by India Millar
“I suppose the rumors must be about me.” I was so shocked I didn’t even try to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about. “But how did people find out what happened?”
“Everybody in the Floating World loves gossip.” Niko shrugged as if she was stating the obvious. “Especially when it involves the aristocracy.”
“I’m not an aristocrat any longer, Niko,” I said quietly. “Do you know the story of The Forty-Seven Ronin?”
She nodded. Of course she knew the story. Every Japanese child knew it.
“Is that like you and your ninja?” By the gods, but she was quick on the uptake! “Is that what you’re both doing, taking revenge on all those who killed your family?”
“Not quite.” I spoke indulgently, and then realized that in her innocence, Niko had spoken almost the truth. “It’s not as simple as that. I’m the last of my family. If I had been born a man, I would have inherited the family name and the title and our estates. But I’m a mere woman, so I’ve been denied everything. You were right about me being promised to an old man. My father had planned the marriage before he was killed, and our daimyo, Lord Akafumu, insisted that I had to go ahead and marry Tadatomo-san.”
“But if he’s an old man, he’ll die soon and you’ll be left with plenty of money, and you’ll be free as well. You can do what you like then,” Niko said cheerfully.
“My old man has been married twice and has had no children,” I said bitterly. “And if I have no sons by him either, what then?”
Niko considered my question seriously. I could see she was turning the thought over in her mind. Suddenly she gasped in almost comic surprise.
“You still couldn’t inherit your family estate. But I know who would claim it. Your daimyo! It would all go to him and everybody would say he had done the honorable thing by not just taking it for himself when your menfolk died. It’s just like a kabuki play, but in real life!”
“If it wasn’t my life, I would probably agree with you,” I said drily. “But it is my life. And unlike the kabuki, there isn’t going to be a happy ending, nor am I going to commit suicide,” I added drily. “No matter what the rumors say.”
“No, of course not. Are you going to murder your daimyo to get your revenge on him? Can I help?” she asked eagerly.
I shook my head, smiling at her blood-thirsty enthusiasm. Niko watched me doubtfully and then began to grin.
“Have I said something wrong?” she asked. “Father always said I spoke before I thought, and I suppose I do. You will let me stay, won’t you? I can help you, even if it’s only by cleaning and cooking. That would clear the way for you to concentrate on your plans. Please?”
I stared at this girl who had been thrust into my life by forces above either of us and who obviously had no intention of leaving it again. Suddenly, my amusement vanished. She had called herself my younger sister. If I had dared to speak to Emiko in such a way, my elder sister would have told Father I had insulted her and he would have had me whipped. I was overcome with a growing pleasure at the understanding that the gods had granted me the chance to begin my life all over again. Not just with a lover who was prepared to accept me for what I was, but also with a younger sister who was everything my own sister had never been.
Niko was staring at me. I realized she was still waiting for a reply to her serious question.
“You can surely help me, Niko.” Her face glowed with delight. “And not just by housekeeping, either.”
“I can cook as well. And take your dog for a walk. And I’m very good at washing clothes.”
I held my hand up to silence her. “And when do you expect to sleep?” I teased. Niko smiled, clearly delighted.
She reminded me of a stray dog that had hung about a house for weeks, barking at strangers and existing on scraps, always hopeful that one day the door would be opened and it would be allowed in. Just like the patient dog, Niko had found the home she had longed for. I had accepted responsibility for my stray, and that was all there was to the matter.
“I love you, Kamakiri,” she blurted suddenly. “You’re my elder sister and I’ll do anything you ask me to do, I promise. You can trust me.”
Yo had told me he loved me. Until that moment, he was the only person in the whole of my life who had said that to me. And now here was this street urchin, a child I doubted Father would even have accepted as the lowest of his servants, telling me that she, too, loved me. I felt a great warmth for them both.
Suddenly, I had a family again. A family that was different from anything I had ever known. Different from anything I could even have dreamed existed. I blinked away tears, pretending that the steam had found its way into my eyes. Niko put her hand shyly into mine, and I stared at her fingers, shimmering like a white starfish through the water.
I suddenly understood how very fortunate I was.
Eighteen
A dragonfly lives
On my maple. I think your
Spirit lives in him
I should have known that acquiring a younger sister as spirited as Niko would not be so very simple. She stared at me, frowning sulkily.
“I’m not going to put those rags on again. I’ve still got that horrible Choki’s purse. If you won’t let me have a new kimono and obi, I’ll go and buy them for myself.”
We glared at each other. I glanced at the dirty, patched clothes she was wearing, and relented.
“I’m supposed to be an anma,” I explained patiently. “My clothes are no better than yours. It would look all wrong if the girl who was leading me was wearing a new, expensive kimono. People would suspect something at once.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Niko said grudgingly. “Can I have some new clothes when you’re not an anma, anymore?”
“Of course. In fact, it will be essential for you to have beautiful clothes. But not yet. First, we are going to see my daimyo, Lord Akafumu.”
I was amazed to see Niko’s usually happy face cloud with fear.
“Lord Akafumu? I can’t go to his court. I’ll stay here, Kamakiri. You take Matsuo, like you normally do.”
“No,” I said firmly. “I want you to come with me. I need you there. If anything goes wrong, you can slide away unnoticed. Nobody’s going to notice an anma’s apprentice.”
Niko was insurance. If something went amiss with my plans, and Akafumu became suspicious, I needed Niko to get away. To come back here and contact the kannushi, who in his turn could get word to Yo to come back and rescue me—again. But Niko was shaking her head, her expression worried, and I was irritated.
“Why not? It was only yesterday you were telling me you would do anything for me. All I need you to do is pretend to lead me and keep quiet. If that’s possible for you,” I added tartly.
“I can’t go there.” Niko hung her head, but I could see her cheeks were burning with color. “Not so long ago, one of the men that Father sold me to belonged to Lord Akafumu’s court. I don’t think he was a noble himself, but you could see he was very wealthy.”
“How did you know he came from Akafumu’s court?” I asked.
“He said he did,” Niko said simply. “I think he was trying to impress Father, but I didn’t like him at all. He pinched and poked at me as though I was a piece of meat that needed to be made tender. As soon as he got me to his room in the ryokan, I screamed the place down and ran like the wind when the innkeeper came to see what was going on. If the gentleman saw me again, he would remember me, I’m sure he would. He didn’t look to be the type of man who would be happy about being made a fool of.”
“There are a lot of men at Akafumu’s court,” I said gently. “And even if we did see that particular one, you have to remember that you’re no longer a girl who was sold off by her father. No one would associate the blind anma’s apprentice with the girl you used to be.”
Niko thought about it for a while. “You’re sure? You promise I’m not going to get into trouble?”
“I promise,” I said. I truly wasn’t
worried. I remembered Yo’s wise words when he had told me that people only saw what they expected to see. The Niko who had been sold into prostitution by her own father was a world away from the anma’s apprentice.
I took Matsuo as well. The huge akita was an excellent deterrent to any man who was foolish enough to think about robbing a poor, blind anma. And apart from that, he seemed to have taken a great liking to Niko and had started following her about. I was almost jealous of my dog’s new devotion, until I realized Matsuo felt it was his duty to protect her as well as me.
“Not so fast, Niko.” She had started off slowly, but had quickly begun to walk at her usual, brisk pace.
“Sorry. I forgot I was leading you.”
I squeezed her shoulder gently. I had also taken my staff, and it felt odd not to tap my way with it. I could have left it behind, but it was comfortable in my hand, and also a comfort to me to know it was there should there be any trouble.
I reminded Niko of her duties toward the end of the long walk to Akafumu’s court.
“I know what to do.” She raised her eyes to the heavens indignantly. “I don’t speak unless someone asks me a question, and then only if you tell me to answer them. I stand looking at the floor. Wherever you go, I follow. When we’re admitted to the daimyo’s presence, I stop behind you. If there’s trouble, and you get taken away, I run like the wind and go to Jokan-Ji Temple and ask to see the kannushi and tell him to get a message to Yo-san.”
“That’ll do.” I smiled. “Here we are.”
We waited at the great gate until a guard found the time to attend to us. Even though it was the same guard I had seen on the last two occasions I had been to the court, he still made me give my name and state my business before he let us through.
I tapped Niko’s shoulder to tell her to stop as we came to the ante-chamber. I felt a tingle of anticipation as the chamberlain bustled up almost at once.
“You’re here, at last. Lord Akafumu has been asking for you since this morning,” he snapped.
“I am sorry, lord.” I hung my head meekly. “It is a long walk from Edo.”
“I’ll announce you.” The chamberlain paused, staring at Niko. “Who’s this?”
“My new apprentice. I have no daughter of my own to pass my skills on to, and it would be sad for my knowledge to die with me, so I decided to take her on. She’s an orphan and her name is Mina, if it pleases you, lord.”
“Doesn’t matter to me what she’s called.” The chamberlain glared down at Niko from his great height. “You might have cleaned her up a bit. She’s as filthy as you, anma. Go on in, the pair of you.”
Niko shuffled in in front of me, my hand on her shoulder. I could feel the tension in her slight body and gave her a little touch of reassurance.
“Anma. There you are.” Akafumu sounded even more pettish than usual. Even with my eyes lowered, I could see that he was fidgeting, shuffling about on his seating platform restlessly. He was sweating freely, in spite of the cool breeze that came through the open screens. “Have you brought me some more of the morphine pills? For your sake, I hope you have.”
“Of course I have, lord. I have them here.” I patted my obi. “I had to visit the gaijin again to get them. He was very angry with me for stealing them in the first place. I had to tell him lies, lord. I told him they were for my poor, old mother, who was dying of an internal growth in her breast and that nothing I did could relieve her pain.”
“I don’t care what lies you had to tell.” Akafumu almost screamed the words at me. “Give them to me now.”
I pulled out a square of silk containing the rest of the pills and gave it to Niko. She shuffled forward, bent almost double, and placed it in Akafumu’s outstretched hand. She retreated to me without turning around.
“I am sorry to have caused you distress, lord,” I whimpered. “I came on the day you appointed. I thought you would have enough pills to ease your pain until I returned.”
“You’re a fool, anma.” Akafumu was tugging at the knots that held the silk tied. They came loose unexpectedly, spilling the contents on his lap. He grabbed for them, his hooked fingernails trying and failing to grab a single pill. Finally snaring one, he put it in his mouth and swallowed. I saw his throat convulse with the effort of trying to get it down without liquid. “I finished the first lot of pills yesterday morning. I haven’t felt at all well today without another one. When can you get me some more? I don’t want to run out.”
“Lord, you should have enough to last for more than thirty days, even if you take the full dose of three each day,” I murmured.
“I may have taken more than three a day,” he said sulkily. “I found they helped me to sleep, as well as ease my pain. You will obtain more and bring them to me as soon as you can.”
His voice was shaking. I could smell him. Beneath the odor of well-washed skin was a sour, nasty reek of something rotting. I suspected strongly that it came from within Akafumu’s body and was seeping through his pores.
“I will bring you more as soon as I can, lord,” I said. I fully expected him to demand when. He did not, and I felt a surge of satisfaction as I understood that already his mental sharpness had begun to deteriorate.
“Good. These are the same pills as last time?”
“Of course, lord,” I said smoothly. “I am delighted that they have helped you so greatly. They have caused you no problems at all, I hope?”
I was so sure he would answer no that I was shocked when he spoke.
“They most certainly have,” he snapped. “My pain is better. Much better. And even with the weight of court affairs on my shoulders, I find I sleep very well after I have taken a pill. But they have blocked my natural functions quite terribly.”
For a moment, I had no idea at all what he was talking about. Had the morphine made his tree incapable of rising? Was he having problems breathing? I raised my hands in bewilderment, and Akafumu leaned forward and hissed at me angrily.
“I’m constipated, woman. I’ve sat on the closet and strained until I feel as if my stomach has come loose, but nothing happens. You can give me a massage to ease it. At least you can be useful for that.”
“But of course, lord. Most certainly.” I hoped I sounded sufficiently eager. I pushed Niko to one side gently and tapped my way forward with my staff. Akafumu glanced at her as if seeing her for the first time.
“Who is that? What is she, your daughter?” He didn’t sound angry, just vaguely interested.
“Mina is my apprentice, lord. I have no daughter. I hope to pass my trade on to her.”
“Is she blind?” The morphine was already beginning to take effect. Akafumu’s voice was slurred and his fidgeting had stopped.
“No, lord. She is sighted. She guides me.”
“Ah.” He looked sulky. “Well, if she can see, I don’t want the brat staring at my body. It’s not for just anybody’s eyes to feast upon. Get out of here. Stay outside until the anma’s finished with me.”
Niko went to her knees and kowtowed. She did it very gracefully, but Akafumu was unimpressed. He glared at her as she rose and backed out, bowing from the waist all the way.
“That’s better. I’m not having her staring at me, anma. She’s not touching me either. You can find her some peasant to practice on.” He stretched and yawned widely. “I suppose you want me to lie on my back, do you?”
“If it pleases you, lord.” I waited, expecting him to shrug his robes off.
“I can’t be bothered undressing,” he said lazily. “You may earn your fee, anma. Take my obi and robe off for me.”
I bent hastily, pretending to fumble down his body until my fingers found his obi. The knot was large and intricate, and it took me so long to undo it, I thought he might have already succumbed to the opium and fallen asleep. He had not.
“Be careful with that.” He tapped my shoulder sharply. “If you damage it, I’ll take the value from your fee. If you damage it greatly, I’ll take it out of your miserable hide.”
I hesitated fractionally and then smoothly parted the loincloth. It was only when my fingers found his tree that I allowed myself an exclamation of surprise.
“Well? What are you waiting for? My stomach needs your attention. And I daresay when you’ve finished putting that right, which I’m sure isn’t going to take long for an anma of your talent, you can attend to other matters.”
He put his hand on his tree and bounced it on my knuckles to make his point clear.
“Of course, lord,” I said quickly. I considered my options as I pressed on his belly, and decided I had none. If Akafumu was still awake when I had finished massaging his stomach, I supposed I would have to deal with his tree. At least it was clean, and not of any great size. I decided I would linger as long as I could on Akafumu’s belly and pray he was asleep before I finished.
“That feels better. I’m sure I can feel something stirring.”
I paused in surprise. I had barely started kneading Akafumu’s stomach. Then his tree jerked at me, and I guessed he was making fun of the poor, blind anma.
In case I hadn’t taken the hint, he took my hand and moved it to his tree, wrapping my fingers firmly around his flesh. I moved my hand up and down tentatively.
“I have heard that many of you anma are greatly skilled in all the bodily arts.” Akafumu sounded dreamy, but his state of relaxation obviously hadn’t reached his tree. “Reiki was very good at all aspects of her work. Was she a good teacher, I wonder?”