Ninja Assassin: Attraction
Page 24
"Maybe I'll paint you next," he told her as if reading her mind.
Lawso had painted the figures prior to moving to Japan. He had not painted any more since meeting Kaiya, because he knew he would just end up depicting her.
In the corner of the room, a basic photo frame was displayed with Lawso and two other men.
“Are they your brothers?” Kaiya asked.
“Yes. That photo was taken years ago at Jason’s 21st birthday,” Lawso said. “That was a crazy night.”
Lawso walked into the open kitchen, still keeping an eye on her as he found an ice pack in his freezer. He wrapped it in a hand towel and returned to the lounge also carrying a flick-knife.
“Lift your legs,” Lawso said.
“Why?” Kaiya asked.
“I’ll lift them for you then,” Lawso said, gently lifting her legs.
He surprised her when he sat down beside her and placed her feet in his lap.
Neither one spoke whilst Lawso cut the duct tape off her ankles. The knife flicked shut and disappeared into his pocket. Lawso unwound her stabilisation bandage and gently inspected her swollen ankle.
“You should keep this elevated,” Lawso said, slipping a pillow onto his lap under her feet.
Lawso held the ice pack against the swelling.
Their eyes met and Lawso smiled at her. It was obvious to Kaiya that Lawso cared for her more than he should. This tender side of his reminded her why she had fallen for him at Mizuchi Ninjutsu training. Kaiya laid there feeling both frustrated with her hands still bound, and overwhelmed in general by her confused feelings for Lawso.
"Are you going to untie my hands?" Kaiya eventually asked him.
"I can't," Lawso told her gently. "But I can find out what Tadao wants to do with the wrong sister."
Kaiya was unsure why she was the wrong sister, so just frowned at him while he dialled his phone.
"Hey Yoshito...." Lawso watched her as he spoke over the phone, still holding the icepack to her ankle, while he continued speaking into the phone.
"Actually no. A little wench we know got in the way.... I couldn't get Mariko but I managed to get away with Kaiya instead.... Ha-ha yep! She is not happy about being kidnapped. Wait until I tell you what I had to go through to drag her little ass back to my house…. No, I kept her conscious…. You know I like a challenge.... Alright you’ve got me, I used the anaesthetic up on her sister and decided not to give Kaiya a concussion…. It doesn’t matter, we're here now. Kaiya can hear me talking…. She is cooperating for the moment.... Ok, I'll wait while you tell him."
Kaiya just sat watching Lawso as he spoke. Lawso was now rubbing one hand over her uninjured leg, stroking up and down her calf and ankle. The over-familiarity of his touch surprised her, as did the realisation that she liked him rubbing her. It was actually relaxing with her legs stretched out in his lap, despite her bound wrists.
Kaiya heard someone else speaking on the phone.
"Ok I'll put you on speaker phone.... It's on,” Lawso told them.
It was Kaiya’s uncle, Tadao Takahashi.
"Good morning Kaiya. This is Tadao. I hope you've had a pleasant morning after the mess you made of my party last night. Is Lawso looking after you to your standards?"
"If you call shooting my friends, throwing me off a balcony and trying to kill me with his driving, looking after me, then yes!"
Tadao laughed at her comment.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Kaiya, but you have really become a huge problem for me. You have cost me a lot of money and some important friends. I really needed to use your sister as leverage to get the chip back. I don't think Tatsuya is going to exchange you for the chip. But all is not lost. I could finally get another outcome from him.... Let's dial Tatsuya shall we and see what comes of this interesting situation."
Kaiya was getting irritated by the repeated insinuations that her father would not care enough to exchange her for the chip. She had no idea what else Tadao was hinting at. He must be mistaken because her father would have to make the deal to get her back, wouldn't he? She kept her retort to herself, whilst Lawso watched her reaction with interest. They could hear a dial tone while they waited to see if Tatsuya would be added to the conversation.
"What do you want at this hour, little brother?" Tatsuya's voice barked over the phone line.
Kaiya was unsure whether she was more surprised to hear her father abruptly answer the phone, or that he knew it was Tadao without asking.
"Good morning Tatsuya. Kaiya, let Tatsuya know you're also on the line,” Tadao said almost cheerfully.
Kaiya refused to answer until Lawso trailed a hand up her thigh, moving between her legs.
"Hey," she yelled. Lawso held back a laugh as he removed his hand.
"Kaiya is safely detained with one of my ninjas," Tadao bragged.
"Yes, I heard," Tatsuya snapped, sounding unimpressed.
"Let's cut to the chase then, Tatsuya. I demand that you exchange the chip for Kaiya's safe return,” Tadao’s demand almost sounded pleasant.
There was an uncomfortable pause as Tatsuya sighed loudly over the phone.
"Father?" Kaiya questioned him, but the silence continued.
"Tatsuya, you will exchange the chip for Kaiya!" Tadao finally repeated.
After more awkward silence Tatsuya finally and deliberately spoke, with controlled fury. "Now tell me little brother, why would I exchange my chip for your daughter?"
There was a longer pause after this comment when Tadao realised that Tatsuya had finally let out the truth. Tadao had been waiting years for Tatsuya’s lie to be out in the open.
"What!?" Kaiya exclaimed in shock, as she tried to process what her father had just said.
Tatsuya hesitated again briefly, after hearing her surprised response. But then he abruptly hung up the phone.
Kaiya felt confused. Tatsuya had just ended the call and Tadao was her biological father? That did not make any sense. What about Mariko, was she even her sister? Was her whole life a lie? Tadao was speaking to her again but Lawso told him to wait a minute. Kaiya barely processed Lawso moving off the lounge to cut the duct tape off her wrists. He held her face in his hands and gently spoke to her.
"Kaiya, do you want to call Tadao back later, or we could go talk to him in person?"
"No, I need answers now,” Kaiya decided.
"Kaiya, are you there?" Tadao asked over the phone.
"Yes. I don't understand...." Kaiya replied softly.
Tadao tried to explain again.
"I always wondered if you were my child. Tatsuya found out about your mother's affair with me the night she was giving birth to you. Tatsuya fell into a murderous rage and almost beat me to death. I was in hospital for a month with multiple injuries and I permanently lost vision in my left eye. Tatsuya also killed your mother that night. I have no proof but I am sure of it."
Kaiya could not stop the tears that streamed down her cheek.
"What about Mariko?" Kaiya questioned, trying to wipe her tears aside.
"She is Tatsuya and Natalya's child, your half-sister." Tadao told her. "With time it became more obvious to me that you had to be mine. Tatsuya would never have let his own daughter take the risks that you have taken. But I did not know for sure until Yoshito delivered me a sample of your hair a year ago. DNA testing confirmed it. In his bitterness Tatsuya has used you all of these years as a weapon against me. I have never wanted you to be harmed. You can ask Lawso after this call why I hired him."
“If you have known for sure for a full year that you are my biological father, why did you just sit on that information?” Kaiya accused.
“The answer to that is complicated. I would like to meet you properly and answer more of your questions face to face. It is very difficult to explain more over the phone,” Tadao said.
Tadao took Kaiya's silence as an opportunity to continue speaking.
"Since we’re speaking now, I have more pressing information that may concern your sister’s
safety. If Tatsuya has moved Mariko to his island, you need to get her away from there. Our government is now arranging to work with the USA to seize or else blast the chip and if need be the island, to pieces after that. Come and see me after all this all sinks in and your sister is safe. We'll talk later ok, Kaiya?"
"She heard you, Tadao," Lawso told him when Kaiya remained silent.
“I will hang up now and be in touch,” Tadao said, as he and Lawso politely ended the call.
Kaiya was at a complete and utter loss and sat silently trying to hold back tears. Lawso pulled her into his arms, and stroked her hair while she unleashed a sob. Kaiya tried to process all the lies that Tatsuya had told her over the years, but she did not even know where to start. She had always known in her gut that her father, who turns out was really her uncle, had never loved her the way he had loved Mariko. Now she knew that he had never actually loved her as a daughter at all. She was his weapon and a handy body guard for his real daughter. And she was damn good at both of those roles.
Hatred and disgust and despair flowed through her, while she thought about how she was a product of adultery and lies. Now she even wondered if she had wasted her life trying to be the best killer she could be, and for what? To make Tatsuya proud of her?!
So many thoughts passed through Kaiya's mind as she continued crying. Had Tatsuya really killed her mother and robbed them of their childhood with her? He had told her and Mariko that Natalya had died from a haemorrhage shortly after Kaiya’s birth. Foremost on her mind now was an urgency to confront Tatsuya in person. To find out what had really happened to her mother the night she was born.
After a long time, Kaiya ran out of tears and her thoughts returned to the present. Lawso continued holding her close. He was relieved that she seemed to be coming out of her dissociative state. Lawso was thinking out loud as he broke the silence.
"I wonder if Yoshito knew Tadao was your biological father when he offered me my job. I thought Tadao just didn't want his niece to be killed. I didn't imagine there was more to this story,” Lawso said.
"And what exactly is your job, Lawso?" Kaiya quietly asked him, pulling back so that she could stare questioningly into his eyes.
He was unsure of her tone, so he answered honestly.
"Tadao was sick of you killing off his ninjas, but didn't want you to die either. They hired me to distract you, get in your way, and basically stop you. I had my work cut out for me because Tadao did not tell his other ninjas to keep you alive. He didn't want to lose loyalty and credibility and he didn’t want Tatsuya find out that he cared whether you lived. Yoshito passed up the opportunity for this particular job himself, because he said the only way he knew how to stop you was to kill you."
Clearly Lawso had enjoyed using other methods of stopping her. Kaiya narrowed her eyes at him.
"When did Yoshito offer you the job?"
Lawso stared at her uncomfortably.
"When?!" she yelled at him.
Lawso shrugged. "He first offered me the job at Mizuchi Ninjutsu training. When the two of us were off hunting for the boar."
Lawso watched a series of emotions play out over her face.
Kaiya realised that that was the morning after their first kiss. The job offer was on the same day Lawso later pulled her into his lap in front of everyone around the spit roast and started making a claim on her. Furious, she pushed herself out of his arms and stood, putting some distance between them.
"And what the fuck was everything that followed between us after that?" Kaiya screamed.
"Chemistry," he answered quietly, and earned a hard slap across his face.
Lawso stood up towering over her. "Can you deny that the sex we had in that cave, was the hottest sex you've ever had?!"
His comment earned him another hard slap.
"Keep slapping me, Kaiya, and I'll...." but he changed his mind and walked over to the kitchen.
Lawso started pulling food out of the fridge to make breakfast for them. He looked over at her with a softer expression.
"You can't fake chemistry like that. I want you just as much as you want me. Think about that for a minute!" Lawso declared.
Kaiya stood glaring at him with her hands on her hips, not knowing how enticing she looked to him. Lawso threw her the tee shirt he had taken from the shop and was glad when she replaced her torn singlet. Her exposed bra and cleavage had been distracting him.
Kaiya decided she had one more question.
"When did you accept Yoshito's job offer?"
Lawso smiled his sexy smile at her in response. "Now that is a more interesting question. If you'd been nicer to me I might have answered it."
He tossed her his mobile phone. "You should ring Kazuo and your sister."
Kaiya caught the mobile but remained glaring at him, so he could not resist goading her.
"If you want to go upstairs to my bedroom, I'm happy to help relieve some of your frustration for you. In fact, I could use a little release myself."
Kaiya threw a pillow at his head and he bit back a grin. She turned her back on him to make some phone calls. Unsurprisingly, she found out that Kazuo and Mariko's phones were either switched off or out of coverage. Tatsuya's stupid island probably did not have any phone reception, she thought. Next she placed a call to the security floor at her apartment. One of the ninjas answered.
"Kaiya, Tatsuya said we're not to speak with you or let you into Mariko's apartment. We were told that you are in league with Tadao. I wouldn't have believed it except some of the others saw you kissing that Australian ninja when you were dangling off the building."
"Are you fucking serious!? I want to speak to Mariko and Kazuo now!" Kaiya yelled at him.
"I'm sorry, Kaiya. Mariko and Kazuo are on Tatsuya's island. I am not allowed to give you the number or put you through. You could leave them a message on their mobiles, but they probably won't get it until they return to the main land. There is no reception there."
"Can you please pass a message on to Mariko?" Kaiya tried to speak more pleasantly to the ninja.
"Sorry, I can't. The others are telling me to hang up on you. See you around."
The connection ended and Kaiya stared at the mobile in disbelief. Lawso's large hand closed over hers, preventing her just in time from throwing his mobile. Once he retrieved his phone, he gently grabbed her hand again and led her to his dining table.
"Sit, eat," Lawso simply commanded.
Kaiya sat down and did eat some of the eggs and toast he had prepared, and downed some orange juice. His cooking was not bad but then again anyone could make eggs, she thought. Lawso spread some dark brown paste over his toast. She had tasted vegemite before and thought it was a ridiculous thing to eat.
Worry about how she was going to get Mariko and Kazuo off that island, dominated her thoughts. Also, how would Mariko handle hearing about Tatsuya's lies? After this was all over she would also have to deal with finding accommodation and employment for herself. She had a fair amount of money in her bank to get her started again, it was just a matter of accessing it with no ID. Clean clothes and shoes would not go astray either. What an upheaval her life was now in! These thoughts passed through her mind in a disorganised manner. She breathed slowly and calmed herself down.
Lawso interrupted her thoughts.
"My house is safe. Only Yoshito knows where I live and he is obviously not interested in harming you. Unless he wants revenge for the mild burns you caused to his hands. You can stay here for a while if you want to. There are two spare bedrooms. You can pick either one if you want your own space. I want you in my life, Kaiya. I'm still going after the chip because it is not safe in Tatsuya’s hands. While I’m there I’ll help your sister get off the island. I’ll even kill Tatsuya for you while I’m at it, if you ask me to."
Kaiya broke out into a smile when she looked up at Lawso's serious expression across the table. He sounded as though he meant what he offered. She did not know how to accept his offer to stay, so she responded t
o his last comment instead.
"You wouldn't get close enough to him to get a shot in,” Kaiya said.
"Is that a challenge?" Lawso asked her. "I'm not joking, Kaiya. I want you to stay here for as long as you want to. I've got an idea how to get myself on that island. Your ankle is stuffed though so I can't take you with me."
"My ankle is stuffed because of you! But I can walk on it. I'll kill you if you even try to leave me behind!" Kaiya snapped.
"Fine, and I'll kill you if your ankle slows me down," he told her. He was grinning at her though.
"What size shoe do your little feet fit into? Obviously, we're going to have to do something about your bare feet."
"22. But how are we going to get on the island? Fa.... Tatsuya's security would be worse than my apartment."
Lawso resisted the temptation to tell her that her apartment had been easy to breach.
"Leave it to me," he said instead as he dialled his mobile.
"Hey, it's Lawso. I need a favour...." Lawso walked into another room out of range of Kaiya's hearing. He was on the phone for quite a while. She wondered what he was planning as she bit into more toast.
Finally, he returned to the room looking pleased.
"I've organised transport. We leave in one hour,” Lawso said.
"Um, I need to get some shoes and a change of clothes," Kaiya reminded him.
"Satoshi said he will sort that out. He even asked what weapons we wanted. Not that I don't have my own assortment upstairs," Lawso confessed.
"Satoshi?” Kaiya was taken aback by the mention of their friend. “Not that I'm unappreciative, but how and why is he helping us?"
To her annoyance Lawso gave her a cryptic answer. "Because Satoshi is well resourced. Plus, he has another agenda, which actually suits me fine."
Lawso walked over to the couch, sat down and patted the cushion beside him.
"Come here, beautiful. I'm going to have to strap that ankle well if you're going to be running on it."