Revealed – Chapter 14

Sanaa’s injury fades over the next week and Jiro’s guilt over the incident goes with it. She even stepped up her game.

“I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this whole sword fighting situation,” she says, sitting on the mats with Jiro during their regular break. “And I kinda like it. Iaido is different from every other exercise I’ve ever done. I used to practice karate, but work also had a gym I would go to a few times per week.”

“What did you do there?”

“Lift weights, and I would run on the treadmill, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I’m not a runner.”

“I run the stairs here and at home all the time. Stairs are a whole different beast than the treadmill.”

Jiro ran the stairs this morning before showering and going to meetings. He grabbed his lunch and brought it to the dōjō to eat because he didn’t want to be late for practice with Sanaa. Now, he comes to the dōjō early every day and makes sure a pitcher of cold water and two glasses are ready for them, the towels clean and folded, and the fans on high.

“My weakness is in my shoulders,” she says, and he gazes across the top of her clavicle, the new, long muscles wrapped around each bone so perfectly. He did that to her. “Well, it used to be.” She blushes and turns her head away to stand up and drink the rest of her water.

“I have an exercise you can do to work them even more, if you want.” While she’s turned from him, he adjusts his pants. Every day is more torturous than the last. This is the longest, most platonic courtship he’s ever had. Eriko jumped into bed with him the first night they ever met. He should have known better, but he couldn’t help responding to how eager she was.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you show me?”

She must be smiling at him, but he doesn’t turn to see it for himself. If he did, he’d run straight to her and kiss her, which he’s been dying to do now for weeks. He takes the heaviest sword from the rack, the one with the black handle. No one but his father ever uses this one. Jiro’s real katana is light so he tries to train with one of the same weight.

“At the end of practice, pick up this sword to use as a weight.” He hands it over to her, and she hefts the heavy wooden katana, getting a feel for the balance. “Now, hold it up high above your head.”

“Like this?” She weakly grips the sword, holding it at an obtuse angle above her forehead.

He’s about to chastise her for being a weak girl when he catches the slight quirk of her lips and wide innocent eyes.

“No.” He steps so close a piece of hair over her face flutters in his breeze. She sucks in her breath but doesn’t lose eye contact. “Higher.” Jiro pushes her arms up high above her head, and he takes an extra beat before letting go. What he wants is to pin those arms above her head in bed, lean his body into her, and make her skin erupt in a blush that would burn even him.

“Hmmm.” Sanaa’s hum is lost in her exhale. “Now what?”

Jiro clears his throat and steps back a bit. “Just like a military press. Pump up and down with a pause on the up for thirty seconds and then faster for another ten. Do this at the end of practice when your arms are already tired and then stretch.”

That was close. He almost tried to step back and kiss her. His father promised he’d turn off the cameras, but she doesn’t know that.

Jiro’s mind wanders as she drops her hands down and sighs. He’s been thinking about her every evening while sitting at the bar at Izakaya Tanaka, hoping this will be the night she walks in. When he goes home alone, he imagines kissing her or running his hands through her hair. Sometimes, he imagines sitting and talking to her, on his couch or in a restaurant, or cooking dinner in the kitchen together. Then he opens his eyes and she’s not there. His heart aches with loneliness.

And though there have been moments like now when he swears she’s flirting with him, they’re gone so fast he wonders if it was all his imagination.

Sanaa places the heavy sword on the mat and sighs again, staring down at her hands. They’re shaking so badly he’s immediately alarmed.

“Are you all right?” Jiro rushes over to her, taking her hands in his and holding them still. Instead of pulling away, she grasps his hands tightly and hangs her head. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m just tired.”

“This is more than just tired. This?” He pulls up her hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. “This is exhaustion. How much do you work?”

She laughs, not letting go. “I work from seven to twelve when I eat and come here. After sword fighting for four hours, I analyze data from five till midnight or one… and I haven’t been sleeping. I’ve been staring at the ceiling every night.” She uses the leverage of his hands to sit down, so he kneels down beside her.

“That sounds stressful. Beyond what I would expect anyone to do for longer than a few nights.”

“I’ve been doing it for seven or eight weeks.”

Jiro swallows past the lump in his throat. No wonder she never comes to Izakaya Tanaka anymore.

“What is so important that you’re slaving away like this? This is the work Sakai assigned you?”

She nods, smoothing back her hair, taking a deep breath and standing up. “I’m fine. Thanks for the rest. Let’s pick up tomorrow where we left off, okay?”

Sanaa squares up her shoulders, shutting him out, but her eyes plead with him. Plead with him to stop questioning? Plead with him to care? He’s not sure.

“Please, will you talk to me about this?” Jiro grasps her shoulder and squeezes.

“I want to. I… I need to find out if it’s allowed. It would be nice to talk with someone about this crazy life of mine. Tomorrow, let’s talk about something else.”

—-

Jiro takes the night off from Izakaya Tanaka. He can’t go knowing Sanaa won’t show up. His life is easy compared to the kind of hours she works, and the guilt of enjoying his leisure time nags at him.

The next day in the dōjō, Sanaa’s hands shake, but she ignores them as she breaks new ground in their relationship and asks him what he does for fun after work. He almost tells her he’s at Izakaya Tanaka every evening but instead he reveals his most personal pastime — the drawings — and she wants to see them. She’s genuinely interested in what he draws and how long he’s been doing it.

“I’d love to see your other drawings. I mean, if you wanted to show them to me. You don’t have to, of course.” Her chin shakes, the last sentence spoken in an adorable stuttering stammer.

“I’ve only ever shown my mother.” He stands and offers a hand to help her up from the mats.

“Oh, okay. Well…”

“We’ll see.”

He totally blows it. What kind of an answer is that?

She’s so flustered by his response, her face blushes ten shades of crimson. He should have said yes. His instincts to protect himself are getting in the way of flirting with her.

The cameras have been off for almost two weeks now, and he was encouraged to talk to her and even ask her out on dates, but it’s taken a lot longer to get comfortable than he thought because he put off being personal for so long. She runs off after every practice, mumbling at her tablet, embarrassed by how stiff their goodbyes are. Never before has he been interested in someone so intimately connected to his social circle. If he messes this up, their relationship may be awkward for the rest of his life.

Instead of heading out again afterward, he decides to drop in on his father and mother. He waits until the end of dinner, sitting through his mother’s updates on everyone in the family, before finding his voice.

“I want to ask you about Sanaa, if that’s okay.” He pushes his hair back behind his ears and pauses while Mariko gets up to boil water for tea.

“Okay, Jiro,” says Koichi, pushing his chair from the table and reclining back. “You’ve known her long enough now for this.”

“This what?”

“Truths, Jiro. What do you want to know?”

Jiro’s brain bounces. What should he ask about first? What if, after only a few questions, his father stops talking?

“Can you tell me about her family? Where she came from?”

Koichi and Mariko exchange a silent look across the room. Jiro’s seen this before — the ‘this is dangerous territory’ glance. The same one reserved for talks about sex and relationships.

“How much do you know already?” Mariko pours water into three mugs at the table, and they each lean forward to take theirs.

“I figured out her parents are dead, killed in an explosion when she was two. I found one article on the accident, and it mentioned Sakai. She said she lives with her aunts in Ku 9, and she used to work for the Colonization Committee.”

Koichi nods, staring into his cup of tea.

“We’ve talked about a lot of things during practice like the buildings she designed, exercise, and random history about schooling, but it’s been hard to break the wall with her, and I can’t figure out why.”

“It’s because of what she’s doing for Mark.” Koichi sets his mug down and rubs at the scar along his chin. “He’s asked her to keep a lot of secrets, and she’s probably having trouble determining who she can trust.”

“But she can trust me. Shouldn’t I know what’s going on?”

Never before has his family kept him so far out of the loop. He used to know everything that went on in Sakai family. Now he knows very little.

“Nothing in this world would make your mother and I happier than you and Sanaa together. It’s something we’ve wanted for a long time.”

“We knew her parents,” Mariko says quietly, sipping at her tea. “And we were friends until they died. Then she went to live with Kimie and Lomo, and they moved to Ku 5. We didn’t hear from them much after that. Just chance meetings here and there.”

“Those are her aunts? Are they sisters?”

“They’re lesbians, married twenty years.” Mariko smiles at the shock on Jiro’s face. “I know being gay isn’t popular amongst the conservative clans, but they were quite the pair. Couldn’t be separated. It was the main reason they left Ku 6 and never came back.” Mariko and Koichi exchange another look, and Jiro keeps his sigh to himself. There’s more to this story they aren’t willing to tell. Change gears.

“What kind of work does she do for Sakai? I keep trying to ask him, but he’s been avoiding me for weeks now. He never comes to meetings in the mornings anymore and is never around in the evenings when I try to schedule time with him.”

“Mark’s been busy lately, but I spoke to him about this recently.”

“You did? What did he say?”

Jiro swallows his scalding tea and lets the liquid burn all the way down to his stomach. The last time Sakai got tangled up in Jiro’s life, all hell broke loose. He was the one who went to Melanie after she cheated on Jiro and ‘convinced’ her to stay away from Ku 6. Jiro has no idea what was said, but he strongly suspects blackmail was involved. Then Sakai persuaded Koichi to bring Eriko into the dōjō, knowing how disastrous that would be. If Sakai gets in between Jiro and Sanaa, a relationship will be ten times more difficult than it should be.

“He’s still very hesitant about the two of you. I think it’ll be impossible to do, but you’ll need to hide your involvement with Sanaa from Sakai, unless she’s willing to stand up to him. He’s busy doing other things, and he hasn’t prohibited Sanaa from seeing you or anything, but it’s not like she’s had the chance to do anything but work.” Koichi sighs and rubs his face. “He’s being overly cautious about the whole situation, and I’ve been trying to convince him of that from the beginning. He and I strongly disagree.”

Whoa. Jiro’s father and uncle never fight about anything. They’ve always been strong brothers, much like Jiro and Yoichi. When they argue, it’s more like a quick banter and then they’re done.

“Sanaa’s been doing surveillance work on all the clan heads since the beginning of the year. She tracks the big players, where they go, what they do, and who they do business with. She’s become Sakai’s eyes and ears, and it’s also fair to say she’s seen you, me, Yoichi, and Sakai do business with them.”

Jiro’s head lightens. What has she seen of him on surveillance? Would she even tell him?

“How does she have access to all of that?”

“Ms. Coen arranged a special room in the DataComm building for her. Sanaa holds some of the highest clearance in the city. She watches Minamoto, Taira, and Maeda, and through them watches the majority of the minor clans as well.”

“Why?” Jiro’s shock seeps down to his bones. Why would an outsider, a young girl like Sanaa, be doing this kind of work?

“Well…” Koichi’s voice trails off. “It’s complicated. She’s doing a magnificent job, but the reasons for her doing this job in the first place are… complicated.”

“You already said that. You realize Sakai is working her to death, right? I see her every day, and her hands shake constantly. She’s got permanent dark circles under her eyes, and she says she doesn’t sleep.”

“Is she okay?” Mariko reaches over and squeezes Koichi’s arm. “This worries me.”

“He’s asked a lot of her, but she works hard because that’s the kind of person that she is. You must realize how dedicated she is, right?”

Jiro nods. He remembers the articles about her top marks at school, and how they led to the job she wanted so badly. Everyday in the dōjō she throws 150 percent of her energy and attention into learning sword fighting. She never gave up talking to him despite the cameras and Jiro’s own standoffish behavior. She’s the type of person who knows what she wants and won’t quit until she gets it.

“I do.” She’s strong but working herself to death. Why? He’s sure Miko’s been asking her to come to Izakaya Tanaka, but maybe the invites are not enough incentive for her to abandon work.

Jiro places his napkin next to his bowl and empty mug of tea. “I know what to do. I’ll ask her out. I don’t think she’ll refuse me to do work, honestly.”

Mariko’s mouth purses together to hide her smile.

“Don’t laugh. I have a feeling about this.” Sanaa’s been waiting for Jiro to make the first move. She’s been showing her interest and flirting with him. Thinking back on their practices, the signs were evident, but their teacher-student relationship got in the way. It’s time for him to sweep that under the mats and be her equal.

“She’s not laughing. We’re both happy with this idea. Sanaa is a smart, capable, independent young woman, and we miss her parents very much.” Koichi and Mariko nod at each other and at Jiro. “One thing, though. You can tell her you know everything, but Mark would want you to keep the secret as well. Not even Yoichi knows. Tomorrow, you go to Ku 10 with Sanaa and Mark. It’s a field trip for Sanaa. She’s never been, and Mark has been taking her to the restricted parts of the city as part of her training. Be sure to show her around as well.”

If he can get her alone, he’ll ask her out on a date.

Don’t blow it this time, Jiro.