He leaned so close that Sano could see the pores in his swarthy skin. "Bloodshed. Another five centuries of war. You would have this? Just to satisfy your curiosity about the deaths of a common peasant and one insignificant woman? You would not sacrifice the life of a wrestler-a cretin who injures because he cannot control his temper-for peace?"

Sano hadn't considered the larger implications of the murders, and Katsuragawa's explanation had a certain terrifying logic. But something about it rang false. In the first place, Sano couldn't believe that national peace alone had motivated Ogyu.

"Why didn't Magistrate Ogyu explain this to me?" he asked.

"He probably a.s.sumed you understood." Katsuragawa turned and resumed his slow walk.

Sano followed. "Do you really believe what you told me? Does Magistrate Ogyu? Wouldn't the murderer, if he is a Niu, be allowed to commit seppuku? The family wouldn't be punished, like commoners would. And the Tokugawas are strong. The daimyo wouldn't risk a revolt. They have more to gain by holding on to their lands, their wealth-and their heads."

When Katsuragawa didn't respond at once, Sano said, "Please, at least consider what I've said. And if you decide I'm right, will you use your influence to reopen the murder investigation?"

Instead of answering, Katsuragawa bent a glance on Sano that simultaneously pitied him for his naivete and expressed outrage at his effrontery. Sano saw the futility of asking for Katsuragawa's help. Even if Katsuragawa didn't believe in the disaster scenario, he and Ogyu and the other officials were bound by their own complex web of obligation, which Sano couldn't hope to unravel.

Katsuragawa said, "Sano-san, I am prepared to help you find a new position. Perhaps a better one than you've just lost. I have many contacts." His shrug indicated that he had only to wave a hand, and a new place would open for Sano. "There is also the matter of your marriage, which I understand your father would like arranged as soon as possible. I would be glad to offer my services as a go-between, and to act as guarantor to the extent that I am able."

A new position, possibly a higher one with a larger stipend. And, with Katsuragawa negotiating for him and ensuring his financial security, a chance to marry into a high-ranking family. Sano could reclaim his social standing and some part of his honor. Such prospects would greatly ease his father's disappointment.

Katsuragawa's offer was generous, and Sano had to consider it. But he knew a bribe when he saw one. And the ghosts of Tsunehiko and Raiden stood between him and his acceptance of it.

"You'll help me-if I stop investigating the murders?" he said, naming the obvious catch.

Katsuragawa's mouth twisted with distaste at Sano's bluntness. "All right, then: yes."

"I can't do that."

Katsuragawa halted in his tracks. "Are you a fool, Sano Ichiro?" he demanded. He grabbed Sano by the shoulders and shook him. "Can you not see what you're doing to yourself, to your father? Besides, you can do nothing about the murders now. You're not a yoriki anymore. No one is obliged to answer your questions or follow your orders. If you attempt to conduct a private inquiry, you will be arrested and severely punished for interfering with government affairs. It's over, Sano-san. Give up!"

"No." As he pulled free of Katsuragawa's grasp, Sano realized that with one word, he'd severed his relationship with his patron. An exhilarating sense of liberation came over him, tempered by fear. An influential patron who could provide introductions to the right people was an absolute necessity for a samurai who wanted to rise in the world. Without one, Sano could relinquish any hope of advancement. What had he done?

"Then you are a fool." Katsuragawa brushed his hands together as if dusting off the last vestiges of his obligation to Sano and his family. He started away down the lane. Before he'd gone ten paces, he turned.

"Do you know why Magistrate Ogyu and I decided you would make a good yoriki?" he said. "Because we thought your inexperience would render you so incompetent as to be harmless. Because your indebtedness would make you easy to control." Katsuragawa laughed in derision. "We were wrong about you then, but not now. If you pursue this ridiculous course, you are as good as dead."

Twilight was falling by the time Sano reached his parents' home, his horse still laden with the baggage from his trip, except for Tsunehiko's ashes, which he'd reluctantly left with Ogyu's clerk. Behind him trailed the two porters he'd hired to carry his possessions from the barracks. Dismounting, he helped them unload the bundles outside the gate, paid them, and sent them on their way. Then he stood alone in the gathering gloom, contemplating a thought just as dark.

As a samurai, he'd always known there might come a time when he must commit seppuku to avoid disgrace, or to atone for it. His training told him that time had come. After what had happened, only his ritual suicide could restore honor to his name and family. But although his warrior's spirit welcomed the release and purification of death, he must forswear it. His life was not his to take until he had avenged Tsunehiko's death, cleared Raiden's name, and achieved justice for Yukiko, Noriyoshi, and Wisteria.

Sano roused himself to stable his horse and put his bundles in the entryway of the house. He slid open the door to the main room. To drive a dagger into his own stomach would have been easier. He dreaded facing his father, dreaded also seeing again the mark of death on the old man. So at first he was relieved to find the room empty. Then he saw something that disturbed him far more.

The door that connected the main room with the bedchamber stood open. Through it he saw his mother standing by the window, her back to him, despair evident in the slump of her shoulders. His father lay on the futon. His eyes were closed. Low, rumbling coughs shook his body almost continuously. Fear shot through Sano. He'd never seen his father take to bed so early. And the amount of sickroom paraphernalia arranged by the bed-tea bowls, washbasin, crumpled cloths, medicine jars-indicated that he'd been there all day, or longer.

"Otosan?" Sano said.

His father stirred. Slowly he opened his eyes. A frown crossed his sunken face. Then the frown disappeared, as though the slight movement of facial muscles had exhausted him.

"Ichiro," his mother said, turning with a strained smile."What a surprise. We were not expecting you."

Sano walked over to his mother and embraced her. Always a st.u.r.dy, robust woman, she now seemed smaller and more frail, as if weakened by her husband's illness. Then he knelt beside his father.

"My son," his father whispered. "Why have you come? Shouldn't you be at your post? Even if your work is done for the day, the others will want you in the barracks."

Should he make up some excuse, Sano wondered, and tell his father that he'd lost his position and his patron only when-or if-the old man grew stronger? Surely it would be an act of mercy.

His father's emaciated hand emerged from under the quilt to touch Sano's. "Go," he said, making a feeble pushing motion. A cough shuddered through his body. "Do not shirk your duty."

"Otosan." Sano swallowed against the dry lump in his throat. He couldn't lie. His father's own uncompromising honesty had always demanded the same from him. "I'm sorry, but I have something bad to tell you."

He explained all that had happened, from the start of his investigation of the shinju to his parting with Katsuragawa Shundai. When he finished, he braced himself for his father's recriminations.

But his father said nothing. Instead he blinked once, slowly. Before he turned his face away, Sano saw the weak light in his eyes grow dimmer still.

"Otosan, I'm sorry," Sano said, less alarmed by the wordless rejection than by the knowledge that he might have just destroyed his father's last chance for recovery. "Please forgive me. Don't give up!"

He put his hand over his father's. It shrank from his touch. For the old man, he no longer existed. Now he wished he had committed seppuku. His father would prefer a son dead than in this terrible disgrace which would speed him to his own grave.

"Otosan!"

His mother was beside him, tugging gently on his arm, urging him to his feet. "Let your father rest," she entreated him. "Wouldn't you like to put your things away and have a bath before dinner?"

Sano turned away from her pleading eyes and anxious smile that begged him to act as though disaster hadn't just shattered their world. He walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" his mother called, hurrying after him. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know."

A steady rain began to fall, drenching Sano's clothes as he roamed the streets. It pattered onto the tile rooftops and dripped off eaves into puddles that splashed under his feet. Lamplight made hazy yellow squares of the windows he pa.s.sed. The tops of the fire towers disappeared in mist and darkness. An occasional pedestrian hurried past him, hidden beneath an umbrella. From the alleys behind the houses, Sano could hear the rumble of wooden wheels and the clatter of buckets and dippers as night-soil collectors made their rounds. The night soil's odor mingled with the clean scents of wet earth and wood, charcoal smoke and cooking.

Sano had been walking for hours; he'd lost track of how many. His legs ached, but his mind would not let him rest. All the thinking he'd done hadn't reconciled him to either of only two possible courses of action: to somehow mend the rift between him and Katsuragawa Shundai and salvage his career, or to commit seppuku. Either way, he must relinquish the murder investigation that could only result in more disgrace and a dishonorable death for both himself and his father. But that was what he could not accept. His desire for truth and justice forbade such pa.s.sive submission to defeat, even as the Way of the Warrior dictated filial piety and obedience.

So he wandered aimlessly through the city, turning corners at random-or so he thought, until he saw the moat and walls of Edo Jail looming before him. Torches flared on the ramparts; the guards at the gate wore rain cloaks over their armor. The whole edifice shimmered in the mist like a haunted castle. Sano had never imagined returning to the loathsome place, but he marched across the bridge and up to the guards without hesitation.

"I am Yoriki Sano Ichiro," he said, hoping they hadn't heard otherwise yet. "I wish to see Dr. Ito Genboku." Conscious thought hadn't provoked his desire to see Ito again, but now he saw the rightness of it. The doctor had made sacrifices for his own ideals. Sano could talk to him. Ito would understand his dilemma.

The guards hadn't heard, and they admitted him. Instead of escorting him through the prison, one of them led him around the buildings, through a series of courtyards and pa.s.sages, to a hut near the far wall. Its one window shone weakly; smoke rose from the skylight.

The guard opened the door without knocking. "Ito. Someone here to see you." He bowed to Sano and left.

Since there was no veranda or entry way, Sano left his shoes on the ground beside the door, where the thatched roof's overhang provided inadequate shelter from the rain. It didn't matter; they were soaked anyway. He ducked his head to avoid hitting the low door frame.

He was standing at the threshold of a single room that occupied the entire hut. Ito knelt in the middle of the floor beside a small charcoal brazier, lamp and book in front of him. In the corner, Mura the eta was washing clothes in a bucket. The doctor regarded Sano without surprise.

"Somehow I always thought you would return," he said. "Don't just stand there shivering, come and warm yourself. Mura-san? Sake for our guest, please. And a bowl of rice gruel."

Mura went to a makeshift kitchen composed of a one-burner stove and a few crowded shelves. Sano knelt by the brazier, grateful for its heat. He hadn't realized how cold he was. Great shudders racked his body and rattled his teeth. He couldn't hold his trembling hands still over the coals.

Without speaking, Ito rose. From the cabinet he took a quilt and brought it to Sano.

"No, thank you," Sano said. The cabinet had held just the one quilt, his host's own.

Ito continued to hold out the quilt. "Take off those wet clothes and put this around you, or you'll be sick." He added, "Please oblige me. I get few chances to offer hospitality."

Sano did as he was told. He drank the heated sake and ate the steaming gruel that Mura brought him. When warmth returned to his body, he told Dr. Ito everything that had happened since they last met.

Ito listened without comment. When Sano finished, he said, "What will you do now?"

"I don't know," Sano admitted. "I thought you might help me decide."

"I see. And why do you wish my advice?"

"Because you understand what it's like to be in this situation. And because I value your opinion."

Ito studied him in silence for a moment, his gaze stern but not without sympathy. Finally he said, "Sano-san, when I was convicted, I lost my home, my wife, my family, my wealth, my position, my servants, the respect of my peers, my health. My freedom. This room and the morgue are my entire world.

"I still have my studies"-he gestured toward the book-"and one friend, Mura, who helps me because he chooses to. But everything else is gone. I live in disgrace; I will die in disgrace. Often my pain and shame are almost unbearable. So I am the last person who would advise you to throw away your future prospects for the sake of your ideals."

Sano felt like a man who has opened a secret treasure box only to find nothing inside. Somehow he'd expected more from Ito than the same conventional words he could have heard from anyone else.

Then Dr. Ito said, "But I will not tell you to forsake your ideals, either. You would not be able to live with yourself if you did." He paused, gazing at Sano with a strange mixture of pity and approval. "I know this because I see much of myself in you. Giri, ninjo," he finished with a sigh. "Tatemae, honne."

"Yes." Sano nodded, thinking how well his situation ill.u.s.trated the two cla.s.sic conflicts Ito had cited: duty versus desire, conformity versus self-expression. Eternal and unresolvable.

"Each man must decide for himself what matters most," Ito began.

Sano waited. The flickering lamp made a hollow of brightness that contained only him and Ito. For now, the outside world didn't exist.

"Each man must know when he has decided, and know what his decision is. I think you do, Sano-san."

Sitting perfectly still as he absorbed Dr. Ito's words, Sano gazed with unfocused eyes into the lamp's flame. Images began to form in his mind. His dying father, symbol of the duty set out for him in the Way of the Warrior. Katsuragawa Shundai, who represented the status and rewards he could attain if he fulfilled that duty. But other images superseded these: Yukiko's body burning on its pyre; the weeping Wisteria; Raiden's bewildered face; Tsunehiko laughing as he rode along the Tokaido. These images burned brighter than the others, lit as they were by the fire of Sano's need for truth and justice. Time pa.s.sed. The fire consumed the tangle of his uncertainty, leaving his mind clear and his head light. His breath escaped in a short laugh directed at his own self-delusion. He realized that Dr. Ito was right. He had decided, and he would continue his hunt for the murderer. Even if it meant sacrificing security and prosperity, and even his life. Honor must return to him as a result of following his own path, or not at all. And his father's life depended upon his self-redemption. All his walking and thinking had been nothing but an attempt to avoid acknowledging these facts.

"Thank you for your hospitality and your insight, Ito-san," he said. "Both have helped me beyond measure. But I mustn't impose upon you any longer."

He started to rise, feeling strengthened by the doctor's solicitude but no more at peace than he had been when he'd arrived. With no authority and nothing but his own inadequate skills to rely upon, how would he bring a powerful, seemingly invincible murderer to justice?

"It is late," Ito said. "The city gates will have already closed. You cannot return home tonight. Mura will make a bed for you here. Sleep, and in the morning you will have the strength and wisdom to do whatever you must."

Chapter 20.

The next morning found Sano back in the daimyo district. Dressed in a peasant's s.h.a.ggy straw rain cape and wide straw hat, he walked up and down the wide boulevard in front of the Niu's yashiki, ostensibly collecting litter, but in reality watching their gate. Every so often he skewered some trash with his pointed stick and put it in his basket, hoping he could convince the guards that he was a street cleaner with every right to loiter outside their lords' houses. He couldn't let them identify him as ex-yoriki Sano Ichiro, barred from the Niu estate and keeping secret surveillance on young Lord Niu. If the Nius or Magistrate Ogyu found out what he was doing, he would be arrested, if not killed on the spot.

Sano pretended to scan the street for debris, while watching for Lord Niu to make an appearance. Subterfuge didn't come naturally to him, but he had no choice except to wait and hope Lord Niu would lead him to evidence that he'd committed the murders. He had no authority or help, as Katsuragawa had reminded him, not enough money to buy answers, and no other way to avoid the ubiquitous Edo spies. The memory of what Midori had told him about Yukiko's diary flashed through his mind. He had no other way of learning what Lord Niu had done that he would kill to hide.

Despite his minimal chance of success, Sano experienced a curious buoyancy of spirit. He was now free to use unconventional means of detection, and he had unlimited time at his disposal. He had no responsibilities to anyone but himself. He could pursue truth and justice as he chose, and somehow save his father's life. A true ronin, he could live-or die-by his own wits. Although he yearned for the security of a master, his new freedom filled him with a terrifying exhilaration. The future had opened up before him, blank, yet hinting at unknown possibilities.

But his necessary disguise anch.o.r.ed Sano to the grimness of here and now. The cape, though it protected him from the chill drizzle, chafed his neck and wrists. Cold mud oozed through his straw sandals and into his socks; every step squished. And how humiliating for a samurai to dress like a common farmer! He also felt naked and vulnerable on foot, with his only weapon the short sword tucked into his sash under the cape. Missing his horse and his long sword, which he'd left behind because they marked his rank, he hoped he wouldn't need them. He was glad to discover, though, that his costume made him virtually invisible; people hurried past without glancing down from their horses or out from under their umbrellas at him.

Thirty-seven paces brought him to Lord Niu's gate. He took his time scooping horse droppings into his basket. No one entered or left the yashiki. Finally, not wanting to attract attention by staying too long in one place, Sano moved on. He left a few droppings as an excuse to return.

He looked casually over his shoulder whenever he picked up a sc.r.a.p of debris. Reaching the end of the street, he turned and worked his way back again. This time three samurai wearing the Niu dragonfly crest entered the gate. Two more pa.s.ses later, they came out. Still Lord Niu didn't appear. Sano began to feel increasingly conspicuous. The street was free of litter now, and he wished someone would drop something so he would have a legitimate reason to stay. He lingered outside the Nius' yashiki for as long as he dared, then started on another tour.

"Hey, you!" At first, Sano didn't respond. People didn't address a samurai that way. Then he remembered his disguise and turned toward the voice.

"The street is clean enough," called one of the guards from the Niu gatehouse, "and I'm sick of looking at you. Get lost, you dirty beast!"

Dirty beast! All thirty years of Sano's samurai upbringing rebelled against the insult. Furious, he stared at the guard. An angry retort sprang to his lips. He dropped his stick, and his hand reached automatically for the sword that wasn't there.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" The guard came out of the gatehouse and started toward Sano, brandishing a small object.

It was a lighted match.

Laughing, the guard called to his comrades, "Shall I make him dance?" To Sano: "If you want to keep your filthy rain cape and your filthy life, you'd better run!"

"Yes, master!"

Shaken, Sano bowed low in accordance with his humble status. He picked up his stick and made a hasty retreat around the corner. There he stood, struggling to control his anger and shock. That guard, fearing no harsher punishment than a reprimand, might have set him on fire, killing him the way Lord Matsukura of Shimabara had once killed peasants who'd failed to meet their rice production quota! Finally his body stopped trembling. His breathing slowed and evened. He inspected his surroundings and tried to think of a way to maintain his watch for Lord Niu.

The side street, half the width of the boulevard he'd just left, ran between the wall of the Niu yashiki and that of its neighboring estate. Pairs of guards stood sentry at plainer secondary gates through which continuous streams of porters and servants pa.s.sed. Here Sano worried less that someone might challenge him. The guards were occupied, the foot traffic heavy, the trash plentiful. But he had little chance of seeing Lord Niu here. A daimyo's son would use the main gate.

Disconsolate, Sano paced the side street, wondering what to do now that his plan had failed. He could search for witnesses who had seen a man throw a large bundle into the river. He could go back to Yoshiwara and question the rest of Noriyoshi's friends in the hope that one had seen him with Lord Niu the night of the murders. Sano shook his head. How far could he get before someone penetrated his disguise and reported him to Ogyu?

Then, as Sano pa.s.sed the Nius' gate for the third time, it opened to discharge four samurai carrying a black palanquin. Neither the palanquin nor the bearers' cloaks displayed identifying crests, but they bore the unmistakable stamp of quality. What Niu family member or distinguished guest chose to leave through the side gate? Sano peered at the palanquin, his curiosity frustrated by its sealed shutters.

Suddenly the shutters opened. The pa.s.senger spoke to the bearers, then quickly closed the shutters again. His face, partially hidden by a wicker hat, had appeared for a mere instant. But Sano recognized him at once.

It was young Lord Niu.

Although mystified by Lord Niu's stealthy departure, Sano had no trouble following the palanquin. Nihonbashi's crowded streets offered many hiding places and kept the bearers' pace slow.

Lord Niu visited a swordmaker's shop, talked briefly to the other customers, and left without buying anything. He went to a seedy martial arts academy frequented by ronin, where he practiced his swordsmanship. Sano strolled back and forth in front of the open door, watching. Lord Niu fought with a steel blade instead of a wooden practice sword. Unhindered by his bad leg, he executed each thrust and parry brilliantly, his reflexes lightning fast. Match after match ended with his blade against his opponent's throat. His skill left Sano breathless with admiration. Would that he need never face Lord Niu in combat!

Afterward, Lord Niu and three fellow students went to a restaurant near the academy. Sano followed the bearers' example and used the time to buy lunch from street vendors. Although he risked eating at the stall next to theirs, he overheard nothing useful. They were taciturn men who gave their orders and then ate in silence. Sano wished he dared eavesdrop on Lord Niu and his friends instead. At this rate, he might never see or hear Lord Niu incriminate himself. But he stayed, ready to pursue Lord Niu for the rest of his life if necessary.

His quarry had begun to exert a powerful magnetism on him. He was gradually coming to believe that Lord Niu had killed a blackmailer, his own sister, and Tsunehiko, all in an attempt to cover some earlier dreadful crime. Sano couldn't let the creature out of his sight. Hatred and fascination whetted his appet.i.te for vengeance, and he accepted whatever hardships awaited him. He bought two mochi cakes in case the pursuit took him someplace where food wasn't available. He endured sore legs, frozen feet, and the ever-present threat of death, watching with a fierce sense of antic.i.p.ation as Lord Niu came out of the restaurant and climbed into the palanquin.

To Sano's disappointment, the bearers began to retrace their steps home. Then, bypa.s.sing the daimyo district, they followed a circuitous path down winding streets, across the Nihonbashi Bridge, along ca.n.a.ls, and through rich and poor neighborhoods, gradually heading north. Finally they left the city's outskirts and continued into open country.

Sano felt safe enough following Lord Niu through the Kanda district, where undulating wooded hills lay brown and gray beneath low, swollen clouds that continued to send down a thin, cold rain. Although the crowds had vanished, there was still plenty of traffic on the Okushudo highway leading into Ueno, including peasants dressed like himself. Then the bearers turned onto a deserted road that climbed a steep hill into the woods. Sano dropped farther and farther behind so they wouldn't see him.

Finally, fearing he might lose them if they turned onto one of the trails that branched off the main road, he sped up and took to the woods.

Firewood gatherers had cleared the ground of dead branches that might have slowed his progress, but Sano had to contend with other hazards. Rocks thrust their sharp points against his already sore feet. Puddles soaked him to his knees. An arrow stuck into a tree told him that he was in some lord's hunting ground. As he hurried to keep Lord Niu's palanquin in sight, he expected a party of mounted hunters to descend on him at any moment. To his relief, the trail ended a short distance ahead, at a wall with a roofed gate bearing the Niu crest. The bearers set down the palanquin while two samurai came out of the guardhouses and opened the gate.

Sano watched from the woods as the gate closed behind the bearers and the palanquin, and the guards returned to their houses. This must be the Nius' summer villa. With the daimyo in his province and the rest of the family spending the winter in town, Sano didn't expect to find the villa heavily guarded. He approached it at an angle, moving deeper into the woods, away from the road and gate. Then, as he neared the wall, he heard the squelch of footsteps on the damp ground. Quickly he crouched behind a bush to peer through it at the pair of armored samurai carrying bows and arrows. As they marched past, s.n.a.t.c.hes of their conversation reached him: "I'll be glad to get back to Edo. Too quiet here."