Fukusha Model Eight – Chapter 17

Despite being so relaxed I’m looser than a noodle, I don’t sleep well. My body is conditioned to forgo sleep in favor of survival, and it doesn’t want to give it up now. I wake several times in the night believing first that Rin is someone who’s come to kill me, then two hours later that there’s someone in the room, then finally, an hour before dawn, that I’m being strangled by an android.

When I wake for the final time, Rin is sitting up in bed, staring out the window.

“Hey,” I say, sliding my hand through the covers to find his. He squeezes my fingers. I yawn. “I think that’s the most sleep I’ve had in one night in months.”

“That was a good night’s sleep?”

“Mmm-hmm.” I close my eyes and stretch my legs.

“Shit, Yumi. I remember when you would sleep like a log in my arms for eight hours straight.”

I don’t say anything. He feels guilty, and nothing I say will assuage it.

But maybe there’s something I can do to let him know I’m feeling more normal. I push myself up to sit and clear my throat.

“Ninjin, go lay down. Over there.” I point to a spot near the door. Ninjin looks at me from the foot of the bed and ignores me. “Go on.” He stands up, sniffs, and jumps from the bed to cross the room and lie back down.

Rin watches him go, but only for a moment, when I rise to my knees and cross over the bed to sit in his lap. His face changes from concerned to happy and aroused. I raise my hands to stroke his beard.

“I’m getting used to the beard. I think… Hmmm, I think you can keep it.”

I lean in and kiss him, let my lips linger on his as I press my hips into him. The sharp intake of his breath and his hand slipping under my shirt to my back encourage me to take the kiss deeper. For months, I dreamt of this, being back in his arms, feeling someone else’s love and attention instead of the constant fear that coated my arteries and veins every second of every day.

Rin pulls up my shirt, and we separate for a moment so he can take it off. He kisses from my ear, down my neck to my chest, and my body could explode from unreleased desire.

Pop! Pop pop pop!

Rin and I both freeze, and the fear that had been sneaking out the back door of my head, turns around, cackles, and lets itself back in.

“What was that?” My heart rate climbs.

A scream in the distance sends us both scrambling from the bed. My movements are practiced and quick. Flee, Yumi!

I throw my shirt back on, grab the few belongings I unpacked, and chuck them into my bag. My pants were on the chair next to the bed, and my shoes are by the dresser. Ninjin is on his feet and growling at the door.

“For fuck’s sake,” Rin says, tucking himself into a pair of pants. “Can we not get a break? I was just about to get lucky.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, screams and bangs ringing through the estate, I laugh, a hysterical, bubbling laugh that dissipates some of the anxiety trying to choke me to death. I find Ninjin’s leash and attach it to his collar, grabbing my shoes in the process.

Rin is still only half dressed when I’m completely ready to run.

“Out the back?” I ask.

The door handle jiggles before being jerked back and forth. Someone’s trying to get in the room.

Rin throws on his shirt, grabs his sword, and unsheathes it. That sound makes my heart skip into high gear, and I grab Ninjin’s leash tighter as we step backwards away from him.

Something slams into the door one, two, three times before it bursts open and Shun and Saki come tumbling into the room. Rin raises his sword a beat before halting and withdrawing.

“Shun, what’s going on?”

Shun and Saki scramble to their feet and close the door behind them.

“Out, out, out the back,” Shun urges us, shooing us backwards with his hands. “We’re under attack. Yakuza and Aoi Uma.”

Saki rushes to me, grabbing me by my arm and ushering me along. She squeezes so hard, I yelp in pain. She snaps her hand back. “Sorry. Sorry. We’ve gotta go.”

I shake out my arm and grimace as I follow her out the back.

The hot tub of mineral water is still steaming as we sneak around it. I can’t see anything past the high wooden wall, but I can hear what’s going on. Guns fire sporadically. Doors are broken down. A woman screams. Someone yells.

“There’s an exit over here,” Saki says, probing her fingers along the edge of the far wood wall. She activates a latch and the door swings open. “We’re going down the side of the mountain, and then we’ll hike to the Eastern Loop Butsu.” She bends over to Ninjin. “You be quiet, okay?”

Ninjin pants at her.

“What’s going on?” I ask, waiting for Rin and Shun to catch up. I’m not leaving without Rin.

“I saw Haku with a bunch of men. He’s come for you. Go!” she urges, pushing me.

“I’m not leaving without Rin,” I repeat, growling through gritted teeth.

“I’m coming,” Rin calls out, running up to us with Shun on his tail. “Let’s go.”

The door out the back leads to a series of steep steps to the property edge, and then it’s a tiny trail along the face of a cliff that disappears into a forest.

Oh shit. I look over the edge, and all I see is the side of the Aoi Uma building in Shin-Osaka, the one I jumped from in order to escape. I nearly missed the police car that time. This time there’s nothing to save me if I fall.

Saki barrels forward with no fear, one hand on the rock wall to her left, the open air to her right. Ninjin trots along behind her. Panic seizes my legs and stops them. I want to pick up Ninjin and hold him, but that seems like a bad idea. I need to follow in his footsteps.

“Go, Yumi,” Rin whispers. “Look left. We’ll be down the hill in no time.”

I swallow and wish we had at least eaten breakfast before we left because my head is swirling. Is it fear or low blood sugar?

“Fuck. Since when have I been afraid of everything?” I glance behind me at Rin and Shun. Shun looks as afraid as me. Okay, then I’m not overreacting.

“You’re not going to fall. You’re going to be just fine. You’ll put one foot in front of the other, and you’ll make it to the trees,” I tell myself. My whole body sweats as I move forward, even my feet which slip in my socks and shoes. The side of the path crumbles and rocks skip down the cliff edge.

“Almost there,” Rin says. “Ten more steps.”

I count them in my head like I did while escaping the androids up the hill on Kurai. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two one. I leap into the woods and hug a tree.

Rin and Shun follow me into the trees and pull me farther into the cover. Rin leans out and looks up and down the hill.

“Looks like we can either follow this path down the mountain or we can head up to higher ground. I want to see what we’re up against. Let’s get to higher ground. I have binoculars in my pack.”

Saki huffs. “We should get the hell out of here, not stick around.”

“I agree with Rin,” Shun says, stepping into Saki’s line of sight. “I only saw one yakuza before we ran. We have no idea why they even came.”

“We need to go. There were dozens of them,” Saki hisses at him.

“If that’s true, then I want to be extra careful getting back to home base. I don’t want to lead any of them to our people.”

“If that’s true?”

Rin and I step away from them. The bickering reminds me of my own battles with Shintaro.

“This is not the first time you’ve lied to me about stuff like this, Saki.” Shun’s eyes bore into Saki. Yikes. He has dirt on her. I wish I could jump in the middle and ask questions, but right now, I value my life over my desire to be a journalist.

“Fine,” she grits out. “Let’s go see exactly what’s going on there.” She stomps off, up the ascending path. Shun follows without looking back at us.

“Come on. We need to leave before they realize how we got out of the estate,” Rin says, glancing over his shoulder. We shut the door to our outdoor space before we left. It may take time for the intruders to figure out how we escaped.

Following Shun and Saki up the mountain, I try to rid my brain of fear and apprehension. I used to be a rock. When we left on the Hikoboshi mission, I wasn’t worried about anything. I was sure we’d cruise in, get our data, and be home within a few months. Sometime around my third week in Kitakyushu, I decided I don’t want to die here on Hikari. I want to go home.

And now I fear I’ll never make it back there.

“Come on.” Rin takes my hand in his, and I conjure up a smile. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems. I don’t want anything bad to happen to the Nomuras, but they’ve always known the risks of working with Samurai Seven.”

“What is… Who are Samurai Seven, anyway?” I huff as we scale a steep hill, but I’m in better shape than usual, so I manage to keep pace with Rin. “I know they’re some kind of terrorist organization looking to stop Aoi Uma’s production of the Fukusha Model Eight. But why?”

Rin shakes his head. “During my time here, no one told me anything. I learned about the history of the Nomura family, how they came to own the estate, and why they wanted to stay independent of the corporations, but Samurai Seven? I have my suspicions.” His eyes focus on Saki ahead of us. “But nothing concrete.”

“What are your theories?” I whisper. “I want to hear them.”

“Look, you can see the whole estate from here,” Saki says, waving us forward.

Rin scrambles up next to them, and I dawdle behind with Ninjin. I don’t really want to know what’s going on at the estate. Probably because, somewhere deep down inside, I already know what to expect.

When I make it to Rin, he’s surveying the property with his binoculars.

“Yeah… yeah. Yakuza all over the estate. They emptied out the onsen baths, and they’re making their way through the house. You can see them come through the interior gardens.” Rin pulls the binoculars away from his face and hands them to me. “There’s someone you know there.”

His face is grave, and I wonder just who it is. Narumi Ogawa? Has she come for me herself? Akikazé is dead.

Pressing the binoculars to my eyes, I take a deep breath as I scan across the length of the estate.

Aw, shit. He’s right.

“Gen Miyazawa. That motherfucker can’t leave well enough alone.”

He looks the same as the day I stabbed him, so they must have patched him up nicely. In all honesty, he looks better than I do, probably been well fed and living the high life in Shin-Osaka while I starved and fended off assholes with a kitchen knife.

He strides through one of the estate’s interior gardens, calling for someone inside and returning to the house.

“Well, that solves that mystery,” I say, sighing and scanning the house.

“What? You know someone?” Saki asks at my elbow.

“Yep. Someone from our own mission defected to Aoi Uma after we crash landed. I stabbed him the day of the hostile takeover. Looks like I didn’t kill him. Unfortunately.”

“You stabbed him?” I look away from the binoculars to check out her reaction. She nods her head, satisfied. “I thought maybe that was your first time, you were so shaken up.” She’s referring to me stabbing the Fake-Rin.

“Nope.” I bring the binoculars back to my eyes and immediately gasp.

Gen is not alone.

“Yep, there’s Haku.”

Haku, his tattoos on full display, walks out of the estate side by side with Gen and two other men follow behind them. They’re carrying a drone.

“We gotta go.” I slap the binoculars into Rin’s hands. “Take a good look at the guy with Gen. That one needs to stay far, far away from me.”

He seems skeptical as he looks where I’m pointing. “Okay. Who is he?”

“Before I left, he was intent on being my pimp because Atsumi had sold me to him, and he’s probably pissed I’m not there earning him money.”

“Sold you? What are you talking about?” Rin’s right up in my face, searching my eyes for the answer.

“Exactly what it sounds like. I told you this last night. I remember. My contract, poof, gone. It’s his now.”

He shakes his head, a hysterical laugh following a puff of frustration. “No way. We set up safeguards. We… I didn’t think you were serious when you said Atsumi sold you off.” Rin’s jaw tightens as he looks back towards the estate. “They’re going to launch a drone, so if we don’t move now, we’ll be made.”

I turn to Saki and Shun. “This is not your fight. These people are after me. We should split up now.”

“No,” Saki says, folding her arms over her chest. “You have the plans for the nanotechnology, and we can’t be certain our boss got them. We were all supposed to leave and bring the plans to him today. Our people are off the grid. It’s one extra way in which we stay safe.”

“Daito Nomura isn’t your boss?” My mouth drops open. “Why was he even involved?”

“He’s…” Shun bounces his foot, exasperated. “He’s the public face of the organization. Someone wealthy with enough clout to keep people from just bowling him over” — he throws his arm out to the side — “which obviously didn’t stop these guys.”

Ninjin whines at my feet. He knows something’s up, and we should be moving.

“Fine.” I shrug my shoulders. “Where else would we go?”

Rin raises his eyebrows. “Back to Gobo to meet up with Kazuo? It’ll be tough to dodge Atsumi, but it’s better than being here. We don’t owe anybody anything. You gave them the data yesterday. It’s not your fault if they lose it.”

“Please,” Saki pleads. “We need that technology or…”

“Or what?” I press, leaning closer to her. She bites her lip and looks at Shun.

“Or all of my people will die within three years. Please. I promise we’ll help protect you from Haku and Aoi Uma.”

In the distance, the buzzing of the drone grows louder. Ninjin’s ears prick up.

“That’s not enough. I need Shiroi Nami. Whoever your people are, I’m willing to help them. But they can’t get me what I need. I need Shiroi Nami, and I need to get off this damned planet before they kill us all.”

Saki nods her head once. “It’s a deal. You come with us and give us the tech, and we’ll give you Shiroi Nami. We talk to them all the time. They’re one of our biggest supporters.”

Well, this is the first I’m hearing of it, and the way Shun stares unbelievingly at Saki and then looks away is not heartening. She’s either lying or she’s giving too much away. Both are dangerous situations to be in.

But I have no choice.

I thrust out my hand to shake, and she grabs it.

“Deal.”