The Lost Scroll of Fudo Shin (20 page)

Jimmy thought about what Hideaki had said to him when before he knew that he was supposedly a friend.  "Don't be so sure."

“What makes you say that?"

Jimmy told her and Vanessa only shrugged.  "I'm sure Hideaki was playing his role."  Then she nudged him.  "Don't go looking for a reason to dislike him just because he's dating Merlin."

Jimmy shook his head.  "I'm not."

“Good.”  Vanessa sighed.  “Why did you ask about how I felt about the country?”

“Just wondering if you felt the pull I’ve been feeling ever since we arrived here.”

Vanessa's eyes gleamed.  “Have you now?”

“Yeah.”

Vanessa smiled.  “I can’t say I’m surprised.  Your heritage runs deep through you.  It’s only natural that you would feel that way.”

"The voice in my head told me that Mount Matsuda is my ancestral home.  Is that true?"

"Yes.  It is."

Jimmy looked around anxiously, suddenly aware that the train was slowing down.  “Hey, why are we stopping”

“We’ve reached Nagoya.”

“Already?”

Vanessa laughed.  “Yes, already.  They don’t call it a bullet train for nothing.  Come one, let’s get moving.  We’ve got a connection to make.”

Jimmy trailed behind Vanessa as they disembarked.  The train station in Nagoya was less modern than the one in Tokyo, but it still gleamed from the scores of workers who spent their time sweeping, mopping and polishing every possible surface.  Jimmy marveled at how much they worked.

“They take pride in their jobs,” said Vanessa.  “It’s something you see more outside of the US than you do inside of it.”  She pointed  “That’s our ride.  Come on.”

Jimmy frowned when he saw the train they were taking.  It was far older than the sleek cigar-shaped bullet train they'd just ridden on.  It sat to the other side of the station and looked short, squat, and ugly.

“This thing?”

Vanessa grinned.  “We’re heading into the mountains, don’t forget.  It takes a different train to climb the heights we’ll be heading for.  Iga is a very interesting place, indeed.”

“I can't wait to see it."  He swung aboard the train and followed Vanessa down the narrow aisle toward seats at the back of their car.

“This will take several hours.  The train won’t go nearly as fast as the shinkansen did.  Best to get your head down and grab some rest while you can.”

“I’m not really tired.”

Vanessa frowned.  “Jimmy, take it from me.  If you get the opportunity to grab rest, grab it.  You never know when you might be able to get more.  Same goes for eating and going to the bathroom.  Always take advantage of a break in the action to get yourself sorted.”

“Did your dad teach you that?”

“He did.  And then the experiences I had in real life reinforced it.  Trust me, you don’t want to be in the middle of a fight wishing you’d used the loo when you had a chance.”

Jimmy smirked.  “Guess not.”

Vanessa pointed.  “Back of the train you’ll find one you can use.”

Jimmy pushed past her and as he did, she smiled.  “Don’t be surprised with what you find in there, okay?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find out.”

Jimmy sighed and moved to the back of the train.  When he pushed the door to the bathroom open, he saw two footprints set into the floor and then a hole.  “Are they kidding?”  He frowned and fumbled with his zipper.  On cue, the train jerked suddenly as it moved out of the station.  Jimmy barley had time to put one hand up to stop his fall, but he managed ot stay upright and finish his business.

“How’d that work out for you?” asked Vanessa when he returned.

“I guess we’re not in Tokyo anymore,” said Jimmy.  “Not exactly what I expected to find.”

“You’ll discover that once you get out of the major cities and towns, the countryside is like being back in time.  Especially the region we’re traveling to.  It’s very ancient.  A land of legends and superstitions.  They’ve got crazy fog out here that seems to have a mind of its own.  The woods are supposedly full of terrifying creatures that will eat you if you’re not careful.”

Jimmy cocked an eyebrow.  “Yeah, okay, that’s going a bit too far.  You should have just stuck with the legends and stuff.”

She smirked.  “Can’t blame a gal for trying.”

“Trying to do what-scare me?  After all the other insane stuff I’ve seen so far?  You’d really have to come up with something spectacular.  You know, like some crazy dude climbing aboard the train and attacking us.”

Vanessa laughed.  “Oh that would be something, wouldn’t it?”

“Sure make the time go by quicker,” said Jimmy.  “Guess I’ll get some rest like you suggested.”

He rested his head against the window and stared out of the glass.  The sun was setting quickly, turning the area around the train one of inky shadows.  They had already passed out of Nagoya and Jimmy saw the dim outlines of farms in the distance.  They’d been set almost into the sides of the hills and the landscape seemed to be changing now.  He could feel the start of the train beginning to climb in altitude.

“How far up are we going anyway?”

Vanessa shook her head.  “I’m not too sure exactly how high up the region lies, but we’ll be trekking through mountains.  Must be at least several thousand feet up, I’d expect.”

Jimmy yawned.  It had been a long day and the events back in Tokyo seemed like they’d happened years ago now.  He saw the image of Hanzo’s store burning to the ground.  And then he saw the image of Hanzo’s face in his mind, dying.

He shuddered.  That wasn’t how he wanted to go out.  Of course, he doubted Mr. Hanzo had wanted to die that way as well.

Jimmy fell asleep soon after and the motion of the train’s wheels over the old tracks lulled him into a deep slumber.  Images and visions rushed at him while he slept, but he found he could make sense of nothing.

“Jimmy.”

He felt Vanessa elbowing him hard in the ribs.  “What-?  That kinda hurts, you know.”

“Wake up.”

Something in her voice made him snap his eyes open.  The interior of the train car was completely dark except for a single red light toward the front.  All around them, Jimmy could hear the snores and heavy breathing of their fellow passengers who had fallen asleep.

“Are we there yet?”

“No,” said Vanessa.  The edge in her voice made his heart beat faster.

“What is it?”

“We’ve got visitors.”

“Someone on the train?”

Vanessa nodded.  “Better get yourself ready.  I don’t think they’re exactly the friendly type.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“They?”

Vanessa pointed and in the almost non-existent light, Jimmy could make out two shapes lurking near the end of the car.  Vanessa leaned closer and whispered.  “We can’t take them here, there’s not enough room to maneuver.”

“Where then?”  Jimmy took a breath to still his thundering heart.

“By the bathroom.  You go first and I’ll pretend you’re taking too long and go find you.”

“You think they’ll fall for it?”

“They’ll have to.  If they’re here for us, then they’ll need to follow.  Once we get them in the next car, we can take them on from there.”

Jimmy frowned.  “The aisle’s going to work against us just as much as it will them.”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.  Got your hanbo ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

“Make a big show of yawning.”

Jimmy shifted and then opened his mouth, letting out a gasping yawn.  He sucked in a lot of air and tried to flush his system with as much oxygen as possible.  He’d need it for the coming fight.

He stood and pushed by Vanessa, who pretended she was annoyed with him moving.  “What?” said Jimmy.  “I’ve gotta use the can.”

He headed into the next car with his hanbo in hand.  His palms felt a little sweaty so he wiped them on the back of his pants.

Jimmy glanced back but could see nothing of where he’d come from.  The car was enveloped in darkness.  All of those people, thought Jimmy, and they don’t even realize what’s going on.

He turned back toward the bathroom and made a show of entering it for a moment, before ducking back out and waiting behind a row of seats.

Vanessa came through a moment later and behind her, Jimmy could just make out two shapes disengage from their hiding spots, following her.  Vanessa moved into the car and as she passed Jimmy whispered.  “Be ready.”

She pounded on the door.  “Hurry up in there.”

Jimmy felt the presence more than saw them coming, but then they were out of the passenger car and into the restroom area.

“Jimmy!”

He sprang out from behind the seat and swung the tip of the hanbo around aiming at the temple of the lead attacker.  He connected and heard a grunt before the shape simply dropped.

Vanessa had reversed direction and leapt over the fallen attacker to engage the one behind.  Jimmy saw flying punches and kicks as Vanessa worked to subdue the attacker.

Jimmy started to advance to help when he felt a hand around his ankle.  Looking down, he saw that his attacker wasn’t unconscious after all.  And worse, there was a wicked looking knife in his hand.

Jimmy slammed the base of the hanbo down on his wrist and heard the bones pop and the attacker grunt in pain.  The knife went clattering away.  

Another body came flying over toward the bathroom and Jimmy ducked.  Vanessa ran past chasing the attacker she’d just thrown.  “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Jimmy brought the tip of his hanbo under the chin of his attacker and used the staff to muscle the man up.  His eyes blazed with hatred and he seemed clothed entirely in black.

“Easy Jimmy.”  Vanessa’s voice behind him made him pause, but he kept the hanbo right where it was.  If he needed to, he could thrust it right in at the attacker’s throat and collapse his trachea.

“Mine’s already unconscious, seems that throw didn’t do him any good.  Shame about that.”

Vanessa pulled out a folding row of seats and pointed at Jimmy’s attacker.  “Put him down there.”

Jimmy used the hanbo to shove the attacker back.  The man clutched his broken wrist and sat.  

Vanessa leaned back.  “I’d say that went about as well as could be expected.  Nice work.”

Jimmy kept his eyes on the man seated in front of him.  “Who are they?”

“Well, now that’s a very good question, indeed.  Let’s find out, shall we?”  She leaned closer and pulled the mask off the attacker’s face.  Jimmy heard unleash a volley of rapid-fire Japanese.

The attacker remained motionless and refused to say anything.  He just kept staring at Jimmy.

Vanessa backed away.  “Not very much into talking this one, is he?”

“Doesn’t seem to be.  Likes to stare at me, though.”

Vanessa sighed.  “It’s a shame when they don’t want to cooperate.”  She walked closer to the attacker and then grabbed his broken wrist and squeezed it.

The attacker screamed and tried to pull away, but Vanessa had an extremely strong grip.  Jimmy had felt it enough times when they’d been training aboard the Kage Maru.  If she didn’t want that guy escaping, there was no way he’d be able to free himself.

The attacker kept whimpering as she applied more pressure.  She started asking him more questions in Japanese.  This time, Jimmy recognized more of the words and got a sense of what she was asking him.

“Who are you?  Who sent you?”

The attacker refused to answer.  

Vanessa shook her head and kept up the interrogation in Japanese.  “If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I will crush your bones together and you’ll never recover.”

The attacker shifted under Vanessa’s grip, which was still like a vise.  

Vanessa sighed.  “Last time I’ll ask, sunshine.  If I don’t get the answers I want, consider yourself crippled for life.”

“Our names are not important,” said the attacker finally.

Vanessa let his wrist drop against the side of the seat.  He clutched it back against his chest.

“Who sent you?”

“You know who sent us.”

“Kotogawa.”

Jimmy shivered as if someone had just run ice up his back.  Even the name seemed sinister.  

Vanessa eyed him.  “You all right?”

“Yeah.”

She turned back to the attacker.  “How did you find us?”

“Hanzo.  Told us you would be coming.  He was weak.  Couldn’t take the pain when we questioned him.”

Vanessa nodded and then brought her knee right up into the attacker’s chest where he clutched his wrist.  He howled in pain and his eyes rolled back white before he managed to regain his composure.  Sweat ran down his face.

“Your own tolerance level doesn’t seem all that impressive,” said Vanessa.  “Who knows, maybe Hanzo held out longer than you did.”

“The boy will never succeed.  You know this.  You will die.”

“Is that so?”  Vanessa nodded at Jimmy.  “Seems to me that he just got the drop on you fairly easily.  I’m not so sure your boss will be pleased with your failure.  He’s not exactly the understanding type, is he?”

The attacker’s eyes blazed and he spat at Vanessa.  “I will look forward to killing you one day.”

Vanessa got her arms under him and helped him to his feet.  “Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all before, love.  Now, unfortunately, it’s time for you to be going.  Would love to have you stay for a nice cup of tea, but we’ve places to go and people to see.”

Jimmy blinked.  What was she going to do?

“Jimmy, be a dove and get the back door there, would you?”

“The back door?”

“Open it.”

Jimmy backed away and opened the rear door.  The train wheels clacked over the rails and the cool night air rushed at his face.  He saw little outside except the dense pine trees and sharp peaks nearby.

Vanessa dragged the attacker over to the door.  “I do hope you’ve got decent
ukemi
.  Otherwise the landing’s going to be quite painful.  Best to keep that wrist cradled when you hit.”

And then she shoved him off the train.

Jimmy blinked.  “Holy-“

Vanessa leaned back away from the door.  “Help me with the other one.”

“You’re going to kill them both?”

Vanessa looked at him.  “I’m not murdering them, Jimmy.  I’m simply getting them away from us.  They’re both highly trained and rolling should be second nature to them.  The train’s not going all that fast, anyway.  I don’t know how they’ll land, but I tend to think there’s a good chance they’ll both be fine.”  She paused.  “Well, at least until Kotogawa finds out that they failed.  After that, well, I can’t be responsible for what happens to them at that point.  They made their decision to serve the wrong side.”