The Hinomoto Rebellion (37 page)

The next morning, the Aka Ryuu and
Kemono
woke up and launched themselves into a flurry of activity. In addition to feeding almost 300 mouths for breakfast, there were still a few techniques and strategies Andrea wanted to teach those that had agreed to help them. Plus there were plans and hand-drawn maps of the press conference area to go over and try to develop plans for every possible scenario. When it became obvious that they weren’t going to have time to stop what they were doing to eat lunch, lunches were brought out to the Aka Ryuu and their new friends to eat where they were so they could keep planning the rebellion.

It wasn’t until after dinner that the make-shift army of rebels finally rested. Meal time with the
Kemono
was very much like a rowdy family gathering at a holiday. They didn’t seem to notice the six beings at their table who were very different from them, and now mostly treated the Aka Ryuu as part of their group.

After dinner was over, Andrea asked 26 if there was a way to get up to the roof of the mall. When 26 raised an eyebrow at her, Andrea said “We could very well die tomorrow, I want to see the sun set one more time, in case we do.”

After that, it became something for all the Aka Ryuu to do. Andrea, Kanjou, Roni, Fushicho, Aki, D, 26, and Nikko headed up a set of service stairs and went out onto the roof of the old shopping center. The sun was just beginning to paint the sky with fiery colors as they took up seats and stared out at the horizon. Andrea boldly walked to the edge of the roof and sat with her legs dangling over the side. She was followed a minute later by Roni, who sat about a meter away from her.

The Aka Ryuu sat for a while in silence. Roni looked over at Andrea a few times before speaking to her, noting that the silver-haired
ronin
had a far away look in her eyes as she watched the sun set. “A yen for your thoughts, Andrea.”

Andrea replied after a short pause. “I was just thinking of an old story I know,”

 

“Oh... Will you tell it to us?”

The other Aka Ryuu eyed Andrea and Roni suspiciously, waiting for Andrea to snap at the pig-tailed girl and tell her to mind her own business. To their surprise, Andrea gave what may have been a chuckle and said “I guess I can give it a shot. It’s a tragic tale, though, and I’m not much of a storyteller.”

D moved a little closer as Andrea paused before starting her story, her eyes never leaving the far-off horizon. “In California, a long time ago, there lived a little girl. She wasn’t your typical little girl, no, because her mother had always taught her to be self-sufficient. By the age of 5 she was independent enough to walk to the grocery store on her own and come back without getting lost or distracted.

“It was on one of these trips down to the store that her life would change forever. Her mother had given her ten dollars to buy a few things they needed, and so the little girl went off down the road to the market. She decided to take a shortcut through a series of alleys.”

Andrea paused to reach up and rub the spot above her right eyebrow, beneath her bangs. She then continued, “It wasn’t long before disaster struck. The girl was grabbed from behind and picked up. She was dragged through some more alleys, away from where she’d been heading, struggling the entire time though she was overpowered. When she was thrown with her back against a wall, she found that she was facing six boys who were over twice her age. They demanded her money, but the girl was insolent. She told them no and called them names and spat at them, refusing to give up the bills in her pocket.

“She should have just given them what they wanted, but she didn’t know any better. She’d made the gang of older boys angry, and then they punished her. Their leader shoved her against the wall and started punching her, and then the rest of the boys joined in. They only had to hit her a few times before she gave them what they wanted, but by then she had made them so mad that they weren’t going to leave her alone.

“One of the gang found a piece of lumber somewhere, just a regular two-by-four or something. They took turns using it on her until she stopped moving and was silent. And then they left her there, bleeding and unconscious, to die.”

Andrea paused again to rub the back of her neck. Her eyes held a tinge of sadness to them that seemed to reflect the golden light from the sunset. Her hair seemed to be on fire if it was seen from a certain angle, and she had the undivided attention of all the Aka Ryuu. Even Nikko was staring at her, his blue eyes intense from under his white fur.

“What happened to the girl?” asked Kanjou quietly.

Andrea swallowed and angled her head so her eyes were hidden. “She went in and out of consciousness, not sure where she was or who she was. She knew that she was in a strange place, but she also couldn’t remember where home was. From out of the darkness, a gentle voice spoke to her and calmed her. After a few weeks, she was well enough to sit up and finally meet the man who had saved her.

“He had been wandering through the alley she was in, simply by chance, and found her. Without money or any idea who the young child was, he had been afraid to take her to the hospital, so instead he’d taken her home and nursed her back to health. He’d hoped that when she was well enough he could return her to her family, but the girl couldn’t remember where she lived. She could barely remember how she had gotten into that alley, could barely remember her name. She stayed with the man for a few more weeks, hoping her memory would return, but nothing helped.

“Every night she would dream of pain, and shadows standing over her menacingly. She’d wake up screaming, and the man who had saved her would gather her up in his arms and soothe her back to sleep, chasing away her night terrors for a short while. Eventually the man was ready to return to his home in Hinomoto. He gave the girl a choice: she could come with him, or he could drop her off at a police station and they could look for her real family.

“By this time, she had come to trust him and think of him as a father, so she decided to leave California and go to Shibasaki, throwing away her old life and her real family for the man that had cared enough about her to save her life.”

Andrea stopped there, her head hanging low and her shoulders slumped. The sky was turning from red and orange to purple as the sun lowered itself below the horizon, throwing long shadows across the city and the group of
ronin
rebels.

“And that little girl was you.” stated D.

Andrea nodded. “I think Tony wanted me to be his daughter– he’d always wanted a child. Everything was alright for awhile, but then he let me start training. I guess he thought it would help me not be afraid of the night anymore, but all it did was turn my heart into ice and make me push everyone away for fear of being hurt again,” Andrea stood up as the sun disappeared below the skyline, then turned to face the Aka Ryuu. “So that’s it. You all know everything about me now,” she said as she walked back toward the doors that led inside.

D was the first one to recover his wits, standing up and running after her. “Andrea! Wait up!” he called. She was already halfway down the stairs by the time he got to the top of them, so he sped up. “Wait for a damn second!” he shouted.

Andrea stopped on the landing between two sets of stairs and turned around, panic rising in her throat. She couldn’t believe she had told them what had happened to her. Only she, Tony, Foxfire, and one childhood friend had known the full story. Now that she had told them all her past, she felt like she was going to have a panic attack. The words had just tumbled out of her mouth before she had completely thought about them. Now she was terrified for some reason that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

D stopped in front of her, looking at her for a long moment before speaking. “You mean to tell me that you let the actions of children ruin your life every day!? These little
punks
are allowed to torment you for the rest of your life? You’ll let them control you for twenty years over ten dollars?” D’s face was turning red, and the more he spoke the angrier he seemed.

“It didn’t happen to you, D. You aren’t the one who has nightmares about it every night.”

“No, but I do know what it’s like to have pain! And I know what it’s like to not remember who your family is! Don’t act like you’re the only one around here that’s lost something! Follow your own advice, Andrea! Let the past go because there’s nothing that can be done to change it. Isn’t that what you tell us all the time?”

Andrea looked as though she’d been slapped in the face. She was staring at D with her mouth agape, stunned into silence.

“I thought there had to be more to why you weren’t letting me close to you, to why you wouldn’t let me fall for you, but then I find out it’s some childish thing that you should have let yourself get over already if you’d followed your own advice and let it go.”

Now Andrea could feel anger bubbling up inside of her. Sparks of blue chi laced through her fingers as she made fists so tight that her fingernails split the skin on her palms. “Well, why don’t you let the charade go, Wakame? I know the real reason you’ve been trying to get so close to me! You’re taking information back to your other half, aren’t you!?”

Now it was D’s turn to look shocked. “What?” he managed to choke out before Andrea continued yelling at him.

“Foxfire told me all about it yesterday! There’s a spy in the Aka Ryuu! A spy who sold us out at the Shark’s Den, set us up at the warehouse, and burned down the temple! Well, guess what?
You
suggested we go to the Shark’s Den,
you
set off the alarm at the warehouse, and
you
were the last one awake when the temple burned down!”

By now, the rest of the Aka Ryuu were beginning to appear at the top of the stairs. They had heard Andrea’s screaming and come to investigate, and were now staring down with wide eyes at the two.

“Plus,” continued Andrea, her voice raising another notch, “your ‘other half of your soul’ happens to jump down from a building on top of me and attack me, and you’re conveniently around the corner to ‘save me’ and chase him off? How handy! You’re a damned spy and you’ve been playing us this whole time!”

“You really believe that I’m a spy for the government?” D managed to sputter out from behind his confusion and disbelief. “You really think that I’d sell us out?”

“All signs point to yes, Wakame. Everything is just a little too shady in your story.”

“And the fact that I care about you means nothing? The fact that I would never do anything to hurt you doesn’t mean a thing to you? I have tried so hard to make you accept me! I’ve tried to help you! I care about you, Andrea, and I care about the Aka Ryuu. And that means so little to you that you can accuse me of being a rat for the government!?
I’m in love with you, Andrea!
”

Andrea’s blue eyes widened and she took a step back while the Aka Ryuu at the top of the stairs gasped. “That’s right. I said it. I’ve been falling in love with you ever since you went to Foxfire’s house, even though it meant you risking being caught by the police. You’ve done nothing but call me names and I’m still falling for you, Andrea. That’s... that’s why I kissed you after the banquet. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for weeks. I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about anybody,” D suddenly became calm, letting his hands drop to his sides. “You can either take that or leave it, but it’s true.”

Andrea’s head tilted so her eyes were covered and her fists tightened some more as she bit her tongue. Her hands were weeping blood now from where she’d cracked the skin open. What was she going to do?

My instincts tell me that it’s D. All the evidence is there! But what if I’m wrong? Maybe he’s telling the truth and he does have these feelings for me. What if Foxfire lied to me? I... I don’t know what to do!

Andrea turned to walk away, unable to think of anything else to do. D immediately whipped his arm out and caught her wrist. “Stop running away from me, dammit!”

Without thinking, Andrea lashed out with her free arm, smashing her fist into the side of D’s face. It was her less powerful arm, but it still hit him hard enough to send him sprawling on the steps with Andrea’s blood from her fingers smeared across his pale face. As he crashed to the floor, Andrea turned and took off running down the stairs, jumping down them two and three at a time. While she fled, the other Aka Ryuu raced down to help D to his feet.

“I’m alright. Just seeing stars,” D said as they propped him up. “I’ll go get Andrea,” Fushi said with a scowl, turning to head down the stairs.

“No, let her be. She needs some time to think about things,” said D, wiping his face off with the back of his hand. He turned to look at Kanjou. “Tell me you don’t believe her. I would never do anything to help the government.”

Kanjou put his hand on D’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, D. I trust you. And I think I speak for all of us?” he looked around as the other Aka Ryuu nodded their agreement. “She got angry, I’m sure she didn’t mean what she said.”

Meanwhile, Andrea had run all the way to the main doors of the mall and exited, sprinting across the cracked asphalt of the parking lot and heading out into the city.

Chapter Fourteen
The
Ronin
and the Shogun