Andromeda

Yuki stared for a moment at the three punks that were looking for a fight with him. He looked over at Saki catching the look in her eye as she stood with Chiharu watching the boys. ‘I thought I was through with those days…’

Chiharu did not leave her stance not willing to let Saki calm her down. “You know these boys?”

“Not so much,” Saki said with some reluctance in her voice. She had hoped to get out of the situation that they were in without anymore incidences, but it seemed that fate had other plans. ‘This is something I need to take care of…’ She walked around in front of Chiharu putting herself between the boys and her. “I’ll deal with them.”

Chiharu was not one to let someone take away a fight from her and grabbed Saki’s wrist pulling her out of her way. “Are they strong?” The look in her eye was the same that had been there before when she stared down Saki. It was the eyes of someone eager for a fight and new challenges.

“Probably not.”

“Weaklings huh?” Chiharu look suddenly faded away in an instant like she had just lost her favorite toy. The deflated expression in her eyes made her sink back turning almost to a pout. “Well if that’s the case I don’t care. I only want strong opponents.” She turned away throwing her hand back at the boys dismissing them and giving them to Saki to deal with.

Chapter 41 – Trouble in Different Packages

The punks were not taken to Chiharu’s attitude towards them and moved up several steps glaring at the back of her head. The boy on the right was the first to pipe up in disgust for her tone. “What cha’ say, girlie?”

Saki narrowed her eyes not liking the direction that things were going. She tried to move a little to get in the way of Chiharu, but that was not enough to stop her. Still standing away, she mouthed off to them uncaring of their hurt egos. “You deaf as well as weak? Said you aren’t worth my time!”

Those words were the last straw for the boys as they charged past Saki knocking her away and standing over the middle school Chiharu glaring down at her. She turned around and leaned in glaring back at them returning the attitude. The four of them growled and exchanged more insults between each other.

Saki pulled herself up off the ground a little embarrassed by the scene that was developing. ‘So much for keeping her out of it… Doesn’t have tact…’ She began to walk over to the four planning to take care of the problem herself, but found that it was getting heated very quickly.

“Say that again shorty!”

“I’m not short! You ugly sack of bricks!”

“Ugly?! I’m gonna!” The boy on the left went to grab Chiharu by the hair trying to get her under control, having lost any patience he might have had before. However, Chiharu did not let the kid have a chance as she slapped his hand way. The boy turned defensive and threw a punch at her, but Chiharu was too fast for them. She ducked out of the way and leapt into the air after he was finish to spin around digging her foot and shin into the neck and faces of the three boys in sequence. They dropped to the ground just after she landed and turned to walk away.

Saki raised up her hand to her face seeing how little Chiharu held back against them. Even Saki knew how to restrain her strength against someone, but she just let them have the full taste. It knocked them out almost immediately and left them a little bloodied in the grass. ‘Great… Well hopefully they won’t be looking for Yuki any time soon…’

As everything was calming down finally and Chiharu looked a little more than pleased with herself after the laying out of three boys, Saki turned back to look at Yuki to make sure that everything was fine. However, they were interrupted by a storm of men in black suits and sunglasses covering the entrance and exit. They seemed to come out of everywhere taking Saki, Yuki and the strange boy by their arms to keep them restrained. The looks in their features, the clothes and the organization that they had made it clear that they were serious.

Yuki did not try to fight the two men holding him very much pulling at his arms trying to find Chiharu, who was missing. “Saki, can you see Chiharu anywhere?”

“No! I can’t find her!”

“What did you do with Chiharu?” Yuki shouted starting to strain at his kidnappers. He tried to get his arm freed from their grasps, but they had leverage against him as well as strength that he did not have. These were trained adults and not amateurs like the school punks he was used to seeing (though there are the assassins too). “What did you do with her?”

A lone man from the exit of the park entered with a path being made for him. He walked towards Yuki with the same look as all of the other men. The only difference was that he was aged with wrinkles across his face and his hair was half graying and tied back in a ponytail. “Come quietly and we won’t have to get rough with you,” the aged man said in a clear voice that cut down Yuki’s struggling.

Yuki turned to look over at the man getting the feeling that he was in charge by the way the others acted. “Just tell me what you did with her!” He had stared down death too many times in the last two weeks that an old man with a rough voice was not going to scare him at this point.

The man cracked a smirk from his tired lips finding the glare from Yuki to be interesting to him. “You’ve got a look in your eye. I like that look, however the girl…is another matter. Everything will be explained in time.”

“You won’t hurt her?”

“No.”

Yuki could not see his eyes, but the tone of the words and the impression that he was getting from the man told him that he could believe him. He pulled back letting his captors be eased up from his struggling. “Fine, but one thing.”

“What?”

“Could you grab my manga?”

“Yuki?!” Saki shouted at him in surprised and shock. She could not believe that he would say that in front of these people. They did not even know who they were or what they were planning on doing to them. “How can you care more about those books than your life?!”

“I haven’t read them yet! Well most of them anyway…” The old man jerked his head silently to signal for the three students to be taken away. Yuki had his head turned trying to look at his manga that sat there lying on the grass still. However, the men were quite insistent on him moving taking the three of them out to the side street next to the park. On the street were several parked black luxury cars looking like something the government or someone a lot more important a bunch of students would need. The two men at the doors of the car opened both car doors allowing them to be tossed (man handled in the case of the large student) into the car.

Saki landed on Yuki, who was left on the floor of the car. The car had enough room to move around in hunched over and gave them plenty of places to sit. It looked like there were places for glasses and bottles, but it was empty. As Saki got up from Yuki, she looked about the car feeling like they had gotten themselves into something terrible. She could not even see the driver through the solid panel that blocked him from their view. “What’s going on now? What have we gotten ourselves into?”

Yuki gave Saki a momentary shrug of his shoulders as they took a seat feeling the car moving. He sat pensive with his hand to face thinking to himself. “They must be yakuza!” he said coming to conclusion that he announced to the others.

Saki gave him an uncertain and questioning glace as the car took off from the park. “How did you come to that answer? And why do you look happy when you say that?”

“What?! I’m not happy about this…” Saki stared at him further not believing what he was saying. He pulled away from Saki a little feeling a little insulted by her lack of faith. However, he coughed into his hand and tried to turn the subject. “Well they’re probably yakuza. The black suits and organization, the cars and secrecy. Who else do you think it could be?”

Saki’s narrow eyes stared at Yuki still not buying into what he was saying, but she did not have any better ideas. ‘He’s just enjoying this because he thinks yakuza are cool from his manga…’ She crossed her arms together still needing some convincing. “I don’t know, maybe some private company or military research firm.”

“And they’re working on robots sanctioned by the government and we were caught up in some testing grounds!”

A sigh escaped Saki’s mouth listening to Yuki going on. ‘I’m not sure if he is mocking me or getting excited…’ She decided that it would be best to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the trip and not give him any more reason to fuel his imagination. They were already in enough trouble that they did not understand. She did not need Yuki making matters even worse for them.

The car ride remained mostly calm for the passengers. Yuki was the only vocal one as he infrequently moaned about his missing manga and hoping that they were not stolen. When the car came to its final stop the locks on the doors popped and the doors were opened allowing them to exit the vehicle. The men looked into the car staring at them giving them the sort of looks that made one not want to mess with them.

Yuki exited first, followed by Saki and last by the still unknown male student. They all took a moment to take in the view from outside the car, which had tinted glass making it impossible to see clearly. Yuki, naturally, was the first to make a response. “Woah, its huge. This must really be a yakuza’s base. It’s all traditional looking!”

“Yuki!” Saki said placing her elbow into his side to shut him up quickly before he made a mistake that got them into worse trouble. She gave a weak embarrassed smile trying to cover up Yuki’s loose lips, feeling the tension in the air from the mute men in suits.

“What you do that for?” said Yuki looking back at Saki. The look was only a split second, but it was enough to turn Yuki blue in the face and make him turn away quickly. Saki’s face was not a pleasant one.

In spite of Yuki’s comments though, he was correct in the appearance. It was a traditional looking estate that had a very old fashion Japanese presence. There was a tall wall that surrounded the grounds along with several houses neighboring the large main house and a very large open grounds with thick trees in the back and a well kept lawn and garden in the front. All of the technology and men in suits made them stand out in a place that suggested the common clothing attire to be a kimono.

The men escorted the three of them into the main house with Saki keeping Yuki’s comments to a minimum. They were left in an empty lightly furnished room with a guard posted at the door. There was only a short table to sit at with a window looking out into the grounds.

“Pretty cool place huh?” Yuki said like he had been holding it in the entire time and could not be held back any longer.

Saki did not hold the same opinion as Yuki getting an unsettled sense of dread. She did not know what was going on or why they were taken to some place out at the edge of the town. “Cool or not, it still doesn’t explain why we’re here.”

The door opened to the room bringing Saki and Yuki to answer the visitor. However, all they found was another man in a suit that was carrying all of Yuki’s manga. Yuki eagerly took it from the man before he could do anything to it and disappeared to the table. Saki tried to start a conversation, but just as her mouth was opening the door slid close again. She looked back to Yuki feeling like he was not taking the matter seriously.

“See! They can’t be so bad. They brought my manga and didn’t even damage it!” Yuki was already poring through a book starting to lose track of what was around him.

The fact that Yuki was more interested in his manga or that he was acting so casual as not to care, Saki could not decide which made her more upset. She marched over to the table bending over to stare down at Yuki casting her shadow over his pages. “How can you read at a time like this?”

“I need something to do.”

“But you don’t know why we’re here!”

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

Saki shoulders fell turning into a semi-circle becoming exhausted by Yuki nonchalant attitude. “But…”

“Here just sit down and read something. I’ve got shojo!”

A vein popped up on Saki’s forehead as she became insulted by Yuki’s attempt to give her something. “I don’t want any of your crap!” She lunged after him knocking him to the ground getting her hands around his neck. “What sort of girl you think I am?!”

Unknown to the two of them the door slid open to the room and someone entered the room. The boy in the corner of the room could only sweat at the sight knowing that there someone in the room watching the spectacle. After being ignored for long enough a voice piped up from behind them. “Why are you wasting time on that weakling boy?”

Saki paused in her pounding of Yuki realizing that there was someone in the room. Yuki’s frazzled appearance was quick to change as he looked up around Saki straddling him to see Chiharu standing in the room. “Hey! Chiharu! You’re safe!”

“Of course I am.”

Yuki jumped up from Saki’s hold standing in front of Chiharu showing his relief and excitement to see her. Chiharu’s distain for the attention and feeling of being trying like a child made a vein pop up on her forehead. She disappeared from Yuki’s sight appearing behind him twisting his arm making him fall to the tatami mat in pain. “H-Hey?! What I’d do?!”

“Don’t treat me as though you’re familiar with me.”

“What?!” She twisted his arm further to exercise her point to him making yelp in pain. “Alright!”

“And don’t treat me like a child.”

“B-But—Alright! You’re not a child!”

Saki stood up from the mat having recovered from the surprise of seeing Chiharu. She still had a number of questions and she hoped that Chiharu had few answers. “What are you doing here? What’s going on with us?”

Chiharu let Yuki go kicking him to the mat and turned to Saki. She looked up at the older girl feeling a little anger in her stomach, but also grudging respect. “I’ve been ordered to bring you before the head of the house.”

“What?!” Saki and Yuki said in surprise. Saki looked over at the door seeing it open with the men in suits for escort. Chiharu had her continued serious expression making everything that was happening even stranger.

Yuki pulled himself up from the mat holding his wrist trying to get the lingering pain to go away. ‘Head of the house? The head of a Yakuza group. Sounds like fun!’ He walked toward the door along with the male student waiting for Saki to catch up with Chiharu.

Chiharu waited on Saki as she took a moment longer to let everything settle into her. ‘Why are we seeing the head of the house? And why is Chiharu doing this? What’s going on?’ Saki could feel the insisting of Chiharu’s look piercing her and telling her to move as Chiharu waited with great impatience. She reluctantly agreed in silence and joined the others at the door with Chiharu taking up the rear.

The walk through the inner halls of the house made Yuki glow with excitement. Saki managed to keep him quiet, but they were soon brought into a large central room with much of the room partitioned off by bamboo blinds that were rolled down. It presented the room as a more narrow passage. The light held dim in the room from the candles and lanterns about the space. At the end of the room seated on a raised section of the floor in a dark brown casual kimono was an elderly man. His eyes looked closed, but seemed to be aware of everything in the room. “Welcome guests to the Chinen Estate. I want to thank you for taking care of my granddaughter as well as to apologize for her behavior.” The old man moved his hand to show that he was referring to Chiharu, who was standing next to him looking embarrassed and annoyed.

Saki and Yuki’s face both widened in shock at hearing that Chiharu was a part of the family that owned this place. Neither of them knew what to say not what to do. They simple stood in shock letting the moment pass through.

To be continued…