I came to get you to your grandfather. Today is the day the Yoshinobu go to the castle.” Hideki sat up quickly. “What time are we to be there?” he asked.

  “You have plenty of time. Do not worry. It is after the noon meal.”

  Hideki lay back down. “Oh Yoshi, I spent the most wonderful night with the most wonderful woman.”

  “Does she know who you are?” Yoshi asked.

  “No, she thinks I’m Takezo,” Hideki said.

  “You walk a fine line between cherry blossoms and the binjo, Prince of the Yoshinobu.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Hideki.

  “I mean if you do not get dressed and get to the Yoshinobu mansion, you will not be standing in cherry blossoms, you will be back in the binjo,” Yoshi said as he grabbed Hideki’s kimono off the tatami floor. “I heard that you are supposed to ride to the castle in kago, and I do not think the Gray One is going to like it. So we better get a move on.”

  Yoshi had him back at the Yoshinobu compound in much less time than it took Hideki to get lost the previous night. “I am going to have to remember those canals,” Hideki said to Yoshi. “That is really the way to travel in this town.”

  “You will be sampling the wrong way to travel very soon. Those kago will make you sick if you are not used to them,” Yoshi said.

  Hideki bathed and changed into his best clothes. Once all preparations had been made, Jii gathered his grandsons, Musashi, Yoshi, and Yuki.

  “Naga has suggested and I concur,” began Jii, “that Musashi will be in audience with us.”

  “Excellent,” replied Hideki.

  “I still think you are foolish to want me there,” Musashi injected.

  “We have all discussed it Musashi-sama,” Yuki said. “Naga is making a statement by your presence.”

  “What statement? That it is normal to be friends with a duelist?” Musashi mused.

  “No, Musashi-san,” Naga answered. “That your character will be the model for my undertakings going forward.”

  “Well said,” agreed Yoshi.

  “We have all worked hard for this day,” said Jii. “I want to thank you all for your efforts. No matter how this day comes out, it has been a great undertaking.”

  One of the maids bowed her way into the room and whispered something to Yuki. She nodded and the maid departed.

  “The kago are here. There are five, one for each of the Yoshinobu and Musashi-sama. The fifth is for the kamishinos and other formal wear for the castle. You must change into much of the clothing upon entering the castle,” Yuki said. “The naga-bakama is hard to walk in. The legs are so long that you must slide along the floor on them. Please experiment moving in them before you go in for the audience. Falling over would not be proper,” she warned.

  “Thank you, Yuki,” Jii said and bowed. “And one last thing,” he added, addressing Hideki, “whatever happens, you keep quiet.”

  Hideki bowed. “Hai. But what if they ask me something?”

  “Just keep quiet and let me or Naga answer,” Jii said emphatically.

  As they were about to enter the kago, Yoshi called after Hideki. “Remember the cherry blossoms, Hideki-san.”

  Musashi turned to Hideki. “What is he carrying on about?”

  Hideki shrugged his shoulders. “You know ninja, always talking in riddles.”

  Although the trip to the castle took longer than it should have because the household retainers preceding and following the kago had to contend with crowd control at several busy intersections, they eventually arrived at Edo castle. The plan was to have the kago transport them onto the castle grounds, but Jii changed the plans. He scrambled out of his kago as soon as it stopped.

  “I’m not riding another step in that accursed conveyance,” he swore. “My back is killing me.” Grabbing the guard commander, Jii barked his command. “We will walk back. Make the necessary arrangements.”

  The commander bowed his understanding. Then he had the Yoshinobu protection detail line up on both sides of the entrance into the castle. There was a weapons ban inside the castle grounds. Only the castle guards went armed.

  The Yoshinobu were relieved of their swords once inside the compound. They moved through the outer rock wall of the castle and inside the wooden structure of the keep itself. They shed their sandals upon entering before being led to a changing room.

  Once inside, they donned the kamishino, the sleeveless vest with wide-winged shoulders that was the traditional garb in the castle for men. Then the extra long-legged naga-bakama was fitted over the pant-like hakama. Remembering Yuki’s admonishment, each tried walking on the tatami. It required placing both hands inside the slits on the side and grasping the inside of the front of the garment while pulling it upward to create enough room to allow a sliding motion forward. It took Naga the longest to master the movement.

  Then the moment arrived, and they were ushered into the ohiroma, or grand room. Hideki could not immediately appreciate the fine space. His eyes were down as the Yoshinobu shuffled into position. Jii entered first and moved all the way to the right. Naga followed and moved to the center. Hideki followed and took up the position to Naga’s left. Musashi entered and moved behind the Yoshinobu. When Musashi was in position, they formed a diamond shape with Naga in the fore. They all bowed and then moved to a kneeling position and bowed again. Their heads remained bowed as an attendant introduced the Yoshinobu by name. As each name was read aloud, the owner repeated his name and rank to the assemblage. Then Yagyu Munenori asked them to raise their heads.

  Hideki’s first thought was that he had never been in a room so large. Then he realized he was looking into the eyes of an older woman of slight build with the most piercing black eyes he had ever seen. He thought she must be looking into his soul. It made him nervous. Nevertheless, he fought his panic and forced himself to remain calm, as Musashi had taught. He was also aware of another woman looking at all the Yoshinobu, though she seemed much less threatening. She was actually smiling. Wearing a simple and elegant silk kimono, she was in much more appropriate attire. Because she sat beside Yagyu, he knew this must be Oeyo, the wife of the current shogun, Hidetada. Therefore, the shrew staring holes through him must be O-Fuku, also called Tsubone, the wet nurse for the shogun’s eldest, Iemitsu. Hideki looked to his right and saw two elderly men who he assumed must be the Tairo, or senior counselors. To his left he saw four middle-aged men who he likewise assumed to be the Roju, or junior counselors.

  Yagyu was welcoming the Yoshinobu to Edo Castle, but Hideki’s eyes strayed back to O-Fuku. She was still staring at him, or so it seemed. He let his eyes move over her to take in every detail. She was small but wiry. She wore a jūnihitoe, or twelve-layered robe, and sat by herself to Hideki’s left front. Something about the design of the birds on her outer train nagged at Hideki. He had seen it somewhere, but could not remember where. It was a swallow of some kind with red markings. There was graying in her hair, but her aging beauty could not be denied.

  Yagyu had just asked the Tairo to start the questioning.

  “Yoshinobu-sama,” asked Sakai Tadekatsu, “what do you see as the greatest problem before the Tokugawa?”

  “We think the greatest problem immediately facing the Tokugawa is choosing the best of the Tokugawa line to lead the country in this potentially perilous time of establishing a centralized government over the country,” Jii said.

  “Yes, yes, that is extremely important, but assuming a Yoshinobu became the next shogun, what then is the most pressing matter to address. And I’d like to hear from Nagamasa please,” Sakai Tadekatsu firmly requested..

  Naga smiled. “Certainly, Sakai-dono. My first priority would be to find out who the Fox Gang is connected to in this building and to shut them down.”

  There was an immediate intaking of breath and murmuring among the Roju and Tairo. “You don’t mean to insinuate that someone in this castle is involved with that band of bandits, do you Yoshinobu-sama?” Sakai Tadekatsu asked.

  “Yes, Sakai-sama, I do. And by the way, they are not a band of bandits. I believe them to be ninja operating at the direction of someone not only in this castle but in this room.”

  The murmuring increased in volume. “Outrageous,” yelled O-Fuku. “Shame on you, a country daimyo coming in here and accusing this body!”

  “A country daimyo I may be, madam. However, I am a Tokugawa by birth. The last time I checked the heraldry of the Tokugawa, there was no wet-nurse among the titles,” replied a calm Naga.

  That was met by an embarrassed silence by the men, but by joyous applause by Oeyo. “Well spoken, Nagamasa. You are obviously a man of impeccable upbringing and culture despite living in the country. Some people give themselves airs and titles and forget their low birth,” she said without looking at O-Fuku. “But do you really believe there is a conspiracy within this room?”

  “Most assuredly, madam,” Naga said. “This Fox Gang strikes at will all over Japan, evades the government’s best efforts to detect them, and seems to focus on the houses of the Tokugawa for assassination disguised as robbery. We have had occasion to tangle with them ourselves and are assured they are ninja and not bandits.”

  “But how can that be?” Oeyo asked Yagyu.

  Naga continued his accusation. “Someone in this room is giving them their targets and masking their movements with special passes. This is nothing more than a form of kyodai goroshi. We have been targets. All the other Tokugawa families with legitimate heirs are dead. Someone supporting either Iemitsu or Tadanaga is the culprit.”

  “Are you accusing me?” Oeyo asked.

  “No madam, I am not accusing you. I said someone in this room. I don’t know who yet, but if I were shogun it would be my first priority.”

  Naga’s statement triggered more murmuring, but this time there was concurrence in the low-toned conversations. Hideki noticed that Yagyu had lost control of the questioning, and anyone who wanted was asking a question when the volume of discussion allowed it.

  “I want to know the name of the fourth man in your country retinue,” O-Fuku said, pointing at Musashi.

  Jii bowed slightly. “Yes, madam, let me introduce the Yoshinobu’s fencing master and chief strategist, Myamoto Musashi.”

  Musashi bowed and said, “Dozo yoroshuku.”

  This announcement brought louder murmuring as both Roju and Tairo moved heads to get a better look at Musashi.

  “How dare you bring his killer into our midst!” challenged O-Fuku.

  “Madam, every male in here with the exception of me has killed. Even my little brother here has killed when beset upon by thirty Fox Gang members in Kyoto. That is what bushi warriors do. Have you forgotten what bushi do or did you never know?” Naga chastised.

  This brought polite laughter from all who still thought of themselves as warriors and a smile from Yagyu.

  “This man has killed sixty people I am told. Is this the kind of person the Yoshinobu use as counselors?” O-Fuku persisted.

  Naga took in a slow breath before responding. “Yes Madam, it is. Musashi-sama is the essence of Bushido. His sword is his soul. He puts his life on the line every day in an attempt to perfect himself. I see no greater guide to live by than his example.”

  The men were nodding in approval. Naga had swayed them. He had accomplished the best outcome possible. Instead of being on the defensive, he had attacked and won.

  Nevertheless, O-Fuku would not let what she perceived as a weak spot go unchallenged. “I want to hear this murderer defend himself. What do you have to say for taking over sixty lives? Isn’t it true one was a 14-year-old boy?” she demanded.

  Musashi remained quiet. No one spoke. O-Fuku took strength from the silence. “See, I told you. He says nothing because his actions are indefensible.”

  There was another long silence. Hideki could take it no more. “He is silent because he is waiting for an intelligent question.”

  Jii spun and glared at Hideki, but Hideki did not care. His friend and sensei was under attack.

  “Speak boy,” O-Fuku encouraged. “How do you condone killing a child?”

  “I do not, but I do not accept that such a thing happened,” he said. “All my years I’ve spent learning the way of the warrior. From the time I could remember, my grandfather here has taught me the meaning of being a bushi. We are samurai, he would say. We serve before everything else. There is no wrong too small to right and no right to small to defend. I thought I knew what Jii-sama meant. But I did not. I did not until I met Musashi-sama. His life is Bushido. He does not play at being a warrior. He is a warrior. He perfects his skill not to empower himself. He perfects himself to purify himself as the Zen priests teach. He has taught me great skills and taught me that with those skills comes the responsibility not to use them. Musashi avoids situations that may lead to fighting. He is the most peaceful man I know.”

  Hideki noticed the Roju were nodding in agreement with his defense of his friend. His impassioned speech was pure and undeniable. But O-Fuku had one last salvo to shoot. “I suggest we give the Yoshinobu a test to see if they are indeed the warriors they claim to be or just the country daimyo they appear to be,” she said emphatically.

  Yagyu turned to her. “And what are you suggesting?”

  “I suggest we make him South Magistrate and give him a month to catch the Fox Gang, if he can. If he does, then he’s proven to me that he has the right to compete before this body.”

  The politically perceptive men in the room recognized a win/win situation for them. If Naga captured the Fox Gang, it would take them off the hot seat. The commoners were already clamoring for protection. Moreover, if Naga was correct and one of the people in this room was behind the Fox killings, a solution had better present itself before the whole body toppled. The Yoshinobu seemed the best men for the job. They had no castle history and therefore no ties to castle intrigue and politics. They were no-nonsense warriors. Anyone who could hold Myamoto Musashi’s loyalty had to have great character and purpose. If Nagamasa accepted the job and failed, then the decision would be down to two, Iemitsu and his younger brother Tadanaga, and the Yoshinobu allegation would be forgotten.

  “I assume that both Iemitsu and Tadanaga have to compete in this same game?” Jii asked.

  “Tadanaga is just a boy,” Oeyo stated.

  “As is Iemitsu,” O-Fuku protested.

  “Yet, you want them as shogun. Isn’t this request a little one-sided?” Jii asked.

  There was silence. Then the unexpected happened.

  “You are correct as always, Jii-sama. But in this case I wish to accept the challenge.” Nagamausu moved his head to take in the entire gathering as he spoke. “My grandfather brought me up to serve the Tokugawa. If I can best serve by helping rid the country of this Fox Gang, then I will.”

  Yagyu looked to the Tairo and saw their acceptance. Then he looked to the Roju and received their approval. “So be it,” Yagyu said. “We will move to make you the new south magistrate, Nagamasa. I will have papers in your hand tomorrow. If there are no more questions for the Yoshinobu, thank you for coming,” he said and bowed to Nagamasa.

  The Yoshinobu bowed, rose, and backed out of the room several steps before turning and filing out.

  Once in the changing room Musashi bowed to Hideki. “I thank you for your kind words, and I hope I have not caused your family trouble.”

  “I’m afraid I’m the only one in trouble,” Hideki said, looking toward his grandfather.

  “You are not in trouble,” Naga said. “Jii and I knew this would come up when we asked Musashi to accompany us. We also knew you could not keep your mouth shut. We had a rebuttal prepared but figured your passion would sound better.”

  Hideki looked at his brother in disbelief and then at his grandfather. Both were smiling back.

  “You never disappoint, Hideki,” Jii said as he reached for his sandals.

  “Cherry blossoms,” Hideki mumbled.

  “What’s that?” Musashi asked.

  “Nothing, Musashi-sama. Just trying to figure out a way to catch the Fox Gang,” he said out loud, “And wondering when and if I’ll see Myo again,” to himself.

  Chapter 15: Inspection

  The Yoshinobu kneeled in the large room of their Edo mansion awaiting Hideki’s arrival. Yuki was in her customary seat beside her lover, Naga. Jii was to Naga’s right. Yoshi was to the right of Jii and Musashi to Yoshi’s right. The morning meal was completed. When Hideki entered, he had a large, one-eyed samurai with him, dressed in black.