Reclaimed – Chapter 15

Three days and two courses of IV drugs later, I’m able to sit and chat with Jiro using a normal tone of voice. The first day, I could barely stand the sound of the pages flipping on the manga books I was reading. Eating was painful too. Anything crunchy vibrated in my jaw and gave me a headache. Rai came by to explain the chip taps into both the auditory nerve and language centers of the brain. Then he started getting technical, and I had to beg him to stop. Whatever it does, I believe him, but once someone starts talking about neurons and synapses, my eyes glaze over.

When Jiro enters the room, he smiles and quietly says, “We can take down another tapestry, I think.” Yesterday, Namika removed the ones surrounding the two inside walls of the house. Jiro unhooks the one over the door and the tapestry next to it. We’ve slept apart the past few nights, and I’m glad he hasn’t been around for my late night panic attacks. I wake, dripping in sweat and panting, sure someone has come to kill me, but I’m alone until a nurse comes by on rotation.

I’ve been having the craziest dreams each night. Last night I dreamt I was stuck in a never-ending forest. No matter what direction I went in, the forest never opened up. The trees were dark and wet, covered in harsh bark dripping with water. The whole situation gave me the chills. The trees would bend and whisper at me, too. I think this was my brain’s way of telling me I’m destined to never talk with animals. Knowing my luck, I would converse with trees instead, like the kodama spirits. Trees are great and all but I would consider that a huge disappointment.

Jiro sits on the bed beside me, holds my hand, and we whisper our conversations to each other.

“How is everyone? It’s strange to be locked away while you all work.”

“Julia has been training Kazuo in traps and snares. Sakai and Lucy have been taking meetings with locals everyday. Rai Oda invites influential people over to scare the crap out of them with Lucy.” Jiro laughs and I lean away from him. “Sorry,” he whispers. “But I think you’re improving. Anyway, in a few days, Lucy should be able to leave the property because everyone will know she’s here. Soon, we’ll be leaving for the Oda compound on the Nogusa-hara. Then we’ll be trekking farther north from here, across the prairie to their shipyards and launchpad on the coast. Get this…” He turns to me. “Kentaro is head-over-heels for Namika.”

“No! Gossip. Jiro, you’re as bad as the birds.”

“Possibly,” he says, shrugging his shoulders with a smile. “He’s been watching her and following her everywhere all over the city, and they have this thing where they poke fun at each other, piss each other off, and then avoid each other.”

This is the best news! I like Namika. My first impression of her was that she’s fun, brash, and abrasive, but caring. She went out of her way to help me even though I don’t owe her anything, and I didn’t get the feeling she was dating anyone.

“Sounds like love to me. I thought he was interested in Julia.”

“Julia wants nothing to do with him or most of us, actually. I think she’s biding her time so she can get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

“Well, I never expected her to stay or even like me, so it’s a blessing it’s lasted as long as it has.”

I look down at our intertwined hands, rubbing my thumb along the side of Jiro’s. “It’s been days since the surgery. Are you going to bring Kumo by? I miss him… And I’m worried —”

“That after everything you can’t understand animals?”

A rumbling of high-pitched voices in the hallway peak and fall away as a quick patter of thumping erupts and something falls over, crashing to the ground. I plug my ears but am happy it wasn’t that loud. Jiro leaps from his spot, opens the door, and closes it behind him. The soundproofing on the door muffles most of his voice but a clear, “Get out of here!” leaks into the room. He returns a moment later shaking his head.

“Damned cats. I swear there are a hundred of them on this estate. They knocked over a vase in the hallway.”

“Cats? It sounded like children to me.”

Jiro’s eyes widen and he jumps from the bed again, runs into the hallway, and returns with my friend, the black cat from dinner the other night.

“Ooooh!” the cat says… or my brain hears. I’m not sure, but she sounds like a little girl. “Finally. We’ve been sitting outside wondering when you’d be ready.”

Jiro sets her in my lap, and I burst into tears, covering my mouth with my hands. It’s a miracle.

“Hi,” I say, between my fingers. I can’t believe the chip works for me. I thought I’d be sensitive to sounds and then be let down when the animals remained silent.

“You understand me now? All the humans have been worried it wouldn’t work. Whatever magic it is that they do.”

“Holy shit.”

The cat tilts her head at me, and I swear she’s laughing though I don’t hear anything. She rubs her head up along my cheek, and I run my hand down the length of her back to her tail.

“Can you understand her?” Jiro asks.

“Yeah. She sounds like a little girl to me.” I look down at her in my lap. “Why do you do that? Rub your head against mine? My cat at home does that too, and I’ve always wondered.”

“It’s good to be close to you. When we love you, we show it.”

Jiro’s eyebrows are furrowed. “She says this is how they show affection. What did you hear?”

“Meowing.” He shrugs his shoulders. “But I believe you.”

From out in the hallway, more tiny voices flare up behind the door, begging us to open it and let them in. Little furry paws reach under the doorway and snake around hoping to snag us.

“What’s your name? I’ve given my pets names and now I wonder if they had their own to begin with, and I was being rude.” The cat turns in my lap, lies down, and presents her belly to me for scratches.

“The people call me Yonaka. We all get names from the humans. Let’s play!” She bats at my hand with her claws, and I pull back not wanting to be bit or scratched. “Come on. I won’t bite. I promise.”

Yonaka is too young for me to get information from. All she wants to do is play or sleep. Namika returns and is so excited to see my interpreter ability improved that she lays out a guideline for the rest of the day.

“First, I’ll bring you some older cats to talk to. Then Kumo and our other dog, Kawa, because I want to make sure you can understand the difference between the species. Then we have a gift for you.” Her eyes widen and she rubs her hands together. “That wretched Kentaro insisted this was the perfect gift, and I was upset I had to agree with him.”

Jiro raises his eyebrows at me. This is his ‘I told you so’ look I know all too well. Kentaro and Namika. I love this idea already. They’re opposites, but I think this works well for Kentaro. He’s never been one to mold to anyone’s ideas of how his life should be. He enjoys challenges.

I play with the cats for an hour before they overwhelm me with their constant questions and neediness. They want to be on me constantly, in my lap, on my chest, or in my arms. When I send them out, Kumo runs down the hall, noses the door open, and jumps up to me.

“Kumo,” I cry, as I sink to my knees and hug him, squeezing him tight around his neck while he kisses my cheek.

“So glad you’re well,” he says, his voice also sounds childish, a little boy voice before he reaches puberty. “Was hoping you could hear me. Waited for you forever. Searched your town for weeks before found you. Knew you’d be able to understand. Was confused when you didn’t answer questions.”

“I didn’t have the chip.”

“Know that now. Still knew you were the one for me.”

I look between Kumo and Namika. “Are you wondering about the way he speaks? I’ve heard dog dialect is weird.” Namika shakes her head. “They never refer to themselves in subjects. All dogs are like that. Kawa is paired with one of the cooks, and she’s always telling me how strange it can be. I take an interest in the different dialects, for obvious reasons.” She laughs waving between us.

I concentrate hard on my fluffy, white dog and try to remember what his huffing, whining, and barking sounded like before I got the chip. Our relationship is irrevocably changed. I recline and press my back to the bed, Kumo sits in the space between my legs and leans against me. I bend down to whisper in his ear, “Did Jiro and I bother you?”

“Ignored it. You’re in love. Happy.”

I never thought twice about Kumo being in the room with Jiro and me when we were intimate, but I may have to reconsider that. Resting my head against his, I run my hands down his back and sigh. “I love you, sweet puppy.”

“Love you too,” he says. The statement undoes me, and I cry into his coat while Jiro and Namika slip out of the room.

—-

I take a nap with Kumo and wake up to a splitting headache. A hot shower and some pain killers would do me a world of good right now. I haven’t showered in days. I tried to the day after surgery and the sound of the water was too loud to handle. I open the door to the adjacent bathroom and a fresh change of clothes awaits me on the bench next to the sink. On the sink top, a bottle of pain killers sits half full. I pop out two from the dispenser and swallow them with a cup full of water.

I flip on the shower, and while I wait for the water to heat up, I turn my head in the mirror so I can see the incision site behind my ear. The small cut is covered with a waterproof clear bandage that will degrade over time, and next to my hairline is a small star tattoo. I didn’t even think to ask for it. The marking must be standard with the surgery. I strip down, step in the shower and soap up my hair, then remember I forgot to grab a towel.

“Kumo!” I call out. “I forgot a towel. Will you get Jiro for me?”

I stick my head out of the shower and wonder if he heard me, or if I sound like a lunatic for asking my dog to help me. I’m rinsing the shampoo out when the door squeaks open.

“Did you send the dog to come get me?” Jiro asks, laughing. “That’s so strange. He just ran up to me, barked, and ran back to our room.”

“I did. I’m trying to be presentable, and I forgot a towel.” The closet door in the bathroom opens and shuts. Jiro drapes the towel over the shower curtain rod and peeks in at me.

“Hi,” he says, a smile edging in the side of his lips.

“Hi,” I respond and laugh. “Join me?”

“Leaving,” Kumo says, heading for the door.

“You have the worst timing ever. I can’t. I was on my way to talk to Sakai, Lucy, and the doctors, and you should be there too.”

“Too bad.” I layer on conditioner, open my eyes, and he’s still standing there. His eyes linger on my breasts, down along my arms and stomach to my ass. I put the bottle away and lean towards him. “Give me a kiss at least.”

I stand on my tip-toes and lift my wet face. Sealing my lips over his, I remember why I made my choices. Every moment from here on out in my life is a gift. I could have died so many times recently but getting the chip reset my life, rebooted my desire for life.

I let the hot shower beat down on me as I clutch Jiro’s head to mine, open my mouth and push deeper. His kiss travels over my lips and tongue, hungry and alive. I step away quickly before I pull him in and make him regret indulging me. My lips leave his but he leans forward, still in the kiss’s trance, before he groans and opens his eyes.

“Sorry, I got you all wet.” I push the towel at him and he rubs his face and neck on it.

“I’m not sorry.”

“Go. I’ll meet you in twenty minutes.”

Once I’m dressed, I inhale a big breath at the door to my soundproof room, turn the handle, and walk out into the hallway for the first time since the surgery. Five cats sleep in a patch of sunlight down the hall, and two wake, turning their heads towards me.

“Hi!” they squeal, before rising and bounding in my direction. “You’re up! You’re ready! Let’s go!”

So, dogs are quiet and speak in broken sentences. Cats are like kids on caffeine at all times. They live their life with exclamation points. I open the door and step outside as the cats tumble past my feet and run in front of me.

“Hey! She’s awake!” Cats stream towards me of every shape, size, and color, at least twenty or thirty of them. The sheer number of cats is frightening, and they’re so loud I have to cover my ears.

“Stop!” I shout. “Please be quiet.” They all sit and stare up at me, their mouths closed, so I hesitantly uncover my ears. Whispers, low and rumbling, surround me, even though the cats sit mute. A louder whisper comes from right behind me. I spin around and two birds sit on the edge of the roof looking at me, their dark, beady eyes trained in my direction. I sweep my eyes along the house, to the trees, to the yard and garden, and I find birds everywhere. I used to ignore them once I was used to them, but they will be hard to ignore with the constant whispering.

“What do you hear?” a cat asks.

“The birds,” I reply. “They whisper.”

“They’re quiet, unless they’re being eaten!” A few cats snicker, but I stand dumbfounded. With the flip of a switch, I’m aware of a whole other ecosystem of behavioral science. I never learned about predator and prey relationships between the animals, though some easy ones can be assumed.

Yonaka appears amongst the other cats and bounces into the air. “I can bring you a dead bird if you want! Yeah!”

“No. No. Don’t do that.” I wave my hand at her. “Please.”

“Come on! It’s fun! You’ll love it!”

“No,” I stress and turn on my heel towards the main house. “Never bring me a dead bird. That would make me very sad.”

“Why?” several cats cry out at my heels.

“Because I value all life, if I can, though there are some people I’m waiting to kill,” I grumble under my breath, flexing my hands. “I don’t even like eating dead animals, but I do it now because I have to.”

“Why?”

“Because I grew up never eating meat. We had fake meats with heavy proteins.”

“Why?”

“Because I used to live in a dome a long way from here, and we didn’t have animals.”

“Why?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, the headache pounding straight to my sinuses and eyes through the pain killers. Dealing with cats is exactly like dealing with children, not my forte when I have so little patience.

“Gotta go!” I call out, lengthening my step and making it to the main door in another few seconds. “I’m expected in a meeting.” A cat tries to jump in the door as I slide it open, but I stick my foot out. “You can’t come in. Sorry. I need some peace so I can think.” I close the door and latch it behind me, letting out a held breath. I wonder if Momo is like these crazy beasts.

I wander through the house, encountering dogs, cats, guinea pigs, foxes, and parrots scattered through almost every room. I didn’t even notice how many animals are in this house until they were talking to me. Foxes have a low, chattery sound to them, and guinea pigs seem a happy bunch, giggling and munching on food. Parrots have harsh, deep voices and love to interrupt conversations until someone puts them out of a room.

I finally find Lucy, Sakai, Jiro, and my two head doctors going over my medical records. I stand in the doorway for a moment while they lean over photos of me, my incision, and charts of data.

“I had no idea my health was so interesting to so many people.” Their heads snap to me, and Jiro leaps up to make room at the table.

“Hi!” Yonaka slinks through my feet before I can move.

“I thought I told you to wait outside.”

“I know, but I want to be with you!”

“How did you get in?”

“Through a window, of course!”

“Ugh. Fine. You can sit and sleep but don’t interrupt.”

“Okay!”

I turn back to the humans in the room. Sakai has a small smile on his face and the doctors’ mouths are wide open.

“You can understand the animals now?”

“I can. I’m trying to decide if it’s a blessing or a curse.” I sit down cross-legged, Yonaka climbs into my lap, circles twice and lies down. I sigh. She’s warm and soft, even if she’s annoying. “My brain hurts today.”

“Did you take painkillers?”

“Yes. Two, about thirty minutes ago.”

I’m scanned by Doctors Yomiuchi and Kurokawa, and they’re silent as they type away on their tablets. Rai Oda and his head doctor join us.

“You are doing remarkably well. Very little swelling at the incision site and along the path to the chip. Your blood pressure is a little high, as is your resting heart rate. You will need to take it easy for the next few days. If you see here…” Dr. Yomiuchi turns his tablet to me, but I wave him off.

“Please don’t waste your breath. Medical situations are a foreign language to me.”

He nods his head, turning off his tablet and setting it aside. “We’re quite pleased Mr. Oda has provided us with details and chips of our own to experiment with and dissect. We’d like to offer this technology to others in the colonization.”

An eruption of whispers rides a wave of breeze into the room through an open window. A steady chill prickles along my neck and shoulders.

“Close the window, please. I’m not used to birds yet.”

Rai’s eyebrows pull together. “Do you hear the birds outside?”

“Yes, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Just whispers.”

Yonaka wakes and stretches, her paws spreading wide and hooking her claws onto my sleeve.

“I promised to get you a bird!”

I shush her and place my finger on her nose. “Please stop shouting all the time. I don’t want a dead bird, but thanks for offering.”

Rai leans out to the hallway, calls for Namika, and she runs in. “She can understand cats and can hear the birds too,” he says, grabbing at her arm.

“Dogs as well, Papa.” Both their eyes are wide.

“Is this normal?” Lucy asks.

Rai ignores her. “What other animals can you hear?”

I think back on my trip through the house. “The guinea pigs were giggling and talking about grass? Not really sure. They didn’t seem bright. The parrot was droning on about some other bird. He kept interrupting two ladies having tea, and they had to put a blanket over his cage and stick him outside. Two foxes were lying on a bed, chattering about a woman…” I snap my fingers trying to recall the conversation.

“Kisuri. They are paired with my groundskeeper.”

“That’s all the animals I’ve seen so far. What about your flying squirrel, Rocky?”

Rocky peeks his head out of Rai’s pocket, and in a tiny, high-pitched voice, he says hi. I greet him back as Rai’s face pales.

“And you feel okay?” he asks.

I shrug my shoulders. “Sure. The cats are a little annoying, but I don’t feel that much different. I just have a headache.”

Rai clasps his hands together in prayer position. “Tennō Heika, we’re blessed you came to us. Thank you. Thank you,” he repeats as he bows down to me. “No one has ever heard more than two, maybe three, animal species, and most people don’t understand more than their own pairing with one animal. One. You are exceptional. You’re the one we’ve been waiting for.”

The hair on my arms rises, and no amount of heat from Yonaka can make me feel warm again. Rai has switched to using the royal term for me, Tennō Heika, and his deference knocks me over. I wasn’t expecting this to change our dynamic.

“You’re all doing a great job of pumping up Sanaa’s ego. Just what she needs.” Kentaro enters the room and sits beside me, hugging me across my shoulders and kissing me on my cheek. My face heats up, pushing out the cold chill. “I’m joking, of course.”

“Please be the comic relief. Everything is way too serious.”

“I went looking for you in your room —”

“I told you where she was, moron,” Namika grumbles.

Kentaro glares at her but then turns his far shoulder to me. “A gift for you.” A tiny brown and white owl, no bigger than a grapefruit, sits on his shoulder, its eyes closed. “Wake up, silly owl.” Kentaro scratches the owl on its head and its eyes open.

“I sleep during the day usually.” He blinks his two round, yellow eyes asynchronously and turns his head to me. “Whoooooo, it’s you! Oh goodness. I was not prepared for this.”

“Hi.” I smile and lean over closer to Kentaro’s shoulder. “You know me?”

“Of course. You’re the royal one? Sanaa? Stick out your hand.”

I hold out my hand, and he jumps from Kentaro’s shoulder to my fingers. “Ow.” I wince as his claws scratch my hand.

“Mind the nails,” he says, and I laugh. I hope I’m not bleeding. “Name me.”

I blink and pull back. This is different. Momo and Kumo came to me before I could understand them and naming them was one of the first things I did. Now, it doesn’t feel correct without knowing the animal better.

“What is your greatest skill?” I ask him, and he clucks his beak a few times, swiveling his head around the room. He pauses on Jiro, blinking his round eyes at him.

“I keep secrets? Others and now yours. Whatever secret you want, you can have.”

This sounds like a good gift to have. I could use more eyes and ears. “Himitsu, then.”

Himitsu jumps from my hand to my shoulder and leans into my ear. I dip my head to his, wondering what this little creature could possibly tell me already. “Here is the first secret I keep. I know the one next to you. He is your mate? He spends his evenings in town without you. Why have I never seen you before?”