The Hand of Death

Chapter II

"What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but

excels in winning with ease."

"

The Art of War

"

~ by Sun Tzu ~

Master Goshiu had come home for a few weeks and since his bodyguard had to go where he went, I would be seeing more of my father for a time. My father refused to give me permission to continue training with Brother Yuri. He said it was not proper for me to train with the heimin, but that I should go to one of the Koga dojo instead. All I needed to do was request it of my Daimyo. I felt that this was some sort of test.

I had spent my childhood with my mother. She was a loving warm woman who had obviously allowed me far too much freedom, but I loved her because of that. I spent my time dreaming of being a tailor not knowing what expectations others held for me. My mother spent her time enjoying my company and reveling in the time she had with me. She knew, though, like all samurai wives, that our time together would come to an end sooner than she would like.

Father had spent these years waiting for me to become old enough to begin my training as a mononofu. He allowed me to run and play and did not bother me for bending the rules of society like all children in Giapan had done for millennia. You do not reprimand a child for using his chopsticks to grab the same piece of fish that you have, even though for an adult this is a huge taboo. However, he

did

have expectations of me. He had been waiting for the sign that I was ready to begin my life as a samurai and it had come.

He gave me a speech while we sat together on the porch of our home.

"My son, you must continue to train hard. People will depend upon you to defend them and their property. Even our great lord, Daimyo Tetsuya, will expect only the best from you. A Koga samurai is loyal, courageous, strong, and most of all, resourceful. These are the things you must achieve as a Koga Mononofu."

I nodded to Father but didn't know if I could stand up to those requirements. But a boy does not tell his father that. Not in the Golden Land of Giapan.

"You are quiet," he said.

I nodded. He rose and I followed. We walked from our house to one of the public gardens of the castle.

"I know what you feel, and it is normal Hiro."

"...What if a samurai is unsure, Father?"

"He must not show it." He said this firmly, but sympathetically.

"...What if a Koga is afraid?"

"He must not show it."

"What if I fail?"

He stopped and watched me for a moment as I continued to walk without him. I stopped when I realized he was not beside me.

"You will not."

He laid his hand on my shoulder. It was one of the few times he had done that. We walked for a long time in the gardens. He never quit talking to me about what was to come.

"You are of the Koga House." He went on to quote our motto. "A Koga does what must be done." He went on to describe how we saw ourselves. "The Koga are one. If one Koga looks weak, we all look weak. If you are in need, a Koga will aid you. If another Koga is in need, you must aid them. A Koga is the worst of enemies but the best of friends. This is the way of the Koga." He spoke long on this. I think he was trying to prepare me.

I spent that evening trying to come up with some way to explain things to Brother Yuri that did not make me seem like an ass. It did not look promising. I awoke in the morning and said my goodbyes to Mother and Father. Then I went to Brother Yuri to explain why I couldn't stay in his class. He had been too good of a friend not to tell him, and, as Father said, a Koga is the best of friends. A good friend would not lie to a man for years without explaining his reasons. I found him near the shrine, as always.

"Ah! The young lord returns." To him that was just a joke.

"Yes, brother."

He looked at me for several moments. "You obviously have something very important to say to me, Hiro san. What is it, little one?"

"...I have been lying to you brother."

His eyebrows shot up. "About?"

I waited a long time before answering. "My father is Shotoku Kanichi."

He relaxed after that. "Ah. Yes. I know your father. A very good man."

"I came to explain why I deceived you."

He pursed his lips and nodded. "That is a good place to start."

"I just wanted to talk with the heimin. I wanted to...understand them. If I had told anyone

who I am, they would have treated me like...."

He nodded again but more slowly. "I understand, Hiro sama." There it was. My shoulders

slumped even more hearing him call me his superior. "And you understand why I cannot

continue to train you. Yes?"

"Yes. You are their only means of learning self-defense, but I can go to my Daimyo."

"Very good. You have learned much little Koga." He leaned in close to whisper. "Do not forget these lessons."

"Yes, Brother Yuri."

He leaned back and watched me a moment before we bowed goodbye. He wasn't angry. Just disappointed. I went home that evening and ate with both Mother and Father, which was a very nice change. I liked having my father home. I didn't know him but I wanted to. This visit of his was at a time when I was finally old enough to understand him. Later that evening, while we were sitting in the garden that made up our small front yard, I asked him about a story I had heard in town.

"Father, I heard you once defeated 23 ronin in combat. Can you tell me the story?" I asked hopefully.

My mother made a face. "Your mother does not like it when I talk about myself

Hiro san..." He said with his usual stern tone. He must have seen my disappointment as he slowly began to grin. "...So I had escorted Lord Goshiu to one of the Okayama castle's..." Mother almost threw her arms in the air while Father continued. "He was there to discuss some trade agreement or something. We were taking a break from the day's discussion and he wanted to visit the gardens."

I had seen my father leave for work and return many times over the years and he always looked the same. A basic cotton kimono with wide hakama pants, and of course his daisho which was his set of samurai swords. He was a stoic man. A samurai's samurai, but he was very animated once his story got going.

"So then," He leaned in towards me, "without any warning, men just started pouring over the wall! To their credit they did not scream as they attacked so it took the house guards a few moments to realize anything was happening in the garden." His arms pantomimed his shock. "You may not know this but I was never particularly good at Iaijutsu." Iaijutsu is the art of drawing the sword and attacking in the same swing. "...and yet I was still able to draw and cut the first ronin in half as he jumped from the top of the wall towards me." He made a motion like he was cutting the man as he dropped down. "Immediately after that two more landed to either side of me." He looked left and right. "I kicked the one to my left in the stomach and cut the arm off the one to my right..."

The story went on for a long time and it was very good. The bench Goshiu had been sitting on backed up to the garden wall so Father had stuffed him under it and picked up another katana from a fallen samurai. He then stood in front of the bench scissoring through the ronin as they came to kill Goshiu. He was able to hold them off until the house samurai showed up and dispatched or chased off the rest. "Once it was all done, Goshiu was furious!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Well it was the rainy season so he was wet. Covered in mud. His clothes and hair were

disheveled and it did not help any that I slammed his head into the bench when I shoved him under it. Add to that all of the blood covering us and the garden... You can see how that might push someone in a bad mood." He shrugged.

I nodded. "What happened?"

He leaned back a little and smiled. "I stood there looking at him and he looked so much like a soaked cat that I could not help but laugh. And I could not stop. After a few moments Goshiu was laughing too."

My father was only in town for two weeks so I made arrangements with my uncle to cover for me with my friends. I spent as much time with Father as I could, which was not as much as I would have liked. Even though Goshiu released him from his duties while they were home he still had responsibilities to our House. Some of his time was spent in court because our Daimyo enjoyed having him present. I was able to go with him and sit next to him when he was there. Some of his time was spent with friends in the castle and some of his time was spent in town. I was a child so he did not tell me what he did when he was with friends or in town.

I would go with him when he visited in the castle but I had to make excuses when he visited people in town. Some of my father's friends were friends of mine as well and I did not want them to know who I was just yet. The rest of his schedule was occupied by the large portion of the day that he spent with Mother in their room alone. "Talking." They "Talked" a lot. Which irritated me because I could not figure out what was so important. I did not take the opportunity to ask my Daimyo for permission to join one of his dojo because I thought it would take away from the time I had left with my father.

I think the time in court was my favorite because we sat close to the Daimyo where all of the action was. We almost always had father's Lord Goshiu and my friend Eita with us. It made for very entertaining conversation while we were there. I remember my first day in court very clearly because an odd thing occurred with Eita's older brother, Masao. We had been there for almost an hour when he was announced to the court. He was greeted by several people as he made his way to the front. I could see that he was a good looking young man with a strong confident bearing and was about to settle in on the far side of the court just as he saw us across the dais from him. He smiled when he saw us and began to cross over to us since there was nothing pressing being addressed in court at the time. Daimyo Tetsuya, who had been in discussion with an adviser at the time, looked up and saw his son Masao approaching us.

Tetsuya glanced at me and then said, "Masao, no." He motioned for his son to approach the throne. Masao quickly bowed in obedience to our Daimyo and did as his father urged.

They spoke quietly for several moments back and forth until Tetsuya broke off the discussion.

"No. You will obey me in this."

My Daimyo's tone was firm but not angry. He motioned Masao towards the doors to leave the court. Masao bowed to his father and left but with a furious expression on his face. The court was very quiet until Daimyo Tetsuya called for the next issue. The three of us looked to Eita to see what he thought but he just gave a small shrug and shook his head a little before excusing himself to see if his brother was alright. It would be many years before I found out what was wrong or why Tetsuya made him leave.

While Mother and Father were "talking," I would often slip out to visit my uncle Tozasu. I liked to help him with his tailoring, and it was fun to catch him up on the news from court. He didn't get to go very often. While I was eating with Tozasu one day I happened to ask, "Uncle, why do you not talk to Pe?"

He looked up, surprised. "The geisha?!"

"Yes. She talks about you very much."

He looked dubious at that statement. "Only because I am the only man in town who does not want her!"

"But you always look at her when you pass her in the street?"

"Hiro! It is not polite to point such things out!"

Well if he thought yelling at me was going to get him anywhere he was mistaken. "But it is true. Why not take her a grand kimono? She would be very flattered."

"And why should I want to flatter her?"

I stared at him. "She is lovely and intelligent. And they say she was once a Samurai-ko. She is a very capable woman."

"Humph." He kept eating his rice.

"I think you should. She would be a very good match for you."

"And what would people think of me marrying a woman who owns a geisha house? No! A geisha school!"

"They would think you wise enough to get a woman with her own means, rather than some pretty flower with only her looks to speak for her."

That stumped him. I ate my rice.

My father had to return to Teikoku Toshi no Kyoto with Goshiu a week later.

"Why do we not go with him Mother?"

She looked down at me. "We have no family in the capital Hiro."

I was confused. "But we would see Father more."

"Not much. His duties would keep him out of our home most of the time. At least here we have your uncle and friends."

My three friends, Cho, Goruchi and Himi didn't have both parents. Himi had his mother who was ill more times than not. Chi had only his father, the policeman, because his mother died from a cholera outbreak when he was a baby. Cho lost both of his parents to a fire in the heimin quarter of town. I had a father and a mother. I had not appreciated that fact until this last visit from Father. He was well respected and loved by many people, from our Daimyo to Brother Yuri the monk. I was already missing him.

One afternoon, weeks after my father had left, I was on my way home from pacing the streets when I saw my uncle standing outside Pe's geisha school. Normally, a patron has to be introduced by a member of the club to the Okasan but I knew my uncle was there to see Pe specifically. I waited in the shadows and watched as she came to the doorway. She was lovely. She of course denied the wrapped gift three times, which is the custom with gift giving, but I could see the joy in her eyes when she accepted the gift and opened it to find a grand kimono.

"Will you not come in, Tozasu sama?"

"I... cannot, my lady. It would not do. But I would be most grateful to talk with you tomorrow... at Suma's tea-house?"

"Yes. That would be very nice, Tozasu sama."

They both bowed and parted. I felt great! My uncle may have finally found someone! I was elated as I walked home. I was going through the back alleys to the castle when I heard people yelling. I wandered around a corner to see the scene. There stood my three best friends, Cho, Goruchi, and Himi. A nobleman's two sons were yelling at Himi. One of them was brandishing a tanto. I walked toward my friends and watched, wondering what to do.

"You think you are good enough to talk to us, hinin?!"

"I only wished you good evening, my lord."

These "noble" pigs were just being bullies. Himi had done nothing to them. But these pigs knew none of the peasants could interfere for fear of the death sentence that would follow. I was getting angry and about to say something when the one with the tanto finally worked up the courage to stab Himi in the stomach. We all screamed.

Thinking my friend dead, I cursed the two for the worthless, honor-less dogs they were. I hollered how their parents were not fit to clean the blood from an eta's feet. My other two friends and I ran as the two cowards chased us. They were only a little older than us and not old enough to be faster than us. Getting past the precinct and city guards at each of the gates was easy. The guards didn't care about running children, only rowdy samurai. After running out of the city, I told my friends to make for the woods. When we neared the woods I began to slow a little.

"Get ready." I said.

When the boys were almost on top of me, I threw myself sideways on the ground. They were too close to react in time. They tripped over me and flew through the air. I heard one of them scream as he hit the ground. I got up and helped Cho and Goruchi pummel the other to death with stones.

Later I found that his friend had accidentally sunk the knife into his own heart when he landed. I would have thought there would have been some great change in me before all of this. I had killed a boy, but somehow I felt the same as I had before leaving my uncle's shop. I was no longer excited, but I was far from upset at what I had done. I think when they killed Himi they had made me too angry to regret killing them.

I made my friends help me drag their bodies into the grove and bury them there. I then made sure we cleaned ourselves in the nearby river. It wouldn't do to come back with blood on us. Once we caught our breath we walked back to town. Cho was feeling queasy.

"I don't feel very good." He stepped off to the side of the road and became sick.

When he had finished I asked him, "What's wrong?"

"We killed them. Do you know what they'll do to us?"

"Yes. But they were traitors to our House."

They both looked at me. "How so?" Goruchi asked.

"Koga are supposed to stick together. Be there for each other, like we were. Not bully each other. And certainly not kill each other just because we can."

They both nodded after a while. We hid in the trees and waited for a large group of heimin going into the city after working the rice fields for the day to pass by. When one did we fell in with them and slipped past the guards. I led us back to where we expected to find Himi's body but there was only Xi the jeweler, standing there with the local Machi-bugyo; the Chief of Police. Xi was an old man, and frail to look at but he had a wit that would make most jesters blink. He wasn't laughing at the present though.

"Xi sama? Where is Himi's body?" I asked. The Machi-bugyo approached. I didn't know him.

"Are these the boys you saw running away, Xi san?"

"Yes, my lord." He had to answer. If he lied and was caught, he would die for it. I could

understand that.

"Where are the two that were chasing you?" The police chief was talking to me now.

"I am afraid Xi is mistaken, Machi-bugyo sama. There were no people chasing us. We just heard about Himi a few moments ago." My friends looked at me. They were scared. I was too, but what choice did we have? The Machi-bugyo looked sternly at me.

"Xi san is an upstanding citizen of this city. Who are you to claim he is wrong?" Again, I didn't have any choice. I straightened my shoulders.

"I am Shotoku Hiro. Son of Shotoku Kanichi."

The Machi-bugyo looked at me. My friends stared stupefied. I went on. "My uncle, as you know Lord Machi-bugyo, is Tozasu the tailor." He nodded. As the son of a samurai it would take someone of equal status to contest what I claimed. Poor confused Xi was not that person.

Xi, with eyes wide, spoke up. "Yes, my lord. Tozasu is the boy's uncle. I must have been

mistaken about what I saw."

The Machi-bugyo nodded, and with nothing left to do here, he left. Xi told us where to find our friend. He watched me as we walked away. My friends said nothing as we walked. The monk from a nearby temple had taken Himi to his home and was working on him. The monk said Himi couldn't see us until tomorrow, but he would be fine. We could hear Himi's mother crying from inside the house. She would be hurt badly if Himi died. He was her only family, and she needed the money he made to add to her own to make ends meet. We left as the monk wished, but I for one had my doubts about Himi's recovery.

The next morning I left to check on Himi first thing. I found him well and rested. The monk had healed him, but his body would still take some time to get back into shape. Himi was very happy to see me. Someone had told Himi and his mother what had happened after he was stabbed. His mother was very grateful. I apologized for not doing anything to stop it, but she seemed more than happy that, "what was done was done," as she put it. She was, unfortunately, very respectful. Himi seemed to have the same problem.

"I am honored that you helped me, Hiro sama." He smiled.

I shook my head with a smile. Soon Cho and Goruchi arrived. They spoke with Himi for a while, until the monk made us leave him so he could rest. The silence outside was unbearable. Finally Goruchi gave in.