Chapter Ten – Ambush

Kaena moved blandly through the next week, blocking out all the things bothering her and going on auto-pilot. She went to class and answered the questions she was asked, and turned in her work, and faithfully catalogued Luke's documents. She couldn't have been happier when Friday finally arrived. She felt like a zombie, unable to sleep well or even eat as well as usual. She hadn't said more than two words to Luke, and didn't feel bad at all for it. He had withheld information from her. Of course, she realized how irrational she was acting, but it didn't stop the satisfying thrill she felt when he was unable to get a response from her yet again.

She sat in the little annex to his office, working silently, when a student knocked on his office door. He had gone out for an errand to another building on campus, so she answered the door.

"Oh," it was Diane. A cool smile settled on her lips. "I was looking for Dr. Jamison."

"Obviously," she drawled.

"Is he here?" she pressed, pushing slightly on the door.

"He's hidden in the file cabinet. What do you think? He's across campus and will be back later."

"I guess I should have known you'd be here. I was just surprised I didn't see you frantically throwing your clothes on. No wonder you got an A in Modern Religion, huh? Must be nice."

"I got an A because I actually did the reading and didn't rely with the same platitudes constantly in order to feign knowledge in discussion, like some. Dr. Jamison isn't here, so you'll have to come back later. I'm busy."

"I'm sure you are," Diane said snidely. "Planning your next tryst? Everybody knows about it. I saw you leaving Planned Parenthood, too."

Kaena felt her power bubble up from within and had to beat it back. She couldn't break the bitch's neck just because she felt like it. It took every ounce of restraint in her body. She pictured slamming her ugly face into a wall and smiled coolly. "I don't have to justify this with a response."

"Because you have no defense. I'm right. Why were you at the clinic?"

"It's none of your business what I was doing there," her voice was low, and frigid. She wondered if the stupid girl had any idea how close she was to having her skull crushed? "What do you care anyway?"

"It's against the rules to be romantically involved with faculty. It's a conflict of interest, especially one you're working for, and ESPECIALLY one whose class you are taking."

"Were taking," she snapped. "And I don't care what you think. I am not, nor have I been, nor WILL I ever be, involved with Luke Jamison. And I was getting birth control pills at the clinic. My boyfriend and I thought it was time I start the pill. My boyfriend who is not Dr. Jamison. So you can stick your head up your ass."

"Whatever," Diane laughed haughtily. "I know you slept your way to the top of the class."

"Think whatever you want."

"It won't be such a laughing matter when the chair and the other faculty finish their meeting today. I heard Morris and Pulosky talking, and they're going to fire him, and are talking about suspending you. So I guess you'll be heading back to Japan. Too bad for your 'boyfriend.'"

Diane laughed and practically skipped down the hallway. She didn't know what had gotten into the woman. They weren't friends—Kaena wasn't really friends with anybody in the department but Luke and Marsden—but they hadn't been on bad terms before. And what did she care about the whole thing, anyway, untrue as it was? It had no bearing on her.

"Diane," she called down the hallway. "Who told you this?"

Diane smirked smugly and ignored her, turning the corner at last with a sarcastic little wave behind her. Kaena stared after her for a long while, infuriated and shaking with raw emotion. She wanted to punch a wall or blow up a park bench or something, but she satisfied herself with thrashing around Luke's office and ripping a stress ball to shreds. She was still puffing with rage when the man returned a little while later.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

"Tell you what?" he blinked.

"About the hideous rumors circulating about us. About the faculty meeting? They're thinking of suspending me!"

"They're not going to suspend you," he shook his head. "If anything, they'll only fire me assuming I seduced you and used my position of power to do so. And if I have to let them think that, I will."

"You should have told me!" she snarled, and felt her facade of rage breaking down. This was too much. Hearing about all the awful things her father had done, learning that he really wasn't who she thought he was, was bad enough, but these vicious rumors were enough to tip the balance. Kaena hated that those idiots thought those things about her, but she would have been willing enough to let that go if they weren't considering suspending her! And firing Luke! "You shouldn't have to take the blame for something you didn't do," her voice broke. "Who is spreading these lies, and why?"

"I don't know who," he said, and she looked at him skeptically. She could feel her eyes swimming with tears and stubbornly held them back. "But all I'll have to do is explain that we know each other from our martial arts lessons, I'm friends with your boyfriend, et cetera. It will make perfect sense when explained. We have the truth on our side, and that's better than any other ammunition."

"Will you have to appear at this hearing?" she asked, angrily brushing away the tears that leaked from her eyes.

"It starts in half an hour," he sat down on the edge of his desk and handed her a kleenex. "You can go if you want, but it might just make things worse. I didn't tell you because I was trying to protect you. I don't think they would have taken any action against you."

She felt like a glass house ready to shatter, but she knew she had to appear. It would look just as bad for her to be conspicuously missing. She should at least be able to defend herself against such idiocy. And Luke truly was her friend, even if he did keep stupid secrets from her. She didn't want to see him kicked out of the department. "Do you think . . . I should call Taka and ask him to come? For a third party?"

"I don't think that's necessary," he said. "If they don't believe you and me, they won't believe the three of us. For all they know, he's a random guy off the street we paid to speak."

"What should we say?"

"The truth?" he suggested. "There's nothing to explain. Your boyfriend is a mutual friend, and we get together to do martial arts and talk from time to time. I asked you to be my RA because there wasn't anybody else I wanted sitting around my office. You don't talk much, which, trust me, is an excellent quality for a research assistant to have. You have an excellent record academically and you got good evals last semester. You're not exactly a shady character. And look, you're dressed very conservatively."

Kaena looked down at her Bermuda shorts and three-quarter sleeve peasant top and shrugged. True enough, that. She was even wearing very sensible ballet flats with little flowers on the toes. She didn't exactly look like a seductress. She pulled an elastic hair tie out of her pocket and did her blonde hair up in a loose bun, which, she thought, made her look more serious and less like she escaped from the set of some beach movie.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," his earnest voice calmed her and she bowed her head.

"I'm sorry I acted like a cow. It's been a bad week all around, and I didn't need Diane coming in and suggesting I was off having abortions or planning to lie naked across your desk."

"Hn," he frowned, green eyes crinkling. "Diane?"

"She seems to be the rumor monger, or she has an informant," Kaena shrugged and picked up the big pieces of the stress ball she'd mangled. She tossed the remnants in the waste basket and smiled sheepishly. "I'll buy you another."

"Please, I go through three of those a week. I have a whole desk drawer full," he pulled a shiny, purple stress ball out and tossed it to her. She laughed and squeezed the thing. It wasn't as fun as mauling it had been, but it was all right.

"I guess I should finish up the stack I was working on. Let me know when the meeting is?"

"I'll go a little early. We shouldn't appear together. It's in room 5102."

Kaena nodded and returned to the little annex room. Yes, the information about her father and this were bad, but the icing on that layer-cake was the weird, anxious feeling she had been getting lately. She perceived something was coming to a head, but only Suzaku and his compatriots knew what that might be. Sighing, she returned to her task, and mentally prepared to defend her honor, and Luke's.

The half hour was over quickly, and Luke had departed to the meeting a few minutes before. Kaena put on her best mask, a cool, collected mask that seemed to be a family trait, she thought with a frown, and climbed the stairs to the fifth floor. She turned the corner and knocked softly on the closed classroom door.

Somebody opened it, and looked surprised. "Kaena," Dr. Morris said. "I didn't realize . . . I suppose Luke told you."

"I have a right to defend myself against these ridiculous rumors," she said coolly, and pushed the door open. The chair, an aging man who wore a Star of David pendant beneath his ill-fitting, plaid button down, stepped out of the way and allowed her inside. Something about the man's aura became immediately apparent to her. It had a strange sort of twist to it. Puzzled, she took a seat in the plastic desk nearest to the front of the classroom, about two seats over from Luke, and leaned back with her arms crossed. She glanced behind her to see who was present. Her eyes fell on her advisor, Dr. Marion, a middle aged woman whose professional business attire was impeccable, and Kaena made a point to frown at the woman. Her advisor, at least, should have appraised her of the happenings here, but hadn't. If she didn't know it would look terrible, she would ask permission to switch to Luke. She saw Dr. Pulosky and Dr. Harrison sitting side by side looking solemn, and a couple other professors she didn't know by name. Almost everyone was accounted for. She found herself inordinately angry at this turn of events. These people shouldn't have tried to mask what they were doing from her. They should have confronted her about it. That was what drove her crazy about academics: everybody always gossiped and nobody came to anybody with a problem directly.

Dr. Morris cleared his throat and stood up in front of the classroom. "Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we've gathered here to discuss disciplinary action regarding the, um, relationship between Dr. Jamison and Kaena Gi."

Kaena raised her hand suddenly, scowling as hard as she could. "Don't you mean you came here to discuss the allegations against us? Or have you already decided the truth without actually asking the people supposedly involved?"

"We have it from a very reliable-"

"Academics is all about truth, isn't it? Would you rather write a thesis based on somebody else's description of a person's life or beliefs, or would you rather talk to the source if possible?" she interrupted, annoyed enough to spit. "It was my impression that, given the opportunity, you'd much rather talk to Buddha or Jesus than to a follower. Well, my name is Buddha."

"I'm Jesus, nice to meet you," Luke said dryly.

"Right," Dr. Morris said. "Well then . . . what say you?"

"I say it's ridiculous to discuss discipline if all you have is some rumor," Luke pointed out. "Who is your informant anyway?"

"We have statements from anonymous sources. Well, one source . . . he has testified that he saw you leaving Kaena's apartment building several nights in a row, that you were seen together in various restaurants around town, and even near campus, not to mention the fact that you conveniently hired Ms. Gi for your RA. Now, Ms. Gi, we understand professors hold a certain amount of power, and that will be considered in this decision."

Kaena stood up suddenly, and approached Dr. Morris, who cowered slightly. She schooled her features, since she was sure the scowl on her face was worthy of her father at his most murderous (which, she supposed, was pretty murderous, all things considered). "Did it ever occur to you that we might simply be friends?"

"Still . . . wildly inappropriate . . . relationship."

"Just say what you mean," she snapped. "You think we're having sex. Why? Because somebody else said so. Never mind the fact that Dr. Jamison and my boyfriend are friends, and never mind the fact that we happen to do martial arts together, which is why he was at my condo to begin with, since we were using the gym there. Never mind the fact that as his student and research assistant that it only makes sense for us to meet to discuss class work or research. How many times have Dr. Marian and I had lunch this year? I would say a lot more than Dr. Jamison and I."

"And yet you spend more time together than we feel is proper."

"Why is it improper to spend time doing martial arts and eating lunch with a student as long as our professional relationship isn't affected?" Luke questioned.

"The allegations implied . . . more," he stuttered, seeming to lose his wind. "There were whispers that you had visited a local abortion clinic . . ."

"And that's the business of the department, how?" Kaena asked coldly.

"I think it's wildly inappropriate for you to imply that Ms. Gi's moral or ethical standards is in any way applicable to this discussion," it was Luke's turn to be cold.

Dr. Morris looked flustered. "He said . . ."

"Who is this 'he'?" she scowled. "Don't I have a right to confront my accuser?"

"Only in the criminal justice system," Luke quipped. "And it's quite clear that there is nothing just about this hearing."

Dr. Morris frowned, and still looked sure of himself despite the doubt cast on his so-called evidence, but other professors were getting restless. Kaena's advisor frowned. "I think that this has demonstrated how little evidence you actually have for this accusation," she said reasonably. "And I think suspending a student and firing a faculty member over allegations with no evidence is unethical in and of itself."

"But of course they would deny it."

"You asked the source," Luke said. "What reason do we have to make up a mutual friend and martial arts lessons? Why not chess? Why not anything? If you can't take our words as they stand, why did you hire me to begin with? Why believe anything Kaena wrote in her entrance essay was true?"

"Let's vote," Marian said. "All those in favor of dismissing the accusations and getting back to work, say aye."

There was a sudden cry of assent, and the professors began to chatter and get up. Morris stood impotently, trying to regain control of the room, but it was too late. The majority had spoken. Luke gave Kaena a relieved smile. She was sure he had been more anxious than he let on. They walked back to his office together, and Kaena gathered up her things to go. She was relieved that it was over, but had a nagging feeling about the whole ordeal. It was one thing for rumors to be spread around the department: that was pretty much par for the course, she had learned all the way back in undergrad in Japan. But it was another for a man like Morris, who was usually pretty sensible, all things considered, to hold a hearing to discuss disciplinary action for something that he didn't even have proof had occurred to begin with. And who was the mysterious informant? Why would they level such ridiculous accusations to begin with? Kaena could think of several people she'd hotly debated, but none that she would consider her enemy. She thought of Joseph, who she had pretty chronically disagreed with last semester, but still couldn't picture him spreading such a ridiculous lie. She lingered in the doorway, puzzling.

"Aren't you going to the planetarium with Taka tonight?" Luke asked.

Kaena nodded and shifted her messenger bag. "We're eating at Giordano's."

"He loves his pizza," he laughed.

"We still have leftovers in the fridge from last time," she said. "I'll see you at practice tomorrow?"

He nodded. "See you later."

Kaena took the stairs at a clip, feeling lighter than she had all week. There was still the unfortunate confrontation with her father that she had been putting off, but he wouldn't call until Sunday, so there was really no reason to worry about it until then. She would ask him the truth of it first. And then ask for the explanation. She headed back toward her condo to change, excited to finally have a date with Taka after this horrible week.

Taka groaned at the massive pile of papers. He was teaching remedial U.S. History and his students were, um, not taking to the material like ducks to water. He graded yet another paper that claimed that Robert E. Lee was a dairy farmer from Indiana and stretched in his chair. He should just throw them all down the stairs, letting them fall according to their weight, and grade them accordingly. It couldn't be any worse than this! At least then some of his students might have a fighting chance of passing the class.

His phone buzzed angrily in his pocket and he pulled it out, praying for some reprieve from the grading. The caller ID said it was Vinny, so he answered.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

"Hey, man. How's the teaching?"

"Not so bad. I missed you last week in class. Will you be there tomorrow?"

"Probably," he said. "So I just ran into Kaena. Her phone is dead, but she wanted me to call you and tell you that she had to stay late on campus and wouldn't be able to make it for your date. She said you shouldn't worry about rushing home since she wouldn't be back until later, and she'd call you when she got home."

"Damn," Taka sighed. Not only did he now have no excuse to escape his grading, but he wouldn't even get to see Kaena. "All right, thanks for calling. I guess I'll stay here and, ughhh, grade some more of these wonderful papers."

"Aren't summer school students the best?" Vinny laughed.

"Definitely," Taka replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The teacher hung up the phone and groaned in despair. Without Kaena, he was going to have to actually entertain himself, and that was an annoying prospect. She had been in a kind of funk all day, and he was hoping that he would be able to spend some time with her to break her out of it, and break himself out of the sort of contagious ennui that he had contracted as a result. Kaena hadn't mentioned it, but Luke had alluded to the fact that something was going on at school, and she was feeling quite tender about it. Taka hadn't said as much to her professor, but that wasn't the only thing on her mind. He still couldn't quite figure out what had inspired him to divulge so much information about her father, and then not tell the most important part, which would have at least explained some of it, but there would be no getting the cat back in that proverbial bag. One could not un-know once something had been told to them, and so he would just have to try to explain.

He felt bad for his young girlfriend. He didn't know if she was even aware of the bad dreams she'd been having. They were more like night terrors, the way she woke up panting and gasping, and then fell almost immediately back to sleep. He wondered what horrors plagued that stoic woman's dreams. He hoped he had nothing to do with it.

He felt so strange after that evening of training, like he had been in a fog. He had been confused and disoriented when he woke up, though he remembered everything he had said and done. Taka sighed, remembering how they had made love, or rather how he had had sex with her. In retrospect, he realized how unenthusiastic she had been. He hadn't initiated sex since, and she hadn't invited him. He hoped dearly he hadn't scared her. Their sex life was . . . usual. She wasn't shy or bold, just happy to be with him, it seemed, so her lack of enthusiasm was uncharacteristic, and he wondered what had caused him to proceed despite it. It was like his brain had been shut off for those few hours, and the memories were still somewhat foggy.

He had resolved to speak with her about it tonight, to make sure she was still willing, still hopeful about their budding relationship. The fact that she canceled their date didn't bode well for him, and he found himself fretting. Her unhappiness would be his responsibility as far as her parents were concerned, and probably as far as he himself was concerned. She had been innocent, ignorant of men, until he had come along to educate her in love and sex and everything in between, and he feared that drifting apart romantically would mean a rift in their little band of seishi, which could be disastrous. He looked at the clock; almost five. He would go to campus to find her. He wouldn't get anything done with these questions swirling around his head like a tornado, anyway.

Kaena glanced at her watch—almost five—as she made her way toward home. The weather was hot and sticky, but the humidity promised storms later. She would make a note to grab her umbrella for the trip to the planetarium. They would doubtless end up doing much walking from the train station. She rounded the corner, her building nearly in view, when she ran headlong into Vinny.

"Hey, kid," he caught her by the shoulders and gave her a friendly squeeze. "Long time no see."

"Hi, Vinny, what are you doing up here?" she asked curiously.

"I came to find you, actually. I just ran into Taka heading toward the police department, and he said he's got another interview on that case and that he won't be able to make it until later tonight. I tried to call, but you didn't answer, so I thought I'd see if you were home."

"Why didn't he just call me?"

"His phone's dead," he laughed. "You know how he always forgets to charge the damn thing."

Kaena laughed, but felt her heart squeeze. He hadn't been quite there with her this past week. Not that she blamed him; she had been fairly out of it herself, but it was still unusual. He hadn't even tried to initiate anything in bed, and had only stayed over twice. She had been looking forward to some time alone with him, especially since she had the happy news that nothing bad would come out of those stupid rumors.

"Do you mind if I use your bathroom?" Vinny asked.

"Sure, come on up," she said. "We missed you at practice last week."

"Yeah, I've been sick," he said. "But I ran into Marsden the other day and he caught me up. I'm getting pretty good, I think."

"That's good," she led him inside and they took the elevator up together. Kaena kicked off her shoes, but Vinny didn't. She frowned, and reminded herself that it was not a custom to take them off here. Still, she anticipated an evening of sweeping and scrubbing, and, she thought sadly, no Taka to help her.

Vinny disappeared into the bathroom and returned a minute later, drying his hands on his pants.

"Did he say when he thought he'd be done?" she asked hopefully.

"No idea," his accented voice said. She stood by the door to show him out, but he leaned against the wall in the hallway. "You seem down lately. What's going on?"

"Nothing," she frowned. "Just . . . things. It's been a bad week."

"That's too bad," he said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Hey, can I get a soda?" he asked suddenly. "I'm parched."

She smiled tightly and went to the fridge, pulling out a Coke and handing it to him. "Well, if Taka's not coming, there's some stuff I need to get to . . ." she hinted.

"Poor Taka. I don't think he even knows what he has in you," Vinny followed behind her closely as she walked toward the large window to open the curtains.

"He knows. I think."

"Well, I mean, how's, you know," he laughed a little. "The sex life?"

"I hardly think that's your business!" she cried indignantly. "I think you should go."

"Why?" his voice dropped half an octave, and she whipped around. There was something strange about his aura, a twist, a strange crimp like what she'd seen in Dr. Morris, like something else, somebody else had subsumed the chi. Before she could shield, she felt Vinny's power, with that twist of Other, reach out and grab hold of her open spirit. She was planted firmly in place, unable to shield or fight or lift a finger. And Vinny approached. "You always were such a cold bitch."

She was frozen, unable to respond or run away. Vinny didn't look like himself anymore. His face, usually handsome and friendly, had taken on a hideous cast, dark and animal, and filled with rage. He reached out with his big hand and struck her across the face. She fell to the floor with a thump and weakly struggled against the hold on her chi. How would Vinny even know to do this? He hadn't been there when Luke had accidentally done something similar!

Unless, she thought, looking at the strangeness of his aura, that odd twist was somebody controlling HIM, influencing him, and that it wasn't merely his power holding her, but someone's power holding his, holding hers. She released an involuntary squeak as he kicked her stomach, and he picked her up and threw her down on the couch. She whimpered as her body, limp as a doll, landed awkwardly, with her limbs bent in weird ways.

"There's a lot of that coldness in your family," Vinny/somebody else said. "Coldness enough to stand idly by and watch people be killed and raped, to stand by and watch a father's who did terrible things gain more and more power in a powerful country."

A powerful, pacifist country! she screamed in her head. And she wasn't not responsible for things her father did before she was ever even considered. "Not . . . responsible."

"That's the problem, isn't it? You're not responsible for anything you do. Your rich daddy pays your bills and takes care of things for you, while other people struggle. It's not fair. It's not just!"

"Life's . . . not fair," she managed to rasp. She fought his hold with all she had, but her body was still immobile.

"No, it isn't, but it is my job to make it as fair as I can," Vinny laughed, and he leaned forward and kissed her. "Wouldn't it be just revenge for all the rape and death your father was responsible for, for his little girl to be raped and killed?"

Vinny brushed his lips over her throat, and tugged at the lace of her peasant top, exposing her breasts. She screamed silently and fought viciously, but his hands roamed her breasts, her thighs, and he popped open the button on her pants. Tears trickled down her face as she lay prone, unable to fight, but as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

"No," a voice that wasn't Vinny's said, a voice from near the door. She strained to move her head to see, but couldn't. It was familiar, but deeper, darker. "If she's going to be raped and killed, it should be by me, with my hands, with my body, not yours."

Vinny suddenly jerked, his aura flaring around him, and fell back into her glass coffee table. The man's body crushed the table's top and shattered the glass with a crash. Vinny's aura was his own again, but blood trickled from his temple, and he lay sprawled in a pile of broken glass, unmoving.

"Who?" she whispered. Who are you? she screamed inside her head. The aura, the voice, it was maddeningly familiar, but the feel of that aura in her was twisted and strange, and made her head fuzzy. A cry of rage burbled from her throat, but it was muffled by the bag that was thrown over her head. She thrashed mentally like an animal caged, but was forced to lay silently across his shoulder as she was carried off by this familiar assailant, and packed away into a car.