The Japanese Politician's Woman

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windstrail: Yes, sorry for replacing the name… Kaidou and Kenta are the same person. I just used a different name cos I didn't know what his name was in Japanese spelling… Hope you don't mind if I don't change it to the real/proper name.

Keep reviewing, and I'll respond to stuff here :) Thankies for the encouragement.

Monday 5:42pm

"And may we ask who is speaking?"

"Call me an anonymous tipper, call me your angel, it doesn't really matter, just get someone there, I'm sure that something is juicy is happening."

"Sir, can we ask you to be a bit more specific?"

"It's worth the front page, trust me."

Monday 6:04pm

She gave the stairs a final angry sweep, but the leaves taunted her continually as they danced and twirled before her. Rei felt an especial shortage of temper today, first her father, then Kenta Inouye. Kenta Inouye most of all, he had not only disrupted her day, but had been the cause of her inability to read the sign that she had received while she was in the car. It was his cologne, his presence that intoxicated her senses, her senses screaming out to her while she was trying to concentrate on shutting them down, yes, it was his fault.

Her head lifted as she took in the vision of peace before her eyes, in a few hours, she would be transported into the hustle bustle of the city, and there would be no escaping the noise. She still had not worked up the courage to tell the senshi that she was leaving for the next few months, the fact that she had called off the meeting had not alerted them of any wrongs, she only hoped that they would forgive her when they found that her on the front page of a newspaper, in some part of Japan, being the wallflower of her father's campaign. Her head jerked up suddenly, and her tired hands released her clutch on the broom, she had felt something just then, something had occurred. Without regard to the fallen broom nor the crisp leaves that continued their dance, she turned around and returned to the room of the Sacred Fire.

She opened the door of the room quietly, the way that her grandfather had always taught her as the way of showing respect. Her jaw dropped when she saw Kenta-kun kneeling on the floor in tears. "Inouye-san, what is wrong?"

Flashback

"Son, we're leaving in 10 minutes, make sure you're packed by then!" Inouye-san Sr. bellowed to his 11 year old son who was upstairs reading.

"I'm done father, I have been waiting forever; can we go yet?" Yelled back the tiny high-pitched voice yet to reach puberty.

"What did I say about patience?"

"Then why did you yell?"

"I'm not yelling at you, I'm warning you we are leaving so we don't leave late."

"Okay, okay, it's not like we're not already late though!" Replied the frustrated son.

"Son, we are late because your mother is packing a bento (lunchbox) for all of us, if you don't want to eat, then you should have said so earlier, then we would have saved a few minutes," the father replied good naturedly, "now come down and help with the luggage."

Kenta immediately jumped off his windowsill, propping the book he had been reading tidily on the bookshelf, he picked up his own small bag and ran to the stairs. He had been looking forward to this holiday for weeks, and now that they were finally about to go, he didn't want to delay a single moment. "COMING!"

He dropped his bag on the ground as he got to the stairs, the mischievous side of him wanted to kick the bag down the stairs so he could test if the newly discovered gravity would make his bag roll down without any effort, but he also knew that if he did that, he would be sure to get in trouble. Slowly, he took one step at a time and pulled the bag behind him, 'thud, thud, thud.'

Inouye-san Sr. looked up from the front door and cocked his head, he smiled gently at the child coming down the stairs, trying hard not to run down the stairs (as he had forbidden the act), "son, you know that I don't appreciate tha…"

Kenta watched in horror from the third step as he saw the front door of his house blown open, and flames poured in through the doorway. The flames quickly engulfed his father; Kenta remained standing, unable to move, his eyes fixated on the shadow of several men standing outside beyond the flames, watching the process of the fire, he was shaken from his state of shock by the yells of his father, "GO TO THE BATHROOM!" He turned in a panic and never saw his father again, for when looked back from top of the staircase, the hallway had become a sea of red, his father lost in the dancing colors. He didn't need a doctor to tell him that his journalist father was dead.

Bolting into the bathroom, he took the towels hanging on the rack, turning the taps on; he wet them and stuffed them in the cracks of the door keeping the taps running. Then, he open the windows as much as he could, and sat on top of the wooden toilet seat, his legs tucked underneath him to lessen the shaking of his body, his salty tears adding to the flood of water on the floor.

Ambulance, fire engines and police sirens sounds raced through the neighbourhood, he sincerely prayed that they would come in time to save his mother who was also downstairs. He began choked when the smoke started to come into the bathroom; leaning against the tiles, he eyes started to sting and water, he thought about his mother and his unborn sister, somewhere, downstairs. Smoke bellowed into the small room from the door and window, the tiles warmed, his vision of the room melted before his eyes, and then, he lost consciousness.

"They…, they died? I'm so sorry…. I didn't know… "

"Yes, they didn't have a chance of surviving, nor did I actually, that's why I think your mother said that I had a high connection with fire, the whole house burnt down around me, but the bathroom door didn't even char."

"You never told me that."

"I never told myself. I kept on thinking that it was random, but I had always knew that it wasn't, I denied the truth, my father was just about to uncover a secret operation, they killed to keep the silence."

"What secret operation?"

"He never told me, and the reports are sealed, but I haven't lost my determination to take revenge, and I never will."

Rei reached out to touch his arm, "be careful… K…Kenta-kun," she noticed that he noticeably jerked his face upwards to look at her, "you never know how dangerous the people you are dealing with are." She said with a knowing look in her eyes.

The fire behind her suddenly flared, Rei got up from her kneeling position and ran towards the fire, images flashed in her mind, a mysterious man, Kyoru-san, his daughter and Kyoni-san's faces tore through her vision, then, she saw her childhood home engulfed by fires… As abruptly as it had begun, the images ended.