Reclaimed – Chapter 5

Julia arrives the next morning while Kentaro, Usagi, and Hiro play soccer in the front courtyard. Their shouts and challenges echo off the buildings, drawing staff members to the porch to cheer and heckle at each goal scored. I sip on coffee and glance up from my tablet when murmurs from the guards reach my spot. Heads turn as Julia approaches the front gate, dressed in camouflage from head to toe and carrying a large black duffel bag. Her two assistants, Natsu and Taya, follow behind. Soccer play ceases as they speak with the guards and are given admittance to the property. I rise from my cushion on the porch and meet them half way across the gravel.

“You must be Julia. I’m Sanaa Itami. Thank you for coming so swiftly.” I thrust out my hand to her, and she drops her bag on the gravel, wipes the palm of her hand on her pant leg, and shakes with me, a strong, confident grip. Her hands are rough and calloused and she’s at least a head taller than me, though most people are. “Have you been traveling for long? Would you care to rest or wash up?” I clasp my hands in front of me and she laughs.

“Is this how it’s going to be? You’re gonna soften me up?”

Natsu, her male assistant behind her, snickers, while Taya bursts into a blush.

I smile politely, ignoring the fact that they are being rude to me in my own house. “I’m merely being a good host. You’re to be my guest for the next two days while we plan out our trip to the North and go over your contract.”

“Look,” she says, the one word injected with hostility as her hands settle on her hips. “I already told Maeda. I’m not for sale. I work for him, not some wealthy princess who doesn’t want to get her hands dirty.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Wealthy princess, that’s a good one.” I glance down at my Nishikyō grays, my utter lack of makeup or jewelry except for my ring. I am a poor excuse for royalty most days.

“You should reconsider your position,” Kentaro says, tucking the soccer ball under his arm, away from Hiro. “Sanaa is about as far from being a princess as I am. Wealthy, though? She can offer you more than Maeda can.”

Julia’s keen stare slides between Hiro, Usagi, and then Kentaro. Kentaro raises his eyebrows at her, flirtatious-like, and she rolls her eyes in response.

“Sanaa is a murderer,” Hiro blurts out, spitting on the ground near my feet. I stand where I am. “Don’t trust her or you may be killed too.”

Usagi smacks him upside the head. “Will you stop it already? If you keep this up, she’s going to send you to the orphanage.”

“I’ll do no such thing.” I narrow my eyes at Usagi. Don’t cause a ruckus. “Hiro will always have a home with me even if he doesn’t want it.”

Hiro kicks rocks at me and sprints into the house, slamming the sliding door behind him. Usagi sighs and turns to head inside. “I’ll go talk to him. Again.”

“What’s that all about?” Julia asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

“A difference of opinion. Hiro believes it’s my fault his parents are dead, but it’s really Taira’s fault. Tomio Miura, head of Clan Taira, executed his parents. Julia, Natsu, Taya, you are all welcome to stay the night here. Relax, use the bath house, eat dinner alone or with us tonight. Please stick around till tomorrow when we discuss your contract. I know you work for Maeda and have been happy with him, but I offer something he cannot.”

“What might that be?” Julia hasn’t budged, her black utility boots glued to the ground since we greeted each other.

I turn from her and head back to the porch. “Adventure!” I throw my arms up into the air and twirl around. “And a chance to travel the continent farther than you can reach on foot or horseback in a week. Wouldn’t want to pass that up, would you?”

—-

Contract negotiations proceed on course once Julia examines the maps and satellite images Sakai and Lucy lay out on the dining room table. She pours over every single map, every photo, every piece of data we have. She chews on her fingernails and hums, bent over the table, propped on her elbows, her ass swinging in the air behind her. Kentaro’s eyes swivel back and forth watching it. Lucy pinches his arm, and he swats her hand away. Come to think of it, I doubt he’s been laid since we landed, so I shouldn’t be surprised. With new blood in the house when he just admitted to liking women again and all that, I should expect the same from most of the men.

“Okay,” Julia says, plopping her butt down on the seat. Kentaro’s mouth twists in displeasure. “Here’s my previous route through the continent. Once we were adapted to Yūsei’s gravity, we traveled north to Izumo where we skirted the city on all sides, then we followed the rivers into this mountain town…”

“Takayama.” Sakai points to the map. “This is the town of our new allies, the Rokkaku.”

Julia nods. “They seemed like fine folks. We camped in the woods around the town and spent one day at an onsen.”

Damn, I missed the onsens in Takayama. I would have loved to have seen them, but it’s not like I spent much time there before we had to bomb the pass and leave.

“From there, we headed to the middle of the continent. We traveled along the center irrigation river to the farming town of Mino.”

Her finger stops poised above the map.

“I have contacts there now,” Kentaro interrupts. “A man who runs a ryokan and another who owns an izakaya. They both were very helpful and sympathetic while I was on the road. I stored my belongings with them, and nothing was missing when I got them back.”

Julia makes a note in her tablet. I peek over her shoulder and her notes database is over thousands of items deep with photos, text, and videos. A kindred spirit. My tablet is just as crazy.

“We continued from Mino and circled the mountain that sits on the northern edge of the black lake.”

I reach around Julia and scroll the map to the area she’s describing. “This mountain here?” A dark mountain hovers over a lake the same color. I’ve studied this part of the map before and wondered why the region is so black. My original thought was the soil must be rich, much like compost we use in the garden here at the estate.

“Yeah. They call it Akuyama, evil mountain, and I’ve been to some of the creepiest places on Earth, but this one is beyond anything I have ever dealt with. The soil and rocks of the region are all black. When I tested them, they had a rich carbon make-up that was so foreign, our devices didn’t know what to do with it. Kuroku Lake was black and thick, viscous.” She rubs her fingers together, her eyes unfocused, before concentrating on the map again. “See this line here? This is where the fresh water runs into the lake. It happens slowly, almost like a barrier. I saw bears here on the banks catching fish that got stuck trying to swim into the lake. I’m not sure if anything lives in it.”

“You didn’t bathe or go in?” Sakai asks, rubbing his chin.

“No,” she shakes her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t mean to sound stupid or silly, but I was creeped out by it. Everything felt out of place — extraterrestrial — which sounds strange because we’re not on Earth anymore but… I don’t know.”

Taya clears her throat, the first noise she’s made all day. “I dipped my feet in the water. It was so thick, the lake barely made any waves. Julia called me back to shore after only a minute because she wanted to get away from the area, but the blisters I accumulated from weeks of walking were gone later that day…”

Julia rolls her eyes at Taya, and she dips her head.

Lucy looks between the two women. “Are you implying this lake water has healing properties?”

“Maybe,” Taya says at the same time Julia says, “No.”

“Aaah!” Julia grabs at the braid over her shoulder. “The place made my skin crawl. I am never going back there. I don’t care what it does.”

I pick up my tablet and make a note, “Be sure to check out black lake and mountain.”

“Moving on,” Jiro prompts from the other side of the room. “Where were you when Maeda called?”

“South of here. We hightailed it out of the Akuyama region and back towards Yamato. I planned on hiring a boat to get to the island off the South Coast. The locals call it Minami Island, and it’s largely uninhabited, but we were called here first.”

I’ve seen the tip of that island from the beach, but most days it’s nothing but a smudge on the horizon.

Jiro scrolls the map on the tablet away from Yamato in the South. “Our plan is to shuttle in to this area outside Zenyama. We were just there at a small village and left our ally, Arata Sasaki, behind to gather supplies.”

“Why did you return?” Julia asks, her arms folded over her chest.

“I had to attend to health issues and have my implant repaired.” I rub my thumb over the injection spot for my new implant in my left arm. This one is supposed to work, and let’s hope so because I have too much to do to become pregnant again. “I’m a bit weaker than I usually am. I lost a lot of blood, and I’ve been sick for some time.” I swallow before taking a sip of water. “So this is why I need the extra help.”

Julia narrows her eyes at me. “Do you have some sort of disease?”

“May I remind you who you’re speaking to right now, and that you are bound by a confidentiality clause you signed when you walked into this building?” Lucy stands up to her full height.

“I’m not likely to forget. Even Maeda didn’t make me sign one of those things.” She looks around at our grave faces. “What’s going on here? This isn’t just about traveling the continent.”

“No, and you should know what you’re getting yourself into before you sign the contract.” I sit myself back down and gesture for her to sit across from me. Closing my eyes for a moment, I prepare myself to relive the last few weeks. “I was kidnapped by Tomio Miura, head of Clan Taira, a little over a month ago. He dragged me all over the east side of the continent for days while I was in the early stages of pregnancy, sick, and in pain. He then sold me to Fujiwara to gain control of cities on the East Coast and build an army. Fujiwara wanted to keep me as a slave and breed more of my line, but thankfully, I was rescued before that could happen. Before we could return to Yamato, we were attacked and chased through the Northern Territory for weeks, and… I lost my baby only a few days ago.”

Julia licks her lips and stares at the maps.

“So it’s now my mission to gather the population, usurp Fujiwara…” I punctuate by driving my index finger into the table. “Lay waste to Clan Taira, and reclaim this world for its people, for anyone willing to live in equality and peace. I need you and your skills. I need to know what we can eat and drink on the road. I need you to find the safest places to lodge or camp, teach others what you know, and fight if we’re attacked.” I turn the tablet to her with the contract on it. “It’s all outlined here. What do you say? Join us?”

Everyone waits as Julia sits stone still and locks eyes with me. She breathes out a light laugh that builds to a chuckle and an all-out guffaw. Throwing her head back, she claps her hands together. “Sounds awesome. Sign me up.”

—-

Beni waits out in the hallway, stalking the dining room, walking back and forth a hundred times before the meeting is over.

“Beni?” Julia exclaims, dropping her bag and throwing her arms around Beni’s neck. Her body is wooden and stiff. “I haven’t seen you in ages! Not since I was ten or so. How are you? How are your mother and father? Are they here? I’ve missed them too.”

Beni clears her throat, and I place my hand on her arm to calm her. “They died, in the earthquake before we left Nishikyō.”

“Oh my gods. Beni, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Julia’s face pales as Beni’s tears streak down her face. “Why didn’t you message me?”

“I did,” Beni cries, punctuating her pain by stamping her foot. “Several times. All the messages came back as undeliverable. I only had Mariko…”

Julia’s eyebrows pull together. “Your second cousin on your mother’s side, right?”

“Why didn’t you write back? Why didn’t you return to Nishikyō?” Beni swipes the tears from her face. I reach into my obi and hand her a handkerchief.

“I… I didn’t know, Beni. I swear. I was in South America, in the jungles, training. Everything down there…” Julia swallows, her eyes wide and distant. “Everything was mutated and wrong. The radiation was harsh… Tablets didn’t work. I was dark for almost three years. I’ve been told I can’t have babies because the DNA in my eggs is all messed up.” She sighs. “I’m sorry. It was a very hard time for me.”

“I never understood you,” Beni says, sighing. “Why did you even do it? You could have stayed in Nishikyō with your family.”

Julia shrugs her shoulders. “My parents died long before yours. Yours offered to take me in, but there was this chance to really do something with my life. Something fun. I took it. Wouldn’t you have done the same?”

Beni laughs through her tears. “I signed up with Sanaa. Trust me. It’s enough excitement to last two lifetimes.”

“Sanaa, you wanted to see me?” Kazuo is right behind me and I didn’t hear him approach. I squeal and knock into Beni, who covers her face with the handkerchief.

“Everyone needs to stop sneaking up on me! Maybe I should get my hearing checked.”

Julia and Beni turn to go but I halt Julia by placing my hand on her shoulder. “Beni, get some rest. We’ll see you at dinner.” Beni shuffles off down the hallway to her room.

“Is everything all right?” Kazuo asks, bowing. He’s more polite than he used to be, which is a comfort.

I sigh again. What an emotional day already. “Fine. Everything’s fine. I want to introduce you to your new boss. Kazuo, this is Julia. Julia, Kazuo.”

Kazuo sighs and Julia frowns.

“Julia, I promised you a staff. Kazuo is… skilled at deception and concealment. I think he would benefit from a career change, though. Something a little more in keeping with this new world we find ourselves on.”

“When you said, ‘staff,’ I was thinking more along the lines of extra men and women to help carry the tents and man the horses.”

“You’ll have those, too, but I’m invested in Kazuo’s future now. He needs other skills than the ones he currently has.”

The two stop and assess each other. Julia purses her lips and scans her eyes down Kazuo’s body, even angling to the right to see his backside. He folds his arms across his chest.

“What kind of skills do you currently have?” Julia asks, flicking on her tablet.

“Murdering, poisoning, and kidnapping.” He nods his head with each item.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Julia says, waving her hand between us. Kazuo backs up a step. “I don’t know what you think I do. I slaughter animals and defend myself, but I’m not an assassin.”

“And neither is Kazuo anymore. Please teach him skills he can use until he’s on his own.”

Julia hesitates and I think that she’s about to up and quit, but she clamps her mouth shut and nods her head.

“Good.” I sweep my kimono out of the way and leave them both, but I don’t get farther than the courtyard when Kazuo catches up to me.

“On my own? What’s going on?” He grabs my shoulder but I shrug it off and stop, spinning around to face him. I wish I wasn’t so short so I could be at eye level.

“I’m sorry, but this is the way it’s got to be. I thought about this while we were on the road and while I was recovering here. I don’t believe that you belong with us.”

“After all I’ve done?”

“I… I might still be pregnant if you had never kidnapped me and put me through that ordeal.” I push away the tears and let the anger grow instead. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m grateful for your help in the end. But between losing the baby and what you did to Helena, I can’t keep you on my staff permanently. My heart” — I pound on my chest with my fist — “tells me it’s wrong. You can stay with us until we accomplish our mission or die trying. You can learn new skills and start something different with your life. Maybe even find some way to serve a different family or a native family, one more honorable than Taira. But after everything I went through, I need space from you.”

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to give me?” Kazuo’s voice climbs, the threat of anger slapping me across the face. I’m not carrying a weapon in my own house, but perhaps I should start.

“Hey! Kazuo! Back away from her right now,” Sakai yells coming at us from across the courtyard. His long strides cross the distance between us quickly.

Instead of stepping back, Kazuo moves into my personal space. “I gave up my sister and made enemies with Taira and Fujiwara to follow you, and you’re going to cut me loose?”

Sakai steps between us and pushes Kazuo away from me. “She’s giving you more than you deserve. This is a rare opportunity to train with someone like Saito. If it had been my choice, I would have killed you the same day as Minamoto. You’re lucky to be alive, and that’s thanks to Sanaa.”

Kazuo glances between Sakai and me, huffs, turns around, and leaves. Usagi watched the confrontation from the porch. He dips his head and silently thanks me. I would do just about anything for Helena, and even this will never be enough to make up for all the pain I’ve caused her. I hope this is a good start.