Musashi: Bushido Code (11 page)

"Don't worry, it's not Takezō. I just want you to watch where you walk. There are wisteria-vine and bramble traps all along the side of the road here." "The searchers set them there to catch Takezō?"

"Uh-huh. But if we're not careful, we'll fall into one ourselves."

"Takuan, if you keep saying things like that I'll be so nervous I won't be able to put one foot in front of the other!"

"What are you worried about? If we do walk into one, I'll fall in first. No need for you to follow me." He grinned back at her. "I must say, they went to an awful lot of trouble for nothing." After a moment's silence, he added, "Otsū, doesn't the ravine seem to be getting narrower?"

"I don't know, but we passed the back side of Sanumo some time ago. This should be Tsujinohara."

"If that's the case, we may have to walk all night."

"Well, I don't even know where we're going. Why talk to me about it?" "Let's put this down for a minute." After they'd lowered the bundle to the ground, Takuan started toward a nearby cliff.

"Where are you going?"

"To relieve myself."

A hundred feet below him, the waters that joined to form the Aida River were crashing thunderously from boulder to boulder. The sound roared up to him, filling his ears and penetrating his whole being. As he urinated, he gazed at the sky as if counting the stars. "Oh, this feels good!" he exulted. "Am I one with the universe, or is the universe one with me?"

"Takuan," called Otsū, "aren't you finished yet? You certainly do take your time!"

Finally he reappeared and explained himself. "While I was about it, I consulted the Book of Changes, and now I know exactly what course of action we have to take. It's all clear to me now."

"The Book of Changes?
You aren't carrying a book."

"Not the written one, silly, the one inside me. My very own original Book of Changes. It's in my heart or belly or somewhere. While I was standing there, I was considering the lay of the land, the look of the water and the condition of the sky. Then I shut my eyes, and when I opened them, something said, 'Go to that mountain over there."' He pointed to a nearby peak.

"Are you talking about Takateru Mountain?"

"I have no idea what it's called. It's that one, with the level clearing about halfway up."

"People call that Itadori Pasture."

"Oh, it has a name, does it?"

When they reached it, the pasture proved to be a small plain, sloping to the southeast and affording a splendid view of the surroundings. Farmers usually turned horses and cows loose here to graze, but that night not an animal could be seen or heard. The stillness was broken only by the warm spring breeze caressing the grass.

"We'll camp here," announced Takuan. "The enemy, Takezō, will fall into my hands just as General Ts'ao Ts'ao of Wei fell into the hands of Ch'u-ko K'ung-ming."

As they laid down their load, Otsū inquired, "What are we going to do here?"

"We are going to sit," replied Takuan firmly.

"How can we catch Takezō by just sitting here?"

"If you set up nets, you can catch birds on the wing without having to fly around yourself."

"We haven't set up any nets. Are you sure you haven't become possessed by a fox or something?"

"Let's build a fire, then. Foxes are afraid of fire, so if I am I'll soon be exorcised."

They gathered some dry wood, and Takuan built a fire. It seemed to lift Otsū's spirits.

"A good fire cheers a person up, doesn't it?"

"It warms a person up, that's for sure. Anyway, were you unhappy?"

"Oh, Takuan, you can see the mood I've been in! And I don't think anyone really likes to spend a night in the mountains like this. What would we do if it rained right now?"

"On the way up I saw a cave near the road. We could take shelter there till it stopped."

"That's what Takezō probably does at night and in bad weather, don't you think? There must be places like that all over the mountain. That's probably where he hides most of the time, too."

"Probably. He doesn't really have much sense, but he must have enough to get in out of the rain."

She grew pensive. "Takuan, why do the people in the village hate him so much?"

"The authorities make them hate him. Otsū, these people are simple. They're afraid of the government, so afraid that if it so decrees, they'll drive away their fellow villagers, even their own kin."

"You mean they only worry about protecting their own skins."

"Well, it's not really their fault. They're completely powerless. You have to forgive them for putting their own interests first, since it's a case of self-defense. What they really want is just to be left alone."

"But what about the samurai? Why are they making such a fuss about an insignificant person like Takezō?"

"Because he's a symbol of chaos, an outlaw. They have to preserve the peace. After Sekigahara, Takezō was obsessed with the idea that the enemy was chasing him. He made his first big mistake by breaking through the barrier at the border. He should've used his wits somehow, snuck through at night or gone through in disguise. Anything. But not Takezō! He had to go and kill a guard and then kill other people later on. After that it just snowballed. He thinks he has to keep on killing to protect his own life. But he's the one who started it. The whole unfortunate situation was brought about by one thing: Takezō's complete lack of common sense."

"Do you hate him too?"

"I loathe him! I abhor his stupidity! If I were lord of the province, I'd have him suffer the worst punishment I could devise. In fact, as an object lesson to the people, I'd have him torn limb from limb. After all, he's no better than a wild beast, is he? A provincial lord cannot afford to be generous with the likes of Takezō, even if he does seem to some to be no more than a young ruffian. It would be detrimental to law and order, and that's not good, particularly in these unsettled times."

"I always thought you were kind,. Takuan, but deep down you're quite hard, aren't you? I didn't think you cared about the daimyō's laws."

"Well, I do. I think that good should be rewarded and evil punished, and I came here with the authority to do just that."

"Oh, what was that?" cried Otsū, jumping up from her place by the fire. "Didn't you hear it? It was a rustling sound, like footsteps, in those trees over there!"

"Footsteps?" Takuan, too, became alert, but after listening closely for a few moments he burst into laughter. "Ha, ha. It's only some monkeys. Look!" They could see the silhouettes of a big monkey and a little one, swinging through the trees.

Otsū, visibly relieved, sat down again. "Whew, that scared me half to death!"

For the next couple of hours, the two sat silently, staring at the fire. Whenever it would dwindle, Takuan would break some dry branches and throw them on.

"Otsū, what are you thinking about?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Although I do it all the time, I really hate holding conversations with myself."

Otsū's eyes were puffy from the smoke. Looking up at the starry sky, she spoke softly. "I was thinking of how strange the world is. All those stars way up there in the empty blackness— No, I don't mean that.

"The night is full. It seems to embrace everything. If you stare at the stars a long time, you can see them moving. Slowly, slowly moving. I can't help thinking the whole world is moving. I feel it. And I'm just a little speck in it all—a speck controlled by some awesome power I can't even see. Even while I sit here thinking, my fate is changing bit by bit. My thoughts seem to go round and round in circles."

"You're not telling the truth!" said Takuan sternly. "Of course those ideas entered your head, but you really had something much more specific on your mind."

Otsū was silent.

"I apologize if I violated your privacy, Otsū, but I read those letters you received."

"You did? But the seal wasn't broken!"

"I read them after finding you in the loom shed. When you said you didn't want them, I stuck them in my sleeve. I guess it was wrong of me, but later, when I was in the privy, I took them out and read them just to pass the time."

"You're awful! How could you do such a thing! And just to pass the time!"

"Well, for whatever reason. Anyway, now I understand what started that flood of tears. Why you looked half dead when I found you. But listen, Otsū, I think you were lucky. In the long run, I think it's better that things turned out the way they did. You think I'm awful? Look at him!"

"What do you mean?"

"Matahachi was and still is irresponsible. If you married him, and then one day he surprised you with a letter like that, what would you do then? Don't tell me, I know you. You'd dive into the sea from a rocky cliff. I'm glad it's all over before it could come to that."

"Women don't think that way."

"Oh, really? How do they think?"

"I'm so angry I could scream!" She tugged angrily at the sleeve of her kimono with her teeth. "Someday I'll find him! I swear I will! I won't rest until I've told him, to his face, exactly what I think of him. And the same goes for that Okō woman."

She broke into tears of rage. As Takuan stared at her, he mumbled cryptically, "It's started, hasn't it?"

She looked at him dumbfounded. "What?"

He stared at the ground, seemingly composing his thoughts. Then he began. "Otsū, I'd really hoped that you, of all people, would be spared the evils and duplicities of this world. That your sweet, innocent self would go through all the stages of life unsullied and unharmed. But it looks like the rough winds of fate have begun to buffet you, as they buffet everyone else."

"Oh, Takuan! What should I do! I'm so . . . so . . . angry!" Her shoulders shook with her sobbing as she buried her face in her lap.

By dawn, she'd cried herself out, and the two of them hid in the cave to sleep. That night they kept watch by the fire and slept through the next day in the cave again. They had plenty of food, but Otsū was baffled. She kept saying she couldn't see how they'd ever capture Takezō at this rate. Takuan, on the other hand, remained sublimely unperturbed. Otsū hadn't a clue to what he was thinking. He made no move to search anywhere, nor was he the slightest bit disconcerted by Takezō's failure to appear.

On the evening of the third day, as on the previous nights, they kept vigil by the fireside.

"Takuan," Otsū finally blurted, "this is our last night, you know. Our time is up tomorrow."

"Hmm. That's true, isn't it?"

"Well, what do you plan to do?"

"Do about what?"

"Oh, don't be so difficult! You do remember, don't you, the promise you made to the captain?"

"Why, yes, of course!"

"Well, if we don't bring Takezō back—"

He interrupted her. "I know, I know. I'll have to hang myself from the old cryptomeria tree. But don't worry. I'm not ready to die just yet."

"Then why don't you go and look for him?"

"If I did, do you really think I'd find him? In these mountains?"

"Oh, I don't understand you at all! And yet somehow, just sitting here, I feel

like I'm getting braver, mustering up the nerve to let things turn out whatever

way they will." She laughed. "Or maybe I'm just going crazy, like you." "I'm not crazy. I just have nerve. That's what it takes."

"Tell me, Takuan, was it nerve and nothing else that made you take this on?"

"Yes."

"Nothing but nerve! That's not very encouraging. I thought you must have some foolproof scheme up your sleeve."

Otsū had been on her way toward sharing her companion's confidence, but his disclosure that he was operating on sheer audacity sent her into a fit of despondency. Was he totally insane? Sometimes people who are not quite right in the mind are taken by others to be geniuses. Takuan might be one of those. Otsū was beginning to think this was a distinct possibility.

The monk, serene as ever, continued to gaze absently into the fire. Presently he mumbled, as though he'd just noticed, "It's very late, isn't it?"

"It certainly is! It'll be dawn soon, " snapped Otsū with deliberate tartness. Why had she trusted this suicidal lunatic?

Paying no attention to the sharpness of her response, he muttered, "Funny, isn't it?"

"What
are
you muttering about, Takuan?"

"It just occurred to me that Takezō has to show up pretty soon."

"Yes, but maybe he doesn't realize you two have an appointment." Looking

at the monk's unsmiling face, she softened. "Do you really think he will?" "Of course I do!"

"But why would he just walk right into a trap?"

"It's not exactly that. It has to do with human nature, that's all. People aren't strong at heart, they're weak. And solitude is not their natural state, particularly when it involves being surrounded by enemies and chased with swords. You may think it's natural, but I'd be very much surprised if Takezō manages to resist the temptation to pay us a call and warm himself by the fire."

"Isn't that just wishful thinking? He may be nowhere near here."

Takuan shook his head and said, "No, it is not just wishful thinking. It isn't even my own theory, it's that of a master of strategy." He spoke so confidently that Otsū found herself relieved that his disagreement was so definite.

"I suspect that Shimmen Takezō is somewhere very close by, but hasn't yet decided whether we're friends or enemies. He's probably plagued, poor boy, by a multitude of doubts, struggling with them, unable to advance or retreat. It'd be my guess he's hiding in the shadows right now, looking out at us furtively, wondering desperately what to do. Ah, I know. Let me have the flute you carry in your obi!"