Reclaimed – Chapter 39

Sakai, Julia, Natsu, and Taya follow me along the sidewalk to the burning theater. We press ourselves to the building fronts as frightened citizens sprint out and away from the center of town, lions on their tails. Little kids are picked up and dragged away by adults, a fear of being eaten overriding the anger at Miura.

The front theater doors are propped open, two men with bows and arrows picking off people left in the streets. Already a dozen people lie sprawled out on the ground, arrow shafts protruding from their necks or bellies, staring wide-eyed up at the clear blue sky. I swallow to keep the bile in my stomach. There’s so much blood, puddles of it. The last time I saw that much blood was in the theater collapse in Nishikyō. My hands and body were covered in it.

We keep to the sidewalks where we can hide behind trashcans and carts left in the street. I crouch down behind a barrel, stash my bow and quiver next to it, and peer into the theater. The layout of the main floor is a standard kabuki structure, a stage with a jutting walkway into an empty floor where the crowd would stand. Movement on the stage flits in and out of view but I can’t tell who’s there. I hope it’s Miura. I don’t want to have to go searching for him when the top half of the building is on fire.

“Don’t you want to keep your kit?” Sakai asks, jerking his chin at the quiver hidden between a trash can and the pillar of the store’s porch over us.

“It’ll only get in the way. I’m not as precise with the bow as I am with my sword.”

“Miura’s been imprisoning people, killing others, and trying to build an army here,” Julia says, panting at my side as we run towards an alley next to the theater and around the back. “He didn’t realize this was a community of artists. Not the ideal soldiers.”

A mural on the wall of the back of the theater looms over us, the two-story tall depiction of an actor in kimono already on fire. The back alley is quiet, no one in sight. I survey the area in both directions and come up empty. Why is no one here guarding the back entrance? I thought for sure this was where I’d have to draw Kazenoho first.

Ginza slinks around the corner in that way only foxes can, first paws, then nose, and tail hugging the wall.

“They’re attempting to put out the fire. Dogs and cats are on the prowl for more people to evacuate. Your enemy is on the stage with two other men.”

I nod, filing away the status report. “My owl. Have you seen Himitsu?”

“No. I’ll look for him.” He scampers off.

“Natsu, Taya, and Julia, you in first. Circle around to the right of the stage. Mark and I will come in and go left. We’ll converge on the stage and hope to corner Miura there. Keep an eye out for Maeda.”

Julia cracks open the door, the building exhaling a light streak of smoke at us. My eyes water and lungs try to cough but I hold them still. Julia creeps into the building with Natsu and Taya right behind her.

“Sanaa, keep Kazenoho at the ready,” Sakai instructs me, drawing a knife from his belt and two throwing stars. I unsheathe my sword and enter the theater, Sakai behind me. The walls are painted black and the lights are extinguished. Coming from the bright daylight outside to the dark theater, my eyesight is useless. I can’t see a thing. We pause for a moment as the door swings closed behind us, plunging us into a starless night.

The stage is to the rear of a heavy curtain, and I can barely see onto it through gaps in the red velvet fabric. I trip over two heavy ropes, cursing under my breath. If only I could stop to let my eyes adjust. I edge around electrical equipment to get a better look at my surroundings and strain my ears to hear anything. They’re still sensitive from surgery and can hear things I never used to be able to pick up before. The area is eerily silent, the sound of my breath and Sakai’s.

Wait. Three distinct breaths.

“You forgot to check your rear,” a high voice behind me cries, with the metallic ting of a sword being drawn.

Sachi steps out of the shadows and lunges for Sakai. He dodges to the right and throws two metal shuriken at her. She ducks both easily. Her eyes were adjusted. Ours were not.

Now Sakai only has a short knife. I spring forward but pull back swiftly, as he comes at her low, a blur of knife that slices across her upper thigh. She cries out and stomps on his foot. He falls backwards over a rope coiled on the floor.

His descent is maddeningly slow to me, every wave of his hand heavy and exaggerated. I’m cemented into place as time skips to a stop, then jerks into action.

“Mark!” I cry, as Sachi’s sword pierces his stomach. My whole world spins, my face prickling with cold dread. No!

I launch into the air, Kazenoho out and stab Sachi in the left shoulder as she’s trying to pull her sword from Sakai’s belly. She grunts, her right hand pushing to staunch the flow of blood and her weaker hand holding her sword. Sakai falls to the floor, but I jump over him after Sachi as she sprints to the door. Glancing around for another weapon, I pick up a heavy metal hook and throw it at her, hoping to hit her in the head and stop her, but the hook collides with her back. She trips but keeps going, her short, straight hair flying around her face. Her legs are longer than mine, and she’s more fit than I am. I can’t catch her.

She opens the door and sprints out into the daylight. If I go out after her, I’ll lose my eyesight advantage and abandon Sakai and my mission. I turn back into the theater and run to Sakai.

“Mark,” I cry, my hands over his belly, blood seeping through the cracks in my fingers. “Shit this is bad. I can’t… I can’t… You can’t die. I won’t let you.”

If only I knew something about anatomy, I could help him! He could be saved!

“Shhh, Sanaa. I’ve missed your mother so much. Thank you for bringing her back to me.” He coughs, blood leaking from the side of his mouth. “Tell Lucy how much I loved her.” His breathing ceases, his chest still. Tears course from my eyes and fall onto his face, the face I’ve loved for a year, the face my mother loved for most of her life. I wipe my hands roughly on his shirt and crouch over him. Holding his cheeks gently, I lay a swift kiss on his lips, brush his hair from his forehead, and close his eyes.

Why? Sakai didn’t deserve this.

I sit for a brief moment, less than a breath, and watch Sakai’s soul leave, taking a part of me with him and changing my whole outlook on life. Love is brighter, more elusive. Sadness is heavier, omnipresent. All decisions are life and death, no middle ground, no ambivalence. I will fight until I have nothing left to give.

Hot, burning rage bursts into my chest, the dragon alive and furious.

I leap from Sakai, through the curtain with Kazenoho out. Julia and her team are on the other side, approaching Miura and two of his men, back to back, trying to defend themselves. Julia crouches and slinks along the side of them, her movements cat-like, a lion on the prowl for a kill. I glance past the stage to the floor, and Maeda is bound and gagged, lying on his side. His chest rises and falls in swift beats, his eyes darting between us. The doors to the theater are still open, and one of Miura’s men lies dead, the other working to fend off the approaching mob.

I have less to care about in this world now that Sakai is gone. I can’t believe he’s gone. Though my face is streaked with tears, the desire to kill, to right wrongs, flares up inside of me. I don’t bother to stop and negotiate with Miura. I run straight at his guards.

One steps forward to deal with me. He’s easily twice my size but I’m faster and more responsive. He raises his sword high so I drop and roll towards him, kicking his legs and landing him on his side. I pop up and drive Kazenoho straight down into his chest. The bubble and gurgle of his life ending register somewhere far back in my head.

Add another death to the list of the many I’ve killed.

The other man on Miura’s side breaks off, but Julia sprints forward from the side, swipes and cuts his upper arm, twirls around and stabs him in the belly, the chest, and finally straight across the throat. He never even swung his sword, she was so fast.

Miura’s other man, his face pasty white, jumps from the stage and runs for the door. “Get back here!” Miura yells but the man makes it to the sidewalk only to be killed by a Tsūka citizen with a sword.

Miura edges towards me, alternating between Julia on his left and me on his right. I’ve never seen him carry a sword and his grip is awkward and unpracticed. Something tells me he hasn’t trained in several years.

“Give up!” I take another step towards him.

A loud pop from above startles us as a fiery chunk of the ceiling explodes downward. Taya and Natsu dive from the stage to avoid a shower of sparks and flaming debris. Julia falls into the curtain, and I stumble backward in time to witness a rafter swing down and collide with Miura, sending him flying onto the main floor.

“Oh my gods.” I drop my sword at my side. Miura is a lifeless lump, and the whole building groans and creaks. Flames crawl up the main curtain, and the stage buckles below my feet.

“Julia!” I edge around the wreckage, and the fire on the curtain singes my right arm and hair. Searing, biting pain erupt on my arm and head, and I scream and bat my head with my hand to extinguish my hair. Julia pulls herself up, holding her shoulder.

“I’m okay,” she says, wincing. “It’s just dislocated.” She wrenches her arm up with an audible pop and screams, throwing her arm back into its socket. I dry heave at the pain on her face, it’s so intense. She begins to shake, so I put my arm around her waist, and we gingerly make our way to the stairs as quickly as we can.

The smoke in the theater thickens, making it hard to tell what’s going on around us. I start to hack as I approach Miura’s unmoving figure on the ground. Is he dead? No. He’s still breathing. Maybe I should kill him right now? I reach for Kazenoho but am interrupted by a stream of foxes and dogs entering the theater from the outside, sniffing and searching the surrounding area for survivors.

“Over here!” I yell to them, and Ginza approaches with several animals in tow. “I don’t think there’s anyone left in here but us.” A racking cough doubles me over.

“Kōtaigō, you must leave immediately.”

“I know. I know.” I pat him on the head as Maeda stares at me. Natsu and Taya release Maeda from his gag and bindings, undoing lengths of rope around his wrists and legs. He groans as he stands up and rubs his sore hands, then growls and lunges forward to kick Miura in the belly.

“Hey!” I yell at him. “Help me get him outside!”

“You’re not going to free him, are you?” Maeda’s hair is wild, and with his suit stripped away and only a dirty t-shirt on, he looks deadlier than usual. I consider for a brief moment that he’s not my ally. Right now, though, we are teamed on the same side.

“No, but I’m not going to leave him here where he can regain consciousness and escape.”

Maeda nods and we both reach under Miura’s arms to drag him out of the theater.

“Are you talking to animals now, Miss Itami?” he asks as we descend the stairs. “Or have I truly lost my mind?”

I ignore him. There’s no time for chit chat. We get to the door as more of the ceiling above the stage collapses and a giant fireball consumes the surrounding area. Dogs and foxes run from the door, screeching and yelling.

“Out of the way!” I call out once we’re outside. People scatter. The fire fighting team has the fire hoses hooked up to the hydrants, spraying down the roof and buildings next door. I drop Miura on the ground and kneel next to him. His chest rises and falls, moaning softly. He’s alive, but not for long. Ginza runs to my side.

“When we didn’t see you, we feared the worse,” he says, resting his paws on my shoulder and stroking his cold nose across my cheek. “We’ll take care of your hostage. The cats are evacuating buildings, and the lions are clearing out the town except for emergency crews. Dogs are sniffing people out.” I nod as Ginza climbs onto Miura’s chest and sits there, his bushy tail twitching over his paws.

Standing up, I put my hand over my mouth and watch the theater crumble. “Mark!” I scream at the wreckage, my voice swallowed up with the rush of water and roar of the flames. I want to sprint back in and bring his body out, but as the roof collapses, I resign myself. It’s too late. We barely got out in time. We’ll have to find his body later. I need to find his body later. Lucy deserves as much.

“Sanaa!” The sound of Jiro’s voice startles me. I expected to never see him alive again after all of this.

I spin around and peer through the smoke.

Jiro, Kentaro, and Kazuo have Sachi surrounded.