Crash Land on Kurai – Chapter 14

The story behind Orihimé and Hikoboshi (the stars Altair and Vega) is a fable thousands of years old about two lovers in the heavens. The two fall in love and marry quickly, but they become so consumed with each other that they neglect their work and send the heavens into chaos. Orihimé’s father, the King of the Sky, prohibits the lovers from seeing one another by separating Orihimé and Hikoboshi, one on each side of the Milky Way. Orihimé falls into despair, though, so her father relents and lets the two of them meet once per year on the seventh day of the seventh month. This day became a holiday on Earth in Old Japan called Tanabata. I hear from Terrans who emigrated to Orihimé that Tanabata is still a popular holiday. The empress herself was married on this day.

When the two Japanese ships left Earth during the Exodus, one came to Vega and the other Altair, honoring the legend of Tanabata. There was no contact between us until now.

I lift my head from my bow and wonder what these men look like behind their marvelous water-shedding suits. And if they have these suits, what else do they have? Maybe I can get these people to demonstrate some of their tech to me.

Exclusive, here I come.

“Give us a moment,” Rin says, raising one finger and turning away from us with the other man.

I try to focus, to hold out long enough to make it through this conversation, but I’m shivering, bleeding, and probably feverish too. I rest my hand on the ground and let myself lie down on one side. Alarm cascades over Kazuo’s face, his head swinging between the two men and me.

“Yumi,” he whispers, coming forward to kneel beside me. His fingers struggle with the wet fabric of my flight suit, trying to budge the zipper down. I close my eyes, wanting to sink into the depths of sleep where my body doesn’t hurt, and my life is back in one piece.

Chasing the story is exciting, sure, but I can’t deny the situation I’m in. I’m not sitting in a comfortable restaurant back home on a stakeout, watching for my source out the window while drinking saké and eating freshly cooked rice and fish.

“Mmmm, rice and fish,” I mumble, my mouth uncontrolled.

“Yeah, rice and fish. And nori,” Kazuo responds. He peels my arms out of the flight suit, and I lie limp in his grip.

“Do you think she needs a doctor?” Rin’s voice is right over my head, so I open my eyes and stare up at him. Only his eyes are uncovered now, and the way his eyebrows draw inward, he seems concerned.

“What the fuck do you think?” I let loose. He raises his eyebrows, and my teeth chatter. “Do I look like I’m in one piece? You sliced and diced me like a carrot in the kitchen.”

Kazuo bursts into a short laugh. He peels off the rest of my flight suit, so I’m now just in the shorts and t-shirt, but at least I’m not covered in a freezing cold heavy cloth. The sun beats down on my skin, but it’s not warming me fast enough. My limbs shake, and I can’t stop them.

“Oh shit, Yumi. Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”

I’m afraid to look down at my thigh. I have no idea what it looks like, and I don’t want to know. I’ve never been so injured in my life, never lost so much blood or even needed stitches. Just the one broken arm and plenty of childhood fevers and illnesses, plus the migraines.

Rin hisses, a sound both alien and familiar. I have to remind myself he’s different from us, raised under a different sun with different values. Who knows what kind of person he really is?

The first test, will he let me die?

“Damn Gen. He did a piss poor job of patching you up.” Kazuo stands up and races over to the bushes where we hid our belongings, returning a moment later with the medkits.

Rin watches Kazuo open the medkit and pull out a syringe of antibiotics.

“Wait,” he says, clamping down on Kazuo’s arm. “Is this medicine you brought yourself?”

“Yes. Antibiotics, to help fight infection. Do you have these?”

Rin nods. “We have something similar. I don’t think your medicine will work here though.” He lifts his eyes to the sky. “The environment here is very damaged, and the bacteria left on Kurai is extremely resilient. We’ll need to get her better help than this.” He waves to the other man. “Kengo, look at this.”

Kengo approaches us, warily looking over Kazuo’s shoulder at me. He winces and looks away. “That’s pretty bad. Maybe we should leave her.”

Kazuo jumps up and faces Kengo. “We’re not leaving her.”

Rin pushes Kengo away from Kazuo and drops his voice. “Did you not hear her introduce herself? We cannot let her die.”

Though I lay on my side, I try to lift myself up at this, but Kazuo whispers, “Shhh, don’t say anything.”

“She could be lying for all you know.” Kengo shoves Rin, but Rin draws himself up, straightening his spine against the other man. A sword I hadn’t noticed earlier sits on his back.

“You may be my boss, but I am top-ranked kenryōshi. Do not go against me.”

Kazuo squeezes my arm as we watch these two men fight over something we don’t understand. But we’re the injured visitors here. We can’t get away or live without them. It’s up to them to give us mercy if they want to.

Kengo points directly at Rin. “I’m docking you for that. How dare you pull rank on a job like this.” He kicks dirt at me, but I’m too exhausted to flinch. “Fine. Take them to Ryuanji Temple. They’ll have medicine there for her in their field hospital.” He wraps the exposed parts of his face and flexes his hands. “I will note on your permanent record that you defied orders to save these people. You may lose a level because of this.”

He pokes Rin in the shoulder, turns, and walks off towards the woods. After a moment, a low hum slices the air, and Kengo breaks from the tree tops riding some kind of contraption that reminds me of a witch on a broomstick.

“That’s what I heard before we went into the life pod.” Kazuo watches Kengo circle the river’s edge and then fly off.

“My sorabō is also in the woods. I can carry several people. Let’s go.” Rin walks off, and I close my eyes. I wanted to get to know him, and now it looks like we’ll be stuck with each other for a time. What if he turns into a psychopath?

Kazuo’s warm hand rests on my cheek for a moment. “I promised your mother I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ve already failed.”

I smile, not looking at him. “Don’t be such a sap. I’m not dead yet. I have stories to tell and secrets to uncover.” I lick my lips and struggle to stay awake for a few more seconds. “You can’t keep a good journalist down with a few minor injuries.”

He leaves and returns after a few moments. I pry open my eyes, so heavy they might as well be made of lead. Kazuo has both of our bags on his back and the blanket we scavenged in his hands. He pulls a bandage from the medkit, takes care of my thigh, then wraps me up in the blanket.

“What about Shien? Shouldn’t we bury him?” My speech is slow and slurred like I’ve had a dozen beers and nothing to eat.

He sighs as he grabs one of my arms, lifts me up and fixes me on his shoulders. My eyes pop open at the pain in my ribs, and I cry out. At the forest’s edge, Rin waits for us. I wish he hadn’t seen that. I like to be invisible.

“No time. I don’t think you realize what kind of shape you’re in. Let’s hope they can fix you up quickly.”

—-

The ride to the temple is nothing but a blur. The wind rushes over me, cooling my sunburnt skin, and I keep my eyes closed the entire time. If I’m hanging off the back of Kazuo while floating in the air, I want to see none of that. None. This trip is already a crazy mess and adding on an almost magical conveyance through the air is a bit too much for me.

My arrival on the temple grounds brings complete chaos. I’m laid out on a stretcher while people shout orders and hands probe my shoulders, rib cage, pelvis, and legs. It’s both comforting and alarming. Someone I don’t know is taking care of me. I want to resist and tell the strangers to keep their hands off of me, but I can’t. I can barely open my eyes, and when I do, I see only trees, sunlight, the flitting in and out of faces, and then a wooden ceiling.

A needle penetrates my arm, and the world blackens.

My brother stands next to me in the dōjō. Rays of sunlight catch dust motes in the air, and Shintaro slices through them with his wooden sword. “You were always such a poor fighter. Haven’t you learned anything from all those hours here?” He smirks at me, and I slide my eyes to him. “Or maybe you just don’t like fighting.”

“Yes. It’s possible I don’t like fighting. Everyone around me fights. I’d much rather face injustice with a camera. My idea of fighting is catching them in a lie.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “Well, until they encounter me in a dark alley. Then I put them in the hospital. Still, catching lies is my main mission.”

Shintaro closes his eyes before throwing his sword to the ground. “Is that what this is about? Catching me in a lie?”

I shrug my shoulders and return my sword to the rack. The dōjō is hazy around me, its details smudged, a finger painting of browns and whites. “I wasn’t the one who lied.” I walk away, keeping my back to him.

“I told you I was sorry. How many more times do I have to say it?”

I pause at the door. “It’s not enough to say it. You have to actually mean it.”

My eyes struggle to open. Whispers surround me, but I can’t make out anything they say. All I can discern is I’m in bed, covered with a sheet, and I’m wearing underwear, dry ones, which is an improvement over how I last was dressed.

“She’s awake,” a woman’s voice says, her hand warm on my arm. “Wake up, Yumi. Open your eyes. You’re safe here.”

Anyone who tells me I’m safe must be lying to me. Not to put a fine point on it or anything but nothing so far of this journey has been easy or safe.

“Where am I?” I ask before opening my eyes. I squint through the glare into the round face of a young woman I don’t recognize. Her hair is tied back, and she wears the traditional robes of a temple maiden — a loose white shirt and wide-legged red pants.

She smiles at me, genuine and concerned. “You’re at Ryuanji Temple. And you’ve been unconscious for several hours. We were worried you lost too much blood, but it seems you’ve recovered. Your friend was able to donate blood.” She double checks my IV and pulls the sheet up to my neck. “I’ll go let your companions know you’re awake.”

Her celebration is premature, though, because I close my eyes, and I open them later to find someone sitting in the chair across the room.

“Feeling extra sleepy, I see,” he says, a slow smile stretching across his crooked lips. “Your friend, Kazuo, came running in here only to find you passed out again.”

I blink a few times, trying to remember what happened in the river. I searched for the data device and didn’t find it. I fought a strong man. He had questioning eyes and sympathy, even though he tried to kill me. Obsession. Right, I swore I’d figure him out. I think… I think this is him.

“Are you… Rin?” His voice sounds familiar, but I never saw his face, just his eyes.

He nods once, an almost bow. “I am. I, uh, thought I should be the first person to apologize for how you’ve been treated. I hope that doesn’t leave a scar.” He drags his finger across his chest, indicating where he slashed me. I lift the sheet and glance down at my chest. A tiny line of pink flesh waivers over my left breast. I’m impressed there are no stitches, but the wound is covered with a clear bandage. “Your leg, though, needed a lot more work.”

I let the cover fall back down and close my eyes. I don’t even want to look at it. Breathing still hurts, so maybe they can’t correct broken bones as quickly as they can cuts to the skin.

“We’ll get you to the best hospital on Hikari as soon as we get there.” Rin rubs his head, his hand skating over the tight clip of hair. A scar, about as thin and delicate as mine, wraps around the back of his head from his left ear almost to his right. The pinky finger on his left hand is missing its tip, and his grin is crooked, indicating he may have lost some movement on the left side of his face. Not a lot, but enough for me to notice.

I blink my eyes at him and try to concentrate. It’s my job to notice. Usually, I can read someone in an instant, their fears, anxieties. It’s all written right there on their face. But with him, I must be extra careful. A different society, a different set of ethics. He could be quite alien or exactly alike.

If he’s exactly alike, Rin’s face tells me a great deal about him. He’s cautious and bright, his eyes keen and sharp. But he’s unsure of himself, caught in a situation he normally never deals with. He can’t be older than thirty, so his scars tell me he’s either a risk taker or he’s in law enforcement, though I admit it could be both of these. Whatever he is, he’s skilled at fighting. He knew to catch me off guard in the river, and he recovered swiftly when I elbowed him in the face.

“What’s Hikari?” Where’s my tablet when I need it?

Rin pauses before aiming his finger at me and nodding. “Now see, this is why I believe you and no one else does. You ask the most basic questions, and I can tell you have no answers for them.” He stands up, and I get a good look at his build. He’s pure muscle from head to toe, and his veins stand out on his arms, snaking over his forearms to his biceps. He’s wearing a black shirt, a yellow mountain crest stitched on the left sleeve, paired with black pants, but barefooted on the wood floors of this room.

I swallow, intimidated by his powerful stance, and the fact that I’m vulnerable in this hospital bed with no real clothes on and only a sheet to cover me. Didn’t they have a shirt for me? A hospital gown would’ve been nice. Or were they afraid I’d sneak off if I had clothes?

Rin’s cheeks and mouth fall into a neutral, passive façade, and my heart beats too fast to be safe. What does he want with me? He already held a knife to my throat today. Who’s to say he won’t lunge forward and break my neck?

I reach my hand under the covers and carefully search around for my knife, making sure to keep the sheet steady and not give myself away. But I find nothing. If Kazuo left me without a weapon, I must be safe, right?

If I’m not, I’m in deep shit.

“I would like to perform a test on you if you consent.”

Panic grabs my chest and squeezes, and sweat pours off my back, pooling in my armpits as my heart races even faster. Am I strong enough to jump up and defend myself?

“What sort of test?”

He sits on the edge of the bed, and I shrink away from him. His face softens.

“Please don’t be alarmed.”

“Fuck you, of course I’m alarmed.” He actually smiles, and the gesture just makes me angry. “We came here on a peaceful mission to meet you. Our ship gets shot at. I’m separated from my brother.” My voice cracks, and his eyes widen as I sit up and clutch the sheet around me. “Now look at me. You want to do some sort of tests on me? Go right the fuck ahead. But I will fight you till the day I die.”

I curse myself. How could I be so stupid? Did I really think I would hold the upper hand in this contest? At home, I have free rein to do what I want. I have the freedom of the press on my side. Freedom gives me leeway to ask the questions, understand my subjects, and report what I know.

Ha. If I thought I was going to make this man my exclusive ticket to notoriety, I was mistaken. He’s in charge here. Not me.

I pull the sheet out from under his butt and jump up from the bed. He scrambles to get out of the way as I struggle to cover myself, but then the sheet gets caught in my IV line. I scream in pain, dropping the sheet to try to relieve myself of the pain radiating up my arm.

“Oh!” Rin spins away from me, my naked body on display. What kind of killer is embarrassed to look at a naked woman? My eyes travel down my body and finally see my thigh. The injury is at least fifteen centimeters long and ragged, several areas of it swollen with rips off the central slash. The whole thing looks like a river on a map, complete with tributaries flowing into a delta.

When I was a kid, I fainted at the sight of blood, then after the smelling salts, I would cry and ask my mom if I was going to live. After the fourth or fifth time it happened, she looked straight at me and said, “Sheesh, Yumi. You should consider a career outside of medicine, for sure.”

I got better as time went on, but this? This is too much for me.

“Oh… Oh…” The room twirls like a top. “Help? Please?” I breathe out.

My knees give way, and Rin leaps forward to help me before I hit the floor.

“What the hell happened in here?” Kazuo’s voice rises high and hysterical, and the woman who helped me earlier rushes to take one of my arms.

“Just help me get her back into bed,” Rin commands, a growl beneath his voice.

The woman covers me up and elevates my feet, propping pillows underneath them. A surge of tears crests in my eyes as feeling returns to my head.

“Everybody get the hell out of here!” I scream, clutching the sheet to my chest. “No one is turning me into a fucking test subject. I want my clothes, and I want to leave right now.”

Kazuo glares at Rin. “I told you not to talk to her until I was in the room.”

“Sorry. I’ll go.” He pivots on his toes and leaves. The woman looks between us both.

“She said to get her clothes,” Kazuo says to the woman, but she shakes her head.

“You need medicine and rest. You can’t go.” She tries to tuck me in again, but I slap her hands away.

“Oh yeah?” I look her right in the eye, fury building in my chest. “Watch me.”