Dale Furutani - Jade Palace Vendetta

“You’re free,” Kaze said.

Several of the girls looked at each other, seeming not to understand.

“I said you’re free,” Kaze repeated. “The men who were guarding you are dead. You can leave any time.”

One girl stood with tentative movements. Another girl, with hard eyes, said, “Sit down!” The first girl sat.

Puzzled, Kaze said, “Don’t you understand me? You can go at any time.”

Hard Eyes said, “Where are we to go? Our parents sold us into prostitution. We have no home now. If we leave, we will have to wander, seeking some housemaid’s job, where men will use our bodies just as they do now, except we won’t get the fine clothes and luxury our current life can bring us. It’s just like a man to announce that we are free to go, but not to tell us where we can go!”

Kaze looked at Hard Eyes until she looked away from his even harder gaze. “Suit yourself,” he said. “The door to freedom is open. Freedom is never easy, for a man or a woman. You at least have the chance at it, if you want. If you don’t want, then that’s your karma.” He turned and left, catching up with the others.

Kaze and the four left the Jade Palace and Hishigawa’s villa. They went to the outskirts of Kamakura and Kaze found a porters’ lodging next to an inn. There he was able to get two palanquin porters out of bed.

At first the two porters were frightened by the sight of Yuchan, but Kaze told them she had been sick and needed to return home immediately to recuperate. After a brief consultation and a few minutes of haggling over price with Elder Grandma, who eventually triumphed by pointing out how light Yuchan was, Yuchan was safely tucked inside the palanquin.

“You should be fine,” Kaze said to Elder Grandma. “The authorities will be looking for me, but I doubt they will look for you.”

“Will you be fine?”

Kaze rubbed his shoulders. “Like you, I’m tough.” Elder Grandma grunted a reply, then went to look after Yuchan.

Nagatoki came up to Kaze and asked, “How many guards did you kill in the villa?”

“Too many. The best blades stay in their scabbard, but I hate to leave a job undone. I did not find out what happened to Mototane, but I decided to clear out that nest of vermin. I think I am still like a Muramasa blade, not a Masamune blade. I am sharp but still have to strengthen my spirit.”

“It’s too bad Mototane couldn’t be here to help us. He would have eliminated that bad lot, too.”

“Perhaps.”

“It’s a shame you couldn’t see how Mototane could fight. He was superb. I envied the way he could handle Sakuran.”

Sakuran was a word meaning falling cherry blossoms, one of many words used to describe the various states of the cherished sakura , the cherry blossom. “Sakuran?” Kaze asked.

“His sword was called Sakuran, Samurai-san.”

An awful chill touched Kaze. “What did the tsuba of Sakuran look like?” Kaze asked quietly.

“It was beautiful,” Nagatoki said enthusiastically. “It had the branch of a cherry tree around the outside edge and in the middle it had sakuran highlighted in silver.”

“Did the branch have gold highlights?”

“Why, yes. How did you know? Have you seen Sakuran?”

“Yes,” Kaze said softly. “I’ve seen it.”

Kaze knew Hishigawa was a liar from his first meeting with him. He had called the bandit chief Ishibashi, and that name should have been a clue that Hishigawa was lying. To get to the place where the bandits were attacking Hishigawa, Kaze had crossed a small stone bridge before climbing the hill. “Ishibashi” meant stone bridge. Hishigawa had crossed the same stone bridge and had used “Ishibashi” when he needed another name for Noguchi Mototane.

In Kaze’s world, names were important. Men fought and died to protect or enhance a name. In fact, the rulers of the land, the daimyo, had a title that meant “great name.” But Kaze, above all in his class, knew that names were ephemeral and not immutable. Kaze now used a name that was plucked from the air on a whim. His past name, which he had once put such store in, was now like the wind. Its effects were still felt, but it had no tangible existence. By the simple expedient of giving Noguchi Mototane the name Ishibashi, Kaze had been fooled and Mototane had died.

As a warrior, Kaze knew death much more intimately than most men, but even the most sheltered farmer understood that life was finite. Therefore, death by itself had little meaning to Kaze, but the manner of death had much meaning. There are good deaths and bad deaths. The Lady had had a very bad death, and this fact had driven Kaze to rage more than just the tragedy of her passing.

The death of Noguchi Mototane, Elder Grandma’s missing grandson, was a death that now weighed on Kaze’s conscience. Kaze had killed numerous men, but he had never, to his mind, murdered one.

Noguchi Mototane had been on a legal vendetta and had the right to kill Hishigawa. Kaze had prevented the execution of that right and in so doing had disturbed something he considered proper and just. He felt that he had been tricked into committing the murder by the merchant’s assertion that Mototane was a bandit chief. Kaze knew that if he had understood the circumstances of Mototane’s grievance against Hishigawa, Kaze would have simply stood to one side and let him kill the merchant.

Kaze’s murder of Mototane had disrupted the harmony that was the linchpin of his existence and philosophy of life. Now he understood why his katana had broken in the fight. It was a sign from heaven that his actions against Mototane were unjust-a sign Kaze had chosen to ignore. His wa was disturbed, and he had both remorse for his actions and anger at the merchant who had fooled him into taking those actions.

Kaze fell to his knees. With both hands in front of him on the ground, he bowed until his forehead touched the earth. “Please forgive me, Mototane-san. I’m sorry I killed you. I know it was wrong and that it makes me a murderer. Please forgive me.” Kaze aimed his remarks at the spirit of the dead Mototane, but Nagatoki also heard the ronin’s confession. The young man stared at the repentant ronin.

“You killed Mototane?” Nagatoki said in shock.

“ Nani? What?” Elder Grandma had returned to the two, with Sadakatsu at her heels. She had halted at the sight of the ronin humbling himself and her grandson’s words now reached incredulous ears.

Kaze shifted his position to face Elder Grandma. “I just realized that I killed Mototane. It was within minutes of meeting Hishigawa, when he was being attacked by bandits on the Tokaido Road. Mototane must have been shadowing Hishigawa, looking for his chance.

“He had attacked Hishigawa once before, when the merchant was going to Kamakura, but he couldn’t kill Hishigawa. On the Tokaido, Mototane attacked right after some bandits had, and Hishigawa told me that Mototane was the head of the bandits. I had killed him in a duel. Hishigawa told me I had killed a man named Ishibashi, but I now know it was Mototane. Talking to Nagatoki, I understand that the sword I threw into the bay was Sakuran and that it was owned by your grandson. That sword is now asleep in Sagami Bay. I threw it there to appease the spirit of the man I killed. I am truly sorry for murdering Mototane.”

Elder Grandma strode up to the still-bowed Kaze. In her sash, she had a katana, just like a man. She withdrew her blade and grasped its handle with both hands. Kaze made no move to defend himself or get away.

“You have murdered my grandson. Now I will murder you.” Elder Grandma drew her blade back.

Sadakatsu fell to his knees and said, “Elder Grandma, if you are going to kill the samurai, please kill me first.”