Rebel Encounter

Chapter 7

Two shadows converged in the alley across from the brothel. The shadows didn’t acknowledge one another, but they knew they had the same purpose for being there. Silently they waited for their prey to arrive. The shadows knew she was near; it was just a matter of time before she made a grand entrance. A small flash of fire erupted, followed by the simmering bud of a cigarette. One shadow billowed smoke while the other looked to the sky. The police carriage had already left, and Chief Nanaka was inside. A flash of movement had caught his eye. The lanterns above them were shaking. It seems the wind had started to pick up…

Another movement from across the way caught his attention, this time he was certain the show was on. The larger shadow patted the smaller one on the arm, and then nodded to the upper levels of the brothel. A body hung over the third floor banister. Suddenly it let go, and the body plunged toward the dirt road below. The small shadow rushed to move when the larger shadow grabbed his arm. The body latched onto the second floor banister, and swung there by one hand. No, there was a glint of metal. She was using a claw. The shadows stood in stunned silence as the body swung itself over the banister and headed inside. The cigarette went out as it hit the ground.

“Did you teach her that?” Tatsu asked, looking to the surprised Shinra for answers. He simply shook his head. Both men turned back to see the woman gone, the shadow of her form silhouetted against the screen. He wasn’t completely sure what Yume had planned, but he had sensed the urge for revenge coming from her. He feared for her life and her soul. He had seen too much bloodshed in the past. So many lives were taken during the Edo Period…men, women, and children. Just like Shinra, he too served with the Shinsengumi, and fought against the rebels. Once they were disbanded, he had taken a post with local police while Shinra opened a small teahouse. Both had sworn to kill no more, to only protect innocent lives, both deciding the best ways to keep the peace. Now her soul was about to be darkened with the blood of an evil man.

Tatsu looked to the door again, wondering about the location of Nanaka and Yume when light suddenly blazed in the room above. Three figures danced against the candlelight, hands and arms groping one another until all three bodies hit the floor. Watching the bodies move against the screen reminded him of the night he interrupted her appointment, the night he interrupted her quiet life. She could have screamed at any point, alerting the guards to his presence. But she didn’t, she was calm and just played his game. By shoving her beneath him, he discovered how well her body had fit against his…if they survived all of this, he would have to ask her why she saved him, why she let that man brutally assault her mind and body for someone she didn’t even know. A scream from above woke him from his thoughts. Looking between Shinra and the room, he watched the action unfold, waiting for his partner to make a move. He didn’t, and they both watched as two forms disappeared from the room, leaving one behind. It slumped against the floor, but Tatsu couldn’t tell who it was. “It wasn’t her,” Shinra simply stated, and Tatsu breathed a sigh of relief.

Tatsu turned to light another cigarette when Shinra tapped his arm again. Tatsu turned to see another form in the room, this one sneaking up from behind the one already seated on the floor. It crawled like a cat across the matted floor, then stopped. It reached down for something, putting a slender object it in its mouth. Of the items that were missing from his cabinet, he remembered five poison darts were no longer there, along with two of his knives. Those darts had been empty while in storage, so she must have concocted something lethal to fill them. ‘Can she really be this resourceful? Or is there something she didn’t tell me?’ Tatsu wondered to himself. He watched closely as her outline pulled the object from its mouth, and stabbed it into the seated figure, which he deduced at that point to be Nanaka. The action unfolded before his eyes as he saw Nanaka tackle her, then the guards from the front door left their posts.

Tatsumaki readied himself to run in after her when Shinra grabbed his arm again. “You jeopardize everything you have worked for if you run in there now,” he said, shaking his head. Tatsu knew he was right. Damn it! Why did he need to go to this woman’s rescue? Ten years ago he wouldn’t have cared, even if she had saved his life. Now he was desperate to protect what was his, this woman who helped define his hope for a normal life. More bodies were filling the room, and from the size of them, they had to be guards. He could no longer see Yume’s form. “What’s the plan?” Shinra asked, watching Tatsu’s reactions to the violence occurring inside. “We can’t blow our cover, and we don’t know what their plans are. I can’t even say for certain if they will leave her alive.”

Screams and shouts radiated from inside, then as quickly as they started, they were silenced. They only had moments to wait until they saw Yume’s body brought outside. The brute carrying her threw her body into a wagon that left the building immediately. After the dust settled, the man still stood outside, his haori soaked in blood. Not seeing any visible wounds, both men decided it had belonged to Yume. They never realized how ruthless this group of men could be. Nanaka was one thing, but they did not know what torture was awaiting their maiden at the hands of the Yakuza. Tatsu grabbed Shinra’s arm, “It’s time. You follow them from the roofs, I’ll assemble my team.” With a nod, both men separated to save a city from corruption, and a woman who had secretly etched a place in both of their hearts.

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It was a dream I’d had a thousand times, and the ending never changed. I was outside gathering vegetables for our stew. I could hear the laughter coming from the house as my father entertained several of his friends with a simple dice game. I was always in charge of the food. My mother had died giving birth to me, and the only family I had ever cherished was my father and his friends. I wasn’t permitted to leave the farm because the women of our village always stared at me, wondering how I would turn out without a female to raise me.

As I looked down the road, I saw two figures approaching our home. There was nothing unusual about them, just two samurai looking for work, or so I thought. I continued to collect radishes and other herbs when I heard my father yell my name. I turned to watch as my father’s friends left our home, all waving their hasty goodbyes. When I returned inside, my father was on his knees, begging for more time. I dropped my basket and ran to my father’s side. Just as I passed one of the men, he grabbed the back of my kimono and pulled me from the ground. I was kicking and screaming my father’s name when a blade came to my throat.

“Well, what do we have here?” he said, the words oozing into my ear as he sniffed me. “I think she’s the appropriate age to learn what it means to be a woman.” I heard my father suck in a breath of air. “Take her! She’s yours! Just don’t kill me!” he yelled, his face still parallel to the floor. I couldn’t believe my ears! My own father was giving me away, and I had no idea why. The man holding me in the air walked outside to the soft yard of grass that bordered the house. He threw me to the ground, and I hit my head on a rock. Through my daze, I felt hands tearing my kimono away, and he kept saying over and over, “Don’t scream or we’ll kill your father.” That man took my innocence under the full light of the sun. I couldn’t tell if it was from the fall or from his foreign hands touching me in ways I did not understand, but I could feel my body begin to wretch. As he kept pushing into me, his sweaty hand grabbed my face, making me watch him as he finished with my immature body.

I awoke with a scream. My past always haunted me in the form of dreams. And that was just the start of my nightmares. I struggled to wipe away the sweat from my face, but I could not move my limbs. I continued to panic, looking around the room and finding nothing but darkness. And I found that the more I struggled, the more pain I felt in my shoulder. Then the events of the evening came flooding back. That bastard stabbed me with my own knife, but here I was, alive and breathing. And I know my saviors had been near, I could feel their presence even as my consciousness was slipping away. “If you keep moving, you’re going to tear that wound open again,” said a voice in my ear. I immediately stilled as a hand came up to caress my throat. “So beautiful, so full of life…” it said, nibbling on my ear. I swore at that moment I would not cry, even as the hands of this stranger ran down the sides of my body. I would not give him the satisfaction of hearing my pain. I closed my eyes to stop my tears, and silently hoped that Tatsumaki would find me still alive…