The Way Of The Sword (13 page)

The previous night when he’d heard footsteps approaching, he’d run back to the Hall of Lions empty-handed, afraid it was Kazuki and his gang. On returning to the training hall at first light, his sword was nowhere to be seen. He assumed Kazuki had taken it and had been worrying ever since, for to confront him about it would mean revealing he knew about the Scorpion Gang.

Miraculously, though, Akiko had it. He stared at her in curious amazement.

‘Thank you, Akiko. I’ve been looking for it everywhere,’ he eventually said, bowing to receive his sword.

‘Jack, this sword is your soul,’ she continued gravely, ignoring Jack’s outstretched hands. ‘It’s unforgivable to lose such a possession. The shame is even greater considering this was a gift from Masamoto-sama and his first sword. Why didn’t you tell anyone you’d lost it?’

‘I only lost it last night. I was hoping I’d be able to find it. Akiko,
please
don’t tell Masamoto-sama,’ pleaded Jack, mortified at his mistake.

Akiko stared impassively at him and Jack couldn’t tell whether she was disappointed or pitying him for his carelessness. Then the hardness in her expression softened and she handed over the weapon. ‘I won’t. But what was it doing at the back of the
Butokuden
?’

This was not how Jack had envisaged the conversation going. He had wanted to find out where Akiko had been and whether she knew about Kazuki’s plans. He hadn’t expected to have to account for his own actions.

‘I spotted intruders in the courtyard again. I thought they could be ninja breaking into the school,’ confided Jack, hoping that if he was straight with her, she would be with him. ‘But it wasn’t.’

‘Who was it?’

‘It was Kazuki, Nobu, someone else and, you won’t believe this, Moriko from the
Yagyu Ryū
.’

‘Moriko? In our school?’ she replied, alarmed at the idea. ‘Have you told Masamoto-sama?’

‘Not yet. He’s still not returned, but we must tell him. Not just about Moriko, but about Kazuki’s Scorpion Gang.’

Akiko listened intently while Jack described what he had overheard about
daimyo
Kamakura and the Scorpion Gang.

After some thought, Akiko replied, ‘Jack, there are always rumours of war. Of
daimyo
threatening
daimyo
. We’re in a time of peace now and there’s no reason why this won’t continue. You’ve met
daimyo
Kamakura. He’s hot-headed and power hungry. Masamoto-sama often complains about how he’s always stirring up trouble. But it never comes to anything. He never has the support.’

‘That’s what Sensei Yamada said. But what if he
is
getting the support?’ insisted Jack. ‘What if -?’

‘Jack! There you are!’

Jack looked up as Yamato burst into the room with Saburo.

‘You two look like you’ve been busy,’ he said, picking up a piece of paper with one of Jack’s attempts at
kanji
. ‘It’ll be dinner soon and we all need to get a bath. What’s keeping you?’

‘Jack saw Kazuki in the
Butokuden
last night,’ explained Akiko in hushed tones, indicating for Saburo to close the
shoji
behind him. ‘He and some others were getting a tattoo from that Moriko girl from the
Yagyu
School.’

‘Moriko?’ said Yamato, alarmed. ‘What was she doing here?’

‘Supposedly, Kazuki’s formed an anti-
gaijin
gang.’

‘But tattoos? They’re the mark of a prisoner!’ exclaimed Saburo.

‘They used to be,’ corrected Akiko. ‘But now merchants, and even some samurai, are getting them as marks of bravery or declarations of love.’

Saburo laughed and gave Jack a reassuring grin. ‘Jack, whatever it is you’re worried about, you certainly don’t need to be afraid of a gang of convicts and lovers.’

‘It’s no laughing matter, Saburo,’ retorted Jack. ‘Kazuki’s serious. He has it in for me.’

Yamato nodded thoughtfully. ‘It sounds like Kazuki thinks he’s a warlord or something. I know what we should do – me and Saburo will become your official bodyguards.’

‘And we’ll arrange to see Masamoto-sama as soon as he returns,’ added Akiko.

‘Anyway, Jack, you should be less concerned about Kazuki and more worried about how much you smell!’ Yamato teased, throwing Jack a towel. ‘Come on, let’s get to the bathhouse before they serve dinner. I’m hungry.’

Sighing with bliss, Jack eased himself into the steaming hot water of the
ofuro
.

There had been a time when he would have run scared of a bath. In England, it was considered dangerous for your health, a surefire way to catch the flux. But his time in Japan had soon changed that opinion and now the
ofuro
was one of the highlights of his day.

Having first scrubbed and sluiced himself down in cold water, he then slipped into a large square wooden tub of hot water. Jack began to relax. Sensei Yamada and Akiko had both dismissed his fears about
daimyo
Kamakura. Perhaps the combination of the night and the raging storm had distorted his perception of the whole situation. Maybe Kazuki’s war amounted to little more than a figment of his rival’s imagination. Anyway, with Yamato and Saburo looking out for him, he should be safe.

Jack allowed the steaming water to loosen his muscles, easing the tension in his bruised shoulder. His worries began to disappear too, seeming to dissolve in the heat of the bath. After a while, he got out and towelled himself down before joining the others for dinner.

‘How’s your shoulder, Jack?’ asked Yamato as they headed over to the
Chō-no-ma
with Saburo.

‘It’s much better thanks to the bath, but don’t worry about it. I’ll get you back in
kenjutsu
tomorrow!’ promised Jack, punching Yamato on the arm.

Yamato gave an expression of mock pain and they all laughed.

‘That’s a devastating right hook,’ commented a voice from behind. ‘I’d better watch out.’

Their amusement ceased as Kazuki, flanked by Nobu and Hiroto, strode towards them.

Jack clenched his fists, preparing for a fight.

Perhaps the Scorpion Gang
was
more than just a game. Perhaps Kazuki
really
believed he was a warlord.

‘What do you want?’ demanded Yamato, stepping between Jack and the approaching gang.

The two groups of boys confronted one another.

It was getting dark in the school courtyard, the only light coming from the entrance to the Hall of Butterflies. Other students passed by, oblivious to the impending conflict, and there were no sensei in sight to witness a fight.

The tension grew as Yamato waited for an answer, his eyes daring Kazuki to make a move.

‘Dinner,’ said Kazuki cheerfully in response, before walking on past with his friends, laughing.

For the next month, Yamato and Saburo stuck close by, but there appeared little need. Kazuki and his gang ignored Jack as if he no longer existed. Kazuki in particular seemed more intent on training for the Circle of Three selection. Jack had spotted him several times in the
Butokuden
receiving extra tuition from Sensei Kyuzo.

Although neither of his friends said anything, Jack sensed they were beginning to doubt his story.

Even though Masamoto had returned to the school, Jack hadn’t managed to meet with him before he was called away on yet another assignment for
daimyo
Takatomi. But with the apparent threat coming to nothing, and Moriko not having been seen in the grounds since, there seemed little point in meeting with him anyway.

‘I’m going for a walk,’ said Jack, passing by Yamato’s room on the way out of the Hall of Lions. ‘I need some air before bed.’

‘At this time of night?’ observed Yamato, frowning. ‘Do you need me to come with you?’

Despite the offer, Yamato looked far from willing. He had already settled down on his
futon
, it was cold outside and the
Shishi-no-ma
was warm.

‘No, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.’

Besides, Jack needed time alone to think.

Stepping outside, he wandered round the courtyard before perching upon one of the beams that would eventually support the floor of the Hall of the Hawk.

The new building was rapidly taking shape. The foundations had been completed and the main wooden pillars were now in place. When finished, the hall, although half the size of the
Butokuden
, would nonetheless be an impressive addition to the school.

Like all the other students, Jack wondered what martial art he would learn within it. That was if he was still around.

Although his fears of an anti-
gaijin
campaign were supposedly unfounded, he couldn’t help noticing that certain students seemed less friendly towards him. He had always been isolated by the fact that he was different. During his first year at the school, Akiko had been his only true ally, but after his victory at the
Taryu-Jiai
most of the students accepted him. Now, many had started to ignore him again, looking through him like glass.

Of course, he could be imagining it. He was struggling with his training and had lost confidence in making it into the top five in the forthcoming Circle of Three selection trials. It had been getting him down and this could be distorting his perception. But did he really have any hope of entering the Circle and going on to learn the Two Heavens?

Jack looked up at the night sky for an answer, but this time the familiar constellations his father had taught him offered cold comfort. The nights were drawing in and autumn would soon give way to winter, signalling the start of the trials.

‘Eh,
gaijin!
Where are your bodyguards?’ demanded a voice that made Jack’s heart sink.

He turned to face Kazuki. This was the last thing he needed.

‘Leave me alone, Kazuki,’ replied Jack, slipping off the cross-beam and walking away.

But other students emerged from the darkness to surround him. Jack looked towards the
Shishi-no-ma
for help, but there was no one around. Akiko, Yamato and Saburo would be in bed, if not asleep, by now.

‘Leave you alone?’ ridiculed Kazuki. ‘Why can’t your kind leave
us
alone? I mean, what do you think you’re doing in
our
land, pretending to be samurai? You should give up and go home.’

‘Yeah, go home,
gaijin
!’ echoed Nobu and Hiroto.

The circle of boys took up the chant.

‘Go home,
gaijin
! Go home,
gaijin
! Go home,
gaijin
!’ Despite himself, Jack felt his face flush with humiliation at the taunts. He desperately
wanted
to go home, to be with his sister, Jess, but he was stranded in a foreign land that now didn’t want him.

‘Just leave… me… alone!’

Jack tried to escape the circle, but Nobu stepped forward and pushed him back. Jack collided with one of the other boys who shoved him the opposite way. He stumbled into the cross-beam and, as he fell to the ground, Jack caught hold of a boy’s kimono, ripping it open.

‘Now look what you’ve done!’ exclaimed the boy, kicking Jack in the leg.

Jack was curled up with pain. Still he couldn’t help staring at the boy’s exposed chest.

‘What? You want another?’ asked the boy, drawing back his leg for another kick.

‘Goro, I think he’s admiring your tattoo,’ said Hiroto in the same thin, reedy voice Jack now recognized as belonging to the fourth person at the
irezumi
ceremony.

‘Look great, don’t they? We’ve all got one, you know.’ Hiroto pulled back his own kimono, revealing a small black scorpion. Then he gave Jack a cruel kick in the ribs.

He kicked him again for good measure and the Scorpion Gang laughed as each of the boys revealed their tattoos and lined up to kick Jack too.

‘Leave him!’ Kazuki ordered. ‘A sensei’s coming.’

The boys scattered.

As Jack lay there, shaking with a combination of pain, rage and shame, he heard the familiar click of a walking stick upon the stone courtyard and Sensei Yamada shuffled up.

Leaning upon his bamboo stick, he looked down at Jack just as he had done almost a year previously when Kazuki had first threatened him.

‘You shouldn’t play on building sites. They can be dangerous.’

‘Thanks for the warning, Sensei,’ said Jack bitterly, trying to hide his humiliation.

‘Someone giving you trouble again?’

Jack nodded and sat up, inspecting his bruised ribs. ‘Some of my class want me to give up and go home. The thing is I just wish I
could
go home…’

‘Anyone can give up, Jack-kun, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do,’ Sensei Yamada cautioned as he helped Jack back to his feet. ‘But to keep it together when everyone else would expect you to fall apart, now that’s true strength.’

Jack glanced uncertainly at his teacher, but met only a look of complete belief in him.

‘I would ask you who it was,’ continued Sensei Yamada, ‘but it would be of little consequence. You must fight your own battles, if you’re to stand on your own feet. And I know you can.’

Sensei Yamada accompanied Jack back to the
Shishi-noma
. Before departing for his own quarters, he offered Jack one final piece of counsel: ‘Remember, there is no failure except in no longer trying.’

Once he had gone, Jack considered the sensei’s advice. Maybe the old monk was right. He had to keep trying. The alternative was giving up, but that would be exactly what Kazuki wanted him to do and he had no intention of letting his rival beat him like that.

Gazing at the cold crescent moon that hung low in the sky, Jack vowed to renew his training efforts. He would get up early in the morning and practise his sword work. He would also ask Akiko for help with his archery. He had to do whatever it took to be among the top five in the trials.

He had to learn the Two Heavens – if not to protect himself from Dragon Eye, then to defend himself from the Scorpion Gang.

As he turned to enter the Hall of Lions and go to bed, Jack spotted Akiko, dressed all in black, rounding the far corner of the
Butokuden
. She was hurrying towards the side gate of the school.