The Hand of Death Ch. 20

Chapter XX

"The Army on the March"

"The Art of War"

~by Sun Tzu~

I would wake up and pass out again several times over the next few weeks. I remember the ship ride took forever, or maybe it was a cart. I didn't fully come to until I was safely in Goemon Toshi. I remember, vaguely, seeing one of my ronin sitting next to me on the boat, Jerukukami or Menuki, one of those. I remember dreaming of a white dog snuggling with me in my parents' house. I awoke when Shogun Eita came in. I was in my Sensei's room.

"How is he, Grandfather?"

"He will survive, my lord."

"Will he be... useful?"

"Oh Yes. Gunso Toritono came by and worked on him for several hours. He said his body is broken and his spirit is broken. But his mind is sound. His opinion is the body will heal and then the spirit."

"So he is not insane."

"Eita sama, he was clearly insane for a little while. Would you have been any different?"

"...No. But he is lucky. Only ten RyuKyu lived through his attack."

"I would say they are lucky. I did tell you after his fight with that Honshu he would be quite good, my lord." I heard Eita laugh at that.

"So what do we do if we ever have to kill him?" Eita asked seriously.

"...Send more than 100 men and hope he does not have a friend with him."

I could hear Eita sit down close to my side. "Koga-ko..."

They had both fallen silent but I could hear them drinking. I was not sure what to do. I did not feel like getting up but I did not want to stay either. Sleep. Sleep would have been good but I was too tired. They turned to me immediately when I started to rise. My left arm was slung around my shoulder and my left eye was bandaged.

"My lords." I was tired.

Grandfather put his hand on my shoulder. "Lay still Hiro. You have many wounds to recover from."

Eita spoke next. "You did well, little brother."

"Domo arigato, my lord."

"It is nothing, but rest now."

I nodded and said, "How are the ronin?"

He laughed. "Stubborn. They refuse to leave until they have seen 'their' lord."

He looked disappointed when I didn't laugh. I wasn't in a laughing mood.

"I knew they were loyal."

Sensei nodded to me. "You chose well."

We talked for several more moments and then Eita had to leave. They told me the ronin had healed me up. Brought me and Ketsumempo's body back. They had hired porters for the trade goods at Mura Ibusuki. Once we were just outside of the Koga lands they paid off the porters, changed back to ronin cloths and hired more porters to bring us back to Goemon Toshi. They were waiting for me at a tea-house just outside the castle. Eita had tried to make them leave but they wouldn't. He was hesitant to kill them, out of respect for a friend he said. Masao had interviewed all of them and Koruko. Koruko had come ahead of the ronin by a few weeks. He had realized someone very powerful was going to be upset about the death of Ketsumempo and he wanted to soften it as much as possible. Her funeral had been a few days ago but Daimyo Daiki and his wife Akiko were still in town. No one was sure why.

"To kill me for failing them."

He shook his head. "No. Daiki knows these tunnels. He could have come down at any time and done that."

"If he wants revenge his victim has to be awake."

He shook his head but couldn't muster the words to disagree with me. Grandfather helped me to rise and dress. He thought I should rest. The beating I took would require much of it but I just couldn't. Before I left I asked him to arrange a meeting for me with Lord Masao.

"Easily done. He wants to see you as soon as you have handled this ronin issue."

"Take me to him please."

"Should you not deal with the ronin first?"

"I have a favor to ask of him. If he grants it or not will alter how I handle them." I limped after him towards my Daimyo. Luckily he was in the gardens so the walk would not be long. I limped up each painful stair and finally out into the gardens. Lord Masao had been talking with his brother. I saw Eita step to the side as we entered. I heard her before I saw her. Crying. When I looked to see where it came from she was in front of me. Akiko. Her hands were engulfed in blue flames and she punched me in the chest. The strike was so hard it sent me falling back several feet until I crumpled to the ground. The pain was almost too much for me but then she was standing over me screaming.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER, HIRO!... You were supposed to...keep her....."

All I could do was watch as she knelt to the ground crying into her hands, until Daiki came up behind her and grabbed her by the arms. I don't know what he said to her but he was able to get her to stand before he walked her out of the gardens. It broke my heart to see his tattooed face so sad. With help from Grandfather and Eita I was able to stand again. I walked back towards Masao and bowed to my Daimyo. Very stiffly. He did not return it. I knelt as best I could before him.

"I have just heard that you were awake." He sounded displeased again.

"Yes, my Daimyo."

"I dare say the RyuKyu got the message."

"They did."

"I am surprised at you Hiro. I send you to destroy some goods and leave a note. Instead you maim and mutilate over seventy samurai and burn down their entire smuggling operation!" He stared at me for several moments but I didn't have anything to say about it. "I left explicit orders for you to deal with these ronin."

"I have a request, my Daimyo. How I deal with them will depend upon your answer."

"Well, since you have never requested anything from me before, I might be inclined to grant it. What is it?"

"I would be most grateful if you would grant me the Shiro no Kuninoko to the north west of Goemon Toshi, my Daimyo."

He seemed to give a light chuckle. "You wish to become a farmer, Hiro san?"

"No, my lord. I wish to try my hand at managing a castle."

"And the fact that this is the ancestral home of your ronin, that has little to do with it I assume?"

"It does have a little to do with it, my Daimyo."

He thought for a moment before yelling, "No! You destroy the RyuKyu property in the most brutal of fashions and get my favorite Onmyoji killed due to your ineptitude! And you expect a reward?! No!" There was another long pause. "Do to my fear of reprisal I have sent your mother to Teikoku Toshi no Kyoto to stay with your father. I have also sent your uncle Tozasu and his wife to stay with your uncle Kagi just to be sure they will not be harmed." He smiled. "Unfortunately at this time housing for samurai is in short supply so you will have to find new accommodations, Hiro." I just sat there and stared at the ground. "Do you have anything else to say, Hiro?" I was very careful not to let any venom slip into my next words.

"I await your orders, my Daimyo."

"Get out of my sight." I carefully stood to leave. "Hiro san?"

I turned to face him. "Yes, my Daimyo?"

"You are a disappointment."

At that he rose and walked away. I thanked Eita and Grandfather for helping me but I needed some time alone. I left them in the gardens as I limped the long walk out of the castle. The tea-house was a short distance away. As I approached I could hear an argument.

"I do not care what you are doing! We do not want you here!" My ronin sat at a corner table in the back of the room. Masakari was trying to calmly explain himself to three very angry Koga samurai. I had managed to limp to the doorway before I had to stop.

"We will not leave until our lord has released us, Goemon sama."

I was about to speak when I saw something I never would have expected. My old friends, Sashi, Kiki, Kajiru and Kai all stood from a back table and walked up behind the three Koga. From their posture it looked like they were displeased with these men. I saw Masakari lean to the side from where he sat and look at Sashi and my friends. I do not know what he saw on their faces but he leaned back to his sitting position and said, "I think you have something far more pressing than me, just behind you Goemon sama."

The mononofu were smiling as they looked behind them. That is until they saw Sashi and the others. Apparently, they were not laughing.

Taisa Sashi spoke, "These men are in the employ of a friend of ours, boy."

The mononofu blanched. "Sir. I..."

"We have been to war with their lord." The mononofu just stood there stunned. "Something we have in common with these men..." He nodded towards Masakari and the others. "So you can understand why my friends and I want to kill you and your friends."

"Gomen nasai, Taisa sama," said the samurai.

"Leave!" Sashi yelled.

They did. Masakari bowed to him and Sashi returned it. Then Sashi, Kiki, Kajiru and Kai sat down with my men. I limped in towards them. Masakari looked up and saw me.

"My lord!" My men walked quickly over to me and knelt with their heads bowed.

"Rise." They had many questions, all of which I had to put off answering. "Wait for me outside. I must thank my friends before I can join you."

As they left, my four other friends stepped forward.

"You have looked better, Taisa." Kiki said.

I nodded. "I wanted to thank you for helping my men."

Sashi replied, "It was the least we could do. We are to be promoted again."

"Congratulations." I should have felt happy for them.

"No, it is because of our finding that caravan you told us about."

"I am glad I could help but I am afraid that I must go now." They nodded.

"We will be going with you," said Kajiru.

I shook my head. "Daimyo Masao hates me. I do not think it wise for you to be around me right now."

Sashi replied, "Taisa, we do not care. We owe you much and if you are correct about Masao, then you need all the support you can get."

"I am too beat up to argue."

Kiki smiled. "Good because you look like you need help walking."

With that she supported me and helped me limp back outside to my men. We walked together to a shrine outside of the castle. Not many people came here this time of day so we would have some privacy. We sat and talked for a while.

"Masakari, I told you, you were released from your contract."

Masakari replied to me. "And we believed you, Hiro sama. But we all agreed we couldn't just leave you unprotected." The others nodded. "So we watched and waited to see if you needed us." Kubikiri butted in. "We are all very sorry we couldn't save, Lady Ketsumempo. We will miss her." I didn't need to hear about my failure again!

"It was not your fault. The RyuKyu made the right decision. They killed the Onmyoji first. Normally that would have been the correct move."

"We were all pleased to see you made them pay for their error." This came from Menuki.

I nodded. "I am not sure I will be able to afford all six of you indefinitely."

Yumi replied with, "Then we will work for nothing."

I could see that they meant it. As much as I wanted to be left alone, I realized they weren't going anywhere. I sighed.

"So you are not buying the 'I am poor' story?"

Hoko chimed in with, "We simply do not care, Hiro sama."

"Well we will need a place to live. As I was just telling my four old friends here, I am not a favorite of Daimyo Masao at the present so I no longer have a home."

"Ronin?" said Menuki.

I shook my head. "No. Just homeless."

Kai asked, "Why is he being so cruel?"

I shook my head. "He has always disliked me. Now I have finally given him a reason."

Masakari stated, "We have heard he has forbidden any of the Koga from renting or selling you a room or house. But your friend... Anaido?" I nodded. "He says we can use his warehouse and that you would know the one."

"Very well then. Kubikiri, have you been keeping track of our finances?"

"I have my lord."

"How are we sitting?"

"My estimate puts you at two and a half times what we left with, once everything is sold."

I nodded. "10,000 gold pieces?"

"Yes." He said. Like it was nothing.

I kind of shook my head at his obtuse behavior. "How much do we have in coin?"

"Just over 7000."

"Where are the goods and money being kept?"

"Anaido's men are guarding it for us while they work with their inventory."

I nodded. "Does anyone know what happened to my things from my mother's house?"

Hoko stated, "Yes, a Komono named, Chi, told me your mother left them with your Sensei."

"Good. Chi is a friend from my childhood." I told them so they would know he could be

trusted.

"Does anyone know what happened to Koruko?"

Masakari answered. "After the funeral he went back to his lord's court at the castle, though we have seen him several times since we arrived."

"Has he been acting odd in any way?"

"No. Do you suspect him of something?"

"No. But if he had been up to anything you would be able to tell. He is very talented but not as a liar. Kajiru will you take Menuki and her brother Hoko into town and find a carpenter named Shotoku Hiroki?" He nodded. "Tell him I want him to come by Anaido's warehouse. I have some work for him." The three of them bowed. When I returned it they left. "Kai, will you take Yumi and Jerukukami to the castle and find my Sensei? Pick up what things he has for me and be sure to tell him where we live now." They nodded and left as well. "The rest of us are going home."

Masakari helped me to rise and we strolled, slowly, to the warehouse. Anaido was there and very happy to see me. Thankfully, many of the items Ketsumempo had purchased were furniture, so we would be able to make ourselves pretty comfortable here. Anaido and I discussed business in the office while the others set things aside that we would need to live. I paid him his half for any items we kept.

"Hiro sama, that is not necessary," he said.

"Just because I have had a bad month is no reason for you to take a loss my friend."

"As you wish but you have already made me a rich man."

"Well at least something good came out of this..."

"It is funny. I no sooner got the Hokkaido goods moved out than I suddenly had three carts from some Bandai I had never heard of."

That actually got me to smile a little. "I had planned for everything. Except what to do with the extra goods she traded for."

He laughed. "It was fine. I caught on very fast. But ten carts in one day were a bit much."

I laughed. "You should have seen her. She would bat her eyes and whisper to them. "I must have at least ten copper a foot for iron rods my lord."

"You are kidding me?!"

"One of my men asked if it was a spell. Those merchants had no idea what they were agreeing to."

Anaido laughed so hard at that. Then I remembered she was gone.

"Hiroki is coming by to do some work on the warehouse. I'm going to have him add some rooms to the second floor and a porch and bath."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

I shook my head. "Where are the ledgers?'

We spent the next half hour going over the books and notes from what I had sent in. It was nice to have something else to think about. Hiroki showed up and I told him what I wanted.

"That is not hard. Since this is a warehouse all of the support beams are already in place. Eight silver should suffice for all of it, Hiro sama."

"...word got out that I'm rich I take it?"

"Hiro means generous, you know."

"I will pay you two now, two when you are done and I will generously forget you said eight."

"That sounds fair." he stated.

We bowed and he left. My men had all returned from their errands and were in the office with us.

Anaido asked, "There are better carpenters in town. Why did you choose Hiroki?"

"Because his work is acceptable and he has a big mouth. Everyone in Goemon Toshi will know where to find me by nightfall."

The work took a week. Hiroki had two sons and two daughters to help him. They were a pretty good team. The first thing I had him do was to construct the rooms that would actually give this place a second floor. Right now it just had a high two story ceiling. I didn't want to take all of it as that space was useful when Anaido had big cargo to store, but the stretch across the front of the building could be sacrificed. He was able to build three rooms above the office with a walkway. I went ahead and paid him an additional two silver for a balcony across the front. Then he was able to finish the porch that wrapped around the office to the back of the building. At the far end of the porch I had him build a concealed large heated bath. Once all was done, I tipped him two more silver.

He looked at the coins in his hand and looked at me with an odd sort of squint.

"OK." Then he bowed and left. The whole job did cost me eight silver.

I had given Masakari the first room upstairs. Since they were family, I gave Menuki and Hoko the second room while the other three got the last room. I took the office as I was still not very good with stairs. I liked the porch. I couldn't sit properly because of my wounded leg and being in an alley meant people didn't notice me. I sat there a lot over the next month. During that time my bandages had come off. I found out my left eye had been destroyed by the explosion. And I was very stiff. There were also many more scars now on my face, arm, leg and chest.

I went back to practicing my Kara-Te, Ju-Do and Ninjutsu before the sun came up. My men would join me about that time and we would practice Koga Jujutsu together and I would finish with my Bandai Jujutsu after sending them to get cleaned up. But I was still very stiff and sore. I was pretty well beaten, in every sense, and my lifestyle choices came down to drinking sake like water or sitting on my porch.

For whatever reason I chose the porch... Usually.

A few weeks later I was on my porch, after a rough night of not having chosen the porch. My head was hurting when I felt a presence in front of me. I looked up to see Daimyo Hiroki. I tried to rise but he stopped me.

"Hiro,...you look like hell."

"Domo arigato, my lord?"

He sat down across from me. "Is this tea?"

"Yes. My man Hoko actually has a gift for it. Let me call some..."

He held up his hand to interrupt me. "No, I am not so feeble or vain as to need a servant for tea."

I smiled a little. "What brings you to the warehouse district my lord?"

"You... Do you know why I do not like women, Hiro?" I shook my head. "...When I was a young man I had a woman I loved. She was not the prettiest or the smartest but I loved her and we were betrothed by my father... The bitch left me for a common Hanchou."

A Hanchou is a squad leader in charge of ten samurai. "So your honor was hurt?"

"Oh I would have told you "yes" at the time but it was not true. I wanted to believe it was a loss of face, but that is a lie as well. No. My heart was broken and I was angry."

"What happened?"

"I became a bitter old bastard." I gave a small laugh while he finished his tea. When he finished he set down the cup and got up to leave. "I think Masao did you a favor evicting you to the warehouse district," he said as he looked around. "It is peaceful here. That is good for healing."

I laughed again. "I hope so."

He looked at me, "Get better Hiro. The others are dull without you." Then he bowed and left.

I'm not sure why, but it was easier to choose the porch after that talk. How much time later, I cannot recall but a few, weeks? I think. I found myself being joined by my man Masakari.

"I never thanked you for saving my life." I said.

"I never thanked you for giving mine purpose again."

I smiled. "Domo arigato, Masakari san."

He bowed a little. "Do itashimashite, Hiro sama."

We drank some tea before he spoke again. "I have been waiting for the right time to ask..."