Young Samurai_ The Way of the Sword - Chris Bradford [73]
‘How did he do that?’ exclaimed Tadashi to Yamato. ‘He must have cheated. Jack, you couldn’t see, could you?’
Shaking his head, Jack lifted the blindfold. In front of him was the picture of a perfectly proportioned face. Sensei Kano’s chi sao training was clearly working.
‘Beginner’s luck,’ explained Yamato, giving Jack a conspiratorial nudge with his elbow. They went back to the table to rejoin the others. Akiko was no longer among them.
‘Where’s Akiko?’ Jack asked.
‘She said she wasn’t feeling very well and went to bed,’ replied Kiku. ‘She thinks it’s something she drank.’
‘Has anyone gone and checked on her?’ said Jack, recalling how pale she had looked during the ceremony and her lack of appetite.
They all shook their heads. Worried, Jack excused himself and made his way over to the Hall of Lions.
Akiko wasn’t in her room. He checked the bathhouse and toilets. She wasn’t there either. He wondered if she had gone back to the party. Jack was about to return to the Hall of Butterflies, when he spotted a lone figure leaving the school via the side gate.
Jack ran out of the school gate and into the midst of a carnival.
35
HATSUHINODE
Kyoto’s streets were full of revellers and each temple brimmed with worshippers. The entrances to every house were decorated with pine boughs, bamboo stalks and plum-tree sprigs as an invitation to the protecting spirit toshigami to bless the home; while the doors had been hung with plaited ropes festooned with strips of white paper to keep away evil spirits.
Jack spotted Akiko stumbling down the street. Although conscious of the monk’s warning to respect his friend’s privacy, he was more concerned at this moment about where she was going in such a sickly state. Pushing through the crowds, Jack tried to catch up with Akiko, following her down a side alley, across a market square and into a large tree-lined courtyard thronged with people. A group of drunken samurai bumped into Jack and he lost sight of Akiko among the mass of worshippers.
‘Get out my way!’ slurred one of the samurai, grabbing Jack by the lapel of his kimono.
The samurai lent close, his breath reeking sharply of saké.
‘A gaijin,’ he spat into Jack’s face. ‘What you doing here? This isn’t your country.’
‘You’d best leave him be,’ advised another in the group, who pointed an unsteady finger at the phoenix kamon on Jack’s kimono. ‘He’s Masamoto’s. You know, the young gaijin samurai.’
The drunken man let go as if Jack’s clothing were on fire.
‘I’ll be glad when daimyo Kamakura cleanses Kyoto, like he’s doing in Edo,’ snarled the samurai before staggering off into the crowd with his friends.
Jack was shaken by the encounter. Until now, he hadn’t truly realized the danger he’d put himself in, wandering alone through Kyoto’s backstreets. He was comparatively safe within the school grounds. Outside it was only Masamoto’s reputation that protected him and he couldn’t rely on everyone recognizing his guardian’s family crest. He needed to find Akiko before he got himself into even more trouble.
Jack looked around nervously, but the majority of revellers were too wrapped up in their celebrations to give him more than a cursory glance. Then he recognized where he was. In front of him were the stone steps and arched green roof of the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon.
‘Why are you following me?’
Jack spun round.
Akiko’s ashen face stared at him out of the crowd.
‘Kiku said you were sick…’ replied Jack.
‘Jack, I can look after myself. I’ve just drunk something that didn’t agree with me, that’s all.’ She studied him severely. ‘Anyway, you’ve followed me here before, haven’t you?’
Jack nodded, feeling like a criminal caught red-handed.
‘I appreciate your concern,’ continued Akiko, though there was no warmth in her voice, ‘but if I had wanted you to know where I was going, I would have told you.’
Jack realized that he’d lost Akiko’s trust in him.