The Hinomoto Rebellion (42 page)

During the time that Yasakuto had been speaking, Kunota had been throwing glances at Andrea. The silver-haired martial artist had been trying to communicate to the Shogun with her eyes.
What I wouldn’t give to be able to speak right now,
she thought, even though she knew that if she tried the only thing that would come out would be muffled garbage.

“Am I being perfectly clear, Shogun?” the Daimyo purred.

Kunota glanced up at Yasakuto, then looked around at each of the thugs behind the desk, and finally at Andrea. The Tiger’s blue eyes pleaded with him. Kunota suddenly puffed out his chest and set his jaw as he narrowed his eyes at the Daimyo. “And what if I refuse to do what you say?” he said, his voice full of bravado.

Yasakuto’s eyes narrowed, a frown crossing his face. Before he had a chance to answer, Kunota continued his bravado, “What are you going to do!? Threaten me and my family some more!? Maybe I would gladly sacrifice a few lives for the good of this country! Did you ever think about that, Daimyo? Your game of corruption and deception has come to an end! I love this country and I will do anything for it, even if you threaten to kill my family!”

Andrea felt a swelling of pride.
Good job, Shogun. Now, stick to your guns.

Yasakuto was silent for a moment. Even without being able to see him, Andrea could feel his anger rising– it rolled off of him like a black tide on a moonless night and crashed over her, threatening to take her down with it. “Actually, my dear Shogun,” the Daimyo snarled, “I had something much better in mind. If you don’t do what I say, I’m going to organize the complete extermination of every
ronin
in Hinomoto, under ‘your direct orders’, and I’m going to start with our mutual friend here.” He placed his hand on Andrea’s right shoulder.

Kunota looked Yasakuto dead in the eyes. “I don’t believe you,” he stated. Andrea noticed that some of the fire had gone out of his voice, and his shoulders were slumping ever so slightly.

No! Don’t let him intimidate you! If you’d be willing to sacrifice yourself, be willing to sacrifice me too!
Andrea wriggled against the bonds that held her and tried to speak, but her words came out as nonsense around the gag.

“Fine then,” Yasakuto’s grip on Andrea’s shoulder tightened, “Foxfire, come here.”

From behind Yasakuto, the black-haired girl and the big man with the beard turned to look at Foxfire. The dark-skinned man looked uncertain for a moment and hesitated before he stepped forward, coming around the desk to stand in front of the tied-up Andrea.

Yasakuto grinned menacingly. “I want you to hit Andrea until Shogun Kunota comes to his senses,” he said.

 

Outside of the capitol building a large crowd was beginning to gather, despite that the conference was almost an hour away. Television reporters spoke into microphones as cameras recorded digital video that was automatically beamed out to stations all over the world. Journalists with digital voice recorders and electronic notepads crowded in two rows of seats that had been set up at the front of the building. On either side, police were blocking off the roads and keeping cars from entering the street as a large crowd of citizens had already gathered to hear the announcement. More were still coming down the nearby streets to get a glimpse of the Shogun and hear the results of the voting. Excitement and tension were building in the air as the sun rose higher into the sky.

“There’s a lot more people here than I expected,” Kanjou said.

Fushi was hanging on to the brunet’s arm as they tried to work their way slowly through the crowd and get as close to the front as possible. “How many of them do you think are
ronin
?” she asked as she looked around at the crowd.

“I’m not sure. I see a lot of people that could be, but that doesn’t mean they are. I guess we’ll find out soon enough though, if everything works out.”

Across the crowd, Roni was hanging on to D’s hand as they too worked through the throng of people. D’s eyes kept darting around at the crowd. Even though he didn’t think he’d find Andrea here, he couldn’t stop himself from looking for her. He wanted her to come out of the crowd and tell him that she’d just left early, but he knew that something more sinister had happened to her, and that only made him look for her with more fervor.

“How much longer until it starts?” Roni yelled at D over the buzz of people.

 

D looked down at her, then up at a large clock tower that loomed over the capitol. “Less than an hour,” he replied.

“Are you scared, D?”
He was silent for a minute. “Yes, I am.” he admitted.

“Okay, so am I,” the little girl replied as she squeezed his hand tighter.

 

Foxfire stared blankly at Yasakuto, unable to believe he’d just heard him say to hit Andrea. Yasakuto rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. “Foxfire, I know you can understand me, so don’t act stupid. You betrayed me by talking to her anyway, so either you can prove yourself to me now, or I can kill your entire family.”

Foxfire took a step back, his eyes widening. “You... you wouldn’t!” he stammered.

 

“It’s your choice. Either Andrea, or your wife and children.”

Foxfire looked down into Andrea’s eyes. She gave him a determined stare, not showing emotion one way or the other.
They’re more important to you than I am.

The silence in the room as Andrea and Foxfire stared at each other was maddening. Shogun Kunota was shaking as his mind raced between possibilities. Yasakuto had already showed that he would go to any lengths to get what he wanted, which included ordering the deaths of innocent people. The Shogun could feel the sincerity of Yasakuto’s words when he’d threatened to conduct a crusade against the underground
ronin
community. Could he honestly live with himself if he knew he could be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people if things didn’t go Yasakuto’s way?

If I do talk, Yasakuto must be planning on killing me and my family and blaming it on Andrea and her rebels so he can stir up the people. That would be the only way for him to pull this off. But, if he can’t kill me, then maybe there’s still hope. That’s a very large risk to take. What should I do?
Kunota was holding his breath as he tried to think.

“Foxfire! Stop trying my patience! Do it now!” screamed Yasakuto.

The tall, dark-skinned man gave one more glance at Yasakuto before he looked down into the Tiger’s blue eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Andrea narrowed her eyes and nodded. Then Foxfire pulled back his fist and smashed it into the side of Andrea’s head so hard that it sent the chair she was tied to crashing to the floor.

“Alright, this is it. All these tunnels lead to buildings around the capitol, and this manhole cover comes up in the middle of the road in front of it,” 26 pointed up at the metal cover that was ten feet above her head.

Deuce stepped forward. “I think we should send a few
Kemono
with wings out into the other tunnels so they can attempt to get to the rooftops. We can come from below and above that way.”

26 shook her head. “I think that’s too dangerous. Do you hear the noise up there? This place is packed with people. It would be nearly impossible to get up to a rooftop without being seen.”

A female
Kemono
with the features of a panther, a bat, and a kangaroo came forward. “I think you underestimate us. The humans are crowding into the street. There’ll be no one in the alleys behind the buildings. It should be easy to get to at least one rooftop,” she said, her voice silky and full of confidence.

26 thought for a moment. “Alright. Take a few with you, but if it doesn’t seem possible, come back immediately. We don’t need to be discovered.”

The female
Kemono
picked a few other winged members of their group and disappeared into one of the adjoining tunnels. “Now, all we can really do is spread out and wait for the conference to start,” said 26, more to herself than anyone else as she looked back up at the manhole cover.

“Do you think this will work?” asked Deuce as the other
Kemono
fanned out to wait at surrounding exit points.

 

26 shook her head. “No, I don’t think it will,” she turned her head and looked straight into Deuce’s golden eyes, her furred hands clutching the sword she held tightly, “I believe it will.”

 

Andrea felt pain explode across her face, then had the wind knocked out of her as the chair crashed to the floor, pinning her arm at an awkward angle underneath her body. The bonds that were confining her cut into her skin, causing angry red lines across her arms and nearly snapping her ankles when she came down on the floor.

In a split second, Foxfire was on top of her, dealing blow after punishing blow to Andrea’s upper body and face. Pain washed over her in a never-ending stream, and for the first time in a long time Andrea realized that she was in a position where she could do nothing but lay there and take the punishment. With each powerful blow that Foxfire dealt to her the unpleasant angle that the chair and the ropes that held her made Andrea’s body explode with pain.

Foxfire felt like his arms were going to fall off with each punch that he landed on his captive friend. Hot tears were pouring down his cheeks as he pounded his fists into Andrea’s bloody face, causing crimson liquid to spray up onto his arms and face. With every terrible blow he rained down on her, another vision of his family flashed through his mind. It was either Andrea or them, and Andrea knew who he would pick in the end.

He only hoped that his silver-haired friend would forgive him for this.

Shogun Kunota was wincing at every wet, dull thud that sounded as Foxfire pummeled Andrea mercilessly. Yasakuto was staring directly at Kunota, his face passive. “I am willing to sacrifice her to get what I want. Are you willing to do the same? Can you sentence her and thousands of others to die, all so that you can ‘rule the country the way it was intended to be ruled’? Can you honestly stand there and watch as he beats her to death? More importantly, will you make him live with killing her like this?”

Kunota’s hands were balled in to tight fists and he was biting his lower lip so hard that he was shocked he wasn’t tasting blood yet. With each punch that rained down on Andrea from the much larger man, he could hear her choking behind the gag and see her trying to free herself from the ropes that held her. There was a puddle of blood beginning to gather on the carpet below her head and her right shoulder as it dripped down her hair and off of her cheek.