Fixed! Thank you, mutemuia XD

CHAPTER 19 – LIKE A TRAPPED LIZARD

"Are you sure? Like, sure-sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! She left in December. It's October. There's no way she's five months pregnant and the baby is mine!"

I wake up remembering the conversation I had with Nick as soon as I returned from Fuwa territory. He seemed so confused when I told him the news that I regretted not having waited at least the daybreak. Because of my recklessness, he certainly had a night's sleep as shit as mine.

I get ready for the day and find Nick in the kitchen, in the same place I said good night to him yesterday, as if he had not even moved.

"It does not make sense, Master Ren!" I sigh, resigned. Not even a 'good morning', huh? "Kyoko would not do that. Ever!"

"Maybe not for herself, but for her daughter she seems to be able to do anything"

What the hell? Now it seems I'm justifying her acts!

"Even so, Ren! She always found a way to include your name in our conversations. She watched you every time you turned around. Every time! She sighed all the time and blushed every time she distracted herself staring into nothingness. This is the kind of thing a person cannot disguise or pretend!"

For a second I interrupt my movements, stunned by what Nick has just said, but disguise how shaken the novelty left me as I continue collecting supplies for the trip to Takarada territory. Lory wasted no time in convening a meeting, as was to be expected. Not to mention that I need to return the doll to Maria before she is sent to her mother.

"So what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what'? Kyoko would never sleep with another man if it's you she loves!"

"Stop presuming things, Nick"

"But it's the truth! Do not pretend you do not know it! If her feelings were clear to me, they certainly were clear to you with your ability to read body language. I do not know why you're being stubborn about it!"

Why, indeed? It's very simple: because it's easier to label her as a traitor and hate her for it than to admit that I still want her back after all.

"Okay, maybe she was opening up for me. That was before she heard what she should not, Nick. Now she hates me more than ever. I probably came back to be only the one who killed the man who saved her from certain death, who forced her to become a procreative and who used her. One way or another I used her, it's a fact. Whether or not she knew my whole plan when she came here, I do not know. I just know that, at best, she thinks I only wanted her as a way to screw the Fuwas; at worst, she thinks I wanted to manipulate her and eventually discard her. Kyoko did not get my message when I killed Sho, after all. Or if she got it, it was too late: she's expecting a son from Reino, the guy who gave her a whole Clan" How can I possibly compete with that? "I do not know since when she and Reino are in collusion; I just know it would be hypocritical of me to blame her for having sex with him, if that's what she needed to do to get to the post of Master and get her daughter back. After all, having sex with me was what I blackmailed her to do to protect her daughter.

Here I am, defending her acts once again. Funny that a few hours ago I was furious with her.

"Oh, shit! For fuck's sake!"

Huh?

"You know what, Master Ren? Fuck you!"

Huh? Astonished, I see Nick rise furiously from the table and walk through the kitchen, picking up some things that I identify as personal objects.

"Enough for me! If you're going to whine about what you did not do, what you did not get, what you lost, and what you think she did-thought-felt instead of doing something useful, I'm going to do what you should have done, what you should be doing and I'm going after her!"

Now I'm pissed.

"Do you think I'm going to lower myself further by going after her, especially after she manipulated me and used me to kill Sho?"

"Ha ha! Very funny! Like you're sorry for killing that bastard! He deserved to die and you know it! In fact, you should be grateful to her for having articulated the perfect scheme so that you had the best possible chance of finally punishing him for what he did almost eight years ago!"

I'm vaguely impressed with Nick's ability to speak without pauses to breathe. Maybe this is an exceptional skill and all this time I mistakenly thought he was a Trivial.

"She slept with another man, damn it!"

I seem unable to decide whether I will justify or recriminate her actions.

"Yes, and you slept with dozens of women!"

"Before I met her!"

"You made no commitment to her! Don't be mad once you see that he want it.
If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it!"

"Bloody hell, stop pop music referrals! It's annoying!"

"You did not give her any chance to explain herself, did you? Did you ask her what was going on?"

No and no. She tried to talk to me before retiring earlier from her own party, but I dismissed her coldly. Nick does not know this part because it's something I regretted as soon as I calmed down, that is, a few hours later, when it was too late. Since then, curiosity, doubt and regret have haunted me. I rejected her invitation like a child throwing a tantrum. As much as my wish was to extract all truth from her and my mind demanded explanations that only she could give, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the childish need to oppose her, to defeat her at least once.

Nick aptly understands my silence.

"Tsk, it was not for a coward Master that I swore alliance! If you do not have initiative, I will do what you should be doing: I will go after Kyoko, I will know exactly what is happening and I will offer my help with the baby that will come. A baby, how wonderful! I have not seen a baby for years! She will need someone, after all now she is a Master and will have too many things to do. Yes, that's what I'm going to do! I'm resigning, Master Ren. I will offer my services to the new and improved Fuwa Clan. Maybe Reino is like Michael Jackson and does not want the baby, and then I'll be a father figure to that child. If you do not fight for them, you do not deserve either!"

He gives me one last angry look before the door closes behind him. I am so stunned by Nick's behavior and logic that I can only repeat in a babble that is annoying when he uses the references of the extinct pop culture he learned from Kyoko as if they were life lessons.

I contemplate the loss of my housekeeper and my friend's words for an indefinable amount of time, until Yashiro finds me in the kitchen and interrupts my ruminations with a volley of questions: about Nick, about the trip to Takarada territory, about my wellbeing. I answer him the best I can and ignore his worried expression. We start the travel and I feel some relief: although facing an emergency meeting with Lory and Kuu is not on my list of favorite circumstances, maybe they will help me clear my mind.

Takarada Territory

Ah, the torture that only my father and godfather can inflict! How could I have imagined that the two would help me to resume focus somehow?

Lory does not seem willing to end the drama so soon. I was too late to return the doll: Ruto had already left with Maria. With thick tears streaming down his face, Master Takarada tells us how the little girl was radiant as she ran to pack her bags that morning. She thanked everyone for the hospitality as if she knew that her stay as a member of that family was temporary and was a perfect lady when she said goodbye and promised to visit them whenever possible, inviting them to do the same.

Mother and daughter tear hearts apart with disconcerting ease. Either they are essentially cruel, or they are extremely naive when it comes to feelings.

While Lory proceeds with his theatrics, Kuu adds acid comments about Kyoko. It is clear that he is only jealous of the fact that I would not be an undisguised rag if I was not in love with her. Almost an hour later, I finally lose patience with them and threaten to leave if the meeting does not begin immediately.

The initial motive of our meeting was to discuss how we would approach Kyoko's rise. In spite of her having obviously upset Lory by demanding Maria, he is passionate enough to regard her act as a "sublime manifestation of maternal love," as he himself argued when he theatrically stopped crying. Likewise, he is rational enough to realize that the more allies we have, the better. That is, it would be counterproductive to hold a grudge against Kyoko and reject an alliance with her because of it.

While working with the certainty that Reino would be the Master, we knew that the Morizumi and Koenji Clans would try to maintain their alliance with the Fuwa Clan by using the fact that Reino was trained by the Morizumi Clan. To counter such an advantage, the best strategy we had was the blood link he has with Julie, a Hizuri, to form an unheard-of alliance. If we succeeded, we would be four Clans against two, not three against three anymore. We would easily approve all the changes we want to make in this rotten world, especially since Sawara was considered an ally in the Council.

In short, the alliance with Reino would be fiercely disputed.

However, now we have another situation in our hands. We do not know yet how to deal with Kyoko if we do not know what exactly she intends to do. I believe she is on our side, but I am mainly concerned with the abrupt and hurried way in which she seems determined to impose changes on society. I mean, her mere rise was such a blow! Sawara has also become a mystery to behold when we realize that he is on her side, not ours.

In short, Kyoko is in a key position for both alliances. Even more than Reino would be, I would say, because the support she has from a Counselor makes her even more influential than Reino would be. Her choices will determine the course of the world, and as much as I believe she wants the same as we do, it's her methods that worry me. Of course, Kuu and Lory will not agree on the drastic way in which she will impose the changes. After all, far from being the long-awaited breeze that heralds new times, Kyoko is the tsunami that destroys everything in its path.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but it is not just with Kyoko's unpredictability that we will have to deal with. My informants have told me that the Nobles are agitated. So far, nothing new. However, their eyes turned elsewhere, to a place different from where I initially assumed. They are talking a lot about the fact that I know Kyoko, and although they did not relate her to the Kyoko of the Fuwa Clan, she was related to the Kyoko of the Tsuruga Clan"

Oh, I understand. Lory does not even have to keep talking if I already know how this meeting will end. From Kuu's anxious behavior, he realized it too. Did you predict that too, Kyoko? Do you hate me so much?

"I must admit that their maneuver was clever. Kyoko would be an obvious target, so instead of throwing themselves at her like bloodthirsty beasts, they are leaving her alone because they realize they can use her for now. Removing from her all credit for having ascended, they are attributing to me and Ren, with mere insinuations, the responsibility for Kyoko to have become a Master"

Clever, indeed. They are spreading rumors to manipulate the opinion of the nobles against us, convincing them that the rise of a woman was our fault. After all, last night Lory showed that he knew her, and the slap episode must have made everyone remember that I had a procreative named Kyoko. Is that why you and your allies allowed me to come so close to you at the party, even though I was visibly mad, Kyoko? Not to have a chance to kill me if I attacked you, but relying on the unfolding of a passionate scene between ex-lovers?

Kyoko is a novelty. They still do not know how to harm her and leave unscathed, especially considering that she acted within the law. However, they know exactly how to jeopardize Clan Masters with rumors and boycotts.

I can even bet what they are saying: it is impossible for a woman to be able to get to the Master's position by herself. Thus, it was all a joint between Tsuruga and Takarada to weaken the rival alliance. They certainly are already speculating that I killed Sho purposely; maybe I'm even under suspicion of killing the patriarch.

Right now, Kyoko is not their target: I am. Cracking me, they directly hit the Takarada / Hizuri / Tsuruga alliance. It will be a matter of time until my father's clan also becomes the target of criticism and reprisal, since it will be easy to spread malicious rumors about how Kuu helped his son in the plan to kill the Fuwas and replace them with a procreative Tsuruga. I'm just not afraid that they will claim that I pay with my life because Sawara is my endorsement and there is no evidence against me other than the benefit I'm supposed to get from Kyoko's ascension, but that alone is enough to tarnish our reputation and hinder any future articulation with the Nobles.

We're trapped. Our ignorance of Kyoko's plans makes it impossible for us to act preventively. The surprise we experienced with her ascension blurred our judgment about how to proceed publicly with her. The novelty of a woman in power does not allow us to anticipate how each of those involved will behave. We can only wait for the rival moves and counter-attack to minimize possible damage, which is far from our comfort zone.

Did Kyoko predict that all this would happen? Has she studied hard enough to anticipate opposing maneuvers and to know how to protect herself from the political attacks that will surely come? To what extent will she count only on the surprise factor and the underestimation of her capacity?

There is only one solution to the present impasse, and I almost smile as I return my attention to the meeting and realize that those present are debating how to resolve the situation without resorting to the only possible way out.

"What if we let Kyoko partner with the Koenji and Morizumi Clans? In this way, they will again have three votes against us and may be satisfied that the balance of power has not changed"

Yashiro, you know as well as I do that it's impossible for Kyoko to ally the Koenji and Morizumi Clans. She's too smart not to have realized the world is a mess because of the fucking laws they've created in the two centuries they're in power.

"It's a possibility, but a very risky one. If she brings Sawara with her into the rival alliance, we lose the advantage of having Lory in the Council"

"It's not a possibility, Dad. Kyoko will never ally with them"

"Son, how can you be so sure about what that woman is going to do after what she did to you? After the situation in wich she's putting you now?"

Yes, no doubt Kuu knows the only way out. He is just as reluctant to accept it as all the others seem to be.

"It is very simple: all the laws that the FMK alliance endorsed in its long existence contradict each one of Kyoko's ethical and moral values. Were it not for the oppressive and segregationist determinations contained in such laws, she would not be drawing a giant target on her back and defying half the world by confronting them openly and directly"

"Huh, ethical and moral values, you say? As if she has any!"

"She has them, Dad. One must know how distorted this world is to face it with such determination and courage"

"Ren, please... there must be another way, son!"

While Lory watches me with the shrewd eyes of always and Kuu runs his hands through his hair in an anxious gesture that I know I learned from him, I can almost see the gears working furiously on Yashiro's head. He's trying to do his job until the last second. In fact, he always did a great job protecting the Tsuruga Clan. Of everything and everyone, including myself. It is only because of people like him, members of my Clan who have worked so hard for me, that I deeply regret what I will do.

If it's my head what they want, it's my head we'll give them. And fast! The sooner they are appeased, the better. Like a trapped lizard, we'll sacrifice our tail so the rest of the body can escape. The fact that Lory and Kuu are reluctant to turn away from me and let me be the one who will stand up to the accusations and the scorn of high society only reinforces my determination to do what it takes to spare them from the fate that belongs only to me. After all, the plan about Kyoko was essentially mine. I was the one who lived with her, I was the one who had every chance to discover what she was up to and failed spectacularly, moved as I was by unnecessary feelings. Do the Nobles need someone to pay for Kyoko's rise? I'm the right guy.

I always knew there was something bigger going on. Ever since I've laid eyes on her, I've known. However, contrary to my best judgment, I let myself be carried away by sweet moments that I now ask myself whether they were real or not.

"Master Hizuri, Master and Counselor Takarada, with my eternal gratitude I restore to you the portions of land that you have given to me. May the Council know that the Tsuruga Clan has ended"

A / N - It's so hard to surprise you! I cannot write "Kyoko is pregnant" without you flooding me with questions. XD Chill! Maybe there's no baby (yet) at all! =P

It's because I know that you are attentive (with little notepad and pencil in hand and furiously calculating) that I am uncertain about periods of time and only write things like "a few months" and "little more than a year"... T_T XDDD

In several chapters I mentioned the instability of the Clan Tsuruga: the disgusted Nobles, Nick and Yashiro always alerting Ren etc. Everything to prepare my dear readers for this moment without major traumas XD

The next chapter is already well advanced and will be out soon. In it, the "mysterious pregnancy" will be explained. Thank you for being patient and caring and so supportive of this hobby of mine that has its ups and downs. You are the best!