Reclaimed – Chapter 33

“Sanaa!”

I burst up to consciousness, gasping for breath, my heart galloping so fast its ready to jump out of my chest and run away. Worried faces hover over me around my bedside. Jiro’s hands are on my face, shaking my head, but my eyes cross and I can’t focus on him. I mumble but whatever comes out of my mouth is incoherent.

“Thank the gods.” Jiro lets go of my face, tears spring to his eyes, and he stalks out of the room, pushing through Cathy, Sakai, and Kentaro. They watch him go, their eyes wide and faces pale. I try to wet my dry tongue and push myself up on the bed, but I can’t. I collapse back into the sheets.

“Lie still,” Cathy says, her hand pressing my forearm down where an IV is hooked up again. The area on my inner elbow is sore and bruised. I can’t move my legs because something is strapped between them. “We had to pump you full of saline to wash whatever was in your system out. You have a catheter in, and I just gave you some epinephrine about a minute ago.” She takes my pulse, her lips silently counting out the beats of my speeding heart. “What did you eat and drink last night?”

“The same thing everyone else did.” I glance at the bedside table, work all my energy to concentrate on it. Something’s missing.

“Well, someone managed to poison you but they weren’t successful, thankfully.” She opens her medical bag on the bed next to me and pulls something out. “Ah, here. Open up.” I open my mouth and she slips in a melt-away strip that dissolves even though I have no saliva left. “I believe the poison was a very strong allergen, something you must be allergic to.” She pulls her shoulder length hair up and whips it into a knot at the back of her head.

Poisoned? I try to put the steps of my previous night in order. I ate, fought with Shiro Koga, came back to the room, and worked until I was so tired I couldn’t stand up anymore.

“I thought… I thought I was just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Cathy purses her lips and changes out a bag of saline. “I have meds you can take for that. Why didn’t you come to me?”

“I don’t want to sleep too soundly. What if someone tries to kill me in the middle of the night and I can’t fight them off?”

Cathy sighs. “This is madness.” She hands the bag of saline to Sakai. “I need more meds from my room. I’ll be right back.”

She leaves but I hear her talking to Jiro outside. I concentrate on the bedside table again and at Kumo sitting at the foot of the bed. He spoke to me last night before…

“Wait! There was a glass of water here I drank before bed. I only took two sips because it made my mouth taste strange, and then I felt incredibly tired and passed out.”

Sakai and Kentaro both shake their heads. “There was nothing on the table when we brought you back in here.”

“Brought me back? From where?” My body starts to tremble in response. I’m so confused. What happened? Kentaro opens the closet door, pulls out another blanket, and covers me up with it.

“We were playing poker last night.” He presses down on the blanket until my shakes start to subside. “Jiro won a huge pot so he decided to call it a night. When we got here, you were gone. We searched the house but you had gone down the stairs to the grass and were talking to the lions.”

“I was what?” My voice cracks.

“You were talking to the lions,” Kentaro insists. “Said one was a merchant and the other a farmer, I think. Crazy stuff. They circled around you, rubbed their manes against your legs and chest, then you just laid down and went back to sleep. You don’t remember any of that?”

I shake my head. This is crazy!

“Well, the Koga ninjas are gone and the lions have replaced them downstairs. Shiro Koga literally disappeared right in front of me,” Sakai says. “His skills are extremely advanced.” His jaw is so tight, the statement comes out like a growl.

“The window was open in here last night, too. I looked out but it’s a steep drop to the ground. It didn’t even occur to me someone may have climbed in.” But in my head, I imagine one ninja hoisting up another and heaving them up to catch the frame of the house and climb in. I could do it, probably, and they’re much more skilled than me.

I push myself up so I can get a clearer view of the bedside table and room. The glass of water I drank from is gone but a slip of paper sits in its place. I point to it and Kentaro picks it up. His eyes sprint over the words written there. “Jiro!” he calls, handing the paper to Sakai.

Jiro flies into the room, sees me sitting up, and takes the piece of paper Sakai hands to him.

“What does it say? Please tell me.” I dissolve into tears, fearing the worst.

“‘I will not do business with cowardly women. Everything on Orihime belongs to the Koga including your son. We’ll come for him when we’re ready to take him as our own.’”

—-

“How could I be so stupid?” Jiro asks, his body curled around mine in the bed. He sent everyone out, stripped down to his underwear and got in bed to keep me warm. The epinephrine wore off, and I couldn’t stop shaking especially with cool water being pumped into me at a high rate. Cathy will return to take me off the catheter in an hour. I’m drowsy on a heavy antihistamine she gave me but hopefully everything will pass in a few hours.

“We were both stupid to trust them. They have us cornered now, the worst kind of sadists. If only we had never met them, maybe we’d be fine.”

“They either want us dead or want our kids. We can’t win.”

“What do we do now?” I close my lips over my chattering teeth for a moment to get my body heat under control. “I can’t continue to make such bad decisions that endanger my own life and those around me. I could have died last night.” I can’t believe I drank the water without even thinking. I saw the glass on the bed stand and trusted it was placed there by someone who meant no harm. I keep water next to the bed on most nights. This wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“We need to move on. We have enemies here. We should continue to pick them off one by one until they’re gone, and we can live in peace.”

A lion’s roar outside shakes the window, and Jiro turns away from me to climb out of bed and open the door. Kumo jumps into Jiro’s place, circles three times, and lies down.

“Keep you warm,” he mutters, his muzzle under his paws.

“Your new allies await you outside,” Jiro says, laughing. “We may not be winning over the people on this planet, but the animals are on our side for sure.”

I can’t get up and go to the door until Cathy takes out the catheter, but I can imagine the scene below. The lions have come to fight with me. I don’t know whether to be grateful or scared for my life. Those beasts could easily tear me limb to limb. They don’t have stealth, but they’re powerful in ways ninjas are not. Lions may not be cunning, but they will chase you until you’re tired enough to give up. Persistence pays.

“We should get going on our mission. Koga knows about our plans and might try to derail them. Godsdammit, I feel like a huge fool. They were supposed to be our ticket out of this mess.” I lift the covers and look down at the drainage bag. Shit. I am, once again, in no shape to travel. How does this keep happening to me?

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jiro says, rushing to the bedside. “You almost died this morning. Cathy gave you epinephrine because your heart slowed all the way down, and we had to start it back up and speed the poison out of your system. You’re not traveling today, maybe not even tomorrow. We have to completely rethink our plan. The Koga know everything about us now. We’ll be walking into a trap if we don’t regroup and change our battle strategy.”

“We need to get going. Kazuo and Julia and everyone else out there in the field are counting on us.”

“Then we’ll go without you, and you’ll stay behind and be safe.”

“No way.” I snap my hand out and grab his shirt. “I know everyone is hoping I keep the imperial lineage alive, but it’s bullshit and you know it. How will you command the animals without me? What is my life worth if I’m not fighting? Nothing. I don’t even matter that much to the colonization. They have elected members who will take care of the population whether I’m alive or dead. I’m a curiosity to them, at best. Let me do what I was meant to do.”

Jiro is silent, unable to argue with me.

“You and Mark and Lucy and Kentaro are pretty much the only people left who give a shit about me. So let’s do this together. Please.”

“No. I refuse to believe we’re the only ones left that care about you. Beni…”

“Will be married soon and have her own family. I’m sure she cares, but she won’t be with me every day.”

“Miko will come around.”

“Maybe but she’s just as stubborn as you.”

“Helena doesn’t hate you,” he insists.

“She doesn’t like me either right now.”

“What about my mother? Things were easier with her before the kidnapping.”

I hesitate, too long.

“What?” he asks, danger mounting in his voice.

I cave. “She confronted me before we left to negotiate with the Koga. She told me to leave you behind and demanded I give my ring back to her.”

His eyes are wide and mouth open.

“Whatever. She hates me. She’d be happy if I died in a ditch somewhere.”

“No,” he moans. “She wouldn’t.”

“Jiro, love…” I grab his hand and squeeze. “She said those exact words to me. And there’s nothing I can do about it. How many times have we had this conversation? We can’t make people love me. We can’t protect me forever. You tried to keep me in a safe place, and I nearly died from being cooped up. At least if I die out here, I was living my life, not just wasting it away.”

He opens his mouth a few times, probably to debate about his mother, before he gives up and bobs his head back and forth. I’ve convinced him.