Fuel to the Fire

Chapter 3


Yume stared out at the auburn morning sky. “Red in the morning…” she thought. It was a warning a Westerner had imparted to her a couple years back. But what was it a warning of? The warm colors on the horizon reminded her it was time to go back inside, to hide from the sun’s rays. She belonged to the night now, just a craven creature beholden to the shadows. They were her home now, her livelihood and her protection. She knew she couldn’t reveal this to Tatsumaki. She could not tell him anything about her current mission, not without knowing what side he was on. And from the story he had told her, it seemed his intentions were also shrouded in secrecy.

~*~*~

“Why are you here, Tatsumaki?” she had asked. He looked away for a moment, as if uncertain what truths to tell her. His body rose below her with the force of his sigh. She already knew who those men were earlier, and she knew Tatsu had no ties to them. He was not, and never had been, a daimyo, or even a samurai. He had to be spying on them, but for whom, and to what end? She knew she had to tread carefully from this point on. She could not reveal what she knew without endangering the lives of her friends and partners.

Tatsu looked back to her, and watched her intently. He could see she was having an inner struggle like him. What did she know about what was going on? As if to distract her, he grabbed her arms, and rolled his body to put her beneath him again. “Can’t I just be pleased to find you again?” he asked, lowering his head to kiss her. Yume turned her face away and slid her body out from underneath him. She needed a better bargaining position than that one. Seduction got her nowhere with him. “Tatsu, you were never a good liar. And games are my area of expertise, not yours,” she said, rising to her feet. While Yume made her way to the balcony door, she heard Tatsu get up as well. She opened the door, hoping the evening air might refresh him and his memories. The storm had left the air damp and cool, sending a chill through her. Taking a deep breath, she thought back to her own memories, particularly of their first encounter together. He would not get away from this confrontation as he had that night.

“I often wonder where we would be if you had stayed around a little longer,” Tatsu said in Yume’s ear, wrapping her in his arms. She welcomed his warmth, but knew not to get too comfortable. He was still sneaky, she hadn’t heard him move to her at all. “Yume, I don’t know whose business you’re mixed up in, or even who you’re working for, but these are people you need to stay away from. They have ambition equivalent to your own, and they think that gives them power. That makes them more dangerous than the Yakuza you dealt with before. You put yourself in danger just by being in their presence.”

Well, that didn’t tell her anything. She had been scouting those governors for weeks now, paying special attention to the man from Choshu. Growing more frustrated, Yume moved away from Tatsu again. His body just confused her thoughts and motives. She went to the closet for a new robe. Both turned their heads when they heard a knock at the door. “Miss Yume? Your last appointment of the evening has arrived,” a weak voice said from the other side of the door. “Unfortunately, he seems very impatient, so we would ask you to hurry.” Yume excused herself for a moment to meet with the girl, leaving Tatsu alone with his thoughts. ‘What was she playing at? Was she actually on the job, or were all her toys just for protection from her customers?’ He had provided the only explanation that he could without completely blowing his cover. He couldn’t very well say, “Yes! These men are planning a revolution, and the emperor needs all the details. That’s why I’m here!”

Tatsu turned around when he heard Yume reenter the room. She was carrying the clothing he had arrived in, and his swords. Her hair was back in its trappings again; no telling what she was hiding in her new coif. “Here, get dressed, you’re leaving,” she said, throwing his clothes to the floor. Tatsu glared at her demanding his absence. Yume watched as he struggled with his hakama ties. She remembered his fingers to be much more adept than that. Maybe he was nervous, maybe it was a show for her enjoyment. “You think you can order me to leave, Yume?” he asked. Yume moved to stand before him, and moved his hands away to tie the pants herself. “For your sake, yes I can. Just realize I am no longer yours to command. If those men return and request my services again, I cannot refuse them. This is the only job I know, Tatsu, it’s always been my life.”

Yume finished off the combination by sliding his swords through the belt. She felt like she was suiting up her samurai for a battle, all he needed was a little armor. Before she could move away, Tatsu put her face between his hands and pulled her into a soft kiss. Those were her favorite, and her weakness. He knew it had power over her. When his lips left hers, she felt a sorrow she had not known for years. Damn this man for trying to confuse her! “Please Yume,” he said, running his thumb along her bottom lip. “Don’t shut me out. I want to discover you all over again. I need to learn why you have become so cold even though you still have that fire deep inside.”

Yume looked to the floor as Tatsumaki walked to the balcony. He leapt to the roof, and Yume ran to the balcony before he could leave. “You really want to know, Tatsu?” she yelled up to him. He smiled to her, and nodded. She looked to the sky then, not directly at him, but at the moon behind him, trekking its path back to the horizon. “Tatsu, five years can change a person. I no longer live selfishly for myself, I have others to protect now. I hope you don’t regret this decision.” Tatsu crouched at the edge of the roof and reached his hand down to her. Yume looked down the street, shaking her head to his offer. “Meet me at the Yasukuni shrine two nights from now. I’ll show you where I’ve been and what I’ve seen,” Yume said, wiping a single tear from her face. She heard the crack of a tile on the roof, and looked up to see Tatsumaki gone.

~*~*~

Yume shut her door to the foreboding sky. She didn’t believe in those superstitious warnings, and she would not give it another thought. She just feared what Tatsu would learn on this journey. Would he despise her for keeping her secrets, especially when he was directly involved with them? What would her partners think of him? Time does change people. Hopefully that wasn’t true of Tatsumaki. Yume hoped he was still the man that wanted to marry her, make her happy, and give her a reason to live. She may need to rely on him when this job was over, if it didn’t kill her first.