Pulse of Heroes (67 page)

Michelle felt a weightlessness sensation and
her muscles began loosening up in a domino effect. Elliot said her
name softly because he wanted her to look at him at least once to
see that his eyes were back to normal before she fell asleep. Maybe
now that she was relaxed she could see him for who he was, the same
person she loved. He watched Michelle’s eyes struggle to focus on
his face as he smiled down at her.

“I love you,” he said, but Michelle’s eyes
closed before she could focus them. Her head tilted back and her
lips released their tension, letting her mouth relax so it could
open up for the extra airflow she needed. Elliot thought that she
looked like a child angel out of a beautiful painting when she
slept. He kissed her ever so gently on her lips, placing his
forehead against hers, and closed his eyes in prayer.

Haneul and Mikoto stood by the couch and
stared down at Michelle as she slept peacefully. She’d been out for
half an hour and Elliot was in the bathroom washing his sword and
short spear. Ando was in the kitchen sewing up Devin’s arm with the
silk thread from Mikoto.

“One of them got away on horseback,” Ando
told Elliot as he watched him wrap his weapons in a towel and lay
them on the dining table.

“We can track the horse trail, but he’s
probably already switched to a car by now. He could be anywhere,”
Devin pointed out, wincing every time Ando splashed his wound with
alcohol. Elliot agreed that there was no point. Hadeno had seemed
to be the main ringleader and he was definitely dead. Rion whistled
in astonishment as he stepped out of the bedroom. He had just
returned from the dungeon where he had surveyed the ghastly
leftovers of what used to be Hadeno. He walked over to where
Michelle was sleeping, forcing Haneul and Mikoto to relinquish
their spot.

“She witnessed all that first hand?” he asked
shaking his head poignantly.

“Yes,” Elliot answered somberly, walking out
of the kitchen. “She stabbed him first. I think she might have
saved my life, if I don’t actually die from this thing.” He lifted
his shirt to look at his bloody bandage.

“An unfortunate affair,” Rion said, pulling
the throw off Michelle’s forehead to get a better look at her face.
She made a sound and rolled over, pulling the cover back over her
head. They all knew the consequences of humans becoming too deeply
immersed in their world. And in this situation, they all knew that
the girl would never be the same. They always had to tread lightly
around people, and poor Michelle had been thrust into the heart of
their madness with only a few answers to help her along. Nobody had
planned it that way, which was always the problem. They all agreed
that Michelle was going to need a lot of help; the issue was that
they were the only ones she could turn too for that support. Rion
looked at Elliot and Elliot looked away. He knew that Rion was
still disappointed in him for getting involved with her in the
first place, and now he would blame him for breaking the girl.
Elliot silently vowed that he would be there to take care of her
from now on. He’d never leave her.

“Lets get her out of here,” Elliot said
picking Michelle up off the couch and gently cradling her in his
arms.

It was past two am and Michelle was sound
asleep in one of Mikoto’s many bedrooms. Rion was the only one
missing, as he had stayed behind to help oversee the damage control
crew. A satisfied Haneul pointed out to the rest that it was he
that had foreseen the need for new mattresses, and now Michelle’s
presence validated his insistence on the matter. In the bathroom,
Devin checked Elliot’s wound in horror. “I can’t believe you didn’t
tell us right away that it was from your own sword.” He lightly
touched it, asking Elliot if he could feel anything, but he
couldn’t. “At least mine came from a regular blade. I managed to
kick his sword away just in time.” But Elliot was confused because
he had seen the blood on his sword with his own eyes when he first
encountered Hadeno.

“It could have been from the other guy I was
fighting,” Mikoto said. “Hadeno stepped in to help him just as I
finished him off. There was blood spraying everywhere. But then I
guess he must have seen Haneul heading up towards the house and run
to check on Michelle.” Elliot shut the conversation out of his mind
and wondered if his days were numbered. Staying alive for thousands
of years only to be killed by his own sword; the irony. Under
different circumstances he might have preferred death and
everlasting rest, but now he had someone that needed him. He
couldn’t leave her alone after everything she had been through.

“What do you think?” he asked Devin while the
others looked on in concern.

“Well, medicine has advanced quite a bit
since the last time I tried for a cure. I thought I’d never have to
deal with this again,” Devin replied in frustration. “I’ll need a
modern operating room. Maybe I can remove the dead tissue, you
know, to stop it from spreading, but I can’t say for sure. I’m
sorry Elliot.”

“I have a doctor friend in New York. He has a
state-of-the-art surgical facility. I’ll persuade him to let us use
it,” Elliot said with minimal enthusiasm. Everyone agreed that he
and Devin should get on the next plane bound to the States, and
Ando found a flight leaving in less than three hours that still had
two seats available. Elliot protested that he couldn’t leave
Michelle; he had promised her and he wasn’t going to let her down
again. But the rest of the guys argued that between all of them
they could probably manage to take care of her for a few hours
before taking her back to her aunt’s. Elliot checked in on Michelle
right before departing. He gently sat next to her on the bed and
stroked her hair. He hated the idea of waking her up, but he
decided that it was better than having her wake up in a strange
place without him there. He leaned in real close to her face and
said her name a couple of times, but when she didn’t respond he
kissed her on her face until he saw her brow wrinkle.

“Michelle, sweetie, I have to go to the
hospital to get some stitches. I’ll see you back home in just a few
days.” Elliot wasn’t sure if she was awake enough to hear him. He
found her hand and squeezed it. “I love you, and I’m not leaving
you, you hear? Ando and Haneul are here to take care of you, and
Mikoto too, oh you haven’t met him yet. You’ll like him, he’s very
funny.” Elliot turned to leave but just then Michelle’s eyes
blinked into the darkness and she tightened her grip around his
hand.

“Are we home?” she asked, half dazed. Elliot
leaned over her and kissed her forehead again.

“We’ll be home soon.” He put his hand on her
forehead and concentrated. The last thing she asked was if Rion was
there too, and then she was back asleep.

When Michelle awoke to the bright sunbeams
that filtered through the drapes, she had no idea where she was and
hoped that she had not been taken hostage again. Oh no she thought,
the nightmare had stayed with her, although the events of the
previous evening felt like they had happened eons ago. She slowly
climbed out of bed and was happily surprised to see her clean
clothes hanging over the back of a small straw chair. Then what was
she wearing? It was a finely embroidered gold and blue robe with
black piping and a dragon motif. She patted down the silky fabric;
it was as weightless as a shroud.

Michelle walked down the unfamiliar hallway
and saw that there were many bedrooms, but they were all empty. She
headed to the end the hall and peered around the corner to see a
long-haired Japanese guy sitting next to a table, packing a samurai
sword into what looked to be a travel case. Michelle thought that
maybe she was still in her dream, until she spotted Haneul lounging
on a bamboo couch, and saw Ando walk into the room from the
kitchen, she guessed, carrying some sort of fish sandwich. That she
could smell all the way from where she stood. He was the first to
see her, and he smiled at her with his eyes and nodded because his
mouth was full with a large bite he had just taken. After he
swallowed, he laughed and told Mikoto that Michelle looked much
better in his robe than he did. Mikoto turned around to see
Michelle for the first time and jumped up to greet her. He bowed
down formally in front of her and properly introduced himself.
Michelle wasn’t sure how to respond, so she half-bowed and
introduced herself.

“Thank you for letting me wear your robe.
It’s beautiful and so soft,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s made for women not men,” Haneul
jabbed at Mikoto, still yawning, and bid Michelle a good morning.
Mikoto gave Haneul a sour look. He had been teasing him about his
beautiful hand embroidered kimonos since they first met; it still
got on his nerves even after all those years.

“You’re just jealous that our Japanese
artists are revered and unlike you we don’t all run around wearing
farmer’s clothes,” Mikoto replied. Michelle asked where Elliot was,
and the guys told her the truth, omitting only what Elliot had
instructed them to leave out.

“How are you feeling?” It was Ando’s turn to
change the subject.

“I’m all right I guess. A little dizzy,
that’s all. Where are we and what time is it?”

Haneul told her it was about nine in the
morning, and that he had already made breakfast. Michelle was
grateful because she was hungry, but told him not to get up because
she could help herself. Haneul wondered for the thousandth time why
all Western women were so determined to do everything on their own,
as if they were proving something.

Michelle returned from the bedroom dressed in
her own clothes and went into the kitchen to forage. She looked
around, but didn’t see any breakfast, to her dismay. She did smell
something pretty strong coming out of the oven, and when she opened
it she was greeted by a blast of salty fishy steam. Her stomach
turned, and she desperately hoped that whatever it was, it wasn’t
what Haneul was implying to mean breakfast. She didn’t want to hurt
his feelings by not being able to stomach an early morning seafood
concoction.

“What is this?” she called from the kitchen
with high hopes.

“It’s Jook,” Haneul answered, although Mikoto
immediately chimed in, letting her know that it wasn’t Jook at all,
but a poor man’s imitation of the thicker richer Japanese Okayu.
Haneul ignored Mikoto’s obvious derision and walked to the kitchen.
“Don’t listen to him. He always goes on like that, but it’s rice
porridge and very therapeutic. In my country we give it to people
that have upset stomachs, or even to older people and babies who
can’t chew other things. Great, Michelle thought, fish porridge! “I
thought it would be a good introduction of food for your stomach,”
he added thoughtfully. Haneul had always been so graceful to her;
what if she threw up while trying to eat it? Ando walked into the
kitchen just in time to tell her that he had asked Haneul to set
some plain porridge aside, just in case.

“You can add honey or fruit, whatever you
like. I pour milk over it when I want it sweet.” Michelle could
have run into Ando’s arms to thank him, or bow to him in complete
gratitude, because his words were like poetry to her ears.

“That sounds great! I’ll have the plain one
now. I hope you don’t mind.” Michelle looked at Haneul for any
signs of upset but he told her that he understood that most
cultures preferred a blander breakfast.

It was just past 4:00 PM when Ando pulled the
rental car in front of Eranka’s small home. He surveyed the little
front garden and the way in which the afternoon sun reflected from
the windows in yellows and golds. He saw Eranka peek out from
behind one of the crocheted curtains and wished he had an old aunt
he could go visit sometimes. She probably had supper on the table,
and she would tend to Michelle’s needs with warmth and affection.
He imagined what it would be like to have a real family, like the
one he had when he was a child. It hurt to think about such things,
and he admitted to the twinge of jealousy that crept into his
silent heart. He didn’t want to stick around there a moment longer;
there was no point to putting himself through that emotional
self-annihilation again. He turned to Michelle and asked her if she
was ok? Michelle said that she was and thanked him. While driving,
their conversation had been a good one, and she was touched by his
sincerity.

“I almost forgot,” Ando said, leaning over
the passenger seat to hand Michelle something as she was just about
to close the car door. “Elliot said that you left this with him by
mistake?” Michelle had no idea what was in the small pouch, and
untied the knot as she walked to the front door. Inside, she found
the black pearl necklace Elliot had given her.

Eranka greeted Michelle with a warm hug and
asked her how her long weekend was. Michelle said it was good, but
when Eranka saw the tiny cuts on her face her brow wrinkled in
concern.

“What happened to you?” she asked. “Did you
fall off the horse?” Michelle had to think fast. Haden had
mentioned something about telling Eranka that they were going
horseback riding. She hadn’t thought about him all morning, and now
that she pictured his face her heart sank and she swallowed hard.
Yes he was nuts, but she never imagined him dead. The finality of
it shook her whole soul.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I fall
many times.” Eranka laughed and ushered her into the dining room
where a beautiful meal with the aroma of sweet paprika had been
laid out on fine crystal serving ware, just as Ando had imagined.
“Your mother called and they will be here in little time.” Michelle
excused herself to go wash up. Everything in the small house was as
she had remembered it, but it felt strange to her; even the small
bathroom with the butterfly-themed wallpaper felt as if she had
never seen it before. She tried to wake up from this surreal
feeling by splashing her face with cold water again and again, but
still the person staring back at her from the mirror felt like an
imitation of what she used to look like. Was she acting paranoid?
Michelle changed her clothes, but the ones she put on felt like
they didn’t sit right on her body. They were less soft, and much
brighter than she had remembered.