Chapter 51: Kazoku pt1

Rannoch-Shiion Settlement

It was a rainy day on Rannoch, a somewhat uncommon occur for the arid planet. Kasumi was with Tali helping the quarians set up a settlement not far from the Beel settlement. The ex-thief held two cables in her hand and connected the two, when she was done she walked towards Tali who was on the console.

"Done with the power couplets, you're all ready to go Tali" Kasumi said.

"Here goes nothing…" She moved here hands on the console and the sound of machines could be heard. "And we have water" They could hear sputtering and then abrupt silence. Tali sighed. "Had…had water" she said. "Seems to be a malfunction northwest of the settlement" She walked out of the room.

"Need any help?" Kasumi asked.

"I don't know yet…I'll call if I find anything too big" she said. Kasumi went around the settlement offering help to the other quarians. As she was working, she heard her omni-tool beep.

"Hello?"

"Hello Chie…" Kasumi's eyes went wide while her blood went cold. She recognized that raspy voice; it was a voice she hadn't heard since she was a child. She then frowned as her voice went cold.

"How did you get this number, Hiroshi?" Kasumi asked coldly.

"Is that all you can say to your father? Especially after such a long time" he said.

"I have no father, after what you did, you lost the right to be called that" she said. "Now answer the question…" When she was seventeen and had enough of her father, she walked away from her old life. Before she left, she took two hundred thousand credits with her, enough to live off of until she figured out what to do with her life. Kasumi didn't know that Hiroshi had an alert anytime money from the family account was moved, which meant he could track her. The ex-thief snorted, she had to give the man credit…he kept an eye on his money.

"You ran away from everything you had to play thief…words cannot express how disappointed I am" her father said.

"Like I give a damn about your approval!" Kasumi said angrily.

Hiroshi ignored her outburst. "But as ashamed as I am to admit it, I need your…help" he said.

"I want nothing to do with you" she said. "Don't ever call me again" Just as she was about to close her omni-tool…Hiroshi spoke up.

"If you don't help me, Hayate will die"

"Who is Hayate?" Kasumi asked.

"Your younger brother" Kasumi's eyes went wide as she almost fell backwards. "Despise me all you want, Chie but are you willing to let your brother die because of your grudge against me?" Kasumi was silent. "I expect an answer soon"


Rannoch-Shepherd and Tali's house

Shepherd came home exhausted from the mission the Council sent him on. It dealt with Urdnot Bakara meeting with Dalatrass Linron to establish some peaceful relationship between the Krogan and the Salarians. Sensing the shitstorm that would happen if things went south, they sent in Shepherd to keep things calm and because the spectre was good friends with Bakara and Wrex. It started out surprisingly well…as well as it could with Wrex and Linron in the same room together and then there was attack led by Jorgal Thurak, Wreav's kratt. They were trying to kill the Dalatrass to get revenge for the Salarians' genophage, Shepherd and Grunt's Aralakh Company quickly put an end to Jorgal's attack and Linron begrudgingly accepted Bakara's proposal to be trade partners with Salaraian Union.

As soon as Shepherd opened the door Urz came and bum-rushed him, knocking him to the floor and licking his face. "Down boy, down!" Urz stopped and Shepherd got up off the floor.

"Wayne?" Tali asked.

Shepherd smiled. "My favorite quarian" he said as he wrapped his arms around his wife. He then kissed her neck as she shuddered with delight. "You are a sight for sore eyes"

"Aw, rough mission?" she asked. They sat down on the couch.

"You could say that…at least Wrex won't have to deal with the Wreav faction" he said. "Well for now at least…it's never really over for krogans" He looked at Tali. "So how was your day?"

"Well, we helped get another colony established, but…"

"Something wrong?" Shepherd asked.

"It's Kasumi…ever since we got back she's been silent and angry" Tali said.

"Silent and angry? That's not like Kasumi…I'll go talk to her" Shepherd said. Shepherd walked upstairs, where he saw Kasumi pacing back and forth in the loft. She looked like she was deep in thought. "You okay, cuz?" The thief stopped and looked at Shepherd, she then sighed as she sat in a chair.

"No, no I'm not, Hiroshi contacted me today" Kasumi said.

"Your father?!" Shepherd asked shocked. "How the hell did he find you?!"

Kasumi snorted. "He used the money I took out of the family account when I was seventeen" she said. "Every time I used that money, he knew where I was…"

"I don't get it, if he knew your location, why contact you now?" Kasumi told him about her younger half-brother, Hayate, the son of her father and Saki Toujo, her father's mistress. He was born not long after she left; Hiroshi wasn't specific on what was going on with Hayate only that his life was in danger. "So what now?"

"I…I don't know, I rather have nothing to do with this" Kasumi said. "I mean, the only reason I even have a brother is because that…that son of a bitch had an affair with his mistress while my mother was dying from cancer!" Shepherd nodded his head in understanding. "But Hayate is not responsible for our father's sins; he shouldn't suffer just because I hate Hiroshi"

Shepherd smiled. "So when do we leave?"

Kasumi looked at Shepherd. "You don't have to come…trust me Hiroshi is a very unpleasant man to be around"

"And? Remember I dealt with Kai Leng, and compared to him your father's a small fry" Shepherd said. "Besides, you're family...I don't abandon family"

Kasumi smiled; at least she wouldn't have to deal with her father alone. "Thanks cuz…"


Earth/Tokyo, Japan-Next Day

A shuttle landed at Hanada Spaceport, Shepherd and Kasumi stepped out and began heading for the exit. Among the crowd, they saw an older man holding up a sign in kanji…it was spelled Chie, Kasumi's birth name. They headed towards the man, and he bowed to Kasumi. "It has been a long time, Ms. Chie"

Kasumi smiled a little. "Hello, Hideki, it's good to see you too" she said. "Wayne, this is Hideki Umeki, he has served my family for decades…and he was more of a father than Hiroshi was" Shepherd shook the man's hand.

"I did not expect you to bring company; Ms. Chie…is he your boyfriend?"

Kasumi and Shepherd looked at each other and gagged. "Ew, no…he's my cousin" Kasumi said. "This is Wayne Shepherd; he is the son of mother's sister" Hideki looked at Shepherd and paled.

"H…He's Ms. Sakura's son?" he asked. "Oh dear, Master Hiroshi will not like this…" Shepherd tilted his head and looked at Kasumi.

"Hiroshi never forgotten or forgiven your mother for choosing your father over him" Kasumi explained.

"Hiroshi loved my mom?" Shepherd asked confused.

Kasumi scoffed. "More like it bruised his ego, the man is incapable of loving anything more than money and power" Hideki didn't say anything; just nodded his head in silent agreement…not even the servants liked him. "But I'm not here for his comfort, I'm here for Hayate"

"Of course, if you'll come with me I will take you to the estate" Shepherd and Kasumi followed Hideki outside to the shuttle. They stepped inside; it was much higher spec than your typical civilian design. The shuttle headed for the Sanada family estate, Shepherd saw what was left of Tokyo after the war. It looked like the Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the bombs hit back in World War 2. There were lots of rebuilding going on as well as people out in the streets begging for food and credits…it was a hard sight to see.

"This place has seen better days…" Shepherd said.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right…Tokyo was one of the harder places hit during the war" Hideki said. "We've lost many people...including…"

"Did something happened, Hideki?" Kasumi asked concerned.

"I lost my daughter and my grandchild to those monsters" he said. "Not to mention, Representative Sakai and Fujimoto have been slow to rebuild to rebuild residential areas, many people are without homes" Thanks to Sakai and Fujimoto lobbying the parliament, they have been getting funds to rebuild the major population centers of Japan. Although the rebuilding have been going on as planned, many people had been protesting that the two representatives have been focusing too much on the financial and well to do areas rather than small businesses and residential areas, of course Sekai and Fujimoto declined to comment when questioned.

"I'm sorry for your loss" Kasumi said. She sighed and shook her head. "Even in times of crisis, our family can't look past money"

"They're family?" Shepherd asked. "Just how big is our family?" The Sakai family was huge, one of the biggest names in not just Tokyo but in the Alliance. They had a hand in everything from companies, to military and politics. Unfortunately while the family was big, they weren't exactly close…in fact they all hated each other, the only time you saw a family member together was if there was something that could benefit them and their agendas. Also when they weren't at each other's throats, they were backstabbing each other…when Kasumi was a child, she heard a story of one cousin trying to bankrupt the other by corporate takeover to gain favor of the head of the Sekai household…their grandfather, Ginrei Sakai.

"Wow…no wonder mom left, they're dysfunctional as fuck" Shepherd said.

"There are some good people in the family, unfortunately a lot of them were either disowned or want nothing to do with the family" Kasumi said. "When I left, I never looked back…"

Shepherd was sad when he heard that, his father often said that nothing was more important than family. The Shepherd family was very close knit; they had family reunions every year, to the spectre's foolishness he believed it all to be suffocating when he was a kid. Then the batarians attacked Mindoir…and now he would give anything to see them again. His thoughts were broken when he felt that the shuttle coming to a stop. Shepherd looked out the window to see they were parked in front of a huge mansion, damaged but no worse to wear compared to other places in the city. In front of the mansion was an older stern man with dark greying hair, to his left and right were two maids.

Kasumi sighed. "Let's get this over with…" she said. She got out of the shuttle and walked towards her father and the maids. Shepherd got out afterward and followed closely behind. The two maids gave her a bow and Kasumi gave one back, she then glared at her father, Hiroshi had a cold stone look in his face. No words were spoken yet and already Shepherd could feel the tension in the air. "Hiroshi"

"Chie, you didn't tell me that you would be bringing company" he said.

"That's because I don't need your permission" Kasumi said defiantly. Hiroshi gave a hard look at Shepherd.

"Excuse me if this seems forward, but you look familiar….tell me what is your name?" he asked.

"Shepherd…Wayne Shepherd" he answered. Hiroshi features didn't move, but the spectre could tell that his name caught a nerve.

"Johnathan…so that would mean your mother is…" Hiroshi looked at his daughter. "So you brought the gaijin's son with you, Chie…you do so enjoy wounding your father"

"Wayne came with me of his own accord, not everything is about you but that's beside the point" Kasumi said. "Tell me what happened to my brother…"

Tensions between father and daughter are abound as the race to save Hayate begins! Next Time! As always review and comment!