(In case you were wondering about the odd chapter name…I was listening to this song while writing part of this story, and I liked the line ;-P   Akiko Shikata – Akakushi )

In the days that followed several more assassination attempts had been made on my life, most of which had been stopped before they even really began based on information acquired by Kanren Umibozu and his team, as well as Kabuki Queen and her spy network.

A few of them had been more noteworthy however, on one occasion for example an unknown infiltrator had somehow managed to replace the soap in my bathrooms soap dispenser with highly corrosive acid, a fact which “luckily” my bodyguard/housekeeper Yuki found out before me as she tried to wash some cleaning oil off her hands, only to find her hands missing soon afterwards.

Naturally the amount of complaints and heroic “I saved your arse there didn’t I?” quotes from Yuki following that incident made me almost wish I had washed out my ears before her, but truth be told this one was too close for comfort indeed, and it was never found out who actually had managed to so easily breach my security systems and even remain undetected by Yuki.

On other occasions a bridge had been detonated while my transport was on it, causing several civilian casualties and a brutal headache for me the next morning when I woke up next to Sophotect Akaseni in the Neon-jo’s medical facility, and a group of children walking towards me on the sideways turned out to be a bunch of dressed up crazy koalas, resulting in two dead Bao Troopers as well as a thank you letter of mine towards the “Ten no Bushi” development center that had come up with my enhanced reaction systems.

At first these assassination attempts seemed very odd and a bit “out of nowhere” given that I had always been a big supporter of the Japanese communities within Yu Jing, at least to the small degree I had any influence on these matters at all, and to this day I could proudly claim that I never “wasted” Japanese lives during my operations like so many other Yu Jing officers apparently did when using the JSA Assault units under their command, but these days showed that something bigger was going on in the shadows, something that even assassination attempts on a Yu Jing Field Marshal paled against.

The Spy Information Network was rampant with all sorts of speculations, little tidbits of intel, mention of a black ops mission here, a missing person there, a successful assassination of a Yu Jing official on one side, a suddenly missing Japanese battalion on the other, but nobody managed to get the bigger picture together, or at least not in time before it was too late.

I was about to leave for an emergency staff meeting in the Neon-jo when Yuki suddenly called out for me to “Get your ass in here, you might want to take a look at this”, which I begrudgingly did after realizing that her tone wasn’t so much smug superiority like it usually was, but rather honest concern.

What I saw next would change my life from that moment onwards, as I saw a live broadcast of a group of Japanese men dressed in white funeral garments, next to a flashy dressed woman called Candy-something-something who’s show this apparently was, sitting in a dark traditional Japanese room, their swords next to them as well as a few other Japanese men standing next to each sitting person. The front one of them was holding a piece of paper with Japanese calligraphy on it in his hands, and though it took me a few moments to realize it, it was my father, who uttered the words spoken next.

“We, the seven Bushi present here in this room, hereby announce that the assassination of Minister Fu Meng Huo, as well as the explosion destroying most of the Meng Huo Company headquarter, was planned and executed by us.

Minister Fu Meng Huo has continuously caused harm to the Japanese citizens of this nation, his company kidnapping unwilling Japanese inhabitants of Kuraimori and using them for horrible human experiments, and some of his products have been mixed into the water and food system of certain Kuraimori districts without the knowledge of its inhabitants, the side effects of which caused incredible suffering and countless “unexplained” deaths among the affected, all in the name of petty profit.

Attempts to stop this horrible behavior have been blocked by the Yu Jing ministry of commerce and internal affairs, with reasons like “You have no proof”, “It’s for the greater good” or “This has been sanctioned by all required instances” being given, but we ask you, how can the unnecessary suffering of innocent children and citizens be for the greater good? How can an act like this ever be sanctioned by any reasonable institution? What more proof does one need then his own dead child in his own shaking hands?

We say there is no excuse for such behavior, and thus we took action where our country and our fake “Emperor” failed to, we did what was necessary for our people and our future, and now we are here to take responsibility, so that no one else shall suffer for our actions like they did for other’s inaction.

May our sacrifice serve as a warning to those in power who neglect their duty, the Japanese have suffered more than enough; it’s time for change….”

And with this, my father and the other 6 men sitting in the room unsheathed their swords, and committed Seppuku together, the standing men next to them beheading them as they did, cutting right where their Cubes were placed to ensure true death, as was tradition since the advent of Cubes in the Bushi culture when reanimation was not acceptable.

The broadcast then continued with a documentary descriptions of the events that had lead up to this event, as well as some background on each of the men present in the room by the moderator Candy-something-something, but at that point I was barely able to notice my surroundings anymore, blood rushing through my head like a roaring tide, panic and confusion and sadness mixing together into a hurricane of emotions that forced me to drop on the couch, all thoughts of the upcoming meeting forgotten.

I had to find out what the hell was going on and why nobody had told me about this before it happened, I had to ensure that this wouldn’t fall back on me or the rest of my family, ruining my career or my family’s company/family honour…..I had to visit my parents’ home in Japan…talk to my mother to find out why dad had done this…..had to leave before the ISS would come and question me about this….I had to…..and the world went dark.

The next thing I noticed was the scent of some sort of fruit as well as freshly washed clothes, followed by the feeling of laying on something soft which felt oddly familiar and alien at the same time.

Not sure where I was I decided against opening my eyes or making any movement other than what I might have made unconsciously while waking up, and instead tried to listen as closely as possible to my surroundings while trying to feel what was going on with my body as well.

A humming noise as well as occasional shaking made it obvious that I was in some sort of moving vehicle, and if the way the shaking moved me was any indication, I was lying sideways. I tried to figure out whether or not I was restrained, mostly because I expected to be in the custody of the local ISS authorities by now and on my way to interrogation or execution, depending on whomever was doing the investigation and how little trust I had managed to gain in the last few months, but without making any obvious movement it was almost impossible to determine whether I was wearing any sort of cuffs or other restraint devices.

Suddenly some sort of movement seemed to happen right next to me, with my head shifting slightly forward causing some unpleasant feelings of vertigo, and as I strained my ears even more in hopes of hearing anything more useful in my surrounding about what was going on, a sudden almost unbearable loud seeming “I know you are awake O-san…would you mind sitting up? This is embarrassing…” exploded right next to my ear.

Shocked by the horribly loud seeming yet somehow familiar voice right next to my ear, I instantly rose upwards, ending up in a sitting position as I opened my eyes, realizing that I had been laying on a bench in some sort of limousine or transporter all this time.

As I inspected my surroundings a bit better I realized that I had not only been laying on the bench of the vehicle I was in, but apparently my head had been resting on the lap of Yuki, and I could have sworn that her head turned a bit red as I quickly looked away from her lap after realizing that, though I’m pretty sure that must have been my imagination, as I doubt she even COULD get red on her face…

“I…I wasn’t…you…you kept wobbling off the bench, so I had to steady your head obviously! Wouldn’t want you to die from falling off the bench after this much effort was made to save you, you know right? It was totally gross by the way, I’ll totally need to clean my clothes after this…”came the annoyed and hasty reply of Yuki right afterwards, but I didn’t much care for it, as I was still too confused and busy taking in what the hell was going on around me.

“It’s alright Yuki, I’m sorry for the discomfort I caused you….now if you wouldn’t mind…could you tell me what exactly is going on?” I was apparently alone in the vehicle with Yuki, the driver compartment sealed off from the area I was sitting in with Yuki.

Before Yuki could answer a Racoon “Geist” suddenly materialized on the bench in front of me, only visible to me and those granted access to my Patina obviously, which did include Yuki by the way. The little creature was the all too familiar representation of “Kabuki Queen” I had grown to trust and enjoy throughout those last months and even years.

This time the Raccoon “Geist” (It’s actually more like a Ghost Avatar, but let’s not get into too much details here) was wearing a big straw hat and a giant sake gourd in his hand, and looked around all sneakily and conspiring before whispering “Don’t worry Oyabun, I’ve got you covered…” As it said so it wobbled forwards on the ground and flipped its hat from his head into his hand and presented it in front of me like the Yakuza tended to do in all those old holo flicks while bending down.

I couldn’t resist a smirk, and as the Raccoon saw that it burst out into a chuckle as well and hopped back on the couch, taking a sip from its gourd and tossing the straw hat to the side of the limousine where it vanished into thin air. “It’s been a close call this time! You might think you have fallen unconscious due to the stress of the whole situation, but that was actually the ISS flooding your room with gas to capture you more easily, they already had a team in front of your door waiting to breach and take out Yuki once the gas took care of you. But luckily some of our friends got wind of this setup and I managed to prepare a little “surprise” for the team. Don’t worry, nobody you know got hurt…who knows, they might still be useful in the future….anyways…”

The Racoon made a little pause there to allow me to take in this information, and as a little anger crawled onto my facial expression due to the apparent ambush being laid on me without my knowledge, it continued “I managed to send a warning to Yuki just in time and she managed to escape with you through the window and eventually to one of the automated garbage disposal trucks which I managed to “confiscate”, which brought you to safety. From there it was just a little fake identity, false flight records, a bit of ka-ching here, a bit of ninja-ing there, and a good contact on one of the circulars, and voila…you’re here…”

At the mention of the Circular my jaw almost dropped to the floor. “Wait…what? How long have I been out?!”

The Raccoon just nodded and moved its hand towards the window of the vehicle, at which point it began to slide down, blowing the scent of my surroundings inside with a strong gust of wind, which also revealed that I was in a flying vehicle in the air. “Well….for quite a while to be honest, we kept you sleeping to avoid complications during the transit…you are actually on…”

“Earth…..” I cut her short as I took a deep breath and recognized the unmistakably familiar scent of old Earth. Those of you who had the privilege to travel to several planets obviously know of this, but every planet has its own kind of “scent” to it, no matter where on the planet you are, and even though I hadn’t been on Earth for quite a while, the scent still felt strangely nostalgic to me.

The Raccoon continued as I noticed the vehicle quickly started a descending flight pattern “Indeed, to be more precise, Japan. As you might imagine an endeavor like this isn’t done easily, and we had a little help…”

As the vehicle descended further and further, a rooftop suddenly appeared below it as the clouds parted, and on top of it a giant holo logo manifested itself which was all too familiar to me. Mount Fuyi on a snowy day with a blooming cherry tree in front of it…..the Logo of the Fuyu Clan….the Logo I had been bearing ever since I was born.

As the vehicle landed and made a small rotation at the end, I saw a stunning yet very traditional looking female standing there in a modern Kimono, her hands folded before her as she slightly bowed and then nodded at me. “Hello Son….”

It was a beautiful afternoon in Shentang, the sun was high in the sky, the cicada’s cry could be heard regularly in the background, and there were even cherry blossoms falling down in my field of view every now and then.

I felt instantly reminded of my youth  as I could have easily been sitting right in my own backyard back then, if it wasn’t for the entourage of sternly staring Japanese sitting right in front of me, watching my every move with distrust and even hatred in some of their eyes. One wrong move from my side would jump them right into action, and I was sure the blades lying on the floor at their side weren’t just for show, just like mine and my associates next to me weren’t.

But maybe I should spend a little bit more time to explain how I had even gotten here in the first place, so the events that will unfold in the next few minutes won’t be too much out of context…..

After the events of the Wotan Blockade where I was tasked with coordinating the few Yu Jing Elements of the Blockade alongside the mysterios Voice of the Dragon who only went by his codename “Masterofmelee”, and the apparently unavoidable breach through the blockade of the Combined Army Infiltrators, all signs indicated a soon to follow invasion of Huangdi (Svalarheima).

Even though my performance during the Wotan Blockade was deemed admirable by the Celestial Emperor and the resulting Imperial Service Investigation Task Force (searching for someone to put the blame on after what some deemed as “another failure”) it was decided that it’d be best for me to vanish from public attention for a while once again, and since it had worked so well the first time around after the Flamia Island incident, I was sent back to “The Neon Dragon”, with the official duty to protect the military and economic preparations in the area, and the inofficial agenda of “staying out of trouble for a while”…

As a General it had been somehow silently accepted that I had been sent for training to the Imperial Service Outpost in The Neon Dragon, but now that I had been promoted to “Shogun” Rank (actually Field Marshal, but due to my japanese heritage someone in the administration department, or at least someone with sufficient hacking skills to disguise himself that way, apparently had found it funny to enter the title as “Shogun” into the registries, and it had stuck…) this no longer was acceptable.

One of the main reasons for that was the simple matter of security…a Shogun of Yu Jing was a valuable military target if there ever was one, and even though I already am accompanied by two very capable bodyguards, I used to live in a simple flat apartment before I departed for the Wotan Blockade.

So by the time I had made it back to The Neon Dragon on board of the “Dancing Panda”, this time having to take the longer route of the circulator until it passed the system again, some adaptations had been made, not only to my living quarters, but also to the way The Neon Dragon would function in the near future.

The Neon-jo, a giant asian style castle relentlessly reflecting the countless neon lights from all around it and former headquarter of the local Imperial Service Branch had been hastily repurposed (or better said was mostly still being repurposed when I arrived) into what would become my official headquarter, with me now being tasked with coordinating all Yu Jing Military and Security Forces present in the area. The Imperial Service Units that had been stationed there mostly remained in The Neon-jo or where sent to smaller outpost stations.

The local Military Barracks would now also fall under my juristiction, and with the increase in weapons production and research in The Neon Dragon which was supposed to happen in the following months, further troops where stationed in The Neon Dragon, including my old JSA Regiment which had followed me here from the Wotan Blockade, resulting in a few very fond memories.

Sadly I didn’t have time to make quite as many fond memories as I would have loved to, as my new responsibilities made days feel like hours and months like days as I struggled to wrap my head around all the tasks a Field Marshal of Yu Jing had to deal with even during times of relative peace, at least officially.

And to make things worse, by the time I had finally gotten used to everything, and had actually found some time to spend with friends and things I’d love to pretend where still my hobby even though I barely got around to them anymore, rumours of a Japanese uprising had started to spread, and for some reason some of the higher officials of the party seemed to think of my name when they heard the words “Japanese” and “Problem” in one sentence, resulting in some unexpected and unwanted sudden attention.

I mean I had thought that by now the fact that diplomacy wasn’t exactly my strongest point had gotten through to those in charge of my assignments, which frankly weren’t too many people anymore as a Field Marshal didn’t have to answer to too many people besides the Emperor himself, yet somehow I had still ended up here on Shentang, tasked with talking to the local representatives of the japanese population in order to find out how much was true about the rumours of rebellion. Apparently it was found that someone of japanese descent would cause less stress during the talks as I’d at least know the customs that had to be adhered when talking to traditional japanese representatives, even though there officially of course wasn’t any such thing left in the Yu Jing society….

Apparently someone had even loudly proclaimed to “Let the filthy dog deal with his dog companions, no true inhabitant of Yu Jing should have to bother with these second rate citizens…”, and to my knowledge that person was now serving the rest of his time on a new assignment on Huangdi, as apparently the Emperor wasn’t too pleased with people like that pouring further oil into the fire, especially at times like this.

Nevertheless, here I was, sitting in front of the japanese representatives, all clad in traditional japanese clothing usually shunned at in other regions of the Yu Jing Empire, their traditional swords resting next to them, just far enough away as to not directly provoke, yet close enough to be used when needed. I myself had been granted the right to bring my own associates, and thus I was sitting there in a mixture of or traditional japanese outfit and Yu Jing General’s garb, specifically designed for the occasion so as to represent my heritage, but also make it clear that I spoke for Yu Jing as a whole and was loyal to none other than the Emperor and the State itself.

Beside me sat Pheasant Agent Kuang Fu Bao, who had stayed in his role as my more or less adjutant ever since I had been promoted, as well as Kanren Umibozu, whom I had brought along for his fast experience in undercover and terrorist matters. He clearly wasn’t too compfortable all slicked up and finely dressed as he was right now, but he had adapted like he always did when undercover, and was eyeing each and every movement around us closely.

Of course officially both of them had just been presented as my assistants, so nobody really bothered to interact with them at all, all eyes focused on me instead.

“So….you have come today to talk to us about…what exactly…Shogun…Fuyu…they call you now if I recall right?”

Almost stunned by their sudden directness without any bells and whistles I took a second to answer, but then resolved myself and answered quickly.

“Indeed that they do, and I have been sent here, as I am sure you already were informed, by the Celestial Dragon himself to inquire about a situation that seems to be unfolding as we speak”

Apparently the spokesperson of the japanese delegates enjoyed my original surprise as the faintest hint of a smirk dashed across his face for a second before it was replaced by his usual stern demeanor again. With a short nod he responded “You are talking about the Tatenokai I presume?”

Straight to the point again, I started to actually like this man even though he clearly didn’t seem to like me too much. “Indeed, there have been rumours of the Tatenokai finally having gained enough strength to start openly rebelling against the Party and the Emperor, and we obviously can’t let such terrorism unfold under the Celestial Dragon’s watchful rulership…”

At my mention of his majesties watchful rulership one of the other japanese representatives suddenly started to snort in disgust, obviously considering my words a tasteless joke. He quickly earned a punishing gaze by the spokes person of the group and fell silent again, but it was clear that some of the people present weren’t exactly fond of out Emperor … “We have heard of these rumours as well, but I can assure you that they are nothing but rumours indeed, the Tatenokai have been quite silent in the last few months. Some claim that this is due to the tightened security and regular search parties for Combined Army Infiltrators, apparently quite a few of them have been captured or killed in those raids as well, instead of actual Combined Army Infiltrators….”

The man seemed almost sad as he mentioned that, but I didn’t get a chance to inquire him about that fact, as suddenly a group of Geisha’s walked towards us, each one carrying a covered plate in front of her which hinted at some sort of food beneath it.

“Ah excuse me Shogun Fuyu, I forgot to mention that I organized a few apperitives for our talks, just a sign of good will for our cooperation in this matter in the near future…”

Before my own alarm bells could ring at the odd way the man had pronounced this just now, Kanren Umibozu was already grabbing my arm hastily to warn me that something wasn’t quite right.

The Geishas had placed the tables in front of us and as they quickly stepped back, they uncovered the lid on top of the table, revealing what wasn’t  traditional japanese sweets or other culinary niceties, but rather a set of chopped off heads, each cleanly cut at the neck by what I assumed was some sort of blade, a Katana most likely by the context…

Disgusted and alarmed both me and my two companions rose to our feet, unsheating our blades as we did so, and with a cruel laugh on their lips the japanese men in front of us did exactly the same, while almost spitting at us in rage “These are the heads of the search party that killed Kempeitai Yumiko Harada instead of the Combined Army infiltrators they where actually supposed to search for….she was my wife! And today, you will pay for your crimes against the Japanese people! And it will mark the rise of our people against the Yu Jing oppressors! Cut them down!!!”

At this all members of the japanese delegation dashed towards us, swords ready to strike, and even the Geishas pulled blades from the back of their Kimonos and came rushing towards us.

Luckily my subordinates were quite capable at close combat and I myself had served in a japanese Domaru unit for quite a while as well, which meant that we managed to easily cut down most of the supposed Geishas before the real threat of the men behind them managed to reach us. These men were apparently real trained warriors instead of the more indirect assassins that the Geishas had apparently been, and I didn’t look forward to the melee that would undoubtly unfold within the next second or so.

Luckily I didn’t have to test my somewhat rusty skills against those stern warriors, as at this point the familiar sound of a heavy machine gun started to ring out across the beautiful garden as my Hac Tao Bodyguard Lu Bu revealed himself a few meters to our side and behind me on a section of old fashioned japanese house wall, peppering the onrushing group of men with a hailstorm of bullets.

Their traditional styled clothes were no protection at all against the high tech bullets that came flying at the men, and in a shower of blood and gore most of them hit the ground instantly. The leader of them miraculously survived the first salvo and came rushing further towards me, hatred and surprise as to his failed ambush clearly shown on his grim face “I’ll take you with me Fuyu, for Yumikooooo!!!!”

His angry shout was quickly silenced in his throat by a blade piercing straight through it from the back, skillfully thrust by my other bodyguard Ninja “Kabuki Queen” who’s flickering silhouette could be seen right behind the man for a split second, before vanishing from view once again. I could have sworn that her helmet display had depicted a grinning racoon as she stabbed the man, but maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me…..

With their leader dead and the return salvo of Hac Tao Lu Bu ripping through the last remaining members of the japanese delegation, the garden suddenly fell deadly quiet, the only sound being occasional blood drops hitting the ground, and the cry of the cicadas in the background…

Just as I was about to say something my wrist armband suddenly played the urgent alarm sound and a holo echo of Celestial Guard “Shen Jing” appeared in front of me “Sir! We have just found the the japanese delegation in a truck not far away from your location, they have all been killed and branded with Traitor marks and a traditonal letter from the Tatenokai next to them! Sir, whomever you are talking to, they are not who you think they are!”…

With a frustrated sigh I shook off the blood from my blade and sheated it….maybe this time they’d believe me that diplomacy just never worked out for me….

“Take that suckers!” was the last thing that the poor soul in front of me heard before a storm of razor sharp shrapnel tore him to shreds. “Take that suckers!”, the final release of my pent up anger after countless days of hunger and torture by the very people now dashing for cover right in front of me. But to no avail, they where within my reach, my rifle spewing death wherever I pointed it, vengeance wherever one of them hit the floor screaming in agony before screamig no more.

Somehow I had made it, I escaped where so many of my friends before me had failed and paid the prize, so horrible even the thought of it made me almost vomit, but there was nothing to vomit left inside of me, only rage, and so I pressed the trigger again, and again…

They had ripped me out of my home, out of my wive’s arms, away from my child’s bed, my terrified daughters screams echo in me ears even louder than the sound of my rifle, even now, as I make them pay, as I’m on my way back home….

Enemy of the state they had said, sentenced for penal duty their verdict, torture is what it was, nothing more, no duty, only suffering, stuck in a machine for days. My arms bent backwards, my head inside of the machine, force feed, both propaganda and proteine, both equally foul and intolerable.

But they had been sloppy, thinking me broken after all those days of torture, weakened and about to collapse they had left me in that room, went for lunch or to do whatever those vile creatures did whenever they grew tired of torturing innocent citizens like me. I broke free, my head bleeding as I pulled it out of the machine, the needles stuck in my skull breaking with every pull to freedom, the pain too much to stay sane, but not enough to stay.

One of my wrists almost snapped as I wrung it out through the metal shackle, and I ducked, fearing for the noise to call my tormentors back, just like the poor creature in front of me now ducks in hope of escaping my justice, but only one of us got lucky, and so I ran, out of the room, hid in one of their supply trucks, behind the big crates inside of it.

I don’t know how long I waited, in pain, covered in blood, shaking all over, with nothing but home and my family in my mind to keep me sane, or what was left of it. And then, the noise of an engine starting, a gate opening, and the fresh breeze of freedom coming through the cracks, of the town I grew up in for so long, greeting me back into its arms with the noise of the streets, and the noise of an Imperial Service Patrole.

Confused and enraged I reached for the gun in front of me, quickly covering the entrance of the transporter’s cargo area, of my sanctuary, where had the noise come from? Where had the gun come from? Had it always been there? It didn’t matter. The noise stopped and so did the Transporter, and no sooner did it, than the ramp of the Transporter suddenly opened up, and I could hear footsteps running away from it.

Had the bearer of those feet seen me? Was he calling for his friends to torture me again? No! Not again! I dashed out of the Transporter, through the dark street in front of me, crusted blood and tears making me almost blind, until I reached the corner, and there they where, the monsters that had tortured me, all of them, just as surprised to see me, as I was to see them all. They didn’t have time to aim their weapons.

And so here I am, on my way home, once I’m done with those that tormented me, on my way to my wives arms, once I take out the one that’s aiming his pistol at me, does he think he can stop me? A bullet to my arm, laughable, soon they will hold my daughter again, what is a little pain compared to that? One in my chest, it burns, but not as hot as the rage inside of me, as the longing for my loved ones. I scream, as I fall to my knees, as I release all the emotions in my heart to burn those monsters away, I scream the names of the loved ones I’ll hopefully meet again soon…..I scream…“Yu Jing!” and then I meet them again…..

—————————-

A loud Explosion marked the end of the Kuang Shi that had just stumbled around the corner in front of us, clearing the way for our advance. In awe and terror I mutter to myself “Damn, sometimes I wonder what they see as they march to pay for their crimes…this one almost seemed eager to die…”

“Maybe one day you’ll find out for yourself…” came the unexpected answer of Sheng Ji, the Kuang Shi Controller of my Force, as she commanded yet another one of those poor souls around the corner, a smirk on her face. I turn my head away as a cold shiver runs down my spine….