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spoke through me, "Live and get revenge," and he smiled and leaped to
his feet, the sword in his hand. I helped him get away and took him
back to his mother's house in Hagi. By the time we got there we had
become friends."
"I often wondered how you met," Shizuka said. "So you saved his life."
"Not I but Jato. This is the way it goes from hand to hand. Takeo
has it because Yuki gave it to him in Inuyama. And because of her
disobedience then the Kikuta started to distrust her."
"How strange are the ways of fate," Shizuka murmured.
"Yes, there is some bond between us all that I cannot fight. It's
mainly because Jato chose Takeo, through my daughter, that I feel we
must work with him. Apart from that, I can keep my promise never to
harm him and maybe make amends for the role I played in Shigeru's
death." He paused and then said in a low voice, "I did not see the look
on his face when Takeo and I did not return that night in Inuyama, but
it is the expression he wears when he visits me in dreams."
Neither of them said anything for a few moments. A sudden flash of
lightning lit the room, and Shizuka could hear thunder rolling in the
mountains. Kenji went on: "I hope your Kikuta blood will not take you
from us now."
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"No, your decision is a relief to me because it means I can keep faith
with Kaede. I'm sorry, but I would never have done anything to hurt
either of them."
Her admission made him smile again. "So I have always thought. Not only
because of your affection for Kaede--I know how strong your feelings
were for both Shigeru and Lady Maruyama, and the part you played in the
alliance with Arai." Kenji was looking at her closely. "Shizuka, you
did not seem completely surprised when I told you about Shigeru's
records. I have been trying to deduce who his informant in the Tribe
might have been."
She was trembling despite herself. Her disobedience--treachery, to give
it its true name--was about to be disclosed. She could not imagine what
the Tribe would do to her.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Kenji went on.
"Uncle," she began.
"Don't be alarmed," he said quickly. "I will never speak of it to
another soul. But I would like to know why."
"It was after Yaegahara," she said. "I gave the information to Iida
that Shigeru was seeking alliances with the Seishuu. Shigeru confided
in Arai, and I passed the information on. It was because of me that the
Tohan triumphed, because of me that ten thousand died on the
battlefield and countless others afterward from torture and starvation.
I watched Shigeru in the years following and was filled with admiration
for his patience and fortitude. He seemed to me the only good man I had
ever met, and I had played a leading part in his downfall. So I
resolved to help him, to make amends. He asked me many things about the
Tribe, and I told him everything I could. It was not hard to keep it
secret--it was what I had been trained to do." She paused and then
said, "I am afraid you will be very angry."
He shook his head. "I should be, I suppose. If I had found out anytime
before this, I would have had to order your punishment and death." He
was gazing at her with admiration. "Truly you have the Kikuta gift of
fearlessness. In fact I am glad you did what you did. You helped
Shigeru, and now that legacy protects Takeo. It may even make amends
for my own betrayal."
"Will you go to Takeo now?"
"I was hoping to have a little more news. Kondo should return soon.
Otherwise, yes, I will go to Maruyama."
"Send a messenger--send me. It's too dangerous to go yourself. But will
Takeo trust anyone from the Tribe?"
"Maybe we will both go. And we will take your sons."
She gazed steadily at him. A mosquito was whining near her hair, but
she did not brush it away.
"They will be our guarantee to him," Kenji said quietly.
Lightning flashed again; the thunder was closer. Suddenly rain began to
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fall heavily.
It poured from the eaves, and the smell of earth sprang from the garden.
The storm lashed the village for three or four days. Before Kondo
returned, another message came, from a Muto girl who worked in Lord
Fujiwara's residence in the South. It was brief and tantalizing,
telling them none of the details they wanted to know, written in haste,
and apparently in some danger, saying only that Shirakawa Kaede was in
the house and was married to Fujiwara.
"What have they done to her now?" Kenji said, shaken out of his grief
by anger.
"We always knew the marriage with Takeo would be opposed," Shizuka
said. "I imagine Fujiwara and Arai have arranged this between them.
Lord Fujiwara wanted to marry her before she left in the spring. I'm
afraid I encouraged her to become close to him."
She pictured Kaede imprisoned within the luxurious residence, remembering
the nobleman's cruelty, and wished she had acted differently.
"I don't know what's happened to me," she said to her uncle. "I
used to be indifferent to all these things. Now I find I care deeply;
I'm outraged and horrified, and filled with pity for them both."
"Since I first set eyes on her I've been moved by Lady Shirakawa's
plight," he replied. "It's hard not to pity her even more now."
"What will Takeo do?" Shizuka wondered aloud. "He will go to war,"
Kenji predicted. "And almost certainly be defeated. It may be too late
for us to make peace with him."
Shizuka saw her uncle's grief descend on him again. She was afraid he
would indeed follow his daughter into death and tried to make sure he
was never left alone.
Another week passed before Kondo finally returned. The weather had
cleared and Shizuka had walked to the shrine to pray again to the war
god to protect Takeo. She bowed to the image and stood, clapped her
hands three times, asking also, helplessly, that Kaede might be
rescued. As she turned to walk away, Taku came shimmering out of
invisibility in front of her.
"Ha!" he said in triumph. "You didn't hear me that time!"
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