Revealed – Chapter 29

The street outside the dōjō is busy this morning as Sakai lets himself in the front door and climbs the stairs to the second story. He breathes in deep, smelling the sweet aroma of cooking rice and grilled fish wafting up from the restaurant below. That smell has become synonymous with his mornings — that and Sanaa.

In the beginning, he thought he would regret having to see her every day, having to think about her mother. But now that the pain and ache are distant, it’s easier to remember Junko fondly, like the woman he loved, not the woman who drove him crazy.

Sakai reaches for the dōjō door handle to slide it open and belatedly realizes the door is open a crack. He pauses with his hand in the air but the floor squeaks beneath his shoes.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Mark Sakai,” Kimie’s voice rings through the dōjō and into the hallway.

Sakai closes his eyes briefly and swears under his breath. There’s no running away now. It’s time to fess up.

“Hello, Kimie. I didn’t think you were much of a morning person,” he says, opening the door, stepping in, and closing it behind him.

“I’m not.” She grunts while patting her hair bun. “You have no idea how hard it is to catch you at your devilish ways when it all happens before I’m up in the morning. But here I am. Now, you will explain to me why you are interfering in Sanaa’s life, even though I told you not to.”

Kimie is at least twenty centimeters shorter than Sakai, but she lifts her shoulders and her head to stare him down.

“It had to be done, whether you like it or not. Junko wanted this…”

“I don’t care what my selfish sister wanted!” Kimie forcefully pokes him in the chest. “She ruined herself, her family, and her own life and child over this nonsense. I loved her, but if she hadn’t died, I would have done everything I could to keep Sanaa out of this… like I have for the past twenty years. Twenty years! How could you do this, Mark?”

Sakai clears his throat, his stomach in a knot. It is his fault, but he was stuck in an uncompromising position. There was no going back.

“I had to. I wish things were different but they’re not. If it’s any consolation, she’s doing a great job. I’m really proud of her.”

Kimie freezes, her jaw set in stone. “What is going on with Sanaa? She hasn’t been going to work. I’ve tried to surprise and meet her a dozen times in the past few months. Now I follow her around, and I see her come here in the morning… to meet you. You! Of all people, Mark Sakai. I told you to stay away. We had an agreement.”

“Kimie, please. The colonization is beginning early, and I had to act fast…”

“I’m so scared for her.” Her face falls and Sakai watches the anger turn to fear on her face. “They’ll find her. We tried to hide. We moved wards three times!”

“There is no place you could go where they would not find you. Junko knew that. She always knew Sanaa would be pulled into this someday. She was prepared to raise her straight into it.”

“Don’t you dare talk about my sister like you knew her. She loved Max. She chose to be with him, not you.”

Sakai’s heart jumps into a racing beat. “What happened between me and Junko and Max is none of your business!”

Damn Kimie. She’s a part of his past, and now all events of times gone by come washing back — the long stares from Junko across the table as she sat with Max, the times they met in secret even when she was pregnant with Sanaa, the confrontation Max had with him not long before they died. It was all fucked up. He’d love to blame it on just being a hormonal kid, but they were in their twenties like Jiro is now. He knew better, but it didn’t stop him.

“Kimie, she preserved the line. She followed the law. She kept the line intact for Sanaa. She told me to make sure Sanaa understood her heritage and her rights. She trusted both you and me, but I should never have let her grow up anywhere but Ku 6. That was a mistake.”

Kimie freezes, her eyes closed, her posture resigned, so Sakai lowers his voice. “She never married him. Just like your mother never married and her mother and her mother. Did you really think Junko did that because she didn’t want Sanaa to continue the line after she was gone? She loved Max, much to my dismay, but she loved her people more than any one man.”

“People. Those people would hunt Sanaa down and kill her to be rid of the line once and for all.”

“We won’t let that happen. Sakai clan has always protected the Kiku, and we will continue to do it until the end of time.”

She turns her back on him for a moment, and he glances at the clock on the wall. Sanaa should be here by now. Where is she?

“She’s just a child — a smart and capable child — but still. How?” She turns around and tears are flowing down her face. “No, no. I must move her farther away. We’ll hide out in Ku 10 if we have to —”

The door to the dōjō bursts open and Sanaa stalks in.

“Sanaa, you’re late… by about five minutes.” Sakai taps his foot as he crosses his arms.

“We’re not going anywhere, Aunt Kimie, and I am not a child anymore.”

“Sanaa…”

“No!”

The force of her voice makes both Sakai and Kimie lean away. Wow. She’s grown stronger these past few months, certainly not the meek young woman who averted her eyes the first time she was here with him.

“I’ve been living in the shadows of secrets and lies now for too long. I thought my life was normal. But it turns out it is very far from that, and all because both of you have been hiding information from me. I demand… no. I deserve to know what’s going on.”

She makes eye contact with them, but they stand mute. If Sakai opens his mouth now, Kimie may never forgive him. He’ll wait for her.

“This has been the most confusing year ever, and you both are not making it any easier. I essentially gave up the job I wanted to do since I was a little girl because I had no choice. I’m convinced it was the right thing to do even though Mark still refuses to tell me everything.”

Sanaa turns a hard stare on Sakai, and he swallows in a dry throat.

“He has told you nothing? Nothing of our family?” Kimie’s eyes are wide with shock.

“No.”

“Nothing about your parents’ deaths?”

“No.”

“What have you been doing all of this time?”

“Watching the clans in Ku 6. Learning all the key players. Training.”

Kimie narrows her eyes at Sanaa. Uh oh. She never did approve of the swords.

“Iaido,” Sanaa squeaks out.

“Who?” Kimie turns on Sakai. “Who has been teaching her sword fighting? Mark, it’s worse than I thought. You? Your brother?”

“My youngest nephew, and he is quite capable.”

“Jiro,” she says, nodding, and Sanaa’s flushed skin pales. “This explains a lot. Mark, this is way out of my hands now. How could you do this without asking me?”

“Would you have said yes?”

She shakes her head and picks up her bag. “No, but having a choice is better than no choice at all. Tell her. Tell her everything. Stop lying to her. I was wrong. She’s a woman now. She deserves the truth.” She turns and leaves the room, her strict bun bouncing against her head as she makes her way across the mats.

The door closes and Sanaa begins to cry. This poor girl. He’s put her through every test and trial imaginable in the past few months, and she’s come out stronger on the other side of each one. Less of a girl, now, actually. More like the young lady he hoped was under the naive, outer shell.

He takes a big breath and sighs before wrapping his arms around her. She sinks into his embrace and cries even harder for a moment before sniffing up.

“I’m so sorry, Mark. I tried to keep the secret, and it must have been my own actions that gave me away.”

“No, no. This was bound to happen.” He laughs, remembering how strong and commanding Kimie has always been. There was this time when Sakai and Koichi played an awful practical joke on an old man who lived across the street from them, and Kimie gave them such a tongue-lashing for being idiots, they hid from her for over a week.

“Kimie,” he sighs, glancing down at Sanaa’s puffy red face. “She does not let go of an idea once she has it in her head. Tenacious to the last. When we first met, I was worried being only half-Japanese would make you less resilient somehow, but I was wrong. You have your father’s fire, too. He was a good man. Though I wanted your mother for myself, I was relieved she had chosen someone smart and strong.”

He turns to grab his bag, sad to break off contact with her, but resigned by what he must do.

Now is the time. No more plans. No more cowardice. He’ll tell her everything and hope she understands why he did what he did.

“Sanaa, I have hidden you for most of your life. I have given you every ounce of protection I could, but someday, someone was going to figure out all my deceptions. I had no idea you would look so much like your mother, and it would give us away. I have many important things to show you, and there are things only Kimie can tell you. But you have studied the clans for a reason. You know the history of Old Japan?”

“Yes, mainly Heian period to the Environmental Decline.” She twists her hands together and bites her lip.

“We can never beat the clans. They will always rise and fall. They will always fight each other for the opportunity to rule.” Sakai puts his hand on her back and leads her to the door. “For centuries, the clans in Japan enacted one war after another, taking hostages, doing battle on the field, killing thousands. There were the samurai, the nobles, the peasants, the outcasts, and the caste system. But that all came to an end after the Tokugawa Shōgunate, remember?”

“Yes, they ceased fighting and united under the Emperor, and he ruled until World War Two.”

“That’s right. Well, it’s time for unification to come again.”

Finally, the lies will cease, and Sakai can find peace at last.

Peace for Sanaa? That will have to come later.