Reunited – Chapter 42

Mariko and Beni join me in the bathhouse at the back of the house. They don’t make any comments about my bruises or how dirty I am. They just help me get clean, and then Mariko hands me the pregnancy test after I’ve washed my hair and pulled it into a ponytail.

The moment of truth. I pee on the stick in the bathroom and sit and wait with it on the sink. I feel better since taking a nap, and Oyama is making food right now for tea with Arata. Maybe I’m not pregnant? Maybe I’m just sick and tired. Maybe it’s all a big cosmic joke on me because I want kids and normalcy so badly. Maybe…

I lean forward to read the stick.

Nope. I’m definitely pregnant.

I give myself a moment to stand and stare at the read-out. I thought my life was over yesterday. Yesterday at this time, I was sitting on a bed wondering how long it would be before Osamu would come and rape me. That would have been the point of no return for me. My life with Jiro would be over. I would want my life to be over.

Now I’m saved. I have no doubt what happened was screwed up in every way — the days of traveling blindfolded, wondering if I would die that day or the next, watching Kohaku’s murder because I refused to make a choice — but all of that pales in comparison to what could have happened.

Positive. Pregnant. A baby grows inside of me. I close my eyes and try to picture what he or she will look like, but instead I see Fujiwara on his throne and Osamu staring down his nose at me, the old woman striking me across the face. I’m going to bring this baby into a mistake of a world if I don’t do something about it. I have the means to live happily here, but it will take effort, effort I’ll need to exert while being pregnant at the same time.

I pick up the stick and smile at myself in the mirror. Being a woman here is hard with all the restrictions imposed by law. Being a deity will be even harder because I’ll have to bank on being charming and take advantage of other people’s beliefs, which I hate the thought of. Being a pregnant deity intent on fighting her own battles with her own sword will be impossible. I love impossible. Impossible is the kind of challenge that makes my heart race.

I think my hardest battle will be with Jiro. I know him. He’s going to want to keep me at home, under guard at all times, but he’s sworn to obey me. He loves when I barrel in and show everyone who’s boss. We’ll have to conquer my fears and liberate this world together, for everyone from Earth and our children.

When I dream about life on Yūsei, I know we can live here if we can be free. I love the woods, the ocean, the animals, the sun and moons. Those are the things worth fighting for.

“It’s positive!” I call out and open the door. Mariko and Beni stand right outside, and Jiro, Sakai, and Kentaro wait down the hall.

Sakai approaches and squeezes me tight.

“I wish your mother were here for this,” he says over my shoulder.

“Me too.”

He pulls away and squeezes my shoulders. “Time to get outside to our guests.

Beni gets me dressed in a kimono, smears salve on my feet and wraps them in bandages, then presents me with new shoes. Thank the gods! My feet are killing me.

“There’s a cobbler in town who makes amazing shoes,” she says with a smile so wide, I’m knocked back. I get the feeling it’s not the shoes Beni thinks are amazing.

“Is this cobbler young, handsome, and available perhaps?” I raise my eyebrows at her, and she giggles. Beni never giggles.

“Sanaa,” she drawls, pushing my shoulder, “enough of that. You have work to do.”

“Come on, Beni.” I tug on the sleeve of her kimono. “Distract me. I’ve just been to hell and back.”

“Later.” She nods her head. “I promise. I need to get you outside for tea. My gossip can wait.”

The sun shines in a deep blue sky, and I turn my tired face up to watch the clouds go by with no fear. Old fears have been replaced by new ones.

Arata, Jiro, Usagi, Kentaro, and Sakai stand talking and waiting for me while Beni busies herself at their feet, setting out cups and plates and cushions to sit on. Oyama waits with food and talks with Usagi. A cool breeze curls around my hair, but the sun is warm and bright. I have to squint my eyes to see past the dark shadows of the covered front porch.

Mariko follows me, but I limp to the blanket on my own. My hips ache, and the new shoes Beni bought me don’t deaden the pain of blisters and raw skin on my toes and heels.

“Arata Sasaki, we meet again.” I force a smile through the pain and turn up whatever charm I have left to full throttle. “I’m sorry I was so drunk the last time we spoke. I’m afraid I barely remember it.” I bow to him, and he laughs hard, his hand stroking his short beard.

“I’m sure I’ll never forget it, but I’m the one who should be bowing to you, Tennō Heika.” He bends down at the waist, low and long. Wow, he’s the first person to refer to me as emperor, not even empress which, in the past, meant the woman on the throne was just holding the position until a man in the same family line could be born.

I like being called emperor.

But I want Arata to treat me as an equal, like Sakai. I want his loyalty, but I want it to me as Sanaa, not some figurehead. Jiro’s eyes are wide. What a shock it must be to him to hear our plans coming to pass from someone else’s mouth.

I laugh and wave my hand at Arata. “Please, Arata. I’d like for us to be allies, even friends?” He straightens and our eyes meet. “My friends and family call me Sanaa. I expect the same from you.”

“Whatever you’d like, Sanaa. It would be my pleasure to be allies with you and your family.”

“Great. Let’s sit and eat something. I’m hungry. I was starved for days, and I have some catching up to do.”

Beni hands me a plate of bread, olives, smoked salmon, and cheese, and I don’t wait for anyone else before I dig in.

“I took delivery of a horse for you about an hour ago. Kazuki will be sad you’ve chosen a different horse over him.” Arata fills his plate and sits cross-legged with a napkin on his knee. “He’s been depressed since he first met you.”

“I had no idea I had such power over him.” I laugh, genuinely, for the first time in days. I enchanted a horse? It’s silly and wonderful at the same time.

“I was going to give him to you as a gift. Would you like two horses?”

Jiro laughs and shakes his head. “Whatever happened to getting a bird next?”

“I still want a bird,” I say to him and then turn to Arata, “but I would like to take Kazuki and give him to my husband who I can assure you will always be by my side from here on out.”

Jiro stops chewing, and Kentaro laughs at him.

“Shut up, brother, or I’ll never get you a horse.” I narrow my eyes at Kentaro and he chucks an olive at me. We pause for a moment, remembering the time in Izakaya Tanaka I threw a pickle at him.

“Brother?” Jiro asks. His face is passive, but Kentaro clasps him on the shoulder.

“I’ve adopted Kentaro. He and Usagi make good actor friends. We played brother and sister all the way here.”

Usagi laughs too, and Jiro shakes his head.

“Deal. If Kazuki is near you, he can stop looking so forlorn all of the time.” Arata laughs again, his eyes bright and happy. Who is this man? Wasn’t he just commanding his people to bomb the capital? He’s too much of a joker to go to war. “I hope you’re enjoying your stay in this house. My family uses this place for guests, and I know it’s not the best of accommodations.”

“Thank you, Arata. The house is… fine, what little I’ve seen of it. I’ve been resting in bed since we arrived. We’re staying in your ancestral home in Yamato, right?”

“Yes, you are.” He takes a deep breath and sighs gazing off down the hill towards town. “I haven’t been there in over ten years. I miss that dōjō.”

“I love the dōjō. It’s my favorite building on the estate. We spent many happy afternoons there before…” My voice trails off, and I wave my hand in the air. “Well, before this. You should come and take back your home. It’s not right for us to live there since it belongs to you.”

“I’ve already told Sakai I don’t want it back. I’m giving the estate to you. That’s not our home anymore. Our home is here in Takayama.”

Arata Sasaki strikes me as an honest man. He makes a lot of eye contact, smiles, and talks of things seriously. I hope he’ll be a good ally to my family.

“Thank you,” I say, bowing down before I can stop myself. My body has a will of its own. I can’t not bow when someone is kind to me but now a painful fire burns in my hips, and I wince and have to push my torso back up. “I’m sorry, Arata. I’m afraid I’m in no condition to show proper respect.”

“Sanaa, please go easy on yourself.” Sakai’s voice is wounded, pleading. He reaches over and pats my knee.

“Are you injured? Would you like me to fetch a doctor? I was under the impression you walked to Inabe, so I thought you were fine.” Arata sets his plate down, ready to take action should I need it, but I wave him off again.

“I’m not injured, per se. I have some bruises and burns, my feet are beaten up, and my hips hurt from walking. I’ve just learned I’m pregnant.” I stop eating to laugh because it’s funny to say out loud. “I think my joints are already loosening up, and I’m nauseous all the time.”

“Congratulations!” Arata bows from a sitting position, his head dipping to the ground. “That is wonderful and complicating news.”

“Complicating. Yes, that’s the best way of describing it. Jiro and I are very happy.”

Jiro smiles from across the blanket. “Very,” he replies.

“You will all have to come and eat dinner at my house tonight. I have something that can help you, I think.”

I nod and sip my tea. It’s the only form of caffeine available to me. I should probably cut back on that too, but I’ll need the energy otherwise I’ll sleep twenty hours a day.

Setting my cup down, I put a few cookies on my plate and continue. “I’d like to hear more about the towns in the mountains and what happened with Fujiwara.”

“It’s a long tale, but I’ll make the story short. You know about the two ships, Orihime and Hikoboshi, right?” I nod. Yes, the two Japanese ships that went to two different planets. “When we landed over three hundred years ago, Rokkaku settled in Ōmi and Fujiwara in Tengoku, and for about a hundred and fifty years, we all lived together peacefully until my Rokkaku ancestors decided it was time to build starships and satellites. They wanted to expand and colonize the stars, meet up with our Hikoboshi brothers and sisters, but Fujiwara was jealous and xenophobic.”

Uh oh.

“So Fujiwara’s ancestors started this Heian Initiative campaign which they’ve kept going for over a hundred years now. They discourage technological advancements but maintain basic utilities like electricity, water, and sewage. They keep us in the past to keep Orihime from reconnecting with other Japanese.”

“Why? I would think this is a happy thing. We’re very happy to get to know you.”

“And I you. But Fujiwara rules here by fear, not because the people love him. He’s afraid of being usurped, and with good cause, too. You are not the only imperial ancestor to grace this fine world, though he is long dead and gone.” Arata drums his fingers on his knees and eyes me carefully. I raise my eyebrows at Sakai, and he responds with a nod.

I’ll come back to this deceased ancestor later.

“Why was Ōmi empty when we got here?”

“About twenty-five years ago, Fujiwara attacked Rokkaku from all sides at once, from the land and sea. Killed thousands of unarmed people because my father had a twenty-year plan to build starships. He, as do I, wanted to reunite with our Hikoboshi brothers and sisters.”

He stops for a moment, his hand turning the napkin on his knee over and over. From happy and alive to sad and contemplative, Arata Sasaki is a complex man.

“Once Fujiwara had killed off almost everyone, he retreated but not before my father put a curse on him and the whole town.”

“We saw the curse posted on the road through the mountains,” Sakai says, adjusting his knees so he can lean forward for more food. “It was our first indication Fujiwara is a superstitious man.”

“He is indeed. Believes in ghosts, afraid of strangers, prone to fits of violence. He’s a crazy man. What did you think of him, Sanaa?”

The image of him in his samurai warrior gear pops into my head, and I shiver noticeably. “The same. He found me a disgusting half-breed and spit on the ground in front of me.” I glance around, and I swear I can see the blood boiling in every man surrounding me. “But I was more afraid of Osamu, who claimed he could breed my bloodline back into me. As if it was lost.” Jiro’s hands ball into fists, grabbing his pant legs, his knuckles turning white under the strain. “If it hadn’t been for your intervention, he most certainly would have recruited someone to do just that.”

“Please, Sanaa, it was nothing. I’m always happy to bomb that god forsaken castle. Fujiwara is a traitor to everything we stand for.”

God forsaken, not gods forsaken, like we say, and their god is my greatest grandfather. Now’s not the time to probe into this matter. I have another thing I want to deal with.

“Speaking of traitors…” I turn to Kentaro, and he clears his throat, jerking his head towards the small cluster of houses down the slope. “Arata, I have business I need to attend to and should do it outside in a place that won’t bother other people.”

He turns and points to the right of the house. “Through the woods on this side is a path. Follow it for five minutes, and you’ll find a small graveyard.”

“Perfect. Kentaro, go get your father. You’ll meet us there. Wait. Is Kazuo there too?”

“What are you going to do, Sanaa?” Sakai is dubious. He doesn’t like having Kazuo around.

“It’s time to take care of Minamoto, and I’d like Kazuo to witness. We will all bear witness. Come inside with me, Jiro. We have items we’ll need.”