6.
The orphanage was unuasually quiet for the time of day. Normally the playground would be teeming with noisy children. Now there was only a little girl, swishing a length of rope over her head, and stepping, not skipping, over it: swish and step, swish and step, to and fro the yard. An empty swing sofly went back and forth in the wind, making a swee-yip, swee-yip kind of noise: a paper plane lay in a puddle : it had rained, the previous night.
"Is this the place?" asked Jacob, incredulous. Even in his little siberian village, he had seen more life.
"Yes, this is the orphanage were my halfbrother Seiya used to live…and Shun and Ikki, and Shiryu, too. In fact, all of my …of Mitsumasa Kido's sons of japanese mothers ended up here. I'm not sure, perhaps he owned the place." At that, Hyoga added, rather bitterly : "He certainly thought he owned us. Anyway, the very name Kido opens doors everywhere."
"I hope they'll open here, then, 'cause the place looks closed to me; deserted even."
"There is the girl. We'll ask her to get Miho for us." said Hyoga. As he moved to open the gate, another girl, a young woman really, appeared in the doorway of the house..
"Is that Miho?"
"No…that is Seika, Seiya's sister! Why isn't she at the Kido Mansion? But then she too grew up here : perhaps she felt the need to go back."
It was a need the Cygnus Saint could identify with. Though he had resolved to go to Japan and have his differences out with Athena and the others, part of him told of summer flowers in Siberia, of glistening ice, of his mother's muddy grave. That part yearned to go back.
"Stop. Don't dwell on it. You have been thinking of your mother for years: it is enough. Bringing her body back from the deep was all you ever wanted, it's the reason why you became a Saint. It cost Isaak his eye, and, ultimately, his life. You vowed never to think of it again: stick to it. Let her rest in peace. But oh, mamma…mamma…"
Seika came running towards them, across the courtyard. He hair was dishevelled, and her face strangely flushed. Hyoga opened the gate to meet her.
The reason for her hot colouring became apparent: she had been crying: her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. Yet they flashed lightning, as she snapped : "What did you come back for? Haven't you done enough damage already?"
"Damage? I don't understand…"
"Oh no, of course you don't. " the girl sneered: "You are a Saint, you aren't supposed to understand , just to obey! Obey my order then: go away! And don't you dare show your face in here again!"
And she slapped him.
For a moment there was silence. Seika appeared to be as perplexed by her action as Hyoga was. Then she gave a sob, and turned and ran back, gathering the little girl in her arms along the way. The child protested, and was half dragged, half carried into the house.
"She doesn't seem to like you very much, does she?" asked Jakob, amused.
The older russian blinked, then shook his head.
"I've never given her reason to like or dislike me : we hardly exchanged more than a few words, in the short time since we met. I doubt if it is personal…at least I hope it is not, rather a dislike of Saints in general, or Sainthood. Judging by her woords, she despises us for our blind obedience. I'd agree with her on that point. Strange though : when I left for Siberia, she had fallen back into the semi-catatonic state she had been in while she lived in the village of Rodorio. I thought she was in shock because of her brother's death, but apparently she has snapped out of it."
"I'd say she has. Maybe she blames Seiya's death on you Saints, or Athena."
"Possibly. Probably. Miho is of the same opinion. Well, I don't suppose either of them will want to speak to me…we'd better go to the Kido Mansion."
Jakob made a face. "Let's hope they are a bit more welcoming there. I thought the japanese were the politest of people…unless hitting each other in the face is their way of saying hello?"
Hyoga laughed despite himself. Jakob was such a bright, perky kid. He was glad the lad had recovered so quickly and kept his quick mind and quirky sense of humour. The ordeal Ichi had put him trough had left no trace, but then, children can be very resilient, and Jacob was siberian born and bred: that made him tougher than most.
He ruffled the boy's hair affectionately.
"In Japan, people bow, and smile, and call you 'san'."
"Is that like our 'tovaritch'?"
"Hmmm-mmmh. Doesn't mean a thing, either : behind all that bowing and smiling there is a deep-rooted contempt for the gaijin."
"What's that when it's at home?"
"Blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, foreign devil. Non-japanese. Us."
"Oh, nice. Remind me : why did we come here?"
"Don't worry! Not all japanese are racists. My brother Shun certainly isn't : you'll like him. I think we'll call on him first: he lives at the Mansion, but I'll sent him a telepathic message to meet us elsewhere. Hopefully, he'll be able to tell us what's been going on here, and then we can think of our next move."
"Very practical, that telepathy, saves you the cost of a telephone! Just like that teleport ability of your…wheeee! Can you go anywhere on earth?"
Hyoga, rather ruefully, admitted that he couldn't.
"Only to places I've already been to, or where I'm really sure of the right coördinates. Otherwise, I might end up caught in solid rock."
"Ouch. Not an experience you could learn from."
"Yes, it is very dangerous. I took a huge risk, teleporting you. Jakob, I'm sorry, I should have explained."
Jakob flashed him a toothy grin.
"Don't worry about me. With Grandfather gone, what have I got to lose in Siberia?"
"Your life." said Hyoga, gravely ," The greatest gift there is. Not something to be squandered ."
As an afterthought, he added: "Except when you are a Saint, of course, life means nothing to them : the Cause is all."
"Them? Don't you mean, 'Us'?"
Hyoga smiled bitterly. "No, them. I'm not a true Saint any longer. At least, not the kind of Saint Athena wants me to be. "
"Can one resign from Sainthood?"
"I hope so! I intend to."
Thus talking, the two boys had left the grounds and were walking down the lane. They had barely reached the corner where they had to cross the street, when a small voice hailed them :
"Psst! Psst! Hyoga-san!"
Surprised the Russian looked up at where the voice was coming from : the top of the wall that surrounded the orphanage. The caller was the little girl with the skipping rope, who had somehow managed to scramble up.
"Seika sends me! She wants you to meet her on the beach near the rocks, at sunset."
Before either of them could say anything, the girl had jumped off on the other side.
"First she hits you, now she tells you to meet her, japanese girls are really weird. Fickle."
"I wonder. Somehow I get the feeling she tried to warn us. Maybe wait to contact Shun untill I know what is going on here."
"So what do we do now?"
"We go to the beach, and wait for sunset."
Jacob, suddenly a very little boy again, jumped for joy, throwing his arms in the air:
"Wheeee! Can I swim?"
"Why not? We might as well enjoy ourselves!" chuckled Hyoga, "Race you?"
"Not fair, I don't know the way, and you can teleport!"
"Then follow me!"
They sped off, carrying on like young foals set free in the meadow for the first time, laughing as they went.
The air was sweet, though the day was cool, and to the two russians, accustomed to siberian conditions, it was heaven. Hyoga felt very light-headed: he could not remember the last time he had allowed himself to relax and just play. The beach was deserted. They collected shells, build a sandcastle, kicked at the waves and finally plunged in, Jacob in his underwear, Hyoga, for modesty's sake - his wardrobe did not include a slip- wearing only his trousers. While the younger boy paddled around like a dog, he played seamonster , ducking up left right and all around his friend, with lots of splashing and roaring. The child gurgled with delight, and Hyoga himself laughed so much that he felt weak in the legs and almost went under .
"I believe it was then that I realised the enormity of the crime committed against us. They had robbed us of the happiness of Childhood." "Only then? I knew that from the day Shun and I first set foot in the Kido Mansion.
It nourished my hatred all through training."
Though rapidly sinking low, the sun dried them, as they went to lie on the sand after their swim.
"It's time" said Hyoga, regretfully, after a while, " We had better go."
"Do you know the place?"
"Yes, it is where I … where the first battle against the Silver Saints was fought. "
They reached the rocks soon after they set out. It was eb, and there were puddles : Jakob started hunting for crabs, Hyoga sat down to watch the sun as it slowly folded into pink clouds. Only the gentle rush of the surf on the sand broke the silence. And…
"Thank God you came!"
Hyoga jumped to his feet. He had been so at peace with himself, happy almost, that he had dropped his guard, returning to the state of an ordinary human being with only five senses.
Seika had taken him completely by surprise; and another surprise waited for him as he turned to face her, for Sunrei was standing beside her!
"We haven't got much time," said the japanese girl "They are after you."
"After me? Who? Why? Seika, what is going on? Why aren't you at the Mansion? Why aren't you both there?"
"Because there one is continually watched over, or, more properly speaking, under guard. So I offered to look after the remaining Children of the Stars, when Miho left…."
"Left? Miho?!!!"
"Thrown out, rather. She voiced her anger once too often, and that displeased the Mighty Goddesss. And then they took the orphans away…"
"Away? Why? Who?"
"Who do you think?" answered Seika impatiently"Don't interrupt, Hyoga, please! You are in grave danger. I don't think the priests saw you this morning, but you never know : they certainly will have reported it if they did. I am sorry I slapped you, but I could not think of any other means to make you go away without attracting suspicion to myself."
"But why…why? Why are you here, Sun…Sunrei?" asked the Cygnus saint, totally bewildered, not just by the news, but also by the way it was said, for the Seika that stood before him was a far cry from the dazed Seika he knew.
The younger girl burst into tears for only answer.
"She quarreled with Shiryu." Seiya's sister explained," So she left, too."
Hyoga's mouth fell open. The little he knew of their relationship was that Shiryu and Sunrei were devoted to each other.
"The Children of the Stars were brought to the Mansion to be tested for Saint potential, and Shiryu started training those who passed straightaway. Sunrei had been led to believe that they would be leading a quiet life from now on, and spend it together…"
"He lied to me!" the chinese girl blurted out, " Shiryu lied to me! He promised there would be no more fighting…those poor children, the things they made them do, you cannot imagine…"
"Oh, I think I can." said Hyoga grimly.
"Did it involve a thousand push-ups?"inquired Jakob, making a face as he remembered what Ichi had put him through.
Sunrei nodded tearfully.
"They had to run for hours in the heat, and if they lagged behind, or took a breather, they were beaten. Then they had to jump into an icy pool…some fell ill afterwards: they had been so hot from running, and then the sudden cold…one of them…"she choked.
"One of them died instantly : the shock." finished Seika, " You can imagine neither of us wanted to have anything to do with those monsters, after that."
"Shiryu claimed it was nescessary." sobbed Sunrei, " But the war was over, wasn't it? What need did they have of more Saints?"
"The same need as they had of Seiya."said Seika in a taunt voice, "More violence. It's their answer to any real or imaginary threat, why so surprised? I was rather expecting it. Mind you, my first reaction was to leave for good, but that would have meant abandoning the children. Besides, leaving would make my true feelings plain, and I don't think I would have lived free for long…if allowed to live at all. These people are ruthless : I knew that the moment I regained my memory. That is why, when you came back from Hades, I pretended to have lost it again…it seeemed safer. For I remembered everything, Hyoga. How they tore Seiya from my arms, telling me to forget about him. How I tried to see him at the Kido Mansion, and was taken back to the orphanage to be beaten into obedience.How I fled, after Seiya was sent off to training camp, and stowed away on a ship headed for Europe. How, in Greece, I tried to reach Sanctuary. And succeeded. "
Hyoga was getting more and more bewildered.
"But…I thought that you fell of a cliff or something…"
"'Or something' allright! That is the official version Marin told everybody. In reality, I was brought before the Pope, and made to forget. Then they put me at the bottom of thet famous cliff, for the villagers of Rodorio to find…they are all brainwashed into servitude over there, you know. Slaves to provide Sanctuary with food and drink…the women, of course, the strong, healthy ones, must see to the Saint's… other needs. Where do you think new Saints come from? Oh yes, you can search the slums of the world for orphans, there's plenty and to spare, but those rarely make it that far: bronze at best, for their constitutions are weakened by generations of malnutrition and hard living. So they become guards, or labourers in Rodorio. A girl like me, with a brother a potential Saint, was of course a prize find. New, strong blood : the perfect brood-mare."
Sunrei gasped at her friend's crudeness.
"Not in front of the child!"
Jakob guffawed. "you mean me? I know how babies are made. It's Hyoga who is the innocent, here, look, he is blushing."
"Flushing, rather."said the older russian, "With anger. I should have known. Of course I often wondered how come, with all of today's modern technology, none of Earth's governments ever meddled with us…despite the fact that we have trainingcamps everywhere…"
"Us?" asked Jakob maliciously, "I thought it was 'Them' now."
"Force of habit. My point is : the rest of humanity never questioned nor complained, not even when they put fire to the whole planet…or, more recently, flood…there are indeed specialists in Sanctuary of the kind that can block or at need wipe the minds of other Saints, so the things they can do with ordinary mortals…Bozhe Moj, it makes me feel sick!" said Hyoga with sudden vehemence, "The Saints are answerable to none, save their 'Pope', and Athena, when she makes her appearance every 200 years or so. Seika, you took an enormous risk, letting them believe your mindblock is back in place. You had better try to slip away quietly, like you did before, start a new life somewhere else, under a different name…"
She laughed at his naïvity.
"How would I do that? They hold my identity papers , and they won't let me out of their clutches that easily, not this time. Besides, Graad controls all of Japan and most of South-East Asia; I'll be on the run all the time, living the clandestine life of an illegal immigrant."
Hyoga was not sure how to answer that. Like most Saints, he knew little or nothing of the way 'ordinary mortals' went about their lives and their business. The fact that they had to possess such things as documents to prove that they are whom they say they are in order to get anything done was beyond his comprehension, yet he dared not show his ignorance. He had heard the mockery in Seika's voice, and it had bothered him. Bothered, because he knew she was right.
"And Miho? Were is she? I'd like to speak with her too."
"Try the 'Pink Bunny Bar' in Tokyo's 'hot' area." said Seika, with more resignation than bitterness in her voice. "Young girls without connections or the nescessary papers can't hope to find work anywhere else. Talk with her if you wish, she'll tell you much the same thing we have."
She pointed at Jakob: " Take the kid out of here, though, while you still can. Let him hide in the vastness of Siberia. Anywhere is better than here.As for yourself : you've all but been declared outlaw. Better start running."
"No." said Hyoga, "I won't run. It is time somebody confronted Them. But I will take your advice about Jakob."
He turned towards the boy: " Unless you want to become a Saint, of course."
"No way! I'm not suicidal. I don't want to have anything to do with those murdering bastards…oops, sorry, Hyoga."
The Cygnus Saint smiled : " Don't apologise for the truth. We are all murdering bastards led by a murdering bitch. The only excuse we have is that we did not realise that; or if we did, we were led to believe that it was nescessary. There has to be another way. I'll just have to find it."
He turned back to look at Seika, and there was worry in his voice: " You had better return quickly to the orphanage before you're missed. If they find out we met, they might do worse than brainwash you.
"What could be worse than that?!?" cried Sunrei.
"They might kill you."
"There was talk of that, too" Ikki would later inform them, " Naturally, they asked me for the job: ex-pschycopathic killer makes perfect executioner, they figured." With a glance at a stricken Sunrei, he would add : " Shiryu knew nothing about it, of course, nor did Shun, or any of the Saints with some sense of morality left. Ichi,Geki and Jabu were in on the secret, though I suspect the latter more out of devotion toAthena than sheer ruthlessness like the former two.The excuse, of course was, as always, a great and pressing danger looming ahead. That worked in your advantage, rather: they were too obsessed with the coming God-wars to notice what was brewing in the ranks."
The 'Pink Bunny Bar' was extremely gaudy…and extremely 'hot', in all senses of the word. Hyoga was glad that he had told Jakob to wait for him in the nearest subway-station, which was crowded enough for even a gaijin kid to pass unnoticed. Still, it was with heavy heart that the Ice Saint entered the bar. If Jakob feel into the hands of Graad, he would never forgive himself.
"Hello, Johnny sailor! " cried the Bunny Girls in chorus, " Welcome in the Bunny Bar! Want to have a good time?"
They were all dressed in pink underwear with pink camisoles, besequined stiletto sandals (pink) and bunny ears. On a stage, a girl, wearing even less, with a white fluffy tail on her bikini bottom, was dancing round - and with- a shiny metal pole. It took him awhile to recognise Miho.
She recognised him though, and, finishing her dance in a way that made him feel very strange in regions of his body he dared not dwell on, jumped off the stage to join him, flashing him a huge smile and parts of her body he dared not dwell on even less.
"Buy me a drink, Johnny sailor?"
Before he could reply, she had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off to a relatively quiet corner. On their way there, half-drunken gamblers groped for those parts of her she had flashed at Hyoga, before taking their chances at the flickering slot-machines.
She laughed at his shocked expression. "They do that for luck. Gamblers are always the best tippers, too…later, sweetheart, later I'll give you all the luck you need." (This to a most possessive as well as obsessive gambler).
As they sat down, the 'naughty' - Miho reverted to the demure Miho he knew.
"You came back! Did you see Seika at the orphanage? How are the children?"
"Erm… what's with the' Johnny'?"
"All gaijins are called Johnny. Please, Hyoga, tell me about the children."
He told her. She did not cry. She was beyond tears, now.
"Miho…I ams so sorry…and to see you like…like this!"
"Don't be. It's a decent enough place to work, and the proprietor doesn't make us girls do anything we don't want to do. So I dance and let the gamblers touch me up a bit, and I get to keep half of the tips, plus board and lodging free. In the orphanage I had to work night and day for nothing! And I have got contacts …I hope to earn enough to get fake passports for me and Seika, and Sunrei too, now that she's broken up with Shiryu, to get out of the country."
"Where would you go to?"
"Anywhere! America. Anything's possible in America: we might even find people who know people in the government there, who would listen to our story. Something has to be done about Athena and Graad. "
She eyed him closely: " Unless of course you are here as a faithfull servant of The Bitch, come to kill me. That is what you Saints do, after all."
"I don't want to be a Saint anymore." said Hyoga , "Now less than ever. But alone you don't stand a chance. To oppose Them we need more than one Saint on our side. Shun would be a good start : he has allways abhorred killing. Together we can convince Shiryu, and so on."
Miho laid her tiny hand on his strong, scarred one.
"I..I am so glad that you say 'we'. That I am no longer alone."
"So am I."