Shigeru said, “Why are you here?”
“I am on my way to Inuyama. I felt I wanted to see the gardens. I did not know you were here. Matsuda told me last night. I was going to leave at once, but this morning something drew me to walk this way.” She stopped and shivered. “It was as if I was under a spell. You have bewitched me.”
“I could say the same. I could not sleep last night-I was to visit Matsuda today before I return to Hagi. I thought I would do it early and then go back to my mountain hut. I lived there with Matsuda when I was fifteen; I was his pupil. I was moved to rest beneath this tree. It has a special significance for me, for I once saw a houou there-the sacred bird of peace and justice. I hoped to see it again, but I am afraid it will not be found in the Three Countries while Iida lives.”
The mention of Iida’s name reminded her of the fear that hovered all around, yet in this place, with him, she felt protected from it.
“I feel like a village girl,” she said wistfully. “Sneaking away with my young man.”
“I will go and announce to your parents that we are betrothed,” he said. “We will be married before the shrine, and the whole village will celebrate and drink too much!”
“Will I have to leave my family and move to your father’s house?”
“Yes, of course, and my mother will order you around and make you cry, and I won’t be able to stand up for you, or all the village men will laugh at me for being besotted with my wife! But at night I will make you happy and tell you how much I love you, and we will make lots of children together.”
She wished he had not said those words, even jokingly. It was as though he had spoken something into existence. She tried to put her fears from her.
“I came with Muto Shizuka as far as Yamagata, and before that I was in Noguchi, where I met Arai Daiichi. He asked about your intentions, having heard that you were interested only in farming.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Only that you were patient, which Arai is not. He is on the verge of rebelling, I think. It will only take one small incident or insult to set him off.”
“He must not act alone or precipitously. It would be too easy now for Iida to crush him and eliminate him.”
“Shizuka and I talked about the Tribe. An idea came to me that we might use them. Lord Shigeru, we cannot go on like this. We must act. We must kill Iida. Surely if we cannot confront him in battle, we can find someone to assassinate him!”
“I have thought the same. I have even spoken to Shizuka about it. She has indicated that she would not be unwilling, but I am reluctant to ask such a thing of her. She is a woman; she has children. I wish I could fight Iida man to man, but I fear if I go to Inuyama, I will simply be putting myself into his hands.”
They were both silent for a moment, thinking of the young Yanagi warrior who had died on the castle wall.
Shigeru said, “The Tribe do not want Iida removed: he employs many of them. So we could only work with someone in whom we had complete trust, otherwise we run the risk of simply revealing our plans to the Tribe in general and to the Tohan. As far as I can see, there is no one apart from Shizuka.”
Naomi whispered, “I will be in Inuyama in a few weeks. I will be in his presence.”
“You must not even think of it!” Shigeru said in alarm. “Whatever your fighting skills, you will be no match for him, and he is surrounded at all times by warriors, hidden guards, and members of the Tribe. You and your daughter would both die, and if you are dead, my life becomes meaningless. We must continue to dissemble, to do nothing to arouse his suspicions, to wait for the right moment to reveal itself to us.”
“And the right assassin,” Naomi said.
“That too.”
“I must go back. Sachie will be worrying about me. I don’t want anyone coming in search of me.”
“I will walk with you.”
“No! We must not be seen together. I will set out for Yamagata as soon as I get back to the temple. Do not come there today.”
“Very well,” he said. “I suppose you are right. I will go back to my solitary hut for another night.”
She felt tears threaten suddenly and stood to hide them. “If only I were just a village girl! But I have heavy responsibilities-to my clan, to my daughter.”
“Lady Maruyama,” he said formally as he, too, got to his feet. “Don’t despair. It will not be for much longer.” She nodded, not daring to speak. Neither of them looked at each other again. He bent and gathered up his belongings, put the sword in his belt, and walked away up the mountain path, while she went back the way she had come, her body still ecstatic from the encounter, her mind already skittering with fear.
SHE SPENT days of the journey trying to compose herself, calling on all the methods she had been taught since childhood to bring mind and body under control. She told herself she must never have such a meeting again, that she must stop behaving like a foolish girl infatuated with a farmer. If there were to be a future for Shigeru and herself together, it could only come through their self-control and discretion in the present. But already she knew in the deepest parts of both body and mind that it was too late to
