The Hinomoto Rebellion (55 page)

To Andrea’s left was a door that had been left open a few inches. She could just see out into the hall, which was brightly lit, tiled in pale blue, and painted that same soft eggshell color as the room she was in. She could hear people talking further down the hall, but couldn’t make out any words.

She heard a soft sigh, and Andrea craned her neck further to the left, looking down. One of her eyebrows raised as she saw that one of the sidebars on the bed had been lowered, and sitting in a chair next to the bed, his head resting on the mattress and one of his hands on hers, was an eggplant-haired Densetsu. His skin had a bit more color in it now that he’d rejoined with Ryoku, and his hair was long enough that he’d pulled some of it back into a small ponytail– though the front part was still free and in front of his face.

Andrea wiggled her fingers under D’s hand, which made him open his eyes. He seemed confused for a second, then looked up at Andrea with wide, surprise filled eyes. Andrea gave him a small smile. “Hey,” she said softly.

D jumped up, a look of elation across his face. “Andrea! Oh thank god!” Before she knew what was happening, D had practically yanked her up off the mattress in a tight hug. He buried his face into her neck and tried to cover up a soft sob. “I thought we were going to lose you! I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“Hey D?”
“Yes?”
“SHOULDER! OW!”

D let go of her, allowing her to flop back on to the hospital bed. “Oops! I’m sorry, Andrea. I’m just glad you woke up. You’ve been out for three days! Oh, wait, the others! I’ll be right back!”

He turned and rushed out of the room, leaving Andrea to blink at the door and then shake her head. “Well, at least he’s in a good mood,” she muttered.

Andrea slowly sat up all the way, hunching forward and trying to stretch her back muscles. They complained, but she kept going, trying to work out some of the stiffness in them. She reached for her toes, then turned her neck to the right as far as she could. As she stretched it to the left, something else in the room caught her eye and made her sit up straight.

The table beside the head of her bed was covered with little trinkets and doo-dads. Several floral arrangements added bursts of color to the room, as well as a few huge helium balloons with messages written across them. A small stack of colorful envelopes rested on the corner of the table and had her name scrawled across them. Andrea raised one eyebrow and sat back against the mattress again, reaching for the stack of envelopes and bringing them over to her lap.

The first envelope was pastel yellow and had “ANDREA” written across it in neat, meticulous handwriting. Hearts and flowers had been drawn in a border around the name. She flipped it over and broke the seal, pulling out a brightly colored card with “Get Well Soon!”on it. Inside the card had been signed by Roni under a message of well-wishes. Andrea smiled.
Figures,
she thought as she chuckled.

From down the hall came the sound of running feet. Andrea looked up just as the door flew open and Roni raced in, followed shortly by Fushi, 26, Kanjou, and D. Roni let out a cheerful “Andrea!” as she did a leap across the room.

“Whoa!” the Tiger yelled, throwing her arms up and catching Roni as she landed on her legs and threw her arms around her neck. Andrea slammed back into the mattress with the small girl clinging to her.

“You’re okay! You’re okay!”

Andrea patted Roni’s back gently with her good arm. “Yeah, yeah. But if you keep jumping on me every time I’m okay, you’re going to kill me.”

Roni pulled back, a small smile across her face. “Sorry, I...” “I know, I know. You’re just glad I’m alright.”

 

Kanjou reached over and lifted Roni up off the bed. “Come on now, don’t undo what the doctors did.”

 

Andrea looked up at Kanjou and smiled, noticing his own bandages. “You look like you ran in to some trouble,” she remarked. “Oh yeah, just a scratch,” he chuckled.

 

Fushi bumped him with her hip. “Whatever, that ‘scratch’ nearly killed you too.”

 

He glared at her for a second and then smiled. “Yeah, but it
didn’t
.”

“Alright, someone fill me in on what all happened,” Andrea nodded toward the television screen, which was playing footage of Shogun Kunota giving a live speech.

It took two hours, but the others managed to get Andrea updated on what had been going on while she was out. The “Day of the Dragon”– as the media was calling it– had been talked about almost incessantly around the world ever since it had begun. Shogun Kunota had done a lot of news appearances and damage control, the vast majority of which had been to explain about the
Kemono
experiments that had been kept from him and assure the people that they weren’t a threat. He’d also been explaining, at length, what Daimyo Yasakuto had been doing, his manipulations of the police, the other Daimyo, and himself, and why he’d finally come forward.

“Aka Ryuu” had turned into a term for all the
ronin
and the
Kemono
that had been present that day, which was alright with the group of
ronin
that had coined the name. Any martial artist that had been there had been pardoned, and the dead had been buried as heroes. Shogun Kunota had made allusions to ripping apart the Hinomoto Police in an attempt to weed out any corrupt officers, but for the moment that was on the back burner until some of the turmoil had died down.

Daimyo Yasakuto was dead, Aki and Bear were both in jail for their actions. Someone had thought to check on Foxfire and his family, all of who were fine and healthy. They had, in fact, brought some of the gifts that were by Andrea’s bed. Shogun Kunota had come through the day unscathed, and had finally taken control. There was talk in the streets about changes to come, and the incredible events that had transpired were said to be headed to the history books.
Shogun Kunota had kept the five Aka Ryuu’s names out of the media, and the hospital staff had been keeping quiet about which of the rooms the Shogun and his family were visiting when they were there. Apparently a good number of occupants in the city’s hospitals were
ronin
or
Kemono
, so the media was having a hard time trying to figure out who had been at the head of the rebellion. There were theories, of course, and plenty of footage of the battle that had taken place, but it was all speculation.

Other countries from around the world had been in contact with the Shogun and were offering aid in any way they could. Ambassadors had flown in, talks were happening. The whole country was now on the verge of social and economic reform.

“So, sounds like everything turned out pretty well then,” Andrea said after they’d finished filling her in. Roni was sitting on the mattress at the foot of the bed, snacking on a candy bar while the others sat in chairs they had pulled in and arranged around the sides of the bed. A nurse had been in a few times during the few hours they’d been updating Andrea to poke and prod at the silver-haired girl, and eventually one had brought in food that she was currently pushing around her plate in a disinterested manner.

“They did. Turned out better than I think any of us hoped for, actually.” Kanjou said, reaching out his hand and grabbing Fushi’s. Andrea watched as their fingers entwined and they exchanged a glance.

Andrea took a bite of her hospital lunch and grimaced. “Yuck,” she growled, “I think they’re trying to kill me with this stuff.” She pushed the tray away just as Roni held out an unwrapped candy bar to her. Andrea stared at it for a second and then grabbed it. The silverhaired
ronin
flopped back on the mattress and fumbled with the foil wrapping. “So, now what?”

The rest of the Aka Ryuu looked at each other for a few moments, then D spoke. “I don’t know... none of us really thought further than the press conference, did we?” Everyone shook their heads.

“We all are lucky to be alive after that. No wonder no one thought past it.” muttered Andrea, her mood suddenly sour.

“For right now, we should all just concentrate on recovering. Just like our country is doing. Who knows? Maybe destiny still has more in store for us all.” Kanjou smiled.

Kanjou was released from the hospital two days after Andrea woke up, but it was another week before she was allowed to leave. In that time, she kept insisting that she was better and had tried to sneak out of bed so many times that the staff threatened to strap her to the bed. Her retort was always that she wanted to see them try. Laying around idly wasn’t something she was used to.

Over the course of that week, the Aka Ryuu and Foxfire came and visited her. Every day she would gripe at them that she’d seen enough television to last her a lifetime and that she was sick and tired of resting.

“When you all need me and my muscles have wasted away, you’ll be sorry!” she’d insist, and her visitors would laugh. Sometimes one of them would bring her a new book to read, but she had so much free time that she’d go through one or two in a day.

By the end of the week, Andrea was practically out of her mind. She was overjoyed to sign release papers and learn that she was going to be freed the next morning. That night D brought her a duffel bag to pack up her belongings in. It was late before her visitors left, promising to come back the next morning when she was released. After they left she put all the get well cards and gifts she had received in the bag, as well as her fighting outfit from the day of the press conference. The outfit was dirty, bloody, and full of holes but for some reason she wanted to hang on to it.

Andrea found it hard to get to sleep once the lights were out. Now that Martial Arts was legal, what would she do? She’d spent her whole life as a criminal, but now martial arts were legal. She was having a hard time imagining life now without D, Roni, Kanjou, Fushi, and 26. They’d only been part of her existence for a little over a month, and yet she found herself a bit angry at the thought of them not being there anymore.

I guess I could open a school maybe. We all survived, so I must be okay at teaching martial arts. Or join the tournament circuit. I’m sure that will be starting up soon, knowing my fellow
ronin
and their need for contests.

That thought didn’t comfort her. Tournaments didn’t seem to be important to her anymore, though the thought of possibly opening a martial arts school made her smile a little.
The great Tiger, teaching people martial arts. The very thing I didn’t want to do for the Aka Ryuu and I might end up doing it anyway.

The night passed slowly but when Andrea finally fell asleep it was a peaceful rest. She was woken up early and told to get her things together. As she put the last few things into her bag, Fushi and Roni came in and handed her a change of clothes. Andrea slipped them on in the small bathroom attached to her room. It was a pair of black pants and a blue tank top, as well as some black tennis shoes. She felt weird without her normal tank top, obi and pants on, but it was better than the hospital gown she’d been wearing. By the time she came back out from getting changed, Roni had taken her duffel bag and the other Aka Ryuu were there.

“You ready?” D held out a hand to Andrea. She didn’t grab his hand, but she did nod and make a non-commital grunt. He dropped his hand back to his side. “Alright well, let’s go then. Shogun Kunota sent a car for us.”

Andrea’s eyebrows raised. “He did? What for?”

Kanjou shrugged as they headed for the hall. “No idea. I guess he just wants to see us. He hasn’t had a chance to talk to us since the Day of the Dragon, really.”

Andrea grumbled. “Maybe I’ll get that money I was promised if I joined up with this insanity.”

A long black limo was waiting for the group as they came out of the hospital. The black-clad driver opened the back door for them and ushered the Aka Ryuu in.

For half an hour the group rode in the limo as it drove through the streets of Shibasaki. Soon the city streets began to dwindle a bit and houses became larger and more spaced out. Large expanses of trees and grass separated the houses that seemed to be growing larger and larger the longer they drove.

Finally, the limousine pulled up to a set of gates. The driver inserted an access card into the pillar outside of his window and the large iron gates swung inward. The black car rolled slowly up a long driveway toward a three-story mansion with a sprawling lawn. Tall trees sprouted up at strategic spots to compliment the rolling landscape and meticulously cared for flower beds.

The house itself was a huge white brick structure with three stories. The top most one seemed to be some sort of studio with windows all around the outside and a balcony that wrapped around the entirety of the house. The front porch was huge, with ornately topped ancient Grecian style columns holding up a large flat roof over the entryway. Shrubs and flowers huddled close to the contours of the building, adding color and interest to the building and softening the lines of the structure. The limo slowly pulled around in the circular driveway and stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the front door. In the center of the driveway a white fountain bubbled and sprayed water up toward the sky from carved dragons’ mouths.