The Samurai's Daughter by Lesley Downer Page A

girls were talking about the cherry blossoms that hung low over the streets and temple grounds.
    ‘We’re taking a picnic and going cherry-blossom viewing tomorrow,’ said tall, slender Ohisa. She carried herself with an aristocratic air and was so fashionable she wore western clothes even to school.
    ‘Yes, today’s the day,’ said short, bespectacled Yuki. ‘My mother says the cherry blossoms are at their height.’
    ‘Wasn’t there a song about cherry blossom?’ asked Ohisa, glancing round at Taka. Taka smiled and nodded, pleased to be included in the conversation, and hummed ‘Sakura, Sakura’, the famous song that the geishas sang at this season, letting her hands rise and fall to the rhythm of the tune. She half thought the others would join in but instead they stared at her and burst out laughing. Too late she realized she’d fallen into a trap.
    ‘You would know it, wouldn’t you?’ said Ohisa, drawling out each word in slow deliberate tones. ‘What did they say your mother was? A geisha, wasn’t it?’
    Taka fell silent and dropped her head. She’d been shown up for the fake she was. Cheeks burning, still smarting from the sting of the words, she ran out to the rickshaw, her eyes brimming with tears . Even the sight of Nobu waiting there with Gonsuké couldn’t lighten her mood.
    Back home, her mother’s party was in full swing. The tinkle of shamisens and the geishas’ shrill laughter made Taka feel a hundred times worse. She swung on her heel and headed out into the grounds. She would walk under the cherry trees. That might make her feel better.
    She heard her maid Okatsu’s high-pitched voice behind her. ‘Madam, madam, where are you going? It’ll be dark soon. There might be snakes or foxes. You can’t walk alone.’
    ‘Walk with me then.’
    Taka’s mother’s voice floated out from the house. ‘Okatsu, where are you? I need you, right now.’
    There was silence. Taka was already well away from the house. Okatsu’s voice rang out. ‘Nobu, you lazy fellow. What are you doing? Go with the young mistress.’
    Feet came running after her. She paid no attention.
    In the five or six years they’d lived there Taka had explored every corner of the estate. It was huge, like a chunk of countryside on the edge of the city, large enough to get completely lost in. It took an army of gardeners to keep it all in perfect shape. Parts were landscaped, modelled after scenic places in Japan, complete with hills and lakes, arbours, bridges and winding paths, with stone lanterns and teahouses cunningly tucked away so that the stroller came upon them unexpectedly, with a pleasing sense of surprise. Other parts were deliberately left wild. At the back of the grounds paths led past bamboo groves into woodland. Pale pink cherry blossom drifted like snow, forming piles along the paths and heaping up against rocks and tree trunks.
    Taka kicked through the blossom sulkily, barely aware of Nobu following behind her. Now that she was supposed to be a samurai girl, she wasn’t allowed to mix with boys any more. But servants were different, they didn’t count as boys or men, they were another species.
    ‘I hate school,’ she said fiercely. She was well away from the house , tramping up the slope that led to the woods. She could see the trees ahead of her, an enticing tangle of foliage. A breeze rustled the leaves. ‘I’m never going back.’
    ‘You must.’ She turned in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting a reply. ‘It’s the only way you’ll learn. You’re so lucky to be going to school.’ Nobu stopped when she stopped, keeping a proper distance between them.
    A wind had blown up and bats flittered under the trees. A bird sang out forlornly.
    Taka looked at him appraisingly. He had dark intelligent eyes and a rather prominent, strangely aristocratic nose. He was a servant but not a servant. She couldn’t be sure where he belonged. The other servants would never understand what her life was like,