Heart of a Traitor

by Aaron Lee Yeager

  “Sit down Sorano,” Nariko barked. “You are Nitohei Second Class; you don’t even get to order around any squirrels we happen across.”

  “She’s just scared,” Sorano accused.

  “Who’s scared?” Taka said, taking a swig of ale. “It’s not like she’s got anything on me, anyway. There’s nothing she can say that will ruffle my wings. Go right ahead.”

  “Um, okay then,” Sakurako said, closing her silver eyes for a second. “Taka dyes her hair.”

  Taka’s eyes shot open and she coughed as ale came out her nose. Everyone sat there quietly for a moment as she grabbed a cloth and wiped herself off.

  “You dye your hair?” Michi said, covering her mouth to suppress a giggle.

  “But, every morning the curse resets our bodies,” Nariko said, scratching the back of her head. “Are you saying that you re-dye your hair every single morning?”

  “Well,” Taka began uncomfortably, tugging at the pink and purple stripes in her hair. “When you have bright blue butterfly wings you can’t just have normal boring brown hair,” she asserted.

  Suddenly, Taka began laughing. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but the others quickly began laughing deeply as well. Their laughter carried out over the silent swamp waters and gnarled trees and some birds took to the air west of them.

  “Do Michi next!” Sorano yelled.

  “No, don’t you dare,” Michi said, her face turning pale.

  “C’mon, we did ours, now it’s your turn,” Taka insisted.

  “She has a hairy tongue,” Sakurako revealed.

  Michi’s face turned beet red in embarrassment and she pulled the collar of her uniform up over her face.

  “Do you really?”

  Michi nodded, trying to keep her composure.

  “Can I see?” Ami asked, her pink eyes innocently enthralled.

  “No!” Michi said. “That would be way too embarrassing.”

  “Pleaaaaaase,” Ami begged, rocking adorably from side to side.

  Michi resisted, but looking around at everyone she finally caved into the pressure.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Michi said, sticking the tip of her tongue out. Ami reached out with her pink glove and touched the tip.

  “It’s all sandpapery like a kitty’s tongue,” Ami giggled.

  “You guys are terrible,” Michi said, covering her face in embarrassment. “Now I’ll never be able to be a bride.”

  “Oh, you’ll be fine,” Keiko consoled. “Think of it this way, if everything is out in the open there’s nothing to be embarrassed about anymore.”

  “Then do Keiko next,” Michi said, slapping Sakurako warmly on the back. Nariko noticed the gesture and decided not to protest anymore.

  I guess in a weird way it worked.

  “Okay, but you guys promise not to make fun of me, right?” Keiko confirmed.

  “Absolutely not!” Michi sounded.

  “Oh great, what have I agreed to?” Keiko said, her hair turning jade with concern.

  “She’s allergic to the color purple,” Sakurako revealed.

  “Is that even possible?” Nariko asked.

  “It’s true,” Keiko said. Something changed in my skin the last time I died and now I get a rash if I am exposed to purple light.”

  “A toast, to the color purple,” Taka announced, holding up her glass. “The official color of Shiro squad!” Everyone cheered and clanked their glasses together enthusiastically.

  “Now it’s time for our illustrious Gunsho from Second Division,” Taka said, a jealous smile on her lips. “If you’re so perfect, then why are you here?”

  Sakurako moved to close her eyes but Nariko stopped her. “It’s all right, I’ll tell them. Nariko became quiet and swirled the ice in her drink around for a second. “I turned down a demon weapon that was offered to me. I...insulted our client and shamed my family name. Because of me we almost lost one of the components to end the curse. I...I nearly doomed our entire people.”

  Everyone sat silently looking at Nariko for a few moments.

  “Wow, you are an even bigger screw-up than we are,” Taka said with a smile. “It looks like we are in good company.”

  Taka slapped Nariko on the back and broke out another keg of ale. The gesture caught Nariko off guard. She had been trying to help Sakurako find acceptance. She hadn’t really been looking for it for herself. She thought she didn’t need it. The sensation was...odd to Nariko. She didn’t quite know how to process it.

  “Don’t forget me!” Ami said, sticking out her bottom lip. “I’m part of the squad, too.”

  Sakurako sat straight and closed her eyes. For several moments she was silent and then her face pinched a little, as if she was exerting great effort.

  “What’s wrong?” Keiko asked.

  “I’ve never had this happen before...” Sakurako trailed off. “I...I can’t read her.”

  “A-ha! That’s our Ami for you,” Sorano boasted, spilling some ale on her uniform. “You can’t read her thoughts because she doesn’t have any.”

  “I do too!” Ami squealed in offense.

  Shiro squad burst out in laughter and ale mugs were clacked together.

  “Oh, I forgot, I made sticky-buns!” Ami announced as she skipped over to the skiff. Despite the heat, Ami was wearing a full ruffled pink dress with matching bonnet.

  “What is wrong with her, anyway?” Nariko whispered to Michi discreetly.

  “Everyone has their own theory,” Michi said, squeezing the bridge of her nose.

  Ami came back and set the tray down, eliciting cheers.

  “I love sticky buns,” Taka said hungrily as she took one.

  “Is this real cream cheese frosting?” Michi gushed as she devoured hers hungrily.

  “I made one for each of us, so no fighting,” Ami said, daintily nibbling at her own.

  “But, there are six of us and you made seven buns,” Nariko observed as she chewed. Suddenly the table grew quiet and the air grew tense.

  “Oh no,” Keiko said, her hair turning gray.

  Sorano, Taka and Michi leaned forward, eying each other warily. Before them in the center sat the final sticky bun, the frosting glistening in the sunlight. Realizing what was about to happen, Sakurako leaned back as far as she could.

  The three Senshi leapt forward onto the table, collapsing it and sending plates and mugs in all directions. So quickly they moved as they wrestled, grabbed, laughed, clawed, swore, and cheered, that it looked more like a whirling ball of motion than three separate people fighting over a pastry.

  Nariko sat on her chair in the center of the chaos, calmly finishing her lunch.

  Look at them knitting together so nicely. I wonder if they suspect that you are just grooming them for your little coup?

  Nariko’s mood darkened a little and a twinge of guilt pulled at her heart.

  Michi stood up triumphantly, holding the final sticky bun in her hand. “I win,” she announced. “And I already licked it, so no one else can take it.”

  “What are you, twelve?” Keiko said, her hair turning faintly green.

  “Ha! You think licking it will stop me?” Sorano boasted as she snatched the sticky bun out of her hand and took a bite. “I’ve eaten out of dumpsters before!”

  “Ewwwwwwww,” Ami said, sticking her tongue out.

  Suddenly wanting to be alone, Nariko gave orders to clean up and allowed everyone an hour of rec time before they would continue the search for more surds.

  While Nariko sat quietly in the hover skiff, thinking to herself, Michi and Keiko pulled out a metallic suitcase and paid their respects to the spirits of the machine, then began spreading its contents onto a silk blanket.

  “What are you guys working on, there?” Sakurako asked softly, kneeling down alongside them.

  “We’re working on our entries for the Shogatsu Tournament. You wanna help?” Keiko offered.

  “Sure, I guess,” Sakurako said. “What can I do?”

  “Here, po
lish these,” Keiko said, handing her some small gears.

  Michi set down her entry, which looked like a small mannequin toy with a single glowing blue eye in the center of its teeny head. She tapped the rune on its back and the small robot came to life. It looked around inquisitively then got up and skipped around in a circle, happily chirping to itself.

  “Is it emoting?” Sakurako asked.

  “Yep,” Michi said proudly, “Hachikou here should have a full range of human emotional states.”

  Hachikou collapsed down to the floor wailing and thrashing around and beating its tiny pincers into the ground.

  “Its emotions seem to be a little erratic,” Sakurako observed.

  “It’s so cute!” Ami praised as she scooped it up and hugged it against her. Hachikou began trilling furiously at her. Ami recoiled, but it had already grabbed a hold of one of her pink pigtails. Ami began shrieking and flailing her arms about as she ran in a circle.

  Michi jumped up and grabbed a hold of Hachikou, which warbled loudly in protest. As Michi finally managed to tap the rune in its back, the pincer closed with a snip and Ami’s pigtail fell slowly to the ground where it dissolved into ash.

  Ami screamed in shock. “My hair, my hair! Your stupid robot cut my hair!”

  “Luminarch’s toenails, I’m really sorry Ami,” Michi apologized.

  “Don’t worry, it’ll grow back at dawn,” Keiko comforted. Ami sat down and pouted, pulling out a small mirror to examine her ruined hair.

  “That’s so great that you made a robot with mood swings,” Taka said sarcastically as she lay nearby, kicking her feet. “How completely useless.”

  “Great, I invented the teenager,” Michi sighed.

  Suddenly Taka leapt up, her wings trembling with excitement.

  “Hey, look at that frog over there,” she shouted, pointing a manicured nail off to one side.

  Sitting on a large three-tiered leaf was a small frog with bright neon skin.

  “So what?” Keiko questioned.

  “I heard that you can get a great buzz if you lick these things,” Taka explained, fluttering off toward the frog.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nariko shouted as she stood up in the skiff. “We don’t know anything about this planet or the...”

  It was too late. Taka had already snatched the frog out of the air when it tried to leap away from her and was in the process of licking its back as it squirmed in her clutches.

  “Why is everyone here so gross?” Ami asked.

  Taka fluttered back over and landed on the edge of the knoll. Everyone watched her in anticipation, waiting to see what her response would be.

  “Feel anything?” Sorano asked as she looked around for a frog of her own to catch.

  Taka nodded slowly, then threw her head down and began vomiting violently into the swamp water underneath her. The group burst into laughter, enjoying this example of living karma.

  “I don’t remember eating that,” Taka hacked. Nariko found herself laughing as well. They laughed so loud that they didn’t even notice the distant thud of a rocket being fired, nor did they notice the twisting white trail as the rocket sped toward them.

  The first rocket blew the skiff apart, sending shrapnel and supplies in all directions. Michi and Keiko were thrown back by the blast, landing in the swamp water beyond the edge of the knoll.

  “I thought this planet was supposed to be uninhabited, Sakurako said as she opened up the heavy weapons crate.

  “Tell that to them!” Nariko called out as she snatched a spinning rifle out of the air and took aim. Their attackers were flying in quickly on green translucent wings, three soldiers wearing some kind of modified exo-armor. Nariko took aim and fired at the center warrior, but her shots flew past its head.

  I missed?

  The soldier fired a white-hot beam weapon from its hand. Nariko threw herself to one side just in time as the beam sliced deeply into the wet ground, sending up a jet of mist. Nariko winced and grabbed her shoulder in pain. The armor had been melted off and her skin was burned from where she had been grazed.

  Why am I moving so slowly?

  The two lead warriors landed at the edge of the knoll, their large wings sucked back in through cracks in their armor as if they were made of liquid.

  Ami grabbed a hold of an injured Michi and managed to pull her into cover behind the wreckage of the skiff.

  “Stand back, I got this,” Sorano announced as she readied her plasma rifle and fired. The oversized blast threw Sorano backwards over the knoll where she splashed down into the swamp water. Her beam struck the lead warrior dead in the chest, carving out a pumpkin-sized hole then continuing off into the horizon.

  The warrior made a strange gurgling sound and slumped over into the filthy swamp water.

  “Didja’ see that?” Sorano boasted as she stood up out of the putrid water. “A full twenty shot flask in one shot!”

  “Take a look at your weapon, genius.” Nariko admonished as she drew her katana. Sorano held up her steaming plasma rifle, which was charred and twisted almost beyond recognition.

  “Ah, frak!” Sorano swore just before she was forced to dive to one side, the water where she had been standing churned up by a hail of bullets.

  Ami and Keiko fired at the second warrior as it approached. The green darts of energy dug deeply into the armor, sending superheated droplets running down the surface like raindrops. True to their training, they focused on the thigh armor until enough molten armor ran down into the knee joints to lock them in place.

  Above them in the air Taka fought with the third warrior, the two darted and weaved around each other with frightening speed, her beam daggers cutting deep gouges into its armor.

  With a yell Nariko charged the hobbled soldier, black fire and electrical energies running over the length of her blade. The warrior’s right arm reformed into a large battle-axe and struck out at her as she approached.

  Nariko slid down on one leg, the blade of the axe passing just inches above her head. Nariko slashed at his armored leg, but her blade only struck the flat of his axe as he blocked her. The two weapons shrieked in protest as their energized blades sparked and rebounded against each other. The warrior effortlessly pushed Nariko down, its strength multiplied many times over by the artificial muscles in the armor. Nariko struggled for a moment then rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being sliced in half as the axe blade buried itself into the ground.

  Nariko kicked her legs into a reverse somersault that brought her to her feet. The warrior stamped its leg on the ground and more clear-green liquid flowed out. A heartbeat later, translucent spikes burst forth out of the ground beneath Nariko’s feet. One caught her in the hip, spinning her around as the razor sharp tip shattered her armor and cut into her flesh. Another nearly caught her in the throat. Nariko slashed at it with her blade, but the spike withdrew and her sword found only air.

  I...I can’t even touch him.

  Haven’t you figured it out yet? You are only fast when you are me.

  “Clear the backblast area!” Sakurako called out from the center of the knoll where she had managed to set up the squad’s rocket launcher. With an acrid trail of smoke the rocket slammed into the warrior Nariko had been fighting, blasting the left side of its body to pieces in a cloud of black smoke.

  Michi and Ami gave up a quick cheer and trained their fire on the remaining warrior in the skies above.

  “You chuckleheads better not hit me,” Taka warned as she dived and darted in the air, their shots passing around her.

  “Something is wrong,” Sakurako warned.

  Nariko looked back and saw the first warrior pull itself back up, water pouring out of the gaping hole in its chest. The second warrior stepped out through the smoke that had obscured it. Through the torn and punctured armor Nariko could see their green flesh beneath rippling and flowing like water.

  The second warrior raised its watery arm into the air and reshaped it into a long sinuous whip.<
br />
  “They’re demons!” Nariko yelled out, rolling to the side just in time for the whip arm to come crashing down where she had been standing. The ground twisted and hissed at the touch. Nariko brought her sword down and cleaved straight through the arm, but it did not sever. Disbelieving, Nariko slashed it two more times, but the arm healed even as her blade passed through it.

  It’s like trying to cut water.

  The first demon raised its armored arms and the material reformed into multiple rocket tubes, primed and ready to fire. Nariko drew her pistol and let off two bolts of blue energy that hit the rockets, detonating the warheads within their own tubes. The demon’s armored arms shattered to pieces from the explosion, but when the smoke cleared the fluid body underneath was unharmed.

  Sakurako pulled out a ceremonial dagger and ran it across the palm of her hand. Silver blood came out like mercury and dripped onto the ground beneath her. Placing her hands together she incanted in the ancient Ashtari tongue and the silver blood traced out along the ground, forming a pentagram held within a circle, ancient and powerful symbols traced along its inner and outer edges.

  “You have to draw them into the circle,” Sakurako instructed, her silver hair floating around her as she performed her witchcraft.

  “Hit them with everything, draw them back,” Nariko ordered as she backed up toward the circle, repeatedly firing her pistol into the exposed flesh of the second demon. Ami, Michi, and Keiko did the same, their beams passing harmlessly through the demons as they closed in. Sorano, not having a usable weapon, instead picked up anything she could find lying around on the ground and threw them at the demons.

  “No, not my pork cutlet, I was saving that!” Ami cried out as she watched the plate of food splatter onto the lead demon.

  “The banishment spell is ready,” Sakurako called out, silver discharges of ethereal energy passing between her fingertips and the edge of the circle. The two demons stopped advancing when they reached the edge of the circle.

  “Just one more step,” Nariko called out as she entered the circle.

  “They’re not falling for it,” Keiko warned as she fired one last burst, her rifle chirping empty.

  Suddenly there was a warbled war cry and little Hachikou leapt up onto one of the demons, poking and snipping at its watery flesh with its little pincers.