I wait, silently. Okāsan continues to stand, her back to me. It is as if she is inviting me to act. Perhaps she is provoking me to strike. I stand still, but only through great effort. I may be close to the truth. The answer to my questions about Tomo may be but a few feet away.
“Why is it, Mukade, that you do not kneel in my presence? Why do you not offer me your sword?”
“I think I would not be in your favor, Okāsan.”
Okāsan pauses, then cocks her head slightly, glancing over her shoulder.
“How might you fall out of my favor, Mukade?”
She turns to confront me. I meet her gaze as she continues.
“How could one of the Kuroiwa clan’s best fall from grace?”
“You think I am a traitor. Either that, or it benefits you to make me into one.”
“Benefits me?” Okāsan’s eyes narrow as she watches me. “Today, the Kuroiwa clan was ambushed. Many of us have perished, and not all at the hands of the hunters. Two of our clan were killed while guarding a captured hunter, who was himself slain before I could interrogate him. He died from being drained.”
Okāsan regards me a moment before continuing.
“There is a traitor among us. Why would it benefit me to think it is you, or to convince others of that?”
“Perhaps to redirect suspicion. To save someone you hold in higher regard.”
“Whom could I hold in higher regard than Mukade, who has served me so well in the past?”
“Perhaps . . . yourself.”
The motion as Okāsan draws her katana is imperceptible. It is as if it appears in her hand through will alone. Just as quickly, I unsheathe my nodachi.
“You must feel brave, Mukade, speaking to me this way. Implying that I would betray my own clan.”
“But you have before, haven’t you? You have sacrificed your children to assess their strength.”
“I have done what I needed to in order to ensure the strength of the clan. Sometimes, that means they need to be tested. I would not ally with the hunters to do so. Yet, someone else has.”
Okāsan tilts her head to the side.
“Who would be willing to unleash the hunters on the clan? Someone without blood ties seems most likely. And someone with the foresight to be absent when the hunters attacked.”
Okāsan’s strike comes in an instant. I evade it easily, and I know the intent was more to warn than to harm. I assume a defensive stance, ready for another attack.
“I know that I am not linked to the clan by blood, but I have always been faithful, and I have always acted as you commanded.”
“Yet, where were you, Mukade? Where were you when the hunters fell upon us?”
I know that it is not the time for secrets, nor deception, but I cannot yet mention Tomo. I have to see if I can get her to betray knowledge of him first.
“I was attending to business of my own. Something that had nothing to do with the clan nor the hunters.”
“But Mukade, you are an assassin for the Kuroiwa clan. The clan is your only concern.”
Okāsan is upon me with a flurry of strokes, and this time they are more difficult to evade. She holds back, somewhat, though. She is sending me a message. Either tell her the truth, or she will destroy me. She eases her assault.
“You may hold no secrets from me. Tell me what I want to know.”
I weigh Okāsan’s demeanor and actions. I seek the truth in her face, and I find no deceit. I start to believe that Okāsan had nothing to do with the hunters, and my hope for discovering anything about Tomo from her wanes. I refuse to share Tomo with her, though. Okāsan is not one with whom it is safe to share such desires. Any weakness she discovers, she will find a way to exploit.
“I am not your enemy. I returned to you tonight, knowing the danger, to discover who betrayed us.”
Okāsan smiles.
“Was that it, or was it to complete the treachery? Maybe you thought I had grown weak, that my skills were dull from lack of practice. Perhaps you believed you could defeat me.”
Okāsan attacks again, but this time, her purpose is not to warn or frighten. This time, her intent is to wound, or even to kill. I find myself reeling, parrying strokes, falling back. Though her art is not perfect, I find it difficult to counter, whether due to fatigue, caution, or just loyalty. She finally relents, and I stumble back.
“You are not yourself, Mukade. It was reckless of you to confront me as you are.”
Reckless. A term scarcely used to describe Mukade. She is careful, calculated. She never allows herself to be at a disadvantage. She plans ahead. She is merciless. She is emotionless. No, she is not herself now. She has allowed herself to be propelled by hope and by love. She has not been cautious. Nothing has been premeditated. She has allowed herself to be swept away by Ai and the slightest promise of reuniting with Tomo.
I stand, ready to meet Okāsan’s next onslaught. There seems to be nothing to gain here. I only need to survive and seek the truth elsewhere. I watch Okāsan, seeking any perceptible hint of her next move. If I evade it well, I may be able to slip away. Then, I can resume my search.
I sense Okāsan’s impending attack, but then she pauses. For a moment, I am puzzled, but then I sense something more. I catch the faint sound of movement. There are others here. Okāsan takes a step back, peering at me with her golden eyes.
“I believe your co-conspirators have arrived.”
I turn to see several kyūketsuki emerge from the shadows. They are not of the Kuroiwa clan or any other clan I have ever encountered. All have their weapons drawn, ready to attack. I do not feel threatened by them, though. They are not here for me. They have come for Okāsan. Reflexively, I back toward Okāsan, my nodachi poised toward the new threat. Okāsan gauges the situation, then stands by my side, her katana pointed toward the oncoming horde in defiance.
“So, these are not your allies, Mukade.”
“No, though I do not believe they have come for me.”
“No,” agrees Okāsan. “They have not.”
They close in, forming an arc. A few come forward, katanas slicing the air, but they are easily driven back. They are hesitant. They are fearful. It is obvious that they are waiting, their only purpose to keep us contained. More are coming.
I call upon Mukade’s training, and when I sense an opening, I strike. My nodachi wounds three of the kyūketsuki before they can act, and a fissure has formed in their ranks. Okāsan follows my lead, and two more lie helpless against the damp stone as we rush past. We race through the sewers, pursued by the unknown kyūketsuki. If we can reach the surface to a more open area, our chances will improve. We may escape before they can overwhelm us.
In moments, we are near an exit. I can hear the kyūketsuki behind us, but they are not close enough to inhibit our flight. We are but yards away when a form strides from the shadows. I catch the sheen of the dim light on an exposed katana. I hoist my nodachi over my shoulder, prepared to meet this foe. Then, I realize who it is.
In the passage ahead, between us and the exit, stands Tatsu.
I slow without thinking, and lower my nodachi. Tatsu smiles at me, the points of her exposed fangs evident. As I draw close, I stop and stare at her. Okāsan stands by my side.
“We have to get to the surface,” I say, attempting to inform Tatsu of our peril. “There are other kyūketsuki after us.”
“Go on, Mukade,” Tatsu replies. “You may escape.”
“All of us need to flee. There will be too many.”
Tatsu ignores me and stares at Okāsan, who steps forward, closing the distance between them.
“You? You did this?”
“The time of the Kuroiwa clan has passed,” Tatsu says.
“You believe you can stand against me?”
“Yes, I can, though I had hoped that Mukade would make that unnecessary. It does not matter now. I can stand against you, Okāsan. I and my children.”
I step in front of Okāsan, shielding her from Tatsu, though I feel my strength leaving me. My throat constricts.
“You cannot do this, Tatsu. You cannot turn against the clan.”
Tatsu looks at me, and once again I read mixed emotions. She seems to reflect both anger and sympathy.
“There is no clan. My children have put down the Kuroiwa clan. All but Okāsan.”
Mukade’s fury rises within me. I grip my nodachi tightly. Tatsu motions with her gloved hand for me to stop.
“If you want to know where Tomo is, you will step aside.”
For the first time in decades, I hear his name spoken, and all sense leaves me. Tomo. Somehow, Tatsu knows about Tomo. I am stunned, and I lower my nodachi. How does she know? What does she know? I want to grab her, to scream at her. I want to hold her and cry and beg her to share whatever she knows. I step forward, carelessly. Thoughtlessly. She tenses, but I pay her no heed. I do not even realize at first that her katana has pierced my thigh, slicing through the muscle. Only when I am lying on the ground, unable to walk, do I recognize what has happened.
In that brief moment, as Tatsu occupied herself with stopping me, Okāsan acted, leaping past Tatsu and fleeing out of the sewers.
I hear the rest of the kyūketsuki approach, but I do not see them. My eyes are locked on Tatsu, who now pays me little heed. When a few kyūketsuki pause by me, she ushers them on.
“Leave her! Go after Okāsan!”
A minute later, and I am alone. I am alone to consider the duplicity of my one time mentor and the destruction of my clan. I am alone to mend the wound that leaks stolen blood into the dark cracks of the sewer floor. I am alone to mourn the fact that I came so close to solving a part of the riddle surrounding Tomo.
My body begs me for rest. It is tired and wounded. It needs just a few hours to recuperate, but the loss of a few hours now is much too costly.
I stretch my hand out and begin to pull myself forward toward the exit. Beyond it lies Tatsu and the answers she carries.
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