I rested my head back on the ground. Now that the child was out of here, the pain of my own wounds returned with a vengeance. Just before darkness closed in on me one final time, one of the medics began looking me over. The first thing out of his lips was, “Dear Buddha, this woman’s still conscious and alive with that thing sticking out of her eye and a stake through her shoulder. Quick…”
Moments, or was it a millennia later, I felt a sting in my good arm. The last thought to enter my pain-ravaged mind, was the heartbreaking reality that the stepsister I loved so much was gone. Then... nothing.
Chapter Four
>Paper origami cranes floated through my unconscious and fevered brain. White against blackness, occasionally shifting to strange and unusual colors before moving back to white again. Amongst all that, my sister stood in an all too familiar jungle clearing and laughed, watching them as they flew past her. Frowning, I tried to call out to her. To warn her to run, to get away. Nothing worked. I tried to run, but hands gripped my wrists, forcing them behind my back so that I stood helpless once again. I could only watch as the paper cranes floated in the air and teased my sister’s hair before floating to on the huts that seemed to appear out of the mists.
I stared in horror as one hut after another burst into flames. Soon after, the screams began. Horrific, soul-tearing screams, made worse by the sound of Sara’s laughter as she chased more of the origami animals around the center of the village. Illuminated by the flames, a shadowy figure stood in the tree line. The only feature I could make out was a set of amber colored eyes that seemed to burn my skin as he watched me. Sara turned and began to walk towards me, holding out her arms as if to embrace me. My unseen captor kept a tight hold on me as I struggled to run to her, to get her out of harm’s way. When my sister came within touching distance, her body burst into flames. Her screams blended with mine as her face began to melt. Then he seemed to set my own body on fire, illuminating the brand on my chest as the blackened clothing revealed the Chinese word for Dog. The flesh began to crisp and peel back from charred bone. I woke up screaming.
A blurry figure leaned over my bed as I screamed. Not really awake and not really thinking, my good hand shot out and gripped the area where a throat would be, and squeezed slightly. Not enough to hurt, but just a little pressure to let whoever I had hold of know that not moving would be a good idea. My right eye finally began to focus and the image swam into view. A middle-aged doctor with kindly brown eyes stared back at me. Embarrassed, I turned bright red, releasing his neck. “Are you injured? I am very sorry for my actions. I occasionally react unexpectedly when I wake up suddenly.”
When he smiled, he looked like one of those smiling Buddha statues you can buy at any souvenir shop in Japan. “That is fine, considering the trauma you’ve had to deal with. You are forgiven. Especially when your actions saved the leg of the little girl, Michiko. If they hadn’t brought her in when they did, they would have had to amputate the leg.”
Relief washed over me at the doctor’s words, a weight lifted from my heart as the news truly sank into my mind. “Then she’s fine? She’ll be all right and her family is okay?” I leaned back against the pillow and inhaled through my nose, amazed that I could with all the bandages swathing my head and face. A familiar scent washed all calmness from my system. The unmistakable aroma told me who else inhabited the room with me, sitting on the other side of the bed, unseen. My stepfather always favored the nag champa soap and it’s distinctive scent. I slowly said, “Could you excuse me, Doctor? I need to be alone for a while.”
The doctor looked beyond my line of sight, then bowed to me. “Of course, I will be back in later to check up on you.” He escaped the room with the air of someone who had been given a reprieve just seconds before their execution.
In the ensuing silence, I said. “So, Father.” It always pays to be polite, even if you really don’t want to be. “You’ve come to visit the gaijin daughter whom you never really liked. Come around to the right side of the room so that I can see your face.” After a moment of hesitation, the man who considered me an undesirable addition to his family, a black-sheep, and some other less-than-pleasant titles, came into my line of sight and gracefully sat down in a chair provided.
Ashi Nogura, owner of AshiCorp International. What made him truly unique is the aura of power that emanated from his presence. He wore it the same way he wore his tailored Armani suits. While not overly muscled, he had a sleek body tone that comes only from years of honing one’s body through Kendo practice at least four times a week since he first began to walk. All that meant nothing until you looked into his eyes. They were liquid gold, like a lion’s except around the edges, which were a dark brown. These were the eyes of a man who could make or break a company with a single gesture or word. Eyes that held you as if they could draw the secrets from your soul. If you locked eyes with him, you would find it hard to look away. This was the man who claimed me as his stepdaughter, like it or not.
He looked at me and sighed, “Terri,” he spoke in English, taking me completely by surprise. “Can we put aside our differences for one day and discuss what happened? In our hearts we both are grieving for Sara.” He had perfect control of himself except for the hint of pain in his voice.
I nodded carefully, trying to avoid jarring anything that might cause me pain. “I’m willing to do so if you are. Forgive me if I start rambling on. It’s the pain medicine, I think. But if I can help in any way, please. Ask what you want. I’m sure the local police will have some of the same questions to ask as well.” I groaned at the thought.
He blinked slightly. “Do you need anything to drink? Tea perhaps?” He reached over to the pitcher of ice water with his right hand. For the first time, I noticed that his hand was wrapped in a bandage that covered an area where his pinky finger should have been.
“Water would be nice, Father. You know how I feel about tea sometimes.” I tried to keep my eyes from the bandage, but it was too late.
Nogura looked at me and sighed, “An accident.” He held the drinking straw to my lips. “Now, tell me what happened. I knew you were doing your job when you landed in Tokyo. But no one told me what was going on until I got the phone call about the explosion.”
I took a sip of water and looked him in the eyes. Being the only one who did not get sucked into that gaze is quite an honor in my book. “Well, it started the morning after I stepped off the plane from SeaTac airport...” I tried to sound controlled and clinical as much as possible. By the time I got to the explosion, it just hurt too much to keep it all in. At least I didn’t fall apart until after I finished the story. Hot tears flowed down my face to either soak into the bandages, or drip unheeded onto the hospital gown I wore.
Ashi Nogura appeared equally disturbed, but not the way I expected him to be. Anger burned in every line of his body. “You are sure she was drugged and beaten?” His eyes glowed with a barely controlled inner rage, making me extremely thankful not to be on the receiving end of that fury.
Looking around the room as much as the pain allowed. “Where’s my clothes and my camera?” I slowly pressed the bed control button that would allow me to sit up, “I know you have your electronic notebook with you, Father.” At his upraised eyebrows of surprise, I had to grin, despite the situation at hand. “I may not have been around you as long as Sara, but I do read the news and business magazines. It’s said that the Master of AshiCorp never goes anywhere without his laptop, just in case things get a bit testy at the home office.”
Nogura stood and moved to a dresser on the other side of the room. Opening one drawer, he drew out a bag that contained several finished rolls of film and, amazingly enough, my beloved digital camera. “You mean these?” he said sardonically. “They wanted to throw them out because of the blood. But you had a death grip on everything when I came in, I told them to bag everything until you could explain.” He brought it over to me and laid the whole mess in my lap.
Sighing in relief, I used my one hand
to open the bag and bring out the camera. “Just how badly am I injured? I can’t see out of my left eye and it’s a pain in the ass to move my left arm at all. Tell me before I get busy with the photos?”
He turned to look at the window, “They couldn’t save your left eye. When the medical personnel got to you, there was a sharp piece of bone piercing the eye socket itself.” He shook his head as if to clear it of unpleasant thoughts. “You had a piece of wood the size of a baseball bat sticking out of your left shoulder and the resulting blast cracked a couple ribs.” He looked back at me. “I won’t even mention the fact that your nose had to be completely reconstructed using polymer plastics.” He actually attempted a lopsided smile at me.
“Cosar packed a mean punch when he wanted to.” During his recitation, I removed the camera from the bag and checked it over by feel, then looked over at him. “Can I see your laptop for a moment?” I punched the button to release the CDW from the inside of the camera. I prayed as the interior opened up, then sighed in relief when my eye saw everything intact. The pictures remained undamaged.
Ashi Nogura looked intense as he handed over his prized possession. “On your honor, Daughter, you will not look at anything on this computer? Just use what you need to use?” He looked tense as he waited for my answer.
I nodded, glad for his countenance this time. It made things a lot easier to deal with than the softie that lay just beneath that austere outer surface. The one who just let me know I would be half-blind for the rest of my life. My hand covered my heart. “Honor, Father, is all I have to give at this time. Something which I give to you freely.”
He released the laptop and I got to work. The keys were all in Japanese characters, but I didn’t need to look at them to know where to put my fingers. When the main Windows screen came up, the CDW went into the drive and began to load. A couple more keystrokes brought my photo listing up to the screen. Nogura moved to stand by my side while my fingers worked their magic. Ignoring him, I scrolled down the listings and the thumbnail sized images to the one of the last few on the disk. He definitely would not like what he saw. I swallowed any nervousness. “You asked if what I said was true about Sara. Look with your own eyes, Nogura-Sama, and see the truth,” I closed my eye as I clicked on the image. It didn’t make the pain any better seeing it the second time around. Beside me, Nogura tensed and I could have sworn a low sound escaped his lips. It was the sound of a man who has come face to face with a truth he didn‘t want to believe.
His voice sounded strained when he asked, “Did she say why or who?”
I told him, and showed him Cosar’s picture, “You can’t do anything to him though.”
His hot, angry eyes pinned me to the bed. “And why not?”
I didn’t flinch too badly. “Because, honorable Nogura-sama, I saw a piece of wood as big around as my arm emerge from his chest, impaled from behind. It forced him forward and pinned him to the sand.” I lowered my eyes and my head in a bow. “I am sorry.”
All the heat seemed to go out of him as he turned his attention to the final few pictures I didn’t know I had taken. “What are these others?” he asked.
I clicked on them to see what they were, knowing that my finger had reflexively triggered the camera. A series of images, from the spark of explosion, to the very vivid images of Sara, to the night sky above as the stars twinkled marched across the screen before our eyes. That last one probably happened at the point where I landed on the ground, unconscious. When the last image left the screen, Ashi Nogura looked up from the photos and glanced at me. His face, once again the granite and stoic visage of the Master of AshiCorp. His pain, buried under mental armor, would be expressed at a more private time. For now, however, my stepfather had to think beyond his own personal feelings and deal with the here and now. I took another sip of water and cleared my throat. “When will services be held for Sara?” I wasn’t a Buddhist, but I wanted to be there to say good bye.
He nodded in understanding. “Three days from now. I will let you know when and where.”
“Thank you,” I sighed. “Now if I can only talk the doctors into turning me loose from this place. I’m not doing anyone any good here and I feel smothered.” Phrasing it that way prevented me from sounding incredibly stupid.
He smiled, but it was one that seemed more feral than nice. “That,” he growled, “will not be a problem.”
I had only known him personally for just a few hours and already his steamrolling powerhouse attitude made me want to smile. Somehow, if he wanted me to be released from the hospital, they’d do it in record time. I had to grin at that. “You’ve... changed, Nogura-Sama. Or maybe I have grown up.”
He looked confused, “How so?”
I ejected the disk from his laptop and shut it down. “The stepfather I knew as a kid would never have let me near him without a bunch of his staff staring at me like a set of vultures set on a piece of meat. Granted, you and I have never seen each other except for visitations with my mother at appointed times of the year. But still, you were distant, cold and callous.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’ve grown up and you aren’t the boogey monster anymore.”
That actually caught him off guard and surprised a laugh out of him. “The Boogey Man? When you were a child, you were your mother’s daughter. You came into our house resentful of being anywhere near someone whom you thought betrayed your Father. The `vultures’ you spoke of,” he chuckled, “were business associates that always met with me when you were visiting. They had little use for a gaijin like yourself.” He stared off into space for a few moments, then looked back at me, “If I recall correctly, the last time you met them, one of them started talking about you as if you weren’t there. Talking over your head, insulting you unforgivably.” He actually smiled and it reached his eyes, “I was about to reprimand him when you did it yourself. Quite admirably too, I might add. I knew you had been studying Japanese, I just didn’t know how well or how fluent you had become.”
Oh yes, I recalled that incident only too well and had to grin, “Well, he certainly had it coming, Father. No kid likes to be called such filthy names or be talked to as if they were an animal or a lower life form. I let him have it. American Style, with both barrels.” I thought back, “As I recall, after being hustled out of the room, you tore a few strips out of him too.” I grinned impishly at his aghast look, “I listened at the door.”
He sighed, “I knew you were going to be trouble.”
I handed the laptop back to him with a sigh of relief that it left my hands. Please, let my sleep be peaceful tonight, my inner voice prayed, let me not see melting faces or explosions and keep the screams at bay. Leaning back, I sighed. “Well, now that we’ve built the framework, can we start building the bridge?”
He nodded, putting the laptop back into his briefcase. “Of course.” he smiled slightly, “But now, I need to let the police know that you’re available for them to question. They’re as persistent as badgers when it comes to getting to the heart of the matter. So be patient with them if they get too annoying.”
I watched as he strode to the door of my hospital room. I said, in fluent Japanese, “Thank you for coming to see me, Father. I am not worthy of such attention.” I smiled while speaking, just for the benefit of anyone who might have been listening at the door.
He turned slightly and looked over his shoulder, “Just for that, you’ll be staying at my home in Kamakura. Your things have already been moved there and your account at the hotel has been settled.” I sighed dramatically. He grinned impishly. I should have known he’d already done something like that.
I growled at him, “Let’s get the interview with the cops over with so I can talk with the doctor about the therapy I’m going to need after I leave. I know he’s been twitching and wanting to get at me before now but you saved him from being seriously injured.” Another thought invaded my mind. “I’m going to need someone that you trust with your life to develop the photos I shot with the regular camera, Nogura.” I used hi
s first name to let him know just how dead serious this had become. “I don’t know about you, but without these photos, I don’t get paid. But then again, this is worth not getting paid. I just want them developed so that I can remember Sara... and keep a promise I made.”
He nodded and then walked out the door. Seconds later, I faced at least three police inspectors, two uniformed officers, and no less than four representatives of the United States Consulate in Tokyo. That many people for this interview really started to make me nervous. Something didn’t feel right about all this, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. Instead of fretting over it, my energy went into being as co-operative as possible with these people.
****
The next few hours of my life were ones that I would rather not have had to experience in the first place. It wasn’t an interview, more like a third degree interrogation. With each passing minute, their attitude became more and more accusing. As if they thought, I’d left something out of the story. They would be right, but I’d be damned if the disks and film got into their hands. My experience with one too many rolls of film, which were mysteriously, shall we say, misplaced, when taken by police taught me to always keep things like that to myself. About the time my anger level almost caused me to start telling them what they could do to themselves, two cell phones started going off. One for the police, one for the Americans. I was glad for the reprieve because even the US reps were becoming insulting and annoying. As the seconds ticked by, a change happened in their demeanor on both sides. Each was doing the ‘Yes Sir,’ thing way too often.
Soon, both hung up, one about thirty seconds after the other. Suddenly, both sides were extremely apologetic for any insults to my person. They hoped that I had not been offended by their attitude. The one most people get when their superiors have just torn a verbal strip of flesh off them for stupid stunts. I’d have found it very comical if my blood hadn’t been hitting the boiling point. Moments later, everyone made a hasty retreat out the door with the exception of the doctor. He had snuck in during the last half of the interrogation. “When you are done, Doctor, do you think I could get some food? I haven’t eaten anything since lunchtime.” I tried not to sound too out of sorts, but when my stomach tries to gnaw on my spine from the inside, and announce it‘s hunger very audibly, one tends to get a bit grumpy.
Taylor, Diane Page 3