Shogun_ A Novel of Japan - James Clavell [573]
“Eeeee!” Naga uttered in admiration. “How can we lose with you in command?”
“Too easily, my son, if that is my karma,” Then his mood changed. “Naga-san, order all samurai who came back with the galley from Osaka to my quarters.”
Naga hurried away.
“Yabu-san. I’m pleased to welcome you back safely. Dismiss the regiment—after the evening meal we’ll talk. May I send for you?”
“Of course. Thank you, Sire.” Yabu saluted and went off.
Now alone but for guards that he waved out of hearing, Toranaga studied Buntaro. Buntaro was unsettled, as a dog would be when stared at. When he could bear it no longer, he said, “Sire?”
“Once you asked for his head, neh? Neh?”
“Yes—yes, Sire.”
“Well?”
“He—he insulted me at Anjiro. I’m—I’m still shamed.”
“I order that shame dismissed.”
“Then it’s dismissed, Sire. But she betrayed me with him and that cannot be dismissed, not while he’s alive. I’ve proof. I want him dead. Now. He … please, his ship’s gone, what use is he now to you, Sire? I ask it as a lifetime favor.”
“What proof?”
“Everyone knows. On the way from Yokosé. I talked to Yoshinaka. Everyone knows,” he added sullenly.
“Yoshinaka saw her and him together? He accused her?”
“No. But what he said …” Buntaro looked up, in agony. “I know, that is enough. Please, I beg it as a lifetime favor. I’ve never asked anything of you, neh?”
“I need him alive. But for him the ninja would have captured her, and shamed her, and therefore you.”
“A lifetime wish,” Buntaro said. “I ask it. His ship’s gone—he’s, he’s done what you wanted. Please.”
“I have proof he did not shame you with her.”
“So sorry, what proof?”
“Listen. This is for your ears alone—as I agreed with her. I ordered her to become his friend.” Toranaga bore down on him. “They were friends, yes. The Anjin-san worshiped her, but he never shamed you with her, or she with him. At Anjiro, just before the earthquake, when she first suggested going to Osaka to free all the hostages—by challenging Ishido publicly and then forcing a crisis by committing seppuku, whatever he tried to do—on that day I de—”
“That was planned then?”
“Of course. Will you never learn? On that day I ordered her divorced from you.”
“Sire?”
“Divorced. Isn’t the word clear?”
“Yes, but—”
“Divorced. She’d driven you insane for years, you’d treated her foully for years. What about your treatment of her foster mother and ladies? Didn’t I tell you I needed her to interpret the Anjin-san, yet you lost your temper and beat her—the truth is you almost killed her that time, neh? Neh?”
“Yes—please excuse me.”
“The time had come to finish that marriage. I ordered it finished. Then.”
“She asked for divorce?”
“No. I decided and I ordered it. But your wife begged me to revoke the order. I refused. Then your wife said she would commit seppuku at once without my permission before she would allow you to be shamed in that way. I ordered her to obey. She refused.” Toranaga continued angrily, “Your wife forced me, her liege lord, to withdraw my legal order and made me agree to make my order absolute only after Osaka—both of us knowing that Osaka for her meant death. Do you understand?”
“Yes—yes, I understand that.”
“At Osaka the Anjin-san saved her honor and the honor of my ladies and my youngest son. But for him, they and all the hostages at Osaka would still be in Osaka, I’d be dead or in Ikawa Jikkyu’s hands, probably in chains like a common felon!”
“Please excuse me … but why did she do that? She hated me—why should she delay divorce? Because of Saruji?”
“For your honor. She understood duty. Your wife was so concerned for your honor—even after her death—that part of my agreement was that this was to be a private affair between her and you and myself. No one else would ever know, not the Anjin-san, her son, anyone—not even her Christian priest confessor.”
“What?”
Toranaga explained it again. At length Buntaro understood clearly and Toranaga dismissed