IWH chapter 10

--Hattori Compound 6:50 am--

Satoru breathed heavily as he leaned on his guan'dao for support. Sweat drenched his training garments and his muscles screamed in pain as he stared at his opponent across the training yard. The practice space’s design was heavily influenced by the ancient architecture in many of the martial arts temples: concrete floors and an open-roof ceiling that allowed the warmth of the sun to permeate the space.

“Come now, sweetie, you can do better than that,” Hanabi called to her son. It had been a while since he had attempted to take on his mother, long enough for him to forget how adept at hand to hand combat she was. Hanabi wore her usual playful smile as she stood opposite her son, having yet to break a sweat.

“Shelty, dear!” She called to the attendant who was watching nearby. “Why not give him a hand, eh?” She winked playfully at the girl. The teen walked over to Satoru, who gave her a tired smile. “It will be two on one then. Are you sure, madam?” Shelty asked.

Hanabi dismissed the girl’s concern. “Oh, don’t worry about me, I could use the exercise. And to motivate Mr. Lazy Bones over there how about I make it easy for you both? If either of you lands just a single hit on me, I’ll get Maya to make her famous treats that you both like!” At hearing the challenge and incentive placed in front of him, Satoru was instantly rejuvenated. He twirled his weapon, pointing it at his mother in a challenge.

“You’re on!” The three combatants bowed to each other before Satoru dashed forward, intending to take his mother’s head. She caught the pole of the weapon, stopping the strike dead. With her left arm occupied Shelty dashed behind the woman, rushing forward to strike at her exposed back. Hanabi, still having a firm hold on the guan’dao, swung the weapon around and used her still attached son to knock Shelty away. The pair tumbled away together, landing in an unflattering heap near the wall. Hanabi admired the polearm she had liberated from Satoru’s grip. “Now that I look at it, this is quite the impressive weapon you’ve got here,” She took a few test swings and expertly spun it around before planting its hilt firmly in the ground with a loud ‘clang.’

“Your father’s craftsmanship never ceases to impress me.” She tossed the weapon back to her son and beckoned the pair forward with a taunt. “Care to try again?”

The pair rolled back to their feet and prepared another assault, this time weaving in and out of each other’s paths in an attempt to disguise their attack direction. They each unleashed a flurry of lightning-fast attacks. Oh my, these two sure have been working on their teamwork, haven’t they? Hanabi thought as she lazily ducked and sidestepped away from Satoru’s glaive swings, all the while fending off Shelty’s assault, parrying and blocking the flurry of kicks and punches.

“Satoru, sweetie, I’ve told you to work on your body language. The slight way your muscles twitch gives away your attack direction.” To reinforce her point, she sidestepped a downward stroke of Satoru’s blade. She trapped it in the ground with a left foot then unleashed a powerful sidekick to her son’s stomach with her right. The blow disarmed him and sent him sailing to the end of the training ground to slam into the wall behind him, the wood splintering on the impact. Shelty was all that remained now. After Satoru had been dispatched, the blonde had created some distance from Hanabi, dropping into a defensive stance.

“Shelty, you rely too much on your raw strength and your healing. You care too little about your own well-being, so you subconsciously fail to cover your openings. You need to learn to use your gifts as a weapon, not as a failsafe.” Shelty charged again, abandoning her straightforward aggressive style for a more subdued form of attacks.

Hanabi gave a low whistle as she fended off the new pattern of strikes. “Maya taught you the other form of tai’xuan? How cheeky of her. A good strategy but-” Hanabi ducked a kick aimed for her head and countered with a leg sweep knocking the girl off of her feet. “You still need to work on getting a handle on your anger,” She delivered an open palm strike to Shelty’s chest which slammed her to the ground, cracking the floor and leaving a teenage sized imprint in the aftermath. Hanabi dusted her hands off.

“But, overall pretty good. You both seem much more comfortable using shuunpo and have gotten a lot stronger. I’m so proud that my baby is growing up,” She said, feigning tears. Satoru freed himself from the wall rubbing his sore shoulders. Shelty quickly popped to her feet off of the ground.

“You’re just too tough, Mom,” Satoru complained as he plopped to the ground in exhaustion. “I still can’t even scratch you.” Hanabi chuckled lightly as Shelty brought her son a towel and cold bottle of water. Steam emanated from his body as he drenched himself in the cool liquid.

“Patience, honey. That’s an assassins’ greatest strength,” she said.

“The very same lesson you told me,” Hisayo said as she stood in the doorway. Shelty bowed quickly as the woman flowed into the room, taking in the sight of the training hall. “Sister, how many times have I told you? If you insist on trouncing your son in this manner, please do it outside. Where the damage won’t cost thousands to fix.” Hanabi rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Oh please, we were just having a little mother-son bonding. I’ll pay for it myself if you’re that concerned.” Hanabi walked over to her sister, a playful grin on her face. “You didn’t just come here to complain about damages. Could it be that Hisayo Hattori is bored?” A slight flush tinged Hisayo’s cheeks.

“I’m just restless, that’s all!” She retorted, a bit flustered. “No one has reported in yet, so I’m getting anxious.” Hanabi put her hands on her hips.

“So you came to pick a fight to take your mind off of it, eh? Always the competitor,” She said, languidly shaking her head. Hisayo’s eyes lit up at her sister’s provocation. She removed her robes, to reveal her sleeveless shirt and hakama underneath. Her lean, taut muscles flexed as she stretched her arms and stood opposite her sister.

“You always see right through me,” Hisayo said as she readied herself. “I still need to even our record after all.”

Hanabi dropped into a stance herself. “Keep dreaming,” she said, her smile turned devilish. “Well, come on then.”

A large shockwave emitted from the middle of the arena as the two clashed, the room began to shake and the cement tiles cracked beneath their feet. The two blinked in and out of view, in a duel that took them from the training grounds, out through the roof, and into the mountains outside. The echoes of their bout reverberating through the valley. Satoru, left in the room with Shelty and Zed, placed his arms behind his head and yawned.

“Well, I’m gonna hit the shower,” He turned to Shelty. “Want to hang out later? We could have another movie night?”

Shelty’s eyes lit up. “Can I...can I bring ice cream?” She asked expectantly.

Satoru flashed her a quick grin and nudged her playfully. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”

--Oshan University Apartments, 10:00 am--

Akane awoke abruptly from her slumber on the couch. The sheets she borrowed were soaked with sweat and she took long haggard breaths. She used a shaking hand to clutch at her rapidly beating heart, trying to calm herself down. She thought the nightmares would stop after finally dealing with Ella, but it seemed things had not changed. The dream was a far too vivid recollection of that horrible night, where she fought and clawed and pushed with all her might. Only to have her body once again violated by Ella’s disgusting tongue and fingers. She hugged herself tightly as she tried to fight back the tears. Even in death you still torment me. Why...can’t I be rid of you? Akane made her way to the sink to splash some cold water in her face. While she was there, she heard rustling coming from Haru’s room.

“She’s awake,” she said to herself. She walked towards the door and gently opened it. The room was neat, yet cluttered. Posters and art covered the walls. Her guitars and music gear was organized in a corner. On her nightstand rested her camera with its carrying case which housed different lenses. Haru groaned in her bed, wincing as she attempted to sit upright. Her shirt had been removed so that her chest could be wrapped in bandages. She spotted Akane peering through the door and her eyes widened, a pit forming in her stomach.

“How are you feeling?” Akane asked.

Haru shot her a look of indignation. “I nearly got my left tit blown off, and went to second base with a psychopath murderer. So naturally, I’m doing just fine,” The injured student retorted. Akane approached her bedside and took a seat at the foot of the bed. With the assassin so close, a cold sweat formed on Haru’s brow and her muscles tensed.

“You are fortunate that was as far as it went,” Akane remarked.

“Yeah, thanks, I guess,” Haru said. She averted her eyes from the assassin’s gaze.

“Is something wrong?” Akane asked. “Your muscles are tense, you are perspiring slightly, and you have yet to look me in the eye since I came in.”

Thanks for the diagnosis Dr. Phil, Haru thought. “That woman last night, was she named Ella?” She asked. It was now Akane’s turn to stiffen, upon hearing her offenders name.

“How did you know that? She never mentioned her name. Where did you hear that?” Akane began to press, a tad panicked.

“I heard you talking in your sleep. You were calling her name. Almost as if you were pleading. Sounded pretty intense,” Haru remarked.

Akane closed her eyes and exhaled. “I see,” she said. Haru cleared her throat to stave off the pending silence.

“Listen, I don’t know the details about what she did to you, but I just want to say, I’m sorry. I...don't think anyone should have to go through what you did.” Haru looked up to meet Akane’s eyes who was taken aback by her sympathy. Her cheeks lit up with a blush and she began to twirl a lock of hair around her finger.

“Thank you,” she said meekly. “I-I am sorry as well, for hurting you. It was the only opportunity I had to kill her instantly. I did what I could to treat your wound, but you will not heal fully without our special treatments in our compound.”

“Well, peachy,” Haru replied grumpily. “I’ve spent more time as a hostage or incapacitated in the last few days than my dad’s girlfriend's.” Akane gave Haru a puzzled look. “Long story,” Haru said as she waved it off and settled back into her bed.

“Yuko has left with Maya to visit the Eastern Inquirer, we will talk again when they return.” As Akane stood up from the bed to leave, Haru called to her once again.

“Cool tattoo you’ve got on your back there. What is it?” she asked.

“Would you...like to see?” asked Akane still nervous from the girl's attention.

“Hell, yeah! I love tattoos I have a few myself,” Haru said proudly brandishing her colorful sleeve on her right arm.

Facing away from the girl, Akane lifted her shirt to reveal an impressive mural across her back. It depicted a pure white wolf and electric-blue dragon playfully chasing each other. The half with the wolf was set against a frigid landscape with snow covered mountains, and frozen rivers and lakes. The dragon half depicted a mighty thunderstorm, with bolts of lightning striking out every which way. However, where the two beasts overlapped showed paradise. A tranquil garden with bright green grass, cloudless blue skies, and a radiant warm sun.

Haru was amazed at the beauty and detail that went into the work. “It’s...beautiful! Breathtaking almost. Is there a story to it? What does it mean?” she asked.

Still facing away, Akane smiled sadly to herself.

“It...is a long story.”

--Outside the Eastern Inquirer, 12:00 pm--

Nostalgia washed over Yuko as she stood on the steps of the Eastern Inquirer building. The usual bustling foot traffic around the building was light, as fewer people worked during the weekend. Maya had managed to swipe a pair of uniforms to disguise themselves as custodians.

“Well, maybe you didn’t have to dress up,” Yuko said, affixing the flat billed uniform hat to her head. “I just remembered...they wouldn’t know what you look like.” Her sentence trailed off as she caught a glance at the woman. Maya has usually kept a prim and proper image, showing her strong sense of duty and dedication that befits her position. That’s why Yuko was a bit surprised to find her in a rather disheveled appearance this morning. Her hair was messy with strands pointing wildly in every direction. Her eyes were sunken and her eyelids drooped with bags. She stood listlessly next to Yuko, blankly staring off into who-knows-where. Yuko assumed that the events of last night had taken a toll on the woman. “Hey, are you sure you’re up to this? If you’re not feeling up to it I can manage by myself,” Yuko said.

“I’m fine!” Maya’s outburst caused Yuko to jump and drew the attention of a few onlookers. “I mean...I’m fine, just let me do this,” Maya said, softening her tone. Yuko was still not convinced but shrugged and dropped the issue.

“So, I’ll go plant the device you gave me in the news archives upstairs, while you do the same to the mainframe, right?” Maya nodded in confirmation, still lethargic in her movements. “Okay, well, shall we go?” Yuko held out a hand for the woman to ‘high five’ but was met with only silence from her partner. Yuko quickly slapped her own hand to complete the gesture and grumbled silently as they entered the building.

The security guard at the desk looked up from his magazine as the two approached. “You guys with the cleaning service?” he asked.

“Yes, we were told to do the newsroom and basement,” Maya said, her voice thick with a fabricated accent. Yuko almost jumped when she realized the voice came from Maya, who had perfectly replicated the accent and speaking pattern of the custodians. The guard nodded toward the elevator bays.

“Go on through, sublevel 2 for the basement, floor 13 for the newsroom,” he returned to his reading as the pair walked past to the elevators.

“I didn’t know you could do...voices,” Yuko whispered to her.

Maya raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I? Do you think we merely punch our way into places on a regular basis? Such a thing is exhausting, child,” she responded, returning to her old form.

“But, wasn’t what you did kind of racist?” Yuko uttered the word even lower as if she was uncomfortable using the term.

“He did not give our poorly planned disguise a second thought because of that. Am I racist for using an observation to our advantage? Or is he the racist one for not questioning us after he heard me speak?” The question threw Yuko for a loop and her pondering distracted her enough to mill the ‘ding’ of the elevator as it arrived. Maya boarded it and pressed the door hold button to wait for the still-pondering girl. “Are you coming? Or should I fetch technical support for your apparent hardware malfunction?”

“Sorry!” Yuko said entering the car as she pushed the button for her floor. As it began to rise to the top Yuko felt the butterflies in her stomach begin to hatch. “It's only been about a week but a part of me thought I would ever see this place again,” she said.

“Just focus and do your job,” Maya said curtly. “Do not talk to anyone, do not waste time. Just get it done quickly so we can leave.” She nearly shoved Yuko out of the elevator. “We meet downstairs in one hour. I would rather not have to come to fetch you myself.”

The elevator doors shut and the car began to descend to the lower levels. “I hope she takes that stick out of her ass while she’s down there,” Yuko grumbled as she crept around the hall past the newsroom. She glanced through the glass doors that led to her former workplace.

“Just...a small detour won’t hurt,” Yuko walked through the sliding doors and meandered through the rows of cubicles. She could see the mess of papers sprawled across each desk, bright colored post-it notes peppered stuck to computer screens and manilla folders. She suppressed a wave of emotion as she stopped by her desk. It was decorated with cards and pictures, almost as if the employees had memorialized it with thoughts and prayers on account of her being missing.

So they were thinking of me after all. She took a few moments to look through the cards and notes left before she came to the office of Jon H. Simmonds. She ghosted her fingertips over the doorknob before giving it a twist, surprised to see it was open. The faint smell of cigar smoke still hung in the air and the blinds were open, per usual, to let sunlight in. She walked around the large oak desk near his computer to sit in his favorite leather chair. Her body sank into the imprinted cushions, taking note of how small she felt in the chief's seat. A stack of resumes and internship requests lay untouched on his desk. He procrastinates just as bad as me it seems, Yuko sighed and took a pen from his desk and began to mark comments on the papers and sort them into separate stacks. She finished her work and gave a small smile before leaving the office, heading to the local server room to place the filtering device Maya had given her. She took one last look at the empty newsroom and gave a deep bow.

“Thank you...for everything,” She began to weep as her emotions finally overcame her.

--Eastern Inquirer, Sublevel--

Maya crept around the basement level of the building, using shuunpo to avoid detection by the security cameras. She lauded the atrocious security in the building, mentally scrutinizing all of the gaps in coverages and lack of attention to the standard protocol that had been ignored by whatever ingrate was in charge of the building’s protection. She was disappointed to find no resistance of any kind on her way to the main server room. Unknown to most, most large media companies were home to some of the largest information databases in the world. Their systems had been designed and permitted to monitor and relay information from all types of sources in real time. One would think that they would be more diligent in protecting such a resource. She made it around the corridors to see the server room ahead, a pair of technicians conveniently leaving the room.

“Such a pain coming in for system maintenance on a Saturday,” One of the techs complained. “Takes forever to get these things rebooted.”

His partner let out a small chuckle. “For 10 minutes of work the pay is pretty nice. I’ve got no reason to complain.” He punched a code on the keypad. “Hey, how about we stop by that seafood place..” He turned around to find his companion gasping for breath in a chokehold, his feet wiggling as he dangled above the ground. Maya waited for the man's pulse to slow to a dangerous crawl before dropping him to the ground, unconscious. She approached the remaining tech as he slowly backed away from her. “Please…don’t kill me. I’m just maintenance!”

She grabbed the man and slammed him against the wall. “The code. Now.” She hissed through gritted teeth. “It's 37216! Please just don’t hurt me!” the man pleaded. Maya released him and took a step back, allowing the man a path to safety. He scrambled to his feet and began to run, only to fall flat on his face as Maya delivered a swift blow to the back of his head. He began to snore before he hit the ground as lay next to his other incapacitated comrade. She punched in the code and entered the room. Large server computers stretched high towards the ceiling, and the way they towered over her gave the feeling of walking in a high tech alleyway.

“I should be able to find a port right around...here,” she rounded a corner to find a hub for USB ports. She inserted the device that began to flash red, signifying it uploading its contents. She pocketed the device when a thought crossed her mind: she had forgotten to tell Yuko not to leave the device connected to the computer. Maya shrugged, she was confident the girl would be smart enough to figure it out. Her thoughts were otherwise occupied on returning home. There was someone back home who owed her answers. She made her way back to the elevators and met Yuko outside of the building, whose eyes were red and puffy.

“Were you crying?” Maya asked. “You went into your office didn't you? I told you not to deviate.” Yuko wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry ok! I just… miss everyone so much! My family, my friends, everyone thinks I’m missing or dead! Do you know how that feels? I can’t bear this! I’m not strong like you!” As Yuko began to tear and sniffle once again, Maya sighed in exasperation.

“Ms. Hiragi,” She began. “You mistake my focus for lack of emotion. To tell you the truth, I am devastated. last night I learned that someone whom I cared for dearly, whom I was supposed to protect was…violated. A child whom I helped look after since her birth, a child to whom I have dedicated my life to see happy was robbed of her innocence and self-worth and there was nothing I could have done. Nothing. All of those years passed and I hadn’t the slightest idea, the slightest inkling that my mistress was suffering, and suffering alone. My heart is torn asunder because not only did I fail Akane, her mother, and the entire family. I failed myself. I am fighting with all of my might to keep myself together, but that does not change what I must do. If I continue to fail my duties then much worse to happen to those I love.” Maya put her hands on Yuko’s shoulders. “You need to control your emotions, or they will control you. I was taught long ago during my training, that failure may not be an option, but sometimes it is a reality that must be faced. It will tear at you, it will attempt to break you, and will try to shatter your resolve. I was told that giving up during those times would be the easiest thing to do in the world, but the ability to hold yourself together when everything is trying to tear you apart is true strength. So my strength does not come from my physical capacity alone, Ms. Hiragi, it comes from my indomitable will. I may have been shaken by the fact, but to serve those I love I will NOT allow it to break me. You must learn to do the same going forward. This journey will be difficult, and I am sure your life will be in danger many times, but you must endure.”

Maya wiped the tears from Yuko’s face. “So, you want me to become strong?” Yuko asked. Maya shook her head. “No. Ms. Hiragi, I want you to BE strong.” Yuko calmed herself down after Maya’s pep talk. “I will try my best,” she said. “Well, our job here is finished. What now?” Maya's eyes hardened a determined look on her face. “Now, we return home.”