CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Harada was not fit for bed until after another shower to wash off the monster. He looked at the cut in his forearm that he’d made for the monster to drink from, and wondered how the other two were faring. He himself had been spared having her maw touch his skin, unlike either of them. He shuddered and stood a little longer under the water, turning off the cold to let scalding hot rain descend and cleanse him of filth.
He had given instructions to the crew and to his team for the journey home; they would leave within the hour. Harada had put Okada in charge of the former Bloodfire Rising vessel and sent Yamamoto with him, advising them to take at least three of the others to help logistically, since it was a larger ship with minimal operating crew and a lot of prisoners in the brig. The journey back to Edo would take a little more than 12 hours, according to the captain of the Navy ship.
Saya chose to go with Seizo, claiming she did not trust him without a sane person’s supervision. Kyoko went also, feeling she could be helpful in keeping watch and caring for whatever situations arose on the way home. Gwyneth, too, went with Okada after consulting with her sister. Kirito, surprisingly, decided not to go with them. He preferred solitude, which was harder to find at home.
By the time Harada finally climbed carefully into bed beside Thalia, he was ready to collapse with exhaustion. He tried to be quiet, not wanting to wake her, but she wasn’t asleep. She turned to him at once, embracing him tenderly.
“I’m sorry for greeting you angrily before,” she said in a small voice. “You forgave me so generously, and the very next time I saw you …” she blushed in the dark, remembering how she had thrown her whole body into the slap she gave him.
“Tch,” he said, gathering her closer. “Even I know you can’t compare what happened to you with what I did. Besides, there was love behind that slap. Anger and fear, yes, but they were born from love, and to me your love is still a miracle – however it comes at me.”
She had no words that seemed adequate for a response; emotion was still too raw. She kissed him with all the feeling she could not find words to express.
It was not long before they fell asleep, limbs entwined, curled up together in mutual comfort.
***
Harada woke in a sweat from a terrible dream involving a cannibal child who ate her victims from the inside out, and who called Thalia ‘Mother’ in a venomous voice. Sick anxiety was back in the pit of his belly, the helpless worry over what was happening to Thalia and whether he could find her before it was too late.
It took a moment to realize she was lying safe in his arms with her head against his chest, one arm flung across him and one leg wrapped around his, her hair like silk against his skin.
He relaxed, heaving a sigh of relief. He held her closer and took deep breaths full of her warm, sweet, light scent. She stirred a little, but did not wake; before long, he fell back asleep too, comforted.
It was the first time either of them slept deeply since she had been taken; it was healing, refreshing, and sorely needed to face what lay ahead.
***
“I know you hate playing politics, Thalia, and so do I – but we need to at this point,” he said when they were both awake, with Edo just two hours away. He told her about the false information Natsume Ishida had leaked to the press about her and Okada supposedly acting in league with Sekiguchi, and was pleased to see the spark of anger in her eyes. He much preferred that to the paralyzing fear that had overwhelmed her on the haunted planet.
“Gods, what a bastard,” she said in disgust. “You know the game better than I do; tell me how you want to play it, and I’ll do my best.”
“Capitalize on the people’s sympathy. I know it sounds loathsome, but we need them on our side to weather this storm. We’ve got a ship full of dead and captured Mimawarigumi, and Natsume will certainly try to use that against us – not only because he’s after the Shinsengumi, and specifically me, but because he now has to pre-emptively defend against corruption charges and the gigantic scandal we’re about to slam them with.”
“Yes, I see what you’re saying,” she admitted. “We’ve also got a lot of dead and captured Hellfire Rising, including the leaders,” she said with effort. “I would imagine that will support our side of things.” She tried not to let her sadness show, but could not completely hide it from the one who knew her best.
“It should help, yes,” he said, pretending not to see the pain she tried to hide, and pretending it did not hurt him to see it. It was ridiculous to be jealous of a dead man, he told himself sharply; yet somehow the creature with green eyes inside him did not care. “We shouldn’t count on anything, however; Natsume is a master at spinning things to the press.”
“Is he as good as you?” she asked, a hint of her old mischief in her eyes.
“No,” came the quick retort. “And that answer applies to anything at all to which you might have been referring with that question. Anything else?” he asked.
She laughed and threw her arms around him. She knew he had felt her grief, and that he was trying not to let her see his confusion and jealousy. She did not want to let the pretense between them grow, though it was done out of love rather than a wish to deceive.
She leaned away from him a little, cupping his face between her hands. “Just be sure you know this: I need nothing but what’s in front of me right now,” she said, looking into his eyes. “You are the one I love beyond life itself; no one else. You’re the reason I crossed the dimensional divide and moved to another universe. Whatever I may feel for anyone else, surely nothing can really compare with that.”
“Of course not,” he agreed, taking her hands and kissing them. “I just can’t seem to get this thing inside me with green eyes to die entirely; not yet, anyway.” He pulled her close again.
Several moments later, Thalia pulled a little away to look up at him. “I think you should carry me off the ship,” she said, as if there had been no interruption in the previous conversation. “Everyone will love that. I rescued you before, now you rescued me, and love conquers all. Do you anticipate Natsume trying to arrest us when we dock, or anything like that?”
“I don’t think he’ll go that far, not without knowing exactly what cards we hold. He’s intelligent enough to be cautious when he’s got a big blind spot. Still, we should be prepared for anything,” he replied.
Thalia nodded, then looked objectively at her face in the little mirror over the desk. It was a colorful sight, and the throbbing made it feel three times as large as it actually was.
“I feel like Hel,” she remarked, referencing the Norse goddess of the Underworld, “but this will probably help too, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do you want some ice?”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“It might make the swelling go down, which isn’t really what we want at this stage, right?” she replied cheerfully.
“Yes, but if you feel that bad, I think we can manage with a little less swelling.”
“I don’t feel nearly as bad as I did yesterday. Oh! You don’t know who Hel is, do you?” she said, realizing the disconnect.
“As far as I know, it’s a mythological place of unending torment,” he said.
“She’s also a goddess in Norse mythology,” Thalia explained. “Queen of the Underworld; she’s depicted as half disgusting corpse, half gorgeous woman. With this face, I could pass for her at a costume party, that’s what I meant.”
He was horrified by this comparison. “Why so harsh with yourself?”
She laughed. “You’re biased, and I’m glad you are. Perhaps I exaggerated a little. Realistically, I do think it’s fair to say this face will make for great shock value in the press, though, right?”
“Without a doubt,” he agreed. “You seem to be pretty good at this game you hate,” he added, smiling a little.
“As are you,” she replied. “We’ll have Natsume slinking home like a whipped dog, no problem.” She winked at him as she said this, and they laughed together at her exaggerated bravado.
***
As prepared as they were to encounter a mob upon arriving home, they were still shocked when they disembarked and found a horde of reporters, civilians, and both police forces directly involved in the case awaiting them. Sure enough, Natsume Ishida was facing off with Kato, the two Chiefs glaring at each other.
“All right, everyone, time to act traumatized,” Thalia said.
“Who’s acting?” Kirito replied, winking at her.
Captain Okada emerged at nearly the same time from the captured Hellfire Rising ship as Vice-Commander Harada did from the Navy ship, carrying Thalia princess-style. Okada had been briefed on the approach they planned to take with the press, and looked appropriately solemn beside an equally grim Yamamoto. Saya stood on his other side, hands on her hips, her big eyes wide and determined, her little chin set firmly.
“That Bloodfire girl,” Kirito snorted quietly at his protégé, pretending not to be nearly as proud of her as he was, “she better not overdo it.”
“She’s adorable. Anyone who doesn’t know her well will melt over that face,” Thalia murmured at him.
“Same principle that applies to you, I see,” he replied, bending to kiss her forehead. Several cameras flashed, capturing the three of them in that tender moment.
“Stop, you’re making me blush,” Thalia said sardonically.
“Can we not joke around right at this pivotal moment, do you think?” Harada demanded.
“Sorry,” Thalia said meekly, her eyes instantly widening and filling with a sheen of soon-to-be-shed tears. “Is this better?”
“Gods, aren’t you a monster?” Tetsuya retorted, trying not to laugh at her. It was about at this point that they came within shouting distance of the waiting journalist horde.
“Fix your face, my love. They want to see you smile tenderly at me, and they’ll definitely think it’s strange if you scowl at me,” she said impishly, hiding her half-maimed face against his chest until the optimum moment.
She had a point, so he let himself smile down at her. Sure enough, dozens of cameras flashed.
Natsume Ishida approached, his face grim and pale. He had certainly not planned on having to confront Thalia and Okada alive at this point, but he wasn’t about to back down either.
“Ah, Harada-kun,” he said loudly. “I trust you have rescued my officers from the terrorists, treating them as you would your own?”
“So that’s his gambit, is it?” Harada murmured cynically.
“Like I’d let him,” Thalia growled under her breath, and made her move once they were close enough to the reporters. She stood up more shakily than necessary, clinging to her fiancé for support she didn’t completely need, and turned the damaged side of her face toward the cameras.
There was a collective gasp of horrified delight, and cameras going off all at once. She pointed at Natsume Ishida, who flinched when he saw the accusation in her face.
“You were part of this. You’ve been in collusion with Hellfire Rising for well over a year, Commander Natsume,” she said loudly, satisfied by the flurry of writing, typing, and murmuring into recorders that instantly followed her accusation.
One of the reporters had the presence of mind to look to Okada for confirmation, since he had been accused by the Mimawarigumi of being in league with Thalia and Sekiguchi, given Natsume’s expectation of his death.
“Yes, Commander Natsume was fully aware of the Hellfire Rising plot to abduct our Lieutenant, and is even now at somewhat of a loss to see me here alive. I was supposed to be murdered, unable to clear my name, and I would have been, without the Lieutenant’s brave intervention.” Captain Okada said.
Several microphones were shoved at the Mimawarigumi Chief. “What do you say to that, Commander Natsume?” a reporter asked.
“I’m utterly shocked,” the Chief said, no doubt truly. “I can only assume this is a preemptive attack by Captain Okada and Lieutenant Cairde, in an attempt to mitigate their own guilt.”
“And now the lines are drawn,” Harada said in a low voice, his eyes meeting Natsume’s.
“Their guilt?” Chief Kato demanded, stepping forth. “Their only mistake was taking the word of the Mimawarigumi on good faith, thus stepping into the trap you helped Sekiguchi set for them. My officers are blameless!”
The press was in a flurry of excitement; this was proving to be an even juicier scoop than any of them had dared hope.
“It appears we are at an impasse,” Natsume said, glaring at them all. “The Bakufu special investigators will have to settle this.”
“By all means, we welcome a special investigation,” Harada said. “In fact, it would not be going too far to say we demand one,” he added, narrowing his eyes at his enemy.
“Lieutenant, what caused your injuries?” blurted one reporter.
“Lieutenant, is it true Sekiguchi Teiji is your lover?” shouted another. She did not flinch outwardly, though it stabbed her inside.
“Oi! Can’t you people see she’s been through hell?” Harada shouted, drawing her close, sheltering her. “She’s not giving interviews until she’s had a chance to rest and recover. Anyone who wants to talk to her needs to come through me.” He wore a daunting scowl, and the press subsided a little.
Even this was a gift for them – the ferocious Demon Vice-Commander as protective lover of his Demoness. They had been the hottest couple in Edo before the abduction, and this would guarantee a fresh surge of popularity.
“All right, everyone, all right,” Commander Kato said, drawing the somewhat reluctant attention of the press. “Captain Okada will take just five questions, but everything else must wait. My officers have endured a fierce, deadly battle; they need to rest and recover. We will certainly hold a press conference within 48 hours, so hold onto your questions for the Vice-Chief and the Lieutenant until that time, please.”
Thalia and Harada left gratefully, getting into the first squad car they found. The driver, a junior officer named Shizuke, had not expected them, and was so startled he did not know what to do.
“Oi! Shizuke, the Lieutenant needs to get home. What are you waiting for?” This familiar irritable growl brought Shizuke back to awareness of his duties.
“It’s good to see you again, Shizuke,” Thalia said with a mildly reproachful look at Tetsuya. “How is your wife?”
“Very well, thank you, Lieutenant,” said Shizuke as he pulled out into traffic.
“And the baby?” Thalia asked.
“Not ready to come out yet,” he said, smiling. Lieutenant Cairde always remembered these things; she was the perfect balance for the Demon, they had all decided. There were rumors about her lately, claiming she was some kind of Demon also; they said she drank blood and ate human flesh with sharp teeth if she caught you at night alone. No one believed it, of course, and none of the Shinsengumi tolerated such rumors in their presence.
There had not been much hope she could be rescued. She’d been taken by Sekiguchi Teiji, one of the most notoriously vicious terrorists of their time, while she was with Captain Okada – the fastest swordsman in Edo, who could not be bested by any five ronin in the country.
The Captain openly called her his mother, which was a little unexpected, though it somehow seemed fitting. They all knew he would have died before letting anything happen to her; yet he had been unable to prevent her abduction. It had seemed hopeless.
They should have known better, Shizuke told his wife when they got the happy news that the Vice-Chief’s rescue mission was successful. This was Harada Tetsuya’s woman, after all; he wasn’t called a demon for nothing.
Although it must be granted that he looked nothing even close to demonic right now, Shizuke thought when he glanced into the rear-view mirror and saw the Vice-Chief smiling down at the Lieutenant, brushing her hair out of her face with incongruous gentleness. The Shinsengumi could feel like itself again, now that their young matriarch had safely returned.
“Lieutenant Cairde, please allow me to tell you how relieved and happy Reiko and I are that you have arrived home safely,” Shizuke said when they arrived at Headquarters. It had taken the whole drive for him to build up the nerve to say this, mostly because of the Vice-Chief’s proximity.
Thalia smiled warmly. “Thank you, Shizuke, and please thank Reiko for me as well, if you would. I’m thrilled to be home.” They exchanged polite bows in farewell, and Shizuke was startled to catch Harada’s approving eye as they walked off together toward their quarters. Love had clearly mellowed him somewhat.