Reclaimed – Chapter 27

“I wish I could get some sleep,” I say, yawning and rubbing my eyes. I sit cross-legged on the edge of the landing field, my tablet on my lap, and Ginza sitting beside me.

“You were both asleep when we arrived last night,” Ginza says, sitting back to gnaw at an itchy spot on his hind quarters.

“It was the first time I slept in days, and even so, I only slept for three or four hours.” My tablet blurs as my eyes cross, several alerts popping up in the corner of my screen for building assistance in Yamato. I silence them and navigate to my message inbox, only official correspondence remains unread. I’ve already read the note from my aunts three times that they’ve moved into the estate, each time hoping to hear news about anyone else left there. No one has responded to any of the messages I sent to Miko, Yoichi, Helena, and Usagi. Nothing from any of them.

I didn’t even bother to write anything personal to Mariko. She put her feelings out in the open, and I’m not going to challenge them. I glance over at Jiro, on his tablet a few paces from me, and wonder when I should tell him about the confrontation I had with her.

I should tell him, right? I can’t decide. On one hand, he should know what she said to me and how she demanded I give her the ring, but I’m afraid he will only confront her and make things worse. It’s not like his insistence will change her mind. Sakai has spoken to her. Lucy has spoken to her. Jiro will be enraged.

But if I don’t say anything and pretend it never happened, I might spare everyone the trouble. Sure I’ll bear the worst of Mariko’s ire because it’s not like she’s ever going to stop telling me she hates me, but at least I’ll be the only one who suffers from it.

Screw it. I’m not saying anything. I’ll do just about anything to keep the peace, it seems.

I focus on my tablet, navigate to the medical screen, and look at my birth control implant, currently turned off.

“What’s this?” Jiro asks, suddenly at my ear. I squeal and jump, my heart beating at ten times its usual pace, and knock the tablet on the ground.

“What? What?” Himitsu, previously curled into a ball in the top-most pocket of my bag, wakes up and looks around.

“Oh my gods, don’t sneak up on me when I’m so tired.” I reach for my tablet, my fingers brushing the edge, before Jiro has it in his hands.

“Why is your birth control implant turned off?” His eyes flick over the screen, and my stomach grows hollow. “It says you deactivated it almost a week ago. What’s going on here? I thought we agreed to leave it on until this mess was over?”

I peel myself off the ground slowly, my legs aching from constant exercise and no rest. “We did agree, and then…” I bite my lip as he stares steadily at me. “I had a change of heart.”

“You had a change of heart?”

“I… I thought about how wrecked we were after losing the baby, and I just… I just wanted to fix it. I feel like I have no control over anything, and I wanted this so badly. For us.”

He stares blankly at me then at my tablet. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

Because I didn’t want to admit that I followed him. I didn’t want to admit that my heart was misguided and worried. I need to be strong, not some cowering woman like Koga believes I am.

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” My cheeks flush, both embarrassed by my white lie and the fact that my statement is true at the same time. I was going to surprise him with a pregnancy. I was hoping the news would come when we needed it most. “I’m sorry. It was a stupid idea. I want to turn it back on again.”

“Good,” he says, handing my tablet to me. “Turn it back on and leave it on.”

Shame heats my skin to solar levels. I swipe the controls and turn the implant back on again. A warning pops up on screen, “A one-week lag time has been detected. Ovulation can occur in a minority of patients within three days of implant deactivation. Please check with your doctor as soon as possible.”

“Uh oh.” I tip the tablet to Jiro, and his eyes narrow as he reads the warning.

“Well, it’s a chance we’ll have to take for now. Just leave the damned thing on.” He huffs, pushing his hands through his hair. “I’m not so sure I want those Koga idiots influencing our son anyway.”

“Really?” I ask, shoving my tablet in my bag. The distant whine of our approaching shuttle makes us both turn to the North.

“You heard the way he talked about women.” Jiro takes my hand in his. “No child of mine will be taught such hate.”

My heart swells with pride, and I silently thank Koichi for raising wonderful kids. I used to thank Mariko for this too but now I doubt everything about her.

“So, you no longer want children?” I edge into his side. “I’ll understand, if you don’t. I really don’t like the way we just sold our first-born son to a bunch of mad men, and he isn’t even born yet. I don’t think I’d be a very good parent the more I think about it.”

“You’d be an amazing mother, Sanaa. You’re kind and selfless, always putting other people’s needs above your own. I’ll admit it’s difficult to think of us having kids with all they’d have to go through, but…” He pauses and kisses the top of my head. The shuttle clears the tree tops and comes to a landing on the far side of the clearing. “Let’s wait and see what happens.”

We pick up our bags to head towards the shuttle but Ginza stays put.

“Are you coming with us?” I ask.

“No. You go. My fox brothers and sisters will see you soon.” He stands and runs into the forest, his bushy tail twitching in the air.

“I guess he’s not coming along?” Jiro asks.

“No, and I wonder why foxes are the most easy to understand of all the animals. No weird dialect. No funny way of saying things.”

“They’re the oldest of animals associated with humans,” Jiro says, leading me towards the shuttle. “I would expect them to be the easiest to get along with, if they liked you.”

We’re alone on our shuttle ride. I take the time to recline in a chair, prop my feet up, and doze, listening to the white noise of the shuttle. I briefly dream of the black lake again. Leaning over the side of the boat on the way back, I peered into the water, wondering, hoping to see something in the murky depths. But there was nothing. In my dream, I drag the tips of my fingers on the water and tendrils of the sticky black ooze linger on my skin. Jiro shakes my shoulder awake, and I jerk, my heart skipping a few dozen beats.

“Shhh,” he whispers, hovering over me. The shuttle has stopped, and he’s on his feet, ready to go. “I never tire of watching you sleep.” He smiles, lightly stroking my cheek with his fingers. My cheeks heat and Jiro smiles wider. “I never tire of that either.” He sighs and takes my hand. “What you did this morning was brave…”

“We did,” I correct him.

He nods. “And as much as I want to be up-front with everyone, I think we should keep the details to ourselves. You know Mark. He’ll just be angry with us, and Lucy won’t be happy either. It’s really none of their business anyway what we do with our family.”

“What’s going to stop Koga from telling them?”

His jaw tightens. “Nothing, I suppose.”

“We should just tell them, though I agree with you, it’s none of their business.” I lean over to tighten the laces on my boots, grab my bag, and stand up… way too quickly. The shuttle spins around me for a moment, and I plop my butt down on the seat. “Whoa.” I pinch the bridge of my nose to halt the whirling dervish of shuttle and seats.

“You need to eat and sleep.” Jiro crouches down next to me, his hand on my arm. “Come on.”

He helps me off the shuttle into blinding sunlight and heat. Summer is almost here on Yūsei, and this close to the equator, the temperature is at least ten degrees warmer than it was in the South. I immediately sweat but smile into the sunlight. We’re at the edge of the Nogusa-hara, the walled city of Owari in the distance. This section of the tall grass and wildflowers is cleared, and we’re surrounded by armed guards facing into the grass.

Rai, Sakai, and Arata greet us at the beginning of a path that leads away from the grassy plain to the forest at its edge.

Sakai enfolds me in a hug. His long, undone hair brushes against my collarbone, so uncharacteristic for his usual buttoned-up personage. He lets me go and pulls Jiro in for a hug, too. The way the two men embrace each other, like father and son, deep familial love is evident in the clutch of their shoulders. Sakai’s eyes are older than they used to be, fine lines carved into the edge of his eyelids and between his brows.

“I’m happy to see you both. When you left, I thought that might be the end of you.”

“We…” Jiro hesitates, swallowing and reaching for my hand, “we did our job. The Koga family has allied with us. Shiro Koga and his top-most assassins will be here soon to rendezvous with us.”

Rai’s eyebrows lift-off. “But they are immovable. Never in the history of Orihime, not since landing, has anyone ever allied with the Kuroi Ninjas.”

I really need a glass of water. Between the heat, the betrayal of my own bloodline, and Rai’s burrowing stare, I can barely swallow.

“Time to get to the house,” says one of the guards, his hand to an ear piece. “Spotters have four cats narrowing in on the landing field.” He points to a lookout tower on the edge of the forest. A glint of sunlight, possibly reflected off a pair of binoculars, shines in our direction.

“Cats? What cats?” I glance around my feet, but no cats appear. If anyone is to attract cats, it’s me.

“Not here,” Rai says, taking me by the shoulder and directing us down the path towards the forest. “Out there, in the grass. The Cats of the Nogusa-hara. Mainly lions and a cross-bred jaguar leopard called jagupards. They’re violent and no one has ever paired with them. At least, no one who has lived to tell us if they did.”

Rai’s steps hasten, but I grab his sleeve and stop him.

“Wait. Wait.” I point to Jiro and Sakai. “Up,” I instruct. Both stare at each other before Sakai crouches down and with Jiro’s assistance I’m lifted into the air on Sakai’s shoulders. I’m only half a meter above the grass, but I can see them on a slope not far from us. A lion, lioness, and two smaller spotted jungle cats stare at me while I stare at them.

“Wow. They’re beautiful! I love them.” I wonder if it’s possible to pair with them. Just imagine the kind of fun that could be had with a lion or jagupard.

They don’t move, but there’s no way I can sit on Sakai’s shoulders all day. I tap his head and jump to the ground.

“They’re big and just sitting there.” I bite on my lip and glance between the men. How am I going to convince someone to take me to the big cats?

Arata laughs. “I’ve seen that look before. When Sanaa wants something, she gets it.”

“Come on,” Rai pleads, directing us to the path. “We have a lot to catch up on.”