The Hinomoto Rebellion (38 page)
Daimyo Yasakuto was lounging in his study, wearing his house robe and drinking a glass of sake when his telephone rang. He let it ring three times before he answered it. “Yes?” he said into the receiver.
There was a crackling noise on the other end before someone began to speak in to the line. “Master, the Tiger has left the
Kemono
sanctuary. She knows there’s a traitor– apparently Foxfire talked to her at some point. What do you want me to do?”
Daimyo Yasakuto put the telephone back in the cradle, a grin coming over his face. He reached in the pocket of his robe and pulled the ratty photograph out. As he stared at it, he ran a finger lovingly across the face of the little girl in the picture. “We’ll be back together soon, my darling,” he cooed.
After she got away from the mall Andrea stopped running, realizing that if the Aka Ryuu hadn’t followed her by now they weren’t going to. She walked with her head down, not sure where she was going other than away from the
Kemono
hideout. A wind had picked up in the last few minutes, which was causing old leaves, trash, and paper to blow around Andrea’s feet.
As she walked, her anger bubbled and burned inside of her. She thought she was angry at D, but eventually she saw that she was angry at herself. She kicked an aluminum can out of her path, ignoring the people that were giving her glances as she stormed past them. As she meandered along the streets of Shibasaki she found herself thinking of things that Tony had told her a long time ago. He’d told Andrea that he saw the potential for world-changing greatness in her. He’d also told her more than once that one day someone was going to fall in love with her. She’d laughed at him every time he’d said anything like that, thinking it was just the affection of a father to a daughter. She was like a child to him, so he had to say those kinds of sappy, meaningless things, right? But now, thinking back on what D had said, and how her attitude toward the Aka Ryuu rebellion had changed, she knew that somewhere Tony was the one laughing now.
That made Andrea even more angry since she’d told herself for two decades that she didn’t want any friends or family. Something had changed the minute she’d rushed into that warehouse and saved the Aka Ryuu from a brutal death at the hands of guards. Maybe it had even changed before then and that was why she’d been willing to do it in the first place.
And I ran away from my problems, again,
she thought with disgust.
I reacted with violence and then ran away, just like always. I thought I was going to try and stop doing that!
Just then, a piece of newspaper was blown up and hit Andrea in the face. She ripped the paper away from her and was about to throw it to the side when the article on the front page caught her eye. She stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk and began to read, her blue eyes skimming quickly down the paper. She threw the sheet aside as she took off walking again, this time focusing her eyes on where she was going.
The newspaper fluttered to the ground behind Andrea, the picture of Shogun Kunota and the headline “Shogun to Announce Voting Results at Press Conference Tomorrow” visible as it caught on a tree branch and flapped in the wind.
“Is there anything else I can do for you before I go home, Shogun?”
“Good night,” he replied, bowing as well before he headed over to his office and swung open the door while balancing the stack of papers. He closed the kaya wood doors behind him. The overhead lights in his office were dark. Two desk lamps and a lamp across the room on a table were providing soft, inviting illumination. He turned and headed for the desk, but movement by the window caught his eye.
Kunota looked up and saw a dark figure coming toward him from the window. He dropped the papers he was holding and opened his mouth to let out a shout just as the figure came into the light.
“Don’t scream! I’m not here to hurt you!” the figure said quickly. It was a young woman, no older than her early 20’s, with long silver hair. She was wearing a white and blue outfit and looked significantly out of place in the plush, well decorated office of the Shogun. Kunota took a few steps backwards, but didn’t scream.
Kunota was gazing at Andrea suspiciously as they stared at each other. She could understand his trepidation. She did, after all, just come in through his window, but she figured that if she’d tried to go through formal channels to see him that she’d never get a chance to and she needed to talk to him now.
“Listen, Shogun Kunota, my name is Andrea, and I have something very important I need to speak with you about.” Andrea took a few steps forward into the office, then paused and looked around as though she was seeing the room clearly for the first time. “Nice place,” she commented off-handedly as she turned toward the desk and picked up a small statue that was sitting on the corner.
Suddenly, Kunota narrowed his brown eyes and took a really good look at Andrea. “Wait a second. You were at the banquet!” he exclaimed. “At the back table, with the glasses on!”
Andrea smirked and put the little glass bauble back on the Shogun’s desk. “Yes, I was. I was there because Daimyo Shinrai asked us– myself and the rest of my group– to protect you. Which is what I would like to do, if you’re willing to listen.”
Shogun Kunota regarded Andrea for a moment. He then motioned to a plush guest chair as he sat down in one across from it, facing her. Andrea looked at the chair for a second before sitting down in it. It was leather and very comfortable, definitely more comfortable than Foxfire’s decrepit old couch. She wiggled a little bit, getting used to the feel of the chair. “Hmm.. Nice.” she said finally.
Andrea raised an eyebrow, then allowed herself a small smile before she turned serious again. “Did Daimyo Shinrai tell you about anything that he was doing on the side? Did he tell you what he was planning for the vote, and the press conference?” The confused look on the Shogun’s face told Andrea all she needed to know. “I’ll take that as a no. Look, Shogun Kunota, your friend Shinrai started to put together a group of
ronin
some time ago to take down Daimyo Yasakuto, and to give you your job back.”
There was a moment of silence where Kunota stared at her blankly, blinking his eyes as he thought back over the past year or so. “It all makes sense now,” said Kunota, mainly to himself. “Shinrai was so adamant about holding the vote. He said that Yasakuto would be taken care of.”
Andrea nodded. “He’s been trying to protect you this whole time, and that’s what got him killed. And because of that, I need you to make me a promise, and I need you to keep it no matter what.” She looked at Shogun Kunota with an expression of solemn seriousness.
“Tomorrow, at the press conference,” Andrea paused, thinking for a moment on the best way to word what she wanted from him, “No matter what Yasakuto does, no matter what he says, what threats he makes, or who he promises to kill, I need you to announce to the world that he is a lying, manipulative, murdering bastard. He will try to get you to announce the results of the martial arts vote and leave it at that, but I need you to expose him. The Aka Ryuu are going to be there to protect you, but we can’t do anything if you don’t tell Hinomoto what he truly is. He’s going to do whatever he can to get you to keep your mouth shut, and if you do, the cycle continues. So, I need you to promise me that, for the good of this country and your family, you’ll do this.”
ronin
and the Shogun stared at each other.
“Shogun Kunota, please,” continued Andrea, “For the good of all of Hinomoto, please do this. I know you don’t know me or any of my team, but we need your help. If you let him intimidate you tomorrow, then the chance to help this country and set it right is gone.” Andrea was almost ashamed of herself. Was she begging? Normally she could get whatever she wanted from someone by bullying them, but knew that doing that would make her no better that Daimyo Yasakuto. And sinking to his level was the last thing she wanted.
Kunota cleared his throat. “I will... do my best.” he said with a smile. “Because it is for the good of the country. But you had better not be joking with me.”
She allowed herself a smile. “I don’t joke, Shogun.” She said before she took another look around the office. She’d had a hard time containing her curiosity up until now. She wanted to explore the room and see the little knick-knacks and pictures he had around. She looked over at his bookshelf, then looked back to Kunota. “May I?”
Andrea stood and wandered over to the bookshelf. It was 6 shelves high, and about a meter and a half across. Each shelf was laden with both old and new books, along with several small accessories that sat at the fronts of the shelves. She read some of the titles silently, attempting to control the urge to reach out and start pulling them off the shelves. The fire flashed back in her head, books crumbling to dust in her fingers as she tried to grab them and she shuddered.
Shogun Kunota stood up and walked over to stand next to the
ronin
. “I wasn’t aware that someone like you would be interested in books.” he said quietly.
Andrea shot him a sideways glance. “Not many are. Most don’t know how to read. My... father... taught me how. All he ever had though was a Bible. I’m finding other books to be much more interesting, though I never paid them any attention before.” She reached forward for a book, but stopped. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Please, feel free,” he said, taking the book she’d been reaching for from the shelf and handing it to her. “I’ll even let you borrow it, if you want.” The Shogun grinned at Andrea as she took the novel from him.
She looked down at the cover and ran a hand down the spine. “I remember that Tony told me this was his favorite book when he was younger. He never had a copy of it though. I’m surprised you have it.”
Kunota shrugged. “It’s a good read. Novels based on the rebellion of 2033 are always fun, and that author is fantastic. Too bad he only ever published three books.” He pulled two more out and handed them to Andrea. “He’s worth reading. Just bring them back to me.”
The silver-haired
ronin
clutched the three books to her chest, a sudden feeling that she couldn’t describe washing over her as she looked at Shogun Kunota. He was exactly the opposite of what she’d expected a Shogun to be, and even though she’d only just now met him, there was something familiar about him. She felt like she’d been in his presence before. Something about the way he looked and stood and moved that seemed odd to her, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on what it was.
It was right then that something on a shelf on the next wall caught her eye. She wandered over and bent down to take a closer look. “What in the...?” she said as she stared down at it.
Sitting on the shelf, in a small pot made of painted clay, was a miniature tree. It was no more than twenty centimeters tall and had branches that arched out perfectly from the center. The leaves, however, were a brilliant shade of red. Andrea looked up from the tree and turned her head to gaze at Kunota, her eyes full of questions.
He smiled. “I got that on my first diplomatic assignment. Two countries had been at war for over two-hundred years, and finally they wanted to set up talks for peace. I was sent to mediate the treaty. I was terrified at the time, since I’d never done it before. I didn’t want to botch the discussions and send these two countries back into war, but I did the best I could. When the talks were done, and both sides had terms that were agreeable, they presented me with that tree as a gift. Its leaves are naturally red like that, they have been bred that way for hundreds of years. It’s very rare for someone outside of those countries to even be allowed to see one of those trees, much less own one. I’ve had it with me ever since, to remind me that I can do anything, even if I’m afraid of it at first.”
