Kato regarded Yanagisawa with contempt that didn’t hide his hope that Yanagisawa would rise to the occasion or his fear that Yanagisawa couldn’t. Then he stood. “Farewell, for now. But hear this: Don’t think you can just ignore the shogun’s orders. When ten days are up and you’re still here, the army will come and pry you out. You’d better do something.”
8
Sano and his troops rode back to Edo Castle through deserted streets as the last rays of daylight faded. Since the earthquake the city had been eerily quiet at night. The only sounds were the horses’ hoofbeats and the howling of dogs. Sano fancied that the darkness brought out the evil spirits that had erupted from hell when the earth split open. They owned the night, while humans hid in their tents and ruined homes. Sano looked up at Edo Castle, looming against a sky that was the dull red color of a wound. A black hulk with jagged outlines where broken towers and walls rose, it seemed a haunt for demons.
Hirata rode up beside Sano on the avenue outside the castle and said, “You were right. It was poison.” In a low voice, in case of spies, Hirata described Dr. Ito’s examination.
“Just as I thought,” Sano said without satisfaction. “I’ve been hoping I could tell Lord Hosokawa I made a mistake and his daughters weren’t murdered. Because he’s put me in a bad position.” He told Hirata about the bargain that Lord Hosokawa had forced him to make.
Hirata let his breath out in a whistle. “That is bad. I suppose we’d better not waste any time. Where do we start the investigation?”
“Meet me at my house and we’ll talk about it. Right now I have to report to the shogun.” As they neared the castle gate, Sano said, “Have you anything else to tell me?”
He noticed that Hirata paused for an instant before replying, “No. Nothing.”
Sano found the shogun right where he’d left him, in the guesthouse with Ienobu. The pair sat on the dais in the same positions. The same lanterns burned; the air in the room was just as stale. Sano had the strange sensation that time had stood still for them, whereas a lifetime had passed for him since morning, when all he’d had to worry about was building a new Edo up from the ruins.
“Well, ahh, it’s about time you came back,” the shogun said.
“We’ve already finished dinner.” Ienobu scrubbed his protruding teeth with a napkin.
Their tray tables held the remains of an abundant meal-fish with plenty of meat left on the bones, rice bowls half full, vegetables and dumplings picked over. Sano thought of all the hungry people in Edo. He tried not to think ill of the shogun for wasting food. His own stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
“What took you so long?” the shogun demanded.
“I did an extensive inspection of the city, so I could bring you an accurate report.” Sano couldn’t breathe a word about how he’d really spent the day. Lord Hosokawa’s warning shackled his tongue. “The daimyo have started to rebuild their estates. The townspeople are clearing out their neighborhoods. Everyone is hard at work.” Sano downplayed Edo’s miserable state, lest he upset the shogun. “Things are progressing.”
“No, they are not!” the shogun exclaimed. “I went up in a guard tower today and had a look at the city. And what did I see? Ruins everywhere! And all those tents.” His face puckered with disgust. “Everyone has reverted to, ahh, savagery!”
Sano felt his temper slipping even faster than it had that morning. He wanted to say, Where else do you expect the homeless people to live? And, Why did you send me on a tour of inspection when all you had to do was climb a few steps and see for yourself? If he hadn’t gone on the tour, he wouldn’t have found the bodies and he wouldn’t be in this impossible position.
“Fixing Edo is going to take time,” he managed to say instead. “What you saw was the preliminary stage. Things will improve rapidly from now on.”
He saw Ienobu smirk: The man was enjoying his struggle to control his tongue. Sano suspected that the shogun’s idea to view Edo from the guard tower had come from Ienobu.
“You’d better be right,” the shogun said. “Because you’re always using work as an excuse for why you’re too busy to be with me. And since you, ahh, have so little to show for all the time you’ve been gone, I’m beginning to wonder what you’re really up to.”
If he only knew, Sano thought. But the shogun would never know everything Sano did on his behalf. That now included hiding the fact that the daimyo were close to rising up against his regime. Sano realized that his conspiracy of silence with Lord Hosokawa was tantamount to treason. The irony of it astounded him. That his samurai loyalty required him to commit treason in order to protect his lord!
“I’ll have more to show soon,” Sano said. It would be a civil war if he didn’t catch whoever had killed Lord Hosokawa’s daughters. That would give the shogun something to complain about.
“In the meantime, you have me,” Ienobu told the shogun.
The shogun turned his pique on Ienobu. “You can’t do the things that need to be done! You just, ahh, hang around and live off me! That’s why I need Sano- san.”
Ienobu sat up straighter than Sano had thought his hunched back would allow. Offense and humiliation showed on his ugly features. He turned to Sano, who felt a sudden change in the atmosphere between Ienobu and himself. They weren’t just cautiously watching each other anymore. Ienobu now resented how much the shogun depended on Sano, and his caution toward Sano had changed to active dislike.
“Your nephew performs a valuable service by providing counsel to you, Your Excellency,” Sano said in an attempt to help Ienobu regain face. The last thing he needed was another enemy.
Ienobu tightened his lips until they almost covered his teeth.
“Well, ahh, you had better think about improving your service to me,” the shogun told Sano. “I want some real progress in the city, and I want it tomorrow!”
Sano’s fortitude strained toward the breaking point. Mutinous ideas came unbidden to his mind. Maybe the shogun deserved to be overthrown. It would be a fitting punishment for his selfishness and stupidity. What if Sano deliberately failed to satisfy Lord Hosokawa’s demands and let matters run their course? He could then join the rebels. They would surely welcome him, his troops, and the allies he could bring to their side. The shogun would never threaten him, abuse him, or make impossible demands on him ever again. These ideas tempted and horrified Sano. He was infected with the same madness as Lord Hosokawa; the earthquake had eroded his own sanity. The honor he’d served all his life was a dam cracking under the strain.
The dam held, shored up by forty-six years of following the Way of the Warrior. “Yes, Your Excellency.” Sano promised, “I’ll do better.” Leaving the room, he glanced at Ienobu.
Ienobu gazed back as if he’d sensed Sano’s thoughts and wondered how best to use them to his own advantage.
Noises in the corridor awakened Reiko from a sound sleep. She stretched under the quilts, drowsy and relaxed. Akiko was gone. The room was dim, the lamps in the corridor lit. It was evening; she’d slept the whole afternoon. She heard Sano’s voice.
Then she remembered.
Fully awake now, Reiko clambered out of bed and quickly dressed. She must tell Sano about the baby. But when he came into the room, Hirata and Masahiro were with him. She decided to wait until she and Sano were alone. She wasn’t yet ready to spread the news outside their family, and she and Sano would want to tell Masahiro privately together, as they’d done when she became pregnant with Akiko.
“You’re home early,” she said to Sano. This was the first time since the earthquake that he’d come home before midnight. He looked even more careworn than usual. “Did something bad happen today?”