Not much later, this plane landed somewhere. Even though I knew where we are, or rather supposed to be, I actually wondered where we landed exactly.
It was a matter of seconds before someone got down to the cargo base.
"You're awake!" he said.
There was something about that tone he used that made me say: "You sound disappointed!"
"After what you cost us, give me one reason not to be!" was his somewhat angry response.
"After what we did to him, we should be disappointed with ourselves!" somebody else called.
That guy who spoke with us turned around to see his own boss. As humble as he could be, he said something in Japanese to Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu on the other hand demanded him something as a reply, after which he turned to me.
"I'm offering you all my apologies."
"That's 'I owe you an apology'!" I corrected him. Nothing he said could really make it seem right what he had done anyway.
Yoshimitsu ordered the others something, then spoke to me again.
"Normally we would not nearly kill someone if he wasn't worth our challenge."
Despite the pain I still suffered, or the patience I had practiced given my past experiences, there was no way in which I could keep my cool here: "Please! Normally is a word that doesn't even apply here!"
Yoshimitsu replied: "You are looking for a sword that exists only in stories, and you tell me when to use 'normally'?"
"Don't try to change the subject here!" I made a sudden move with my left arm when I said that. It was really painful.
"Despite what you may think right now," he said, "you can not deny that I acknowledge my mistake, unlike the rest of the clan. And I truly believe you deserve that!"
He pointed to a small box which lay next to the crate I laid on earlier. It hadn't noticed it until he pointed me to it. I wanted to pick it up, but when I made a cry of pain, Talim decided she should do it for me.
"What's in it?" I asked.
Yoshimitsu did not answer directly: "Only one way for you to find out!"
I whispered something to Talim: "Two things: didn't you say the rest of the clan respected me? And should we really trust him on that Pandora box?"
Talim answered both of these questions: "They only respect you as a warrior! Not sure if this box is made out of pandora, but I'm sure it's safe for you to open."
Funny to hear she wasn't familiar with the story of Pandora. It didn't matter. It was one of those wooden chests, which is also used to move smaller objects, and has to be nailed shut. It wasn't nailed shut, so all I had to do was take the lit of.
It was only then that I realized that such boxes, which movers have to work with every day of their lives, is in fact our modern version of a treasure chest. If it weren't for the fact that this was all in a chest rather than a briefcase, I'd say this looks exactly like in the movies, when somebody opens the briefcase, to see it filled with money. I had to look more closely, to check Werther they were all real bills. They were. All American fifty dollar bills. Though the question only just occurred to me as to why they were all dollar bills.
"You knew about this?" I asked Talim.
Yoshimitsu answered my question for her: "We told her to keep it a secret. I wanted to hand that thirty million dollars to you personally."
It is possible I misunderstood what he just said, but I'm sure he mentioned the word "million". What exactly did I do again to deserve that amount of money?
"Is this the money I got from fighting you?"
"Catches on quickly, don't you?" Yoshimitsu said.
I looked at Talim when he said that. In fact she told me about the money before. She smiled a little, obviously understanding the joke here.
The other guys were loaded with guns. P-90's if I'm not mistaking. They talked to their leader, he talked back, and took a 9mm himself.
There was something I didn't understand about this, so I asked Talim: "I thought they were just gonna explore a pit."
"They are!" she said, "But they'll have to deal with they guardian first."
I had read about a guardian before. Some guy referred to as Voldo. But he can't still be alive!
Yoshimitsu called at us: "Talim! If you think you could be of some help, then you should..."
"No! I'd rather stay here with him!" she told them.
"Suit yourself!" he said, although he sounded as if he expected this as an answer.
He yelled something to the everyone else. Baring in mind that these guys are ninja's, it was a weird sight to see them walking around with guns. I know that Voldo was a vicious guardian, but I thought this whole scene was a slight bit overreacted. They didn't seem to feel the same way though, and marched out of the plane. Again they surprised me by leaving the cargo base the same way the had entered it, since there was a gate at the back side of this space. Then again, even though they began looking like typical military people, they'd still use ninja tactics.
