“The final state of any discipline is where you forget what you have learned, discard your mind, and accomplish whatever you set out to do without being aware of it yourself. You begin by learning and reach the point where learning does not exist,” Hideki mumbled to himself. It sounded like one of Musashi’s teachings, but it was not. He had learned this from Jubei. He found comfort in it now. He moved into mushin or “no mind.” Nothing existed but himself, the enemy, and his swords.

  Hideki’s concentration broke as another loud scream came from the dark. The circle slowed, looking for the cause of the screams.

  “That is two less,” Hideki remarked. Then he charged into the figures directly in front of him by inside strikes with both swords. He cut into flesh and bone and heard cries as he pushed through them and onto the closed entrance of the building. As soon as he was there, he spun and placed his back to the wall. The seven followed him and stopped. Now they could not surround him. One on his right, a Fox, returned his sword to his saya on his back and reached into his brown jacket. Before he could remove whatever weapon he was attempting to retrieve, he crumpled forward into the area between Hideki and his attackers. Protruding from the base of his skull was a long iron dart with a red tassel hanging from it.

  “Three less,” Hideki said as he took advantage of their shock and rotating heads to completely decapitate a short Fox that moved too slowly. Hideki had a feeling that he had just killed a woman but could not dwell on it. Three charged him at once.

  He used the short sword in his left hand to parry two attackers into the third as he pushed all three to the right then with his katana in his right hand executed a neck-high horizontal strike, attempting to sever the throats of all three just below the mask. He missed the first, but cut the throat of the second and a fine mist of blood showered him. He opened the face of the third at the jawbone sending the Fox mask flying. There were only two left. Hideki moved forward and backed the remaining foxes into the street. Now the open area would favor him.

  The two remaining Foxes looked at each other and then at Hideki. They did not like the odds, and they still did not know what was killing their brothers in the darkness beyond.

  “You left two for me,” Myo said. “How sweet!”

  The Foxes spun away from Hideki and toward the voice behind them. No one was there.

  They both fled in opposite directions leaving Hideki alone in the street.

  Hideki flicked his katana down and to the right to clean off any lingering blood and gore. It was then returned to its saya. He reached into his kimono top and extracted a sheet of white paper. He placed the back of the short sword blade onto the paper and wiped the blood from it. He then discarded the paper into the street. The short sword returned to its scabbard.

  “How did you get them to scream? Never mind, I don’t want to know,” Hideki said.

  Myo appeared from a dark corner of the building. “Squeamish?” she asked.

  “I just don’t want to think of you as being that cruel,” he said.

  “I am not your normal female, you know that.”

  “Yes and I am very grateful. This is the third time I have fought the Foxes and each time friends have saved me. This time I owe you my life,” Hideki said.

  “Good, then your life is mine to do with as I please,” she teased.

  Hideki smiled. “I suppose so. Just be gentle with me.”

  Myo was about to reply to that when her impish countenance changed to one of dread.

  “What is it?” Hideki asked.

  “We are threatened again, but not by beginners this time,” she said.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “Because they are upon us and I did not hear them,” Myo said, reaching into her sleeve for a shuriken.

  Two fox-masked ninjas dropped silently to the street beside him. Hideki drew his sword, parried the strike of one, and darted to his left, dodging the lunge made by the other’s sword. From his peripheral vision, he saw Myo fade back into the shadows of the buildings and hoped she would flee.

  The two new ninjas were closing on him fast and they were not novices. They struck in unison and without any indication of their movements. He was so busy with these that he did not have any indication that others were approaching him from behind.

  He was in mid-swing of his katana when a heavy rope net fell down upon him from behind. It knocked him forward. He stumbled and tried to regain his balance but could not get his weapon up in time. He knew he was going to die in an Edo street. Something hard struck his head, and he saw bright flashes as he fell to his knees. He thought of Myo as all went black.

  Chapter 25: Capture

  Myo listened from the rafters above the ceiling. The Council of the Yoshinobu was trying to come up with a course of action. They could not agree on what to do because there was little they could do. Myo had already decided what she was going to do. She was hiding in the rafters to determine if any of Hideki’s clan and friends was smart enough to arrive at the same course of action. If they did, she would have to act in haste. No matter how well intentioned, they did not have the skill to execute such a plan. Only she had the resources.

  Yoshi worried her on two levels. The first was his ability to see in the darkness. He might discover her intentions. Secondly, he might consider himself capable of executing her plan. She had to admit—he was capable. Capturing the Fox during the raid had saved them all. She had not realized how important the prisoner was at the time or how important he was now. But Yoshi also lacked the resources to accomplish her plan.

  She listened to the handwringing and anger below. Musashi wanted to kidnap O’Fuku and offer her in exchange for Hideki. Naga explained that such an action would be an attack on the shogun.

  Nichi wanted to torture the captured Fox held in the jail at the Hatchobori until he revealed their main hiding place. Jubei injected he would not break, and if he did, there was no guarantee Hideki would be held there anyway.

  Jii asked if they must continue under the assumption that Hideki was lost to them. In the end, they all agreed that they must assume he was dead, and they must proceed accordingly.

  Nichi pounded his fat fist on the tatami. “I should have stayed with him.”

  “No, Hideki was right to order you away,” Naga said. “What you can do now is get your police patrolling and hopefully uncover any word of my brother.”

  “What of Myo?” Jii asked. “Do we assume her demise as well?”

  “I think we can assume that Myo is already undertaking a rescue,” Yoshi said.

  Myo almost fell out of the rafters at Yoshi’s comment.

  “What do you mean?” Jii asked.

  “She is not here. Either she is dead—no one found her body—or she is trailing the Foxes that took Hideki,” Yoshi explained.

  Myo felt ashamed at Yoshi’s comment. Though it had been her intention, the skill of the two Foxes who were sent to delay, detain, and destroy her had been better than she expected. It had taken her vital extra moments to vanquish them. By the time she had returned to the scene of Hideki’s fight, only the net and dead Foxes were visible.

  Myo moved slowly to a standing position and very carefully retraced her footsteps. She could come and go as she pleased. She was very familiar with the guard’s routine. Her only concern lay in Yoshi’s unusual skills. His ability to see through the darkness gave her goose bumps. Even with the increased guards and police presence around the Yoshinobu compound, Myo was back in central Edo before the hour turned.

  She entered the Abe Courier service building from a secret entrance on the roof. There were several such entrances. This one looked like a barrel of rainwater until you moved a counter weight, disguised as a roofing tile, at the base of the barrel. When shifted, the rain barrel and all its water swung out just enough to let one man or woman pass behind it and into a dark stairway. Once there, Myo stepped down two steps at a time but insured she landed on the middle of the last step. If she got the sequence wrong, spring-loaded crossbows would fire a volley of bolts, peppering the stairs with projectiles. All the secret entrances were equipped with such deterrent devices. A dedicated force might be able to breach their base, but they would pay dearly for it.

  She went directly to her room, changed into a lightweight bath kimono, and took a hot bath. After solidifying her plan mentally, she changed into her courier garb and waited outside the main room.

  “Shitsurai itashimasu,” she said through the closed door, letting the room’s inhabitants know that she sought entrance.

  “Hai,” the old voice said, granting her request.

  Myo entered the room and found her father sitting alone with a pipe in his mouth. He appeared to be thinking.

  “Oto-san, I need your advice,” she said.

  The head of the Five Families took the pipe from his mouth and motioned her closer.

  Myo moved closer to her father and bowed.

  “What can I help you with Daughter?” he asked

  “Hideki has been captured by the Fox Gang,” she said.

  “I have heard,” the old man said. “What do the Yoshinobu expect of us?”

  “They seem to expect me to be dead or on the trail of the kidnappers.”

  “It appears neither is the case,” he said.

  “Yes, Father. I was detained by some very skilled foxes. When I could get away, Hideki was gone.”

  “Do we know if Hideki lives?” The old one asked.

  “We do not. But they used a net, did not retrieve their dead, and there was no blood under the net,” she said.

  “What advice do you seek?”

  “I have a course of action but need your review and consent,” she said.

  “Are you asking this as the successor to the Five Families or as Hideki’s lover?” he asked.

  Myo stared directly into her father’s eyes. “Both.”

  “So what is your plan?”

  “I want to facilitate the escape of the Fox held captive at the Hatchobori and follow him with the team to their base and free Hideki,” she explained.

  “Will the Yoshinobu be privy to your plans?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “This will only work if the Fox thinks he has made the escape due to his own skills.”

  “How many do you need to assist you?” her father asked.

  “There are two ways this could be done. The first requires a lot of manpower and time, neither of which are readily available. The plan would be to have bands of our ninja on all the roads leading out of Edo. Besides the manpower and time problem, they would not know what they were looking for.

  The second plan requires a special team to deploy at the jail. As soon as the Fox escapes, we track him in teams, passing off the detail as the situation changes and changing costumes as we must. I think five plus myself would be enough,” she said.

  The old man thought for a while. “I know what I think, but let us see what the family thinks.” He clapped his hands.

  The wall in the opposite side of the room slid back. “Gomen,” several voices said as heads bowed. Five young people filed in, knelt, and bowed again.

  “I believe you know these?” The old man asked.

  Myo looked into the face of each. She had recognized them when they filed into the room, but now she paid each one a few moments of respect, nodding to each.

  “Yes father. I know each of them,” Myo said.

  “And what is your opinion of each?”

  “Each is a promising young shinobi no mono in the family,” Myo said. She knew there was more. They were all skilled in the ninja arts, and each was from a high-ranked family in one of the five families. The three women she had known since she was a girl. The two men she had worked with several times.

  “And you respect their opinions?” the leader the Five Families asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  The old man turned to the first young woman. “Ichiko, you have heard what we discussed. What is your opinion? Should the Five Families undertake such a mission? Or is it the whim of a lover, wanting to protect her mate?”

  The small, dark-faced one smiled. Her bright white teeth illuminated her face and offset the dark countenance. “Myo is well respected by all here. She is professional almost to the point of being cold. I do not think she would waste our lives unnecessarily. I would support her,” Ichiko said.

  The old man nodded to the second female ninja. This one was not smiling. She had a plain face and was considered homely. Her eyes were too close together and she had what the old women called a horse’s face. It was too long. “I am Niko. Myo has always been haughty and above us. I was not surprised when I heard she had taken a samurai lover. I am less surprised that he is a Yoshinobu.” Then she smiled. “Myo has never done things halfway. If she thinks this is important to the Five Families, it is.”

  The third female started talking without being asked. “I am Midori. I have known Myo all my life. If she says it is important, I will follow her.”

  Both male ninja spoke in unison, “to the death.”

  The old man nodded. “I am in agreement with your team. I think the Yoshinobu are relying on us. If this is the first step in the destruction of their house, we are tied to it. We can only survive if they do. You have my blessing Myo. Execute your plan. This is your team.”

  Myo bowed to and from her father. She then turned to her team. “Please wait outside for me. We have a lot of work to do.”

  Myo turned back to her father. “I see what you are doing.”

  “And what is that?” he asked.

  “You have created a team of high-ranked young people, one from each of the five families. If we succeed, we are the saviors of the Five Families. When they go back to their respective families, I will have a stalwart team member willing to support me for succession.”

  “Is that a good plan?” he asked.

  “Yes, there is nothing like combat to forge a team,” she acknowledged.

  “Then go and make history, Daughter,” the old man said.

  Myo bowed and departed. She addressed her team in one of the smaller rooms used for planning. “Thank you for your support.”

  “Have you worked out the freeing of the Fox?” the male ninja with a scar across his left cheek asked. “I think all depends on the Fox thinking he freed himself.”

  “Sharp as always Chu-san,” Myo complimented. “We will use our code names from now on. I will be Kiiro,” meaning yellow. She then listed each code name. Ichiko was Aku, or red; Niko was Ao, or blue; Midori was Midori, or green; Chu-san was Cha, or brown; and Koto-san was Kuro, or black.

  “I like it,” Midori said. “The two men are brown and black, and we women are colorful.”

  “Read into it what you will,” Myo said. “From now on, use only these names. From this moment on, we are people of the grass. Nothing exists for us except this mission.”

  All five bowed their agreement.

  Myo began issuing instructions. “Midori we need you to use your sexy persona to charm the guards at the Hatchobori. The prisoner eats his evening meal at the hour of the rooster. That gives us two hours. They are generally fed the leftovers from the guard’s meal, which is prepared by one of the police officer’s wives. I have laced her tea with wisteria. She will be sick for the next two days. I recommend you show up as her cousin to prepare the guard’s food. They will be too hungry to ask too many questions. You volunteer to take the Fox his meal. If they refuse, use your wiles. You know what to do.”

  Midori cranked her head, batted her eyes and gave a very sexy smile. “Indeed I do, Kiiro-san. Have no fear.”

  “Once you are in the cell and feeding him, accidentally drop this hair ornament,” Myo said, placing the trinket in Midori’s hand. “Like all such shiny trinkets, one side is fairly sharp. If you drop it near him by accident, he will cover it with a portion of his body and use it to cut the ropes.”

  “What do I do once I serve the meals?” Midori asked.

  “Exit and take up location here,” Myo said, pointing to a location on the hastily drawn map. “I don’t need to tell you to change identities.”

  “No Kiiro” Midori responded.

  “The rest of you will take up locations here, here, and here,” Myo said, indicating good observation spots on the map. “I will be here.”

  Everyone looked at the map and nodded in the affirmative.

  “I don’t have to tell you that this assignment is important. It is important to me for two reasons. First, the life of a man that I treasure is in the balance. Second, and most important to you, the very life of the Five Families is uncertain. Without the protection of the Yoshinobu, Hittori Hanzo and the Metsuke will hunt us down. I do not know how good this Fox is at going invisible. Some of them are novices, and some of them are as good as we are. Nevertheless, let us enter this mission with the idea that he is very good. I want your best kabuki performances tonight.”

  To Myo’s knowledge, no one had ever actually acted in the kabuki theatre, but the ninja often took roles in lesser places just to keep their acting skills polished.

  “I want everyone to have three changes of character ready,” Myo said. “We’re only six. If he is any good, we will have to be very sharp. Any questions?”

  There was no response. “Depart!” Myo said. All stood, bowed, and hustled out.

  “Where the hell is that cooking wench?” the chief doshin asked to no one in particular. He was in the cooking area of the Hatchobori. The fire in the sandpit was going strong. He had ordered his guard see to that. Now they were pulling jars of rice from the pantry area. However, that was as far as they could go. They could boil rice. Every foot soldier worth his salt learned that as a youngster. There was a small slab of tofu, green onions, bamboo shoots, a dozen eggs, some spinach, and two long daikon radishes lying on the small cutting table in the corner. They had been since the delivery boy from the grocery around the corner left it as he did each evening.