At some point, Kenmei must have passed out, because she awoke laying in the grass. The soft green blades tickled her nose, pulling her mind from blackness. Slowly, she pushed herself to sit up, though her mind immediately began to swim. Nausea attacked her and she doubled over, unable to help herself from retching. Her stomach now empty, she rose to her feet, feeling as if her entire body was sore and aching. Taking a moment to glance around, she noticed that it was dusk, so hours must have passed since she lost consciousness.
It was a silent, beautiful evening with a cool breeze, which only further irritated Kenmei's eyes. Reaching up, she rubbed them with the side of her hand, feeling as if she had completely dried herself of tears. Her chest ached as if her heart was broken and she found it difficult to breathe. Mind numb, she made her way over to her ruined bicycle, nudging it with her foot. It was destroyed, and there was no possible way for her to ride it home.
Her eyes trailed the tire tracks that led down the grassy hill and onto the dirt road until they vanished from sight over the hill. Where they went, she did not know, but the thought of trying to follow them seemed pointless to her. It would be dark by the time she reached town, and then she had no idea where they even kept their prisoners. She felt empty and hopeless at the situation, and she felt the urge to just lay in the grass and die of a broken heart.
Just as she thought she was going to collapse again, she heard the sound of a voice. At first it was soft, then it grew into a loud calling in a familiar foreign language. Feeling as if her body was flooded with new found energy, she ran back over to the edge of the cliff, looking down into the still pool of water. There was a head poking out of the water, calling out to Judar. The language and accent confirmed to Kenmei that it was one of Judar's kind, and she quickly began to make her way down the cliff. "H-hey, wait!"
By the time she reached the water's edge, the creature in the water was far back, almost to the point of leaving. Kenmei couldn't make out much of his features, but she could see that he was staring at her intently. Panting and exhausted, Kenmei leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "Wait, please-" After recovering for a moment, she looked back up, gasping in shock as the head was now very close to her. Observing him for a moment, she found that his features were just as gorgeous as Judar's, except for a large scar that covered half of his face and down what Kenmei could see of his neck.
Though, unlike the curiosity Judar showed when they first met, this man glared at her. It was so dark that Kenmei felt the need to take a step back, worried that he would attack her. "W-what's your name?" She tried to speak through a dry throat, moving her arms to hug herself against the chill of the evening. He sneered at her, glare only growing more intense. "It's Hakuryuu, though I don't think it matters." His accent was much thicker than Judar's, but she was able to understand him easily enough. "We heard Judar call. Where is he?"
Kenmei felt a new hole rip into her chest and she hung her head, fighting back new tears. "He was taken…" With a frustrated sigh, Hakuryuu ran a blue scaled hand through his hair. "I told him coming here every day was a mistake." Kenmei looked back down at him, feeling intimidated by his glare. His eyes were a brilliant blue, though the one on his left side was clouded over, and it occurred to her that he must have been blinded with the scarring.
"He told you about me?" Kenmei's voice trembled, though she did her best to keep her composure. Hakuryuu nodded, his intense look softening a bit as he observed her. "Yes. I'm like… his brother, basically. He had to tell me, though I was one of the few in the family he did. He had to get approval to make you that potion." At the mention of it, Kenmei quickly moved her hand down to her pocket. Instead of the firmness of the glass vial, she was met with a wet feeling. The crunching of glass and a glance down at the red stain soaked into her shorts confirmed her suspicion.
It had broken.
Hakuryuu scoffed as he noticed it, and Kenmei looked back at him just in time to see him roll his eyes through blurry vision. "Of course a human like yourself would ruin such a gift. Not only that, but you got him captured." Kenmei shook her head, sitting down as her head grew dizzy. "N-no, it was an accident! It must have broken when they threw me down… My father, he followed me. I-I didn't know he was a part of something like that. How could I have known?" She pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding her face in them as she sobbed. "I would never have let it happen-"
"But you did." Hakuryuu interrupted her, not swayed at all by her sadness. "There's no way to save him now. We'll find his corpse in a few months or years when they throw it into the ocean with the rest of their trash."
Though his words were painful, they brought a realization to her mind, pushing back the sadness. Lifting her head, she looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean? They don't kill who they take right away?" Hakuryuu narrowed his eyes at her. "You really don't know anything. No, they keep our kind for however long we are able to survive. Our hair and scales are special to them- for profit. They regrow."
Kenmei stumbled to her feet, quickly returning to her belongings to pull on her shoes and clothes. "Then I can do something! I have to try to do something!" She looked back at him as she laced her shoes, unperturbed by his shocked gaze. "Where is the building they keep them at?" Hakuryuu furrowed his brow, his nose scrunching up slightly in annoyance. "It's on the other side of your town, about an hour away. It's right on a beach, because they need access to the water."
Pulling her shirt on, she grabbed her backpack, leaving the blood soaked fleece blanket in its place. "I have an idea. I think I know how I can get in there." Hakuryuu shook his head, beginning to swim backwards to leave. "You're a stupid human, I don't know what he saw in you. It's not possible."
With one more glance at him, she started her way up the cliff side. "There's something that humans are weak to, especially the one that did this. Money."
…
"I want to become a part of the company."
Keneiji lowered his papers from in front of his face, peering at Kenmei over his glasses. She was standing across from him at the other side of the kitchen table, her hands gripping tightly onto the back of a chair. Though inside she felt as if she were going to vomit, she kept her body straight and posture confident. Just being in his presence terrified her, but she knew she was going to have to be strong if she wanted to save Judar.
Over the course of two weeks, she had come up with a plan that she hoped would work. If she could gain even a sliver of Keneiji's trust to hire her into the company, then she was sure she could get it done. It was simple, and quite cliché, but anything too elaborate would be too difficult to handle. Sneak Judar out of his habitat, and though she was sure he'd object, get him into the trash shoot and into the ocean. Without knowing the layout of the building, this was all she could think of.
Pulling his glasses off and setting them down on the table, Keneiji leaned forward on his elbows. Folding his hands together, he started at her, as if looking for any fault in her façade. "Why? I thought you loved those creatures?" Though her stomach twisted into knots, Kenmei shook her head. "After being gone from him- I mean, from it, I noticed that any feelings I did have were gone. It had been a trick, some type of spell." She gave a shrug, trying to give off a fake sense of realization. "It must have been so it could use me."
Speaking of Judar like this ripped into her heart, but she knew she had to keep the pain hidden. Reaching up and moving some of her hair back behind her shoulder, she gave a sigh hinted with irritation. "I guess it thought it could do that because of how hurt I was from Kendai. But now that I know about what you do, I want to help." Keneiji reached up to scratch his chin, glancing around a bit as he thought. "Uh huh. What do you think you can offer that we wouldn't already have?"
"I have more intimate knowledge I've gained about their kind than you have through capture and torture. And-" She pulled out the small brown bag that Judar had given her and tossed it towards him. It landed firmly in front of him, the impact forcing the top open slightly to reveal the pearls inside. Immediately growing interested, Keneiji picked up the small package and poured a few of the pearls into his hand. Rolling them about in his palm, he observed them, surprise apparent on his normally cold features. "It gave you these? Do you realize how much these are worth?"
Kenmei nodded. "What's in that bag is less than half of what it originally gave me. Get me into the company, and you can have the rest. On top of that, you can have my pay until all the medical bills from Mom and Kendai are paid off." Keneiji brought his gaze up from the pearls to look at Kenmei's face, and she could tell he was still studying her. He placed the pearls back in the bag and tied it closed, giving a reluctant sigh.
"I still don't understand why you would want to be a part of it when you were so against it before. It seems suspicious." He sat the small bag back on the table before he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Kenmei nodded, gripping the back of the chair tighter to control the trembling of her hands. "I can see why you would think that. But that creature used me. It tormented me, and I want to do my part to make sure it gets what it deserves. That goes for the rest of its kind, too. They're just animals."
She was near the point of retching when Keneiji finally nodded, putting his glasses back on. "The owner of the corporation is here this week on business. I'll take you to him when I go in today. Make sure to dress in something decent, and not those rags you always wear." He picked up his papers to continue reading, effectively blocking Kenmei from his view. With a sharp word in thanks, Kenmei quickly turned to leave, running up the stairs as quietly as she could to the bathroom.
After emptying her stomach, she leaned back against the tile wall, breathing heavily to try and calm herself. So far, things seemed to be working in her favor, but she knew that a bigger task lay ahead. If Keneiji put in a good word for her, and she made a good impression with her pearls and knowledge, then she was sure to get hired. Even if it was a low status position, as long as she had access to the building, that's all she needed.
All she could hope for is that the president of the company was as gullible as her father.
