The Hinomoto Rebellion (28 page)
“I knew you’d come back! I knew it! I knew it! You’re so cool, Andrea!” Roni grinned at the silver-haired girl like a maniac as she hugged her.
could you get off my arm
!?”
Roni jumped up, shouting apologies as Andrea clutched her left arm to her chest and stood. By now Kanjou, 26, and Fushi had joined them and D had gotten up to lean against the railing of the footbridge. There was a moment of tense silence as the Aka Ryuu regarded the silver-haired member of their ranks.
There, I said it,
Andrea thought with relief.
Kanjou laughed and clapped her on her right shoulder heartily. “I’m just glad you’re alright, Andrea,” he said. “But don’t you ever get shot again, okay?”
Everyone laughed at Kanjou’s comment. “Yeah, I’ll try not to,” she replied, her mouth twisting in to the approximation of a smile.
Roni was beaming up at Andrea, which was making the
ronin
uncomfortable. She fidgeted some, waiting for the questions to start flying. It was actually Fushicho, not Roni, who posed the first inquiry.
Andrea looked to the side “I.. uh.. I wasn’t... honest... with you all when I left.” She turned so they couldn’t see her face and continued. “I know that warehouse. We used to run raids on it all the time years ago. The place was easy pickings, great for getting new equipment. The last raid on the place was one I was supposed to go on. But that was also the night that Tony got sick. It was the only night I ever lost the tournament. I ended up not going on the raid because I needed to make money to get Tony medicine.”
Her voice caught in her throat before she continued. “We found out the next morning that the
ronin
who went had been killed. There was a huge media circus over it, and the government cracked down on security. They took it out on
ronin
for awhile too, more so than usual. We all thought there was going to be a hunt or something before they lost interest. Apparently they were just happy to use us as an excuse to dump more money into that warehouse.
“And of course, Tony couldn’t get over the fact that if he hadn’t been sick, I would’ve gone with that group and never come back,” she cleared her throat and put her hand underneath her bangs, rubbing her right eyebrow. “So I guess I got to thinking about what could happen to another group of
ronin
in that place, and I couldn’t let it go. But, the only way I can get back at the government for screwing up my life is by being with you guys. So, I guess I’ll be sticking around from now on, if that’s okay.” She looked at Kanjou, Roni, and Fushi.
Roni smiled and reached out for Andrea’s hand. “We’d love that, Andrea,” the pig-tailed girl said as she wrapped her fingers around Andrea’s. For once the silver-haired woman didn’t pull away. She looked down at Roni, her expression unchanged, and nodded.
Right then, D came out of the temple and headed for the bridge, a long, thin, cloth wrapped object in his hands. The Aka Ryuu looked up at him as he approached. Andrea pulled her hand out of Roni’s grasp.
D walked up to Andrea and smiled at her. “Here,” he said as he pulled the covering off the object. He allowed the cloth to fall to the ground so he could use both hands to hold out a katana to Andrea. “A gift.”
Andrea gave D a look of confusion, then she looked at the sword and gasped. The sword had an ornate ivory
tsuka
wrapped in black, gold, and crimson cord, a golden
tsuba
, and a deep vermilion
saya.
It was the katana she had picked up before attacking the warehouse guards. Andrea’s mouth fell open and she found she could do nothing but stare.
“When I saw you with this, I knew that you were meant to be an Aka Ryuu, Andrea. I knew that this was where you belong. I picked it up so I could give it to you,” D motioned for her to take the katana from him. Silently, she reached out and took the sword, giving D a short bow as she did so.
Once she had the blade in her hands, she wrapped her fingers around the
tsuka
and pulled the blade from its sheath, holding it up to let it gleam in the sunlight. The five
ronin
stared at the katana in wonder as the light shimmered off of the metal.
Andrea said nothing as she stared at the weapon. Curling its way up the blade, etched into the metal on both sides and enameled in brilliant crimson, was a dragon.
Daimyo Shinrai nudged the door open and boldly walked into Shogun Kunota’s office, holding up two brown paper bags. “Surprise! Fresh-made sushi!” he exclaimed as he crossed the threshold into the room. He stopped abruptly as he noticed that the Shogun wasn’t alone. “Whoops! Sorry,” Shinrai quickly backed out of the office and shut the door, shooting a glare at Kunota’s secretary.
He pouted and was about to say something else when the door to Kunota’s office opened and Daimyo Yasakuto stepped out into the reception area. Shinrai stiffened immediately and gave a short bow to Yasakuto. “Daimyo,” he said, inclining his head.
Yasakuto gave a much more shallow bow. “I’m finished with the Shogun now, Daimyo Shinrai,” he snapped before turning to walk away.
The room was huge, with three seating areas scattered around it: one in front of the Shogun’s desk, one to the left, and one to the right. In the middle of the office was a large empty space that could have a table set in it if one was needed for briefings. There were several bamboo tatami mats over the dark wooden floor. The furniture was a mixture of supple leathers and bright, cheerful upholstery that made the room bright and inviting without being overbearing. There were three windows on the wall furthest from the desk, each with a ceiling-to-floor bookshelf between them that was full of books and little statues and baubles from all over the world. Underneath each window was a shelf with more statues and a few potted plants on each.
The Shogun’s desk sat in front of the windows. It was a massive piece of furniture, decorated on the front with elaborate carvings of cranes, bamboo, pine trees, and carp. The top was littered with stacks of paper, pens, and various other item, including pictures of the Shogun with his family and some more glass statues in abstract shapes. All around the remaining cream wallpapered walls were paintings and portraits of scenes from Hinomoto’s past and previous great leaders of the country that were lit with spotlights from the ceiling.
“Take two! Fresh-made sushi! The best in the land, for the greatest Shogun in Hinomoto’s history!” Shinrai did a spin and held the bags of sushi out over Kunota’s desk. He held the pose for a second, a huge grin on his face, but the Shogun didn’t look at him. Kunota was staring at the wall, a frown on his face. He looked as though he had not slept in weeks, his eyes had dark shadows on them and he appeared haggard.
Shinrai’s arms dropped to his sides as anger suddenly boiled up inside of him. “What threats did he make now?” he demanded, his eyes turning cold.
Kunota looked up as though he was seeing Shinrai for the first time. He offered no reply, just stared at his old friend with wide brown eyes that were sunken in from lack of sleep. “Was it about tomorrow’s banquet? Was it about the vote? Tell me!”
His final explosion seemed to rock Kunota from his stupor. The Shogun’s eyes finally focused on Shinrai. “Huh?” was all he managed to croak out.
“What did Yasakuto say to you?” Shinrai ordered, his voice cold. His worry for the Shogun and his family was threatening to claim him any minute and make him personally go to kill Yasakuto.
Kunota finally gave an answer. “Shinrai..” he almost whispered, “It was... nothing.. Just the normal threats. He doesn’t want me to hold the vote, but he can’t make me change my mind. No, he was just making sure that I... don’t overstep my bounds tomorrow.”
The Daimyo plopped down in a chair across from Kunota’s desk, the two bags of sushi forgotten between them. Shinrai put a hand to his forehead and rubbed it. “I can’t stand to see you like this, my friend. The only thing that was ever worse for you was your first son being kidnapped 20 years ago,” he said, then he looked up at Kunota. “We won’t have to endure him much longer, though.”
Dammit Shinrai! Think before you speak! You can’t involve him in the Aka Ryuu plans any more than he has to be! The less he knows, the better!
Shinrai cleared his throat and swallowed his anger. “I just.. Have this sense about it. You know what they say about karma. Besides, at the press conference you’ll start the ‘investigation’, right?” Shinrai smiled as a gesture of support, “We’re still doing that?”
The Shogun smiled back. “Thank you, Shinrai. You’re my truest friend, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He reached for the brown paper bags, “Now, how about that sushi?”
It had been two days since the Warehouse Raid. Since her return, Kanjou had roused Andrea for morning meditation practices without hearing any complaints from the silver-haired girl. She was still recovering from the bullet wound in her arm, though her
kendo
exercises every afternoon were helping her get her strength back. The others tried to insist that she go easy on the activity for awhile, but she would continue on with her forms and push through the pain.
There was practicing to be done, techniques to be taught, nightime patrols of the grounds, and spars to work through for everyone. They all spent a large amount of their free time pouring over the books from the building across the lake, sometimes reading them out loud, and sometimes just sitting around and reading them in each other’s company.
The overall mood of the group of rebels was light. During practices they would banter back and forth at each other, teasing and giving advice and support. Everyone was trying their hardest to be the best they could be by the time of the conference.
It was a slightly cool Thursday morning for July, precisely five days before the press conference that would either change history for the better or the worst. Andrea and Kanjou were up early doing meditation exercises until breakfast, then the silver-haired
ronin
headed to the training room to work with Roni and Fushicho until lunch. D and Aki joined the group in the training room after awhile, and the five of them trained until 26 came to get them.
After lunch The Tiger was back in the training room, the katana lashed to her obi. She gripped the
tsuka
with her left hand and pulled the blade from its sheath in the blink of an eye. Her left arm still ached when she moved it, but the wound was healing.
Andrea took a deep breath, adjusting her grip on the sword and getting a feel for the weight. Swords were hard to come by and expensive in the Underground so very few
ronin
owned one, and the ones that did normally had side jobs as body guards or bounty hunters for some of the large corporations. Even when they had been doing regular raids on the government storehouse, swords had been hard to find and were usually sold to a collector rather than given away.
Standing in the training room, with the afternoon breeze hitting her back, she put the blade through its paces. She pirouetted like a ballet dancer, the katana with the red dragon inlay along the blade flashing in the air as she leaped through her forms. She twisted, turned, lunged, and curled her way down the mat, then across it and back up again. It was a deadly dance, and she made it look effortless. Her silver hair swirled around behind her as she moved.