Change of Plan
Chapter four
Kenji
All my men came over and gathered around me.
And I saw the horror and devastation on every face. The Claws wore it plain. The Fangs were better at hiding their devastation. Still, a few had their jaws tight and gazes fixed on the dead screens. Aki and Yuki went pale beneath their battle calm.
But it was Hiro's face that cut deepest.
My brother stood with the lollipop forgotten at the corner of his mouth, and the war-readiness he'd carried back from the balcony was gone. In its place sat something raw and young, the boy I grew up with.
He shook his head slowly. "Why do you think Akiro killed so many innocent people?"
The question stabbed at my chest.
I opened my mouth, and I did not know what was going to come out of it. But before I could answer, Reo did.
"It doesn't matter." Reo shook his head. "Let's make Akiro pay for what he just did to Tokyo."
The men moved as one, nodding their heads hard.
"For Tokyo," Hiro said quietly around the lollipop.
"For Tokyo," the Claws answered.
They had a villain now. A reason. A target with a face. Reo had handed them the one thing that turns horror into fuel, and they took it gratefully, because grief with nowhere to go eats a man alive and grief aimed at an enemy keeps him standing.
It was a gift.
It was also a lie.
I looked at Reo over the heads of the men, and Reo looked back at me, and in that single uncomfortable glance we said everything the others could not hear.
They will have to know one day.
I know.
Hiro especially.
I know.
I’m not going to be the one to tell him, Kenji.
I know.
The truth sat between us like a live round. One morning, when the ash had cooled and the dead were counted, Hiro would learn that the blood on those Tokyo streets traced back not to Akiro but to a phone call I had made to the Lion.
Hiro carried enough sorrow over the dead, and I was about to hand him a few hundred more.
“For Tokyo.” I cleared my throat and headed off.
At the war room door, Rin entered with his mask in his hands. The single braid he'd always worn had become two. Also, the weave now folded inward instead of outward. It wasn't the work of whoever usually braided his hair.
Maybe Deja had braided them before he left.
All I knew was that both braids gleamed with an unnatural sheen. Enough poison coated every strand to make them shimmer and shine. Wicked hooked blades capped each braid. I wondered if those had been Deja’s idea too.
The stylist? Preparing my Fang for war? She is worthy indeed.
I lowered my focus to his mask.
It was Shuten-dōji.
The demon king of Mount ōe. Legend claimed he'd been an abandoned boy raised alone in a temple before becoming a king of monsters because no one ever came back for him. The mask had a red flush across the cheeks and a sad set to the gold and black brow.
I stopped in front of Rin. "Did you make sure Deja got off the island?"
Rin frowned. "She wouldn’t leave, so I covered her in more poison and put her with the medical staff under the bamboo garden."
I quirked my brows. “She wouldn’t leave?”
Rin's mouth twitched at one corner. "She fought me on it."
Hiro got to my side and pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "How bad?"
Rin shook his head. "She called Akiro's men a bunch of bitch ass punks and told me she was not running from anyone. Then, she showed me her cute little gun she’d brought with her from New York.
She planned to stay right in the villa with her sleeping friend and said if anyone came through the door, she would blast them. "
Reo blinked. “Sleeping friend?”
At that moment, Satoshi stepped forward fast.
His mask was already on his face. Gozu. The ox-head. One of the two guardians who stood at the gates of hell and decided which souls passed through.
“The sleeping friend is some tall white guy who tried to hug her earlier. He was supposed to wake up by now, but perhaps I applied too much on her skin.” Rin shrugged.
“He was too big for people to carry. She felt bad leaving him alone.
So I got my men to pick him up. Then, I had to carry her down the stairs. "
Rin's voice carried the smallest crack of something soft underneath the calm. "She bit me on the way."
Hiro laughed out loud and slid the lollipop back into his mouth. "I love her."
I let one slow breath out. "She's probably safer in the basement, especially covered in poison.”
"I know."
"She'll forgive you in the morning."
Rin's eyes held mine for one beat. "If there is a morning."
“There will be.” I walked past him into the corridor.
But would it?
Kaoru walked right behind me and held his mask. “Yoichi hasn’t arrived yet?”
“He’s with my Tiger.”
“What? I would have loved that detail.”
Hiro got on my right. “That’s why you didn’t get it.”
Kaoru sighed. “What the hell does that mean?”
Hiro pointed at him. “You’re too flirty with my Tiger.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced back at Kaoru. “Once Yoichi has Nyomi off the island, he’ll fight next to us.”
“Perfect. I need him by my side. It wouldn’t be right any other way.” Kaoru put on his pink and ivory mask.
Kuchisake-onna.
The slit-mouth woman.
The wife who had been so beautiful her samurai husband had taken a blade to her face out of jealousy, splitting her smile from ear to ear, mutilating the very thing he had loved, so no other man would ever look at her.
She had died with her mouth cut open.
Later, she came back as a onryō—a vengeful spirit trapped between life and death. Her wounds still bled, and now she walked the roads at night carrying scissors and asking every man she met one question. “Am I beautiful?”
If the answer was no, she killed him for the insult.
If the answer was yes, she pulled away the cloth covering her face and showed him the slit mouth, and she killed him for the lie.
There was no correct answer. There was only the death she had already chosen for whoever crossed her path.
We moved through the hallway in formation.
Reo got to my left and with each step continued to check his tablet. By now even the Claws had their weapons on them and were strapping on their masks.
My silver guns sat in their holsters at my hips. Nyomi's blood ran along the tops of each barrel in a thin reddish-dark line—dried but still carrying her protective essence.
While we headed forward, I flipped both switches to bullets. Later when the fight got close enough to taste, I would flip them to both—bullets and fire.
Behind my left shoulder, my Scale, Ichiro carried my flame torch, Totoro.
He had both hands beneath the body. The fuel tank was cradled against his chest. The nozzle pointed up and away from the column. The hybrid butane and gel mix shifted soft inside the tank with every step. Twenty-five feet of flame waited in her metal housing.
When I turned her on, many called that the Dragon's breath. Tonight, Akiro’s men would feel the heat of it.
The mansion corridors had emptied. All the staff were gone.
Reo's voice broke through my thoughts. "Seventy percent of the people that were on the island are already off. I've confirmed that all of your girlfriends, parents, and loved ones are safe."
“Thank God.” Kaoru sighed. “Without my two sexy ladies I have nothing to fight for.”
Toma chuckled. “I said the same thing to your mother after I left her bed this morning.”
“That never happened.” Kaoru sucked his teeth. “My mother has standards.”
“And a nice set of boobs too.”
The Claws laughed.
Kaoru grumbled. “If you’re trying to gear me up to murderous-violent mode, you are succeeding.”
“Then, mission accomplished.” Toma nudged Kaoru’s shoulder, and they both laughed together.
“Good news, Reo.” Hiro quirked his brows. "How did you manage to evacuate everyone so fast?"
“It wasn’t me.” Reo did not turn his head as he walked. "Honestly, it was due to the Tiger overriding my evacuation plan. She ordered the helicopters to ferry people to Kenji’s private island instead of running them to Tokyo. That seriously cut the time and has allowed for many trips."
I almost stopped walking.
Tora.
Pride and shock hit me at the same time. My Tiger had stood on a path with the sky breaking open and antiaircraft guns testing on the ridge, and she had overridden my Roar's plan.
I smiled. "And she is off the island too?"
Reo let out a long breath. "Yoichi hasn't given me the signal yet, but I’m sure—"
“What?” I stopped walking and glared at him. “What did you say?”
The column tightened around me.
Aki's voice came from the rear. "Make sure she is off."
“Now.” Yuki nodded.
Daisuke's hand drifted to his sidearm and stopped there. “Do the Claws need to handle this, instead of a Fang—”
“Calm down.” Kaoru's mask twisted toward him. “Yoichi has got it.”
Toma sneered. “Yoichi better.”
Reo held up a hand. “I’m presently working on this, but Yoichi hasn’t been answering his phone, and neither have her guards—”
“Get it done, Roar.” Hiro frowned. "We can't fight if she's on the island."
Rage rose within me, but I could not bruise my Roar’s ribs this evening.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t give a fuck if Yoichi is answering or not, find out where she is. Now."
“Of course.” Reo reached for his earpiece.
My phone rang.
I pulled it from my vest with one motion, looked at the screen, and pressed it against my ear. "Tora, where the fuck are you?"
"Please, don’t be mad, but I'm on the island in the forest —"
"Get off the fucking island—"
"I found an advantage—"
"I don't care about that, I want you safe —"
"I'm with your mother's people. I'm safer than anyone can be."
I stopped breathing. My mind spun. I had to shake my head to get it back in order. "What?"
"I'm with your mother’s people, and we have started a new ritual that will give you control of your dragon-shadow. We just need you here to finish it. This won't take too long. Yoichi is outside in the back waiting for you. He’ll bring you to me and then I’ll leave the island."
What the fuck?
The corridor blurred at the edges of my vision.
My mother's people.
"Tora. . ."
"Do you trust me?"
I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second. "Yes."
"Then, hurry so you can win this war."
The line clicked dead.
I opened my eyes, lowered the phone, and gripped it against my thigh hard enough that the casing creaked.
Everyone surrounded me.
Hiro watched my face. Reo watched my hand on the phone. The Claws and the Fangs stood in their positions and did not speak.
I let out a breath through my teeth. "Everyone get into position. I have to go with Yoichi. He’s outside waiting for me."
Reo's eyebrows came together. "Kenji—"
"Take the men. Set up where we have planned. I’ll be there." I pointed to Ichiro. “Take Totoro and go with them too.”
Reo gave me one long look that told me he was not pleased at all. Then, he headed off. “Let’s go, guys.”
The Fangs dutifully walked off with him.
Hiro and the Claws remained.
I sneered. “Go with Reo.”
Hiro crossed his arms over his chest. “Where’s Nyomi?”
“I’m going to meet her.”
Hiro gave a hand gesture to the Claws. A few sighed in annoyance, but all went in Reo’s direction.
I turned to head for the back entrance.
Then, Hiro fell into step beside me.
I glanced at him. “What are you doing?”
"Is something wrong with Nyomi?"
"No. She may have an advantage."
"I'm coming with you."
"You're not."
"I am." Hiro kept my pace.
“She’s with my mother’s people.”
“The Silent Ones?”
I smiled at his nickname. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Go with Reo. He’ll need you.”
"Tonight, I'm not leaving your side." His mouth twitched. "I just. . .can't. I need to make sure you are always safe."
“I’ll be fine.”
“Because I’m next to you.”
I sighed.
Hiro held up a finger. “And I should say goodbye to our Tiger. I’m sure she’s nervous about not hearing from me.”
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure that’s exactly what she’s been thinking about this whole time.”
“I’m going to give her a long hug.”
“You’re going to fucking behave as we do this ritual.”
“Ritual? What?”
“Just watch and stay silent. I don’t know what she has me about to do but. . .I fucking trust her more than I want to admit.”
“I trust her too.”
Silent, we moved through the emptied corridor side by side. Our masks remained in our hands at our sides.
My boots ate the floor. Hiro matched me stride for stride.
I didn't know what Nyomi was doing out there with my mother’s people.
What sort of fucking ritual? How different is it from the Burial Ritual? And what is the cost?