Lady Setsu's gaze registered shock as it moved from son to father. ' 'Yoritomo'?' she repeated.
'Meet my daughter,' Lady Chocho said, and pushed Tsuruhime at Yoritomo.
They bowed to one another. Tsuruhime wore a sad, resigned expression. Yoritomo regarded her with the look of a man who has come upon a snake that he knows will bite him and wonders if it's poisonous. Not one hint of attraction did Yanagisawa see. But attraction was unnecessary. Yoritomo and Tsuruhime would learn to love each other or not. Other considerations were more important in this marriage that Yanagisawa wanted.
'This boy is the one?' Lady Setsu said in disbelief. 'Him?'
Yanagisawa realized that this miai wasn't going as well as he'd expected. He said, 'Why don't we let our two young people go off by themselves and get acquainted.' That was allowed by custom, as long as the prospective bride and groom remained within their chaperones' sight. 'We can talk things over.'
Yoritomo shot Yanagisawa a glance filled with panic. Yanagisawa nodded encouragingly at him. Yoritomo and Tsuruhime set off down a path through the cherry trees. She went meekly. Yanagisawa had seen happier faces than his son's on condemned men going to the execution ground.
Lady Chocho clasped her hand to her bosom and sighed. 'Don't they make a lovely couple?'
'Can you really mean to marry him to my stepdaughter?' Lady Setsu stared with shock at Yanagisawa.
'That's why we're here,' Yanagisawa said. Her reaction was far from flattering, but he hid the offense he felt. 'What objection do you have to Tsuruhime marrying a son of mine?'
'I don't,' Lady Chocho said, dimpling at him. 'If you were to become my daughter's new father-in-law, I would get to see you all the time.'
'No objection against your sons in general,' Lady Setsu said, 'just that one.'
'Why?' Yanagisawa asked.
She laughed, a sour cackle. The muscles on the distorted side of her face tightened. 'It should be obvious.'
It was, and Yanagisawa knew that if he were in her position, he would feel the same disapproval, but he said, 'This marriage is a matter of survival-for Tsuruhime as well as you and Lady Chocho and me and my son.'
'Why not one of your other sons?' Lady Setsu said.
Yanagisawa didn't love them as much as he did Yoritomo. They were inferior in looks, and their personalities were less malleable; he couldn't control them the way he could his favorite son. Also, Yoritomo deserved compensation for being the shogun's male concubine. But these reasons wouldn't convince Lady Setsu; they didn't matter in the political scheme of things.
'Because Yoritomo has the right bloodline,' Yanagisawa said. 'The others don't.'
Yoritomo's mother was a Tokugawa clan member, which made Yoritomo eligible for the succession, even though he was far down the list of candidates.
Lady Setsu beheld Yanagisawa with such astonishment that both her eyes opened wide. 'So it's not just a rumor,' she said. 'You do intend for your son to be the next shogun.'
Yanagisawa put his finger to his lips. Airing such an intention was dangerous. He glanced around to see if anyone was listening. He saw a few other people strolling the embankment, none close by. 'If that happens, it would be the best protection you and your family could have.'
Lady Setsu watched Yoritomo and Tsuruhime march grimly side by side along the river, not speaking to each other. 'If they marry, it would certainly move your son up in the ranks of the succession,' she said, her crisp voice turned acid.
'So we both stand to gain from their marriage,' Yanagisawa said. 'Perhaps you and yours have even more at stake than me and mine. Do you remember the story of Toyotomi Hideyoshi?'
Some hundred years ago, that famous general had aspired to rule Japan but died before achieving his goal. He'd left behind a wife, and a son who should have inherited his rank, his troops, and his chance to be shogun. But his former ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had wanted to eliminate the widow and heir and clear the way for his own rise to power. Ieyasu had besieged their castle in Osaka. Hideyoshi's widow and heir had committed suicide while the castle went up in flames.
'I know that story.' Lady Setsu's voice had lost some of its crispness, and Yanagisawa knew he'd scored a point.
'I don't,' Lady Chocho said. 'How does it go?'
'I'll tell you later.' Lady Setsu turned to Yanagisawa. 'I suppose you would expect the marriage to be consummated?'
'Of course,' Yanagisawa said, although he wasn't sure that Yoritomo was capable. 'That's the only way to produce an heir, which is the best guarantee for our future.'
'They would make such pretty babies,' Lady Chocho said.
Lady Setsu shook her head. 'Your audacity takes my breath away.'
'Better audacious than dead,' Yanagisawa said.
'When should we have the wedding?' Lady Chocho asked eagerly.
'Don't get excited,' Lady Setsu snapped at her. 'The matter is not settled yet.'
'The dowry and other terms are negotiable, but this is the deal I'm offering,' Yanagisawa said. 'Yoritomo marries Tsuruhime. Take it or leave it.'
Lady Setsu frowned, insulted by his peremptoriness. 'I require some time to think.'
'We have to order Tsuruhime's wedding clothes,' Lady Chocho said.
'I'll expect your answer by tomorrow,' Yanagisawa said.
From his perch high in a cherry tree, Masahiro watched Yanagisawa and the three ladies walk off in opposite directions. The ladies climbed into palanquins. Yanagisawa and Yoritomo passed directly under the tree where Masahiro was hiding. He could have spit on their heads!
Masahiro almost laughed out loud at the thought. They hadn't seemed to notice him following them from the castle or climbing the tree. If they'd seen him at all, they'd probably thought he was just a boy playing. He'd stowed his messenger's flag and pouch in his saddlebag along the way, and tied a blue cotton kerchief around his head. Now he watched Yanagisawa and Yoritomo mount their horses and prepared to follow them some more. He couldn't wait to tell Father and Mother what he'd seen. He hadn't heard anything, but watching Yanagisawa and the ladies was good detective work, wasn't it?
Masahiro scrambled down the tree and jumped to the ground. But as he hurried toward the pavilion where he'd tied his pony, a hand grabbed his arm. He yelped in surprise.
The hand belonged to a samurai who'd stepped out from behind another tree. His face, his tattered wicker hat, and his worn cotton kimono and leggings were dark with soaked-in grime. His other hand rested on the hilt of his long sword. Masahiro froze and went dumbstruck with terror.
This man was surely a rnin bandit who meant to rob him or kill him, or both.
'Not so fast, Masahiro-san,' the rnin said.
Astonishment replaced some of Masahiro's fear. 'How-how did you know my name?' The man was a stranger.
'I've seen you at your father's house,' the rnin said in a flat voice that didn't match his scary appearance.
'You're a friend of Father's?' Masahiro dared to feel relief.
The skin around the rnin's eyes crinkled with amusement underneath the grime. 'You could call me that.'
Masahiro was suspicious and wary nonetheless. He tried to tug his arm free, but the rnin held on tight.
'I didn't know Father had friends who look like you,' the boy said.
'Your father has all sorts of friends you don't know.'
That remark didn't comfort Masahiro. 'How did you recognize me?'
'I saw you leave the castle dressed as a messenger boy. A while later, I noticed you in a different outfit.' The rnin flicked his finger against Masahiro's head kerchief. 'I took a closer look, and I thought, 'That's Chamberlain Sano's son.' '
'Nobody was supposed to know.' Masahiro was disappointed that his disguise hadn't been as good as he'd thought. 'How did you?'
'You were riding the same black-and-white pony.'
'Oh,' Masahiro said, chagrined.
