Sowing Ghosts 6.2

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[Continuing chapter 6]

“My Lord Hosokawa,” Hiroki said, bowing with careful formality. “Might this person ask you a question?” He had found Lord Hosokawa on Muromachi Avenue, just south of the abandoned shōgun’s palace—and not far from the decaying pile occupied by the missing wakashū.

“Why so formal, my lord?” the boy asked. His smile could have been mistaken for a friendly one. “You are not in service to me, are you?”

Hiroki felt himself squirm a little at the my lord; it had been said with a knowing air that did not bode well for Hiroki’s secrets. “I am not,” he said, “nor am I your lord.”

“I have been having some doubts about that,” Lord Hosokawa said. “But I can see this bothers you. I will wait until some other time, then.” He raised an eyebrow. “Might a man offer you tea? Or is your inquiry of an urgent nature?”


Hiroki shrugged. It would be better not to talk about this in the street, he decided. “I would be honoured,” he told Lord Hosokawa.

He was a little surprised to be taken to a very public tea-house, however private was the room they were escorted to. Hiroki took quick advantage of the privacy: “Have you seen or heard anything from your wakashū friend, Togashi, my lord?”

“It’s odd,” Lord Hosokawa said. “I was certain you wanted to ask me about Lady Tomiko’s murder.”

“You already know of this?” Hiroki paused for thought. “No, I should not be surprised that you know. Her maids say you were a good friend.”

“I like to think I was. And I find it very important that I know as much as I can of what happens in this city,” he said.

“I hope you won’t be offended if I ask you about that.” Hiroki stared into his cup a moment, trying to find a more polite way of phrasing the question. Then, giving up, he said, “Which side are you on, lord? There seem to be at least three, so far.”

The reply was so immediate as to have been much practiced. “My own.”

“I don’t fully understand.”

“Are you familiar with the life of my illustrious kinsman Hosokawa Masamoto?” The question was asked in a quiet voice with next to no intonation, but Lord Hosokawa raised one knowing eyebrow as he asked it.

“I know of him,” Hiroki told him. “Any warrior my age must.”

Lord Hosokawa nodded, but smiled at some secret thought. “I never met him, of course. He was killed four years before I was born. But I learned from him even though we never spoke.”

“He was murdered by his own son. Not much of a lesson to be learned there, I think.”

“His adopted son.”

“I know he had no sons of his body. He did not care for women, not in that way.” Hiroki looked up from his cup and into Lord Hosokawa’s eyes. “Nor do you, my lord, unless I am very much mistaken.”

“Like my ancestor, I make no secret of my nature. I will never have sons because I will not lie with women. Where the illustrious Masamoto failed was not in that he had no sons. It was in believing he had to have an heir, and that this heir had to be of his own family.” Lord Hosokawa drained his cup and gestured for Hiroki to do the same. “If Masamoto had chosen a grown man as his heir — a man outside his own clan — and waited to do it, he could have avoided the growth of factions supporting the heirs over himself. It was factionalism, and family politics, that killed him. I do not intend to make his mistake.

“That is why I support none of the factions fighting for control of the shogunate. Both of them might be destroyed but one of them definitely will be. And the other will be weakened by the fight. I have time to wait, time in which to build up my own strength. When I finally move to restore the Hosokawa to their full power, I will do so in my own right. And the clan will in the end owe its allegiance to me and only me.”

“Only one of the factions has usurped your family’s power in Sakai,” Hiroki said quietly.

He looked up from his cup and directly into Hiroki’s eyes. “The Miyoshi are strong in their hunger for power, I can’t deny it. Miyoshi Motonaga is a most interesting — and most dangerous — man. But the current weakness of my clan doesn’t affect me so much, so long as I refrain from trying to do anything about it. Directly, at least.”

“And yet you were friends with the Lady Tomiko, who was of the Miyoshi. Which brings me to the reason I wanted to talk with you, my lord.” Hiroki refilled both cups. “Have you heard anything from your wakashū friend? My companions and I went to his house today and found it closed up. I find it interesting that he disappeared just before the lady was murdered.”

“Togashi Shokan is a lover and occasionally amuses me. That is all. I do not even pretend to be responsible for his actions. No, I have not heard from him. But if you ask I think you’ll find he had no reason for harming Lady Tomiko however much he may have disliked her.”

“I will be happy to reach that conclusion,” Hiroki said. “Once I have found him and spoken to him about this.” He refilled Lord Hosokawa’s cup but left his own empty.

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