Ice Blue (Ice 3)

“Trying to scare her into telling us what she knows. Time is running out, cousin, and you’ve tried everything else, haven’t you?”

“She doesn’t know.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Sex can be as good a way of finding out information as torture, little cousin,” Taka said briefly, kicking off his shoes and closing the door behind him.

“Hey!” Summer protested weakly.

“Then maybe we should both have a go at her, just to see if there’s something she’s forgotten. She’s not my type, but I can put aside my standards…”

Taka hit him. The blow was so fast, so shocking that Reno had no time to duck. The rage in the room was palpable, and Summer dived to cover the urn, afraid the room was about to erupt into violence.

But Reno just stood there, blood dripping from his split lip. “Okay, cousin, she’s yours,” he said easily. “I’ve never known you to be so possessive before. You want some beer?”

Taka was breathing heavily, and for a moment Summer wondered whether he’d hit Reno again. And wondered why her reaction to the sudden violence had been so visceral. It had been primal, possessive. And incredibly erotic. And then his shoulders relaxed. “Yes. What about you, Su-chan?”

For a moment the entire room froze. Taka’s use of the affectionate name had been instinctive, shocking all three of them. Reno went to the cupboard and brought out two more glasses. He sat down and poured the drinks, one for Taka, one for Summer, and set the bottle back down.

Summer rose from the futon, holding the kimono around as she walked to the table. Instead of taking the glass of beer Taka held out for her, she picked up the bottle instead, handing Reno his glass and then refilling it for him. He blinked those extraordinary fake green eyes, and then a faint smile curved his mouth. “Kampei,” he said again, toasting her. And this time most of the mockery was gone.

She took her glass of beer and turned back to the futon, when Taka’s sudden hiss of breath stopped her. “Holy motherfucker!” Reno said in a tone of wonder.

She whirled around, almost splashing some of the beer on her kimono. “What’s wrong?”

Taka handed her glass to Reno, took her shoulders in his strong hands and turned her around again. “I’m an idiot,” he said in a low voice. “It was the wrong kimono.”

“What are you talking about?”

His hands were on her, impersonal, tracing the painting on the back of the garment. “It’s been there all the time.” His touch followed the curve of her hip, and she shivered. “That’s White Crane Mountain.” His hand cupped the side of her butt. “There’s the torii that would lead to the temple, and there’s even a white bird. Do you have a map?”

“Of course,” Reno said, pushing away from the table.

“Take off the kimono, Summer,” Taka said, grabbing at the shoulders to pull it from her.

She grabbed back. “I’m not wearing anything underneath it!” she protested.

“Americans,” Reno muttered under his breath, stomping from the room. A moment later he was back, tossing a cotton yukata at her. “Put this on and I’ll find your boyfriend a map.”

She grabbed the blue-and-white cotton and started for the bathroom, but Taka’s hands were still on her shoulders. “You can change here.”

“I’m not—!” But he’d already slipped the kimono off her shoulders, and with a shriek she pulled Reno’s over her nude body.

Reno laughed, saying something in Japanese, doubtless another insult, Summer thought as she tied the sash around her waist.

“I told you, hands off,” Taka said in English.

Well, maybe it hadn’t been that insulting, Summer thought, turning around. Reno had tossed the priceless antique kimono to the floor and Taka laid out Hana-san’s present in its place. The familiar painting, one Summer had known most of her life, suddenly took on new meaning as Taka spread a map beside it.

“Grandfather was right,” Reno said. “She did tell you where it was.”

“And I was right. She didn’t know,” Taka retorted. “Look at this, Summer. The mountain Hana-san painted is right there—” he pointed at the map “—and the torii gate is lower down, just outside the town of Tonazumi. The ruins of the shrine must be somewhere between.”

“Good thing it’s not been that bad a winter. There can be snow in the mountains,” Reno said.

“You think a little snow will stop someone like the Shirosama?”

“That crazy old coot? He’s harmless.”