"Of course." The coin, quite a generous payment, vanished into her sleeve. "Ori-san may stay until I think it is time for him to move on, so sorry, then he leaves, you agree?"' "Yes."

"Next, so sorry, shishi, but I must tell you it is very dangerous for you here. This is being sent to every barrier." Raiko unfolded a woodcut poster, a portrait, about a foot square. Of him. The caption read: The Bakufu offers Two Koku reward for the head of this murdering Choshu ronin who goes under many aliases, one of which is Hiraga.

"Baka!" Hiraga said through his teeth.

"Does it look like me? How is it possible?

I've never had a portrait painted."

"Yes and no. Artists have long memories, Hiraga-san. One of the samurai at the fight perhaps? Unless someone closer to you is the betrayer.

Bad also is that important people are seeking you.

Anjo of course, but now Toranaga Yoshi."

He was chilled, wondering if the courtesan Koiko was betrayed or was the betrayer. "Why him?"' Raiko shrugged. "He's the head of the snake, like it or not. Sonno-joi, Hiraga-san, but do not lead the Bakufu enemy here, I want my head on my shoulders."

All night Hiraga had worried about the poster and what to do about it. He accepted a refill of sak`e from Fujiko. "This Taira amazes me, Ori."

"Why waste time on him? Kill him."

"Later, not now. Watching him and them, testing, trying to guess their reactions is like a game of chess where the rules keep changing constantly, it is fascinating--once you get over their stench."

"Tonight we should have done what I wanted to do: kill him and dump his body near the guard house and let them be blamed." Irritably Ori ran his right hand over the stubble already covering his shaven pate and face, his left shoulder bandaged and arm still in a sling. "Tomorrow I'll be shaved clean again and feel more like a samurai again--Raiko has a barber she can trust, but clean or not, Hiraga, this forced laziness is sending me mad."

"And your shoulder?"

"The wound's clean. It itches but it's a good itch." Ori lifted his arm about halfway.

"Can't go further but I force it a little every day. It would be difficult to use in a fight. Karma. But that gai-jin Taira, if we had killed him, there would have been no risk to us or the House, you said he was so secretive he wouldn't have told anyone he was here."

"Yes, but he might have, and that's what I do not understand. They are unpredictable. They keep changing their minds, they say one thing and then do the exact opposite but not with calculation, not like we do, not like us."

"Sonno-joi! Killing him would have driven the gai-jin mad. We should do it the next time he comes here."

"Yes, we will but later--he's too valuable for the moment. He will reveal their secrets, how to humble them, kill them by the hundreds or thousands --after we have used them to humble and break the Bakufu." Hiraga held out the cup again.

Instantly Fujiko filled it, smiling at him.

"I was even in the office of the Leader of all the Ing'erish, within five paces of him. I'm in the center of gai-jin authority! If only I could speak their language better." He was much too cautious to reveal to Ori the true extent of his knowledge, or how he had persuaded Tyrer to smuggle him out--let alone in front of this girl.

As she replenished their cups through the evening, smiling, totally attentive, never interrupting, she listened avidly though appearing not to, wanting to ask a hundred questions but much too well trained to do so. "Just listen, smile and pretend to be dull-witted, only a toy," mama-sans drilled into all of them, "and soon they will tell you all you want to know without prompting.

Listen and smile and watch and flatter and make them happy, only then are they generous. Never forget happy equals gold which is your only purpose and only security."

"In Yedo," Hiraga was saying, "this Taira was really quite brave, tonight a coward.

Fujiko, what is he like in bed?"

Smiling, she hid her surprise that anyone could be so indelicate. "Like any young man, Hiraga-san."

"Of course but what is he like? Is he in proportion--tall man, tall spear?"

"Ah, so sorry," she dropped her eyes, and made her voice humble, "but Ladies of the Willow World are directed never to discuss a client with another whoever he is."

"Our rules apply to gai-jin? Eh?"

Hiraga asked.

Ori chuckled. "You will get nothing out of her, or any of them, I tried. Raiko-san came and scolded me for asking! "Gai-jin or not, the ancient Yoshiwara rule applies," she said.

"We can talk generalizations, but any client particularly--Baka-neh!" She was really quite angry."

The two men laughed but Fujiko saw Hiraga's eyes were not laughing. Pretending not to notice, anxious to appease him and at the same time wondering how she would have to service him tonight, she said, "So sorry, Hiraga-san, but my experience is little, with young or old or in the middle. But most, experienced ladies say size does not guarantee satisfaction for him or for her, but that young men are always the best and most satisfying clients."

She laughed to herself at the well-worn lie.

I would like to tell you the truth for once: that you young men are the worst clients, the most demanding, the least satisfying. You're all hopelessly impatient, you've plenty of vigor, require many entries, you've puddles of essence but little contentment afterwards--and rarely generous. Worst of all, however much a girl tries not to, she can become enamored with one particular young man and that leads to even more misery, disaster and most times suicide. Old is twenty times better.

"Some youths," she said, answering without answering, "are incredibly shy, however well endowed."

"Interesting. Ori, I still can't believe this Taira just meekly turned away."

Ori shrugged. "Meek or not, he should be dead tonight and I would sleep better. What else could he do?"

"Everything. He should have kicked the door down-- an appointment is an appointment and Raiko not having a substitute ready was a further insult."

"The door and fence are too strong, even for us."

"Then he should have gone into the main street and got five or ten or twenty of his people and brought them back and smashed the fence down--he is an important official, the officers and all soldiers obeyed him at the Legation. That would certainly have made Raiko kowtow for a year or more and guaranteed he would have the service he wanted when he wanted--we might have had to run off too.

That is what I would have done if I was an important official like him." Hiraga smiled and Fujiko suppressed a shiver. "It's a matter of face. Yet they understand face very well. They would have defended their stupid Legation to the last man, then the fleet would have laid waste Yedo."

"Isn't that what we want?"

"Yes." Hiraga laughed. "But not when you are weaponless and grovelling like a gardener--I really felt naked!" Again a refill. Hiraga looked at her. Ordinarily, even though the girl of the evening was not particularly attractive, his normal virility and the sak`e would arouse him.

Tonight was different. This was the gai-jin Yoshiwara, she had bedded them so was tainted. Perhaps Ori would like her, he thought, and smiled back at her for face. "Order some food, eh, Fujiko? The best the house can provide."

"At once, Hiraga-san." She hurried away.

"Listen, Ori," Hiraga whispered so no one could overhear. "There's great danger here."

He took out the folded poster.

Ori was shocked. "Two koku? That will tempt anyone. It could be you, not exactly, but a Barrier guard might stop you."

"Raiko said the same."

Ori looked up at him. "Joun was an artist, a good one."

"I'd thought of that, and I've been wondering how they caught him and broke him. He knows many shishi secrets, knows Katsumata's planning to intercept the Shogun."