CHAPTER 10: Kale's Message
As April seared over the country, a record-breaking heat wave scorched all of California. Spring break was over with, and no one felt like going to school or work. All of the Ronin had been trying for several days to gain information on Yasuo's fate, and the fate of Ryo Sanada's Ronin. Nohano was getting more and more frustrated, and his sour mood seemed to be spreading.
Tarun so far had been immune to it, but he didn't like seeing the others feeling so miserable about it. Not that Tarun wasn't worried about Yasuo and the other Ronin, even though he'd never met any of the Ronin. But he was no help in figuring out the riddle—less help than the others, for that matter. Tarun did not know much about spirit realms or demons, and hadn't the resources to find out.
It often happened that way. Most of the time Tarun didn't worry about it, and only helped when he could. But sometimes he would wonder why he had been chosen to join this elite group of fighters. Even in battle it seemed he had to be saved more often than he was able to fight his own battles. On the odd times when his optimism faded a little, he would brood about it. It was a horrible thing to feel useless.
The heat wave didn't help matters. It was the hottest spring in California ever, and most of the Ronin were about wrung out from the heat. Tarun didn't mind it much at all; he had lived in a very hot region of India. Nohano absolutely loved it, and Rashida was also used to the heat. Everyone else, however, could do without it. Demetrius, with his pale skin, had to use a special sunscreen to protect his skin from sunburns and outright damage. He, more than any of them, disliked the heat, accustomed to the very cool weather of his home region in Russia.
Tarun found himself spending less time in the company of the others, unless they were eating a meal or practicing their fighting. They were all getting grouchy, and Tarun found it was better to stay out of the way when he wasn't able to cheer anyone up. At least Suisei was able to tell Tarun was not as cheerful as usual, and made sure to take the time to pay him a little extra attention when they were at home. He, at least, was not too grouchy. Though if Tarun was to be fair, Killian wasn't very grouchy with him, either. But he wasn't as happy as usual.
Things did not change until the middle of April, on a Friday, and it changed while Tarun was at school.
Tarun was still taking the bus to school; Xander's father had not shown his face in weeks, but the others were still being cautious, and Tarun actually enjoyed riding the bus. It was fun. That day, however, the bus got a flat tire halfway to the school, and everyone had to wait in the stifling heat for another bus to be summoned to pick them up. The day had dawned gray and overcast, but the heat had not diminished; if anything, the humidity had made the heat seem even worse.
The whole busload of them was a half hour late for school, which Tarun didn't necessarily mind normally, but in this case it meant he had an extra homework assignment to make up that day. The teachers didn't seem to like the heat wave any more than anyone else, and were more snappish and irritable than normal. All in all, Tarun was never so grateful to see lunchtime.
He sat with a group of his friends in the cafeteria, talking about what grouches the teachers were, and whether it would get even hotter once summer got there. One of the boys said that with their luck it'd probably snow all summer. As the weather in later years had been entirely unpredictable, it was possible!
The fourth-graders had lunch at noon, along with the third-graders, and because it was so searing hot outside, they were given the option of staying inside the library and reading, or playing the board games the school kept for rain days. Tarun opted to go outside, not able to stand another minute cooped up in the building, and he certainly had no intentions of sitting quietly somewhere and reading. Not that he minded reading, but he minded being quiet.
He spent the first five minutes of recess running around in the sand, expending the energy that always built up during the morning hours. He played a fast game of tag with a group of third-graders, giggling as he thought about what would happen if he donned his armor to play tag, and what their faces would look like. He couldn't do it, of course, but it was fun to think about.
It wasn't until recess was nearly over that things got scary. Tarun had been swinging from the monkey bars when a movement at the far end of the playground caught his eye; it was a familiar figure, though at first Tarun didn't know why. The playground was big, and that odd corner was shaded by several trees that overhung the fence from outside. Curiosity overcoming him, Tarun dropped down to the sand and jogged across the playground.
At first he saw nothing at all, and wondered if he had simply imagined it. Feeling inexplicably unnerved, he crept around a corner of the school, looking around the area. There no kids back here; there was little room between the school and the back fence, and the only things there were the trees, which kids weren't allowed to climb. The only thing of any kind of interest there was the dumpster, and that was behind a locked fence. The clouds above had taken on a greenish cast, casting strange shadows, which made Tarun even more nervous.
Tarun had just about decided that he didn't want to know who or what he had seen, when movement caught his eye once more. Someone was standing among the trees, nearly obscured in shadow. Tarun took a hesitant step forward, his sandals crunching on the half-dead grass, squinting his eyes to make out the figure.
Sudden fear spiked through him when the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing dark blue hair and eyes, a scarred face, a figure in reddish sub-armor. Tarun gasped, stumbling hastily backwards, his hand darting into his pocket to grasp the armor orb he always carried with him. He had not seen Kale since Tarun had been Talpa's prisoner, since he had endured three days being interrogated by Jin Tanaka—but Kale had been there too... Why was he here? How did he know where Tarun went to school? He didn't stop backing up until felt the warm, raspy stucco of the school building at his back, as he and Kale locked gazes.
"Calm yourself, boy," said Kale contemptuously, his eyes narrowed in unkind amusement at Tarun's fear. "I come only to deliver a message."
Tarun felt himself beginning to shake, trying very hard not to think of his imprisonment in the Nether Realm, and glanced quickly around, feeling cornered. If Kale was here, there might be others, and the last thing he wanted was to be ambushed. "What message?" he finally managed to ask, bringing his wary gaze back onto Kale.
Kale chuckled, taking a step back and raising his hands. Tarun flinched and very nearly summoned his riot gear, but all Kale did was to project the image of a sort of television screen. It looked familiar, and Tarun realized that Talpa had had the same kind of screen behind him in his throne room when Tarun had been brought before him. Suspicious now, his alarm dissipating just a little, Tarun moved his gaze to look at the screen.
The image that faded onto the screen sent chills of horror through Tarun. It showed a stone chamber, much like the one that he, Killian, and Tarun had spent three days in in Talpa's palace, only this one had no water in it. Instead it had shackles against the walls, and six prisoners.
Five of them were youths, about Nohano's age, and they looked vaguely familiar to Tarun. But the sixth figure was an older man, and as the image began to clear, Tarun recognized him. He felt his eyes go wide, and he gaped at the image. "Yasuo!" he cried in disbelief, unable to believe what he was seeing.
As Tarun watched in horror, the malevolently familiar figures of Nether Spirits hovered above the prisoners, lancing dark energy through them. Though there was no sound, Tarun could see them screaming in pain from the spirits' attacks, remembering all too well his own ordeal with them.
Tarun clenched his fists, sudden anger taking place of his fear. "What did you do to them you--you jerk! Where are they? What're you doing to them?"
Kale laughed, then, his mouth splitting into an altogether ghoulish smile. "As you may or may not have known, the five boys are the Ronin who fought us before you brats came along. Even in spirit they are not safe from the Dynasty, and we have spent several days making them suffer for their actions against us. As for Yasuo, well, he's not been with us as long, but I assure you he is suffering just as much."
Unable to stop himself, Tarun looked back at the screen, beginning to shiver again, his eyes suddenly burning as he watched the horrible scene. And then the screen was gone, leaving only dark trees and the deserted street behind them.
A scroll had materialized in Kale's hands. "Now that I've gotten your attention—you will give my message to your friends." Tarun recoiled as Kale tossed the scroll at his feet, but did not make a move to pick it up just yet. He looked back up at Kale, who suddenly chuckled as if something extremely funny had just occurred. "Oh, and by the way," he said, bowing with mock courtesy, "I must thank you, Daybreak. We couldn't have found Toshitada without your help. Your information was quite useful."
Tarun gaped, mortified, as Kale vanished in a flash of orange light. His chest felt tight, and his hands were shaking, unable to think of a single thing except for what Kale had just said. "We couldn't have found Toshitada without your help."
"It's my fault," he whispered wretchedly, sinking down onto the grass and staring dazedly at the scroll Kale had thrown to him. He vaguely felt tears beginning to streak down his face, wiping absently at them, too shocked to notice or to care. Urgency came over him, only a hair's breadth from panic, as he suddenly grabbed up the scroll and stood up. 'We gotta get him out—we gotta rescue him, now!'
Tarun didn't know what to do; the overwhelming need to do something, and right this very instant, was clouding all rational thought. He might have stood there all day if it wasn't for the shrill peal of the teachers' whistles, calling the third and fourth-graders in from recess. Tarun bit his lip hard, the little pain cutting through his building panic, and calming him enough that he was able to think. He grabbed the scroll and shoved it into his back pocket, sprinting to the main part of the playground, where the classes were lining up to go inside.
He tacked himself onto the end of his class's line, vaguely aware that he was getting some strange looks; he was still crying, though it was tapering off as he furiously tried to think of what to do. The girl in front of him, a snotty stupid girl who liked to make fun of him any chance he got, made a snide remark, but Tarun hardly heard her as the line began moving towards the air-conditioned hallways inside.
Tarun...are you all right?
Suisei's mental voice startled Tarun, and he nearly groaned aloud in frustration. Why hadn't he thought to use the mind link! Relief flooded his mind as he replied. Suisei! Kale—the Dynasty—they've got Yasuo! And they've got the other Ronin, too, the other ones, the ones who came before us! He came to my school! They've got them in the Nether realm, they've got Nether Spirits, and--
Tarun could feel startlement from Suisei as he began to babble through the mind link, and his calm voice stopped Tarun's rant in the middle. Whoa, whoa...easy, kiddo, he said. Where are you right now?
At school. We're just done with recess.
All right. Just hang tight, I'm gonna come and pick you up, okay? You can tell me the whole story in the car.
Okay, said Tarun shakily.
Just try to calm down, okay, Taru-chan? The familiar, affectionate form of his name did calm him a little, as he liked it when Suisei called him Taru-chan. I'll be there as soon as I can.
Okay. Tarun took a big breath and closed his eyes for a moment, bringing his attention back to the classroom. The line had reached the doors, and the other kids were dispersing towards their desks once they got through the doorway. More than one of them was looking at Tarun oddly.
Mrs. Reppler, Tarun's teacher, looked over at him, her brow furrowing in sudden concern. "Are you all right, Tarun?" she asked, approaching him to put a hand on his shoulder.
Tarun looked up, appreciating her concern, but certainly could not tell her why he was upset. "Yeah," he said. "I'm okay...thanks."
He was obviously not very convincing, because Mrs. Reppler looked more concerned than ever. "Are you sure, Tarun? Your face is very pale—did something happen?"
Tarun suddenly realized his face was still wet, and hastily wiped his eyes and cheeks. He tried to think of something that he could say that wouldn't make Mrs. Reppler think he was lying to her, but that she would be satisfied with, but he was saved the necessity.
"I think the heat must have gotten to you," she murmured, putting a hand on Tarun's forehead for a moment, still looking worried. "Why don't you go lie down in the nurse's office for a little while, okay?"
That was a fantastic idea. Tarun nodded in weary agreement, and followed Mrs. Reppler to her desk, where she opened a drawer and pulled out a yellow hall pass for him. She scribbled "nurse" on the blank area and gave the pass to Tarun. "Go on, now, okay?"
"Okay," said Tarun, managing to smile; he really liked Mrs. Reppler. She was very nice, and never yelled at kids unless they were really misbehaving. He thanked her and went back out through the door, closing his eyes in relief as he gained the relative peace of the now-empty hallways. There was no way he'd be able to concentrate on Social Studies, anyway, not as worried and upset as he was.
His mind was blank as he walked towards the front of the school, where the principal's office and the nurse's office were. He walked into the nurse's office, where there were three beds covered in waterproof vinyl, and a small desk where the nurse kept all her records. Cabinets lined one wall.
The nurse's name was Ms. Donelly, and she was an older woman with dark hair and a lot of wrinkles. She was nice enough, though somewhat impartial. When Tarun walked into the nurse's station, she took the pass he gave her, and asked what was wrong. Tarun said that he got too hot outside and didn't feel well.
Ms. Donelly sighed, putting a hand briefly on Tarun's hair. "I've seen that a lot lately," she said, going to the water cooler next to her desk and filling a paper cone cup full of cool water. "Here. Drink this, then go and lie down on one of the beds, okay?"
Tarun nodded and drank the water; it was shockingly cold, but refreshing. He handed the cup back to the nurse and lay down on the bed farthest from the desk. He needed to think, and didn't want to be distracted.
The vinyl creaked as Tarun settled his weight on it, and the plastic-covered pillow crackled as he lay his head down. Tarun often thought that the only people who had plastic on their pillows were school nurses; even his doctor didn't have a plastic-covered pillow in his office.
Suisei?
I'm here, kiddo, came Suisei's mental voice, sounding very distracted. I'm about five minutes away from the school. You all right?
Y-yeah. I'm in the nurse's office. Mrs. Reppler thought that I got too hot outside and sent me here. And Julie Mason laughed at me 'cause I was crying. Tarun scowled into the pillow, vowing that he would have to do something about that next he saw her. A lizard in her desk, maybe.
Some people are like that, said Suisei sympathetically. But I'll be there very soon, and you can tell me what happened.
Tarun felt oddly better after that. Suisei would be there in five minutes, and Tarun would be able to tell him everything that happened. It was a lot worse when things like this happened if you were alone. He wasn't scared any more, but bad things were always better if there was someone there with you. And Tarun didn't know what to do.
He spent the next five minutes trying not to think about Yasuo, trying to shove away the wretched guilt that threatened to smother him. He tried not to think of the horrible, endless hours in Talpa's dungeon, either huddled in a cell or strapped to the stone table, with Jin Tanaka looming over him... Tarun closed his eyes, beginning to shiver again, and couldn't wait for Suisei to get there.
It seemed like far longer than it really was when Suisei walked into the nurse's station, and Tarun got hastily up from the bed, running to him. Everything—the guilt, and the fear—lessened when Suisei put his arms around him. Sometimes Tarun couldn't stand adults, which was normal for most kids, but most of the time he was entirely grateful for them.
"Hi," said Suisei quietly to the nurse. "I think I'm going to go ahead and take Tarun home for the day, if that's all right. He's only got a couple of hours left, anyway."
"That's fine, Mr. Kyoto," said the nurse amiably. "I'll go ahead and notify his teacher, and he can pick up any work he's missed on Monday."
Tarun felt Suisei's arm leave him, presumably to shake the nurse's hand, then he was guiding Tarun out of the office. "Do you want to grab your lunchbox and backpack?" Suisei asked.
At first Tarun didn't want to bother with it, but he changed his mind. He'd left half a sandwich in his lunchbox, and if he left that all weekend, it was going to smell pretty ripe. So they grabbed Tarun's things before heading outside and getting into Suisei's car. Tarun slumped back in the passenger seat.
"All right, kiddo," said Suisei, shutting the door and turning on the engine. But he did not leave the parking lot, he only turned on the air-conditioning. "Tell me what's happened."
Having calmed considerably, Tarun found it far easier to relate what had happened. He told of how he'd caught sight of someone outside the playground, and gone to see who it was. How shocked and startled he'd been on seeing it was Kale, and how he'd nearly armored up right then and there. He wondered distractedly what ol' Julie Mason's face woulda looked like if she'd seen that!
He told Suisei about the image Kale had shown him, and who he'd seen in the vision. And of how Kale had thanked him for allowing them to locate and capture Yasuo. Tarun clenched his teeth then, fighting not to cry. He glanced up at Suisei, who looked furious. For just a moment, he thought Suisei was angry at him, but when Suisei reached over and pulled him onto his lap, he realized the anger was at Kale, not Tarun. "That bastard," Suisei hissed, holding Tarun and rocking him a little. Tarun couldn't help but cry then, intensely grateful that Suisei was there. "It's not enough, what they did to you, he's got to taunt you about it."
"I hate him," Tarun said, clenching a fist. "I hope I meet him again in battle!" He did, too. He'd been practicing now for weeks against Rashida's Thunderbolt Cut attack, which was almost identical to Kale's own dark lightning, and he felt far more confident about fighting Kale.
"I hope so, too," said Suisei. "You certainly deserve the change to give him back a little of what he gave you." Suisei sighed quietly and pulled Tarun away from him, tilting his head so he was looking up at Suisei. "It's natural to feel guilty, kiddo. But please try not to. No one would have been able to keep from telling those sadistic wretches what they wanted to know. And there's no guarantee that Yasuo would have been safe whether or not you'd given them his name. Remember all the information they found about us, without us even knowing they were spying on us?"
Tarun scowled in indignation; he most certainly did remember! Kale had told him about it when the warlords had separated them all (and after Tarun had woken from being knocked out.) Suisei was probably right, too, on both counts, though it didn't make the guilty feeling leave completely. But it did make it better. "We gotta rescue them," he said fiercely. "All of 'em!"
Suisei helped Tarun settle back into the passenger seat, nodding his head in grim agreement. "We do," he said. "We're going to have to find a way in—what was written on the scroll that Kale gave you?"
Tarun blinked; he had forgotten he had the thing with him! Even while telling that part of the story to Suisei, he'd managed to forget the scroll itself was in his back pocket. Tarun pulled the ancient-looking scroll out and unraveled it, gazing for a moment at the writing, and scowling in irritation. He handed it over to Suisei. "It's in Japanese," he grouched. Tarun had learned a lot of Japanese words, living with Suisei, but he knew nothing of the kanji pictograms they used for writing.
Suisei took the scroll, his expression grim. "Toshitada Yasuo, Sanada Ryo, Hashiba Touma, Mourin Shin, Rei Faun Shuu, and Date Seiji are our guests in the Nether Realm. Master Talpa extends his invitation to you as well. Keep in mind how horribly our guests our suffering at our hands. We look forward to our next meeting." Suisei gazed at the scroll, narrowed-eyed, for several moments before rolling it back up and looked at Tarun. "Short and sweet," he said with a good degree of sarcasm. "All right, kiddo, it's nearly one-thirty. You did eat lunch, right?"
Tarun nodded. "Yeah, but not a lot of it. I wasn't very hungry."
"Okay. Let's head for a Dairy Queen, then." An ice cream sounded great! And Suisei knew it, too. "We'll get you something cold and loaded with way too much sugar, and I can grab some lunch. Then we can pick up Xander and Company. By the time we get home, everyone should be there, and we can begin working on a way to get in the Nether Realm after them."
That sounded like a great plan! Tarun was doubly glad Suisei had gotten off of work early to come and get him. It was an awful feeling, to be alone, and even the indignation of needing the adults to tell him what to do was muted then by relief.
Suisei had Tarun buckle his seat belt before pulling out of the school's parking lot.
Ice cream could make anyone happy, Tarun decided a half hour later. He and Suisei sat in a slightly overcrowded Dairy Queen by the window, Tarun with a large dipped ice cream cone, and Suisei with a plastic basket containing a large chili dog, French fries, and a pickle. He absentmindedly handed over the pickle, which Tarun happily took. (Suisei didn't like pickles, but Tarun loved them.)
"That's revolting," said Suisei, coming out of his reverie and watching Tarun chomp the pickle slice down. "And then you're going to eat your ice cream. You sure you're not pregnant?"
Tarun blinked, not getting the joke, until Suisei explained about the weird cravings that pregnant women often got during their pregnancy, and of how ice cream and pickles seemed to be a popular combination. And then Tarun couldn't stop giggling until his ice cream began to melt onto his hand. He hastily tried licking it before it made a large mess.
Suisei began to eat, his eyes slipping back out of focus. "We're going to have to find a way in," he murmured. "And be careful, because you can be sure they're going to spring a trap, just like they did last time."
Tarun nodded, but he wasn't too worried. As often happened with him, once the fear had gone, he had no doubts that things would turn out okay. Suisei continued to mutter to himself, though, in between bites of his lunch. Tarun fidgeted in the booth as he finished his drippy ice cream, wincing a little at his sticky hands.
"Go wash 'em," suggested Suisei, noticing Tarun's look.
Tarun got up agreeably and headed for the men's room. There were three people using it, but no one was at the sink. Tarun washed his hands, glad that the sinks weren't stupidly high like they seemed to be in some bathrooms. 'I bet lots of kids come here so they made it lower.' It made sense, at any rate!
When his hands were clean and dry, Tarun went back out and sat down, occasionally stealing a fry from Suisei's basket. When he had finished his lunch, the clock read 2:36. "All right, I guess we'd better head outta here," said Suisei. "And see what we can come up with."