Little Yokozuna Read online

  There was another roar of amusement at this, but the demon spokesman in red and blue bent down closer to the children.

  "Oh, you misjudge me," he rumbled in what was supposed to sound like a sympathetic tone. "Impossible quests?" He straightened up and bellowed with laughter again. "Hahahahaa! How can you think that?" He bent down again. "Oh, no, human trespassers, I promise you that neither of these little tests is impossible. At least not in the usual sense of the word."

  The crowd howled with delight again, as the children held their ears.

  "Get on with it," said Q.J. "Stop playing your stupid games."

  "Yeah," said Knuckleball. "What's the first test? Let us at it."

  "It is simple," said the demon. "The gods would appreciate it if we would first entertain them with an honorable competition. A sumo match, perhaps. The gods love sumo, you know. It gets their attention like nothing else."

  The children looked at each other, puzzled.

  "So where's the test in that?" said Owen Greatheart. "We just sit here and watch a sumo match and then move on to the next test?"

  "Hey," said Knuckleball to the demon. "Maybe there's a real softy under that ugly exterior of yours. Did you ever think of that?"

  Something inside the demon warrior rumbled like a subterranean blast furnace. Knuckleball ducked behind Owen Greatheart.

  "You misunderstand," growled the demon. "One of you will have to participate in the bout. The rest may watch, of course. If there are any left to watch."

  "Now, just a minute," said Q.J. "There were several parts of that that I don't think any of us quite understood. I think you'd better explain."

  "Of course," said the demon. "It's like this. There are very few things that can get the attention of the gods for a piddling matter like your Little Harriet. One of those is a true sumo match, involving one of the people in need of divine assistance. One of you, in fact. You win, the gods might just consider rewarding you."

  "I'll wrestle anybody!" cried 'Siah. "I can knock anybody over!"

  The demon guffawed again, even as he searched around his feet to see which of the little ones was speaking.

  "And Owen lifts weights," said Knuckleball. "We call him Nautilus for short.""And Owen lifts weights," said Knuckleball. "We call him Nautilus for short."

  "Cool it, Knucklebrain," said Owen Greatheart.

  "Hang on again," said Annie. "Just who would our guy wrestle?"

  The demon gestured toward the ring of huge yokozuna above them. "Take your pick," he said. "Any one of them would be a worthy opponent." The multitude of demons rumbled again with amusement.

  "You are out of your mind," said Owen Greatheart. "That would be like trying to wrestle Mount Fuji. Don't we get someone our own size?"

  The demon shrugged. "There is your choice," he said, pointing again. "Choose the smallest of them, if you like."

  "Very funny," said Owen Greatheart. "I don't see a smallest one."

  "What about all of us at once?" said 'Siah. "All together we must weigh as much as one of those guys."

  "No way. Maybe a quarter," said Annie. "This is so idiotic. It's so male."

  "Good point," said Q.J. "Where are all the female demons?"

  "Home," said Annie. "Changing little demon diapers."

  "Maybe there aren't any female demons," said Knuckleball.

  "More than likely," said Q.J. "Almost by definition."

  "Maybe all these guys just popped out of somewhere by spontaneous generation," said Knuckleball. "Out of sewer scum or something."

  "Look," said Owen Greatheart. "This conversation is all very educational, but I might as well get on with what we have to do." He turned again to the demon. "Where do I go? Up on this platform thingie?"

  "Not so quickly," chuckled the demon. "Before you go any farther, you have to understand that this is a very special dohyo." He gestured toward the raised earthen ring behind him. "You see, not just anyone can wrestle in this ring." He inclined his head respectfully toward the ring of massive yokozuna, who bowed in return. "If anyone tries to set foot on this dohyo who does not have the spirit of a true sumo wrestler, a true rikishi, he will be struck down as soon as he sets foot there. The gods will destroy him."

  "Nonsense," said Annie.

  "We don't believe you," said Owen Greatheart.

  "As you like," said the demon. "Believe it or not, the only one who can participate in this bout is one of you who has the true rikishi spirit, and who can therefore safely stand under this tsuriyane."

  "I think we can safely ignore all this superstitious nonsense," said Q.J. "I agree that Owen is our best bet. He's the biggest of us all, and he does lift weights."

  "I don't lift that much weight," said Owen Greatheart. "But of course I'll do it. What choice do we have?"

  "Why are we even going along with this?" said Annie. "Look at the size of those monstrosities. What chance does Owen have against any of them? It's so futile."

  "On the bright side," said Knuckleball, "it may be futile, but at least I never heard of sumo being fatal. You have a pretty good chance of surviving, Owen."

  "Thanks a lot, little brother," said Owen Greatheart.

  "But don't forget, this is life or death for Little Harriet."

  They had almost forgotten this aspect of things for a moment, and grew sober at the memory.

  "Maybe I can get lucky," said Owen Greatheart. "Maybe the guy will trip over his own feet and I'll win."

  Nobody laughed.

  "Sumimasen," said Kiyoshi-chan politely, stepping forward from behind Knuckleball. "But you are all making a very foolish choice."

  They all turned to him. "Well," said Annie. "It's not like we have a choice."

  "You're wrong," said Kiyoshi-chan. "We have seven choices here. We could choose Annie, or Owen Greatheart, or Quiddity Jane, or Knuckleball, or Libby, or Josiah. Or," he said, "we could choose Kiyoshi-chan."

  Josiah. Or," he said, "we could choose Kiyoshi-chan."

  "Don't choose me," said Basho the monkey, covering his head. "I don't have the spirit of a rikishi, no way."

  "But Kiyoshi-chan," said 'Siah. "You're one of the littlest ones here. Only Libby and me are littler than you. What chance would you have?"

  "And what chance does Owen have?" insisted Kiyoshi-chan. "None of us have a chance at all. So we can choose freely among all seven hopeless choices. And of all the hopeless choices, I would have the best chance." He bowed suddenly, embarrassed at this putting-forward of himself.

  "But Owen's the biggest and strongest," said Annie.

  "What good will that do?" said Kiyoshi-chan. "How could he even set foot on the dohyo? The gods would strike him down without even looking. He doesn't have the spirit of a true rikishi."

  "Hey!" said Owen Greatheart.

  "He doesn't mean it that way, big brother," said Knuckleball.

  "No, no," said Kiyoshi-chan. "I don't mean that you're not strong enough, or good enough, or brave enough. I know you are all brave. Q.J. saved Libby from the falling stone, and Libby saved Q.J. from the cave. Owen saved 'Siah from a beating ("A pretend beating," said Owen Greatheart) and 'Siah tried to beat up demons coming up out of the ground, single-handedly. Annie tried to tackle a charging oni, and Knuckleball knocked his head off with a fence post. But," he said earnestly, "having the spirit of a true sumo wrestler means more than courage. It means certain things about sumo itself that it would take too long for you to understand."

  "Well," said Owen Greatheart, "I'm willing to take a chance on that stuff about the gods striking me down. I don't believe any of that."

  "But I do," said Kiyoshi-chan. "At least I believe that it could be true. Sumo can be fatal, you see."

  "And what about you?" asked Q.J. "Do you think you have the spirit of a true rikishi?"

  "I hope I do," said Kiyoshi-chan shyly. "When I wrestle I feel like I become the great Taiho. And Taiho could beat any of these big tubs." He swung his arm at the silent row of yokozuna, who were one by one stepping down from the platfo
rm and seating themselves with great dignity around it.

  "You have no chance," said Annie.

  "Neither does anyone else," said Kiyoshi-chan. "But even the littlest rikishi has a better chance than no rikishi."

  The American children shrugged, not liking this at all. Only Knuckleball seemed to understand, and he punched Kiyoshi-chan in the shoulder for encouragement.

  "So who will you choose to fight?" said Knuckleball. "Eenie-meenie-minie-mo?"

  "No eenie-meenie-minie-mo," said Kiyoshi-chan. He pointed to the big demon samurai, who had been listening to this whole conversation with his arms folded across his chest. "I will fight him."

  There was a clamor of amazement all around at this audacious statement. The huge demon started as if he had been stung in the rump by a bee.

  "You can't do that," said the demon.

  "Why not?" asked Kiyoshi-chan.

  "Because!" said the demon. "You have to choose choose from these thirty rikishi before you!" He gestured toward the silent sitting ring of wrestlers.

  "Who says?" said Kiyoshi-chan. "Did the gods tell you this?"

  "That's the way it's done" blustered the demon. "You pick him, you fight him."

  "And I pick you" said Kiyoshi-chan.

  "I will not fight a little bucket of spit like you," said the massive warrior. "I would be degraded by it."

  "I can see only two reasons why you would not fight me," said Kiyoshi-chan. "First, you do not have the spirit of the true rikishi, and would be struck down as soon as you stepped onto the dohyo."

  "Not true!" roared the demon warrior. "I have an even greater spirit, the spirit of a demon samurai, and the gods would never strike me down! Just look at this!"

  With incredible agility and strength, he leaped backward from his standing position, turning two somersaults in the air and landing on the dohyo. He roared and blustered from there, clashing his sword again on his armor. Finally he settled down.

  "He is so male," said Annie wearily.

  "I see that you are not struck down," said little Kiyoshi-chan to the warrior. "Then I only see one other reason for you not to participate. You must be afraid to fight me."

  The hubbub that followed this was indescribable. The demon warrior stood there thunderstruck, as the vast goblin audience shrieked and rumbled in a mixture of wrath, amazement, and wild laughter.

  Knuckleball leaned over toward Q.J. "There's another possibility," he whispered in her ear.

  "Maybe he has a weakness of some kind that he's afraid Kiyoshi-chan has figured out."

  "Yeah, right," said Q.J. "Wishful thinking."

  "I will not do it!" thundered the great warrior from the platform. "Even to listen to this is to lose face! Choose one of these great yokozuna, you little toad, or don't fight at all."

  "I choose you," said Kiyoshi-chan stubbornly. "And I appeal to the gyoji."

  For the first time the American children noticed a silent figure standing on the far side of the dohyo, so still that it seemed almost like a wooden sculpture. It was dressed in a high-necked robe of subdued red, richly embroidered and sashed. It wore a lofty black hat of curious shape, and held in its hand a stiff fan with a purple tassel hanging from it. The figure bowed toward the children, and the stern face smiled.

  "Hey!" said Owen Greatheart. "It's the old priest! What's he doing here?"

  "Here," said Kiyoshi-chan, "he seems to be a tategyoji. A sumo referee of the very highest rank. He must be a great priest."

  "I guess," said Owen Greatheart. "He does keep popping up, that's for sure. Could he be a traitor? He seems to be in thick with these demons. Why else would he be here? I thought he saved Q.J.'s life, but maybe that was all a big act of some kind."

  "Who knows?" said Kiyoshi-chan philosophically. "Regardless, I have appealed to him. If he rules against me, I will have to fight one of the yokozuna. If he rule"What's the big difference?" asked Owen Greatheart. "Will you have a better chance against that big lug than against one of them?"s for me, the demon warrior will have to fight me. Even the demon will not resist the ruling of a tate-gyoji."

  "What's the big difference?" asked Owen Greatheart. "Will you have a better chance against that big lug than against one of them?"

  Kiyoshi-chan shrugged. "Not really," he said. "But it seems more fitting. And I like the fact that he doesn't like it at all. That has to help me, somehow."

  It was true that the great demon warrior, obviously chafing in indignation, still seemed to hold the old referee in respect, and waited for some indication of a decision.

  "Well?" he grumbled finally. "Will you make me go through this farce and demean my dignity as a samurai?"

  "I will," said the old priest, smiling. "But I'm not sure who is demeaned by it."

  The demon rumbled again, deep inside the blast furnace of his chest. "You go too far!" he gritted. "You make me wrestle a puling child."

  "But a puling child," said the old priest, "with a great spirit. Prepare for the bout."

  The arena was filled with an astonished jumble of conversation as the audience realized what had happened. The children looked around with apprehension. For the demon audience to see their great captain being humiliated in this way seemed to have turned the mood uglier than ever.

  "Here we go," said Kiyoshi-chan. Then the little Japanese boy walked over to the earthen platform and tried to climb up onto it. He struggled there kicking for a moment before one of the enormous yokozuna leaned over, put a vast hand under his bottom, and flipped him onto the dohyo. The American children held their breath, until Kiyoshi-chan scrambled to his feet and bowed deeply in return. The wrestler bowed back, chuckling.

  "Well," said Knuckleball. "I guess he must be a true sumo wrestler. He didn't get frizzled when he touched the ring."

  "Now, don't you go getting superstitious on us, Knuckler," said Q.J., but even she sounded relieved. "Nobody was going to get struck down by any old gods. That was all just a stupid joke by that big bozo."

  "Maybe," said Basho the monkey.

  CHAPTER 18

  Kiyoshi-chan Does His Best

  It was a ludicrous sight.

  On opposite sides of the dohyo, the giant armored warrior and the little Japanese boy, like some sort of carnival mirror images of each other, went through all the prefight rituals, the rites of purification and preparation.

  Kiyoshi-chan had watched so much sumo with so much concentrated attention, and had imitated every movement so many times with his friends, that he went through all the ceremonial stamping of feet, clapping of hands, rinsing of mouths, and tossing of salt without a slip. Without the Little Harriet factor, the sight of the scrawny little boy acting like so much of a yokozuna would have seemed like the most farcical of comedies, and apparently did seem so to the demonic audience, who despite their annoyance couldn't keep down their rumbling laughter. Even the huge impassive wrestlers seated directly around the ring smiled slightly to watch it.

  It was something of a surprise to see the gigantic demon taking this part of the proceedings with as much seriousness as his little opponent. A couple of times, however, he paused in midmovement, as if distracted or preoccupied.

  "He's still really peeved," said Annie. "He does not want to be up there. He's having a hard time keeping his mind on what he's doing."

  "The key to the whole thing," said Knuckleball very seriously, "is the tachi-ai, the first charge. If Kiyoshi-chan makes a false start, it's all over. I don't know if they'd give him a second chance."

  "It's all over anyway," said Q.J. "And how did you become such a sumo expert?"

  "I had a good teacher," said Knuckleball, adjusting his glasses to squint at her. "A teacher with the spirit of a true rikishi. And I still think Kiyoshi-chan knows something we don't know."

  "So how long does the fight last?" asked 'Siah. "Does Kiyoshi-chan lose when the other guy holds his shoulders down for three seconds or something?"

  "You're getting it confused with American wrestling," said Knuckleball. "As soon as
somebody steps out of the ring or part of his body touches the ground, he loses."

  "But that could take just a few seconds!" said Libby. "You mean it's all over in a few seconds?"

  "Maybe," said Knuckleball. "But I think Kiyoshi-chan has something up his sleeve."

  The pre-bout preparations reached the shikiri stage, where the two sumo wrestlers usually try to intimidate their opponents while gauging the right moment for battle. Back and forth Kiyoshi-chan and his giant opponent went, from their corners to the lines in the ring, squatting, glaring at each other, returning to their corners. Something about the seriousness of the little boy seemed to be affecting both the giant demon and and KIYOSHI-CHAN DOES HIS BEST. 139 the audience, making it more difficult for them to laugh at the ridiculous situation. A strange sense of anticipation descended again over the arena.

  "How long will this go on?" asked Annie, about the incessant glaring and squatting and returning to corners. It all seemed like an incomprehensible repetition of rituals.

  "Who knows?" said Knuckleball. "See how the referee is holding his fan? That means that they can begin whenever they're ready."

  "Won't someone give a signal?" asked Libby. "Blow a whistle or something?"

  "Nope," said Knuckleball, smugly, forgetting that he had once asked Kiyoshi-chan exactly the same question. "They just have to sense the right moment to begin."

  "Weird," said Owen Greatheart.

  But even as he said it, there was a roar from the crowd as the two opponents came up from their crouch and charged at exactly the same instant. Kiyoshi-chan smashed into the huge armored demon and almost bounced off onto the ground, which would have been the end of it.

  "Grab his leg!" shouted Knuckleball. "Grab his leg and just hold on!"

  But proud little Kiyoshi-chan had no tricks up his sleeve, despite Knuckleball's hopes. He was just full of being Taiho at the moment, and had completely forgotten that he was Kiyoshi-chan. As Taiho, he tried to jump up high enough to grab the demon's belt for one of the standard sumo holds. The demon slapped him away, playing with him. The crowd laughed.

  "Forget that stuff, Kiyoshi-chan!" cried Knuckleball. "Try some tricky sumo! Just grab his leg!"