Tokyo Bay Read Online Free Page B

shuddered with apprehension and lifted her eyes above the rooftops, seeking a glimpse of the smoke rising from these terrible floating volcanoes. But only the silent stars were visible above the city, shining bright and unobscured, as always in the July night. There was no visible trace of danger anywhere and in the immensity of the heavens the stars seemed to sparkle like magical gemstones. The sight of them reminded Tokiwa suddenly why she had laid out her favoured kimono just half an hour earlier, after receiving a secret written message that Prince Tanaka Yoshio of the southern Kago clan had arrived unexpectedly from Kyoto.
The same note explained that he had ridden nonstop to Yedo from the imperial capital, and would pay a discreet visit to the Golden Pavilion some time that night. Looking down again at the panic-stricken crowds below her, she wondered whether he would come after all, now that the city was in such an uproar. And should she even bother to wait for him? Shouldn’t she perhaps take to her heels and join the rest of the crowds in their headlong dash to escape the clutches of the invading barbarians?
Caught in an agony of indecision, she turned her head and listened carefully. Behind her the interior of the Golden Pavilion was still and silent. With a sudden stab of fear she realized that the other geishas and maids must have all fled from the house while she bathed. Looking down agitatedly into the street, she searched for the familiar, proud - striding figure of Prince Tanaka, with his twin samurai swords jutting from his hip. But amongst the confused mêlée there was no sign of him. Nobody, she noticed, even paused now before the inviting, lantern-lit doors of the Golden Pavilion - except the hunched figure of a mendicant monk in muddied brown robes. Something unnatural in his demeanour caused her glance to linger on him, and in that same instant the beggar lifted his cowled head to stare directly up at the balcony.
Stifling a murmur of alarm, Tokiwa hurried back into the room and quickly covered her nakedness with a full-length under-kimono of translucent white gauze. She began hurriedly to dress her loose hair before a mirror, snatching up pins and tortoiseshell combs to hold the elaborate chignon in place. But before she had half finished the task, the shoji screens behind her slid silently apart and the ominous figure of the hooded beggar appeared in her mirror.
A cry of fear escaped her lips, but she did not move. Slipping one small hand into the bodice of the under-kimono, she withdrew it in the moment of turning, and faced the beggar with a short, glittering dagger held determinedly in front of her. For several seconds he remained motionless too, his face almost invisible beneath the cowl. Then suddenly his right hand emerged from beneath the mud-stained robe, holding out a long curved sword. After flourishing it once, the beggar lifted the weapon in front of his face, as if in an elaborate formal salute. With his other hand he swept aside the hood, and she found herself staring in astonishment into the unsmiling face of Prince Tanaka Yoshio. His stern, handsome features remained expressionless as he studied Tokiwa - then he bowed and lowered his sword.
‘Your remarkable courage m atches your rare beauty, O Tokiwa-san he said approvingly. ‘I have already learned to admire your haiku and your playing of the samisen. But this new aspect of you I have never seen before.’
Tokiwa put aside her dagger in turn, and sank to a kneeling position. ‘My lord is not the only one to be surprised,’ she said quietly, bowing her head respectfully in his direction. ‘Beneath that beggar’s hood I did not recognize you.’
After studying her further in silence, Tanaka took a pace forward, the shimmering sword still unsheathed at his side. Aware of this, Tokiwa kept her head bent.
‘Perhaps I should arrive in disguise more often he said quietly, trying to hide the tremor of excitement in his voice. ‘To