The Hand of Death

Chapter XVI

"Weak Points and Strong"

"

The Art of War

"

~by Sun Tzu~

I sneaked into my mother's house at night. Two of the silver chunks were for my souvenir collection that I had amassed. I took off my disguise and went to bed. In the morning I got up and put on a pair of pants and a shirt. Amaterasu was still hidden from the sky.

I began in the back of the house with my Kara-Te; Mother Sun was almost up by the time I finished. I stretched out a little more, and then went into Ju-Do. I could feel I was being watched but the person was hidden in the house. I assumed it was Mother not wanting to disturb me. I proceeded to Bandai Jujutsu and went straight into Koga Jujutsu, and finished with the different moves of Ninjutsu. I do not know why I liked mornings. I continued until the sun was up. My mother stepped onto the back porch. She seemed to be waiting for me, so I stopped.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Breakfast has been prepared, Hiro."

I began to walk towards the house. "Domo arigato. I am starving."

She watched me while I hopped the three steps to the porch. "You have been well?"

"Yes. Just away too long."

I grabbed some clean clothes, and went to wash up. When I returned I found her and her

Yojimbo sitting down for breakfast. The food covered the table around a bright floral arrangement in a black marble vase. When I sat down to eat with them, mother served the food and said, "Why is it, my yojimbo did not tell me you were here?" She was asking pleasantly but he had a look of disappointment.

"Because I asked him to let it be a surprise."

She looked confused for a moment. "But when I asked him, he said he did not know you were here?"

I smiled at her. "Would you prefer he sounded like a whining child? Saying 'But, Hiro told me not to.'" She laughed. Tanki looked very relieved. "I was not aware you did flower arrangements, Mother."

"I do not. Tanki does. He is quite good."

He bowed at her praise. "Domo arigato, my lady."

She was right. He had a gift for it. Breakfast was pleasant but when it was done I had to make my excuses to leave. She looked a little vexed.

"You just got home."

"Yes and you are the first person I came to. I must report my findings of the past few months."

I kissed her disgruntled cheek and went to my room. Once I had grabbed the silver chunk for my lord, I left. Tanki walked me to the gate.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Hiro sama."

I looked at him. "It was nothing. I cannot have you losing face over me sneaking into my

mother's home at night." He grinned. "You be sure and take care of her while I am away."

"Yes, Hiro sama."

"I will see you and her later tonight."

He nodded and went back to the house. I continued on my way to where Eita's suite was

located. Goemon City was wide awake by now, and people filled the streets. I waved and said my good mornings to those I knew; merchants, craftsmen, business owners, and even a few geisha. I liked the walk. The town was the loveliest place in Giapan to me. I greeted the guards as I entered the castle; some of them I knew well. I found Lord Eita sitting behind a small table with many notes. I knelt and touched my forehead to the floor.

"Arigato gozaimasu, for seeing me my lord."

"The pleasure is mine, Hiro san. You have completed your business?"

"I have my lord." I gave him the silver nugget.

He inspected it for several minutes before speaking. "Where?"

"The village of Goro."

He nodded. I gave him the exact location and details of the mine.

"It took you quite a long time, Hiro san."

"I had to be thorough, my lord."

"Yes. Success is what matters in this game."

I nodded. "It does feel like a game sometimes."

"Yes, one that if you make a mistake... How is your mother?"

"She is well, my lord."

"Good, and your father?"

"I have not heard. I had assumed you would know more than I."

He thought a moment. "I have not heard anything, so he must be fine."

I smiled at that comment. "How is our Daimyo doing?"

"He is well, and he will want to see you."

"...Why?" I shrugged. It was his turn to smile.

"Because, he has

specifically

told me to bring you to him when you return."

"

When

I return? Did he not have any doubts about my success?"

He fought harder to control his smile. "He stated them many times, but I think, no. He knew you would return."

I bowed to him then. We walked from his suite to the gardens of Goemon Toshi. He informed me on the way that Masao liked to conduct court and any other business there. I couldn't blame him. The gardens of the castle were only slightly less grand than those of the Nigata. We found him sitting on a pillow in a nook of the garden. Across from him sat Daimyo Fujibayashi Hiroki. Lord Eita and I walked up to them, knelt and bowed our heads.

"My Daimyo, Shotoku Hiro, has returned." Masao returned our bows.

"It took long enough," he said.

I responded. "I did not wish to make any errors, my Daimyo."

"Maybe you enjoy your time away from your House a little too much, Hiro san?" He was

always trying to irritate me.

"I serve my House, my Daimyo. The time away depends solely on what is required." He nodded as Eita handed him the nugget of silver. I turned to Hiroki and bowed. "It is a pleasure to see you again, my lord." He returned my bow.

"Yes. It has been too long, Hiro san."

I nodded my agreement. "I hope to someday have the time to make up for it my lord."

"And yet, you had the time to see my cousin Daiki not too long ago?"

"Surely, my lord is not the type to be jealous?" He thought a moment.

"No. I am very much the type." I laughed. "

Daiki

is the type not to be jealous."

"My visit with Daimyo Daiki was due to business, my lord." He was enjoying this.

But, Masao interrupted us. "Did anything of interest happen while you were away, Hiro san."

"Yes, my Daimyo. I helped the people of Shoshinshu Mura kill two oni and I met Tokushima

Michi at the Morijunin House palace, along with Chiba." They were a little surprised at all of that. Masao continued, "What did you think of the Sohei?"

"I stayed with him for the two months I was in Toshi Morijunin. I like the man, my lord."

"Did he like you?"

"I have to assume so. He caught me on my way out of the Morijunin lands. He discovered that I was no Komuso. He did not know what I was doing, but he was sure I was a Koga."

"Did you fight?"

"No, my Daimyo. I do not know how that would have ended."

"How did you get away?"

"The Sohei pride themselves on being fair to

all

people. So I confused him with his prejudices, and walked by him."

Eita spoke up. "You talked your way out of it?" I nodded. Hiroki and Eita laughed. Even Masao seemed to be in a better mood.

He said, "You may go, Hiro san. Get some rest."

I bowed to all of them and left to find my Sensei. The palace guards told me he was reading in the library. Not hard to believe. I found him there and sat beside him. He hadn't noticed me yet. I had been very quiet in doing it. I touched his sleeve.

"Tag." He looked up and smiled then nodded.

"You succeeded?"

"Yes. Did you have any doubt?"

"No. Tell me about it." He set his book down.

I relayed everything to him, the people I had met, and the things I had done. He listened intently to my story. I told him about Guwa giving me Turi's daisho. He thought I should keep it since I earned it doing what she thought I had done.

"You do not think I should get rid of it?"

"No, if you had lied about the whole thing, then yes. His spirit might be angry with you. But it should be fine. You did fight to protect his people. You did avenge his death."

"It was not the only reason though."

"It never is."

I nodded. "I am still learning."

"Yes. And as a matter of fact I have been ordered to continue your instruction upon your

return."

I smiled at him. "When do we begin?"

"Tomorrow. Go see your mother, enjoy a night at home first." I bowed and rose to leave.

"Domo arigato, Grandfather." He smiled again.

As I left the library I couldn't help but smile. He had been reading the Dao. I was able to stay at my mother's home while I trained with Sensei. The training was mostly a thorough refresher of everything I had ever covered, to include Ju-Do and Bandai Jujutsu. I argued it was unfair to include my hobbies. He replied that he was shinobi and could care less about

fair

. I sarcastically asked if I should also practice my flute playing then?

That was the day we began to close every training session with a quarter of an hour of

meditation with flute.

At the ripe old age of sixteen I found that one of my favorite things to do was to take my mother to visit my uncle Tozasu. We would sit in the back room of his shop and sew. Aunt Pe would stop by quite often. She and my mother had become good friends over the years. I would listen to their conversations and laugh. They often forgot I was there.

Pe was saying, "I think you are worrying for nothing. He writes you often enough."

"I know. But he is away so long. What if he has someone else and is not telling me?"

"Dear woman, if he were seeing someone else in the capital, he would not be so...

aggressive

when he is home." They laughed.

It hadn't occurred to me before that Father might think of seeing someone else. I knew it

happened. Just not with my parents.

Pe went on. "In my experience, a man that

is

having an affair does not act excited when he is alone with his same old wife and Kanichi sama is no exception."

My uncle broke in. "Ladies! Not in front of Hiro sama!"

They had forgotten again. I smiled while I sewed.

Over the next year I was assigned various jobs. Usually they were short in duration. Like the job that came a few weeks later. Eita informed me there was an Aka-Inu courtier that had become a bit of a favorite with the Emperor. This was fine but the Koga needed him to help persuade the Emperor on an issue of taxation. The man refused.

With disdain

.

...So my House was sending me to help convince the man. The courtier, Aka-Inu Sukiwara, lived in Kyoto, but his five year old son lived in their House's capital, Mura no Aka-Inu. I was to kidnap the boy in order to give the man the proper motivation in aiding our cause.

I would have to travel to the Aka-Inu House palace and kidnap the boy, then return to Goemon Toshi. It sounded easy. Except that these people excel at magic and their land is haunted with the Kitsune-Tsuki fox spirits. These spirits usually aren't violent but they are tricksters.

I did some studying to refresh my memory on the land and the spirits. It had been a long time since I had covered this material with Grandfather. With that done I picked out some black clothing and my hood. Filled my pack with food and water. I grabbed my fukiya, darts, sleeping potion and collected my ninja-to.

I left at night and bounded until dawn. It was two nights before I saw the town. There was a thick forest on two sides of it. And I had to go through it. I could have gone around but the mononofu of this town were very prepared for assault from those sides. Most people that come to visit the Aka-Inu use the road. I didn't have that privilege. Whereas most samurai refuse to so much as step off of the road in there, I had to walk straight through the forest itself.

The sun was about to come up so I wind sprinted the last eighth of a mile to the forest. Once I had caught my breath, I located a good hide site to sleep in for the day. There were plenty of leaves to cover myself over with so I burrowed into a small pile near a large oak. I was well rested when Amaterasu passed beyond the lands of man. I rose and began to stalk towards my destination. It was slow going but that's better than being caught. I had decided to go to mist as, I hoped, it would make it more difficult for any spirits to notice me. So far the Kitsune-Tsuki hadn't interfered. I approached the wall as quietly as I could. After a night of mist form I was exhausted. Soon I located a portion of wall that I could climb. This section was lightly guarded. The Aka-Inu had depended too much upon their forest for defense.

I hung from the top of the wall as the guard passed. He hadn't noticed me yet. Up and over, quiet as wind, I slipped down the inside wall to the courtyard of the servant quarters of the castle. I wound my way through dark allies until I came upon the castle itself. It was grand. Large powerful oaks served as the pillars to support the roof which stood a solid seven stories above the ground. The doorways looked to have been grown into place rather than made.

I broke my musings and eased around to the side where the boy's bedroom window was located. Climbing the outside of the castle was easier than most, due to the bark of the wood that made up the walls. I climbed to the window, which lay on the third floor. Once inside I saw that the boy had been asleep for some time. I pricked his neck with a little Fugu poison. This would keep him lethargic for several hours. I then made a large bag out of his sheet and slung him across my back. I had to carry my ninja-to because there was no other way to transport it while carrying him. Once I was sure he couldn't fall out, I slipped out the window and crept back through the town. All went well until I stepped foot into the woods.

Then I heard a great alarm. The Aka-Inu were screaming about a kidnapping. All of them were being roused from their slumber. I ran and bounded through the forest to give me some distance; I would have to worry about covering my tracks later. When I was safely inside the forest I slowed down. I began to conceal my path, stepping on stones, kicking leaves onto my trail. I had gotten pretty far when I heard it. Growling. I looked up from where I was crouching. An Aka-Inu samurai-ko. She stood there in no armor but with blade drawn.

"Aka-Inu sama, how are you tonight?"

"Better than you will be in a few more moments," she said in a smooth voice.

"You plan to detain me until your friends can catch up?"

"That is the plan." She smiled.

"Not a very good plan. I am a better fencer."

"Then perhaps we will not fence, Hiro san," she said as she let her sword go and began to

shimmy out of her clothing.

She was very beautiful but something about it, not shame or embarrassment, just, something, made me look away. A feeling of fear, I think had warned me. How did she know my name? When I looked away I could hear a slight irritation in her voice.

"You would prefer something else I take it?"

I continued on my way and stayed ready for what she would do next.

She continued as well. "Oh look, my friends are here."

Suddenly twenty Aka-Inu samurai appeared before me. I do not mean they caught up to me and I missed it. I mean they just appeared before me with almost a flash. Now, I knew what she was.

"Tell me Kitsune-Tsuki sama, if you wished to interfere, why did you not do it before I had the boy?"

She looked a little ashamed. "...That is our business!"

I smiled. "Hmm. Should not you be playing with your ball?"

Fox spirits have a ball they love to play with. If you can trick them out of it they have to do what you want. I walked towards the illusion of the mononofu. I had read a man of faith could destroy a Kitsune-Tsuki's illusions if he touched them. If I was correct it would be painful for the fox. I was not sure if I had enough faith or not but I assumed she wouldn't know that. It was worth a shot. The mononofu faded as I approached so I continued.

She asked, "Did you wish to play ball?"

I kept walking. "It does sound like fun."

I looked back at her when I said it and I noticed she was now a very sleek white fox with four tails.

"I am pretty sure my friends will be here before we get to finish though."

"I doubt it will take that long." I smiled under my hood.

She looked insulted as the ball eased out of her mouth and into her paws. It was a simple red ball a little larger than a child's hand. She began to roll it around between her paws.

"How

will

you get it, Hiro san?"

I stopped and looked at her. She stood about twelve feet away from me. By this time I could hear the real Aka-Inu samurai getting closer.

"

I

have a job to do so let us settle this issue instead." Her left eyebrow rose a little.

I removed my ninja-to from its saya and cut off a small tree branch. I put the sword away and set it down against the tree trunk. Then I removed the boy from my back and hung him from the cut limb.

I addressed her with, "I will make you a wager. If you can lift the boy from the limb and carry him safely to the ground, then I will not carry him through these woods. I will instead return him safely to his family. If you cannot, then you will let me go with him. Agreed?"

She had a large feral smile as she said, "Agreed!"

And quick as lightening she was past me up the trunk and had lowered the boy to the ground. She was smiling the whole time until she looked at me. Standing there. Holding her ball.

"Now, if you would be so kind as to see us safely to Goemon Toshi, I would be very grateful, Kitsune-Tsuki sama."

She was furious as she opened a stairway into the ground. As we descended she said, "You promised you would return the boy."

"Yes, but I did not say when." Once we were in the stone tunnel below and the door above us was sealed I squatted down in front of her. "It was implied that the boy would be returned alive and unharmed. Correct?"

"Yes."

I nodded. "I will keep this promise but you must make sure his father and family do not know that. If they should find out I promised this then I will not be able to ensure his safety. The Koga have many ways to kill. I am not the only one. You understand, Kitsune-Tsuki sama?"

She looked down. "His father will be very scared, Hiro san."

"Then his father should learn to be more judicious in choosing his enemies."

She nodded. "We should hurry. The walk will only take a moment but by the time we resurface it will have been a week."

I nodded and put her ball in my shirt. "Once we get to my people I need you to stay hidden. Stay within an arm's reach of the boy but do not let my people know you are there unless he is threatened, Kitsune-Tsuki sama." She looked at me curiously so I explained. "If the Koga find out I have a Hoshi-no-Tama in my shirt, they may abuse the privilege. And I do not wish to curse my House just because someone got greedy."

A few moments later we walked up a flight of stairs and stood a short distance from the shack where we were to keep the boy. When I got to the house I found Eita waiting for me. I sat down the bundle I was carrying and removed the boy from it. Then I settled him onto the sleeping mat in the corner.

"Hiro san, you are a wonder."

"Domo arigato, my lord."

"Anything I should know?"

"I had to promise a Kitsune-Tsuki the boy would be fine,

if

his father cooperated. I made sure to explain that if his family found out about this promise then I could not guarantee his safety." He stared at me. "Is that a problem, my lord?"

"No! That is fine, but how did you get them to let you go?"

"They know me. I simply made them think about just how many of their mononofu would die if they tried to stop me. Since I had promised to keep the boy safe, it did not seem worth taking the risk."

I should have felt bad about lying to Eita but I had killed enough children to know their lives are not something you risk.

Eita was impressed. That made me happy. The short of it is, the boy's father backed our

negotiations with the Emperor. The Emperor said 'No' anyway. So the boy was back with his father within two weeks. Even though our overall goal was a failure we accomplished a few things. The Aka-Inu knew their forest wouldn't keep them safe from us. The Kitsune-Tsuki knew we kept our word. And I didn't have to kill anyone.