The Hinomoto Rebellion (32 page)
“We already preserve some things of our past: buildings, documents, and some traditions, but there are many things we have allowed to fall by the wayside. One of these things is the very tool that allowed our society to become the democracy that it is today. Our ancestors decided 500 years ago that they had to be free of the oppression of their government, and so they took the only weapon they had and they used it to put a government of their choice in place. One that would eventually do away with the tradition that it had been built on.
“That tradition is martial arts. It is one of Hinomoto’s oldest practices, and it teaches fitness, discipline, and control. It is a way to not only learn defense, but also to relieve stress and to walk a path of self-discovery. It is what gave us our democracy, and our leaders have subsequently taken it away from those who wish to make it a way of life, or a part of their life. And it is this tradition that I believe needs preservation the most.” He stopped and swallowed, looking nervous. The table full of
ronin
were holding their breaths without realizing it.
“Starting tomorrow, and going until Monday at midnight, there will be a referendum vote across this country. It will be running that long to ensure that anyone who wants to vote will have a chance to. You, the people of Hinomoto, will have a chance to cast your ballot for legalizing martial arts. I strongly encourage anyone who is able to vote to do so. Remember that one person can tip the scale either way.
“Thank you for your time, and good night.” Shogun Kunota bowed slightly, turned, and walked away from the podium as the crowd erupted into applause.
Chapter Eleven Death of the Past
As the four Aka Ryuu returned to the temple, they were greeted with a barrage of questions from Roni. The pig-tailed girl ran excitedly around them as they came in the door, wanting to know every detail of the decor, the food, and the people that had attended the banquet.
“Hey, let them get inside, Roni!” 26 yelled from the entryway to the dining room. Roni immediately stopped firing questions and backed up, allowing all four
ronin
to get through the door. The group went and changed clothes, meeting back up in the dining hall.
“Ahhhhh... It feels so good to get out of that horrible dress!” Andrea sighed as she walked into the room wearing her normal tank top and pants. She plopped down on the floor at the table with everyone else.
“So, was Shogun Kunota’s speech cool? What did he say!?” Roni looked like she was trying not to explode with all the questions she wanted to ask. Kanjou, Fushicho, and D related most of the evening to Roni, 26, and Aki– with Andrea adding details every now and then from her observations. Kanjou did a pretty good job of recreating Kunota’s speech for the girl, though he added some flourishes that hadn’t been in the original for dramatics.
“Well, sounds like it was a pretty uneventful night. How do you guys think the vote will turn out? Will they legalize martial arts again?” asked 26.
“Let’s look at the facts.” Andrea began counting off fingers at every point she had to make, “The media makes all
ronin
out to be mean, viscous
ochiudo
scum that wreak terror, death, and destruction everywhere we go. Granted, some of them are like that, but the majority isn’t. It still breeds fear about us as a whole.
Ronin
can’t register to vote, so there won’t be any martial artists’ opinions in this whole thing. The lower classes pretty much all know someone who does martial arts, but they probably won’t go vote either. Because of the media hype for the past god-knows-how-long, the middle and upper classes all hate
ronin
, and they’re the ones who are probably going to be at the polls. Plus we have to also think about whether or not the whole thing could be rigged. We are, after all, dealing with a corrupt government that both hates and fears us.”
“You have good points... But who’s to say that it couldn’t go in our favor? Anything could happen, especially if society is ready to change.” said 26.
“Anyway, the important thing is that we made it in, and made it out, and there weren’t any incidents. Daimyo Yasakuto didn’t try to harm Shogun Kunota, which was the whole reason we were there.” Kanjou said, trying to distract from Andrea’s self-assured statement.
“Well it would’ve been better than sitting around bored all night! At least then it would’ve been exciting.” she retorted. “I don’t like for my whole life to be uninteresting, unlike you, Wakame.”
“Maybe I’d just rather be sure that we’re all safe.” “I was there, how could we not be safe?”
The tension in the room suddenly jumped as D narrowed his eyes, his pale face going red with rage. “Andrea, does this level of
egotism
come naturally, or do you have to work at it?” He got up from the table and stormed out of the room, heading toward the back exit of the temple.
The dining hall was quiet for a few moments as the Aka Ryuu stared at each other. Finally, Andrea let out a huff. “What the hell is his problem?” she said with a sneer.
“Andrea! I can’t believe you! How could you just insult him like that and then not go after him? You hurt his feelings!” exclaimed Roni.
Roni, Fushi, Kanjou, and 26 continued to glare at Andrea, anger and disappointment on their faces. “What? Come on, you guys know that he’ll get over it. He needs to learn not to be such a baby about everything!”
Andrea frowned, then sighed. “Fine, if everybody’s going to make some big deal out of it, I’ll go find him.” She rolled her eyes and got up, heading in the direction that D had gone.
Aki was standing with her back to the doors, and she glared at Andrea as she came up. “You don’t have to give me a death glare. I’m going out there to talk to him.” the silver-haired
ronin
shoved past Aki and went out into the night, sliding the door shut behind her.
Andrea stormed across the grass and up to the wooden bridge. Her shoes sent dirt and debris showering into the water as she walked heavily on the boards, stopping in the middle of the bridge to glare at D.
He was staring out at the water, making a show of ignoring her. His head bobbed slightly up and down, apparently in time to whatever was pumping into his ears from the headphones he was wearing. Andrea crossed her arms and tapped her foot, glaring angrily at the side of his face.
“Are you going to ignore me now, Wakame?” she snarled. D didn’t answer, didn’t even blink as she spoke.
“It’s rude to ignore people, you insufferable jack ass.”
D made no indication that he heard her. With a snarl, Andrea reached over and snatched the headphones off his head. In one smooth motion she grabbed the headphones and the tiny music player away from him and tossed it...
Andrea crossed her arms over her chest as D stared out at the ripple in the water with horror. “That’s what you get for ignoring someone who came out here to...” She trailed off. What had she come out here to do?
D spun to face her. “To what, Andrea? Berate me some more? Maybe insult and patronize me too? I’m not a moron. I can see that you don’t care about me or what I think. You’re too busy feeling better than everyone else. Well, here’s a news flash for you, Ms. Tiger, you’re just as scared and defenseless as the rest of us. You try to hide it behind your anger and your arrogance, but I can see right through it.” His voice was surprisingly cold, as though winter had descended on the bridge in the middle of July. “You’re just a scared child inside...” D turned back to the water, sorrow in his eyes, “just like all the rest of us.”
Andrea was dumbstruck, her expression a mixture of worry and realization. She closed her eyes and tried to fight back the memories that were swelling up in her. Flashes of pain and terror nearly crippled her before she pushed them away. She put her hand beneath her bangs and rubbed the scar that was there.
“I came out here...” she was staring down at the wooden planks, her hands balled into fists, “To apologize for my behavior.”
There, I said it... wasn’t so bad...
She looked up at him sternly. “Yes. I know all of you are only trying to help me, but I keep resisting.” she stepped forward and leaned her elbows on the bridge railing. “The less time I spend in the underground, the more I realize that I don’t need to be the way that I am but,” she paused and cocked her head to hide her eyes, “old habits don’t die very easily... or something like that. I grew up needing to be arrogant, D. The underground isn’t exactly the easiest place to survive when you’re a girl, you need to be that much meaner than everyone else or no one will take you seriously. I’ll understand if you hate me. I’ll even understand if you want to hit me. You wouldn’t be the first person to do either, and I very much doubt you’ll be the last.”
“I would never hate you, Andrea.” D straightened, fighting the urge to put an arm around her and hold her tight. “I could certainly never hit you.”
She smiled, and it made D’s eyes widen in surprise. Her eyes were still hidden by her bangs, so he couldn’t see if it was a smile that reached her piercing blue eyes or not, but something about it was strange. He had seen her grin in a cruel manner before, and this didn’t seem like the same thing. He stared at that expression, trying to burn it into his memory in the instant it was there.
“How do you know we’re friends? Have you had many friends?” Her expression was back to a blank look, the smile had faded quickly.
“None before now, except Nikko. But I can tell that we’re all friends. We all care for each other. We all do things for each other without a thought of getting something in return. We like to be in one another’s company. Those are all things that friends do.”
“Does that include fighting what could be a hopeless battle? In less than four days, we could all be dead.” continued Andrea. Her mind was racing down a train of thought that she didn’t like.
What am I doing? I came out here to say I was sorry, not to get in to a discussion about all of this. I must sound so stupid right now!
“It’s not hopeless, not if we really want to make a difference. Even if we die, our message will still be clear. Other
ronin
will rise up to fight against the Daimyo. It’s only a matter of time. History repeats itself, after all, and every unhappy society only needed one little push to overthrow their leaders eventually.”
Andrea stood up straight and turned to face D. She raised her head and let him see the sadness and worry in her eyes. “I’ll tell you a secret, Wakame: I don’t want any of you to die. I’d rather charge in there on my own and die myself than see any of you end up like Tony did.” She tilted her head again, casting shadows across her face and causing the moonlight to make her silver hair glimmer. “Does that make me your friend?”
D stared at her, his heart pounding in his chest at the sight of her like this. She looked small, all of the sudden. He’d commented that she was just a scared child like the rest of them, but right now she looked the part. She reached one arm across her chest, gripping the elbow of the other with her hand, just above the healing wound she had received at the warehouse. His head was spinning with the emotions inside of him. He could feel the walls Andrea had built crumbling around her, and the Aka Ryuu were the ones wielding the sledgehammers. He had to tread carefully to not bruise what they had chipped out from beneath the cold marble around her heart, but he wanted so much to reach out to her. He yearned to hold her, stroke her hair, and tell her everything would be okay, but he was afraid to reach for her.
“Yes, of course,” he managed to choke out around the lump in his throat. “But, as your friends, we wouldn’t let you throw your life away like that.”
“I have often wished for death. Tony used to swear I would die before him just because I was so reckless. I pick fights, I don’t think before I start insulting someone, and I can be heartless,” she stopped, looking unsure if she should continue speaking or not.