In present company, no aura was as powerful as Hirata's.
Now Hirata perceived a configuration of arrogance and recklessness in three auras among the crowd. They belonged to three young soldiers who came riding toward him. The men jumped from their saddles and blocked his path. The tallest one had eyebrows like black slashes, an out-thrust square jaw, and the lean, muscular physique of a man who spent much time at martial arts practice, unlike many samurai. His armor tunic sported the Tokugawa crest. He swaggered up to Hirata and said, "I challenge you to a duel."
Hirata experienced a sinking sensation. "You don't want to do this," he said.
"What's the matter? Are you scared I'll beat you?" the soldier taunted. "Come down and fight!"
This wasn't the first time Hirata had been challenged. A reputation like his had certain disadvantages. He'd lost count of how many samurai had accosted him, eager to prove their fighting skills superior to his. So far none had succeeded. But they'd caused Hirata serious problems nonetheless.
The soldier's companions yelled, "Coward! Loser!"
A crowd gathered around Hirata and the samurai, avid for a fight. "Well?" the soldier shouted. "Aren't you going to defend your honor?"
"I'm going to give you a chance to save your life," Hirata said. "Go, and we'll pretend this never happened."
The soldier went red with anger. "Are you saying I'm not good enough to fight you? In front of all these people?"
"I'm saying don't be foolish."
"I'll make you fight me," the soldier huffed. He looked around the audience and spied a teenaged peasant boy, a servant. "Hey, you! Come here."
The boy looked dismayed to be drawn into the argument. The soldier's friends grabbed him. They shoved him at the soldier, who drew his sword and said to Hirata, "If you won't, I'll fight this boy instead."
Hirata was appalled at the lengths to which men would go in order to provoke him. "Wait," he said, and jumped off his horse. He couldn't let an innocent bystander suffer.
The spectators cheered as he strode forward. He seized the friends, twisted their arms, and flung them to the ground. They shrieked. The boy scampered off unharmed. The soldier yelled and charged at Hirata, waving his sword.
Hirata's mind and body instinctively united in action. He drew a deep breath that aerated his entire body. His heart pumped blood and energy through his veins as a mystic trance came upon him. His perception expanded. He projected his vision into the future. It showed him ghostly images where the people would move in the next few moments. He saw the soldier coming as if in slowed motion, his ghost one step ahead of him. The ghost's sword traced curving, shimmering lines that the real blade would soon follow. Hirata glided between the lines. The soldier's sword whistled harmlessly around him. Hirata launched a kick at the ghost.
A split instant later, his foot struck the soldier's stomach. The soldier howled, flying backward into the crowd, which scattered to get out of his way. He hit the side of a building. His head banged against the wall. His face went blank. He slid down the wall, leaving a red smear where his head had hit. He sagged onto the ground, his scalp bleeding profusely.
Hirata's awareness reverted to normal. The ghostly images and energy auras faded; his breathing and pulse slowed. He found himself in the center of a silent, awestruck audience. The soldier lay crumpled, motionless. His friends rushed to him, crying, "Ibe-san! Are you all right?"
"He'll wake up soon," Hirata said with more confidence than he felt. He was good at gauging the force necessary to subdue attackers without killing them, but he hadn't anticipated the wall meeting Ibe's head.
"Let this be a lesson to anyone who wants to challenge me," Hirata announced.
The crowd dispersed. As the friends of the soldier hoisted him onto his horse and led it off, along came a doshin Hirata knew from his police days. The doshin, named Kurita, was an older man with a rough, cheerful face, dressed in a short kimono and cotton leggings. In addition to his swords he wore a jitte-a metal wand with a hook above the hilt for catching an attacker's blade-standard police equipment. His three assistants followed him, armed with rope for restraining criminals.
"Well, if it isn't Hirata-san," he said. "Not another duel! Haven't you been warned about that?"
"Yes, by the shogun himself, no less."
The shogun had heard reports of the duels and not been pleased. He abhorred violence, and he'd ordered Hirata to cease dueling and threatened him with banishment if he didn't stop.
"We can't have you killing and maiming Edo's best young men, especially those from the Tokugawa army," Kurita said.
"If Edo's best young men would leave me alone, there'd be no problem," Hirata said.
He rode to police headquarters, a walled compound in the southern corner of the Hibiya district. Guards let him through the ironclad gate, into a courtyard surrounded by barracks and stables. A few criminals, recently arrested, their hands bound with rope, huddled miserably under the dripping eaves, awaiting an escort to jail.
Hirata strode into the main building. The reception room was a cavernous space divided by square pillars that supported a low ceiling. Messengers crouched on the floor and smoked pipes that fouled the air. Closed skylights leaked water into buckets set on the platform where three clerks knelt at desks. The chief clerk greeted Hirata and said, "It's been a long time."
"Greetings, Uchida-san," Hirata said.
Uchida was a middle-aged samurai with flexible, comic features. He'd held his job since Hirata had been a child, and was a trove of information about crime, criminals, and all police business in Edo.
"What can I do for you today?" Uchida asked.
"I need your help with a case I'm investigating." Hirata explained, "Chamberlain Sano's cousin Chiyo was kidnapped."
"So I've heard." Uchida's mobile features drooped with concern. He lowered his voice. "Raped, wasn't she? Poor girl. Well, I'm glad she's home safe. I hope you catch the bastard. How can I help?"
"Her father told Chamberlain Sano that when she went missing, he reported it to the police," Hirata began. "Have you heard about that, too?"
Uchida pulled a grimace. "Major Kumazawa stalked in here like a conquering general. He demanded that we drop everything and look for his daughter. But we couldn't, could we? Put every man on the search and let the criminals run wild in the meantime?"
"Of course not," Hirata agreed. "But I hope someone made an effort to find Chiyo."
"Sure we did," Uchida said. "A missing person is a missing person. We were duty-bound to investigate even if Major Kumazawa didn't exactly make us eager to do it."
If Major Kumazawa hadn't been so high-handed, the police might have worked harder and rescued Chiyo sooner, Hirata thought. "What did the investigation turn up?"
"Nothing," Uchida said. "Our officers in Asakusa had a look around the shrine where she disappeared, but nobody there saw anything. But I've got a bit of news that might be related to the crime."
"What?" Hirata said, surprised. "Did you tell Major Kumazawa?" The man hadn't given Sano any information from the police, as far as Hirata knew.
"I didn't get a chance," Uchida defended himself. "He threw a fit because we didn't all jump at once, then he stormed out of here before I could speak."
"Well, cough it up," Hirata said.
Uchida paused, letting the suspense build, until prodded by a frown from Hirata. "Chamberlain Sano's cousin isn't the only woman to be kidnapped lately. There have been two others."
11
"Is anyone following us?" Yanagisawa said.