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CHAPTER 5: FORMULATING A PLAN

"What do you expect me to do with him?" Nagira was upset.

Mai had driven around town with the boy, carefully avoiding the area where she'd first seen him, until she knew Hirata would have left the office and Nagira would have returned from the deposition. Nagira always worked late. He seemed to think better at night. After she'd returned the car to the garage, she'd taken Mikeo to the law office. On the way there she'd learned that Mikeo's parents had died and he'd been placed in several foster homes. The last one had kicked him out and called the cops when his power manifested.

Mikeo could create shock waves, but he had to concentrate hard to do it, and he pointed out that it's difficult to concentrate when you're scared out of your mind because someone is chasing you. The reason they'd found him is he'd used his power to scare a busboy who'd tried to chase him away from the trashcans he was scrounging in for leftovers. He'd been living on the streets for two weeks. Mai didn't want to think what might have happened to him if she hadn't found him. The STNJ wasn't the worst thing that could happen to a kid alone in the world, even one who dressed and acted tough.

She tried to get that across to Nagira. "Help him. Please. He needs help."

Nagira grabbed his head, rumpling his already unruly hairstyle, and then threw his hands down at his sides. "I'm not in the rescue business."

"You rescued me."

He growled. "That was different. Amon asked me to. What do you think he'd say if he found out I let one of his targets escape?"

"Amon wasn't there. It was his colleague chasing Mikeo, and as for what to do with him," Mai shrugged helplessly and asked, "what would you have done with me if you didn't have the secretary job for me to do?"

Nagira dropped into his chair, scowling. "I was going to send you to Okinawa. I've got a client there who still owes me one. But I didn't think you could manage as a waitress in a waterfront bar. His father owns it, and he's always complaining about not being able to keep staff."

Nagira's brow creased as he thought. "Come to think of it, this kid seems tough enough to handle himself. Shiro might just be able to do something with him. I'll give him a call." He reached for the phone, then paused.

"Don't think I'm planning to make a habit out of rescuing witches."

Mai tried to look as demure as possible. "No, Nagira."

"I'm running a business here, not a charity."

"Yes, Nagira." Mai studiously avoided pointing out all the extra efforts he made on behalf of his clients at his own expense. After all, hadn't she found Mikeo because she was out caring for a client's automobile that Nagira was storing at his own expense?

He lifted the phone from its cradle. "And tell that kid if I'm going to help him he'll have to dye his hair back to his natural color and take those ridiculous rings out of his nose."

"Yes, Nagira." Mai allowed herself a smile as she backed out of her boss's office and went to tell Mikeo he was safe.

Two days later Mikeo was in Okinawa, and life went back to normal. In the weeks that followed, the criminal cases picked up, and Nagira was in and out of the office interviewing witnesses, and venturing into the seedier parts of town. Mai threw herself into re-organizing the office, intent on setting up a new filing system that made sense, and tried very hard not to worry about Nagira.

One evening, just as she was leaving late from the office, she spotted him talking to a homeless person, who'd come out of an alley suddenly. The conversation lasted all of a minute, and then Nagira turned and followed the homeless man back down the alley.

Unable to help herself, Mai looped the purse strap over her head so it crossed her body, leaving her hands free, and trotted across the street after him. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she shadowed her boss and the other man through a series of back streets, each grimier and darker than the ones before.

Soon she found herself in a part of town she didn't recognize. This was crazy. She told herself she was an utter fool for not calling out his name and ending the game, but there was something furtive about the homeless man with him that she didn't like, so she kept going.

They ended up in a sort of clearing between buildings. A metal barrel in the center acted as a fireplace, the burning trash inside sending eerie flickers of light onto the concrete walls and trash cans leaning against them. Mai stayed in the alley's shadows and watched as the homeless man bent next to a dumpster. A form Mai had assumed was discarded trash moved suddenly and sat upright. It was a homeless woman, with a small child, three or possibly four years old.

The homeless man pointed to Nagira, who'd remained back near the fire. The woman handed something to the homeless man, who snatched it out of her hand and took off at a shamble.

The woman stood, took the child by the hand and began moving forward.

"Stop." Nagira's voice was low, but commanding. Even Mai, knowing the order was directed to the other woman and not her, jumped a little. They stood that way in a frozen sort of tableaux for a full minute, then, from two openings between the buildings, out stepped two street punks, one holding a bat, the other a chain.

The woman let out a little shriek and grabbed the child to her chest.

"Give it up." The man with the chain swung it threateningly.

"I suppose you mean my money? How unoriginal." Mai was amazed at how unafraid Nagira sounded.

"Do it! Now!" The chain wielding punk yelled. He was nearly as tall as Nagira and broader.

Nagira turned slightly to face him, purposely turning his back on the smaller kid, who was gripping the bat as though he knew how to use it, and not to play baseball. Mai caught her breath. Nagira was smiling.

She bit her lip in indecision. She could take the chain away from one of the men, but her powers didn't work on wooden bats. She supposed she could send one of the trashcans flying into him, but Nagira would be hit too. While she was trying to decide what to do, Nagira acted. Dropping one shoulder he charged, driving it into the chain wielder's midsection, winding him, and sending him to the ground.

Caught off guard, the bat wielder stared, then started forward, swinging. Nagira rolled to his feet, but nearly tripped as the man on the ground reached around trying to catch his heel. Regardless of the distraction, Nagira ducked under the swing of the bat, and clocked the slighter man with an uppercut to the jaw, causing him to drop the bat.

Jumping forward, Nagira tried to follow up with another punch, but the man on the ground caught his ankle, tripping him. As Nagira landed on his hands and knees, the shorter man kicked him in the face. Mai gasped and took a step forward, out of concealment, but before she could do anything, the shorter man kicked Nagira again, only this time, Nagira caught his leg and pulled.

The shorter man landed flat on his back, his head smacking against the asphalt audibly. Whipping around, Nagira began to grapple with the man who'd tripped him. Mai saw that man's hand snake out and begin patting the floor in search of his chain. She blinked and sent the chain sliding across the ground so hard that it hit the wall at the far end of the clearing and dislodged a few marble sized chunks of concrete.

Meanwhile, Nagira was landing punishing blows, and receiving a few as well until he landed a quick succession of blows to the large man's face which caused him to slump, unconscious. Nagira stood.

"You may as well come out, Mai."

Shamefaced, she came forward to stand by his side. "How did you...?"

"Never wear a bright blue scarf and a light colored coat when you're tailing someone." He reached out and tugged at the fringed end of the scarf. As he did so, she saw by the firelight that a trickle of blood was running down from the corner of his mouth where his lip had torn a little.

"You're hurt!"

Nagira saw where she was looking and drew his knuckles across the wound, looking at the blood smeared on the back of his hand. "What this? It's nothing. I've been in worse fights. These two weren't even a challenge." He flicked his hand at the unconscious forms on the ground. "Forget about it."

"I didn't know. I didn't know Hitsune planned this, I swear." A hoarse voice from near the dumpster called out.

The woman Nagira had come to meet had retreated there to stand protectively in front of her child, when the fight had started.

"'Course not. If you'd been in on it you'd have left by now. Come on out." Nagira motioned the woman forward. "You paid him to contact me, he thought he'd sell me as easy pickings to his little pals. Guys like Hitsune always have another angle." He shrugged.

The woman walked closer, tentatively. The child at her side was dressed in raggedy clothes like her, and was clinging, shivering, to her hand. When Mai saw that her heart melted.

"Here." She kneeled impulsively, unwound her scarf and offered it to the child. He glanced at his mother, then snatched it, and stepped back as if frightened that Mai would change her mind and take it back. Mai smiled, and stood up, backing away out of grabbing distance, to stand at Nagira's side.

"So, you paid for this little meeting. What do you want?" Nagira asked.

"I'm Aya."

"Aya what?"

"Just Aya. This is Hiko." She swung the child's hand a little. He simply clutched Mai's scarf a little harder and stared. "We need to get out of here. We need help."

"Why ask me? I'm a lawyer, not social services."

"You helped Mikeo."

Mai was standing close to Nagira and felt him tense up. She stole a glance at him. His face was hard. "Maybe. Why should I help you? Just because you're a witch too?"

"I'm not a..." The woman burst out angrily. She glared for a minute, then said quietly. "I'm not, but my boyfriend was. He was a musician." She said it defiantly, as if she expected them to deny it. When they didn't, she continued.

"He was in a band. He did things with light. Someone must have figured it out, how we did the special effects without having a special effects guy. We were going to be married, but they arrested the whole band and took them away. Me and Hiko were out getting stuff when they came. They let everyone else go but him. Rik, the lead guitar, he told me they'd asked about me, and about Hiko. So I split. I've been on the run ever since. They aren't getting my little boy."

Nagira looked skeptical. "So you've been on the streets for how long?"

The woman swallowed. "A year maybe."

"How did you find me?"

"I didn't. That's why I needed Hitsune."

"I meant why come to me?" Nagira's voice grew impatient.

"I heard...I mean. There's this kid Mikeo used to hang with. He's dead. He's been dying for a while, but before he died Mikeo got word to him that he was OK, you know? So he wouldn't worry. The kid told me Mikeo got out because a lawyer helped him, a tall guy with lots of hair. I paid Hitsune to find one like that. He found you, and brought you."

Mai tugged at Nagira's sleeve, and just gave him the same look she'd used when she'd been pleading for him to help Mikeo. "They can stay at my place until you can figure something out." She offered softly.

Nagira's jaw clenched, then relaxed. "Fine. Do what you want but don't blame me if she takes off and robs you blind." He gave a wolfish grin. "It's your funeral." The last bit he threw at the woman, leaving Mai uncertain about whether he was goading her, or threatening the woman to behave.

It took Nagira a week to find a safe house and job for the woman and her son. In that time Mai grew used to coming home to company, something she hadn't really had before. Despite the lack of privacy, and having to take turns using the bathroom, she was almost sorry to see them go. The little boy never warmed up to her, but it was hardly surprising considering the life he'd had. She could only hope that they'd have a better one.

Days passed, then one afternoon Nagira took her out to a dump just outside the city limits. He stopped the car and looked at her.

"Why are we here?" Mai had expected to end up at some meeting, to take notes. Though she wasn't good at shorthand, Nagira sometimes asked her to write things down so he wouldn't have to.

"We're here so the next time you use your powers you don't take a chunk out of a building."

Remembering the incident with the chain, Mai blushed. "You saw?"

"In a fight you've got to be aware of everything, or you'll lose."

Nagira opened the car door and got out. "Come on. Amon said you could move metals. There's a ton to choose from. Let's get to it."

Mai got out of the car and looked around at the mounds of refuse, and as she looked she began to feel, to sense the metal objects protruding from the trash. And so her training began. Under Nagira's coaching, she learned to throw metals accurately, how to gauge the strength and velocity, and even to bend objects as large as the rusted out cars that littered the dump.

She liked that part best. She saved up all her petty annoyances at the office – clients who hung up on her when she called about their bill, condescending lawyers, clients who leered at her or made tasteless remarks when they came in for consultations – and imagined they were the metals she twisted into shape. There was something cathartic about pouring out her aggressions into crushing cars. It made her feel powerful, and alive. Nagira watched and cheered her on.

He didn't know that inside she felt the enthusiasm growing each time she used her power, and that it frightened her sometimes. She looked forward to the training sessions with the same intensity a junkie looked forward to a fix. The one time she told Nagira she was afraid she was getting to like it too much, he looked at her like she was crazy.

"You've got a gift, you've got to use it." He told her. And Mai nodded, and went back to work. Nagira began setting up networks of escape houses, letting some clients skate on their bills if their families agreed to take on house-guests if ever he needed them to. He encouraged the clients he got off to move away, to keep them from bad company but also to give him more variety in escape houses.

And things went on as they had. They rescued two more witches, one a walk-in, a sailor who Mikeo had befriended after seeing him accidentally use his power during a wharf brawl, and an older couple who got out of their house just before the STNJ raided it. Amon had called Nagira, who'd got to their house and got them out moments before the raid. Mai could tell that Nagira was pleased, and so was she, until Osaka. At Osaka everything changed.

TO BE CONTINUED