Chapter Seventeen - Message In A Bottle

Chapter Seventeen -- Message In A Bottle

Aiko submitted pragmatically to Nurse Rin's efficiency. It wasn't as if she had much choice in the matter, after all.

Each evening the sedative tube and catheter would be removed for one hour while Aiko was sat on the toilet and a suppository inserted. Once that unpleasant task was over, it was shower time. Aiko sat like a lump of meat in the specially-designed open-weave wheelchair, rotated under the water as Rin applied soap, rinsed her off, wheeled her out and toweled her dry.

It was the only time the sedative tube was removed. At first Nurse Rin had attempted to do all this with the tube still in Aiko's arm, but they found that the movement caused Aiko to vomit, pass out, or both. So it and the catheter were dutifully removed, and Aiko found that at the end of the shower she could once more move her hands and feet, if only weakly, enough to help Rin get her dressed again. Then it was a bowl of spoon-fed mush, after which Rin would lift her back onto the bed and the various tubes would be reinserted for another twenty-three hours of sedative-induced meditation.

All of this was done without either ceremony or conversation. Aiko had long ago given up trying to ingratiate herself with the pair of nurses. Rin was polite and to the point and never deviated from the standard line that Aiko was sick and needed to be treated as just another addict going through drug withdrawal. Nurse Tetsu didn't even have that much caring bedside manner, and tended to ignore the fact that Aiko was a living, thinking human being at all.

But although Aiko's body was immobile, her mind was not. Her consciousness had traveled to the surface a dozen times since finding out where she was yesterday. And it was a lot quicker now: enough logic had finally seeped through the sedative-induced stupor for her to realize that she wasn't constrained by the physical in her out-of-body state. She felt rather ashamed that it hadn't occurred to her before, but then, old habits died hard as the saying went. All she needed to do was allow herself to float straight up, through the ceiling, through the many layers of concrete and deep, dark metres of water to break free at the top into the sunshine or starlight above her physical prison.

On her last visit, just before the time came for her evening ablutions, she'd floated above the waves and turned her face south towards the horizon. A mere three hours away lay Shima. Only three hours. And as out of reach to her as if it had been on the moon. Aiko was still fighting to extend her time out-of-body so that she could reach it, but the most she'd been able to manage so far before being snapped back had been twelve and a half minutes.

Oh, Sakaki had been clever, she thought furiously. Aiko knew that Miyatsu would have searched for her psychic signature; even believing she was dead, he would have looked for the fading sign while he still had the strength left to levitate. But Sakaki knew Miyatsu almost as well as she did, as he'd been the one who'd concentrated on developing the GMA's various talents to help him win on the circuit. Sakaki knew that buildings blurred, but didn't eradicate, a living psychic signal. Hiding Aiko beneath the seafloor had been a move of genius – no signal could leak through that many metres of water. Even if it occurred to Miyatsu to look beneath the waves, the signal wouldn't travel much past the mud and rock of the seabed. It would appear to Miyatsu that his mate's body had been destroyed utterly, her signature wiped from the face of the earth.

What was Miyatsu doing at this moment? It was a woeful thought; Aiko knew Sakaki was right, Miyatsu must be deep in the depression of Pershan Syndrome by now. He'd have stopped eating and sleeping, his physical reserves depleted, unable to fight off the demons until his exhausted body collapsed...

Aiko buried her incorporeal head into her hands and sobbed inconsolable, invisible tears for her love.

*

Miyatsu slept fitfully for most of that day. Tossing and turning, crying out with nightmares certainly, but still, it was sleep, and his exhausted body needed it.

An hour or two before sunset, he woke up, took a shower, forced some more food down, then sat on the verandah outside his house as the sun set, with little Benjiro on his lap and his children grouped about him. None of them said very much; the children's usual chatter had been greatly subdued that week as they tried to come to terms with their mother's death. They appeared content just to be with their father, their love and need for him obvious even without words.

Mieko went upstairs and fetched her brush and comb. Handing the comb to her sister, she sat for some time grooming her father, working the snarls from his coat and brushing out the fur shed due to stress. Hanako worked on his tail, gently smoothing the comb through his fur. Montaro and Hideaki sat on either side of Miyatsu, unconsciously mirroring his position, both the boys looking so like their father that Yutaka and Kagami, sitting on the swing chair, could only tell them apart by their body size.

Finally Montaro turned to his father. "I'm glad you're back, Dad," he said quietly. "I was so scared that -- after Mum died --"

Miyatsu put a paw on his eldest son's shoulder. "I won't ever leave you again," he said solemnly. "That's a promise."

*

Nurse Rin had unplugged Aiko from the various tubes and appliances in preparation for her evening ritual. She was on the point of lifting her patient from the bed prior to undressing her when Sakaki arrived.

This time however, Aiko had no interest in feigning sleep. She wanted to talk to Sakaki. She'd thought long and hard after returning from her last visit to the surface and had finally decided, with a heavy heart, that if it was the only way to save Miyatsu's life, she would make a deal with the devil. In this case, the devil's name was Raikatuji Sakaki.

Sakaki looked sick. Aiko hadn't really taken a good look at him for several days; she was usually asleep, pretending to be, or incorporeal. But now, as she saw him coming in through the door, it struck her that her one-time friend indeed looked ill. His eyes had developed even darker shadows under them than she remembered, and as he closed the door behind him, she noticed a visible tremor in his hands. His face had an unhealthy grayish tinge to it, and his eyes appeared feverish.

Nurse Rin looked at her employer with concern. "Sir, are you feeling all right? You look unwell."

Sakaki shook his head. "I'm going through Anodyne withdrawal. It's -- unpleasant. But necessary. If Aiko can wean herself off Miyatsu, the least I can do is give up the drugs." He glanced at Aiko. "You're awake at last, Aiko. Good. I wanted a quiet word with you." He turned back to the nurse. "Nurse Rin, it must be nearly time for your dinner-break?"

"Not for another hour yet, sir. And I always eat it at my desk anyway."

"Nevertheless, I'd like a private word with Aiko. Kindly go on up to the staff cafeteria for an early dinner."

"Oh. Yes, sir. I'll just intubate her again... "

"No, leave it. Aiko has an annoying habit of dropping off to sleep when I'm here; no doubt the sedative working on her. I want her to stay conscious while we have our talk."

When Nurse Rin looked set to object again, Sakaki's lips thinned impatiently. "Look at her, Nurse! She's as weak as a kitten. After you go, lock the door behind you. Then, even is she does somehow manage to overpower me," and he smiled humorlessly at the thought, "she still won't be able to leave the room."

Sakaki seated himself in his usual place next to Aiko's bed and waited while the nurse left. As the door closed behind her, he fixed his eyes on Aiko's face, his elbows on his knees.

"I know you must hate me by now, Aiko," he said quietly. His face had a sheen of perspiration on it, and this close she could see that his eyes were bloodshot. "But I just wanted to let you know that I'm going through a similar pain to you. You're not alone."

He gave a small smile and leaned forward to clasp her hand, drawing a shuddering breath. "I haven't had any Anodyne now for six days. The pain is -- really beginning to bite. But we can get through this together, my darling. Just a little while longer."

Aiko met his eyes squarely. Now was the time, and it broke her heart, but she'd do it to save Miyatsu's life.

"Sakaki," she said quietly. "I've been thinking about our -- situation. And I wanted to let you know that I've come to a decision. I'll -- I'll stay with you, I'll live with you. Or I'll marry you, if that's what you want."

Sakaki's eyes opened wide. "You will?" he breathed. "Yes, I want you as my wife, of course I do! Oh, Aiko, I knew it, I knew that once Miyatsu was out of your life, you'd be reasonable -- "

"On one condition," Aiko interrupted.

Sakaki sat forward. His eyes were shining, and he clasped her hand in both of his. "Anything, my darling. Just name it and it's yours!"

"Sakaki, I want you to let Miyatsu know that I'm alive."

Sakaki stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Please, Sakaki! I promise I won't try to seek him out, or my f-family. I'll marry you and try to be a good wife to you." A tear slipped down Aiko's cheek. "But don't let Miyatsu die because he thinks I'm dead! Oh, Sakaki, if you love me, really love me, do this one thing for me!"

Sakaki's face was incredulous. Slowly it changed to anger. He stood up and towered over her. "I should have guessed it wouldn't be that easy!" he said angrily. "I really thought, just for a moment, that you were over Miyatsu, that you loved me! But no, that monster is still first, always first, in your affections!"

"Sakaki, he doesn't ever need to know that I'm with you. Just let me talk to him, just once, on the telephone. I'll explain that for his safety and the children's safety, we must live apart." She was sobbing now, unable to contain it any longer. "I'll make him promise not to -- not to come looking for me, if I have to I'll lie and say I've found somebody else --"

"Do you take me for a fool, Fujimoto Aiko? The minute Miyatsu knows you're alive, he'll be searching for you. And he won't rest until he finds you! Why do you think I went to all this trouble?"

"But, Sakaki! Miy -- Miyatsu will die!" Her voice ended in a sob.

"That, my dear Aiko, is the whole point of the exercise. And it appears I was right -- you're not going to be over him until he's well and truly dead."

"Sakaki, how can you be so cruel?" Aiko pleaded through her sobs. "How can you do this to your brother?"

"ENOUGH!" In one swift, vicious movement, Sakaki turned and put his fist through the wall. Breathing heavily, he cradled his hand for a moment, staring at the hole he'd made in the plasterboard while he tried to regain some sort of tenuous control.

Finally he turned around and faced her again. "I've warned you before, Aiko. Don't speak about that accidental relationship. I donated some stem cells. That's all! You'll never be free of him while he's alive, and I could never trust that you wouldn't try to go back to him. And I'd have to keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, knowing what he'd do to me if he found we were together! No, the only way to get him out of your system is with his death."

"He won't come looking for me," Aiko begged desperately. "I'll tell him that if he does I'll be killed! I'll beg him to live for the children's sake, and then I'll go away with you forever! I'll change my name and my appearance, whatever you want. Sakaki, please!"

"Huh! Do you still think you're his master, and that he'll do whatever you want? I saw through that particular ruse of his years ago! He's the master, not you. He only has to click his deformed fingers and you'll jump to do his bidding."

"You'll never understand what's between us, Sakaki," Aiko said sorrowfully. "I love Miyatsu more than life itself... "

"Yes, I saw the way you love him!" Sakaki sneered. "Going at it like a pair of alley cats on heat in my conservatory when we came back from the circuit. I saw how he controlled you then, Aiko, don't deny it!"

Sakaki was face to face with her now, his hands on the bed on either side of her, his eyes wild. "I saw him standing against that tree with you clinging to him. I heard you crying out his name and him yowling like a scalded cat while he fucked you! He controlled you and you loved every minute of it!"

Aiko stared at him, appalled not only that he'd seen their intimacy, but that he could debase it and make it sound so filthy.

"You -- you knew about that?" she whispered.

"Did you think you could hide it from me? I burned for you that night; I realized then you were the only woman I'd ever love. And I did everything I could to win you over, but still you left me. For twelve years, Aiko, I never heard a word from you! Why do you think I turned to Anodyne? It was the only way to dull the pain of my broken heart!"

Aiko felt the slow burn of anger beginning. How dare he spy on their love, then throw it into her face as if it was something disgusting? And how dare he blame her and Miyatsu for his bad decisions in life?

"It's always about you, isn't it, Sakaki?" she said coldly. "You can't stand to see anybody else happy, even though you've had all the advantages, all the money and prestige and glamour, all of the education and privilege. You hate the fact that Miyatsu found love, true love. It wouldn't matter if it was me or some other woman. Whoever Miyatsu fell in love with, you'd want her for yourself. Just so he couldn't have her."

She was panting for breath now, her heart racing, the fury she felt making her voice rise until she was shouting at him. "This was never about me, it's about your twisted attitude towards Miyatsu. Towards your BROTHER!" She screamed it into his face with everything she had in her, wanting to hurt him as much as he was hurting her.

His hand hit her with punishing force, rocking her back against the pillows and splitting her bottom lip. Aiko cried out in pain; she fought to hold onto her slipping consciousness. If she'd still had the sedative being fed into her arm, she wouldn't have managed it. As it was, the world tilted ominously and she forced it down before her consciousness could slip from her body again.

Sakaki gripped her shoulders, his fingers digging in with cruel force. He shook her hard, his eyes burning into hers. "Shut up, shut up!" he hissed between clenched teeth. "Or I swear, I'll kill you!"

But Aiko was no longer cowed. "Do it, then!" she shouted at him. "Do you think I care what happens to me if Miyatsu dies?"

"I'm doing you a favour, you blind little fool, you should be grateful! I rescued you from a monster, a filthy, manufactured miscreation!"

Aiko stared at his face, so close to hers, so twisted with rage, and her own anger seethed in her chest. Her voice when she spoke was low and steady, but had the force of a blow behind it. "Miyatsu's more a man than you'll ever be, Sakaki!"

He paled, and Aiko could see she'd struck a nerve. For a moment she was sure he'd hit her again, and she didn't care.

And then suddenly he was kissing her, kissing with a bruising, hurting force, and pushing her nightdress up to her waist as she struggled against him while he tore at the fastenings of his clothes, freeing his penis. He was on the bed, holding her sedative-weakened body down with his own, parting her legs with ungentle hands.

Aiko struggled, but she had no more strength than a new-born baby, barely able to lift her arms. As Sakaki pulled back from the horrible kiss, his mouth smeared with blood from her split lip, she whimpered, "No, Sakaki! Please don't!"

"I'll show you how much of a man I am, Fujimoto Aiko!" he hissed through clenched teeth. And thrust into her.

The force of it rocked her body, and unready and unwilling, she cried out in pain at the invasion. Frantically, she wrenched her head to one side. The sound of ripping velcro had never been more welcome...

*

Benjiro had been sleeping with his grandmother since the abduction, as he still suffered nightmares about "bad men" if put to bed by himself. After the sun had set in a blaze of color, Yutaka and Kagami left to go back to their adjoining villa, and Miyatsu walked with them, carrying the sleeping toddler in his arms.

At the front door, he rubbed his cheek against the little round head affectionately, then handed the child to Kagami with a grateful smile.

"Thank you for taking care of him this week," Miyatsu said quietly.

"He can stay until he feels secure enough to start sleeping in his own bed again," Kagami answered. "He's no trouble. Good night, Miyatsu."

"Good night, Kagami."

She disappeared into the house with Benjiro.

Yutaka lingered at the door. He put one hand on Miyatsu's shoulder. "And speaking of sleep, what will you do now?" he asked in concern.

Miyatsu drew a deep breath. "I meant it when I said I've decided to live, Yutaka. I'll probably sleep on the sofa again tonight, though. Benji's not the only one to have nightmares in his own bed." He said it grimly. Now he looked down at the old man. "Yutaka -- thank you for talking to me this morning. If -- if you hadn't said what you did... " He trailed off, blinking against the tears that threatened again. Finally he said hoarsely, "The pain of losing Aiko will be with me always. But you made me realize how much my children need me. I have to live for them now." He gazed up into the night sky, and a single tear escaped, to wind its way down the fur of his cheek. "But, oh,Yutaka! I miss her so much!"

Yutaka bowed his head in pain. "We all do," he answered in a subdued voice. "I'm just taking it one minute at a time and trying to keep as busy as I can. I can't let myself dwell on it or I'd lose my mind to grief."

"Aiko was the first human I ever met who treated me like a person," Miyatsu said shakily. "As someone worthy of her respect, rather than just some sort of -- of engineered fighting machine. I learnt so much from her about life, about values. I can't believe that she's gone. I keep expecting to look up and see her."

Yutaka nodded solemnly. "If ever you feel the need to talk, it doesn't matter if it's the middle of the night, please, come to us. If anybody understands your loss, it's Kagami and I. We share your pain. Let us share our love and support, too."

Miyatsu nodded gratefully, not chancing his voice anymore. He turned to go.

"Goodnight," Yutaka called after him quietly. "Try to sleep, my son."

*

Miyatsu accompanied his children upstairs to their bedrooms, saying goodnight and giving a quick head rub to each of them in turn before turning off their lights.

He turned to go back downstairs, but hesitated as he passed his own door. He needed to face his demons, to prove to himself that he could walk into the room. Keeping it as some sort of untouched shrine to be avoided was not the way forward.

Although it hurt, he forced himself to go through into the dim bedroom, the room he had shared with Aiko for so long, closing the door behind him. He felt a horrible sort of dislocation. This wasn't right, it shouldn't feel so empty: it had always been their sanctuary, a place of physical bliss, emotional ease, and unconditional love. He'd never once imagined that it would one day be his alone. If he'd thought about it at all, he'd always vaguely assumed he'd die before Aiko did.

He sat on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes. His feline sense of smell came to the fore: everywhere was the lingering scent of his mate, the pillow where her head had rested, the sheets which had covered her, so immediate that he could almost imagine she was in the room with him. The scents overlapped as he turned his head, still with his eyes shut. There on the bedside table was her hairbrush, under the bed her slippers. Hanging from a hook on the back of the door was her robe, the quilted sky-blue silk one she wore when the nights were cool. He remembered the day she'd bought it on the mainland. She'd smiled then and said the color reminded her of his eyes...

It was too much. Tears squeezed out from between his closed lids as Miyatsu buried his head in his paws and rolled onto Aiko's side of the bed. He sobbed brokenly, muffling the sound in her pillow.

*

It was identical to the time Aiko had seen Miyatsu collapse in the stadium on the circuit -- with no appreciable sense of time elapsed, she was now hovering in the air beside her house on Shima. Somewhere in the back of her consciousness, she was aware of what Sakaki was doing to her, but it was as if it were happening to somebody else, something that she would think about later.

She thought she understood the trick now: twelve years ago, when she'd seen her mate collapse in China, and a few months later when Sakaki tried to stop her leaving, she'd been faced with real and immediate danger. And her first instinct both times had been to get to the side of her soul-mate. It seemed fear was not enough, the danger must be extreme to force her psychic power to transcend normal barriers of time and space.

For now, she had to find Miyatsu and somehow let him know where she was. As she floated through her front door, she recalled her first long-distance psychic translocation to Shanghai, when she'd knelt by his side and called frantically, Miyatsu! Wake up, my Miyu!

His eyes had flickered open, and she'd been sure he'd heard her even though he didn't seem able to see her, because he'd murmured faintly, "Aiko? Where are you?"

She could only hope their psychic connection was strong enough that he'd hear her now.

Then there was time to be considered. Twelve years ago she'd only managed perhaps a minute before being snapped back to her body. But she was far more confident now and beginning to really understand her psychic potential. She had at least ten minutes, maybe slightly longer.

But she couldn't afford to waste the time she did have. Disregarding the stairs, she floated straight up to the first floor, emerging in the hall just outside their bedroom. Praying that he'd be there, she drifted through the door.

Aiko's heart contracted when she saw Miyatsu. He was lying face-down on their bed, crying heart-brokenly. Oh, he looked so thin! She hovered by the side of the bed, and called out, Miyatsu! My Miyu! Look up!

The effect was immediate: Miyatsu stopped crying mid-sob as his head snapped up from the pillow. There was no doubt that he'd heard her, psychic mind to psychic mind. He gazed wildly about the room, swinging his legs off the bed to sit on the edge as he did so. Aiko could see his nostrils dilate as he tried to sniff her whereabouts.

I'm here, my Miyu! she said as loudly as her incorporeal voice would project. Right beside you, my love!

Suddenly Miyatsu's tense face relaxed. "Have you come to take me to the spirit world with you, Aiko? Oh, I want to go with you so much!" Then the familiar worry line appeared between his eyes. "But I can't go yet, little tenshi. I promised Yutaka; I told him I'd live for the children's sake... "

Miyu, I'm not dead, Aiko said frantically. Sakaki abducted me! I'm back at Kagoshima!

Miyatsu sighed and his voice became resigned. "Ah, this is a dream, isn't it? I've fallen asleep and I'm dreaming you're alive again."

No! Aiko felt desperation. She had to make him believe she was no dream or hallucination or spirit before she was forced back. If she couldn't convince him now, she may never get another chance. Sakaki would end up killing her with his twisted version of 'love'. I'm real, my Miyu! Please, please listen to me! Sakaki's addicted to the drug Anodyne and has convinced himself that I'll love him if you die of Pershan Syndrome. Please come and find me, Miyatsu! Sakaki is -- he's hurting me.

"I saw you die, my little mate. Whenever I've dozed off, I've seen you in my dreams, still alive. But -- but Sakaki was never in my dreams before... " For the first time he sounded uncertain, and Aiko pressed the advantage.

Sakaki staged my death. It was a form of very realistic-looking computer simulation! He wanted you to contract Pershan Syndrome again! Think about it, Miyatsu. He's the only one apart from the family here on Shima who knows you well enough to manage it.

She had unconsciously touched his shoulder, trying to make him believe her, and he started at the contact. He could feel her touch! Aiko was struck with a sudden inspiration. Put your hand up, my love! I'm here, really I am!

Hesitantly, as if he couldn't believe he was doing it, Miyatsu lifted his paw. Aiko reached out her incorporeal hand and grasped it. Miyatsu gasped.

"I can feel your hand!" he whispered. "It tingles, like cool, fresh water on a hot day!" He looked frantically in her direction. "But I still can't see you, my heart."

He deliberately shut his eyes, and Aiko felt a slight thrumming in the air as he let his psychic-spotting ability take over from his eyesight. Oh, it was warm! She'd never imagined before that this could be felt, but in her purely psychic state, it felt like a warm bath enveloping her.

Miyatsu gave a desperate moan, still with his eyes closed. "You're here! I can see your soul! Oh, my Aiko! What miracle is this?"

No miracle, my Miyu, but a horrible conspiracy by a man you've never hurt in your life. I'm so sorry, my love, but he hates you and thinks himself in love with me. But his love will kill me if you don't come to get me soon!

Miyatsu kept his eyes shut, still "focusing" on her psychic signature. "Sakaki? He did this to us?"

Miyatsu, I haven't got much longer in this form, my psychic ability is limited. And Aiko desperately pushed the incipient feelings of return away.

Miyatsu shook his head, as if coming to a decision. "Whether you're spirit or dream or reality, my mate, I will come to you as you ask. Where must I go?"

Relief flowed over Aiko. Do you remember at the Expo where we saw the display of Sakaki's new electricity generating facility? The main entrance is on the beach outside the Raikatuji Centre, at the same place my house used to be. The facility extends underground and out beneath the water. Sakaki has me hidden there, in one of the deepest rooms.

Miyatsu's mouth dropped open. "Oh! That's why I couldn't find you! I didn't think to look under the water!"

Sakaki is clever, Aiko agreed. You must out-think him. When you get to the entrance, go in invisibly; there'll be security and possibly some others about as well. You're not too weakened to levitate, are you? she added in sudden concern, remembering how Pershan Syndrome had temporarily robbed him of his strongest power on the circuit. I can't walk, I'm being given a powerful sedative to stop me escaping. So I'll need your help to get out.

"I'll manage. Where do I go from the entrance?"

Quickly, Aiko gave him directions to the labyrinth under the facility. Miyatsu unsheathed one of his claws and scratched the instructions directly into the plasterboard wall of the bedroom as she recited them. Paint and plaster peeled off in a thin line under the assault, leaving the directions etched deeply into the wall.

Aiko's need to return to her body was becoming urgent. She felt as if she were hanging above a huge drop, clinging to the cliff-edge by her fingertips.

Be careful, my Miyu! she warned. Sakaki's addiction has made him unstable. And he's even less rational due to withdrawal. He's dangerous.

Miyatsu frowned, his ears back. "I warned him once before, if he ever hurt you, I'd kill him, brother or not."

No, my love. He's not thinking rationally, it's the drugs. He needs help, but won't go into rehabilitation. He's become obsessed with the love you and I share. Aiko felt the pull to return as a definite ache now. My Miyu, I've reached the limit of my time here. Please tell me you'll come for me!

"No! Aiko, don't go yet!" Miyatsu was on his feet, shouting desperately, his arms reaching for her invisible body as if he could hold her to him. "Don't leave me!"

I'm sorry! Come for me! she shrieked as her grip slipped, and she felt herself again enveloped by her aching body back in Kagoshima, at the same time as Sakaki plunged forward on top of her with a harsh cry and shuddered his way through orgasm...

*

Sakaki had been rough. Aiko felt the sting of unlubricated penetration and fought not to wince. He was collapsed on top of her, limp now, catching his breath, and although she wanted to cringe away from his touch, she made herself lie still so he wouldn't know she'd regained consciousness.

Finally, she felt him raise up on his arms, withdrawing from her body.

"Aiko? Oh no, what have I done?" Sakaki's voice sounded lost. "Aiko! Aiko, please wake up."

She felt his hand caress her cheek. It was no use: the flutter of her eyelids would give her away. She opened her eyes and gazed steadily back into Sakaki's, her expression stony.

"Oh, Aiko!" Sakaki's face was distraught. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I just lost control! I never want to hurt you, I love you... "

Aiko turned her head away, slowly enough to keep body and consciousness together, not wanting to look him in the face anymore. She felt angry, used, abused and sore. Sakaki was always sorry after the fact, and like a child, thought that empty words of apology could make all things right again.

This was the man she used to think of as a friend, who had abused her trust and who had hatched a plot designed to cause Miyatsu a lingering and unpleasant death. Sakaki hadn't cared that it would leave her children traumatized orphans and her parents bereaved, hadn't realized that Aiko would rather be dead than live without her soul-mate.

But at the same time, she didn't want to have a conversation that might antagonize him again: she very much wanted to survive now. For Miyatsu was on his way. That fact warmed her.

"Aiko, what can I do to atone and get you to forgive me?"

Aiko turned her head back to him. "You can let me go," she stated flatly.

Something flickered in Sakaki's eyes, and for a second, just for the briefest instant, Aiko thought she might have gotten through to him. But then the keypad activated on the locked door, heralding Nurse Rin's return, and the spark of compassion that Aiko had seen in Sakaki's face flickered out.

He stood up, hastily tucking himself away before pulling Aiko's nightdress roughly back down to cover her.

"You're not going anywhere, Fujimoto Aiko," he said coolly, with the sudden mood swing of the addict. "And the next time we make love, I'll expect you to participate a lot more than you did tonight."

He stalked to the door as it opened, brushing past Nurse Rin without a word.

Rin stared after him for a moment in surprise, then turned her attention back to her patient. Her eyes widened as she got to the side of the bed; Aiko realized her face must look a sight, smeared with blood from her split lip, and most likely she would have a nasty bruise left from Sakaki's fist as well.

"What happened here?" Nurse Rin asked, touching Aiko's cheek. Pain flared where her fingers touched the spot Sakaki had hit her.

Oh yes, definitely bruised, Aiko thought ruefully.

Aiko decided to have one last attempt at engaging the nurse's sympathy. "After you left," she wavered, "Sakaki -- Sakaki raped me... "

"What?" Rin's face showed shock for an instant before her expression closed down. "What a wicked lie to tell about Raikatuji-sama!" she said. "Tell me how you got that split lip! Truthfully, now!"

"Sakaki hit me," Aiko insisted. "And then he raped me. It's the truth."

Rin shook her head. "You addicts are always such liars," she said coldly. Her eyes fell on the sedative bottle with its tube dangling from it. "You must have gotten some movement back and slipped against the bedframe," she said, as if trying to convince herself. Picking up the tube, she reinserted it efficiently into Aiko's arm.

Aiko could see that the nurse wouldn't be swayed. Suddenly she very much wanted a shower, to get the smell and the feel of Sakaki off her body. "Please, Nurse Rin. I haven't had my shower yet," she pleaded.

Rin gazed down at her coldly. "I don't think so, not when you tell such wicked stories. You can have a shower in the morning."

She moved the nightdress up to catheterize Aiko again and gasped.

"What is it?" Aiko asked anxiously. With sedative again flooding her system, she could no longer feel her soreness, but also couldn't lift her head enough to see down.

"You -- you have some bruising," Rin answered slowly. As Aiko took a breath to press the point that she had been raped, Rin held up her hand. "I don't want to hear another word against Raikatuji-sama! I don't know what happened while I was out, and I don't want to know! My job is to keep you here under sedation until you're over your addiction. It's not up to me what you and he do!"

"Nurse Rin, please!"

"No!" The nurse refused to meet Aiko's eyes. "Since you've got a little abrasion to the tissues there, I won't catheterize you tonight. You can wear an adult diaper instead. But if you say one more word, I will increase the sedative until you're asleep."

Aiko's lips pinched together. She didn't want to sleep, not with Miyatsu on his way. She watched Rin with resentful eyes as the nurse busied herself at one of the cabinets, finding diapers.

*

Miyatsu opened the bedroom door to find his four eldest children clustered together just outside, wide-eyed and nervous, brought from their beds by their father's cries.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Montaro asked.

This was a complication Miyatsu hadn't foreseen. "I -- I'm not sure," he said. "I had a -- a vision? It was Aiko. She told me that she's alive and -- I know this sounds crazy, but I have to go and check for myself."

The children exchanged glances. Miyatsu could see they feared for his sanity. He knew he must look crazy, with his ears laid flat against his skull and his fur puffed out in response to the adrenalin currently flooding his system. He stilled the nervous swishing of his tail and the extending and retracting of his claws, trying to calm down.

Mieko put a gentle hand on her father's arm, her brown eyes full of concern. "Dad, you must have dozed off and had a nightmare. Mum's -- she's dead, Dad."

Miyatsu shook his head. "I can't explain what happened, but I saw her. I saw her psychic signature."

Montaro gasped. "You've found her sig? After a week?" Hope warred with disbelief in his eldest son's face.

"She managed to project somehow." Miyatsu's eyes unfocused for a moment as his words brought up a memory from years ago. "She's done that projection trick before!" He frowned, trying to remember. "Once definitely. Maybe twice. She projected from Sakaki's office into the stadium where I was training. And -- yes, I'm sure of it, when I collapsed in Shanghai! I thought then that I was delirious, but she was there!" He gazed at his children wildly. "She's alive! I have to go to her!"

"Dad, wait!" Montaro stepped in front of him. The youngster was rapidly approaching him in height. "How are you going to find her?"

"She told me where she's being held on the mainland!" Miyatsu hesitated, then continued more slowly, "My powers are still weak; I've overstretched them and they haven't fully recovered yet. I'll need the boat to get to the mainland and bring Aiko back."

"No."

Miyatsu stared at his son, the resolute blue eyes almost level with his. "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean you're not going anywhere unless we come with you. You told us this evening that you wouldn't leave us again. You promised."

"Montaro's right, Dad," Mieko backed up her mate. "If there's any possibility that Mum's still alive, we're coming with you."

Hanako and Hideaki also stepped forward. "If Montaro and Mieko are going, so are we."

"No." Miyatsu shook his head. "You're too young, you're still only children... "

"If Mum's not alive," Mieko said, "if you were just having a -- a realistic dream, we want to make sure you come back home again."

"Please don't leave us again, Daddy!" Hanako pleaded, her brown eyes full of tears.

Miyatsu relented. "Montaro and Mieko can come along, but you have to stay on the boat when we get to the mainland," he said. "But you two," and he looked at Hanako and Hideaki, "I'm sorry, you're too young. You stay by the radio downstairs, and when we have Aiko, we'll let you know from the boat so you can wake your grandparents. They'll be able to notify the police."

Hideaki opened his mouth, looking about to argue again, but Hanako caught her brother's eye and shook her head slightly as Miyatsu turned to the other two.

"Get a pen and some paper," he instructed. "I've scratched the directions on the wall of the bedroom. I had nothing else to write with," he explained in answer to their puzzled expressions. "Copy the directions carefully: your mother is hidden in a chamber deep underground, and I don't want to have to spend hours trying to find my way."

"Whereabouts on the mainland is she, Dad?" asked Montaro as Mieko dashed away to fetch paper and a pen.

"The Raikatuji Clean Energy Facility at Kagoshima." Miyatsu's expression hardened. And when I get there, he thought grimly, I have some unfinished business with my brother.