Shiori was used to being followed.
It came with the job, really., when you came to power then, of course, there would be plenty of people waiting to take it from you. That was just how power worked. It was like being a kid. Everyone wanted to be kind of the jungle gym but there could only be one, so you did what you had to do, you pushed whoever made it to the top off. You pushed them off so hard, so badly, that they fell and broke their arm so badly that they spent the rest of their life with steel pins in it to keep the bones in place. Then nobody dared to ever bother you again and you were king, or queen, of the playground…that is until you got bored and moved on to bigger and better things.
There were no bigger and better things…not for Shiori. Not now.
This was…as high as she could go…right now. She didn't want to take over the world, she wasn't Touichirou, though she could really see the appeal of it. The appeal of being the one in charge, of having the whole world recognizing your power. Your authority. The idea sounded almost intoxicating but the reality was anything but. The idea of it was a fine wine but the reality of it was more like fermenting a juice box next to your radiator all winter and then drinking the contents.
Better on paper than in practice.
There was a reason that nobody had ever managed to take over the world before. It was too big. Hanging onto Osaka was hard enough, the entire world…all of those espers all chomping at the bit just waiting to cease power from her…not even espers, no, Touichirou was planning on waging war with the entire world. Espers and normal people alike…there was no way. Shiori controlled the underworld and that was enough for her. She knew that she didn't stand a chance against normal people. There were just too many of them.
Hell, sometimes it felt like there were too many espers.
"I can sense you back there, you know!" shouted Shiori as she picked up the pace. She wasn't going home, no, not to her actual house. She had a safehouse, a decoy in the bad part of town. She'd taken a page out of Touichirou's book and rented a separate residence. She didn't even know where he hung his hat at the end of the day and she was planning on bearing his children. Nobody needed to know where she lived…and keeping that house had been a security risk. It was in her legal name and everything…a lot of what she did was in her legal name…
She wasn't infallible.
She could make mistakes, she could admit that she was perfectly capable of making mistakes, it burned her to the very core of her being to admit that she could make mistakes but she had to. There was no way to ignore it now. That wasn't one of Touichirou's people, she could sense it. Touichirou's people either all had the same aura, that same red…the feeling that he was always near even though he wasn't, or they just felt…different. Friendly, sometimes, or at least indifferent. This felt like…intent. There was intent her, bad intent. The amount of focus that was on her…the way the footsteps followed her…every single step she took was mirrored by the one behind her.
Thank God she wasn't wearing heels today.
She liked to carry herself with a sort of professionalism that matched her station in life. That mean heels, hose, smart dresses, and blazers. A lot of black, too….right now the only thing she had going on was the black. It was January, the end of it but still, so that meant a heavy winter coat…in which she had a knife and collapsible baton. Most espers didn't have an ounce of creativity, and she hadn't either, not since that close call with one of Touichirou's men…a knife could do her in as well as anyone else. She would rather she did someone else in…and she would rather that she could run, too, while she did it.
Hence the ugly, but sturdy and sensible, winter boots.
Perfect for the modern woman on the go. From the boardroom to the bedroom, and anywhere in between. Great for escaping would be kidnappers, too. She felt her keyring in her pocket. Mace, an oldie but a goodie. Not entirely legal, not unless she could prove that she needed it to defend herself, but she knew how not to wind up in front of a judge. That was how she had managed to keep a clean criminal record throughout these not so lilywhite years. As far as the law was concerned Sakata Shiori was just a regular middle aged cat lady who owned a dry cleaners and spent an inordinate amount of time at the garden center and the aquarium. When someone finally reported her missing, they were expecting her at the smoothie shack even in the dead of winter, they'd ask themselves 'what could have happened to such a normal woman' or something like that. They might even dig into her life…they might even go looking for her parents…
Good luck with that.
She was alone in the world by choice. Their search might take them as far as Cuticle City but then the trail would go cold…unless they did some real digging. Then they'd end up at the doorstep of the crotchetiest centurion in all of Japan and a new religion that made Claw look like, well, something other than a cult. At least Touichirou never forced anyone to worship him. People had come to the conclusion that he was a God all on their own. If they could have seen him first thing in the morning, bedhead and pajamas, dipping bread into a glass of ketchup then they would have been dissuaded...he was so adorable. Hopefully he didn't turn into another Jodo…fuck Jodo. He may have acted like he was above it all but at the end of the day he was just another one of them, just someone trying to carve out his little piece of the world.
The piece that he thought he was owed.
Shiori was owed nothing, no, she had to work for it. Her powers were a tool like any other…a tool which she couldn't always count on. Not when there were people in this world stronger than she was. She had always been a big fish in a little pond and that had suited her just fine. She had known, theoretically, that there was always someone stronger but having been confronted with it…not Touichirou, no, he was…he was something else. She hadn't been afraid of him when they'd met, when he started moving into her territory. She had been fascinated. A man as powerful as him…it was possible…and then she had seen him.
Really seen him.
It wasn't as though she hadn't been aware of him. Who in this world hadn't been aware of the great Suzuki Touichirou? She had seen pictures, of course, blurry ones taken from far away. Obscured ones taken from telescopic lenses. The occasional much too close up taken on a partially hidden phone…none of them could do him justice. It had been the hair, she deiced, that burnt copper…the eyes…the way he carried himself. He made no effort to be humble, nor was he boisterous, he just was…and she had to have him…and then she had…
And now here she was.
"This is getting really old!" said Shiori as she maintained her pace. There were some normal people, they looked at her oddly, but they kept going. There was no way in hell she was going to ask normal people for help. That was even worse than going to her own people. She was the leader, she protected them, she didn't escorts and nannies and nursemaids to take care of her. She could take care of herself. She may not have been Touichirou but she could take care of herself…and there was no way in hell that she was asking him for help, either. She didn't need it. She wasn't a damsel in distress. She wasn't the girl in the action movie that kicked ass for eighty nine minutes and then in the last act ended up getting captured because someone grabbed her by the elbow. She wasn't the princess in the tower screaming 'save me' waving a handkerchief out of the window as the dragon flew past. She was her own woman and she didn't need her boyfriend or fiancé or male person who thought he had claim over her to save her! She didn't need help…she was fine…
She just had to get home.
She was much too exposed out here. She had felt them following her since getting on the train. She had stopped off, ironically enough, to pick up the knife she had in her pocket right now. Technically it was for hunting, though she was the one being hunted now. She hated this feeling, this feeling like she was prey…she hunted others. She put others in her place. She may have been weak but telekinetically she was strong…stronger than most. There were people who rivaled her…hell, there were people who rivaled Touichirou! He employed them…that was his strategy. Find anyone who might have been a threat and then employ them before they could act against him…it was how they'd met…
Really, it had been kind of flattering.
She hadn't been about to go out and get fitted for her red jumpsuit back then, red made her look all washed out anyway, but she had been…impressed….that he had taken notice of her. Apprehensive, but impressed. She knew what happened when Claw took an interest in you and she had been prepared for the fight of her life. She didn't care if it turned into a meatgrinder, she didn't care if she lost every single man she had including the ones who'd defected from Jodo with her. She had been prepared to fight down to the last man, to just herself, and if she lost she was prepared to destroy all that she'd built just to keep it out of the hands of the enemy…what she'd wound up with Suzuki Touichirou of all people buried in between her legs and calling her Masami…
That had been a weird time in her life.
They'd come together, then separately, and then he'd pretty much run away and left her all alone half naked in her living room…this was not going to end up like that. She had on attraction to whoever was pursuing her and even if she had then there was no way in hell she was cheating on Touichirou. She loved…she loved that weird, crazy, sweet, clingy, excuse for a man…she wished that she'd told him that more often. She wished that they could have spent more time together. She wished that they'd spent more effort trying to conceive…she did want a child, she did want to be a mother, it wasn't too late to-
She needed to stop thinking like that.
She was only forty one, she had a lot of life left to live, and she was going to live it on her own terms. That meant growing old with Touichirou and ruling by his side or, better yet, nursing him through it when the whole thing toppled like the house of cards that it was. She loved him, she did, but she knew the way the world worked. Even if he managed to get power there was no way he could hold onto it…but she would hold him after the whole thing fell apart. She would be there for him when it fell apart…and she would be there, too, to accept a big fat 'I told you so' if the whole thing came together and all of Touichirou's wildest dreams came true.
She would be there.
She walked quicker. She would be there when he took over the world. She would be there at the birth of their first child, well of course she would it would be coming out of her unless medical science really advanced in the next year, and she would be there, too, for the kids he had…the horrible kids. Hatori and Sho were ok…not that she was counting Hatori as one of his children. He was still named Hatori and he was in his early twenties. It was long past the time to adopt the poor little orphan that Touichirou had probably orphaned…it was weird. It was weird as hell but still a right sight better than Touichirou's daughters…
Or maybe just the oldest.
Shiori had never cared for small children even when she had been a small child. She had never cared for the noise they made, or the messes, or the constant whining. She had never gone so far as to blow up a primary school, Touichirou insisted that it had been an accident, but she had thought about it so many times when she'd been young…trapped in a room with the other kids…day in and day out…she didn't know if she could do that again. Even if she was an adult…she didn't know if she could like a small child, one who wasn't her own…
But small children were easier to deal with than teenagers.
Teenagers were a whole other beast entirely. Children who thought that they were adults…who thought that they knew best…who thought that they could meddle in adult affairs…though to be fair Touichirou let his daughter meddle in his affairs to the point at which she had actually shown up and confronted him…that hadn't been a fun day. She had been ready to put that girl in the ground that day…but Touichirou had knocked her to the ground. She had deserved that slap to the face, of course, but maybe not one quite so hard…especially after all that she'd been through…though all of that had happened later. Being taken advantage of by one of her father's lieutenants…or maybe she had her part to play…Shiori wasn't sure what the story behind that was and she wasn't about to ask. She didn't think that she'd ever have the chance…not with the footsteps gaining on her.
She stopped.
She turned around and lashed out with her powers. There was a white out, a small one, and she felt around in all directions. There was the sound of glass shattering and the sidewalk shaking…for a moment she had thought that she'd caused an earthquake. She hadn't, of course, she had just knocked a streetlight over…something impressive. Something that she hadn't thought she was capable of. Something that…something that left her feeling tired…
She didn't let it show.
"Who sent you?!" asked Shiori, pulling the knife from her pocket. The street was deserted. All the normal people had enough sense to leave…good and bad. Nobody would be recording this for the internet, which was good, but without sets of normal eyes on them then they were both able to act with impunity…she didn't like the look of this guy's aura. Grey…not a color that she was used to seeing…and his eyes were…off. Even in the darkness of the night she could see a sort of film over them…
It was too dark out here.
"Answer me!" said Shiori. She glanced around, her vision shaky. That had taken more out of her than she'd thought…or maybe she was just getting old and out of practice. Touichirou's people had been dealing with the little annoyances that she would have normally dealt with on her own. Things had been quiet, too, since the yakuza realized who was boss…she'd gotten fat and lazy like a fixed cat. Now here she was, standing on shaky legs with a knife in her hand that she wasn't entirely sure if she remembered how to use. Her delinquent days were long behind her and she had been more inclined to use her powers or a bat than a knife…she stood as strong as she could. She should have maced him in the face, that was what she had bought it for, or she should have just kicked him in the groin…or even pulled that damn alarm she carried…maybe she should have asked the normal people for her…maybe she shouldn't have talked Touichirou out of the constant guards and stalking…she should have done a lot of things…
She'd made so many mistakes.
"Well?!" asked Shiori, her voice shaky. She felt so weak…this wasn't just overexertion. She tried to move her legs but found that they were unresponsive…shaky…she didn't let it show. Wasn't that how it went? Conceal, don't feel? She would have asked Shigeko if she'd been there….she would have asked Shigeko a lot off things. She would have asked Shigeko where she got off showing up at her doorstep like that…and she would have asked if Shigeko was doing ok after all that had happened to her…she would have asked if she enjoyed reaping the rewards of Touichirou's belief in the power of nepotism…if her brother was that chatty with everyone….if she liked her Christmas present…she would had asked…a lot of things…
If she'd had the chance.
"Rest." Said the esper with the grey aura…her eyelids got heavy…a write!? Some people could read minds but writing them…that was a much rarer skill…her defenses should have been better than this. Jodo was something of a write and the only thing he hated more than his followers thinking for themselves was his followers being told what to think by someone else…she had resistance training…she used it. She thought of a brick wall, an impenetrable tsunami, Touichirou, the most stubborn man every to live…..Touichi….
She took three steps forward before she fell face first onto the sidewalk…and then everything went dark. The knife slipped from her hand before she even got the chance to use it.