A Woman of Edo Ch. 02

I will tell you now how I was raped, and met my captor.

I awoke in darkness. From the smell of donkey, and the jolting motion, I realized immediately that I was in a covered cart. My hands and feet were bound, and I had been gagged.

My forehead didn't hurt where it had been struck, though I felt a bump there. I was unafraid. On the contrary I felt a strange sense of excitement. For I felt that, captive though I was, I was embarked at last on an adventure some part of my soul had always known would befall me, and which I had been eagerly awaiting.

I saw the ground passing below through a knot-hole in the wooden floor of the cart. Then I became aware that there was something in the cart that glittered in the dim light. It was a Go stone.

I lay there. After many hours I could no longer see the ground through the hole; it had grown dark outside. I fell asleep to the sound of the donkey's hooves and the gentle rocking of the cart.

I was awoken by the silence and lack of motion as the cart stopped. I peered down at the knot-hole. Daylight shone through.

I heard a man dismount.

With an effort, I swept my legs across the floor, and managed to brush the Go stone out through the bottom of the cart onto the ground below. It was a desperate hope that perhaps someone would find it and thereby be alerted to my presence.

The roof of the cart was drawn back, and I was momentarily blinded by the grey daylight.

Before I knew it, a man jumped up onto the cart and hoisted me over his shoulder as though I were a bundle of straw. It was Ko. I marvelled at the strength of the old man.

In silence, he climbed a short slope up from the road, where there were a few caves. I recalled then that the komuso were said to live in caves.

I was dumped on a bed of rags in a dark corner of the cave. Ko turned to me and said, "I will return shortly and give you water. In the meantime, do not make any noise. There are bears in these parts!"

I did not believe him, but it any case I was unable to make more than the smallest sound through the gag.

He went out of the cave, and I was left to try and fathom the reason for my capture. I assumed that I had been kidnapped for ransom, as my father's wealth was well-known.

As I lay waiting for Ko to return, and thinking more and more of the water he would bring, I heard the thud of heavy footsteps outside the cave. They were not the footsteps of a man.

My heart froze as I saw, silhouetted against the entrance of the cave, a massive creature. A bear, larger than any man! I cowered against a wall, hoping he would not scent my fear and find me.

But it was no bear. For it lit a torch and I saw then that it was indeed a man, though barely so: It was my father's partner, Jordaens.

He held the torch and looked around. And then he spied me.

"Who's there?" He said. He drew his sword and approached. "Come out, before I run you through!"

But then he saw that I was bound up, though he still recognized me not.

He bent and undid my gag. And then he saw it was I.

"By heavens!" He exclaimed. "What have we here? It's young Akiko! This is a most curious thing."

With his sword he cut through my bonds. He bade me stand, but my limbs were numb and I could not.

"Tell me," he said, to himself it seemed. "How is it that the daughter of Riu Hideoshi winds up in here, with a bruise on her forehead?"

I told him then of my capture, what little I knew of it.

He paced about, his eyes afire. I heard him curse the name of Ko. I wondered at this. What connection had my abductor with this man?

After a while, he turned to me. He smiled; but his grey eyes gleamed in the torchlight.

"You must be shaken and feared after your plight. And thirsty."

I told him then I was nearly parched of thirst.

"Here, I have a pouch of water." He undid a leather water-pouch from his side and handed it to me. I went to take it, but he did not let go, but instead grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me to him. He thrust the spout of the water-pouch into my mouth and poured the liquid into me. It was not water, but a strong rice wine that burned my throat all the more.

"You like the feel of fire in your throat, don't you, little Fire-belly?"

He thrust the pouch aside. He lifted me by the waist and carried me towards a wall of the cave. He held me against the wall with one great hand, encircling my neck, while with the other, he tore off my garments, shredding them as though they were paper. When I was all naked, he stopped. He observed my body. So intense and hungry was his face that I felt violated by his stare.

He grabbed my hips and lifted me. I felt his huge fingers digging deep into my lower back. He pressed his putrid face onto my white breasts. He inhaled my scent, and his passions rose. He raised me high above him so that my hips were level with his head. He thrust his wide nose into my groin, and snuffled there like a pig.

He stood me back onto the ground. He removed his clothes and stood naked before me. He was so repulsive to behold that I screwed up my eyes. He cared not.

"Kneel."

I obeyed, for there was no way I could escape him.

"Open your eyes. See the sword that will claim your life."

His manhood grew, until it was a monstrous beast. It stank like rotting meat. The shaft was rippled and veined like a warrior's arm. He pushed my head down onto it, until I nearly choked from the stench. He forced my mouth open with his thumb and forefinger, and pushed it inside my mouth.

"Move your quick tongue, fire-cunt. You'll get your drink soon."

He dropped his hands, closed his eyes and swayed slightly back and forth, rocking my head with him.

The swaying increased in speed, and then stopped. I felt his hot juice striking against the back of my throat, and jerked my head back and attempted to break free. Angered, he grabbed a handful of my hair and shoved my head back down onto him so that I choked.

When he had finished, I stayed on my knees. He ran his fingers over my mouth roughly and wiped his juice over my hair.

I thought then that my ordeal was over, but I was wrong.

He pulled me up by the shoulders, slowly, almost languidly. The wild flame in his eyes had changed to deep glowing coals, less bright, but hotter.

With one enormous hand he gripped my ass. He squeezed it, harder and harder. I howled with the pain, and felt his fingers would tear through me. I screamed as he pushed his writhing fat finger deep into the hole between my buttocks. His strength was inhuman; he lifted me thus impaled into the air.

"Now, let's see if we can put out that fire."

He lowered me down onto his manhood, which had grown once more, but now shone and glistened with my saliva.

I screamed as he entered me. He was too big, too big. I would die. I had never felt a man inside me, but knew that he was no ordinary man, and would kill me. I began to lose consciousness. I felt myself turn to a paper shell, as thin and insubstantial as the skin on a snake that he would soon slough off.

He remained inside me, rocking me back and forth, from behind his finger thrusting deep inside my bowels, from the front his manhood hammering against my womb. And soon I began to rock with him. And I began to burn. I felt I was nearing my end. He had set the fire within me astir, and the flames would destroy us both. I wept at the how short my little life had been. I heard him laugh, but already the sounds of the world were growing distant. I gave myself to the fire, and prepared to die.

Faintly, I heard him speak.

"What do you want, old man. Get you gone, before I hack you down."

I heard a strange, low whistle, and a loud crack. The rocking stopped. Dimly, I looked up at his face. He stared at me in surprise. Two streams of dark red blood issued from his nostrils. He fell back, I on top of him.

A pair of hands pulled me away. I lay curled on my side. I felt my own blood pouring from my groin. I passed out.

Many hours or even days I lay semi-conscious. But when I awoke I felt somewhat revived. I sat up, and saw Ko seated nearby. He watched me silently with keen eyes. He leaned towards me and I cowered.

He spoke. "Do not be afraid. Here. I brought you water."

I took from him a pitcher of water, and drank long, while he watched me.

"You are both my captor and my saviour. Yet I still know not who you are, or what you want with me."

"You are my prisoner. But I will not mistreat you, as he has done."

There was something in his voice that made me feel he spoke truly. Yet I suspected him still.

"But who are you? You are no monk, for what monk would kill a man?"

For answer he stood, and straightened up tall, and I saw his face transform itself from that of an old man to a youthful one, the lines and creases disappearing. He pulled at his long grey beard. It was false, and came off in his hand. He threw it to the ground. I gasped.

"Indeed you are no monk, you are a devil, that can change his shape!"

"You saw the creases in my face, the grey beard, my bent back. But you didn't see the man. As in our game of Go, you focused on the details, but missed the whole. My name is Kano Takegawa, and you are correct: I am no more a monk than are you."

"Kano Takegawa. That name is unknown to me, and I doubt it is your own. But whoever you be, you cannot further increase my shame by subjecting me to further torment at your hands. Therefore I fear you not. Better you should take my life now. Unless you wish to see me take my own."

This last was a lie. For in spite of all my pain and indignity, I was strong. And I felt that, as in Go, wherein it is unwise to resign before the game is truly ended, so the premature taking of one's own life is foolish. Fortunes may change with the placing of a single stone.

"Dead or alive, you shall remain here until your father has handed over to me the five hundred ryu he stole from Jordaens."

"My father? My father is no thief!"

"Your knowledge of your father is as your knowledge of Go, and of the world in general. You see only the detail, but never the whole. Your father is indeed a thief. But he would protest, preferring rather to call himself a 'shrewd businessman'. Jordaens was only one among many that he stole from. Do you think that a lowly townsman can achieve the wealth equal to that of the highest noblemen in Edo without resorting to thievery?"

"You lie! My father is a good and honest man!"

"I will not argue it. Your opinion of your father is not important to me."

He sat down heavily and said no more.

Many days we remained in the cave. I had become fevered, and would be some days recovering. A low, glowing fire had always burned within me, but since my ordeal it had sprung to flame, and still engulfed me. I writhed in the nights, as I relived the horror of my rape.

Kano gave me medicines to drink which gave me relief, and he bathed my skin with cool water. He burned Ho leaf, and its scent revived me further.

Soon, although I was still very weak, I felt recovered enough to take a morsel of rice bread that he offered me.

He brought me clothes, crude grey peasant's clothes, in contrast to my indigo and yellow kimono which still lay in tatters on the floor of the cave.

As I recovered, my wits returned, and I began to plot my escape. For I did not believe Kano's story. I recalled the surprise that Jordaens had shown when he had found me here. This man Kano was no crude thug, to hire himself out as a kidnapper.

But he must have sensed my plans, for one day he bound my feet once more, though he left my hands and mouth free.

"I said to you before that I would not treat you ill. But do not think therefore that I would not break your neck like a chicken's, quickly but without cruelty, if you attempt to escape or call for help."

I will tell you how I learned to hear silence.

Kano was skilled in medicine, and I was strong in spirit. After two weeks, my strength had returned.

But my brutal deflowering had wrought a change in me. I would dream again and again of Jordaens, and it still shames me to tell that I awoke from these dreams agitated, and with a burning desire to feel once again his deathly weapon inside me.

I longed to be out of that cave, and felt like a dog in a kennel. Kano came and went often, I knew not where. Whenever he left he would bind me and gag my mouth, so I could not call out.

Each time he returned, his mood was black. I guessed he had some business concerning me, which was not going as he wished.

Being completely at his mercy, I feared that whenever he went from me he would not return. I would feel so great a relief when I saw his silhouette reappear at the mouth of the cave that I would weep.

One morning he prepared for me my medicine. We sat at the cave's entrance. I watched his delicate quick fingers, and the smooth skin on his arms, as he sliced up some sweet-smelling leaves. He said to me, "It will not be long now. Soon you will be free."

My heart felt then the searing arrow of disgrace. I could not bear to face my father after my violation. Yet still I was unable to contemplate taking my own life. Not through fear of death; for surely to face my father required a greater courage.

"Has my father then agreed to the ransom?"

He told me curtly it was no business of mine.

I answered him that my own kidnapping was surely my business, insofar as I was the item under negotiation.

He turned to me angrily, and opened his mouth to regale me, but instead he merely said:

"You are clearly fully recovered, for you are now become as irritating as a fly on my arse."

He rubbed his chin.

"I need a shave."

He left my side and disappeared behind me into the cave.

I watched the birds flying in the blue sky. The sun shone brightly, but it cheered me not. In my sorrow, I sang.

Kano called out to me. "There is nobody about to hear you but the swallows, and even those you will drive away with your caterwaul."

He came and stood in front of me at the mouth of the cave, and looked out. He had stripped to his waist. I watched the muscles of his back ripple as he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glare.

I felt an impulse to touch his smooth skin, but my shame prevented me from doing so, and I recoiled.

"But you are also here, Master Ko," I replied. "Do you not like to hear music? I cannot now sing a joyful song, but-"

"Listen!" His voice was an urgent command. I instantly obeyed.

I listened, but heard nothing but the wind and a distant chirping of crickets. After a moment I glanced at him.

"I hear nothing."

"Then you are singing."

I could not tell if he jested me with a riddle, as he still faced away from me. But then he turned quickly and fetched his bamboo cane, with which he had killed Jordaens. I saw that its grain was still stained with Jordaens' blood. He sat cross-legged upon the ground, and placed its just below his lips.

And then my skin crawled and my heart beat fast: A note, pure and deep, issued from that cane, and filled the air. It seemed soon to originate from within me, and I felt as though my body were lifted by a warm, gentle, but irresistible current of air.

The sound continued for many minutes. And although the note was constant, it seemed to contain within it a melody, complex and unbearably beautiful. I wept.

Eventually he stopped, and lowered the cane.

A man was watching us from the road below.

"Hail, empty-head!" he called. "Any good grub around these parts?"

I saw that it was another monk; on his head he wore the same peculiar hat I had seen Kano wear.

Kano stood. "Hail yourself! I know not. For I am passing through."

"I too am passing through, on my way to Edo, to seek me a virgin in the pussy-houses of Yoshiwara!"

The monk climbed the bank towards us, puffing and blowing. I saw he had a cane like Kano's.

He stood, and bowed low, first at Kano, then at me. He gave no sign of curiosity or surprise at my being there.

"I heard your ro, and thought you would begin a honkyoku. But it seems that you got stuck on the first note."

"I was teaching my niece here the blowing-meditation."

"Well, she seems a quick thing, perhaps we should play to her the Song of The River and the Dragonfly."

And then the monk played a high, rapid tune on his cane. He stopped after playing a short phrase. It seemed to me that it was a question.

He stopped, and waited. Kano raised his cane and blew an answering phrase.

Quicker and more complex the melody grew, until finally the old monk stopped, laughing, and a little out of breath.

"Stop, young bullock! I have heard enough. You pass the test; you are one of us. You are a Fuke. You can't be too careful, with all these ronin about."

"And you are a horny old toad, yet you are also one on the Path."

"Yes. Yes. Oh, speaking of paths, I chanced upon this pretty Go stone on the road down below. Is it yours, by any chance?"

Kano flicked a glance at me.

"What do you think, old fool? With a Go set of pure pearl clamshell stones such as this, would I be tarrying here in torn rags in the woods, with only heather for an arse-wipe?"

The monk held my eye. "Perhaps this stone is yours. Perhaps it is a Horikomi [sacrifice play]. Or a Hamete [trap]."

"It is not mine."

"Well! If it belongs to neither of you, then I will keep it myself, and trade it for a new pair of sandals. For I feel every pebble through these". He balanced on his cane, and raised a leg, showing us the holes in his sandal.

He remained balanced thus on one foot, and said to us: "And now, young master, young mistress, I will leave you with a final song." And he broke wind loudly.

Kano watched the old monk amble away until he was out of sight. Then he turned to me and said, "You almost had your revenge. That is the second time I have beaten you by a single stone."