Identity

Chapter 9: Unsaid

When Fuuko woke up, the sun was beginning to rise in the sky. She felt refreshed and looked down. Through the tears in her shirt, she could see that the cuts that she'd suffered in the battle last night had been treated and cleaned, and there was a fresh bandage around her shoulder – a real one.

She turned and stared at Mikagami, who was asleep on the chair he'd been sitting in the previous night. She recalled the paper bag he had been carrying when he entered the room. Was that what he went out to buy last night?

She quietly slid out of bed and stood staring at him for a while, a soft expression in her eyes. There was no doubt that she owed him a lot - she hadn't forgotten that he was the one who'd gotten them back last night.

She reached around him for her bag, which sat on the table behind him. Her gun was still in there, so was her fuujin. As an afterthought, she took the blue jacket that was hanging off the edge of the bed and put it on.

She was halfway out the door when she paused and looked back.

She would have smiled if she could at the sight of a frowning, sleeping Mikagami. But she couldn't.

He didn't even stir as the door softly clicked shut behind her.

******

The first thing Mikagami saw when he opened his eyes was an empty bed. The jacket he had left on it was gone as well. He almost jumped out of his chair in panic, but being the person he was, he instead calmly surveyed the room.

The old television was on, its volume turned all the way down. Fuuko's bag was on the table leaning against it, which was a good sign. She should be back for it, Mikagami thought.

He yawned. He'd had a late night, waiting for Fuuko to go to sleep before treating the wounds she'd received in her fight. It hadn't been easy doing it whilst trying no to wake her, but he had done it. It also hadn't been easy watching her sleep with a troubled expression, one no doubt brought on by his news of Sai. He frowned. He wished that she'd said something about that. She hadn't asked about the details of what had happened either. She had just accepted it quietly.

He looked up as the door opened and the woman just in his thoughts entered. She glanced at him as she sat herself on the edge of the bed.

"When I asked to use the phone, the old man downstairs asked me if I was sober this morning," she said, startling an unexpected Mikagami. He'd thought that she'd say something about last night.

"Oh. Really… he must have mistaken you for someone else."

"Maybe," Fuuko didn't sound convinced, but she uncharacteristically let it drop. "I called the hotel. They're bringing our luggage here so we can leave immediately once they arrive."

"Leave?"

"I was watching the news while you were asleep. Not surprisingly, news about Kinta Corporations still makes the headlines – and so does the new head, Sendou Ryoujin. He's running things down at the main office in Hiroshima."

Mikagami frowned. "Hiroshima again?"

"It seems like we're being led on a chase, doesn't it?" Fuuko said quietly.

"Well either way, I guess we have no choice but to follow."

Mikagami glanced over at her, waiting for her to say something about last night's events, but she didn't. Instead she said, "Thankyou."

When he gave her a puzzled look, she touched her wounded shoulder. "I don't want to know how you did it, but I appreciate it anyway."

It took all of his skill not to flush. 'I didn't see anything!' he wanted to yell in denial, but that wasn't something a calm, rational Mikagami did, so instead, he didn't say anything at all.

He had had to pull up her shirt, or else even he wouldn't have been able to manage otherwise, but that was all he did. Anyway, it wasn't as if he had been tempted to take a peek. Now wasn't the time for things like that.

He started when Fuuko turned her green eyes towards him, wandering if she had read his mind.

"They're here," she said, standing up and crossing over to the window.

Mikagami followed as a car beeped outside. A van was parked outside the building, the name of the hotel they had left their luggage in, painted on its side. It must have beeped earlier when he had been in thought.

"Let's go," Fuuko said as she turned off the television and picked up her bag.

It wasn't until they were halfway down the stairs when Mikagami realised that she still hadn't said anything about the night before.

******

They stood in front of a small, but still impressive office building. It loomed in front of them five storeys high, the sun intensely reflecting off its glass surface.

This was it, Mikagami thought. This was where they'd find all their answers.

They walked in, with Fuuko leading the way. She hadn't said much on the plane ride. Mikagami noticed that she had been edgy and strained. He was as well, of course, but that was more characteristic of him. The old Fuuko he knew would have tried to ease the tension they both felt, instead of adding to it.

They entered the lobby area and approached the woman at the desk. The doors were open to the public, but security was tight. There were cameras everywhere and Mikagami noticed that there were two guards patrolling the floor. Not that that was surprising. This was the main office of a one of the country's richest and renowned companies.

"May I help you?" the woman asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Where's Sendou?" Fuuko asked abruptly.

Both the receptionist and Mikagami were taken back by her candour. Mikagami had thought that bluffing their way through was the best option, but it was obvious his partner wasn't thinking rationally at the moment. He almost groaned aloud.

"Do you have an appointment with Sendou-san?" the woman asked. Mikagami didn't doubt that she had a finger on the hidden emergency button under the desk.

"He'll see us," Fuuko said.

"I don't…"

"Tell him we're here. He'll see us," Fuuko repeated forcefully.

One of the patrolling guards looked their way at Fuuko's raised voice and began to walk towards them. Mikagami frowned.

"Just tell him that Kirisawa and Mikagami are here to see him. Tell him." Fuuko said, this time more quietly, "It can't hurt for you to do that."

Mikagami didn't know if it was the look in Fuuko's eyes that did it, but the woman signalled the approaching guard back and picked up the phone on the desk.

"Kirisawa-san and Mikagami-san, is it?" she asked. She waited for Fuuko's nod before connecting. "Hi Yuki, it's Ayu at reception. There are two young people who say they're here to see Sendou-san. Kirisawa and Mikagami. I know, but…" she looked up at Fuuko, "it's urgent. Okay, I'll wait."

Ayu looked down at some papers on the desk in order to avoid making eye contact with the two before her. It wasn't that she was intimidated – she rarely was. It was that there was a different air to the two, one that made her uncomfortable for some reason.

"Ayu," she jumped when Yuki's voice suddenly came back on. "Send them up. Sendou-san said that he'll see them right away."

"Oh?" Ayu didn't know whether she or Yuki sounded more surprised. "Alright then."

She hung up and stood up. "Come with me please," she said to Fuuko and Mikagami.

The ensui-wielder couldn't help feeling troubled as they followed her across the marbled-floor hall. Did Sendou already know beforehand that they were coming because Narumi had informed him of last night's events? And if so, were they walking into a trap?

He looked at Fuuko's back. Her posture was rigid as she walked briskly after the sandy-haired receptionist. He wandered if that thought had crossed her mind.

"Right through here please," Ayu said, interrupting Mikagami's thoughts. She pointed to the metal detector "door" that led to an elevator area. Two more security guards were manning that area. She said something quietly to one of them before turning back to the two Hokage. "He'll take you up to Sendou-san's office now. Please leave your belongings here," she said, looked pointedly at Fuuko's bag. "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing is taken from it."

When she realised that she wasn't going to let them through without complying, Fuuko slowly handed it over. Mikagami looked on with a small degree of concern. Fuuko's gun and fuujin were in the bag, but at least they still had his ensui.

They stepped through and followed the burly guard into one of the lifts. He hit the last button on the panel, the one for the 5th floor. Soft, instrumental music played as the lift ascended.

A whirlwind of thoughts breezed through Mikagami's mind during the precious few seconds they had before the confrontation. He played through the different scenarios. If it came down to it, Fuuko could fight without her fuujin and he with his ensui. However, if it was a madougu-user like Narumi waiting up there for them, they would be in big trouble. The one consolation they had was that Sendou would not want to draw attention by stirring up too big a trouble in his own office building.

The elevator dinged as the doors slid open. A large red-carpeted hall greeted them. At the end of the hall, was a large, wooden double-door, behind of which sat the man who no doubt held the answers to all their questions.

A young woman sat at a large desk at the side of the room and she looked up as their hulking escort led them over. Yuki, the woman, raised her eyebrows. The two didn't seem like important people at all to her. "Sendou-san will see you after you've relinquished any other possessions you have on your person. He said that you'd understand what he means."

When the male of the pair frowned, she added, "I believe that they are a white hand ornament and a short knife. I'm sorry, but unless you take them out I can't let you through."

Mikagami paused. Sendou could just, wisely, be taking precautions, or it could be a trap – and even if it wasn't, if he gave up his ensui now he might never see it again. To his surprise, Fuuko didn't hesitate. "Mine is in the bag I left downstairs with the other woman. Check it out if you want."

Yuki proceeded to do just that. She nodded as she replaced the receiver. "Yours is there." She turned to Mikagami. "And you, sir?"

He had no other option. He slowly took out his ensui from his pocked and placed it on the desk.

Yuki picked it up and examined it. It matched the picture Sendou had shown her earlier. She didn't know what was so special about it or the hand ornament that made her new boss specifically mention them to her. They did look unusual, but it didn't seem like they could really harm anyone.

She looked back up, startled, as the young man leaned towards her over the desk. Her pulse quickened. It wasn't caused so much by his good looks as the dangerous light in his eyes. "Don't. Lose. It," he said slowly, emphasising each word.

She swallowed. It only after he moved away that she regained her composure. "Okay," she said. "You may proceed."

As the guard led them to the doors, Mikagami's frown deepened. They were finally going to get their answers, but now they were going to have to get them weaponless.

~

Annoying author's note:

Well guys, you can look forward to the next chapter. All the answers revealed! Or will they be…? (Heh heh)

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