Unrest 7
ShiKon cast a worried look at Master SoYa as she brought him his afternoon tea. She’d never seen him look so dispirited before, the lines under his sorrowful eyes more apparent than ever. The girl stirred his tea and placed it on the table in front of him, but he didn’t seem to notice.
He was staring out the window, listening to something that she couldn’t hear.
The girl gently placed both hands on his shoulder and laid her cheek against the top of his curly head. “This is about your son, isn’t it?”
“Fu,” he finally said. “I hardly recognized him. We’ve lost so much time.”
“Don’t think of it like that, Master,” she combed her fingers through his hair in a motherly fashion. The hooded robe left his curls in total disarray and he wasn’t making any motion to fix it.
“How else do I think about it?” he asked.
“He wants to do the right thing,” ShiKon offered. “He believes in you and what you’re fighting for. Even if he doesn’t know it’s you, he respects what you stand for. That has to count for something, right?”
“Yes,” Master SoYa nodded and rubbed his nose with one finger. Then he picked up his tea, blew on it a bit and took a sip. Finding it too hot, he put it back down. “I know you’re right. It’s just not so easy.”
“You’ve never talked about it before,” the girl told him.
“I guess it was easier to concentrate on other things,” the man murmured.
She knew what that was like.
The door opened, and KiNa’s head popped inside the room. He took one short look at their downcast Master and tried to be reassuring, “He’s on his way back to the Manor. I made sure he was safe.”
“Thank you, KiNa.”
“Hey, don’t sound so sad, Master,” the boy frowned and walked over to the two of them. “You did the right thing.”
“Did I?” Master SoYa questioned. “I misled my son when I had the opportunity to tell him the truth. That goes against everything I’ve ever taught him… or you.”
“But you did it to protect him,” ShiKon responded.
“Is he any safer in the Manor than he would be if he came here?”
“I don’t know,” KiNa murmured. “But the truth is, he can be more helpful to us on the inside of things. As long as he keeps his head down.”
“Maybe.”
“It made him happy to have the opportunity,” the boy tried again.
“I know,” Master SoYa said. He sipped his tea a few more times then got to his feet. “I just need some time.”
ShiKon sucked on her bottom lip, worry flickering in her eyes. She could tell that KiNa didn’t want to let their teacher wander off alone, either, but there wasn’t much either could do.
“Just call us if you need anything,” the girl told him. Then, on a whim, she reached her arms around him and gave him a warm hug.
Master SoYa responded with a surprised look at first. But then, he softened and hugged her in return. Another set of hands appeared, and ShiKon realized that KiNa had joined them, hugging their teacher from behind.
It was a little strange and a little awkward, something that she only saw other people do. She didn’t know what it felt like to be a part of a family, but for just that moment, ShiKon imaged that they were a family of sort.
She pulled away reluctantly, allowing Master SoYa to proceed into his study. Neither she nor KiNa spoke a word for a long time.
He was the first to break the silence, “We need to take the Manor down.”
ShiKon glanced over, taken aback by the sound of pure determination in his voice.
KiNa pressed his lips together, brows lowered. “It’s one thing to mess around with orphan kids. But they’re screwing up families like this. Like Master SoYa and his son. They don’t deserve this kind of pain.”
The boy’s mind was usually shielded and silent. It was now a roaring flame of just anger that she couldn’t help but sense. His normal laid-back demeanor was replaced by a pent up wave of fury and passion. It was a sharper, edgier and more dangerous side to him that ShiKon never saw.
That is SO hot!
The girl blinked, trying to shake the thought out of her mind.
No… no… concentrate!
“What are you going to do?” ShiKon forced the words out, hoping not to say anything that would give her thoughts away.
“I’m sick of picking off the little stuff. We need to make a real strike,” KiNa slammed his fist into his palm, totally unaware of how attractive that was.
“What sort of strike?”
“We’ve got new information from Fu,” he answered with a sly look. “Let’s check it out and see if we can find out who’s at the top of this. Then we take him down.”
“You mean, like the head of the Manor?” ShiKon’s eyes widened.
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“Are you crazy?”
“How long are we going to keep tip-toing around this while people are controlled, families are shattered, and innocents are hurt?” KiNa demanded.
The girl looked down. Usually, she was all for cutting the head off the threat. But this was much bigger and much more dangerous than anything Master SoYa ever sent them to do. Unlike KiNa, this was a sudden action, completely off the cuff.
It was like something in him just snapped.
And man, is it sizzling!
She shoved the little voice to the background again, trying to concentrate on the making of pandemonium that spread out before her. It wasn’t like her to argue against action born of passion. However, even she had her limits… limits that KiNa didn’t seem to naturally comprehend.
“Maybe we should discuss this with the others?” ShiKon suggested, feeling strange to be the voice of reason.
“Good idea,” he agreed, looking no less wired.
“Huh?” the girl blinked. She didn’t expect that answer.
“It’s going to take more than just two of us to pull this off,” KiNa said. He was already rummaging through the pack that FuSoYa left.
“Two of us? Hold on. When did I sign on for this?” ShiKon crossed her arms.
He didn’t stop or turn to look at her, “Don’t tell me that I’m about to pull off the biggest strike against the Manor in like ever, and you’re going to sit it out.”
She puffed out her cheeks in frustration, glaring at him. This was getting tricky and she didn’t see any way of sliding out of it. “Master SoYa would not approve of this.”
“He doesn’t have to,” KiNa muttered. “He is currently indisposed. That means that I can officially step up to lead this mission as second in command.”
“Second in command? Since when?”
“I was his first student, unless you forgot,” he grumbled, and began piling folders and notebooks from the pack into her arms.
“That doesn’t mean you’ve got any brains in your head,” ShiKon snapped. “This is too risky.”
“I thought you liked risky,” KiNa arched his eyebrows and closed the pack. He had a map and a bunch of folders, too.
“Yeah, the sane kind of risky. Not some rush-in-there-and-go-nuts sort of risky.”
“Excuse me, but I didn’t realize there was a less risky type of risky,” he snorted through his nose, carrying the stuff to a desk.
“KiNa!” she exclaimed in her chiding tone.
“ShiKon!” he echoed her, peering at her with two intense eyes.
Eyes so deep, you could get lost in them…
She wanted to pull on her hair in frustration. KiNa suddenly grew a backbone, but about the wrong thing. The romance-novel narration wouldn’t leave her alone. And now they were all going to probably die a terrible, though very epic and risky, death.
“So what’s it going to be? Last stop, ShiKon. Everyone who’s not on board gets off here,” KiNa’s face cracked into a sly, almost conniving, grin. “Are you with me or not?”
ShiKon gave a frustrated sound. “Fine. I’m in. Someone has to make sure you don’t get yourself killed. But let the record show that I think you’re totally crazy.”
“More crazy than the stunts you pull?”
“A lot more crazy than the stunts I pull,” she frowned.
“Hah!” he pointed at her.
“Hah what?”
“You just admitted that I’m better than you,” KiNa grinned as he pinned the edges of the rolled map down with a book at each corner.
“If you consider being more crazy as something better,” she argued.
“I guess it depends on the situation,” he leaned over the map to get a better look at the layout.
ShiKon leaned over his shoulder to look too, propping against his arm, “I’m supposed to be the fickle one here.”
Girl, you are so hanging all over him!
“We make a good pair, then,” KiNa said, hardly paying attention to what he said. When the words registered to his ears, he froze. The freckles on his face slowly became more defined as a flush crept over his cheeks.
ShiKon froze, too, realizing she was leaning against him in a rather top-heavy way. Instantly, she moved back a bit, feeling embarrassed.
He lost a bit of his fire, looking embarrassed as well. “I meant… in a partner sort of way. Uh. Mission partner. You know what I mean.”
“Is that all?” she asked, a bit disappointed. She didn’t know if it was because of his verbal amendment or because the daredevil KiNa had faded.
“Should there be more?”
“Nevermind,” ShiKon sighed, pushing her hair back from around her face. “Let’s just concentrate on the plan. You do have a plan, right?”
“Oh yeah,” KiNa cocked a smile, reminiscent of the sly grin from earlier. He smoothed out the map under his hand. “It’s gonna be the plan of the hundred-turn. Just wait.”