Dale Furutani - Kill the Shogun

“Why don’t you point that out to him?”

Nobu hesitated. There was something about this ronin that he liked, however, so he decided to be frank with him. “If anyone in the gang looks like they’re getting too independent, Boss Akinari makes them disappear, too.”

“It sounds like Akinari is not a very good boss.”

Nobu shrugged.

“Perhaps Boss Nobu would do a better job for this gang.”

Nobu started, then saw the ronin was serious. “You’re a devil, Matsuyama-san,” Nobu said. “It’s not healthy for someone to start thinking like that. Besides, it would be disloyal for an underling to think about deposing his boss.”

“Nobunaga got rid of Imagawa, and Ieyasu, who was an Imagawa vassal, joined him, to their mutual benefit. Akechi, a vassal of Nobunaga’s, assassinated him. Hideyoshi said he was avenging Nobunaga’s death, but he eventually displaced Nobunaga’s sons as ruler of both their clan and Japan. Ieyasu was Hideyoshi’s chief daimyo, but he deposed Hideyoshi’s son and now rules as Shogun. A vassal replacing his boss is a common enough thing nowadays.”

“And what about you? Were you loyal to your lord?”

“Well, yes,” Kaze admitted. “But I’m a bit old-fashioned. That’s just me. It doesn’t mean you have to be.”

“You are a devil!”

“Perhaps, but perhaps also a sensible devil, Boss Nobu.”

“Boss Nobu,” the big man said, muttering the words to himself, savoring their novelty.

The door to Nobu’s room slid open. The big man looked startled, and Kaze looked at the door with interest, to see what was developing. It was a woman, one of the servants of the household. She held a tray with a teapot and two steaming cups of tea.

“I saw you had guests, Nobu-san, so I thought you might like some ocha,” the woman said.

“How did you-” Nobu started.

Before he could finish his question, the woman shouted, “Now!” She threw the tea tray at Kaze.

Kaze diverted his face to avoid the scalding tea, but he didn’t jerk himself out of the path of the tea, as another man might. Instead, he reached out to grab his sword. The tea splashed against his arm, sending a shock of pain as the liquid burned his skin.

As part of the plan, the woman threw herself down on Kaze’s scabbard as soon as she had thrown the tray. She trapped Kaze’s arm and weapon under her body.

Before Kaze could push her away, the room was filled with men, smothering the ronin with a tsunami of flesh.

Boss Akinari sat on a raised dais, like a noble. He had a yojimbo , a bodyguard, standing next to him with a sword for protection. Akinari also had a sword stuck in his sash, and sitting before him on the dais was Kaze’s sword, “Fly Cutter.”

Kaze’s arms were being held by two burly men. The only other person in the room was Nobu. Kaze’s arm hurt from the hot tea, but otherwise he only had a few bumps and bruises.

“I had Nobu’s room watched, on the chance that you would return to talk to him. I’m very pleased you did,” Akinari said. “Your head will mean a great deal of money to me. But before I turn you over to Yoshida-sama for the reward, I think it’s fair to settle some scores. You killed two of my men the first time I tried to take your head.”

“I’m sorry I killed your men, but it would have been inconvenient to lose my head,” Kaze said.

Akinari frowned. “I’ll teach you to be disrespectful to me. Nobu, hit him.”

Nobu looked at Akinari and shrugged. He turned to Kaze and drew back his huge fist, hitting the ronin in the stomach. It was like being hit with one of the battering rams used to burst castle gates. Kaze gave an “Oooff” and fought to get his breath back.

“As I said, you killed my men. Then you embarrassed me by fooling me into thinking you had escaped, when you actually wanted to stick around and talk to Nobu.”

Kaze looked at Nobu, and whispered, “He doesn’t trust you. That’s why he had your room watched. You said Akinari made men disappear. You’re next.” His whisper was even lower than normal; the effects of Nobu’s blow to his stomach.

“What’s he saying?” Akinari asked, unable to make out Kaze’s whisper.

“Just some nonsense, Boss,” Nobu said.

Akinari snorted. “Then you embarrassed me with Lord Yoshida, escaping from the vegetable merchant’s house. That cost me a thousand ryo. Still, your head will bring me ten thousand, so maybe it has all worked out for the best.”

“You’ll never see a penny of that,” Kaze whispered to Nobu.

“What is he saying?” Akinari asked petulantly.

“It’s just more nonsense,” Nobu responded.

Akinari looked at the men holding Kaze. “What is it he’s saying?” he asked.

“He’s saying you don’t trust Nobu, Boss,” one of the men said.

Akinari remained silent for a moment, then said, “Nobu, it’s suspicious this man wanted to talk to you twice. Now you can prove your loyalty by doing the job of beating him up before we take his head. Hit him again.”

Nobu nodded, then struck another blow, this time to Kaze’s side. Kaze almost expected to hear the crack of a rib, but instead he just felt pain from the hammering.

“Look at him,” Kaze gasped. “He doesn’t trust you. Soon you’ll be as dead as me.”

“Why are you just hitting his body?” Akinari asked Nobu. “Why not his face?”

“I want Yoshida-sama to be able to recognize him when you take his head in for the reward. Blows to the body can be just as punishing as blows to the face.”

“Nonsense. Smash his face up. And be quick about it!”

“It’s a test.” Kaze smiled through the pain at Nobu. “He wants to make sure we’re not friends.”

“I’ll show him we’re not!” Nobu said. He brought his fist back, and took careful aim at Kaze’s face.

“Boss Nobu,” Kaze said.

Nobu hesitated a moment, then he brought his fist forward with all his strength. The fist flew past Kaze’s face and caught one of the two men holding Kaze squarely in the cheek. This time, Kaze did hear the crack of bone. The surprised thug crumpled to the floor instantly.

With a grace that seemed impossible for a man of his size, Nobu dove toward Boss Akinari. Akinari and his bodyguard started drawing their blades, but Nobu was not trying to reach the gambling chief. Instead, he snatched Kaze’s sword from the floor, turned on his side, and threw the sword and scabbard back to the ronin.

Kaze caught the sword with the hand recently freed by Nobu knocking out the man holding it. Without taking the sword from its scabbard, Kaze brought the scabbard down across the head of the man still holding him. As he felt the man’s grip loosen, Kaze yanked his other arm free and grabbed the scabbard.

He drew his sword, and got the blade extended in the aimed-at-the-foot position, just in time to block a cut at Nobu, still lying on the floor, made by Akinari. Akinari’s blade was close to Nobu’s face when Kaze’s blade intercepted it. The eyes of the big man grew wide as the two pieces of steel met just a finger’s width from his skin. The clang of steel filled the small room, and Nobu took advantage of the small reprieve to roll away from Akinari and the yojimbo.

The yojimbo stepped past Akinari and attacked Kaze with an overhead cut. With his sword so low to the ground after protecting Nobu, Kaze couldn’t parry the blow, so he took a lesson from Nobu and dove to the ground, rolling to one side as the cut flashed past him. As he rolled, Kaze reached out with one arm and slashed the yojimbo across the chest and belly.

The yojimbo let out a cry of pain and staggered backward, eventually falling to the floor. Kaze quickly finished his roll just as Akinari rushed at him. Kaze was in a crouching position and put his sword up to stop Akinari’s blow. Akinari brought his sword back for a second blow as Kaze forced his way to his feet. Then, making a classic diagonal cut across Akinari’s neck and shoulder, Kaze killed the gambler.