Samurai Awakening Page 27

  The next day at school, David was pleased to note both Yuka and Yuuto were in class. Neither seemed to act strangely, but since they were not his friends it was harder to gauge what strange for them was. Part of the class representative’s clique, they were included in the group of people who had been enemies of Rie, the same people who had started to shun Natsuki for spending so much time with the Matsumotos and David. As usual at lunch David and Takumi sat together, however, soon after sitting a teary-eyed Natsuki, joined them at their table.

  “Hey Natsu, what’s up?” Takumi asked.

  “Yeah, you never eat with us,” David added.

  “Apparently I’m not welcome at their table anymore,” she said. “I asked Yuka and Yuuto where they were during the festival and they got all mad at me. Then that traitor Mizuki was all ‘I think you should find somewhere else to eat.’ Then she went on about how of course I wouldn’t know what my friends where doing since I never hangout with them anymore. I mean have they always been so mean?” Natsuki wiped her eyes as she looked between David and Takumi. The boys studiously avoided Natsuki’s gaze. She stared from one to the other then burst out laughing.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right, they have always been like that.” Natsuki sighed. “It’s what I get...”

  After a few days of Natsuki sitting with them at lunch, hanging out during badminton practice, and during free time, Takumi’s friends began to include her in their conversations again. Shou seemed to take the longest to warm back up to her, but even he eventually gave in.

  If Natsuki had not split with her old clique they might have realized sooner that Yuka and Yuuto were not their old selves. As it was, the second years were left with few leads over the next week. It was not until a science class in another building that the trio had a break. Science, music, and P.E. were the only subjects they did not take in their usual classroom. David and Takumi sat with Natsuki when they overheard Hidemi talking to Daisuke. Hidemi was the only student from the class representative’s friends that would still talk to Natsuki, so Natsuki convinced the boys to sit with her.

  “Yeah, Yuka quit the track team, and I heard Yuuto quit the soccer team,” Daisuke said. “Something about taking care of their families, but that’s a load of… well.” Daisuke’s vehement tones left it clear he was certain Yuuto’s family was just fine.

  “How strange, they used to be so into those sports, but then they have been acting kind of weird since the festival, haven’t they?” Hidemi asked conversationally.

  David elbowed Natsuki to get her to ask more, but Minaku chose that moment to start class. David tried to catch Hidemi after class, but Tsubasa caught her attention first. Missing their only chance to talk with Hidemi before the afternoon’s badminton practice, they met during a break to discuss what they had heard.

  “Well we already followed both of them before the festival since they didn’t get along with Rie. Maybe Yuuto and Yuka both want to try something different for a change?” asked David hopefully.

  “You don’t quit a team once you join it in Japan. It’s just not done,” Natsuki said simply. “The pressure can be very strong.”

  “I guess we will have to put them on the top of the suspect list again,” whispered Kou. Lately he had grown more comfortable in David’s body, speaking aloud as often as circumstances allowed. Although David found it just as easy to talk while a tiger, their switching still seemed to throw the Matsumotos and Natsuki off.

  David felt a twinge of guilt as Natsuki walked to her court. Just as his sister seemed to be less and less a part of his life, Rie was beginning to fade from his thoughts. She was being slowly replaced by Natsuki and oddly enough, the search. The inability to catch even a rumor of her whereabouts, despite the hours they spent looking every day, was maddening. David found they were spending all their time focused on their classmates and Rie’s potential targets, rather than his host sister.

  ‘We need to do a better job of thinking like Rie would,’ he though to Kou. ‘We need to keep her as the priority in our minds. She may be the enemy, but she is also the victim we have to save.’

  ‘You hope. You hope she is the victim, as does Takumi. But what if she sought them out…’

  David, Takumi, and Natsuki spent the next several nights attempting to follow Yuuto and Yuka. As with other tracking attempts, their outings were hamstrung by the requirements of their normal junior high lives and training at the Estate. It was not until the next weekend that they were able to keep an eye on them nonstop. All three faked sick to get out of badminton practice.

  Takumi and Natsuki each took one of the suspicious students. Kou took the opportunity to explore Nakano during the day, using his extra senses to help coordinate the hunt. He was careful to stay hidden in case anyone looked too closely. They surely would have found an overly large cat strange enough, let alone one that looked a bit too much like a tiger with armor that made it look fiercer than a dragon, an electronic earpiece, and a microphone attached to its head.

  After two days, David grew hopelessly bored with the innocuous doings of the two junior high students. Shopping, eating, talking, and playing were just not as entertaining for the observers. At the end of Sunday night, the only odd things they could piece together were that both went shopping a lot and that although the two were supposedly friends, they never met the entire weekend.

  The next day at school, David and Takumi excused themselves from their regular free-time badminton games to bounce a soccer ball around in a secluded section of the school. Though he had been unable to control one just a few months ago, David juggled the ball using just his legs while talking to Takumi. One of Masao’s training techniques for David to improve his balance and coordination was to take up juggling, with both his hands and his feet.

  “I think we need to find out more. Neither of us were really their friends, we have to rely Natsuki for what they were like before the festival.” David suddenly dropped to all fours rolling with the ball between his hands and legs, and then tried to gnaw on it.

  “David!” hissed Takumi in a low voice.

  “Oops. Sorry,” said Kou as David jumped back up with orange eyes and a sheepish expression. With a mischievous grin he continued. “I am only about 5 months old you know… Speaking of Kami, any word from yours yet? It would be interesting to see what kind of Kami a fire type will produce. Masao said so many have been corrupted that fire Jitsugen Samurai and shape shifters are rare.”

  “Well, after your accident you started to feel urges, rare meat for breakfast, things like that right?” Takumi asked, staring off across the open field. David nodded. His eyes returned to their usual blue.

  “Well I can’t explain it, but I keep getting this paranoid feeling I’m not safe, when I go somewhere high, the feeling isn’t as strong,” he said, fidgeting. “Also, whenever I see fire, like when we burned the ōkami, I want to stick my hand in it. Don’t worry, I haven’t, but I think the fire Kami is drawn to it.”

  “That explains you prowling around the rooftops and trees of the Estate.” David laughed, slapping Takumi on the back. Takumi turned a bright shade of red, a feat for someone so much darker skinned than David. “You didn’t think we wouldn’t keep an eye on the Estate after what happened? Despite all the extra training we’ve been doing, Kou and I don’t need as much sleep. Besides, I can smell you days after you have been in my trees,” Kou finished.

  “You know maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong,” Takumi said. He grabbed the ball from where it had landed, balancing on a finger. “We’ve searched every bit of the mountains and kept watch on Nakano, why don’t we try talking to some of the townspeople. We can see if they’ve noticed anything. Mom and Dad can help out with that, and it would mean five searching instead of just three.”

  “Naoto and Shou are starting to wonder why you two ‘loners’ keep skipping badminton,” Natsuki said, cutting in as she arrived from the gym. “You two are going to have to show tomorrow.”

  David filled Natsuki in
on their conversation as Takumi eyed the trees at the edge of the school grounds. When the bell rang, they turned for the gym and fifth period.

  Once David and Takumi explained their plan to Masao and Yukiko, they were happy to help. Yukiko was especially effective, since she was able to talk to many of the students’ mothers while shopping, or while out and about Nakano.

  Within days, they had a list of all the places where both Yuka and Yuuto, not to mention the rest of the class representative clique, frequented. Two of them, the School and local library, were the only places they all went to at around the same time. With a new plan of action, David, Takumi, and Natsuki began to stake out the different locations. The elder Matsumoto helped by making excuses to visit places of interest far more than they normally would have.

  On Saturday, the first of another three-day holiday, Kou ran quickly through the Estate, returning from his latest stakeout. As he approached the workshop, Kou paused just long enough to turn back into David.

  “Finally.” David was just able to catch Natsuki’s voice in the still night air. “Kou changed back to David.”

  Yukiko jumped in surprise as David suddenly appeared in the door. The Matsumotos and Natsuki were arrayed around the Matsumoto workshop. A low fire burning in the corner was the only light. Considering Natsuki’s feelings, Ryohei floated as far away as possible, while still staying in the room.

  “Sorry I’m late. Kou was distracted by a mouse.” David came in radiating excitement. Takumi and Natsuki had returned from their stakeouts earlier that night. Intrigued, David had stayed out a bit later than the others changing into Kou for his better senses at night. Too excited to contain himself, David’s eyes showed orange in the flickering light.

  “We finally found the lair!” Kou said. “At least we are about ninety percent sure we found it. We did not want to give ourselves away.”

  “Where?” Takumi and Natsuki asked at the same time, jumping from their seats in unison.

  “We were snooping around the store when I spotted Tsubasa,” David said. “You know, from our class. We talked to him and he said Yuuto asked him to bring a prototype they had been working on in the technology club. Apparently, they had been working on something new, and Tsubasa had just finished it. Instead of asking him to bring it home though, Yuuto asked him to bring it to a warehouse behind the supermarket. I convinced him that Yuuto had gone home and that he would pick up the prototype tomorrow night. I waited and saw Yuuto peak out of a door, but when Tsubasa didn’t show he went back in. It’s a warehouse with easy access from any number of directions, in a place where a lot of people go and where it would be easy to blend in.”

  Standing, Masao smiled darkly, a gleam in his eye David had never seen before.

  “At last,” Masao said. “That must be it. We need to do this carefully, give them no chance to escape. We are going to need a careful plan, but still need to act swiftly. It has been nearly three months and the yūrei will have recovered somewhat from the change. Our goals are clear. Kill the ōkami, save your classmates, capture or destroy the yūrei.” A lone tear streaked down his face. Though his voice was strong and determined, he was clearly on the edge. Circling the table the family closed in, ready to find their lost, and bring her home.

  The Lair

  October,

  It seemed so obvious after the fact. The lair was in a perfect location for them. I walked right by on many of my patrols and never caught a whiff. The worst part was that we should have realized it earlier. Not only was it where the two students had disappeared during the festival, it was where Jahangir had been arrested…

  Masao had been far from idle since the trip to Kyoto. Everything was ready should they capture Rie. They had examined and practiced every contingency they could think of.

  As David stood on the top floor of a building next to the supermarket, he struggled with what Masao had told him before leaving. After their final preparations for the attack, Masao had taken him aside from the others.

  “You already know how most of the ceremony will go when we capture Rie,” he had said. From within the fold of his kimono, Masao had given him the copies taken from the Imperial Treasures so that he could read the ancient Japanese for himself. “The tricky part will be separating her from the yūrei. I can summon the yūrei’s spirit but if it holds fast, you may not know which to attack. If your concentration falters, if you are even slightly unsure of yourself, then you could banish both rather than only the yūrei. Knowing it is lost, the creature might seek to take her with it.”

  “But how will I know?” David still asked himself. “How can I make sure I destroy the right one?”

  ‘Masao-san said he trusts you with it,’ Kou thought. ‘He trusts you with his daughter’s life. Trust in yourself, and the bond you have created with your cub mate.’

  From his vantage point above the warehouse, David could see the others, each in an odd mix of traditional armor and modern assault gear.

  ‘Rie was the first to welcome me.’

  They all wore black camouflage under their custom armor. Grandpa had made most of the armor, and although it looked like something from a movie or history book, it contained the latest technologies. Mostly titanium and Kevlar weave, the armor was in the traditional form but painted for camouflage. Each helmet and mask was unique, with David’s being the most extravagant.

  ‘She used to smile, even when I made really stupid mistakes.’

  ‘She used to frown too, but only when she caught herself being too happy, what was she afraid of?’

  Despite his much lighter skin, glowing in the soft lights of surrounding street lamps, David wore only his armor so he would leave nothing behind if he changed. Kou had also donned his armor before leaving the Estate.

  ‘I won’t lose Jessica, and I won’t give up on Rie. The Jeong brothers will pay.’

  Clicking his radio earpiece, David checked in with the others on the surrounding buildings and alleys.

  “I just saw Yuka enter. Yuuto hasn’t been seen all day, so we should assume he’s inside,” David said. Rage boiled within him, tempered only by a desperate struggle to think of a way to ensure Rie would be safe.

  “We will attack as soon as it is dark enough.” Masao spoke quietly. He was the closest to the warehouse, having already checked the back door for alarms and traps. “If anyone comes out, detain them if you can. Make sure no one leaves. Tiger, we will have to leave the yūrei for you. We will do our best to take care of the ōkami, but she is in your hands. Remember… your Seikaku will cut both ways.”

  After what seemed like hours, Takumi, on one of the flanks whispered, “Everyone ready?”

  “Princess ready.” Natsuki covered the side of the building near a loading dock.

  “Nurse ready,” Yukiko said from the van they were using as a getaway car.

  “Swordsmith ready.” Masao crouched in an alley by the back door.

  “Shifter ready,” Takumi whispered as he moved below David, towards the front door.

  David crouched, high up on the roof he was a story above the flat-topped warehouse.

  “Let’s go then.” David ran. With a spring that made Kou roar in pleasure within him, David cleared the gap between the two buildings, and then rolled to a crouch as he landed. He waited, listening for any hint he had been heard.

  The only sound was from a passing scooter below. Still crouching, David moved forward as silently as any obake. Reaching the splintered wooden roof-access door, he checked it for any signs of alarm or wiring, and then counted down.

  “Three… Two… One… Now! Now! Now!” David called over the radios.

  David left a wooden wreak behind him as he sped through the door. If he had not been so focused on his immediate surroundings, following the prepared script for the assault, he would have also heard Masao, Natsuki, and Takumi enter at the same time from the three other entry points. As they converged on the first floor, checking every shadow, David ran like the wind through the upper floor, checkin
g to ensure no surprises waited from above.

  As David ran, Kou focused on the surroundings.

  ‘There is not so much as a grain of dust out of place. No one has been up here in years.’

  ‘All the Matsumoto writings said the ōkami would want somewhere cave-like. The second story of just about anywhere wouldn’t fit that description too well. They must be below.’

  David found the others standing in a defensive ring waiting for him.

  “The place looks completely deserted,” Kou whispered.

  “Which means they are hiding very well, since we know Yuka is here,” David added.

  Masao nodded, indicating that the lower group had found nothing as well. A sudden dull scraping echoed through cavernous warehouse. One of the large wooden boxes nearby moved across the floor, light spilling from the hole it had covered.

  Shadows silently surrounded the box. Yuuto came climbing out of a hidden hole as if he was just walking out of his house or a classroom. Obviously unaware of the four people around him, his shopping bag swung freely from his hand.

  A dark wraith suddenly enveloped Yuuto, pulling him the rest of the way out of the hole. Masao had his hands around Yuuto’s mouth before he could even recognize he was not alone. Pulling him away from the Lair’s entrance, for no one suspected it was otherwise, Masao quickly wrapped his mouth, hands, feet, and knees with duct tape. As added insurance, he taped a hood in place. He stashed the struggling boy in a corner of the warehouse while the others watched over the Lair’s entrance.

  Masao silently motioned for the other three to follow him as he entered the hole. A flight of steps led down to a long open basement about half the size of the building above it. Although the stairway was well lit, the rest of the chamber was dark, save at the far end where soft lighting reflected off a raised platform and the yūrei sitting comfortably on it.