Temper: Deliverance: Book Three of the TEMPER Saga, page 5
Designed to be beautiful and awe-inspiring all year long, the garden was a masterpiece. Dozens of pine, maple and cherry trees were strategically located among large boulders of stone. The whole setting had a specific meaning, maybe reproducing a famous natural landscape like Mt. Fuji in miniature. Lanterns made of dark-brown granite were positioned along the gravel path that brought visitors all around the body of water.
Further east, beyond the estate walls, the forest of tall cedar trees they had passed on their way marked the beginning of a middle-sized mountain and unkempt wilderness. Snow covered the landscape as far as the eye could see and added to the sense of peace and quiet she desperately needed. Lana closed her eyes, attempting to distance herself from her raging emotions.
“What are you doing outside? Expectant mothers need to keep warm.” The sharp voice of the head of the Honda clan shattered Lana’s moment of respite. Whether it was reluctant advice or stern rebuke, however, it was hard to say.
Gathering her courage, but hating how stiff her neck had become, Lana got up to face her master’s mother; the elder had put on a warm shawl over her brown silk kimono.
“Honda sama… I was hoping I could talk with you.” It was hard to keep her voice deferential and courteous.
Natsuko made a dismissive gesture. “Well, here I am, this is my favorite spot in the garden.” ‘And you are ruining it’ rang as clear as if she had said it aloud.
“It is indeed beautiful, those trees over there in particular…” Lana said, hoping to open the discussion on a safe topic.
“Don’t waste my time with empty pleasantries. What do you want? There is nothing to add. Don’t even try to play the tear card and don’t count on any pity on my part. You should be on your way out, in a taxi. Or maybe there was something you missed in my instructions?” The old lady flung her disdain to her face without batting an eye.
So much for civilized conversation.
“You made your point, Honda sama. But even if it is hopeless, please hear me out. I will not plead my case, but if you care about your son, you need to listen to me. He will not cast me out after the child is born, regardless of what you told him today.”
Natsuko quirked an eyebrow and for a fleeting moment, it reminded Lana of Honda.
Ah. This is where it comes from.
“How rude and arrogant!” the elder uttered flatly. “How can you believe for one second that my son will disobey me? He is upset now because I am taking his toy away, but I raised him well. He will comply and return to reason. You think you are the first pregnant woman to blackmail a man? You abuse of his extreme sense of responsibility! Shame on you! Who knows if it is even his!” she snarled. “His pitiful wife can’t do what needs to be done, but I will remind everyone of their duty and place!”
Lana swallowed back a growl. Straightening her spine, she took a step closer to the smaller woman.
“Honda sama… with all due respect, you are reading the situation wrong. You dismiss me as a passing weakness threatening your son’s marriage and as someone who will bring shame to your family.”
The telltale signs of fury that were clouding the elder’s face weren’t a good sign. She was easily two heads smaller, but the steely strength that the woman broadcasted made it hard for Lana to keep her ground.
“I am no threat. Yuki sama has welcomed me because I am their companion, not only your son’s. There is no hidden agenda or secret plot to burn everything. Only an open, caring relationship between the three of –”
“Silence!” Natsuko bellowed. “I have no interest in the… sordid details of your arrangement. This blasted woman! Her father’s daughter, that’s who she is! She is manipulating him, enabling him, trying to make up for her failures, that’s all! She shouldn’t believe she is truly above any form of retribution! As for you… you are nobody and we owe you nothing. This family will pay you for your… efforts and for the delivery, but you will be gone. I will not have him flaunt his error publicly, I will not have our name turned into ridicule again because you managed to find his weak point and wrapped him around your little finger!”
“Honda sama, please! Please, look hard at your son, harder than this! You are his mother. I understand your responsibilities, but shouldn’t you also worry about his well-being? Do you realize how much of a walking disaster he is? Only I can handle it, and he chose me for that reason. Yuki sama cannot, and should not, because it would destroy her. He cares for her and will protect her at all costs, and so do I! I am no toy – I am here to help him, to help them. You should be relieved!”
Lana took another deep breath, hating how desperate she sounded. “You think it’s just the lust of a middle-aged man talking,” she continued, voice once again under control. “It’s not. It’s much more serious than what you could ever imagine, and that’s why he will not relent, whatever you say. I will not bow out to make things easier for you. Because it is not in his best interest, and I know exactly where my loyalty, my duty lies. So you can cast me out of here, but if you think this is the last you hear of me, you are sorely mistaken. That’s all. If you will now excuse me…”
Lana didn’t wait for a dismissal or a reply; there would be hell to pay for this standoff, but so be it. Not ready to go back, she left the garden and propriety grounds and made way for the tree line beyond the estate walls.
5 - The Clearing
Lana picked up the two bikkurapon in her bag without thinking about it. Her gloves were in the car, but her pockets were warm enough. Her fingers rolled the balls furiously together; sniffling, she realized her cheeks were wet.
Damn those hormones, I’m a teenager all over again...
Choked by emotions, she let her feet bring her to the outskirts of the forest covered in a blanket of snow like the rest of the landscape. A glance over her shoulder told her the house was now a good 900 meters behind her. An incoming Skype call startled her.
Uh. Network reception so far from civilization? Ah… Gabriella...
“Hey…” Lana said with a tired but happy voice. A friendly ear, that’s what she needed right now. “How come you’re up so early? It must be what, 5 am for you? You’re not having a hell of a good time in a decadent room with a view of the Colosseum?”
Gabriella’s warm laughter warmed her bruised heart. “Oh yes, cara mia, I do, but jet lag is killing me and I’m up with the cows while candy lover is still asleep… Anyway. I wanted to call you today because tomorrow I won’t be in any shape to do it — so Happy New Year a few hours early!”
Lana groaned and resumed walking, stepping under the trees. “Hold that thought. For now, 2017 will be a complete disaster. This whole thing looks more and more like a damn NHK drama. Your sense of timing is either perfect or awful, I don’t know, but you’ve caught me sulking and fuming in the snow. I’m seriously contemplating going back to that castle and cutting everyone down. Think Kill Bill meets Battle Royal.”
“Oh shit! Wow, I thought you guys had a chance!”
“Well, I believed somebody actually had a plan and would try convincing his Mom, but no! Nothing! Only a stupid statement presenting the situation, introducing me and that’s it. Totally surreal!”
“So, I guess your vibrant personality and beautiful face didn’t win her over?”
“Ah! If she had found me worth of the effort, she would have cut my head off on the spot. Remember my nonna? Well, that’s the same gargoyle model, but in old-fashioned, uber-traditional Japanese style. Give me an arch-conservative Italian aristocrat every day!”
“Oh, Lana, I’m so sorry cara mia…”
“You and me both. I wasn’t expecting her support, but truly his lack of effort, his lack of spine leave me speechless.”
“Tell me about it. Yoshiro is doing a little better in that department, but I think he won’t even try to fight all the micro-managing decisions that his mother is making about our wedding. Men! What’s wrong with them?”
With a heavy sigh, Lana sat on a fallen log. She caught sight of a clearing on her left.
“I don’t know… It’s so different from his usual character... And Yuki sama can’t say one word. She has her own story with the old woman, no real influence, and her position is already more than precarious. Anyway. I just had a talk with the matriarch. I wanted to give her a clearer picture of the situation.”
“Oh, it must have gone…?”
“Trust me, Nakazawa is a cinnamon roll compared to her! She was as nasty as old people in power who don’t give a shit anymore can be... To hell with all of them! I’m not a doll or a pawn, I won’t be sidelined like this. But to be honest, despite all his assurances, I can’t imagine what will happen next…”
Despondent, tears burning her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose before continuing with a more upbeat voice. “But enough about me, tell me more about your Roman holidays, I really need to hear something nice for a change.”
“Hey, what can I say?” Gabriella chuckled, happy to switch topics. “We eat, drink, visit, fuck, rinse and repeat! It’s like a honeymoon and it’s just amazing. Yoshiro loves Italy. He wants to come back next summer to tour the entire country by bike. It would be so perfect!”
Lana’s heart twisted but she pushed down her surge of anguish. “Are you… are you guys considering moving there?”
The silence on the other end stretched for so long Lana thought the network was out. She checked her screen but no, they hadn’t been disconnected. She pinched her lips at the three missed call notifications. All of them from Honda.
Not now. Give me space. It’s not me you need to talk with.
“Well, maybe,” Gabriella finally replied. Her hesitation was plain to hear. “But I don’t know if I could live in Italy again. As always, it’s lovely to visit, but honestly the country is in shambles. We’ll see. First things first, let’s get this blasted wedding done, settle in, see how it goes, and then we'll talk. It’s way too soon, cara mia, way too soon, so don’t worry!”
Lana shook her head vehemently. “No, please, don’t stay in Japan because of me. If both of you can be happier somewhere else, go! I’d hate myself if you kept sacrificing everything for me.”
“Don’t fret. I promise I’ll make the decision that is best for me. Now… there’s something else I wanted to tell you, and it’s also why I’m calling today. But with all this drama, the timing sucks.”
Lana frowned and got on her feet, her steps taking her toward the clearing. It was getting cold under the trees with no sunlight to warm her back. With any chance, network reception would be better over there. Her left hand continued to rub together the two plastic balls but with less frenzy now that she had been able to release part of her frustration.
“No, no, go ahead, what’s up?”
Gabriella hesitated briefly. “Well, when we arrived, I made a couple of calls to my ex, Francesco, the carabiniere. Remember him?”
“How could I forget him? He’s the most handsome guy you ever got your hands on, lady. But more than this, he was sweet and kind. I might have... drooled over him. Discreetly.”
“Ah, I don’t blame you, he was a piece of art. Anyway. We chatted, I wanted to see if we could get more info about that... family... the one at the reception back in May? I played it nice, we remembered some good moments. Turns out he works at Interpol now. He called me back yesterday and confirmed that they have deep interests in Japan, unfortunately. They’re attempting to get in touch with clean and underground business circles at the same time. But that’s not the most distressing, cara mia. Francesco told me another name associated with them came up, a name he remembered thanks to you.”
Lana stopped in her tracks, a few meters from the tree line. “What? Who...?”
“His name.”
Lana’s throat constricted, and a wave of dizziness washed over her. “No.”
Gabriella's voice turned soft. “Yeah... your mother’s husband is connected with shady Italian and Japanese groups through his shipping business; indirectly, and they can’t really nail him. He’s a sleazy bastard who can tweak the system to his benefit. But I’m not surprised at all, Lana, he’s a stinking piece of shit. I just hope the other piece of garbage you reduced to tears didn't register your name. I don’t think so, and I don’t see why he would tell anyone about his... incident, least of all to that freak.”
Lana closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breath as red-hot hatred washed over her.
“Yes, thank you, I really appreciate you telling me this. It’s bad luck but I can’t see how this will ever have any repercussion on us here. The holding will need to double-check all business ties with Italy, that’s for sure. I’ll send a note to Nakazawa to warn him as soon as we’re back in Tokyo.”
“Well, cara mia, I think I heard Yoshiro move… Are you going to be fine? Do you want to call me back later?”
“Nah, you’ve done enough, don’t worry. I don’t want to take any more of your precious time. But thank you so much for calling me, it was great to vent a bit.”
“That’s what I’m here for! Take good care, keep me posted, okay?”
“Count on it! Enjoy Roma… and Yoshiro!” Lana ended the call and put away her phone. She had reached the clearing.
It was large and inundated with sunlight, at the foot of the mountain slope Lana had seen earlier. Ancient cedar trees reached toward the sky - dozens of meters high. Flights of stairs made of stone blocks covered with deep green moss and lichen, almost breaking apart from each other, ran to the top. The canopy over them was so thick that snow had barely reached the ground.
A 15 meter-tall torii, also made of grey stones, marked the beginning of the stairs and she could see the pillars of another one at the other end. Lana glimpsed the shape of the shrine’s sanctuary behind it at the top, but it was hard to make out its details from where she stood.
In the clearing itself, five large toro — stone lanterns — and two hokora — miniature shrines — flanked a purification font. No water ran from the mouth of the bronze dragon sitting on top of the basin. The two lion-dogs guarding the stairs were so worn out they were almost faceless.
The amount of vegetation growing over the hokora and along the pillars of the torii was excessive; it was highly unlikely anyone still took care of it. Something was also missing in the overall picture. After a few seconds, Lana realized no plaited ropes hung on at the top of torii, nor around some of the largest cedar trees, as they usually did to mark holy spaces. Given its size, the shrine had been an important place of worship, but looked like it had been left to its own devices.
Silence permeated the place. Birds were quiet; leaves remained still as there was no wind. Wary, Lana slowed down. She didn’t step any further into the open space although she longed for sunshine on her face and grew increasingly sensitive to the cold. Even if there was nobody, this kind of place was never truly empty. Crossing the clearing along the tree line would have to do.
Movement caught her eye; her heart fluttered before she let out a relieved sigh. A shrine officiant had come out from behind a toro, energetically clearing out the fresh snow around it and the hokora with a bamboo broom. So, the shrine was old, but not so abandoned after all. The man saw her, stopped what he was doing and said something.
“Oh, sorry, what did you say?”
The officiant spoke again and pointed toward the other side of the tree line, but still, she couldn’t catch his words. Politeness overcame her hesitation, and she approached the middle-aged man.
“Excuse me… I couldn’t hear you. You wanted to tell me something?” Lana asked again, a few meters away from the man now. He wore the traditional garments of a kannushi: a purple hakama and overlaying white kimono vest, as well as a tall, peaked black cap.
“Yes, I guess you must be lost. I was telling you where the road for Nikko is. It’s not too far from here, just on the other side.”
“Oh!” Lana exclaimed, relieved and feeling silly. “Thank you very much. I’m not lost… or rather I don’t think I am, but it’s good to know. So which way is it exactly?”
“Well, there’s a path, but with the snow and fallen leaves, it’s difficult to find at this time of the year. Do you see those two old cedar trees over there?” He pointed behind her. Lana turned on her heels, but it was hard to distinguish anything as the forest was so dense.
“Ah… I’m not sure which ones you are talking about, do you mind show—”
Terror rooted her on her spot, and her words died in her throat.
Something… or rather some things, long and warm, wrapped themselves around her legs, climbing up quickly over her leggings under her tunic. With a whimper, shaking from head to toes, Lana glanced down and saw two more furry tails insert themselves inside her coat, and go around her chest, brushing her nipples along the way.
She had no time to react. Two other tails seized her wrists, immobilizing her hands in her pockets, and another one went around her neck and jaw to push itself inside her mouth. Eyes wide with fright, she found herself locked in an escapable embrace, unable to flee, scream or fight. Sobs wracked her as something hot, rough and wet licked half of her face leisurely. Understanding dawned on her; fear and despair made her moan at the sight of long and sharp teeth.
“Yes! Finally…” The gravelly, inhuman voice of the changeling fox chuckled in her ear. He yanked her against him, and the back of her head hit a marble-hard chest. How tall was this cursed devil? “My gift is here… Not so young anymore, but so feisty! There are advantages at getting you more mature than promised. My, my, it’s going to be so de-li-cious...”
A tail passed under all her layers of clothing, pushing up her knee-length tunic, ripped her leggings and pressed against her core. The tails were as agile as fingers and rubbed her clit and nipples, but each touch felt like sandpaper against her flesh.
