WHAT SHIGEKO SAID

8. Dissonance Pt. 1

"Don't move."

I pressed the point of Jato into the back of his neck, one sudden move and he would be dead in a heart beat; his own fault, really for allowing me to flank him the way I had. He knew it too, rooted as he was, finally releasing that breath he had been holding. I listened to the sinews of his formation lose that horrid tautness they had adopted and I knew he knew I had him.

"Now, what we're going to do is have a conversation, in which you are going to tell me where and how I can escape, at which point, I might find the answer to a question I've been asking myself all night," I paused, letting my words sink in, "that being, whether I've finally mastered enough control of me- enough at least to let you live."

My mind seemed to be functioning on its own, I was speaking the words and yet they weren't my own. They weren't Hers either. They seemed to come from both of us and yet from neither. I blinked; the drugs they'd sedated me with were affecting my judgement, for all my energy was lost within the sword.

"Now when I say, you're going to walk, slowly, towards that tree and then bind your hands around the trunk with your garotte... and don't think of trying anything stupid or you'll make my decision for me, do you understand what I'm saying to you, right now? He nodded. "Good, then move."

Move he did. His footsteps assumed an alternating rhythm, attempting to deceive me into taking a false step, yet we walked in synchrony. Only once we reached the tree did it occur to me what he had tried to do and I was angry and yet thankful to my body for keeping me out of the loop. I waited, eyes affixed to the in-grove in his neck where Jato was pressed, prepared to release her at the first notice but Jato remained still.

Once his hands were securely bound, I swung the hilt of Jato at the back of his head. He slumped to his knees, head resting on upon his bound arms. I took the opportunity to focus my hearing, making certain we hadn't been followed. I figured that with the time it would take for them to douse the fire I had about twenty minutes grace before they would come looking for me, by which point, I would need to make good my exit. We were clear; the fools were still laughing at my supposed ignorance.

Taking a length of fabric from my belt, I crouched, lifting his flaccid head up in my left hand; I jammed the fabric into his mouth, tying it tight around the back of his neck. I removed a flask of water from my pack, taking a gulp before slinging the rest into his face. He woke, spluttering, thrashing against the tree as he re-discovered the peril he was in all over again. He stood, eyes scanning for his captor- for me. They settled upon my face, a look of visceral hatred settling onto his.

"Have you ever been oversees Akio?" I began, "you see I have, ever since I took control over the Three Countries, making it a far better place to be by eliminating the likes of you, it's been my job to look for opportunities to help it flourish, doing what the Emperor is too sick and too lazy to do."

I began to pace around the tree, Jato never a lethal strike out of reach from him. "You know, there is so much more out there than the Three Countries; in fact, the Three Countries is tiny compared to other places in this world of ours. You go north west from here and you come across a huge landmass, as far as the eye can see. They call it Tshoongca."

I stopped in front of him. "Astonishing place, full of fabrics and foods I had never seen before. Took me a while to understand their speech, it's a little different from ours. Anyway, about three years ago, I took a vacation from the Three Countries- from the relentless diplomacy and brainwashed assassination attempts... to this place and I met a man, not a native like the rest but a fellow traveller like me. He'd come oversees on a voyage much longer than my own, his homeland was a far distant land which he called Francia, it translates as Furansu in our tongue."

"Well I got to know him quite well and we spoke a lot about trade and culture, then one time towards the end of his visit he used a certain phrase, a certain term which has stuck with me ever since- it was 'Coup de grâce', which means 'deathblow', usually to a wounded animal or warrior... and I can't help but find it rather appropriate to out current situation, as you had me and failed to deliver the 'Coup de grâce', and now I have you and, one way or another, wont."

"I say that because, this traveller- Jean, was his name, also gave credence to that term being used in another light, that being the last in a long series of events and that's precisely what this is- the last in a long series of events.".

I felt rage stir within me, with me; not from Her but with me. "You see I despise you Akio. I despise you for what you've made me become. Everything that I've done tonight to get to you, to silence you and your teachings; to remove the last in a line of oppression against everything I'm trying to acomplish: a fair world for all where people can grow as a culture, not afraid of zealots like you, like the Tribe, and the Tohan. It's your selfish pride that has driven me to this!"

I felt Jato begin to twitch in my hand, feeling that its time was close. "There will be no forgiveness for you in the afterlife and after tonight I doubt there will be for me, either. I will burn at the mercy of Enlightened One or at the hand of the Hidden God of my mother and that is because of you. I just hope and pray that someway my mother will find it within herself to forgive me even though I don't deserve it."

I glared into his eyes and through all the hatred I saw fear. His heart betrayed his fear; his body, fighting against his mind, not wanting to die. I listened to it's irregular beats and I knew it quivered with the fear. Jato was shaking. "This is the 'Coup de grâce'," I declared.

It was meant to be.

But it wasn't.