Chapter 8
" Careful…" Fuko cautioned, as an excited child brushed past her against the edge of the bridge.
It was a very crowded affair tonight, it seemed as if the whole of Japan was at the Kintai Bridge festival. The crowd in front of her prodded on slowly across the bridge as young children eagerly swung their lanterns to and fro, while anxious mothers held on tightly to their hands for fear of losing them in the crowd. Fuko herself too carried a lantern, which she had purchased at the beginning of the walk. It made her feel less out of place as she was still in her working clothes while everyone else were in their kimonos.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tokiya nod slightly to her as he scanned the area in front of him. Lots of metal structures and banners lay around the park. It would be very simple just to dislodge one of them and cause an accident. Suddenly, she heard her mobile ring against the noise of the crowd and pulled it out of her pocket, answering it almost immediately.
" Hello? Kirisawa here…"
" My, my in the festival mood, aren't you?" crooned a familiar voice
Calmly, Kirisawa answered, " How did you guess? Do I look good in my pink kimono?" Mikagami narrowed his eyes on her as he heard her reply. Quickly, he got the message and whipped out his own hand phone. On the other side, Fuko heard Larson chuckle in reply
" Nice try. Somehow, you managed to confuse a black suit for a pink kimono. Anyway, I've got a surprised planned for you. You'll see it in about … let's see, thirty seconds. Enjoy…" With that, the phone line went dead. Fuko snapped her phone shut and scanned the area for anyone in the area resembling Larson. As she expected, she found no one matching the description. There were just too many people tonight. Perfect place. She thought grimly to herself.
" We've got the whole park covered, everyone who leaves will be noted." Tokiya said as he put down his phone
" I've got a very bad feeling about this Tokiya, he's planned something for us…." Fuko whispered nervously, all the while scanning the area " He told me in thirty seconds…"
No sooner she had said, than a huge explosion occurred in front of them, immediately, Tokiya pulled her down and shielded her with his back. Once the initial explosion had passed, Fuko and Tokiya stood up again. There they saw to their horror, that one of the metal structures holding up the row of lanterns was threatening to tip over. Then it did. Slowly, as if watching a slow firm, the structure tipped over to the right side, dragging electrical wires down with it.
" Fujin!" Fuko yelled as she raised her right arm to the structure, willing a burst of wind that blew the structure back to its original position. A streak of ice secured the legs of the structure, giving it a temporary hold. This was the cue for everyone to leave the park, as swarms immediately fled towards the entrance.
" Tokiya, hand me my computer bag!" Fuko gestured to the black bag that lay on beside the bridge. Zipping the bag open, she pulled the laptop out and switched it on, connecting herself to the headquarters website."
" I'll handle this. You call headquarters." Tokiya swept her aside and started tapping on the keys. Without any argument, Fuko called headquarters.
" He's inside…" Tokiya said a few minutes a later. " He disguised himself under the password of someone in headquarters, but I caught him. His computer mode is not matching up correctly."
" Great, where is he now?"
" Attempting to hack into secret files…"
" Know how to handle it?"
" Sure, but he's clever, he broke through the two trap doors before I finally caught him. What's that…" Tokiya asked, as a beep started coming from her laptop.
" It's a computer radar I inserted into the computer. It can track computer waves at least five kilometers away."
" He must be nearby then, come on, lets keep low." Hiding the computer in the folds of coat, Tokiya took Fuko's hand and pulled along the trees, crouching low so as to avoid being seen in the street lamps. Finally, they got to an area near the car park and both of them crouched low behind a tree trunk. Tokiya took out the laptop and checked the radar
" If I'm not wrong, he's less than three kilometers away."
" Where is he now?" Fuko asked anxiously, peering round the tree trunk.
" I blocked him for a while. Come, we'll use the ensui."
Holding the ensui in his hands, Tokiya whispered the spell of mirror image, and almost at once, steam began rising from his sword, in an instant, Fuko felt herself being grabbed by the waist and whisk to another side of the park. Around her, she heard the beep getting louder and louder. It was then she saw the policemen lying sprawled on the car park floor. They all had they eyes opened, as if they had just died having a nightmare. It was then Fuko understand who had killed then, Larson.
" Got him…" Tokiya whispered, as he left her sitting behind a car and leapt towards a car parked on the opposite side of the road. Before he reached it however, there was an explosion as four cars came flying from all directions to Tokiya, who was directly in the center of the cars. Using his ensui who froze all the cars in mid air before jumping out of the way. The cars crashed to the ground, but not before more cars came to attack Tokiya. While Tokiya was engaged in his fight, Fuko noticed a figure hopping down from the car and running in the opposite direction. Quickly, she ran after him. Quickly, she aimed a wind arrow at the figure. It was dodged as Larson spun around to smile at her. Fuko stopped then, holding the Fujin protectively up to her face.
" Are you going to shoot me Fuko?" he asked smiling.
There was a crash behind, and Fuko glanced back, only to see that the cars had collapsed on top of Tokiya, trapping him underneath. She was torn between going to help him and fighting Larson. Then, there was a small laugh as a girl floated over to join him. Fuko recognized her as miss Ideki. She was holding a shiny red orb in her hand. Laughingly, she floated over to join Larson by his side.
" Shall we finish her off now Len?"
" No… we'll leave her alone for now. You were lucky, your friend managed to halt my progress effectively. Surely, I wasn't expecting such a tough challenge from both of you. But, this is not my limit. You know that I'm capable of so much more…"
Fuko struggled to remain calm as she realized the truth of his words.
" I'll let you off, go help your friend. Hopefully next time you'll realize that there is no way you can ever win against me…"
Then with a gust of smoke, he was gone.
Quickly, Fuko ran over to the cars. Using her fujin, she lifted the cars away revealing a very bruised Tokiya. Fortunately, he had covered himself with a layer of ice to protect himself from the full force of the cars.
" Tokiya!" Fuko cried as she picked him up. Lightly, she slapped at his cheeks. " Tokiya! Wake up!" Slowly, his eyes opened, as he blinked once, then twice and set up, staring at the melting ice around him.
" Where's Larson?" he asked
" Gone, come, I'll help you up."
Supporting him under the arm with one arm, Fuko hoisted him up and carried him over to their car, which thankfully, hadn't been touched. As she settled Tokiya against the seat, he let a huge groan and it was then they discovered the wound that he had sustained to his side.
" It's nothing much. Just drive straight to headquarters." Tokiya commanded.
Fuko knew better than to argue with him.
It took a long time before Tokiya would allow himself to be bandaged up. He would not allow himself to be seen to, until he had been assured that every dead person had been accounted for. Fuko hovered anxiously at his side, while the doctor sewed up his wound. Fortunately it was only a flesh injury and would heal in a few weeks. Fuko then drove him back to his apartment and made some coffee for the both of them, while Tokiya took a bath. When the coffee was ready, Fuko poured it into two cups and set it on the dining room table, while she had a look around the apartment. It was pretty well kept, unlike hers, no signs of anyone living here. In fact, if she hadn't known it at all, she would have guessed that this place was empty.
About five minutes later, Tokiya came out dressed in a pair of black jeans and a tower round his neck. Except for the bandage round his waist, he looked quite charming, Fuko noted
" It's yours now," Tokiya gestured to the shower.
" Thanks." Fuko grabbed at the overnight bag that she had brought up and went into the toilet. Once inside, she had a quick shower, laundering some of Tokiya's shampoo and soap, which smelled quite nice, and had his faint scent on it. Afterwards, she emerged from the toilet in a pair of jeans and a white tank top, with a towel wrapped around her hair. Tokiya was in the balcony, drinking the coffee that she had made earlier. Taking the towel off from her head, Fuko picked up her coffee and went over to join him.
" How's the coffee?"
" Not bad…" Tokiya replied.
There was along silence, and then both of them said
" About tonight…"
" You first…" Fuko gestured shyly.
" I was going to say that I'm still on the case despite the wound. I was expecting you to say that I was off the case or something like that…"
" No, nothing like that, I just wanted to make sure that you still wanted to be on the case…" Fuko replied sheepishly…they looked at each other, and then they both grinned.
" Tell you what, let's forget about Len tonight, and talk about something else ok?" Tokiya asked.
" Agreed." Fuko smiled.
" So, tell me about your life in New York, you know, before the Larson business started."
" Oh, I worked as a lawyer for a while… Yes I did, though, I didn't have much success in it…" Fuko pointed out when she saw the look on Tokiya's face… " Then, one day I got singled out when I chased this pickpocket twenty blocks down the streets of New York."
" Gee, I never expected that. Straight after I got out of school, I got offered a job here. It was always the kind I wanted, so I accepted it immediately."
" Of course, America was like totally new to me, first time I went there, I went to a bar with some people I never knew and ended up on the street the next morning…" Fuko continued
" Really…"
" And yes…"
" Tell me…"
" It was so funny…"
It went on and one, until the wee hours of the morning, when Fuko was teasing Tokiya about his ex girlfriend, that their eyes met at a very close range and held there for what seemed eternity. Fuko didn't know who moved first, but before she knew it, they were kissing each other. Softly, gently at first, then as she opened up herself to Tokiya, the kiss deepened. Rubbing her hands up the sides of Tokiya's body, Fuko raised her arms to entwined together at the back of his neck. She knew now that she wanted the kiss as much as he did. And when Tokiya broke the kiss, she felt temporarily disappointed.
" You sure that you want this Fuko, don't freeze up on me like you did last time."
" Yes, I want this…" Fuko whispered, and as their lips met for the second time.
" Careful…" Fuko cautioned, as an excited child brushed past her against the edge of the bridge.
It was a very crowded affair tonight, it seemed as if the whole of Japan was at the Kintai Bridge festival. The crowd in front of her prodded on slowly across the bridge as young children eagerly swung their lanterns to and fro, while anxious mothers held on tightly to their hands for fear of losing them in the crowd. Fuko herself too carried a lantern, which she had purchased at the beginning of the walk. It made her feel less out of place as she was still in her working clothes while everyone else were in their kimonos.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tokiya nod slightly to her as he scanned the area in front of him. Lots of metal structures and banners lay around the park. It would be very simple just to dislodge one of them and cause an accident. Suddenly, she heard her mobile ring against the noise of the crowd and pulled it out of her pocket, answering it almost immediately.
" Hello? Kirisawa here…"
" My, my in the festival mood, aren't you?" crooned a familiar voice
Calmly, Kirisawa answered, " How did you guess? Do I look good in my pink kimono?" Mikagami narrowed his eyes on her as he heard her reply. Quickly, he got the message and whipped out his own hand phone. On the other side, Fuko heard Larson chuckle in reply
" Nice try. Somehow, you managed to confuse a black suit for a pink kimono. Anyway, I've got a surprised planned for you. You'll see it in about … let's see, thirty seconds. Enjoy…" With that, the phone line went dead. Fuko snapped her phone shut and scanned the area for anyone in the area resembling Larson. As she expected, she found no one matching the description. There were just too many people tonight. Perfect place. She thought grimly to herself.
" We've got the whole park covered, everyone who leaves will be noted." Tokiya said as he put down his phone
" I've got a very bad feeling about this Tokiya, he's planned something for us…." Fuko whispered nervously, all the while scanning the area " He told me in thirty seconds…"
No sooner she had said, than a huge explosion occurred in front of them, immediately, Tokiya pulled her down and shielded her with his back. Once the initial explosion had passed, Fuko and Tokiya stood up again. There they saw to their horror, that one of the metal structures holding up the row of lanterns was threatening to tip over. Then it did. Slowly, as if watching a slow firm, the structure tipped over to the right side, dragging electrical wires down with it.
" Fujin!" Fuko yelled as she raised her right arm to the structure, willing a burst of wind that blew the structure back to its original position. A streak of ice secured the legs of the structure, giving it a temporary hold. This was the cue for everyone to leave the park, as swarms immediately fled towards the entrance.
" Tokiya, hand me my computer bag!" Fuko gestured to the black bag that lay on beside the bridge. Zipping the bag open, she pulled the laptop out and switched it on, connecting herself to the headquarters website."
" I'll handle this. You call headquarters." Tokiya swept her aside and started tapping on the keys. Without any argument, Fuko called headquarters.
" He's inside…" Tokiya said a few minutes a later. " He disguised himself under the password of someone in headquarters, but I caught him. His computer mode is not matching up correctly."
" Great, where is he now?"
" Attempting to hack into secret files…"
" Know how to handle it?"
" Sure, but he's clever, he broke through the two trap doors before I finally caught him. What's that…" Tokiya asked, as a beep started coming from her laptop.
" It's a computer radar I inserted into the computer. It can track computer waves at least five kilometers away."
" He must be nearby then, come on, lets keep low." Hiding the computer in the folds of coat, Tokiya took Fuko's hand and pulled along the trees, crouching low so as to avoid being seen in the street lamps. Finally, they got to an area near the car park and both of them crouched low behind a tree trunk. Tokiya took out the laptop and checked the radar
" If I'm not wrong, he's less than three kilometers away."
" Where is he now?" Fuko asked anxiously, peering round the tree trunk.
" I blocked him for a while. Come, we'll use the ensui."
Holding the ensui in his hands, Tokiya whispered the spell of mirror image, and almost at once, steam began rising from his sword, in an instant, Fuko felt herself being grabbed by the waist and whisk to another side of the park. Around her, she heard the beep getting louder and louder. It was then she saw the policemen lying sprawled on the car park floor. They all had they eyes opened, as if they had just died having a nightmare. It was then Fuko understand who had killed then, Larson.
" Got him…" Tokiya whispered, as he left her sitting behind a car and leapt towards a car parked on the opposite side of the road. Before he reached it however, there was an explosion as four cars came flying from all directions to Tokiya, who was directly in the center of the cars. Using his ensui who froze all the cars in mid air before jumping out of the way. The cars crashed to the ground, but not before more cars came to attack Tokiya. While Tokiya was engaged in his fight, Fuko noticed a figure hopping down from the car and running in the opposite direction. Quickly, she ran after him. Quickly, she aimed a wind arrow at the figure. It was dodged as Larson spun around to smile at her. Fuko stopped then, holding the Fujin protectively up to her face.
" Are you going to shoot me Fuko?" he asked smiling.
There was a crash behind, and Fuko glanced back, only to see that the cars had collapsed on top of Tokiya, trapping him underneath. She was torn between going to help him and fighting Larson. Then, there was a small laugh as a girl floated over to join him. Fuko recognized her as miss Ideki. She was holding a shiny red orb in her hand. Laughingly, she floated over to join Larson by his side.
" Shall we finish her off now Len?"
" No… we'll leave her alone for now. You were lucky, your friend managed to halt my progress effectively. Surely, I wasn't expecting such a tough challenge from both of you. But, this is not my limit. You know that I'm capable of so much more…"
Fuko struggled to remain calm as she realized the truth of his words.
" I'll let you off, go help your friend. Hopefully next time you'll realize that there is no way you can ever win against me…"
Then with a gust of smoke, he was gone.
Quickly, Fuko ran over to the cars. Using her fujin, she lifted the cars away revealing a very bruised Tokiya. Fortunately, he had covered himself with a layer of ice to protect himself from the full force of the cars.
" Tokiya!" Fuko cried as she picked him up. Lightly, she slapped at his cheeks. " Tokiya! Wake up!" Slowly, his eyes opened, as he blinked once, then twice and set up, staring at the melting ice around him.
" Where's Larson?" he asked
" Gone, come, I'll help you up."
Supporting him under the arm with one arm, Fuko hoisted him up and carried him over to their car, which thankfully, hadn't been touched. As she settled Tokiya against the seat, he let a huge groan and it was then they discovered the wound that he had sustained to his side.
" It's nothing much. Just drive straight to headquarters." Tokiya commanded.
Fuko knew better than to argue with him.
It took a long time before Tokiya would allow himself to be bandaged up. He would not allow himself to be seen to, until he had been assured that every dead person had been accounted for. Fuko hovered anxiously at his side, while the doctor sewed up his wound. Fortunately it was only a flesh injury and would heal in a few weeks. Fuko then drove him back to his apartment and made some coffee for the both of them, while Tokiya took a bath. When the coffee was ready, Fuko poured it into two cups and set it on the dining room table, while she had a look around the apartment. It was pretty well kept, unlike hers, no signs of anyone living here. In fact, if she hadn't known it at all, she would have guessed that this place was empty.
About five minutes later, Tokiya came out dressed in a pair of black jeans and a tower round his neck. Except for the bandage round his waist, he looked quite charming, Fuko noted
" It's yours now," Tokiya gestured to the shower.
" Thanks." Fuko grabbed at the overnight bag that she had brought up and went into the toilet. Once inside, she had a quick shower, laundering some of Tokiya's shampoo and soap, which smelled quite nice, and had his faint scent on it. Afterwards, she emerged from the toilet in a pair of jeans and a white tank top, with a towel wrapped around her hair. Tokiya was in the balcony, drinking the coffee that she had made earlier. Taking the towel off from her head, Fuko picked up her coffee and went over to join him.
" How's the coffee?"
" Not bad…" Tokiya replied.
There was along silence, and then both of them said
" About tonight…"
" You first…" Fuko gestured shyly.
" I was going to say that I'm still on the case despite the wound. I was expecting you to say that I was off the case or something like that…"
" No, nothing like that, I just wanted to make sure that you still wanted to be on the case…" Fuko replied sheepishly…they looked at each other, and then they both grinned.
" Tell you what, let's forget about Len tonight, and talk about something else ok?" Tokiya asked.
" Agreed." Fuko smiled.
" So, tell me about your life in New York, you know, before the Larson business started."
" Oh, I worked as a lawyer for a while… Yes I did, though, I didn't have much success in it…" Fuko pointed out when she saw the look on Tokiya's face… " Then, one day I got singled out when I chased this pickpocket twenty blocks down the streets of New York."
" Gee, I never expected that. Straight after I got out of school, I got offered a job here. It was always the kind I wanted, so I accepted it immediately."
" Of course, America was like totally new to me, first time I went there, I went to a bar with some people I never knew and ended up on the street the next morning…" Fuko continued
" Really…"
" And yes…"
" Tell me…"
" It was so funny…"
It went on and one, until the wee hours of the morning, when Fuko was teasing Tokiya about his ex girlfriend, that their eyes met at a very close range and held there for what seemed eternity. Fuko didn't know who moved first, but before she knew it, they were kissing each other. Softly, gently at first, then as she opened up herself to Tokiya, the kiss deepened. Rubbing her hands up the sides of Tokiya's body, Fuko raised her arms to entwined together at the back of his neck. She knew now that she wanted the kiss as much as he did. And when Tokiya broke the kiss, she felt temporarily disappointed.
" You sure that you want this Fuko, don't freeze up on me like you did last time."
" Yes, I want this…" Fuko whispered, and as their lips met for the second time.