Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa [267]
As he headed down dark streets toward Gojō Avenue, he was joined by a pack of barking stray mongrels, not, unfortunately, of the sort that could be silenced by throwing a rock or two at them. But he was used to being barked at, and it didn’t bother him when the dogs came up snarling and baring their teeth.
At Matsubara, a pine woods near Gojō Avenue, he saw another pack of curs gathered around a tree. The ones escorting him loped off to join them. There were more than he could count, all raising a great racket, some jumping five and six feet up the tree trunk.
Straining his eyes, he could barely make out a girl crouched trembling on a branch. Or at least he was fairly sure it was a girl.
He shook his fist and shouted to drive the dogs away. When this had no effect, he threw rocks, also to no avail. Then he remembered having heard that the way to scare dogs away was to get down on all fours and roar loudly, so he tried that. But this did not work either, possibly because there were so many of them, jumping about like fish in a net, wagging their tails, scratching the bark of the tree and howling viciously.
It suddenly occurred to him that a woman might consider it ludicrous for a young man with two swords to be down on all fours acting like an animal. With a curse, he jumped to his feet. The next instant, one dog gave a final howl and died. When the others saw Matahachi’s bloody sword hanging above the body, they drew together, their bony backs heaving up and down like ocean waves.
“You want more, uh?”
Sensing the threat of the sword, the dogs scattered in all directions. “You up there!” he called. “You can come down now.”
He heard a pretty little metallic tinkle among the pine needles. “It’s Akemi!” he gasped. “Akemi, is that you?”
And it was Akemi’s voice that called down, “Who are you?”
“Matahachi. Can’t you tell from my voice?”
“It couldn’t be! Did you say Matahachi?”
“What are you doing up there? You’re not the type to be frightened by dogs.”
“I’m not up here because of the dogs.”
“Well, whatever you’re hiding from, come down.”
From her perch on the limb, Akemi peered around into the silent darkness. “Matahachi!” she said urgently. “Get away from here. I think he’s come looking for me.”
“He? Who’s he?”
“There’s no time to talk about it. A man. He offered to help me at the end of last year, but he’s a beast. At first I thought he was kind, then he did all sorts of cruel things to me. Tonight I saw a chance to get away.”
“It’s not Okō who’s after you?”
“No, not Mother; it’s a man!”
“Gion Tōji, maybe?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not afraid of him…. Oh, oh—he’s right over there. If you stay here, he’ll find me. He’ll do something awful to you too! Hide quick!”
“Do you expect me to run just because some man has turned up?” He stood where he was, fidgeting with indecision. He had half a mind to perform a valiant deed. He was a man. He had a woman in distress on his hands. And he would have liked to make up for the mortification of having been on his hands and knees trying to scare the dogs away. The more Akemi urged him to hide, the more he longed to demonstrate his virility, both to her and to himself.
“Who’s there?”
The words were spoken simultaneously by Matahachi and Kojirō. Kojirō glared at Matahachi’s sword and the blood dripping from it. “Who are you?” he demanded belligerently.
Matahachi remained silent. Having heard the fear in Akemi’s voice, he grew tense. But after a second look, he relaxed. The stranger was tall and well built, but no older than Matahachi himself. From his boyish hairdo and outfit, Matahachi took him to be a rank novice, and contempt came into his eyes. The monk had given him a real scare, but he was sure he could not lose to this young fop.
“Could this be the brute who was tormenting Akemi?” he wondered. “He looks green as a gourd to me. I haven’t heard what it’s all about yet, but if he’s causing her a lot of trouble, I guess I’ll just have to give him a lesson or two.”
“Who are you?” Kojirō asked again.