by James Darcey
I knew that my story would be difficult to believe, so when the children offered an explanation about me I followed along without even understanding what I was claiming to be. I did not intend to cause harm to anyone.
As for the gold coins, they were left on the ship when I took it from the person that had imprisoned me. I have used some of them to escape, purchasing things that were needed like food and water.
You have my promise that I will not harm your family. I just want to find mine."
Mr. Masema barely let me finish before inserting his own words, "I could tell that you weren't Japanese as well. Your mannerisms vacillate between cautious and predator. Very much like the American actress would be, yet lacking the entitlement aspect.
Your comrade's appearance could easily be achieved with special effects make-up, used in a big budget film. If there had been such a film being made around here, I would have heard about it."
His words puzzled me, "Film of what? My Japanese is missing some words."
Sakura spoke up once more, "When I spread the foundation on your face, I had to put so much on that you looked like a kabuki. The green on your face wasn't make-up, but I couldn't say anything then. You are guest in our home, and we were obligated to aid you."
"Kabuki? There are parts of me that didn't come from my mother; that is why I look this way. I assure you that I am indeed Human. When I find my family they will tell you that much."
Yelling would have been understandable, but they both just stared at me for several minutes. Twice I nearly spoke just to break the silence, only to have the words die in my mouth. Finally Mr. Masema spoke.
"I suppose you sent that dog crawling back to wherever you came from?"
I saw Sakura flinch at his words, but still she said nothing. I replied in a level voice, "I sent him back to the ship. We didn't dare land where everyone would see us. It's in a courtyard, not far up the path. I thought the place was abandoned until the children arrived.
The surrounding wall is crumbled in places, and the building doesn't look solid. It seemed nearly hidden among the trees on the mountain. A great place to stay out of sight as I looked around."
Sakura knew the place, "That was an old temple. It was abandoned many years ago, and now very few venture there for fear of running into an Oni. You will spend the night here. Not good to encounter an Oni, especially at night."
"Oni? The police authorities called Panzo that. What is it?"
"A demon in animal form."
"But the children walked up there alone! They could have run into an Oni! I mean a real one, not Panzo."
Akita Masema snorted like a Selstlak laughing, "You really aren't from this planet, are you? There are no Oni, except in people's minds."
Akita picked up the coins from the table, turning one over a few times, before stretching out his hand to offer them back to me, "Enough to nearly buy a house. I cannot keep these. We will sort this out tomorrow. For now, you will stay in Tsukne's room."
Sakura led the way upstairs to an open door that had been their son's room. She was mildly surprised to find bedding already laid out on a futon. Apparently the children had anticipated my staying the night. She left me there to ponder my thoughts before sleep.
It was a nice room with a balcony that opened to a view of the mountain above. Somewhere up there was the ship, sitting for all the world to see if they came looking.
A few images adorned the walls of Tsukune's room. Mostly of women, or transports; I mean cars. I left the window open to feel the breeze as I slept. It brought the smell of the forest to me. So much better than smelling the chemical of the orbital lab, or the recycled air on the ship.
Thinking of the ship, I took a moment to call and let them know I was staying here for the night.
"I plan to start searching for my mother's family tomorrow."
"Captain, I am very sorry to have caused a hassle with the security people. I understand if you must release my oath, but I ask that you reconsider. I will do whatever it takes to find your clan."
"Not to worry Panzo. I wouldn't abandon you like that. You're welcome to stay with me for as long as you wish. Most of the winning generals advised loyalty to comrades."
I stripped off the clothes that I'd been wearing since Yellowstone, and spent an hour lifting myself by the bar in the wardrobe, after shoving a few shirts aside. It helped work off a lot of the stress. Afterward I lay on the low bed, and chatted with Lafiel until Terra's sole moon dropped below the horizon.
TOC
JU
The morning came with squeals and the sound of running feet. For a moment I panicked, thinking it was danger, before I realized the squeals were happy sounds.
Hirohito and Saiyuki would run up to the door of this room, and peek in before scampering off back down to the common room below. Perhaps they thought I had vanished in the middle of the night.
I flipped off the light bed covering, and pulled on the grey stretchy pants from the Yellowstone store. Instead of the bear shirt, I chose one from the wardrobe -- one with the image of a smiling air transport bearing the kanji for star-flyer seemed safer to wear.
Sakura had indicated the door at the end of the hall as the sanitizer, but it was even more different than the one at the hospital in Yellowstone. I didn't want to take too much time, so I merely washed my face and hands in the fresh, un-mineraled water.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I spied Sai peeking from the corner of the dining room door. As soon as she saw me, she called out, "She's here!"
I managed to get two steps toward the door before Hiro and Sai burst through the door to grab my hands and lead me inside. I was greeted by a scene much like the one from the night before. The big difference was that Akita Masema was already kneeling at the head of the table. I knelt down in the same spot as the previous night under his worried gaze. Sakura gently reminded him that it would be fine.
The morning meal seemed completely different than the dinner had been. Where there had been sliced fish draped over rice, now there was a selection of fruits to accompany fish that was now rolled into the center of rice balls. The children seemed to take delight in pointing out each of the flavors to me.
"This one is momo; it's great, but we only get it this time of year."
Sai placed a red and green triangular piece on my plate, "You gots to try this. Harunka grows the best Suika, and he gave mom one for fixing his coat."
I sampled a few of the fruits the children set on my plate before tasting the bowl of miso set by my place. It tasted slightly of fish, though several bits of vegetable had been mixed into the soup. What I had first thought was some little cubes of fish turned out to be tofu. They made strange sounds though, when I asked what kind of animal was a tofu.
Hiro and Saiyuki couldn't keep their eyes off me, and kept whispering things across the table to each other that had them both nodding. Maybe they were finding me amusing to watch as I consumed the various fruits. They were each so tasty that I couldn't decide which I liked better. I'd take a bite of one, and feel the juices squirt across my tongue bringing totally new sensations each time. I probably looked about the same as my first bites of moatra berries.
The breakfast was interrupted with Akita's personal comm signaling him. He had one similar to the one Jun used. From the size I guessed that they must have been able to talk anywhere in the stellar system, except I didn't know of anyone on the other planets. After a few minutes of talking to someone he excused himself to leave earlier than expected.
"Excuse my departure please. I must meet with Atsuura a little earlier than expected. Some information came in that he needs to be aware of. Not to worry, everything is ready for today."
Sakura's expression lost some of the smile, "The test today?"
"Nothing to be concerned about. My men can handle a few sign waving koshi-nuki."
"Akita! The children, our guest."
Mr. Masema turned to me, "My apologies for such language. They really are cowa
rds to be fearful of robot workers. The future is here, and our robots will save many lives. I trust you will have conducted your business and be gone before I return tonight."
Immediately there was a cry of anguish from both Hiro and Sai, "But she just got here! She doesn't have any place else to stay. All of our friends are gonna be jealous that we have a movie star living here."
Sakura put a swift end to their pleading, "Hiro! Sai! It is time for you to go to school."
As they shuffled out of the room, Akita Masema looked back at me, "You created this with them. You can fix it."
Sakura slipped into the kitchen while Akita donned a jacket to match his pants. She returned momentarily carrying a small box wrapped with a cloth. He took it from her, and pressed his lips to hers, "Help her, but remember what I said. We don't need to worry about Martian hunters."
She gave him a short bow, bending slightly at the waist, "I will see to it. Be careful out there today."
Only moments after Akita Masema left the house, the two children came down the stairs wearing small packs. Both of them hugged me before retrieving small packages from the kitchen, similar to the one that Sakura had given Akita.
"Can we come watch them shooting the movie when we get home?"
The question greatly puzzled me, "You're leaving? And who is shooting?"
"We have to go to school. Mr. Saito is going to be teaching us in science today, and Sai has history."
I assumed that schools would be like I had learned, on the data terminal, but perhaps data terminals were difficult to obtain on Terra. They had a person dedicated to passing out information to the students.
The children would walk down the street to board a kind of transport called a bus that would take them to a special building for learning the things they needed to know.
Sakura gathered them in her arms, "Now remember that she is our guest. Her safety is our responsibility. If you say anything about her or the old shrine it will cause all sorts of danger. Once you say even the smallest thing to anyone, there is no taking it back."
Saddened responses came from both of them as they shuffled to the door with glances at me. Once out the door their mood changed back to the happy one they'd shown at breakfast. Both were fairly bouncing down the street with backpacks full of actual books.
Sakura turned to me with an odd look in her eyes. I could tell that something was going through her mind as she slowly circled me with an intense inspecting look. Her eyes scanned every centimeter from top to toes. I wondered what she was planning to do to me. Her look was causing a feeling that stirred my energy, but I forced myself to relax; if she had meant harm to me it would have happened the previous night.
"First thing is to get you some identification. That'll be the hard part."
The comment surprised me, "Identification? But I can't go to the authorities like this. You said so yourself."
"I know someone that can help us. People say all sorts of things as I mend their clothing, and I listen."
She used a wall mounted comm unit that was called a phone, and coded in a sequence of numbers. After several minutes of hushed conversation she smiled and told the person to be here in an hour. As soon as she ended the contact she let out the breath she had been holding and flashed me a smile.
"He will be here in an hour, and is willing to create an identity for you. It will be good enough to get you to where you can find your family. In the meanwhile we need to make you look like you belong. We can't get away with the shironuri look very long."
"Shironuri?"
"The painted white face, like we did last night. It's hard to explain, but it won't work in bright sun with your skin. Gahh, it's hard to think of you as an alien when you speak Japanese. There are so many things you don't know about."
I felt a flash of anger pass through me at her words, "But I'm Human. I know I came from somewhere else, but my mother was from Sendai, Japan, Terra, Sol."
"I beg your forgiveness for my poorly chosen words. We will get you ready to find your mother."
"She's dead."
Sakura stopped in her steps, and turned a shocked expression my way, "But you said..."
"I am trying to find her family. She died nearly ten years ago, but there must be others of her family. She had a mother and a father. Surely they still live nearby."
"Then we will work even harder to get you ready."
Sakura started the same way she had last night, with a very pale coating over my face and neck. It wasn't quite as white as the shironuri look. She followed this with tan color to match her skin, and drew lines around my eyes. She even had a stick of red paint to cover my lips.
Most of the intervening hour was spent trying to get my face to look more like hers, but there was still time enough to carefully don a long sleeve shirt, and tie my hair into a scarf to cover the green shade it held. We finished with ten minutes to sit and wait before a bell announced her visitor. It felt a bit odd, almost as though the coloring stiffened my face. Twice she admonished me not to touch it.
Sakura opened the front door to admit an older man carrying a large shoulder bag and a wrapped package under one arm. I wonder if those dark glasses he wore had the ability to see beneath my disguise -- from the way he looked at me it felt like he could. His eyes drifted slowly down to my chest before he turned to look at her again. I felt a shiver run down my back for some reason, though I know the temperature was just fine. In fact it was extra warm in the long sleeves.
"This is Mr. Motogawa. He will be creating your identity."
"Mrs. Masema, had you heard there was a UFO flying right over Sendai yesterday? I know that most of the news channels missed out on the opportunity, but I know this friend that managed to snap a really good picture of it. Channel seventy-nine snapped it up for their two am show."
Sakura just laughed lightly as she led him toward the main gathering room, "Please, we need to hurry this."
"Alright, don't worry. I'll have a new ID for her so she can get in the club with me tomorrow."
Before I could even ask what club he was talking about, Sakura scowled at him, "The deal was for the cloak only, not a date."
"But if she says yes."
"You can't just make demands like that. I might simply shred the cloak too."
"All right. Ok. I'll get this done in no time."
He pulled a large bag off his shoulder and set it on the counter in the kitchen. It had all sorts of little pockets that held small things, and a large one that he pulled a data terminal out of. The unit hummed softly and beeped a few times as it slowly gained power.
Finally it opened to a screen showing a bad picture of, I think it was a sashimi. Whoever drew that picture must have been severely intoxicated. The caption across the picture read 'Wanted'. He spent a few minutes getting to the correct file he wanted before he asked Sakura for a few details. She looked at me and prompted for my mother's name.
"Yoko Ryokan, 565 Kamasaki Fukouka Kuramoto, Shiraishi-shi, Miyagi-ken."
He was busy tapping keys, "I just needed her name; I'll get the rest in a minute. Is that a real name?"
"Yes, she was my mother."
"It's ok, I believe you. I can find her."
He tapped the keys and the viewer shifted images. He read down the page a bit with little inarticulate sounds coming out of him. A few times he nodded to himself. This must have been what Jun had done to find information about my mother. Form after form flashed on the screen, and paused long enough to read a few lines before he tapped for the next one. He seemed to know just what he was looking for in all of that data. It was very different than when I was looking through files on the orbital lab.
"Says here she died twenty-two years ago at the age of fifteen. Her canoe was found swamped in Lake Yellowstone... Family searched for... Came home... Honored at... "
The image on the viewer was different than what I had seen in the files of Teyrn Elon. This showed her in happier times with friends. She had friends. So many things I never
knew about her. She never got the chance to kiss my forehead the way Sakura had done for Hiro and Sai. I found myself reaching out to touch the screen when Sakura nudged me. She leaned close to whisper in my ear.
"Don't cry, it'll smudge if you do."
"Ok, so this is the one? I'll take this... set that to... School... tap into... Then... Now, birthdate?"
Sakura nudged me to snap my thoughts away from the image that had flashed on the screen, "He means when were you born."
"Twenty standard years, seven months, and... eight days ago."
"I'll need height, weight, eye color, measurements. Ow!"
Sakura slapped the top of his head with that last question, "You don't need to know her measurements."
"One hundred seventy-one centimeters. Sixty-eight kilograms. Gold with red flecks, and I don't know what you want me to measure."
With a glance at me and Sakura, he mumbled, "I'll just put gold, but they'll know those are contacts."
He worked quickly through several screens before he announced success. Several times I heard his odd noises while he attempted to force the terminal to do what he told it to. Many of the little words he mumbled were ones I'd never heard before. I didn't ask about them because I didn't think I was supposed to hear them.
"And... Yoko Ion Ryokan is born! I put family images of the original Yoko in for her history. She graduated from Sendai Academy with a good degree in power systems. She spent the last several years in religious isolation. Good luck. Oh, and this is only valid in Miyagi Prefecture for now, If you need more than that it will take several days and cost a bit more."
An image on the screen showed an identification card very much like the one my mother had carried. This one though, had a picture of me that he had taken with a little imager, and registered the address for Akita and Sakura's home. We had to use their address because I couldn't very well tell him it was the big blue starship sitting in the temple grounds up the hill. I was still going to have to do something about that too.