“Oh my,” O’Fuku said raising a fan to cover her mouth, “you are not speaking revolution, are you?” she asked, pleased that Hideki had risen to the bait.

  “I think what my grandson meant was … “ Jii began.

  “I can finish my own thoughts, Jii-sama,” Hideki said. “No, O’Fuku, I am not advocating revolution. I am advocating justice, not only for the bloodthirsty killers that execute Kyodai Goroshi, but for the plotters and crafty men and women who use them.”

  “I am sure we are not interested in your thoughts,” O’Fuku said, using her fan to hide her anger. “I want to see a proper demonstration. I am sure you have staged this little act for us to make yourself look good. But I want reality.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Yagyu Muneyori asked.

  O’Fuku rose and walked toward Naga. She looked over the men sitting on their legs in two neat rows. Then she pointed at the little man with the obviously ill-fitting clothes. He appeared very much out of place among the Yoshinobu samurai.

  “I want him to show us how to use the famous red sticks,” she said.

  Hideki was about to open his mouth when Naga waived him quiet. “He is the newest to our family. He can’t possibly give you the demonstration you are looking for,” he said.

  O’Fuku smelled victory. “No, I want him. You brag that Edo is safe with your new police force. Let us see how safe our citizens are. Let this little monkey defend himself against a real opponent,” she challenged.

  “And who do you consider a real opponent?” Yagyu Muneyori asked.

  O’Fuku gave out a quick bird whistle. From a panel that made up a portion of the Hollyhock emblem on the far wall a large man clad in Brown ninja clothing appeared and ran to O’Fuku and knelt. There was much in taking of breath and a few gasps by the Roju and Tairo. Not only had they not expected to see a masked ninja in the castle, but this one was armed with a ninja sword strapped to his back.

  “Do not be alarmed. He is loyal to me,” O’Fuku said.

  All eyes went from the large ninja to Yoshi. Naga said, “You can do this or not Yoshi. It is up to you.”

  Yoshi bowed to Jii. “I am fine with it,” he said.

  Hittori Hanzo was on his feet in a flash and moved to intercept the ninja. “You will die for having a sword in this place!”

  O’Fuku waived Hanzo back. “This is my attendant. I have given him permission to be armed. You do not think I am going to allow myself to rush to a meeting I know nothing about without a bodyguard do you? I take full responsibility.”

  “My lady, you do not have authority to grant permission to bear arms in the castle,” Hanzo firmly stated. Then, he glanced to Yagyu Muneyori.

  Yagyu nodded his head slightly, granting permission for this spectacle to proceed. Hanzo bowed his head slightly to Yagyu and retreated to Myo’s side. Nevertheless, as he sat down he removed his short sword and placed it between himself and Myo. The motion startled Myo. She looked a question at him. “If this goes awry, save the Yoshinobu,” he said.

  “That was an unnecessary command,” she whispered as she moved the short sword closer.

  “Ummm,” Hanzo grunted his acknowledgement.

  Nichi and Hideki resumed their seats as Yoshi stood and shuffled clumsily into the empty area in front of Naga. O’Fuku turned and moved to her seat beside Yagyu Muneyori. The large ninja drew the sword from his back.

  “This is a much better test anyway. Our new police force must be able to disarm the many ronin roaming the city,” O’Fuku said, nodding approval of her own statement.

  Musashi leaned forward so the first row of Yoshinobu could hear him whisper. “The little monkey is such a good actor, I almost feel sorry for the big ninja.” All three of the Yoshinobu smiled at his confidence in Yoshi.

  They were the only ones smiling. Everyone else in the room, maybe with the exception of Myo and Hanzo, expected the ninja to kill the little clownish man.

  The ninja raised his sword and attacked with a horizontal strike that should have separated Yoshi’s head from his shoulders. Although the strike had been incredibly fast, all it cut was air. Yoshi was a blur as he timed the blade and deflected it with his Jutte downward into the tatami mat where it lodged. Yoshi then struck the ninja on his exposed wrist causing him to yelp and release the blade and pulled back clutching his damaged hand. The next strike hit the large ninja between the head and shoulders on the right side of his neck. The large man collapsed and lay still. Yoshi turned and faced O’Fuku and bowed slightly. Then he returned to his seat in the second row behind the Yoshinobu.

  Yagyu Muneyori clapped his hands. Then Oeyo joined in. Soon everyone in the great room was applauding Yoshi’s effortless demonstration. Yoshi smiled slightly and bowed to all.

  O’Fuku was furious. She jumped up and ran to the sword stuck in the mat. She wrenched it free with a mighty pull and took two steps towards Naga. She raised her sword skyward to bring it down on Naga’s head.

  Myo had been moving when O’Fuku took her first step. However, both she and Hanzo knew they were too late. They would never get there in time.

  The blow came down in a mighty arc straight toward Naga’s unprotected head. Naga had time to flinch as he saw his death arriving on the edge of a razor sharp sword. The second before it would cleave hair, skin, and brain matter, there was a loud clang of metal on metal as Hideki fired out of his sitting position and launched himself to a stretched-out kneeling position and caught the blade of the sword on his Jutte. The motion of the downward blade hit the Jutte on the shaft. The momentum forced the blade down the shaft, catching it on the single upturned tine.

  Hideki kept his upward trajectory going and was on his feet and rotating the Jutte immediately to the left, twisting the sword out of O’Fuku’s hand. Then he grasped her right hand with his left and pulled O’Fuku off balance and into a large circle. Her feet tried to catch up with her extended right hand. At just about the time she thought she would fall, Hideki reversed her hand back toward her and over her right shoulder. Her legs came out from under her, and she slammed hard into the tatami mat with a loud smack.

  She laid there trying to get air into her lungs. With his thumb firmly on the back of her right hand, Hideki extended her arm and moved around her head, forcing her to roll over on her stomach. He then extended her right arm out perpendicular from her body and knelt down with his left knee deep into her armpit. He passed control of her right hand to his right hand and moved the Jutte to his left hand.

  As soon as O’Fuku had pulled the sword from the mat, four more brown-clad ninja emptied into the great room from the Hollyhock emblem door and raced to her aid. They never made it. Hittori Hanzo and Myo intercepted them while they were still on the raised portion of the floor. The four ninja died in a dazzling ballet of steel and silk. By the time Hideki had passed his Jutte to his left hand, Hanzo and Myo were sheathing their blood-soaked swords, bowing to the astonished Roju and Tairo and returning to their seats.

  From the back of the room, castle guards filed in and bowed to Hanzo. Hanzo pointed to the bodies and to the unconscious form of Yoshi’s opponent and waved them instructions. All the prostrate forms were gathered and taken out the rear exit. Now Hideki and the wildly panting O’Fuku were the focus of everyone’s attention.

  O’Fuku finally got her breathing under control. “Let me up, you country jester,” she screamed. “You dare to touch me. I will have your life pulled from your body an inch at a time.”

  Then she started calling Hideki and the Yoshinobu all manner of vile names. Hideki was physically shocked. Even in the gambling dens of the Gumsumgumi, he had never heard cursing like this. He could not believe he was hearing such filth out of the mouth of a samurai woman.

  Oeyo clapped her hands together in glee. “Finally we see the low birth,” she said happily. “I knew I was right.”

  O’Fuku lay on her stomach with her head turned toward Yagyu and away from Hideki. He was controlling her body with his gloved right hand and his left knee.

  “I have been taught by my grandfather to honor women and to protect them just as I was taught to honor and obey the Tokugawa family. However, you, O’Fuku are beyond regular justice. As the wet nurse to the man being considered for shogun, you will be forgiven your killings and barbarism and be free to do it all again. This jutte cannot abide your not receiving some form of physical punishment for your black heart. Therefore, this is for all those you have killed and ruined in your attempt to get your whelp in the seat of power. I want you to remember me as you try to use this right arm just as I remember you tried to consume me with fire.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” O’Fuku screamed. “I am O’Fuku. I have a title. I am protected.”

  Hideki brought his jutte up in his left hand and crashed it down with amazing power into the exposed right elbow of O’Fuku. There was a sickening crunch as the bone and cartilage turned to mush. O’Fuku screamed and then passed out.

  “Now we are both left-handed,” Hideki hissed as he rose from her unconscious body.

  Jii was too shocked to speak. He looked at Hideki and realized the charming young grandson had changed. Several months ago, he was a carefree young boy who had to be scolded into doing chores. Now, for better or worse, he was charting the course of the nation. Anyone who could cripple an unarmed woman, even one as evil as O’Fuku, had developed a lot of hostility. Jii guessed it was inevitable. Hideki had been exposed to too much violence since leaving Kii. He had seen the ugly side of samurai rule. Jii wondered if his grandson would be courageous enough to pull himself back from the abyss or be consumed by the hatred he was carrying. He hoped for the former. He missed the old cheerful Hideki.

  Yagyu Muneyori stood and started to address the Yoshinobu when he dropped to his knees and bowed low. “Uesama!”

  Everyone in the great room bowed low on the mat with foreheads touching the tatami. Hidetada, the second Tokugawa shogun, strode into the room in full armor. His personal guards surrounded him and turned outward and knelt. All had hands on swords.

  “Raise your heads,” he ordered. “I want to look at your faces.”

  Everyone straightened up. The newly crippled woman at the shogun’s feet moaned.

  The shogun looked over to his wife. “You were right, Oeyo.”

  His wife bowed to her husband, acknowledging his praise.

  Then the shogun looked at Hideki. “By the Buddha, Hideki, you are hard on castle staff.”

  Hideki touched the tatami with his forehead. “I have no excuse Uesama. Please punish me. My family had no part in this.”

  The shogun looked first at Jii, who bowed under his gaze, then to Naga, who did likewise. Then he glanced at Nichi, Yoshi, and Musashi. Lastly, he lingered on Myo. “I see you brought a sword into the castle,” he accused.

  Myo bowed, holding her breath. She was frightened. None of her training prepared her for being in the presence of the shogun.

  “Well, are you going to answer? I would have thought the heir to the Five Families would have more courage. I know you do. I just watched you charge into four armed men. You had plenty of courage then.”

  Myo stammered. She was not sure what to say.

  Hanzo started chuckling, enjoying Myo’s discomfort. She looked into his face. If it were not for the sound, you would not know he was laughing. He did not smile. Then she found her courage, raised her head, and looked into the face of the shogun.

  “A clumsy man dropped it; I just picked it up.”

  O’Fuku moaned again. The shogun waved Yagyu forward with the downward motion of his extended hand. The high counselor jumped up, bowed, and signaled attendants to come forward.

  “Take her to her quarters and have her physician attend to her,” Yagyu instructed.

  As they were moving her out of the room, the shogun interjected something. “And tell her when she’s conscious again that she is confined to a nunnery.” The shogun then looked to his counselor. “We do have a nunnery picked out, do we not?”

  “Yes Uesama. We have one picked out and the arrangements have been made.”

  “Good,” the shogun said. Then he turned his attention back to the prostrate Hideki. “Rise, Hideki. You are not in trouble.” The shogun then placed his hands on his hips looking at his counselor. “What is next, Yagyu?”

  “I believe you wanted to make a clean sweep of things, Uesama,” Yagyu said, motioning with his fan toward the Roju on the left side of the great room.

  “Ah, yes,” he said. “Naomasu Nagai,” he called solemnly.

  Naomasu froze at the sound of his name. Then he remembered himself and dropped his forehead to the mat in a deep bow. “Yosh,” he uttered in as much bass as his tightening throat would allow.

  “Your services are no longer required in the Roju. In fact, your services are not needed in Edo. You are banished to your home province of Akita.”

  Naomasu’s forehead touched the tatami floor again. “Hai,” was all he could muster.

  The shogun turned to his counselor again. “I guess I cannot confine him to the same nunnery with O’Fuku, can I?”

  “No Uesama. That would not be prudent. Your original banishment will suffice,” Yagyu said.

  “Very well,” the shogun sighed. Then, sighting Naomasu still in his original position, added, “Well go on. Get out of my sight.”

  Naomasu stood, bowed, and walked backward out of the shogun’s presence and into obscurity.

  Laughter shattered the silence in the great hall. All heads spun toward Jii.

  Both Yagyu and Hanzo stood and rebuked the elder Yoshinobu, but he kept laughing.

  “What is so funny, Yoshinobu?” the shogun asked.

  “You are truly the son of that old Fox,” Jii said and slapped his thigh.

  “Yoshinobu-sama,” Yagyu warned. “You go too far.”

  The shogun waved him silent. “What do you mean, Yoshinobu?”

  “You and your chief strategist there,” the old man said, pointing to Yagyu, “did not send for us to participate in your succession,” he said.

  “I didn’t?” the shogun asked.

  “No, Uesama! You have no intention of stepping down,” he accused.

  The room went silent at the accusation. The shogun turned to Yagyu with a smile on his face. “You said he was smart.”

  “I think I understated it,” Yagyu said.

  The shogun turned back to Jii.

  “What were my intentions then?” the shogun asked.

  Jii pointed his finger to encompass the Roju and Tairo. “You needed help in cleaning out this nest of vipers,” he said.

  There was an instant clamor from the maligned counselors but the shogun waved them silent. “Go on,” he encouraged.

  “You concocted this succession to smoke out O’Fuku and other hostile elements. But you needed a force to assist you that was not tainted by Edo politics or self-interest. That is where we came in. Nine years of samurai rule and your capital city is as corrupt as a gambling house. From the police right up to these men here,” he said, pointing to the Roju. “You have men who have allowed themselves to place self-interest above all else and to be blackmailed into truly bad decisions. It was so bad that you had to have a total housecleaning. We Yoshinobu were the broom,” Jii said.

  Naga saw the logic immediately. He wondered how much of last month was real and how much contrived. His mind went to Yuki.

  “Even if your theory were true, do you object?” the shogun asked.

  Jii shook his head in the negative. “No Uesama. We serve the Tokugawa.”

  The shogun nodded in the affirmative. “Good answer.” Then the shogun turned back to Hideki. “Hideki, my eldest son Iemitsu may be shogun someday. My father decreed his name would remain in consideration. O’Fuku got him to put it in writing. Iemitsu is very fond of his wet nurse. If that day ever comes, it could go hard on the Yoshinobu.”

  “I guess it is a good thing that you are not retiring anytime soon then,” Jii ventured.

  “You are correct, Yoshinobu. It is a good thing,” he said.

  The shogun turned to his chief counselor. “Yagyu, no more women on the council. Not even as visitors.” He then looked at his wife and she nodded her consent. “We have just a few more items of business,” the shogun said and signaled to the entrance. Yuki walked into their midst and bowed to the shogun. Naga wanted to call out but he dared not. His worst fears were about to be realized. “Yuki my dear, are you ready to come back to your old master and resume your duties?”

  “I believe I am ready for a new master, Uesama,” she said.

  “I was afraid of that. There is no reasoning with a woman in love.” He glanced at Naga. “Very well, go take your place with your new master.”

  Yuki bowed low, rose, and moved backwards from the shogun. She then turned and moved to the position behind Musashi.

  Hideki glanced to the right and thought he saw a tear in his brother’s eye. “How strange,” he thought.

  The shogun turned to his chief counselor again. “Yagyu, it seems we have a vacancy on the Roju. Do you have any suggestions?”

  “Nagamasa,” Yagyu replied.

  “Yes, he would be good, but I was thinking of letting him ripen a little until Edo is made over. He has proven indispensable as a magistrate. I just could not get enough of those stories about the open trial. What a novel idea. No, I was thinking of someone more seasoned with a penchant for speaking his mind. I was thinking of someone whose life is guided by a higher calling, specifically guided by Bushido. I was thinking of the old war horse these people call Jii.”

  “Wise choice, Uesama,” Yagyu said.

  “Yes, now that I’ve found honest men to remake Edo, I am going to look for more to run the country. We must get better at administration or the Tokugawa shogunate will be short-lived,” the shogun mused. “So Naga, what do you say to remaining the south magistrate a while longer?”

  Naga bowed deeply. “I serve at your pleasure, Uesama.”

  “Another good answer,” the shogun said. Then standing before Jii, the shogun asked, “Well Jii, what about serving in this nest of vipers?”