The Hinomoto Rebellion (21 page)
The Daimyo regarded Ryoku, then sighed and turned his chair, looking toward a painting on one of his side walls. “Call off the search. No one will be able to find the Tiger when she’s decided to hide. She’s too smart for that, and too cautious. Don’t waste the manpower.”
Ryoku clenched his fists at his sides, biting his tongue and taking a deep breath to keep from saying something he’d regret later. “Yes, sir,” he bowed deeply to hide the anger on his face and turned, leaving the room quickly.
It was a long walk back to Shinjukyu Gyoen National Gardens, especially since Andrea insisted on sticking to the sewers as much as possible until they got within a block of the gate. The two
ronin
looked around and then went inside the Gardens, heading in to the cover of the trees and walking toward the temple. When Andrea and D came through the front entrance of the temple the rest of the Aka Ryuu were just cleaning up from having a meal.
The rest of the day passed relatively quietly, though the Aka Ryuu set up a regular patrol schedule of the grounds just in case they had been followed back. Between patrols, Andrea ran her training sessions, although everyone noticed she seemed distracted at times.
Andrea took the first patrol shift after the others went to sleep. She came out of the back of the temple and watched for a minute as moonlight glittered across the lake and turned the water into liquid silver. She walked toward the lake, and before she could really think about what she was doing she was up to her neck in the water. The
ronin
tilted her head back and let her silver hair float on the surface, staring up at a sky that looked like a black lampshade with holes poked in it to let tiny points of light through.
“Well Andrea,” she mumbled to herself, “You just survived the third worst day of your life. Good for you.” She brought a hand up out of the water and pushed her bangs aside, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. The silver moonlight reflected off a large, jagged scar above her right eyebrow.
Somewhere in the surrounding forest, crickets were singing. A few night birds chirped as accompaniment to the insects’ song. The martial artist stayed in the lake, up to her face in the water for a few minutes before climbing back out again. Her clothes stuck to her skin as droplets poured onto the grass, but she didn’t care. The cloth was thick enough to allow for discretion, even when soaked. She headed off into the forest to patrol the grounds until her shift was over.
“In local news a bar downtown was on fire this morning, firefighters say from a faulty gas line. The Shark’s Den, a bar that’s been in business since 2510, burned to the ground today, though authorities said that no one was inside at the time of the blaze.”
Daimyo Shinrai glanced at the television that was playing the news on the far wall, catching a glimpse of the burned shell of a building before it changed to another story. He looked back to the wall safe that he was pawing through then. “Come on... where is it...?” he muttered to himself.
After moving a few more envelopes and boxes, he let out an exclamation and grabbed a thick manila envelope from the back of the safe. Once he had it he closed the safe and hung the painting that hid the door back over it. Shinrai took the envelope back to his desk and opened it, pulling the contents out and spreading them on his desk.
There were a few folded up blueprints in the papers, as well as lots of typed papers with official seals on them and some photographs. Shinrai stopped on a newspaper clipping and picked it up, reading it over slowly.
Ochiudo
Crime Ring Uncovered at Government Warehouse,” the headline stated in large, bold type.
“ Shibasaki, Hinomoto- Two guards at a government warehouse are recovering from a confrontation with a group of
ochiudo
early this morning. The guards said that they caught the group breaking and entering and were forced to discharge their weapons. All five of the alleged robbers were pronounced dead on the scene when police arrived.
“ The police, when asked if the guards would be charged in the deaths of the
ochiudo,
said that the guards were acting in self-defense and charges would likely be dropped if any were ever filed.”
The article went on, but Shinrai put it down and shoved it aside, then picked up another clipping from the same paper. The headline read, “Local Government Gives Security at Warehouse Update in Light of Recent Raid.”
The Daimyo frowned at the article, then gathered it and any other bits of newspaper up from the file and put them in his desk drawer. He shoved the other papers and blueprints back in the manila envelope and stashed it under a stack of other reports on his desk, then stood and left the room.
Andrea raced through a long, dark sewer tunnel as foul liquid splashed up across her legs with each step. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps as terror gripped her heart. She didn’t know what she was running from, but it was terrible enough to horrify even her.
Suddenly, Andrea ran into a wooden wall. It sent her back a few steps as she stared at it in disbelief. Where did this come from? She turned around quickly to face whatever was chasing her, and was nearly sent reeling. She was in Tony’s Place, standing in the middle of the main floor. Before she could even think about what was going on a wall of flame shot up all around her.
Andrea…”
Her head snapped up as dark forms came through the flames toward her, surrounding her. She watched in horror as the shapes emerged from the fire, revealing themselves as the patrons of Tony’s Place that died in the police raid. Standing in front of Andrea was Tony himself.
“
Oh no…” she gasped, her eyes wide. She tried to back away from Tony, but realized that there were more walking dead behind her, separating her from the roaring flames. “No! Get away from me!”
“
No! It wasn’t my fault! The police killed you!”
The rotting, burning corpses lumbered closer and Andrea caught the stench of cooking flesh. Her stomach jumped into her throat and she nearly wretched at the stink. “No!” she managed to choke out, looking around wildly at the shambling zombies. “Stay away from me! No! It’s not my fault!” She felt acrid bile rising up in her throat as Tony’s dead hand reached toward her, brushing against her cheek.
Andrea…” groaned Tony.
Andrea sat straight up, her hands flying to her mouth to stifle the scream that was coming up in her throat. Her hands clapped over her mouth as the short shout escaped into the night.
The
ronin
’s blue eyes darted around the dark room. Sweat was dripping off her—rolling into her eyes and making her hair stick to her back. The air was so hot in her room that for a moment she thought the flames had followed her out of her nightmare. She almost thought Tony’s dead fingers were still touching her cheek, but then realized that it was her own hand on her face.
It took her a few minutes to calm her racing heart, but she managed to pull her hands away from her face. The night still seemed threatening, the summer heat still pushing against her. She had dealt with nightmares on a regular basis ever since she was seven years old, but this one had been different. It had been darker, but at the same time more vivid than her other nightmares. She could still smell the stink of burned flesh, even in the tranquility of the temple.
She turned, nearly leaping to her feet in shock. Standing at the door, half concealed in deep shadows from the hallway, was 26. She had a clawed hand resting on the door jamb and an expression of worry across her face. “You okay?” asked the fur covered woman, stepping into the room hesitantly.
26 raised an eyebrow and took a step into the room, folding her wings back to make them fit through the doorway. “Sounded like a bad nightmare,” she commented.
26 walked over and dropped down onto the floor next to Andrea’s futon, sitting as well as she could cross-legged. Andrea glanced at 26 from the corners of her eyes, a displeased look on her face.
“You know,” began 26, “this whole solidarity act may work in the underground, but it’s pretty tiresome when there are people around who genuinely want to help you. You don’t have to be scared of us. We’re not going to hurt you or anything.”
“It just... It would be easier, that’s for sure. We can’t beat the government if we’re not united,” 26 tilted her head and looked down at Andrea. “You can’t live in a bubble, Andrea. Eventually, you’re going to need someone else to help you. When that day comes, I hope you’ll realize that we’re here for you. No matter how much you want to deny that there is good in this world, or in you for that matter, it does exist. You just need to open your eyes and see it.”
The teal-haired woman got to her feet, tucked her wings behind her, and turned to leave. Andrea turned her head to watch her exit the room. She opened her mouth at one point, as though to say something, but quickly shut it again. Once 26 was gone in the darkness of the hallway, Andrea sighed and rolled over, looking out the window at the night sky. The stars seemed to be winking at her, as though agreeing with 26’s words. Andrea scowled at them, then shut her eyes and went to sleep.
The next two days passed uneventfully. Andrea’s mood was subdued and she hardly spoke unless she was running classes. Even then, she seemed to be distracted by something. She would disappear at night and come back carrying books from the library, then she’d sit in a corner of the recreation room and read for hours, not speaking to anyone. This new behavior made everyone a little anxious, though they felt it too would pass like her other last mood swings.
