The Hinomoto Rebellion (5 page)

Andrea guffawed. “Powerful? You came to the right place for that since I’m the strongest fighter in Hinomoto,” she smiled.

By then they had reached the entrance back up to Tony’s Place, and Andrea led the way up a small rickety ladder, back through the hole in the floor and up into the storage room. Kanjou and Roni followed her up, waiting while Andrea peeked her head around the door and looked for the police. Once she moved out into the main area of the bar, they followed.

The floor of the establishment now had a new carpet of blood, splintered wood, and broken glass. Dead bodies lay strewn everywhere, their faces twisted in terror and pain. Andrea stood in the middle of the carnage, looking down at the prostrate body of Tony. Kanjou, holding Roni in his arms, watched the silver-haired woman. If she was feeling any emotions at all she was hiding it well.

“Tony, Tony, Tony.” she clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth in disapproval. “And we always thought I would go before you, huh? Guess we never took something like this into consideration.” She knelt down next to the body and stared into his lifeless eyes.

There was a moment of silence before Kanjou took a step toward her and spoke softly. “Maybe now you see why we need this rebellion? Do you really like hiding in the shadows all the time? Is being hunted and watching the people you care about get shot down so fun? This is no way for anyone to live.”

Andrea continued to stare at Tony with an emotionless expression. “He’s saved my life twice. Now he’s gone and the bar is ruined.” she looked around, “I don’t have any reason to stay here.”

Kanjou nodded. “We can give you a safe place to hide. The Aka Ryuu Headquarters is secure, no one will find you there.”

Andrea stood. “I’m not saying I’m going to join your suicide mission or anything, but I guess I can give you the chance to convince me.” She walked around Kanjou, heading toward a small swinging door that lead behind the bar.

“That’s fair enough.” Kanjou had turned to continue looking at the young woman as she walked away from him.

Andrea grabbed something from a shelf under the bar counter, then looked at Kanjou and made a motion with her head toward the door. Kanjou nodded in understanding, then stepped gingerly around the bodies and walked out the door. He looked up from the entrance slowly, noting that it was a little odd to have no cops lingering around to secure the scene. But the brunet also had heard stories that sometimes the police would get bored of one thing and go off to another raid without doing the official paperwork for the first one.

Andrea walked back over to Tony’s body, listening to the silence around her. In her many years of being here, she’d never experienced this stillness before. To Andrea it seemed like more than these unlucky people had been killed tonight. It was Tony’s Place itself that was now dead.

She stood over Tony and pulled a match from the box she had grabbed from behind the bar. “See ya, Tony.” she said as she snapped the head of the match across the ignition strip, making the match erupt into flame. She flipped it in to a puddle not too far away, then turned as the hungry fire started to consume the spilled alcohol on the floor. Andrea walked quickly over the prostrate bodies and out the door, closing it for the last time before heading up the steps.

Andrea came up into the alleyway and headed toward the street where Kanjou and Roni were waiting. She turned a small distance away from them and looked back at the stairway, which was becoming suffocated by smoke. The fire had spread quickly across the alcohol soaked floor and was already taking out the rotted door, throwing small bits of orange light into the dark alley. Andrea stood there and watched the smoke billow out and the flames leap higher, only turning when the distant sounds of a fire engine could be heard.

She walked to Kanjou and Roni, her eyes fixed on the ground. “We should go. Someone’s obviously called in the fire.” Andrea said, her voice empty of expression.

Kanjou put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss.” he said sincerely.

Andrea pushed away the gesture of comfort. “Don’t be. Comes with the job.” she said, seeming to try to convince herself more than anyone else.

The three started walking away as the sirens grew closer, rounding the corner just as a fire engine and two police cars erupted onto the street they had come from. The outlaws walked on in silence for a bit, though Andrea kept turning at random intervals to look behind them. Kanjou wasn’t sure if it was make certain they weren’t being followed or to try to get one last look at the burning bar.

Finally, Roni interrupted the solemn silence. “I’m Roni, Shigai Roni.” she said to Andrea, “And this is Tsukai Kanjou.”

 

Andrea didn’t even bother to look at the girl with the purple pigtails. “Andrea The Tiger.” she muttered.

Roni looked at Andrea with curiosity. “No family name?” “If I ever did have one, I don’t know it.”
“What about your father’s last name?”

Andrea shot Roni an enraged look. “Tony wasn’t my father.” she growled.

Kanjou put his hand on Roni’s arm, a silent way of telling her to not ask any more questions. He could tell that Andrea’s emotions were in turmoil right now, despite the fact that she was attempting to hide it. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

After a while Kanjou, Roni, and Andrea came to a fenced in section of the city that had grown wild. Andrea looked up at a sign that had faded over many years, beaten down by the weather.

“Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens,” Andrea read aloud. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Kanjou pulled open the gate and allowed Roni and Andrea to enter ahead of him. What had once been a neatly tended section of the city of Shibasaki had fallen into disrepair over the past two-hundred years, the plants taking over and growing wild and out of control. The children of Shibasaki, told stories that the Gardens were haunted or inhabited by the angry spirits of
oni
or
tengu
. Because of this only the most foolish of the local hoodlums and the occasional vandal ever tried to gain access to the forest that now sat in Shibasaki. Several abandoned buildings still remained in the Gardens, and the dilapidated temple that was now the Headquarters of the Aka Ryuu was one of them.

As they walked along the only trail still visible, Andrea could see why these gardens had been abandoned. The ivy growth on the walls of the Headquarters building was enough to start ruining its structural integrity. She thought the whole place would crumble if she walked too hard while inside. They went up to the temple and entered the wide double doors at the front of one of the wings of the building.

“Hmm. Charming.” Andrea said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked around the dusty entryway.

“Roni! Kanjou! You’re back!” Fushicho came bouncing toward them. Andrea swiftly took a step back, as though she expected her to attack them at any moment. The red-head gave Kanjou a
look
. “I see we’ve got a newcomer?”

Kanjou grinned and blushed a bit. “Fushicho, meet Andrea. The police are after her, so we thought she’d be safe here. And she might even help us.”

Fushi offered her best smile. “Well, pleased to meet you!” she extended her hand.

Andrea scowled and glared. “A mythological bird, huh? Let me guess, you’re supposed to be the western Phoenix.” It was a statement, not a question.

Realizing that Andrea wasn’t going to shake her hand, Fushicho withdrew it. “Well,” she coughed, “I hope you stay and help us with our mission. We could surely use you.” She turned to Kanjou, “Can we go train now?”

Kanjou chuckled. “Alright, alright. Roni, I’ll leave you to show Andrea around.”

 

The man left, the red-head hot on his heels. “Those two have feelings for each other.” Andrea said with a smirk.

 

Roni raised her eyebrows. “How can you tell?”

 

“Body language, the tones of their voices. It’s very easy.” Andrea smirked.

“Oh... Wow, that’s so cool! You know all kinds of cool stuff, I bet I could learn so much from you!” Roni looked up at Andrea in adoration.

The silver-haired
ronin
glared at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing something? Other than annoying me, I mean.”

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Follow me!” she chirped ecstatically and headed off to another room.

With a sigh of exasperation Andrea followed the petite girl. She was led into the dining hall, where food was laid out on the table. As soon as Andrea spotted it, her stomach growled. She put her hand on her mid-section and frowned, realizing that she hadn’t eaten since the eggs this afternoon.

Roni waved her hand at the table. “Sit down and help yourself. We don’t have much, but you’re welcome to eat.” Roni sat down on the right side of the table, Andrea sat across from her on the floor and grabbed some bread. She somehow knew that the price of the food was going to be listening to this girl, but with how hungry she was it seemed like a fair trade off.

“So... what brought this whole
rebellion
thing on? You guys don’t seem the rebel type.” remarked Andrea.

“Well... it’s kind of a long story.” Roni paused and grabbed a chunk of bread, “See, Kanjou and I started this whole thing after someone from the government came to us. His name is Daimyo Shinrai and he told us the truth about what’s going on with the Shogun. He’s nice, like Kunota is. He’s really good friends with Kunota though and he can’t stand what’s been going on with him. Kanjou and I agreed to help, so we started trying to recruit. Now we’re running out of time, and we’ve only found a few people that we can trust. That’s why we need you.”

“So, that was you guys who tried to attack Daimyo Yasakuto’s mansion the other night?” Andrea said.

 

Roni nodded. “We decided afterwards that four of us just isn’t enough. The cause is too great; the risk is too big for a small group.” Andrea chewed before swallowing her food. “Well, why doesn’t the Shogun just tell the public and let them deal with it?”

“Because he needs to protect his family, of course. If he reveals the truth without people like us to protect him, then he and his family will be murdered! But, if the truth is revealed, and the Aka Ryuu are there, we can defeat the manipulator! With him out of the way, Congress, the Courts, and the police can be cleaned up, and Hinomoto will be free again!” From the way she steadily grew more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, Andrea could tell that the prospect excited Roni. Her violet eyes were gleaming as she spoke.

Andrea thought again. “And... what’s in it for me? What possible reason can you give me that would make me want to participate in this suicide mission?”

“Well...” Roni thought for a moment. “Imagine what good could come from this. Hinomoto will be a nice place to live again. Martial arts will be legal, and you could be a celebrity! Tournaments would want to have you competing in them all the time! People would cheer for you as you defeated your opponent, and then you’d be given lots of money and could have whatever you wanted! You wouldn’t have to live in the sewers anymore!”

There was a moment of silence as Andrea blinked at the little girl in disbelief, then she burst into cruel, cold laughter. “Well, kid, you’ve got some weird ideas. Me, a celebrity? No way. But the money sounds tempting enough.” She paused and looked over at the small girl, who was staring at her with large, hopeful eyes and holding her breath in anticipation. She had her hands clenched under her chin as though she were praying. Andrea sighed after a few moments. “I guess I’ll join up, maybe. Smacking around fat-cat politicians shouldn’t even make me break a sweat.”

Roni let out a whoop of joy that Andrea quickly interrupted.

“
But,
let’s make sure we have something very clear here. I will come and go as I see fit, and I will not be getting all ‘buddy buddy’ with you people. Understood?”

Roni nodded, grinning like a fool.

 

Andrea stood. “Great. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some sleep.”

Roni led Andrea to a room with a futon in it, then ran off to tell Kanjou the good news. Andrea sat down on the bed, looking around at the sorry state of the room. The door was completely off the track and missing, there were piles of dirt, dust, and cobwebs in the corners along with random leaves and things that had blown in from the open hole in the wall. “I guess that’s supposed to be a window,” she muttered as she stared at it. “Or it was.”

She flopped back on the futon, sighing as dust puffed up around her. “This really sucks.” She put her hand up to her forehead, pushing her bangs aside and running her fingers along the skin above her right eyebrow, her eyes closed. “How the hell could I let this happen to him?”

Before she could come up with an answer to satisfy the turmoil of emotions inside her, sleep crept up and claimed her exhausted mind and body.

Chapter Two
Angel of Death