Chapter 15

Takehiro

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Marco yelled.

"Hmm... Good question. Yes, I am," I replied with a grin.

After that incident, we went back to Cassie's place. Since the barn was a clinic, Cassie bandaged up most of Zoe's burns. Including mine, which weren't that bad. She placed a blanket over my sleeping sister and looked up to us.

"She's going to be alright. Her burns weren't serious," she assured us.

I sighed with relief.

"I think we need some answers, Zack," Jake said. "What happened to Zoe? And how did she know about where the Yeerk pools were?"

"Yes. She wasn't herself. Her seve," Ax said. He was in his unusual human morph.

"She nearly killed Visser Three," Rachel uttered.

"Which could have made things much easier for all of us," Marco added.

I sighed and sat down on a bale of hay. "I'll answer the second question first. Let's just say...it was a vision that told her."

"Vision?" Cassie echoed.

I nodded. "Remember I told you all the things that had all happened? Like how I knew about the call that Ax gave long time ago? And where another Yeerk pool was?"

"Come to think of it, how did you know all that?" Jake asked.

"I knew because I read through all the pages in her diary. I don't usually read something that's hers but when she started to see these visions, the only source I could find was her diary. I found out she wrote all her visions in there. So far they all came true. She's been having these visions lately. She knows what will happen when and where."

"She's a fortune-teller?" Marco asked.

I looked at him as if he was strange but continued on. "I had a feeling she had another vision again. This time it was the Yeerk pools in the abandoned warehouse."

"What exactly happened to her back at the warehouse anyway?" Rachel inquired.

"...It's a long story," I bitterly told.

"We have the whole night, Daredevil," Marco uttered.

I sighed heavily. "She...she's been through a tough time."

"A tough time?" Jake echoed.

I nodded. "It was a few years ago. Back in Japan. We were learning kendo-"

"What is kendo? Ken Doo," Ax asked.

I was about to answer that but Rachel cut me. "It's something like sword fighting. Like fencing for example."

"Well, it's a little different. Kendo is the Japanese form of sword-fighting. It is one of the highest forms of battles involving weapons," I told her. "Zoe was a better student of kendo than the other kids. She also studied everything about kendo. You could say it was like a hobby to her."

"And what does that have to do with what just happened to her?" Marco asked.

"Ever wanted something really badly, no matter how bad it looks?" I asked them.

They all looked at each other. Ax, I don't know whether he knew what I meant.

"Zoe wanted to hold a katana," I continued.

"A what?" Marco said, raising an eyebrow.

"That." I pointed to the sword lying beside Zoe. "She said she was tried of using a bamboo sword and wanted to hold a real sword instead."

"...Exactly how old were you?" Marco asked.

"We were ten," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Hey, I wanted to hold one too, okay?"

"Then what happened?" Cassie asked.

I took a moment before I continued. "She sneaked away with that sword...without Grandpa knowing. She said it was for a few minutes... Then that night..."

"That night what?" Rachel asked.

"It was raining that night... I still remember it so clear. Our neighborhood was terrorized by gangsters... At that time, there were a lot of gangsters. A bunch of thugs came into our dojo and nearly tore up the place. They did a lot of things. Kicked the students around. Bullied the teachers. Tore down the place. They...they even murdered Zoe's friend, Sakura. Right in front of her own eyes."

I heard Cassie gasped softly.

I continued. "I understand how she must have felt. Sakura had been Zoe's closest friend. Our friend. Zoe went berserk and before the police arrived, she killed the gangsters. She killed them with that sword. I saw the whole thing."

They all looked at the sword resting on the hay. The barn became quiet. That memory was the worst I ever experienced. I remembered seeing my own sister surrounded by a litter of dead people and the blood being washed away by the rain.

"That's only half of it," I told them. The next part was more tragic that even I blamed on myself. For not being there for Zoe.

"After that dreadful night, she went out of her mind. She didn't talk, didn't eat or sleep. She was like a lifeless puppet. Then one day, she went missing."

"Missing?" Jake echoed.

"And we found her, in a car accident. She somehow got on the road before the car came."

I saw everyone's expression become more and more...uncomfortable to put it in a way. They knew where I was going. I wasn't sure about Ax's though.

"She nearly died in that accident. She lost her eyesight for a while. When I was at her bedside in the hospital, she told me...that she wanted to die. She wanted everything to end." I hung my head. "She has been through so much pain... More than we have, maybe. But much more than I have been... I was hoping she didn't have to relive that. But she did... It isn't Zoe's fault she was like this. It's nobody's fault..."

This was her past, her nightmare. And she relived it. This was why she'd never like to hold sharp objects, not even that sword. But thanks to Miaso's help, she wasn't afraid of holding daggers. At least that helped...a little.

I turned to the group.

"So what are you going to do with her now?" I asked everyone. They all looked at me, puzzled and surprised. "I know some of you want to get rid of her. I'm waiting for your answers. I don't' care what you say. You'd probably think she's just a threat. But let me tell you...she is still my kid sister."

The room became silent again. I stared at them, waiting for their answers. Then Ax suddenly spoke.

"I think...you are overreacting."

I jerked my head. That was what Zoe always says whenever Emily bothers me. And he sounded serious. No playing with words this time.

"If Zoe has had a very unpleasant account in the past, there is no reason for us to get rid of her," Ax said.

He was vouching for Zoe! For my own sister!

An alien vouching for my sister? That I thought was weird.

"Are you alright, Ax-man? You didn't play a single word just now," Marco said nervously.

"I am perfectly fine," Ax assured him. "And 'to be on the safe side' as humans say, Tobias and I have followed her for three days. She has never gone to any Yeerk Pool."

"You WHAT?" I screamed. "You were spying on my kid sister?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Then I didn't have to prove to everyone whether Zoe was or wasn't a Controller! Geez!" I shouted, slapping my forehead.

"Well, you did suggest it," Jake told me. "And we did find the box."

-And besides she being a Controller,- Tobias began. -She could have told what she had heard and seen to anyone. She did talk to your grandpa but she was only seeking advice like any normal person would do.-

"What are you all saying? She's dangerous! She's just like David!" Rachel screamed, sounding quite hysterical. "We all saw how she got insane! We can't risk that! We have to get rid of her. We just have to!"

Like a brother, I might have force Rachel not to compare Zoe to that traitor.

David was once a member of this team. He tried to kill us. However we trapped him in a rat morph. Now he's on an island, probably cursing at us. Blaming us for everything. When it was his fault from the start.

I simply ignored her. I knew Rachel would say that.

"I agree with Xena for once," Marco said. "Sorry, Daredevil. I know she's your sister but if she becomes some serial killer, she could kill us too."

-...Maybe if we ask her,- Tobias began but Rachel cut him off.

"Then she'll attack us!" she barked.

-She wouldn't do that,- he assured her. -Remember this afternoon, Cassie?- Cassie nodded, understanding him.

Tobias continued. -She told me about her feelings, even though she thought I was just a bird. She was afraid of hurting people. She didn't want to hurt anyone.-

"Of course, you would be standing up for her!" Rachel bellowed. "She was the one who helped you!"

-Then would you like it if you lose a friend? The same way Zoe lost hers?- Tobias asked softly, yet his voice was hard and cold as stone.

"...No," Rachel said quietly, turning away.

"But I think Rachel may be right. She is a threat. I'm sorry, Zack, but Zoe has to go," Jake offered.

I just looked down. There was a long silence. I looked to my left at the sound of pacing. Cassie was shifting the animal cages.

"Cassie, what do you think?" Jake asked, breaking the silence.

"...I don't know," Cassie whispered. "...I just don't know."

And to tell you the truth, I also don't know myself.

John 'Tenchi' Fimont - Thanks for the info and I would already have known the ninja stuff since I've done my research but thanks anyway. And now that you say black panther, I think I'll to use a cougar for Kaoru (black panther is a jaguar) or another kind of endangered animal I'm still looking. Thanks for reviewing.

tigerlily-2250 – Thanks for the review!