The Hinomoto Rebellion (9 page)

On the other side of the city, outside of a small café, Kanjou sat at a table sipping a glass of ice water. It was a French style Bistro, with glass topped tables outside and black metalwork chairs with delicate scroll work designs on them. Each of the tables on the outside patio had an umbrella above it, deep burgundy in color with the name of the café printed in white on the panels of fabric. The smell of brewing coffee and baking scones and pastries wafted over the sunny patio as Kanjou sat and drank his water. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and a button-down shirt over his usual t-shirt with the ripped off sleeves. As calmly as any man waiting for a friend, he nursed his drink and made pleasant conversation with the waitress- who was young and cute but not Kanjou’s type.

After Kanjou had been there about twenty minutes a short man with a slight build sat in the chair across from him. “Hello, Kanjou. Nice to see you again,” he said.

Kanjou smiled. “Daimyo Shinrai.” he murmured, “Good to see you too.”

The man who had just joined him also wore dark sunglasses. His black hair was pulled into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck and bound with a cord. He wore denim shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt, his feet clad in leather sandals. His face was lean and his eyes sparkled from behind his sunglasses. No one could have picked him out for a Daimyo, which was what Shinrai had in mind when he’d dressed for his meeting with Kanjou.

Shinrai flirted with the waitress before ordering a drink of his own. He looked at Kanjou’s water, scowled, and then ordered a drink and a plate of food for the martial artist. Kanjou started to protest, but the Daimyo insisted, and Kanjou knew there was nothing he could say to change the politician’s mind. He gave a resigned sigh and let the issue go.

The waitress scampered away and Shinrai gave a grin at Kanjou. “So, I hear you guys had some trouble the other night.” he said, suppressing a laugh.

A frown crossed Kanjou’s face. “Yeah. Well it was stupid of me to even try it with only four of us anyway. We were disorganized and handled ourselves like a bunch of beginners.” he took another gulp of water and nearly slammed the glass down on the table, but calmed himself with a quick mantra and a deep breath.

“I told you to wait for the conference. It’ll be easier than trying to get to him beforehand.”

The two men stopped talking when the waitress came back and put a glass in front of each of them. They both smiled at her and continued talking once she had walked away again.

“Yeah well... I just want to get this over with. We’ve been working at it so hard for a year and... I thought that if we could get rid of him earlier than the conference, we won’t have so much to worry about.” Kanjou rested his head in his hand, setting his elbow on the white table. “The good news is that we got two new members in the past 24 hours. Finally found some
ronin
we can trust. At least, one I’m sure we can and one that’s powerful enough for me to take a chance on.”

“Oh? Anybody I’d know?”

Kanjou grinned. Shinrai was a secret fan of the underground fighting circuit, something that would land him in prison quickly if it was found out. “You might know the one. Girl by the name of Andrea the Tiger.”

Shinrai’s mouth fell open for a second. “I have heard of her,” he breathed, “How did you manage to get her? I hear that she’s a coldhearted killer! She’s supposed to be a very powerful fighter!”

Kanjou frowned again. “I wish we could say that she joined out of the goodness of her heart but... she had no place else to go. The bar she was living beneath was raided last night, then she set it on fire.”

Just then the waitress came back with the plate of food for the brunet. She placed it in front of him as she winked and then headed off again.

“Will you all be ready by the time of the conference?” Shinrai took a sip of his drink.

 

Kanjou sighed as he picked up his chopsticks. “We need more training but I think if we work at it every day and maybe get another member or two we can be ready by then. We’ll have to be, anyway.”

Shinrai stood, reaching into the pocket of his shorts and pulling out a wallet. “I don’t need to tell you how important this is, Kanjou. It’s for the good of every single person in Hinomoto. Make sure you all are ready.” He smiled warmly and dropped a bill on the table that was more than enough to pay for the two drinks and the food, then he turned and walked away.

Kanjou graciously ate the meal that had been bought for him, then handed the waitress the money and left before she could bring change.

The tall brunet dawdled a bit on his way back to Headquarters, enjoying a nice walk alone as the citizens of Shibasaki began to batten down for the night, in some districts they surrendered the streets to the
ochiudo
.

Kanjou hated that word just as much as all martial artists did.
Ochiudo.
Though some of the fighters that lived in the underground had actually turned to lives of crime the government used the word to apply to all who practiced the fighting arts. To most martial artists, learning the traditions of their people wasn’t a crime, especially since the current government was founded because of the hard work of warriors with the same training. For a time the new government had been the ideal solution for Hinomoto, but then the leaders had outlawed martial arts out of fear of another rebellion.

Kanjou watched a police car cruise by. He tried not to look suspicious, but couldn’t help keeping track of it out of the corner of his eye until it had turned a corner. Police were especially hated by the underground fighters since they were especially hard on Martial artists. Kanjou himself had not witnessed brutality quite like what he had seen at the bar where they’d met Andrea. It almost made him wonder if the government had known he and Roni were there.

Kanjou shook the thought away as he turned back toward headquarters.
Now you’re being paranoid, Kanjou,
he told himself.
There’s no way they could know that.

“Andrea!” Roni called. “How did you get up there!?”

The silver-haired girl smirked, her arms tucked behind her head as a slight breeze ruffled her clothes and hair. From the tone of Roni’s voice, Andrea could tell that she had thwarted some plan to have Andrea roped in to a conversation. She closed her blue eyes and breathed in the summer twilight air.

After dinner was over Andrea had returned to her room. She’d begun to lay back down on the futon, but remembered the spider on the ceiling and instantly shuddered. Instead she’d gone to the window and climbed out, hauling herself on to the rickety, uneven roof. She was surprised when the roof didn’t cave in under her weight, so she’d laid down on it and watched the last bit of the sun slip below the horizon. Now, the sky was beginning to grow dark while the last fires of pink, purple, orange and yellow died behind the buildings that encompassed Andrea’s view.

“Andrea!”

 

The silver-haired girl sat up. “Geeze! What!?” she screamed back, “I’m trying to enjoy myself up here!”

Roni and D were standing on the cracked paving stones that made up the central courtyard of the temple. One corner of the stones had been up heaved by the roots of a great tree that towered over the roof of the temple. To her left, on the backside of the decrepit building, Andrea could see a small lake with a bridge running over it, along with more trees that stretched out all the way to the ends of what used to be the Gardens.

Andrea glared down at Roni and D as they stared up at her. “How did you get up there?” Roni shouted again.

 

“I flew! How do you
think
I got up here?” Andrea snapped back.

 

“Why don’t you come join us in the recreation room?” called D, trying to smile cordially.

Andrea blinked before declining with a scoff. “I’d rather be up here.” she said, then laid back down to watch night overtake the sky. She heard the door to the hall shut, and finally she was alone again. She stared up and watched as the heavens darkened and the moon rose. Here and there a few stars winked at her, and Andrea found herself wondering if one of those stars was Tony.

Stop thinking about him, Andrea. You’ll just drive yourself crazy.

This was the first time in a very long while that she’d watched a sunset. She loved to watch the sun disappear in all its colorful glory, and then see darkness fold in around the city as though it were trying to hide it from view. Besides training and winning tournaments this was one of the few things she actually had interest in. Watching them didn’t make Andrea
happy
, but she did find some small comfort in them.

As darkness came the temperature dropped and a cool breeze swept across the city. Andrea closed her eyes and listened to the whispering of the trees. The wind found crevices and cracks in the buildings and made eerie howling and whistling noises as it passed through them. The smell of the trees and of the lake behind the temple was strong, and the breeze carried it over her and filled her senses with the heady scent of earth.

The fighter with the silver hair dozed a little on the roof, more comfortable up here in the open air then she’d been in a long time ever though the roof was uneven and had some nails sticking out of it, but Andrea had slept on worse and the slight pricking didn’t bother her. Fireflies came out of the trees and added their twinkles to the stars in a summertime waltz of nature’s beauty.

Suddenly Andrea bolted upright. Her eyes were wide as a droplet of sweat dripped down her face. She stared straight ahead but wasn’t seeing the night around her. In her mind she saw the inside of Tony’s Place, covered in blood and broken bottles. She saw each lifeless body exhibited there in an orgy of death and pain, as though she were doing a sick inventory of each dead patron. Hungry flames licked up in her mind as her mouth suddenly turned as dry as the hottest desert.

Her eyes suddenly refocused and she shivered, crossing her arms over her chest. The darkness seemed very cold all of the sudden, as though some monster had sucked all the warmth out of it. “Foxfire...” murmured Andrea to herself, “and Bear...” The morbid inventory of faces flashed through her mind again before she shook it out of her head.

“Where the hell are you two?” she turned and looked at the stars.
Why didn’t I realize it before? They weren’t at the bar when I went back... They weren’t in the fire.
Andrea shut her eyes and shook as another breeze sucked a bit more warmth from her sweat-coated skin.
I have to go to Asanagi and find out if Foxfire is there. Maybe he made it out,
Andrea frowned and stood, heading toward the edge of the roof.
Tomorrow... I’ll go tomorrow. He has to be there. He must have gotten away.

“Hey there.”

Andrea nearly jumped out of her skin. She snapped her head down to see who had spoken and realized that Kanjou was standing in the courtyard below her. Andrea stood on the very edge of the treacherous roof, contemplating jumping down on top of him and beating him to a pulp for startling her.

“Enjoying the view?” he asked, oblivious to her displeasure.

Andrea didn’t answer as she moved over a step and jumped down, landing in a crouch on the broken paving stones. She straightened up and brushed off her pants, glaring at Kanjou. Without a word, she turned and headed for the door that led inside.

“Hey, Andrea?”

 

She stopped and turned. Kanjou smiled at her. “Thank you. For agreeing to help us, I mean.”

 

Andrea shrugged. “Aside from going and finding other tournaments to join, I have nothing better to do.”

 

“Is that all life is to you? One tournament after another?”

She glowered at him. “Is your life nothing but living in an abandoned temple with other
ronin
, botching your mission to ‘free the citizens of Hinomoto’ and ending up on the news?” she shot back. “I told you guys when I agreed to this... this..
comedic stupidity
that I wouldn’t be getting all friendly with you! So leave me alone! If you want to talk fighting with me, fine! Everything else is off limits– that
includes
my feelings on any particular subject! I don’t need all of you clucking like mother hens over me! My thoughts are not any of your business, so call off the support squad, okay?” She spun on her heel and stormed in to the temple, slamming the door shut behind her.

Kanjou sighed and shook his head. One of the girls must have said something to her about being there if Andrea needed someone to talk to. He would ask them about it and tell them to not mention it again.

It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours and Kanjou already knew a lot about Andrea just from watching her. She tried so hard to act like there was nothing bothering her and that the world and her emotions meant nothing compared to winning tournaments and training. Kanjou knew better; he could read her like an open book. She misplaced her anger and often took it out on someone other than the one who had set her off. She also took any sort of friendly approach as a threat of betrayal.

I wonder what made her like this in the first place,
he thought with a wry smile before he headed out of the night air and in to the softly lit abandoned temple.