Only a Shadow Read Free

garden, her eyes still accustomed to the indoor light, and Tada slipped into the shadows. He laid his ambush for her at the well, watching her approach the whole way, grinning as she inspected every bush and barrel for some sign of him. Her feet were tiny, her skin pale as a pearl against the dark backdrop of the garden. Her beautiful black hair hung down to her
obi
, and when she turned her head just so it caught the candlelight from within the house, such that a burning orange line reflected across the back of her neck. When she reached the well, he popped up and tickled her ribs.
    â€œOh, stop,” she said, and took a mock swing at him with her stick. He ducked under the swinging jar and stepped in behind to hug her close.
    â€œWhy?” he said, nestling his nose behind her ear. He loved the smoky smell of incense in her hair.
    â€œMy mom and dad will see,” she said. She hugged his arms, then stepped out of his embrace to pick up a rope coiled next to the well. She started to tie one of her jars to one end.
    â€œI told you, your father likes me.”
    Lowering her jar into the well, she said, “My uncle had better like you too. His house is next door and people say he’s the best archer in the Kansai.”
    Tada loved this side of her. He’d never met a girl who could flirt while threatening him. Most were too timid, but Chieko had that wonderful toughness about her. She needed more than these village boys could offer. She needed a man of daring, and Tada needed a woman with a sharp edge, one who could be coy and dangerous and keep him on his toes.
    â€œHe could shoot you from his back door,” Chieko said, her gaze darting furtively between her chore and her uncle’s veranda.
    â€œHe’ll never see me.”
    â€œOh no? I heard he shot a blackbird on the wing on a moonless night.”
    â€œ
I
heard your grandfather hired a young
shinobi
named Tadanao to help him carry out the greatest theft in history.”
    That made her turn around. She beamed at him, forgetting her jar, which fell freely until it sent a loud splash echoing up the throat of the well. “Really?” she said. Her face said the rest: Tada saw relief there, and anticipation, and thrill. An Iga could not marry a boy without name or family, and only by earning distinction could Tada earn a name the elders would respect. Old Jujiro's acceptance was but one step away from permission to marry his granddaughter.
    â€œI’ve got to finish the task first,” he said. “I must live up to his faith in me. But after that. . . .”
    A white-toothed smile split Chieko’s round face. At last the waiting would end. She was almost seventeen. Soon she would have to accept a suitor of respectable birth or else disgrace her father’s house. But now all that would change. Now she and Tada would finally have their chance to be together.
    â€œTell me what you’ll do,” Chieko said, squeezing his fingers. “What does he need you for?”
    â€œI think he’s simply too old to carry this out himself. It will be dangerous. I’ll have to break into Lord Hirata’s—what’s wrong?”
    Chieko frowned, making a deep vertical fold between her eyebrows. “He’s not old.”
    Tada smiled. “Of course he is. Everyone calls him Old Jujiro.”
    â€œHe’s not too old to be
shinobi
. The elders still look to him, you know.”
    Tada’s smile broadened. Even her frown-wrinkles were beautiful. “For now, yes. But, Chie-chan, everyone grows old sooner or later.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “He stole that old table, what, forty years ago? Fifty? The Iga can’t rely on him forever.”
    She blinked. “I think it’s time for you to go.”
    â€œChieko, please.”
    â€œNo. I won’t stand for you upsetting me and then finding it cute.” She took up the taut rope leading down into the