Author's Note: Next chapter. I know they are flying out fast right now, but this will probably be the last one for a bit. In the meantime, I plan on updating some of my other projects. I promise. :)
I do not own City Hunter or any of its characters.
Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this...Well no matter what, it is always appreciated. :)
-Additional Notes:
-Oyaji: an informal way to refer to one's own father...and a slightly rude way to actually address your own father in Japanese, but I do think this really fits given Ryo's character and what little we see of Kaibara's in the manga. :)
Chapter Four—The Acceptance—part one
Several months later, Kaibara and Norester were in a jeep heading toward a rendezvous site to meet up with their troop, and Ryo was sitting between them.
After letting Ryo spend about a week recovering from his crash and the days lost in the jungle, Kaibara and Norester began to train him. At first, they mainly focused on Ryo's general physical condition. They had him run laps around the village, do exercises to increase his strength, and had him perform calisthenics to increase his flexibility. To both Kaibara's and Norester's relief, Ryo took to the regimen well and without much complaint. His seemingly boundless energy gave him the needed stamina and his fortitude was usually enough to help Ryo push himself through whatever challenges they could come up with.
When they weren't training him physically, Kaibara took the time to teach Ryo to speak Spanish, while still making sure to advance his understanding of Japanese. He also did his best to teach Ryo to read and write in both Spanish and Japanese, with one of the first things he did being teaching Ryo how to write his own name in kanji and in roman letters.
"If he's going to be the best soldier, he needs to know how to think and learn as well as fight and kill," Kaibara said more than once. "His mind needs to be as sharp as any of his combat skills."
"And teaching him even more Japanese?" Norester asked him. "How will that help him in a place like this?"
"No matter what his life is like now, he is still Japanese," Kaibara said. "I'm not taking that away from him."
Initially, Norester had his doubts about Kaibara's ambitions for Ryo's intellectual development, but to his surprise, Ryo actually seemed to thrive and excel under Kaibara's instruction. After three months, Ryo was able to have basic conversations in Spanish and was already beginning to read children's books.
'The kid must be like Kaibara, some kind of genius,' Norester pondered to himself at one point. 'I suppose the best thing for me to do is stay out of their way.'
Norester eventually decided instead to put most of his energy into beginning to teach Ryo how to defend himself with simple handmade traps and by learning ways to evade and hide from the enemy.
"You're too small to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy for now and you're not quite ready to learn to use a gun," he would tell Ryo. "So the next best thing is to be more prepared than them. The key is to always look for a way to act because there is always something you can do, no matter what their size or numbers are."
Norester looked down at Ryo and noticed that he had fallen asleep. He smiled to himself as he thought about these last few months he had spent helping Kaibara take care of Ryo. Throughout all the training, exercises, and instruction, Ryo had not lost his smile, his budding mischievousness, or his playful energy. There were many days when Norester had to admit that it was Ryo's smile and the sound of his laughter that helped him get through the grind of another day spent fighting and struggling to survive. He considered it even more remarkable when he thought about how Ryo had recently been left without parents, without a home to return to and without any memory of basic things like his birthday or his last name.
'The fact that he can still smile, that he can still laugh and still be a kid to some extent after everything he's been through and in the face of a war raging around him…that's proof enough that he's probably the toughest one of all of us,' Norester mused silently.
He then reached down and pulled Ryo's jacket, which was slightly too big for him, closer around his frame. As Kaibara had predicted, both he and Norester had had to find ways to accommodate having Ryo around them at all times. Whenever they could, one of them would try to stay behind at the village with Ryo while the other went to fight, although Norester couldn't help but notice that Ryo seemed to favor staying with Kaibara if it was between the two of them.
'It makes sense,' Norester thought to himself. 'After all, Kaibara is Japanese like him, and Kaibara is the one making sure that he can learn to talk to the rest of us. It's logical that he would want to spend more time around him.'
Norester smirked as he cast a glance at Kaibara, who was sitting in the passenger seat with his arms crossed over his chest and a thoughtful look on his face. He knew that Kaibara was loathe to admit it, but it was clear to Norester that he had also fallen under the spell of Ryo's charm. It showed in many small ways from the careful eye that Kaibara kept on him at all times, the smile on his face while he watched Ryo play during their rare leisure times, and the fact that he allowed Ryo to sleep next to him as a way to fend off his anxieties about the jungle at night and his nightmares.
'It's like he doesn't even realize that he's turning into a father,' Norester sniggered to himself. 'But you're not fooling me, Kaibara. And I know because I see it all the time in me when I'm around Mary….'
Norester patted Ryo's head a couple times while keeping one hand on the wheel. Occasionally, a mission would come along that required both his and Kaibara's presence, and thus, they had little choice but to take Ryo along with them. Norester was always a little apprehensive about it, however, and he suspected that Kaibara was too, even if he didn't say it out loud.
So far though, they had managed with little in the way of complications. At first, Ryo had been jittery and would freeze when the battles started, but Kaibara and Norester soon discovered that behind his smiles and giggles was a strong, fighting spirit that eventually enabled him to keep his nerve even as gunfire and explosions surrounded him. Thus, Ryo was often able and eager to support them however he could while still making sure to keep himself hidden from the enemy's line of sight.
The sound of a yawn got Norester's attention, and he looked over to see Ryo rubbing his eyes.
"Where are we?" Ryo asked with another yawn. "Are we almost there?"
"Ryo," Kaibara said, his voice stern. "I know that I've told you more than once to speak Spanish when we are not by ourselves."
"Sorry," Ryo replied. He then turned toward Norester and put a smile on his face.
"Sorry," he repeated in Spanish. Norester grinned and slapped Ryo's shoulder.
"It's ok, Ryo," he said. "Don't worry about it."
"To answer your question, we are thirty miles west of our village" Kaibara added. "And we will reach our destination in a couple of minutes at this rate." Ryo nodded and bowed his head as he leaned back in his seat and stared at the sky.
Kaibara continued to frown, and Norester couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. He knew that Kaibara had probably scolded Ryo again for lapsing into Japanese around him, but he never took it personally. He always figured that it simply came naturally to Ryo partially because it was his native language and partially because he continued to bond with Kaibara.
'Still, I bet Kaibara has no idea how much he even sounds like a parent when he does stuff like that,' he chortled to himself.
"We're here," Kaibara said as they pulled up to a clearing in the jungle. Norester parked his jeep, and the three of them got out to walk the rest of the way. Soon, they arrived at a large field with a battered warehouse, a couple of small planes sitting near it and a dirt landing strip at the edge of the area. Ryo gulped loudly at the sight, but made no other sound. They continued to walk toward the warehouse and were soon met with a group of men from both their own troop and from another guerrilla group within the resistance as well.
"Ah good, you're here," a man named Ramierez said as he walked up to meet them. Ramierez was the leader of this other guerrilla group and had been the one to propose joining forces with Norester and Kaibara's troop as a way to mount a more decisive attack against a military base about twenty miles from where they currently were.
"I understand that Mister Norester here is a good pilot," Ramierez said. "I would like him and one of my men to each fly one of our planes so as to lend us some air support. The rest of us will go in our tanks and jeeps."
"Sounds good," Norester said. "You got a plane ready for me?"
"My men are preparing them now," Ramierez said. "They should be ready in about fifteen minutes. Feel free to take whoever you want with you for your co-pilot."
Ramierez then walked off and started to converse with his own men while Norester looked over at Kaibara.
"I can handle the flying," he said. "You think you can handle the other stuff?"
"Is that a question?" Kaibara smirked at him. "Or is it another one of your attempts at humor?"
"Hey, life's too short to be serious all the time," Norester grinned back. "We can't all be like you."
One of the planes suddenly roared to life, the propellers starting to spin, and Kaibara and Norester turned to watch a couple of men checking it over.
"Well at least these planes look sturdier than the last ones I flew," Norester said, raising his voice slightly. "After what I went through last time, this is a welcome change. I can't tell you how much I….my God, Ryo, what's wrong?"
Kaibara immediately looked down to see that Ryo's eyes were dilated and that he was beginning to hyperventilate. He reached down to take Ryo by the arm and was shocked when Ryo began to scream.
"No! No! I don't want to go!" Ryo yelled. "Don't make me go again…."
"Hey, hey Ryo, calm down," Norester said, clasping his shoulder. "What's the matter?"
Ryo squeezed his eyes shut and yanked himself away from Kaibara and Norester before collapsing to the ground. Once there, he curled up into a fetal position and continued to gasp for breath while tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I don't want to go," he repeated. "Please…please help me…don't go. Don't make me go…."
Norester stood still, his mouth hanging open in shock over Ryo's extreme reaction with Kaibara also frozen with indecision.
That indecision only lasted for a moment, however, and soon, Kaibara yanked off his jacket and knelt down beside Ryo so he could cover him with it. Once he was completely wrapped up, Kaibara carefully lifted Ryo from the ground and cradled him close to his chest. He then rushed away from the field back toward the jeep with Norester trailing behind him. Kaibara did not slow down in his pace until he got back to the jeep and got in. Once there, he started to stroke Ryo's back.
"It's all right," Kaibara assured him. "You don't have to go. I promise. Now, calm down."
"Don't leave me," Ryo begged between his tears as he grabbed Kaibara's shirt. "Please don't go… please stay, oyaji."
Kaibara was startled by Ryo's choice of words, but chose to put that aside for now so he could continue to concentrate on getting Ryo to stop crying.
"I'm not going to leave you," Kaibara said, patting his back. "Now, relax and breathe."
By this point, Norester was standing next to the jeep and was watching Kaibara hold Ryo, who was still completely hidden underneath Kaibara's jacket.
"Jesus, what just happened?" Norester asked. "I've never seen him act like that before. Not even on the battlefield."
"He can't fly," Kaibara said. "I think that is clear."
As soon as those words were spoken, Norester's eyes lit up with understanding, and he and Kaibara shared a knowing look.
"You should take Dopazo with you," Kaibara continued. "He's the best man we have here."
"Yeah, I'll do that," Norester replied. "You just make sure to do your part here on the ground."
"You know that I will," Kaibara smirked at him. "I just hope that Dopazo can put up with you for a whole mission."
Norester chuckled and then reached over to rub the top of Ryo's head, his expression becoming somber again.
"Ryo, it's ok now," he said. "Everything is going to be fine. Geez, don't cry, kid."
Ryo lifted his head out from under the jacket and sniffed hard. His tears had finally started to stop and while his eyes were still red and watery, they were no longer wide with fear.
"That's better," Norester said, attempting to smile. "You stay with Kaibara and we'll all meet up again in a few hours. You'll see."
A hint of a smile appeared on Ryo's face as he nodded, and Norester let out a sigh of relief. Despite his young age and the horrendous situation he was in, Ryo rarely cried, but whenever he did, Norester and Kaibara would immediately search for a way to stop his tears. Neither one of them said it aloud, but the both of them knew how much each of them hated to see him cry or be in any sort of true distress.
"I'm going to go check on the plane," Norester said. "You want me to brief the rest the guys on what they should be doing?"
"That would be best, yes," Kaibara said. "Ryo and I will go on ahead toward our target. If things go badly, we'll meet up with everyone at the usual place."
Norester nodded and patted Ryo's shoulder one last time before running off. Once he was gone, Kaibara shifted Ryo out of his arms and sat him in the passenger seat.
"Are you ready?" Kaibara asked him. "We're going now."
A half hour later, neither Kaibara nor Ryo had said another word. Ryo continued to hide under Kaibara's jacket, his eyes firmly fixed on the floor. Kaibara kept his eyes on the road and went over the mission plans and the best tactics to use several times in his mind.
Eventually though, Kaibara took a deep breath and admitted to himself that he was over-thinking this as a way to avoid contemplating what was really bothering him.
When Norester stopped talking to stare at Ryo and when he looked down himself to see the child's reaction to the planes, Kaibara had felt his heart shift from mild concern to panic in a matter of seconds. Like Norester, he had never seen Ryo as petrified as he was in that moment and his first instinct had been to get Ryo as far away from the source of his terror as possible.
Kaibara frowned as he thought about how his concern for Ryo had actually hijacked his normal battle instincts. Ever since he had begun to train himself to fight as a child, Kaibara had always put his own survival first, and once he became a mercenary and then a guerrilla, his thoughts were directed toward the battle at hand. Defend his comrades, defeat the enemy, fight to survive…those were the imperatives that ruled his thoughts and his actions.
But in that moment, his only imperative had been Ryo. Nothing else, not his mission, not his comrades, not even his own objectives and safety, had mattered.
'What is wrong with me?' he asked himself. 'I have never let my mind get clouded that way before. A sure way to lose to the enemy and get yourself killed is to let your emotions control you.'
'And yet….'
Kaibara glanced over at Ryo and his expression softened. Watching Ryo quietly study the floorboards, Kaibara knew that it was useless to hold any sort of grudge or resentment toward him for either his actions earlier or for the feelings he managed to generate in his heart. The fact was, over the last several months, Kaibara had moved on from just seeing Ryo as a responsibility or a student to train and had become very fond of him. Kaibara had tried several times to deny this attachment, seeing as a potential weakness, but eventually he accepted that a bond had formed that he couldn't ignore and that he simply did not want to break.
Still, Kaibara had been convinced that he could conceal it and keep these feelings to himself. He was certain that it was better for Ryo to not become overly attached to him in return given the environment they lived in. Thus, he decided to be attentive in watching over and taking care of Ryo, but did his best to not be too affectionate.
The problem, however, was that Kaibara had begun to suspect that Ryo had become attached to him anyway. The fact that he had actually called him "oyaji" a little while ago had confirmed Kaibara's suspicions. That one word though was the source of a whole other batch of concerns and questions.
'Does Ryo actually consider me his father now?' he wondered. 'Should I allow him to think things like that?'
'Do I even want that responsibility?'
Kaibara's eyes went back to focusing on his surroundings while his hands gripped the wheel. For a brief moment, he thought again of Leticia and how she had told him that he would be a good father. At the time, Kaibara had thought that it was just a wistful thought of the future, and after the death of his parents and his years spent as a mercenary, he had completely dismissed the idea as impossible. He could never be a father, not in his line of work, not with the lifestyle he had. It was out of the question.
Yet, all of that reasoning was not enough to erase the warm stirring he felt in his heart when he heard Ryo call him oyaji. For a long time, he couldn't truly relate to Norester's devotion to his family or understand the joy Norester felt whenever he thought about his daughter. But when he heard Ryo say that to him, Kaibara was certain that that joy that devotion must feel a lot like what he had just experienced.
'Honestly, it's an amazing feeling, being a father…'
'There's nothing else like it…'
Right now, Kaibara had to admit that Norester was right. It had been years since he had felt any sort of happiness that could compare to what he now had inside him.
'How did this happen?' Kaibara asked himself. 'How is this child able to have this effect on me?'
"I'm sorry."
Kaibara's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ryo's voice, and he looked over to see the boy staring at him, his expression contrite.
"I'm sorry," Ryo repeated. "I'm sorry for what I did. It's my fault that you couldn't go with Norester."
Kaibara knew that within minutes, they would be heading off into battle, and he did not want to have this weighing on either of their minds. He pulled the jeep over and turned to face Ryo.
"No, this time it was my fault," Kaibara replied. "I knew what had happened to you before, and yet I didn't even think about how you might feel about flying again."
"Aren't you mad at me?" Ryo asked. Kaibara felt a twinge of regret at the apprehension and sadness evident in his voice.
"No, of course not," Kaibara replied. "I already said that this was my fault. What makes you think that I should be mad at you?"
"You said that we have to be strong in battle," Ryo replied. "And yet I…."
"That is true. You do need to be strong," Kaibara interrupted. "But that does not mean that you won't ever be afraid. Fear is natural."
Kaibara reached down and put his hands on Ryo's shoulders.
"I know that this wound, the one you got when you ended up here, is still too fresh, too painful," Kaibara continued. "You are not ready to deal with it or to begin to conquer it. For now, the important thing is not to banish all of your fears. It's for you to learn to act in spite of them. I know, for example, that you still carry some fear during the battles we face constantly. Again, this is to be expected. It would be very stupid of you to not be afraid for your life in those situations. What you must learn to do is to push past that fear, to do what you must in order to survive and defeat your opponents. That is what you should focus your energies on."
Kaibara let go of Ryo and started up the jeep again. He then pulled back onto the road and sped toward their destination.
"Do not think you will have to learn to do this on your own," Kaibara added. "That is one of the reasons why Norester and I are training you, so that you will get the instruction you need to help you overcome your fear. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Ryo nodded sheepishly.
"Good," Kaibara replied. "Now prepare yourself. We will be entering enemy territory in a couple of minutes. I will need you to stay out of sight and make sure to keep me supplied with ammunition during this fight. Will you do that?"
"I will," Ryo said, his voice resolute. "I won't fail." Kaibara noted the determined expression on Ryo's face and smiled in response.
"No, you won't Ryo," he said. "I am certain of that."
