Ion 417: Raiju

by James Darcey

  "Oh! I'd forgotten. So sorry. See? You are injured. That needs a doctor my friend."

  "I can't go to a doctor. Last time I went to a doctor he was going to give me to FBI, whatever that is. It didn't sound like I wanted to find out."

  "You need help. Trust me."

  I couldn't think of a single reason to trust him, yet I went along as he wrapped a big coat around me. He handed me a cloth wrapped stick that unfolded into a portable roof at the push of a tiny button. If I held it low it covered most of my head. For some reason it had been adorned with a comical looking white feline. I was bundled tighter than that first night rescuing Panzo.

  I could hold the umbrella low enough to cover my face, and still watch where we were going through the clear pattern of the smiling cat's eyes. In the back yard of his shop, next to the little garden with my trampling footprints, was a small car. He helped me into that, before opening a gate that led into the alley.

  The police were no longer searching the ally for me. Let me just hope that my luck won't fail this kind man. Let me also hope that he actually is a kind man, and not just pretending to be one. The same tactical studies told me that he was most likely the lure that activated the trap. I would know within a kilometer or two.

  When he exited the alley and turned onto the main road, there were still police cars lining the side in front of the bank. A few people were standing around trying to see inside. There were also half a dozen vans bearing the marks of the news reporters parked wherever they could squeeze into.

  Many of those trying desperately to catch a look inside the bank were holding microphones and cameras. One person was standing on the corner looking all around. In a sea of faces looking into the bank, she was obvious for looking outward. I didn't have to look twice to know who it was.

  "Sakura!"

  "Wha..? Who?"

  "That lady on the corner. Let me out there by her. That's Sakura."

  He pulled over closer to her and rolled his window down a little. As I started to get out he pulled at my shoulder sending another wave of pain through my side. Getting his help was certainly painful. I could manage the level of it with ease, but it was that he kept grabbing my shoulder to send another searing wave of it through me that was hard to manage. He called out the window.

  "Sakura? Hurry get in."

  She looked at him as though trying to connect his face to someone that would know her. At first she hesitated and then saw me in the other seat with the umbrella askew. Sakura wasted no time in getting in the rear seat. She was trying to get a better look at me as she sat down, but the acceleration threw her back against the seat and slammed the door closed. There was a bit of a squeal from the tires as they endured the sudden demand for motion.

  "Are you alright, Ion?"

  He glanced at me, "Ion?"

  "That's my name. Please, where are you taking me... us?"

  He was yanking the wheel back and forth, swerving through the stream of cars on the road. His words coming in bursts between changes of direction, "You've got... a bullet in you... That's why... it hurts so much. So sorry for grabbing it... earlier. We have to get it out of you."

  I pleaded, "If you stop long enough I might be able to yank it out, but not easy."

  He had steadied the motion of the car somewhat, though still outpacing the other vehicles, "It takes a doctor to pull one out, and doctors have to report any bullets they remove. Sort of like thinking that the only way to get a bullet in you is doing something illegal."

  "I don't think I broke laws."

  He continued, "Vets -- now vets on the other hand might be able to do it without a fuss. I know just the one too."

  Sakura added her own concern, "You're taking her to a vet? How is that any better?"

  "What is vet?"

  "My friend works with the horses at this ultra private resort. She's really good too."

  It wasn't making a lot of sense. I wasn't some monster; I thought I had made that clear to him. I needed a person that worked on pulling bullets from Humans, not some doctor that spent all of his time dealing with monsters.

  Sakura reached forward to put her hand on my good shoulder, "It might be the only way unless you want him to drive you to Lafiel."

  "But, I'm not some Youkai! Nor a horse!"

  "She's really good with animals, and when you think about it humans are just animals that can tell their doctor where it hurts. Look, she can fix just about any animal, and since she isn't a regular doctor I don't think she'd have to report pulling out a bullet."

  "I'll be with you, Ion. Everything will be ok once we get that bullet out of you."

  I had no choice but to enjoy the ride as much as I could. I trusted Sakura's judgment. Like she had said, I really couldn't have him drive us to the old temple for the bio-bed. I'd never be able to convince him that I was any less alien than the furry ones there. I just wish he'd shift the car into hover mode to skip over the bumps.

  The road took us up through the mountains as the buildings dwindled to houses, and those became sparse enough to cease having walls to separate them. The hum of the motor lulled me into a semi-sleep that sent the pain fading away. Every time Sakura or the man said something, the words would jerk me back to the waking present. His name was Takeru, or so he told Sakura. His voice really had a lovely sound to it. I just wasn't sure if he was telling the same story, or different ones each time I roused to consciousness.

  At last we left the road to make our way past a field where horses were running. I sort of half-heard him say that his friend lived in the tiny house next to the big one that the horses shared. I laughed even though it hurt. I shared with them the humor in finding that an animal doctor gave the bigger house to the animals.

  Sakura laughed too, "When you put it that way it really does sound funny."

  We stood at the door of the tiny house waiting, after pushing the button next to it a few times. Another bit of knowledge; a signaling device to request entry. It probably caused the ringing sound like when Motokawa had made my identity.

  "Is it a stray dog or a cat that you bring me this time, Takeru?"

  The woman had come around the corner of the house to meet us. The apron didn't look all that out of place on her tall frame, and when combined with the heavy gloves that stretched halfway to her elbow, it was obvious that she took the hard work seriously. It was dirty hard work too, from the smear of brown dirt that crossed her cheek.

  The dark braid flipped over her shoulder showed several strands that had come loose to stick out at odd angles. Had it stayed behind her it would have reached to the middle of her back. When you took it all in, you could tell that she loved her work, regardless of the hard parts. Or maybe because of them.

  "Rin! I don't bring that many, do I?"

  "This will be seven; luckily I found homes for most of the others. Why is she wearing a coat? It isn't raining either."

  "Rin, please, we need to go inside."

  "I'll get washed up and meet you in the kitchen then. It won't take me long."

  Takeru had deflected her scrutiny of me and stepped between us to steer her back the way she had come, "Actually we need to talk in your office this time."

  Sakura and I followed along behind as we went through a normal size door in the side of the barn. She was still talking about the last stray dog that he had brought to her when we got to her small office in the corner of the barn. I had to drop the umbrella to fit through the door into her area. She gasped at seeing my face, and turned glaring at Takeru, "Only you would bring me a Raiju."

  "Raiju? What are you talking about?"

  She pointed to a viewer in the corner of the room that was showing the bank. It was like a scene from yesterday with the excited announcer trying to fill the blank with information when he had none, "That report has been going on for the last hour! Raiju this, and Raiju that. The half dozen blurry phone pics don't do her justice, but you can't deny it's her."

  Somewhere they had managed to get a picture of me th
rowing a bolt at the guy in the middle. The scrolling words at the bottom read 'Raiju defeated Shinjin Oni gang.'

  Takeru increased the volume so that we could hear the words. 'If not for the newly proclaimed Raiju, this would have been their third heist for the day. Tokyo Trust, just a kilometer down that same road had seen three people wounded during that encounter. After yesterday's incident at Saikou Industries, people are questioning why this Raiju is so selective of where she strikes.'

  We all stood there staring at the television as it went on about the incident. 'So far, the police had been unable to stop them in their quest to rob every bank in Sendai. Seven banks, two of them today, were stripped as the police efforts bounced harmlessly off their illegal body armor. They hadn't planned on Raiju stepping out of ancient myth, and ruining their day.

  Most of the witnesses report seeing Raiju drop down through the ceiling, wreathed in lightning. Of course none of the would-be robbers had planned on facing such a potent adversary when they set out on the crime spree of terror. One of them was knocked clear into the vault, where he barricaded himself until police rescued him. Another had landed amid bank patrons who subdued him under a barrage of purses and briefcases.

  Only one of the robbers even had a chance at fighting her. He opened fire on her with a machine pistol against her lightning. One witness swears that at least seven shots hit her square in the chest without any sign that she felt them. Blood found at the scene seems to confirm this tale.

  Witnesses reported a shootout between the bank employees and the Raiju, but the manager had refuted that claim. So far the bank was cooperating with the police investigation, although they refused to release their security video, claiming the system had suffered a malfunction from the lightning.'

  I winced with the pain surfacing once more, "Oh I felt it all right."

  My words broke through the distraction caused by the television, and drew their attention back to me. Rin peeled back the large coat to see the shoulder still oozing blood from the hole that refused to close, "You're still bleeding! From where?"

  Rin looked at where I was pointing, but couldn't see anything past all the red smears. She could see the fresh blood, but couldn't see the hole until she poked it, and I gasped. This was going to do no good unless she saw the hole, so I pulled open the fastening seam to slip it off my shoulder. Rin and Sakura shouted in unison for Takeru to turn around. His face flashed red and he spun about to stare at a poster detailing the musculature of an ox.

  She had me lay back on a table that looked quite a bit like the examination table from the hospital, so that she could look at my shoulder better. A powerful light came on above me, and she angled it right at my shoulder, apologizing if it was too bright for me. I winced as she pressed in a little hard on the hole that was almost closed now. She was making little soft noises as she prodded me.

  She laughed again at my quizzical look, "Most of my patients like soothing sounds, especially since they can't tell me what hurts."

  "It sort of helps take my mind from the pain."

  "Just how did you manage to make it look like you were throwing lightning?"

  "It's just me. Why does it sound odd when you know there are animals that can do the same thing?"

  "You're right, there are eels in the Amazon who stun their prey with jolts of electricity, but what you did is much more than that."

  I really wasn't in the mood to put on a demonstration for her. The last thing I needed was for her to start trying to take me apart to see how I did it. Let her wonder for now. I needed the pain to stop.

  "Well Raiju, there's a bullet stuck in there that will have to come out. I don't dare use anything to put you to sleep for this, so it'll hurt a lot."

  "It already hurts."

  That brought a smile to her face, "I'm sure it does. The body usually isn't happy about extra unplanned holes being put in it. Did you have any questions before I go poking around for the chunk of lead you decided to collect?"

  "I keep hearing things that I don't know about, like cosplay and Raiju."

  "That's your big question? Not something like losing an arm or whatever?"

  Takeru started laughing where he was closely examining a curved metal wall decoration. He began to turn, but she yelled at him to look the other way. His eyes snapped back to the metal shape as though she had slapped him. It looked kind of funny with him talking to that thing hanging there.

  "Ok, first off. Raijin is the old God of Thunder, and Raiju is his pet that shoots lightning. That's the simple version anyway. Rin would smack me if I got into the long version of all the stuff that's been written on him."

  "A pet?"

  "The really funny part is that Raiju is almost always referred to as male, though the shape changes in some texts. You are definitely not male, right Rin?"

  "I'm nobody's pet!"

  Sakura laughed, "That's for sure. You like to pet bears instead."

  "How was I to know he'd bite me?"

  Rin glanced back at me from her prodding, "I hadn't heard about a bear, but anyway, on to your other question. Cosplay is a little harder to explain; at least without making it sound like half the Humans running around are crazy. It's dressing up like a fictitious hero, most often super powered."

  Rin was poking metal tools down into the hole, "Hold still, almost got it. There!"

  Her tweezers pulled out the rounded lump covered in my blood. She looked closely at it before letting it drop with a clang into the metal bowl at the side of the table, "Now don't move as I get something to sew this hole closed."

  Rin pulled open a couple drawers to grab stuff. When she returned it had already stopped bleeding and was closing rapidly. She just stared at it as the hole became a lightly tinted patch of skin.

  "Well, my little Raiju, you are just full of surprises. You're all set."

  Now it was Sakura's turn, "Not quite. I have to do a little touch up first."

  Between Rin and Sakura, they managed to get the blood cleaned up well enough, even rinsing it from the shipsuit. Pulling out the bottle of tanning spray, she covered my face and hands. I pulled the shipsuit back into place; it would dry soon enough.

  Even my shoulder was already easing back into normal. I swung my arm in a loop testing it for pain -- almost all gone. The scarf dress slipped on easily, followed by the wig.

  "Ok, you can look now."

  Takeru turned around and just stared at me. It was like watching a fish in the tank of a restaurant we had walked by. His mouth was moving without words. Rin looked at him and poked his side.

  "Say something dummy!"

  Takeru stammered out. "Wow, you look different. I mean different in a good way, not bad different. I mean, well... yeah, you look good."

  I offered to pay Rin for healing me. She had treated me much nicer than the doctor had. When I pulled out some of the currency she just got a stern look.

  "You don't pay a friend for a favor."

  Takeru stepped up and put his hand over the money, "I'll repay her favor. I don't think..."

  "Of course, you don't think. She can take care of the favor by coming back sometime without collecting bullets. I can use another friend."

  She said that you don't pay a friend for a favor. I had no reply to that. She had called me a friend. Nobody had called me that before. I suppose that Sakura would also be called my friend, and in a wider range there were Panzo, Lafiel, and Traxel.

  Now that the crisis had passed, she pulled off the apron and led us out to the field we'd driven past. We hadn't gone far when all of the horses started to gather around her. This was her domain; I could see it in the way that she touched each one. They pressed noses to her hand, and she rewarded them with treats from her pocket.

  "I, I mean we should be going. Sakura's family will be waiting."

  Rin was holding one of the horses as she turned to look at me, "This is the part where you erase our memories, or perhaps make us disappear, never to be found.?"

  Her comment shocked
me. I knew that wiping memories was possible, because that was what my fate was supposed to be in Teyrn's hands. Thoughts flashed through my mind as I scrambled to think of something to say. Did Earth have that kind of technology? Did she really expect me to do something so wrong to her?

  "I wouldn't do that to you. I hadn't even thought to ask if you would keep me a secret."

  She actually hugged me as we parted, and invited me to return so that she could teach me to ride one of those horses. She hugged me; was that better than a bow? It felt better.

  I had a better opportunity to enjoy the country road we drove down as we returned to the city. My mind could wander along all the thoughts pressing for my attention while I enjoyed the feeling of life all around. One of the more pressing ones stuck in my brain, and prodded me to ask the book seller.

  "Takeru? Do any of those books of yours mention stuff about storing energy in crystals?"

  "Hmm? You mean like electricity? Or something else? Let me think for a moment."

  I waited patiently for all of about two point five minutes. Just about the time I thought he'd forgotten about it, he spoke up, "There are often references in the old tomes about exorcists capturing spirits in gems. Those are sort of energy. And of course Atlantis was famous for using crystals in magic to attune spiritual energy patterns."

  "Atlantis? How do I get there? Maybe I could talk to some of their engineers."

  He turned a puzzled look in my direction, "But of course you know that legend has Atlantis sinking into the ocean thousands of years ago?"

  "But you have it in books. There must be something more in the record."

  "Sure there are books about it. Some of them go into great detail, though it's more of a European myth. Such writings are thought to be great works of fiction."

  Now he had me confused, "Who would think something in books wasn't real?"

  "Like the stories of Raijin and Raiju. I have perhaps a dozen books in my shop with stories of the deeds they had done -- from battling off a band of thieves to burning down a farmstead that offended him. Many modern researchers put such stories down as early attempts to explain natural phenomena. In the case of Atlantis it was likely they were stories set to bring hope in times when conditions were difficult. Of course you're making me rethink such tales."