Released – Chapter 39

We climb back down the fire escape quickly and motion to Usagi. Hopefully Kentaro figures out we’re about to attack.

Jiro and I walk into the street. This area is quiet, and no one is around, being so far on the outskirts of the ward. The hour is late, and people are already in bed. In ten hours, this playground will be filled with kids running and playing on the equipment. Now, the space is cold and vacant.

Do I draw my sword? Jiro is just standing and waiting. He could be waiting for a train, for all I’d know, he’s so calm and alert. I choose to keep Kazenoho on my back.

Our adversaries exit the playground to the street. We are far outnumbered, but I believe Nobu and Yukio are worthless in this exchange, and I’m certain Risa can’t fight worth a damn.

“Hello, cousins,” Jiro says, and they all stop. Usagi creeps out of the shadows and corners them from behind. “You know, I really don’t think you’ll be taking the Uchiyamas anywhere tonight. They have a lot to answer for.”

Kazuo actually sighs and rolls his eyes. Paired with the annoyance in his voice from earlier, I get the feeling he’s sick of all of this. Isn’t he a trained assassin? Maybe he needs a career change.

Sachi acts quickly. From out of her pocket, she takes a small canister, pops the end, and throws it between us. Smoke billows out of the tiny plastic bomb, and shit, I can’t see anything. Drawing my sword right now would definitely be too dangerous. Before I can reach up to grab my shinobijō, Jiro’s hand is on mine and pulling me off to the side. Footsteps run in each direction.

Risa screams, “Nobody kill me! I’m not ready to die!” Then sobs.

“How she ever thought I’d find her attractive is beyond me. Get your staff out, Sanaa,” Jiro whispers. If we can’t see anyone, then they can’t see us either. Might as well not give up our location if we don’t have to. I draw out the staff and keep it vertical by my side like Kentaro taught me.

From the right, the shiiiiing of a sword being drawn and striking echoes towards us. Usagi? I let Jiro lead through the smoke towards the grunts and clashes of swords. He slowly pulls Oninoten out, his hands flexed and arms tense, and a chill runs up my spine. Watching Jiro use his sword is my favorite thing on earth.

Someone runs past us on our left, another smoke bomb hits the ground with a clink, hissing and spitting out acrid fog. Sachi is doing a good job of keeping us disoriented. Now it sounds like sword fighting is coming from straight ahead, so Jiro and I stop for a moment to reorient ourselves.

Five footsteps and a yell rings out before I turn and block Sachi who comes straight down on me from the smoke with a staff. We block left, right, left, right. She sweeps, and I jump back and knock into Jiro who didn’t want to strike because I was in the way. I duck down, and he lunges over me with a stab that would have hit Sachi squarely in the chest if she hadn’t jumped back. She runs off into the smoke with a high pitched squeal and cackle. I didn’t even get a chance to use any of the weapons in my shinobijō.

“She is seriously off her meds,” I whisper at Jiro, and he laughs lightly.

The smoke is creepy and disorienting. My eyes burn, and I try not to breathe deeply so I don’t cough. It won’t be long before the smoke is detected and fire crews arrive on the scene. The dome fans are already kicking to high speed, the smoke whipping past me at a swift rate. We don’t have much time.

I draw out Kazenoho with my right hand. I’ve never fought with a weapon in each hand before and something tells me this is not the time to try out that technique.

“Back to back,” Jiro whispers, and I press my back up against his. His hand comes down on my staff, takes the weapon from me, and puts it away.

“What do we do?”

“We wait right here until we can be sure where to go next.”

Jiro’s words are cut off by Kazuo running straight for us, and with his scream and his eyes wide, he is terrifying. He’s on my side so I stab for his chest, twisting out of the way as his sword descends. Jiro turns, kicking out at Kazuo’s feet. Kazuo slashes at me while jumping over Jiro, and I block him. He came within a centimeter of getting me.

Jiro battles Kazuo, and I’m stunned by how fast they are. Jiro is up, down, up, side, stab, back, lunge… and all the time Kazuo is on defense. I keep looking left and right and wondering if Sachi will show up. Where is Usagi? Kentaro?

Kazuo may be tiring. His sword is late to every one of Jiro’s moves, so I run at him from behind. He thinks I’m going to stab, but instead I jump and kick for his head.

No one expects you to fight hand-to-hand when you have a sword drawn. Surprising my opponents has always been my strong suit.

He had his eyes on my sword which I kept in my left hand off to the side. He didn’t see my kick coming from the right until it was too late. Kazuo reels, his head snapping to the side, before coming back to the center.

Kazenoho dips in my weaker left hand, hits the ground and bounces back up, slicing my leg.

“Ouch!” Shit! I injured myself. Did that really just happen? I’m flying so high on adrenaline the cut doesn’t even hurt.

Jiro jumps in front of me, Oninoten out, ready to defend me against Kazuo.

“Fantastic!” Kazuo says, letting out a bark of a laugh. “You’re better than I thought you were, Sanaa.”

“Are you all right?” Jiro asks without turning his head.

I straighten up with Kazenoho out. It’s not a deep cut, but it is bleeding pretty heavily.

“I’ll be fine.” Inching forward, I force Kazuo back one step while Jiro circles him to the right. Jiro’s eyes are laughing. He’s alive and excited.

“Come on, Kazuo.” I wag Kazenoho’s tip at him, ignoring my leg. “Let’s fight. I’ve been cooped up for weeks, and I’m eager for swordplay.”

Kazuo smirks at me. “No, no. I’m just not feeling it tonight. We’ll meet again, I’m sure.”

“Don’t disappoint her, Kazuo.” Jiro edges in a little more. “She’ll be all sulky tomorrow if she doesn’t clash swords tonight.”

Kazuo laughs, never taking his eyes off me. “Seems as though it’s your own fault, Jiro, if she’s sulky. You leave her at home enough.”

Jiro tenses, and his stare turns cold.

“Can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched Sanaa pace the front hall of your building, chat with your security staff, and gaze longingly out the window. You should have seen her cling to Usagi the other night. She cried about how you leave her home alone all the time. You should be more attentive to your wife.”

My skin crawls, and I suck in a quick breath to halt my tears. I’ve let my enemies see me weak. See me lonely. I’ve been far too careless.

It’s deathly quiet for a moment before I hear footsteps running from my right. Sachi laughs but the clash of two staff weapons echoes into the smoke for about a dozen hits before she grunts and retreats.

“Later, Mr. and Mrs. Itō.” Kazuo quickly bows to us both and runs off before either of us can strike at him.

My katana dips low. Kazuo knows what I’ve been going through. He has sat and watched me while Jiro has been gone. Jiro pulls me aside because I’m too dazed to defend myself now. He places his back against the wall of the apartment building next to us, grabs the back of my head and pulls me to his chest.

“I’m so sorry.”

My chest heaves, prelude to a huge crying fit, but Jiro squeezes me even tighter.

“Shhh, don’t cry now. We’re not in the clear yet. You may need to fight again.”

“Oh-oh-oh-okay,” I stammer out, my lower lip unwilling to obey. I close my eyes against his chest, and listen to his steady breathing and heartbeat until my eyes dry. When I pull away from him, he looks deep into my eyes before down at my leg.

“Gods, you’re bleeding all over the place.”

We both freeze to listen as footsteps come flying past us but no one stops. Jiro lifts his shirt in the back and pulls out a knife.

“Bye bye, sex pants. I loved these things on you.” He slices into my pants above the knee, cuts the leg off them, and binds up my injury. “It’s not deep. We’ll get the doctor to come tonight.”

I was worried Kazuo was watching me in my home. No. He was just listening to me there but watching me through the front door windows into the lobby. When I think of all the days I spent down in the lobby, reading on the couch, looking out the front doors and waiting for someone to come home, or talking to the security staff, I cringe knowing Kazuo was observing every emotion on my face.

“I owe you… for so much,” Jiro says, tipping my face up to him, but I shake my head as footsteps approach us again. He doesn’t owe me anything.

“Kentaro!” I whisper as loudly as I can, and out of the fog, he appears with his jō out and a smile on his face.

“I forgot Sachi is good at the staff, but I got a hit on her.”

“Thank the gods you’re okay.” I reach my arm out and pull him to us, and we all back up to the building.

“Usagi?” he asks.

“He’s here somewhere,” Jiro says, scanning the retreating fog. “We heard him sword fighting a few minutes ago.”

Footsteps approach us from the left. The smoke is clearing so I can tell it’s Usagi right away by his bald head, but his sword is not right.

“I’m here, and I’m fine, but my sword is not.”

“Oh no.” I groan and pull Usagi’s sword close. About ten centimeters from the tip down are gone. “Where’s the rest of it?”

“In the street somewhere. I almost got Kazuo but then he came at me from behind. When I struck out at him, he jumped out of the way, and I hit a lamppost I didn’t know was there. Damned smoke.”

“We should go find the tip. Maybe it can be repaired?” Jiro steps away and sheathes Oninoten. “I think they’re gone now. The smoke is clearing.”

Kentaro slips his jō into the carrier on his back and sighs. “I shooed off your cousins and Emiko right at the beginning of the fight. They were standing paralyzed in the playground. Emiko saw me. I have no idea what she’ll tell my father. And then Risa…” He breaks into snorts of laughter. “I think she may have peed her pants.”

The sound of sirens erupts from about ten blocks off, and a window squeaks open in the building above us. “Is something on fire down there?” a man’s voice shouts down.

I put my finger to my mouth. “We should get out of here before anyone finds us. Let’s fan out that way and see if we can find the rest of Usagi’s sword.”

We all walk in the direction of Usagi’s last fight, and not far in front of me, a long section of metal catches the light of a lamp.

“Here! I found it.” I strip off my outer shirt and use it to wrap up the broken segment of Usagi’s sword.

We all stand and look at the bundle in my hands. I feel like I’m carrying a dead member of my family, and I hand it solemnly to Usagi who clutches it to his chest.

“I’m sorry, Usagi.”

Jiro pulls on me. “Come on everyone. Let’s go before we get caught.”