Samurai Son (39 page)

Kasumi hesitated.
 
She would be taking an awful chance entering the room, even if Akira were there.
 
But she had no time.
 
She smacked the door as hard as she could.
 
The lock yielded and she was inside.

Chapter Seventy-Six

Akira leaped from his bed, Windspirit in hand.
 
Being a light sleeper, he had heard the commotion outside.
 
He didn’t expect a tiger to burst through his door.
 
He raised the no-dachi to strike.

Suddenly the tiger morphed.
 
Before him stood Kasumi, naked and with a pack tied around her shoulders.
 
He almost dropped Windspirit in utter surprise.
 
“Kasumi?” he began.

Kasumi shut the door and shrugged off the pack.
 
“No time to explain,” she said and morphed into a tortoiseshell cat.
 
She strutted over to his blankets and curled up in them.

She is a shapeshifter,
Windspirit said.
 
She may be kami.

Akira was perplexed but before he could say anything, several ninja came through his door.
 
He looked at them, and they looked at him.
 
They had their ninjato drawn, but Akira was sure he could take them on with the no-dachi.
 
He didn’t know why Kasumi was fleeing the ninja, but at this point, having an ally here on Shinobi-jima seemed the wisest course.

“What’s going on?” Akira asked in his most haughty samurai tone.
 
“Some creature just tried to break in.”

To his surprise, the ninja parted and Shigeko stepped in.
 
“My men saw what looked like a tiger entering this building,” she said.
 
“We’ve been looking for our guest Naotaka Kasumi Neko; she has somehow left her room.”

“Neko?” Akira said, feigning surprise.
 
“She’s here on the island?”

Careful,
Windspirit growled in his mind.

“Do you know her?” Shigeko asked him.

“Yes but not very well,” Akira said.
 
“She visited my family’s estate some time ago.”
 
Akira could not be sure how much Shigeko knew, but decided to not get trapped in a lie.
 
“Is she all right?
 
What has a tiger to do with her disappearance?”
 
He sheathed the no-dachi, and the ninja put away their own blades.

Shigeko looked at him oddly then around the room.

Akira turned and peered around as well.
 
“I don’t think anyone could hide here, certainly not a tiger,” Akira said.
 
“That would be a feat worthy of the ninja.”

Shigeko smiled and nodded.
 
“Indeed.
 
Did you see where the tiger went?”

Akira shook his head.
 
“Whatever it was that was outside my door fled when I leapt at it with the no-dachi.
 
I do not know where it went.”

Shigeko bowed.
 
“I am sorry to have disturbed your sleep.”

Akira bowed to her, and she and the ninja left.

Akira closed the door and listened intently.
 
Although Shigeko and the other Shinobi moved quietly, he could still pick out the rustle of their garments, the tremor of their footfalls, and even their breathing with his Tengu senses.
 
It was not until he heard them leave, that he dared turn around to Kasumi.

Months ago he would have been dreadfully embarrassed to have seen the woman naked before him.
 
But since his time with the Tengu, he no longer had quite the modesty.
 
Still, he reminded himself, Kasumi was samurai, even though it was obvious she did not belong in the world of men any more than he did.

Not true,
replied Windspirit.
 
She is samurai, but she is also Neko.

What does that mean?
Akira asked.

“Thank you for not alerting them,” Kasumi said.
 
She was kneeling on his bed with the blankets wrapped around her.
 
“It would have been awkward to explain how a woman could turn into a tiger.”

Just as a boy could turn into a Tengu.
 
Windspirit shifted slightly in its sheath.

Akira ignored the no-dachi.
 
Instead, he cocked his head and scrutinized her.
 
While he could not perform Tengu magic, he could let his extraordinary senses consider her.
 
She had the musky smell of a cat, and as her eyes blinked, he could see that the pupils were not quite round.
 
Kasumi was quite beautiful—just as he remembered her—but now he appreciated her for her kami powers and her otherworldly beauty.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“To find you.”
 
She looked down at the sack she had dropped.
 
“My clothes are in there.
 
Can you hand those to me?”

Akira bent down and tossed her the sack.
 
That had swords in it,
Windspirit observed.

She could kill me turning into a tiger,
Akira said.
 
“Why were you trying to find me?”

“After the Tengu attacked Tsuitori-jima, you disappeared.
 
I went to look for you.”

Akira was nonplussed.
 
“You came to look for me?
 
Why?”
 
Part of him was secretly pleased that she searched for him, but another part of him knew that she wouldn’t risk the Shinobi without good reason.”

It is said that the Neko are allies with the Shinobi,
said Windspirit.

Akira gave Windspirit a mental nod.
 
He could see conflict in Kasumi’s face.

Kasumi looked around as she rummaged through the bag.
 
“Where is Ikumi?” she asked.

Akira bit his lip.
 
Didn’t she know what had happened to Ikumi?

Unlikely,
said Windspirit.
 
I doubt the Neko had anything to do with you and Ikumi being captured by Tengu.

“The Tengu took my mother hostage,” Akira said softly.
 
“As far as I know, she is no more.”
 
He knew it was a lie, but he knew Ikumi was as unobtainable as the wind.

Kasumi stared at him, and he met her gaze steadily.
 
Akira could see she had many questions, but at this stage, she was too polite to ask.
 
She lowered her gaze.
 
“I am truly sorry for your loss.”

Akira nodded.
 
“Why do you come?
 
Why do you risk showing me your other form?”

Kasumi shrugged into her clothing.
 
She slid the bedding off her and stood up.
 
She took her obi and carefully wrapped it around her waist.
 
Akira’s eyes followed her actions, entranced by her very smooth and lithe movements.
 
The silk kimono flowed effortlessly around her, gently hugging her curves.
 
He could feel Rokuro’s displeasure at his distraction, but Akira knew he could not help himself.
 
“My people are in great danger,” she said at last.

“The Naotaka samurai?”

“No, the Neko.”

A silence ensued as Akira considered her words.
 
Why would a kami race need the samurai’s help?
 
What game was she playing?
 
“Won’t your lord, Nanashi, protect you?”

Kasumi turned away.
 
“Nanashi is our enemy.”

Akira stared.
 
“I don’t understand.”

Nanashi’s grandfather waged a deadly campaign against the Neko samurai clan,
Windspirit spoke up.
 
The Neko chose to compromise rather than commit seppuku.
 
There has always been an uneasy truce between them.

“Something changed?” Akira said out loud.

Kasumi turned around.
 
“Nanashi has always been ruthless when it comes to the Neko,” she said, thinking he had spoken to her.
 
“He has decided it is better for us to die than for us to live our lives on Neko-shima.
 
He is bent on destroying my clan.”

Akira cocked his head then hesitated, realizing he was behaving like a Tengu.
 
His movement wasn’t lost on Kasumi, who smiled.

“They have had a lot of influence on you,” she observed.

He shrugged.

“My mother, Naotaka Keiko Neko, knew we were in danger long before Nanashi decided to act.
 
She sent me to beg Ikumi for help.”

“What could Ikumi do…” Akira began then fell silent.
 
Ikumi was Tengu.
 
Is Tengu,
he reminded himself fiercely.
 
She could’ve helped the Neko with her Tengu powers had he not been discovered.
 
His father, Takeshi, could’ve supplied warriors to protect the Neko.
 
The Neko had to have known that rule under the Takeshi daimyo was far preferable to utter destruction from Nanashi.
 
Did the Neko know of Ikumi’s tie with the Tengu?

Unlikely that Kasumi knows, but I would guess the Neko daimyo would know,
Windspirit said.
 
We kept Ikumi’s lineage secret, but the Neko are kami.
 
They would learn, just as the Shinobi did, of Ikumi’s bloodline.
 
She was not limited in her Tengu powers, being pure Tengu.
 
She could have helped them.

“We were there to ask for protection,” Kasumi said.
 
“When the Tengu captured you and Ikumi, our hopes were nearly destroyed.
 
I’ve been following you, trying to find you, to bring you back home.”

Akira stared at her.
 
“I am to be rescued by a girl?”

Careful…
Windspirit rasped.

Kasumi’s eyes grew golden, and her face shifted to something not quite human but not quite tiger either.
 
She
bared
her fangs as a low snarl issued from her throat.
 
“I would be very careful who you are calling a girl,” she said in a growl.

Akira stepped back, his hand on the no-dachi’s hilt.
 
Kasumi returned to her human form, sat down, legs crossed, and folded her hands.
 
She stared at him defiantly.
 
For the first time, Akira noticed she was wearing loose pants and not the traditional kimono.
 
She was dressed like a man, just as she had been on Tsuitori-jima.
 
He chewed his lip.
 
“I’m sorry, Naotaka-san.
 
I spoke rashly.”

Good.
 
She’s unlikely to kill you if you mind your tongue,
Windspirit chided.
 
The Neko women are not just ‘girls.’
 
They’re very deadly opponents.

Akira nodded inwardly.
 
Kasumi’s gaze became less harsh, obviously mollified by his words.
 
“Don’t forget that I, too, am samurai.”
 
Her words were so low and soft that even with his Tengu hearing, he could barely hear her.

“I won’t.”

She cocked her head.
 
“Why are you here among the Shinobi?”

Akira smiled mirthlessly.
 
“They have discovered some, uh,
talents
that I have.”