Read Online The Tokaido Road (1991)(528p) by Lucia St. Clair Robson - Free Book Online
Authors: Lucia St. Clair Robson
Tags: Historical Romance
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cousin’s been grilled like a sweet potato. He’s terrified that Oishi will come after his head, you know. Rumors say he hasn’t been able to satisfy his wife or his mistress or his new boyfriend since the . . .” Shichisaburo hesitated. “Unfortunate incident. His bodyguards follow him into the privy and check the hole before he squats.”
“Shichi-san, I must get to KyMto.” Cat had no more time for socializing.
“You’re planning to travel the TMkaidM alone?”
“Yes. I need a disguise. I need papers to take me past the barriers.”
“Not easy.” Shichisaburo guessed that Cat intended to find her father’s councilor, Oishi Kuranosuke. This could mean big trouble indeed. Very exciting. Helping her with this would definitely wipe out his debt to her.
Shichisaburo studied Cat’s pale, lovely face. Now that she was a fugitive and a danger, her beauty started a sensual throbbing in his loins.
“I haven’t time for that, Shichi-san.” Cat knew him well.
Shichisaburo sighed. Lady Asano’s small ears were as perfectly shaped as the winkle shells on Suruga Beach. Even without rouge her full lips were red as a persimmon bud. High on her smooth forehead, her hairline formed a lovely inverted peak, like the silhouette of the sacred mountain, Fuji. And her toes, ah, her toes.
It was said that beauty and luck rarely went together. If that was so, Lady Asano would have no luck at all.
No, this wouldn’t be easy. Shichisaburo got up suddenly and began rummaging through the costumes in the big chest nearby.
“So, let’s see what we can find in our beggar’s bag, for a stray Cat.”
CHAPTER 6
ENDURANCE AND NO DEFECTS
With her heavy, striped paper travel cloak pulled over her, Cat lay curled up behind the stone dais in the small chapel to Kannon-sama, the goddess of mercy. The chapel stood among the trees of Sengakuji, Spring Hill Temple, less than a ri from Shinagawa, the first of the government’s fifty-three post stations on the TMkaidM Road.
Cat’s short sleep had been harried by sinister dreams. Not until the black sky above the growth of ancient pines began to fade did her mouth stop twitching, her face become serene. Cat’s dreams had taken her home.
Others might have thought that Lord Asano was overly concerned with his account books, but he had always been generous to Cat and her mother. The garden at their modest mansion had been his greatest joy. Cat’s happiest times had been there.
Now she dreamed she was standing in a flurry of fragrant white cherry blossoms at the edge of the biggest pond. When her shadow fell across the water, hundreds of carp swarmed to meet her. The sun glinted on their golden scales.
Cat knelt on a silken cushion and tossed crushed acorns into the turbulence. She dipped her fingers in the water to feel the nibbling of the fish’s hard mouths and to hear the chuffing sounds they made. But the cherry blossoms turned to snow and piled up around her. An icy wind began to blow. Cat tried to pull her thin spring robes closer around her, but they shredded under her fingers and fell away.
She heard loud voices and the heavy tread of men’s feet in the quiet corridors. She turned to see that the paper panes of the door panels beyond the garden veranda were ripped. Their torn edges flapped in the sudden wind. Tall weeds had sprouted among the flat gray stones of the pathways.
As Cat slept, she drew her knees up tighter and jerked in a spasm of terror. She tried to scream but could only whimper. She awoke with a start and lay there, orienting herself and remembering.
She remembered the stifled sobbing in distant rooms, as the servants hurried to empty the storehouse and pack the household goods. The shMgun had granted them only a day to leave the house that had been Cat’s home since birth. By the time Cat’s father committed seppuku, in a distant garden, the house had been turned over to government agents.
Forgive me, Father. I wanted to bid
“Shichi-san, I must get to KyMto.” Cat had no more time for socializing.
“You’re planning to travel the TMkaidM alone?”
“Yes. I need a disguise. I need papers to take me past the barriers.”
“Not easy.” Shichisaburo guessed that Cat intended to find her father’s councilor, Oishi Kuranosuke. This could mean big trouble indeed. Very exciting. Helping her with this would definitely wipe out his debt to her.
Shichisaburo studied Cat’s pale, lovely face. Now that she was a fugitive and a danger, her beauty started a sensual throbbing in his loins.
“I haven’t time for that, Shichi-san.” Cat knew him well.
Shichisaburo sighed. Lady Asano’s small ears were as perfectly shaped as the winkle shells on Suruga Beach. Even without rouge her full lips were red as a persimmon bud. High on her smooth forehead, her hairline formed a lovely inverted peak, like the silhouette of the sacred mountain, Fuji. And her toes, ah, her toes.
It was said that beauty and luck rarely went together. If that was so, Lady Asano would have no luck at all.
No, this wouldn’t be easy. Shichisaburo got up suddenly and began rummaging through the costumes in the big chest nearby.
“So, let’s see what we can find in our beggar’s bag, for a stray Cat.”
CHAPTER 6
ENDURANCE AND NO DEFECTS
With her heavy, striped paper travel cloak pulled over her, Cat lay curled up behind the stone dais in the small chapel to Kannon-sama, the goddess of mercy. The chapel stood among the trees of Sengakuji, Spring Hill Temple, less than a ri from Shinagawa, the first of the government’s fifty-three post stations on the TMkaidM Road.
Cat’s short sleep had been harried by sinister dreams. Not until the black sky above the growth of ancient pines began to fade did her mouth stop twitching, her face become serene. Cat’s dreams had taken her home.
Others might have thought that Lord Asano was overly concerned with his account books, but he had always been generous to Cat and her mother. The garden at their modest mansion had been his greatest joy. Cat’s happiest times had been there.
Now she dreamed she was standing in a flurry of fragrant white cherry blossoms at the edge of the biggest pond. When her shadow fell across the water, hundreds of carp swarmed to meet her. The sun glinted on their golden scales.
Cat knelt on a silken cushion and tossed crushed acorns into the turbulence. She dipped her fingers in the water to feel the nibbling of the fish’s hard mouths and to hear the chuffing sounds they made. But the cherry blossoms turned to snow and piled up around her. An icy wind began to blow. Cat tried to pull her thin spring robes closer around her, but they shredded under her fingers and fell away.
She heard loud voices and the heavy tread of men’s feet in the quiet corridors. She turned to see that the paper panes of the door panels beyond the garden veranda were ripped. Their torn edges flapped in the sudden wind. Tall weeds had sprouted among the flat gray stones of the pathways.
As Cat slept, she drew her knees up tighter and jerked in a spasm of terror. She tried to scream but could only whimper. She awoke with a start and lay there, orienting herself and remembering.
She remembered the stifled sobbing in distant rooms, as the servants hurried to empty the storehouse and pack the household goods. The shMgun had granted them only a day to leave the house that had been Cat’s home since birth. By the time Cat’s father committed seppuku, in a distant garden, the house had been turned over to government agents.
Forgive me, Father. I wanted to bid
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