Dreamlands (16 page)

“I’m going to continue to be girl Sakura, since there are TCs here,” he said. “It… I don’t want them to know that I am here. Not so much Wolf and Mason, but the others. I don’t trust them not to hurt me or do something stupid.”

I nodded and leaned over to give him a kiss on his forehead. “I must confess that I am selfish, and I do not want you to talk to them.” Keno was silent, watching me as I made my own preparations for bed. When I was settled in my futon, he crawled in with me.

“I don’t want to talk to them,” he whispered, burying his head on my chest. “Murphy… just let me tell you that his favorite word for me is ‘gook’. It’s some sort of insult that I don’t understand. Mason and Wolf… I just want to tell them that I’m all right.”

“What does TC stand for?” I asked. I had no idea what he was talking about. I was too pleased that he had willingly joined me in bed.

Keno relaxed and talking in my arms was more than I had expected tonight. In the beginning, he would have been stiff and unresponsive at my attention to him. I kissed the top of his head again.

“Trouble Consultant,” he said drowsily. “But McGann and Romejinoff aren’t that.”

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“What do they do?”

“They don’t go into situations like this,” he said. “Romejinoff’s mean and calls me names. She was living with Heiseg. McGann, she stared at me a lot. She’s kind of in charge at Boylston Street too. I got most of my assignments from her.”

“Interesting,” I said, keeping my tone just the opposite. I knew he had no idea what he was telling me, that this was important to Tamazusa and myself. Information about the enemy always was. So they might be what they claimed if they were sending noncombatants here with their fighters. “What did this Romejinoff woman do besides abuse you?”

“She’s an expert on ‘esoteric science’,” Keno said. “I have no idea what that is supposed to be.”

I laughed, and Keno burrowed into my arms. “You find the oddest things funny,” he said sleepily. In a few minutes, he had dropped off to sleep, and I gradually drifted off myself.

MY Keno was still sleeping when I awoke the next day. It was early, so I simply held him. I didn’t realize that he was awake until he spoke.

“I don’t want to leave with them,” he said quietly. “I’m happy here. You and Tamazusa-sama are kind to me. I didn’t even freak out at the thought of sleeping with you.”

“I am glad,” I said. That had been one of my worries―that he wanted to go back to the real world. I didn’t know why he would want to, but I had been irrationally worried about it.

“You want to try?” he asked.

“You have nothing to prove to me,” I said softly. “That you are offering is enough.”

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I felt him shift and relax when I refused his offer. He wasn’t as certain about it as he had appeared. And I didn’t want to be rushed or interrupted, so I was willing to wait.

“I feel that I should discuss the outsiders with my lady,” I told him. “To see what she wants to do with them.”

“They probably slept in shifts,” Keno said. “I’d have thought….”

“What?” I asked.

“That there’d be more of them. McGann and Romejinoff aren’t people who go out in the field. Neither is Murphy. So why are they here? Why isn’t it a strike team of all TCs? Exploring isn’t what’s happening with them. They managed to open a gate here for another reason. And how did they get here?”

I laughed. “We understand that. But it is your information about who these people are that is important. I think something they plotted did not end as it should.”

Keno frowned. “That might be true; I don’t know. I think that this is the first time that they’ve done something like this.”

“Or the first time that it succeeded. I also think that you should continue with your morning as planned,” I said. “Okita-san wants to see you on the practice field before breakfast. If he is not there, there still will be someone to spar with. In fact, it might be something that would impress the outsiders if they saw it.”

Keno looked up at me with a frown on his face. The boy had no idea how skilled he had become over the last few months. He wasn’t a strong fighter, but he was quick. Deadly remained to be seen. I didn’t want him to kill. His ancestor had been covered in blood before I had known him. I wanted this Keno to be the innocent he was for a while longer, if not forever.

He leaned over and kissed me before sitting back on his heels. “I don’t know if I should. What if they see me?” I smiled. “Then they will see a warrior.” 111

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Keno stared back, a confused look on his face. He didn’t think of himself as fighter. He didn’t realize it was just one of the skills he had learned here. While he was quick-witted, he was hopeless in poetry or
ruku
contests, because he lacked the literary references he needed to create a poem in harmony with the rest of the contestants. But he enjoyed listening on the nights the samurai had the contests. He had a beautiful hand for calligraphy, a growing interest in
ikebana
, and was adept with the tea ceremony. He flirted with me in public with a confidence I never thought he would have. Keno was a consort I could prize. If only he would realize it, I would be happy.

“Would you be angry if they didn’t see me again?” Keno asked.

I thought for a second. “You mean that you would prefer to distance yourself from those who knew you before?” I wouldn’t call them his friends. Not with what little that he had or had not told me. As we had shared quiet talks in the evenings, over tea, looking at the stars, I had gotten to know him more than he knew.

And I didn’t want him to be hurt by these people. If he wanted to hide, then I would let him.

Keno nodded, and I smiled. “I do not think that you need dress as elaborately as you do for the evenings. Something simple would do.

And do not hesitate if you feel a need to defend yourself.” Keno nodded and thought for a second. He frowned, looking up at me uncertainly. “I think that you and Tamazusa-sama should know this.

Wolf’s pretty fluent in Japanese. We… we talked a lot. He speaks a couple of other languages too. I think that Romejinoff does too. That might be the reason that she’s here, but McGann’s an administrator; she shouldn’t be here.”

I nodded, trying and succeeding in hiding the joy that I felt. While it was not strictly honorable that Keno had shared this information, it showed me that he was more loyal to Tamazusa and myself than to the ones who had been his friends. Keno was making his own choices about his life. One of them was to tell me something I knew the outsiders would want to keep hidden.

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I leaned over and brushed my lips across his forehead. “Thank you for telling me this.”

Keno blushed. “I forgot about it last night. Stupid. Um
,
I should have remembered. Wolf… Wolf was about the only person that was nice to me.”

“You have not betrayed him,” I assured him.

He looked guilty and frightened. But he nodded after a moment and got dressed for his practice bout. After he was dressed, Keno hesitated for a second before he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and ran off to the samurai’s practice yard. I couldn’t help but feel inordinately pleased by the small gesture.

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MASON

I GOT stuck with last watch. The girls didn’t get guard duty, since Romejinoff was useless and McGann wasn’t feeling too good. I was the only one who was awake when Tamazusa walked into the room like she owned it. Well, she did. She wasn’t alone either. Mr. PO was with her, and a couple of muscle men. No monsters, and I liked that.

I nodded good morning to her and leaned over to wake up Murphy and Wolf. She looked faintly peeved, and I grinned. “I have no fucking manners, trust me. Am I supposed to bow or something?” Her face went blank, and Mr. PO looked amused. “Tamazusa-sama, are you not always telling me that no one has manners nowadays?”

So he spoke English also, in the same bland, accentless, “I should be on television” tone she had. I wondered how they had learned it.

There didn’t seem to be anyone else around here who spoke English.

She sighed and nodded, gesturing to him. “This is Samojirou Aboshi.” He bowed at all of us.

No one said anything. I got up and sort of bowed and started gesturing at myself and the rest of the party. “Mason Kairns. James FELICITAS IVEY

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Murphy and Wolf Dieter. The ladies are Anya Romejinoff and Caitlynn McGann.”

The rest of the group looked shocked. I thought Murphy should have handled this, or McGann, but Murphy wasn’t saying anything. I knew I beat Wolf by a hair doing the introductions. That and I actually acted like I had something called manners. I usually didn’t, which was why I was the tough/bad cop when I worked with anyone.

“What should happen is that you all need a trip to the
onsen
,” Tamazusa announced. “Your clothing is too heavy for here, and you….”

“Stink,” I finished for her.

She wasn’t amused. I knew that I should fucking fear her after what had happened to Heiseg, but I couldn’t resist being a smartass.

She was dangerous, and while her maybe-husband was the one who was walking around with the sword, she was the one to watch. Hell, I didn’t think she worked up a sweat turning Heiseg into JELL-O. I wondered if people just croaked when she said frog. And while I thought she was beautiful, I didn’t want to get into bed with her. It could have been because she could fuck me over, and I liked fucking women who were less dangerous. Or it could have been that she was giving off a “not interested” vibe that meant she
really
wasn’t interested, if even I could pick it up. So what did Samojirou do for his jollies? The chick from last night? Why did Tamazusa put up with it?

Why did she only have one name, and he had two? Why was I sweating the small shit for once?

“Shut up, Kairns,” Murphy growled. “And what makes you think that we’re going to―”

“Do you have a choice?” Samojirou asked. “It will be better and more comfortable for all of you if you bathe. We are here to escort you the baths and supply you with clothing that is more appropriate to the climate here. We can talk while we soak, and then you may break your fast. I assure you that this is just what it seems.” I shrugged. I didn’t believe the guy, but I was sweaty and dirty, and I wanted a hot bath. Coffee would be nice too. I doubted that they 115

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had that here. From the snacks last night, tea was what was served here instead. Some sort of alcohol too, rice wine according to Wolf.

McGann was the only one who had touched it. She had liked it and mentioned that it packed quite a punch. It was probably about the only thing that let her sleep.

“Samojirou-sama, would you escort the gentlemen to the
onsen
?

The samurai’s. I will take the ladies with me,” Tamazusa said.

Even I heard the order in her tone of voice. He wasn’t pissed though; he expected her to give the orders. He was… amused wasn’t the right word, but it was close. What was their relationship? Married?

Relatives? He was her boy toy? It was bugging me because I needed shit like this explained to me and then I was happy. That was about the only reason I was almost obsessing over their relationship.

“Of course, my lady,” he said. He looked over at us. “If you will follow me?”

I shrugged, Wolf looked blank, and Murphy was pissed. Wolf was retreating into being a good little tin soldier, and I expected him to start on the name, rank, and serial number crap. I didn’t blame him. I didn’t like that we were fucking prisoners, but there wasn’t a shitload I could do about it. It wasn’t like there was any place for us to go. I just hoped that these people weren’t softening us up to be a sacrifice or something else weird. We got one of the muscle men with us, and the other one stayed with the women. I was worried for a second, but decided McGann could take care of herself.

Samojirou led us out of that room, into a garden, down a long path, and past an open space. I didn’t need Wolf to tell me that this was their version of a gym/practice area. There was a bunch of guys standing around and heckling a couple of the guys who were practicing.

I was kind of relieved to see they were using wooden sticks instead of the real thing.

Samojirou stopped to watch with a huge smile on his face. I was mellow about it, but Murphy looked pissed again. Yeah, I wanted a hot shower, but it wasn’t going to kill me to wait. I was impressed by the way the guys were going at each other. The shorter one was quick, but I wouldn’t want to get hit by the other guy. He was built like a brick FELICITAS IVEY

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shithouse. Not that there was a lot going on, most of the time it was them standing still, and then a flurry of activity, and then the two of them sprung back. I thought Samojirou was driving in the lesson that his people could kick our asses. I didn’t blame him; he didn’t want his people hurt by our stupidity, even if Tamazusa was the one calling the shots.

“I fear that I―” Samojirou started.

“That’s Keno,” Wolf blurted.

I looked again. The little guy had his hair pulled up into a high ponytail. There was a look of concentration and determination on his face that I could see even this far away. I’d seen that look when Keno was hacking for us. He was handling that stick like he knew how to use it, with a confidence I’d never seen before. That was a scary thought: Keno with a real weapon in his hands.