Reclaimed – Chapter 14

I give the decision a lot of thought over the next day. I discuss the pros and cons with Rai, Jiro, Sakai, Arata, and Lucy over the tablet. Despite how hard I try, I don’t think that I can win over the population of this planet by sheer force of personality alone. I’m quite aware that many people just plain do not like me, no matter what I say or do. My DNA is on my side, and it would be a waste not to take advantage of the chip. I’m the only person in this bloodline.

I visit the Oda estate garden the morning before the surgery and pace with the cats and dogs. Over the past few weeks, it’s become obvious that I have to take sides here. Back in Nishikyō, the plan was to gain the support of our clans and keep them from killing each other once we got to Yūsei. Now the game has changed, and I must bargain with complete strangers.

I stoop to pick up a cat, something I can hold and feel warmth from, because I am cold with indecision. An orange cat with spots leaps into my arms before I can make a choice. “That’s right. Just force your way in before I can say no and choose someone else.” She leans in and rubs her head along my jaw, purring a happy tune.

I should live my life like this cat. I should make the hard decisions and bulldoze through the rest of my life. I should give Rai no other option than to chip me, to win an animal army, to support me as I lay waste to Fujiwara. I’ve already chosen sides. I chose Rokkaku and Oda over Fujiwara. I believe it was the right choice, but there are still many wild cards. What do I do about Taira tearing up the countryside looking for revenge? What do I do about the Koga Clan and their black ninja warriors? What about the helpless citizens stuck between them?

Another cat rubs against my leg, and when I set down the orange one, I take a quick count of the animals. Twenty, thirty… There are at least thirty cats swarming around me. Where did they all come from? Four dogs including Kumo sit on the periphery, not wanting to get involved in the cat mayhem.

“Hey!” Namika shouts, marching towards me. “Go home, you little vagrants!” She waves her hands at the cats, and they meow at her. The overlapping cacophony of cat calls is so loud I have to cover my ears. “Enough!” she screams, and they fall silent. “Stop bugging her. She can’t understand you yet anyway.”

At a slow clip, each cat turns tail and stalks off until only the original Oda cats remain.

“Sorry. They must be climbing the estate fence to get inside.” She turns to the dogs. “And you, go before I start rationing your bones.” Kumo’s buddies leave so he trots up to me.

“I have my suspicions, but I think you’re going to want to pair with your own animals and possibly a bird. You will need eyes in the sky for where you’re going.”

“Can I pair with more than one animal? I have no idea how it works.”

“It’s not a science and there’s nothing formal about it. When you click with an animal, you just know. It’s like marriage where polygamy is okay.” She rolls her eyes and laughs while adjusting her kimono top. Her white hair glows in the midday sun. I love her dark eyebrows and tiny mouth, a tiny mouth that swears up a storm when she’s willing to let loose. It’s nice to have met a native my age I can easily get along with. Hiro hates me and is younger. Arata is great but he’s Sakai’s age.

“Are you paired with a cat?”

“Yep. All these lovelies are mine, the little hussies.” She shakes her finger at the orange cat with spots that I held. “Don’t think I didn’t see you jumping into her arms like you owned her. Give her space while she’s here.” The orange cat slinks off, looking over her shoulder at us. “So, are you ready? We need to weigh you and prep you for surgery. The anesthesiologist has to run his calculations, and Mark Sakai just arrived with the medical team from your base in…?” She waves her hand around.

“Yamato,” I fill in. “Your old Ōmi.”

“Right. There was a pale woman with red hair who came along.”

“Lucy is here?” I hasten my steps towards the house.

“Yeah, she wore a headscarf and hat but I doubt she fooled anyone. Wait, Sanaa.” Namika grabs my arm. “I was friends with one of the women who got the chip at an older age. I have some ideas of how we can make the transition easier on you. Do you trust me to help out? I really want to help.”

Namika’s voice is pleading, and her mouth twists before tears appear in her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” I halt and place my hand on her shoulder.

“I’ve lost two people to this surgery. My boyfriend was one of the two that died on the table, only a few years ago.”

“Your boyfriend? I thought most of the older people who tried the surgery were Fujiwara defectors?”

“Yeah,” she says, crossing her arms and rubbing them. “We met as late teenagers and fell in love pretty fast. The whole relationship didn’t last more than a year before he died, but…”

“It’s enough. I know. Jiro and I have only been together a little over a year.”

She nods her head. “My other friend was also a Fujiwara defector and now lives in isolation, in the woods far from the city.”

“How did you manage to make so many Fujiwara friends?”

She laughs and looks down at her shoes. “When they come to Owari, they come to meet my father, and he always takes them in, especially if they’re young. That’s why we keep the estate in such good repair.” She sweeps her hand out at all the little houses combined together. I believe the estate is bigger than the Rokkaku estate back in Yamato. I didn’t think much about the rooms we were staying in and how maybe they were meant for someone else. I hope we don’t overstay our welcome.

“It’s a dangerous procedure for someone at your age. All these people with you love you and care for you, and they will be devastated if you die. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Kumo nudges my hand with his nose and whimpers. I wish I knew what he had to say to me. When I spend time with the animals around me, I’m a whole person. What if I can never have children? What if my body continually rejects pregnancy? This microchip is a gift, a chance to have the family I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl. Even if my kids are furry creatures with four legs or covered in feathers, my life will be complete.

“Yes, definitely. Let’s go.” I hook my arm in hers, and she leads me back to the house.

—-

No one remembers the day they were born. The moment is lost forever with the very first recollections of sleepless nights, naps, walking, and talking until finally memories begin to form. I don’t even remember my mother. I wish I could remember her. I used to spend hours closing my eyes and straining my brain for just a glimpse of her. Anything. Anything to prove she was a real person who loved me and cared for me.

My first memory, the one I can recall the clearest, was tripping on a sidewalk and crashing to the ground so hard, Aunt Lomo cried harder than I did. I sat on the couch and watched cartoons on Aunt Kimie’s tablet while holding a bag of ice on my sprained wrist. I was four years old.

A soft, feathery and warm touch strokes along the length of my arm and a voice swims in and out of focus, what I can imagine sound is like underwater, muted and echoing. I open my eyes and the room is dark but for one lamp next to me, and a young Japanese woman hovers over an Oda handheld device beside my bed. She looks up from her device as I try to speak, but my mouth is so dry, my tongue won’t work. I forgot how much I hate being put under. This is twice in as little as a month. The young woman shakes her head at me, holds her finger up to her lips to indicate I should be quiet, pats me on the shoulder sweetly, and walks to the door.

I squint my eyes into the darkness, away from the lamp, and let my eyes adjust and gather data. I obviously made it through surgery. I’m alive and the chip didn’t kill me but that’s all I know until someone comes and talks to me. Lifting my arm takes a lot of effort. Great. I’m tired and weakened from anesthesia. I hope no one tries to assassinate me now because there’s no way I could lift Kazenoho. The four walls and floor of the room I’m in are draped with heavy tapestries, and the walls and the door behind a protective curtain are covered in foam.

“I’m awake,” I whisper, my voice harsh and thready. The sound dies immediately.

What did Namika say before surgery? That she had some ideas of how to help me after? Maybe this is her idea. She sound proofed my recovery room.

The door clicks open, the sound ringing through the room, and Lucy enters, sweeping aside the curtain, shutting the door and putting the curtain back. She comes quietly to my side, pulls a chair forward, sits and smiles.

“How are you feeling, Sanaa?” she shouts at me. My hands fly to my ears to stop the echo of her voice in my head.

“You don’t need to yell,” I respond, but my words reverberate in my head too, like I’m wearing earplugs and trying to hear myself speak.

Lucy gets up from her chair and crosses the room so she’s farther away from me. “I was whispering,” she says, at a normal volume.

“Really?” I squeeze my eyes shut against the assault of sound. My words bounce around my brain and my head starts to ache.

“Don’t talk. I’m still whispering. Do I sound quiet or normal? Nod your head if I sound normal.”

I nod my head. She sounds clearer now, a little loud, but no longer shouting at me.

“Okay. This was one of the most likely outcomes, and it happened to the two other people who made it through surgery. The condition is called hyperacusis and now you’re sensitive to everyday sounds. We’ve been experimenting with some drugs that will hopefully help.”

“Tablet…” I whisper, gesturing with my hands. I wish I had learned sign language.

Lucy bends over, looks underneath and around the bed, and finds my tablet on a stack of real books in the corner of the room. She hands it to me then sits beside me. I open the text program and type, “I’m glad you’re here. Thank you.”

She takes the tablet and types back, “I’m so happy you’re all right. I was worried we’d lose you after everything we’ve been through.”

“No such luck. You’re stuck with me. Where’s Jiro?”

“He’s out on Kazuki. He was going crazy waiting for you to wake up.”

“How long was I out?”

“Almost two days. They wanted you to regain consciousness on your own.”

“How long will the sensitive hearing last?”

Lucy sighs before typing. “Possibly forever. There is no way to tell. We will introduce sound back into your life little by little over the next few days and see how you do.”

“And animals? Can I hear them now?”

“We’ll try Kumo soon. Rest and recover.” She rises to leave, but I grab her sleeve and pull her down.

“I’m worried about Miura’s daughters and wife in Yamato. That’s way too much temptation for Taira Clan to attack.”

I plead at Lucy with my eyes, widening them, and bring my hands to my heart. I’m so afraid for Yamato. It’s only a matter of time until Miura gets his revenge.

“You shouldn’t worry about this. I have them in an anonymous area of the town. Protected. They want to be away from Miura so they aren’t doing anything to jeopardize their safety.”

“What about Maeda? Does he know? I’m so worried. Something doesn’t feel right.” A tear rolls down my cheek. Here I am having undergone a potentially life-threatening procedure and my town is in possible danger half a continent away.

“Don’t be upset. We should be fine. This is why we set up the police force, the fence, and the early warning system. Remember the hard work you put in?”

I nod my head, but all the plans may never be enough. I won’t feel safe until Tomio Miura is dead and his clan with him. I run my fingers along the outside of the tablet edge. The battery icon in the lower right corner blinks at me, nearly expired. I point to it, and Lucy takes the tablet from me.

“We brought a converter from their power to ours. I’ll go charge it. Do you want a book?”

I nod, so Lucy gets up from the bed and scoops up the stack of books, setting them beside me. She laughs looking at them, and the sound pierces my brain, and my head throbs. She holds up one book after another and they’re all illustrated manga, schoolgirl romances. I open the flap of the first one and printed on the inside is “Published 337PF. Northern Press.” This was printed on planet. Wow. There’s so little I know about this place. What does PF mean? How long have they been printing books? Do they distribute everywhere on the continent?

I tug on Lucy’s shirt and knock on my head, grimacing in pain.

“I’ll have the nurse bring painkillers. Okay?”

I nod in response as she turns off my tablet and leaves me with the manga. Let’s see. Vampire hunter schoolgirls or space pirate schoolgirls?

Space pirates definitely.