‘It’s beginning to fit together,’ Eliza said. ‘One more thing, Mr Kraft American, did Red ever mention the word “Midas” to you?’
‘Sure, lotsa times.’
‘He did?’
‘Yeah. That’s what they called the dish.’
It was almost midnight when he arrived at the house in Kyoto. He slipped through the gate, but the dogs were with him before he got to the garden. They went crazy. The male, Kazuo, threw back his head and groaned low in the throat, like a she wolf serenading the moon. ‘Quiet,’ he said in a hushed voice. He knew Kimura would be asleep by now, and there was no light in Sammi’s room. He went to the house in back. Tana was asleep, curled in a ball on her tatami, her black pigtail in a twist over her shoulder.
O’Hara was weary from the traveling - It had been three days since he had loosened up. He went down the hall away from Tana’s bedroom to the practice hail. It ‘as no larger than a big bedroom and its floor was covered with mats. One wall was mirrored, like in a ballet studio. He looked for the flowers. Tana put fresh flowers in the room for him every day whether he was there or not. The vase was in the corner, filled with yellow carnations, and the longing started.
The room was dark, streaked with light spilling in from outside, but he lit no lights.
He was relieved that Tana was asleep. He needed time to prepare his body, to clear his mind, to erase from it everything but the immediate objective.
Chameleon.
The ghost was nearby. He felt suffocated by its shroud. Everything else was immaterial.
He took off his shirt and sat for ten minutes in the lotus position in the center of the room without moving or blinking his eyes, listening to wind chimes, going to the wall. Then he unwound slowly, like a snake awakening in the sun, and in a series of moves so swift and smooth that he might have been a ballet dancer executing an intricate pas, he ran four stances: yoko-tobi-geri, the flying side kick; neko-ashi-dachi, the cat stance, for fast movement; zenkutsu-dachi, the forward stance, for punching; and kiba-dachi, the horse stance, for attacks to the side. And then, just as quickly, he ran four blows: the Tang hand, for chopping; Taisho, the classic palm, heel; and mawashi-zuki, the roundhouse strike to the collarbone.
He repeated the moves a dozen times, each time increasing his speed.
And then, just as quickly, he slowed the pace down, down, down, and twisting as if in slow motion and in one long move, he returned to the lotus position, where he sat motionless for another ten minutes.
He stood up and shook Out his hands. He was ready. And that is when he saw Tana. She was standing in the doorway, naked, her body streaked with dim light, with her hands at her sides and sleep in her eyes.
‘The dogs told me you were here,’ she said.
He stepped into a shaft of light and held his hands so she could read them. ‘You were so peaceful I didn’t want to awaken you. I forgot about the dogs.’
She smiled. ‘And would you have slept in here so as not to awaken me?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘I can sleep anytime.’ She came close to him. ‘You have not come back to stay.’
‘No. Only to talk to Tokenrui-san’
‘He is away until tomorrow at the time of the last meal. But I would like to talk to you, to watch your lips.’
He reached out and touched her very lightly on the lips, and she, in turn, touched the end of his fingers with her tongue.
‘Sadness is written in your face,’ she said.
‘I am tired.’
‘It is not tired that I see.’
‘It is the wrong time to talk about it.’
She did not question his judgment. It was his thing to talk about and his right to pick the proper moment. Besides, he was here, even if only for the moment.
‘I have missed you, Kazuo. It is hard for me to sleep without the comfort of your arms.’
And I have thought much about you.’
She stroked his face with her fingertips. It is good to touch you again.’
Her nipples touched his chest and grew hard. She closed her eyes and said, ‘I have thought about you until I feel like a bee and am wet with wanting you.’
He pressed against her and stroked tier back, felt her move tighter against him. Her fingers moved to his pants and unbuckled them. She slid her hand down the front of them, felt him and wrapped her fingers around him and felt him surge at her touch. With her other hand she unzipped his pants and let them drop away. She took his hand with 1ers and put it between her legs, and guiding his fingers between her lips, began stroking herself with his hand. She licked her other hand and stroked him harder.
