The Lost Scroll of Fudo Shin (21 page)

Jimmy shook his head.  The second attacker was now groaning and slowly coming around.  Vanessa pointed at him.  “Let’s get him over to the door before he has a chance to dream up some crazy escape plan.”

“He’s not fully conscious yet.”

“He will be soon.”  Vanessa leaned close to him and spoke loudly.  “All right now, are you?  Good. Listen very carefully: I’m about to throw you off a moving train, so I suggest you brace yourself for the fall.  Got it?  Good.  Off you go.”

Jimmy watched her shove the second attacker off the train and then haul the door shut.

“There, that handles that little mess.”

Jimmy took a breath.  “I guess I wasn’t expecting you to be so-“

“-vicious?”

“Yeah.”

Vanessa nodded.  “You must know by now that I will do whatever I need to do in order to make sure you stay protected.  But both of those attackers were posing us no immediate and lethal threat, so therefore, they didn’t warrant a lethal response.”  She smiled.  “However, they were still a threat as long as they stayed on this train.  And worse, they might have the potential to alert the rest of Kotogawa’s forces.  He’s been known to put homing devices on his people so he can follow them wherever they might be.  That’s the last thing we need right now.”

“But won’t be find those two we just got rid of?”

“Most likely.  Although if I was in their shoes, I’d be more inclined to stay hidden for a while.”

“Why?”

“Kotogawa will punish them for their failure.  And it will be far worse than anything we just did to them.”

"How come Kotogawa never sends an army after us?  We're only two people.  If he wanted to, he could send a dozen people and we'd be screwed."

"We're keeping ahead of him, Jimmy.  That's why it's so important to keep moving all the time.  If Kotogawa can't get a fix on our location, he can't send in an overwhelming force.  The principle holds true in combat as well.  Never stop moving.  It make it harder for your attacker to land hits or grapple with you."

"Noted, but these goons do seem to have a talent for showing up wherever we are."

Vanessa nodded.  "Kotogawa has eyes everywhere.  And not just his hired killers.  he has a vast network of spies - ordinary people who keep him informed in exchange for some extra money.  With a fortune as vast as his is, he can afford to have spies in any place he chooses."

"Wonderful."  Jimmy glanced around.  "What now?"

“Now,” said Vanessa, “we go back and get some more sleep.  The fact that they somehow made it onto the train worries me.  It means we have even less time than I thought we had.  If Kotogawa knows you’re bound for Iga, then he knows more about us than I'm comfortable with him knowing.”

“Great.  How soon can we get lost again?”

“Once we finish our business at the mountain, I imagine we’ll be on our way to another location.  Fairly certain of it, in fact.  Plus, we'll touch base with Merlin and Hideaki.”  Vanessa waved him back toward the passenger car.  “But enough of this chitchat.  Let’s get our heads down.”

“Easier said than done,” said Jimmy.  Although he had to admit that the adrenaline dump he’d been expecting hadn’t materialized yet.  

More weirdness, he decided.

“I’ve heard the name Kotogawa before,” said Jimmy.  “But when you said it back there, it made my hair stand up.”

Vanessa nodded.  “Well, he’s not the nicest bloke you’d ever want to meet.  Rather a nasty sort, actually.”

“And he’s the guy who wants me dead?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful.  I've never even met him."

Vanessa smiled.  “Not in this lifetime anyway.”

“What in the world does that mean?”

“It’s a bit complicated.”

“I’ve got time.”

Vanessa sighed.  “You killed him over three hundred years ago, Jimmy.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“I killed him?”  Jimmy shook his head in bewilderment.  “How is that even possible?  I’m fourteen.”

Vanessa held up her hand.  “Well, not you, technically.  But your ancestors did.  Well, one of them, anyway.”

“If he was killed, then how is it that he’s still alive?”  

Vanessa smiled.  “That’s where things get a little…complicated.”

“Yeah, because this whole venture has been easy to understand up to this point.”  Jimmy sighed.  “What makes it complicated?”

“There are those who believe that our souls or spirits, depending on what your particular religious preference is, journey down through time and inhabit new bodies as the old ones grow old and fail.”

“You make the body sound like a car.”

Vanessa shrugged.  “In a lot of ways, that’s exactly what it is.  You put fuel into it and it carries you where you need to go.  But eventually, it starts to break down, pieces start falling off, and then…well, you need a new car.”

“And toss the old one.”

“Yes.”

“Into the junkyard.”

“Cemetery,” said Vanessa.  “I mean, in this case.”

Jimmy ran a hand over his head.  “So, you’re saying that I’m not me?  That I’ve got the spirit of one of my ancestors inside me?”

Vanessa seemed thoughtful.  “I’m not sure yet.”

“Yet.”

Vanessa sighed.  “We haven’t been quite able to determine whether that’s the case or not.  But I think we’ll know soon.”

“Great.  In the meantime, there’s this psychopath named Kotogawa after me because he thinks I’m the one who killed him hundreds of years ago.”  Jimmy leaned against the train.  “What if we told him that the spirit or soul or whatever isn’t in me?  Would he just leave me alone at that point?”

Vanessa shook her head.  “Highly doubtful.  Kotogawa would view that assertion as your attempt at conning him into not doing something.  He’s not very trusting, as you can well imagine.”

“Why would he be?  He thinks I’m out to kill him.”

Vanessa said nothing, but checked her watch and then looked back at Jimmy.  “Look, I know this isn’t exactly a normal thing for someone like you to be going through.”

“There’s an understatement.”

“I’d just ask that you hold your questions and concerns until we have a chance to get to the mountain and see what He has to say about all of this.”

Jimmy eyed her.  “Does He have a name?”

“Yes.  But I won’t tell you.  He wants to introduce himself and I won’t deprive him of that.”

Jimmy sighed.  “Fine.  How much longer until we get there?”

“About thirty minutes.  We’ll stay in a ryokan tonight and start out for the mountain first thing in the morning.”  

“Are you sure that’s safe?  Won’t those guys we just pushed off the train come after us if we’re in a country inn somewhere?”

Vanessa grinned.  “I doubt it.  They’ve got bigger things to worry about now.”

“But if they called Kotogawa and told him they’d found us on this train then he could have had time to set up an ambush for us.  I’m assuming there aren’t that many inns in the town we’re heading for?”

“There aren’t.”  Vanessa smiled.  “I like how you’re thinking.  Very strategic of you.”

Jimmy shook his head.  “I’m trying to save my butt.  I don’t know that strategy has much to do with it.”

“You’ll be fine for the night, trust me.”

“I have been,” Jimmy muttered.

They found their way back to their seats and Jimmy tried to close his eyes and sleep, but he couldn’t.  How was it that he had ended up in Japan, clear around the world from where he’d been living in the orphanage, minding his own business?  All he wanted to do was draw.  Hang out.  Play some video games.

The thought of Derek and Jamal massacring another video game filled his mind.  They always had such a good time demolishing supposedly unbeatable games.  

Now they were dead.

Jimmy felt his throat tighten.  He hadn’t had much time to think about them since Vanessa had scooped him up out of that place right before Kotogawa’s killers had stormed it and burned it to the ground.

But the clacking wheels flying over the tracks brought all that back now.  And as Jimmy thought about the fun they’d had, he felt his heart grow heavy.  The memories of those fun times, the few they’d had together, seemed so long ago.

A lifetime even.

They might still be alive if not for Jimmy.  

And Kotogawa.

You did not kill them.

Jimmy sighed.  I’m not really in the mood to talk to you right now.

I know.  You are upset.  Angry.  You feel as though you have no control over your life.  That yours is a predetermined destiny and you have only to read your lines without ever writing them.

Kinda.

Before you fall back asleep, I will tell you this: your life is not predetermined.  You still have the ability to choose and decide what you want to happen.

If that was true, thought Jimmy, then I’d go back and wish that none of this had ever happened.  

That is because you do not want your friends to be hurt.  You have a deep sense of honor within you born out of the warrior line you come from.  As difficult as it is to understand that right now, you must realize that running away from evil is never the answer.  Evil left unchecked will only flourish and doom more good people to tragedy.

Jimmy sighed.  I guess.

If you truly wish to honor the memories of your friends, then you will avenge them by battling the evil that Kotogawa spreads.  Help others and by doing so, your friends will live on.

Jimmy blinked and his eyes felt suddenly hot.  But he swallowed and took a deep breath.  Will I see you tomorrow?

I hope so.

And then the voice was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.  Jimmy stared out of the window at the dark night.  Nothing in his world felt certain and as much as he’d longed for a life of adventure back at the orphanage, he had to admit that he wasn’t sure how much more adventure he could stand right now.

* * *

After they left the Iga-Ueno train station, Vanessa had a taxi take them forty minutes outside of the town to a tiny village set deep into the side of one of the towering mountains.  From there, they walked the streets until they got to the inn.

The ryokan was a small two-level structure set back from the main road in town.  By the time Jimmy and Vanessa arrived, it was almost midnight.  The rest of the town seemed eerily quiet.  All around them, the peaks of mountains rose toward the night sky, topped by snow and fog.

“I feel like we’re walking backwards in time,” said Jimmy.

“It does tend to have that effect on people,” said Vanessa.  “The land around us is very old and those mountains have seen a lot of years slip by them.”

“The place feels strange.”

“Land of the supernatural,” said Vanessa.  “Come on.  The locals like to say that if you stay out too late on the road, the
tengu
will swoop down and kidnap you.”

“Tengu?”

“Part crow, part goblin creatures who live in the forests surrounding us.  They are supposedly incredible warriors who have trained some of the greatest samurai and ninja in Japanese history.”

Jimmy grinned.  “Yeah, right.”

“I’m being serious.  The old tales are quite certain that a number of famous samurai were trained by the tengu.”

“Yeah, but you don’t believe them, do you?”

Vanessa winked in the glow of the ryokan’s outside light.  “You never know, I guess.”

“I guess.”

They walked inside the inn and a sleepy innkeeper ushered them up to their room.  He didn’t say much and Vanessa seemed quite happy about that.  She waited until he’d left before turning to Jimmy.  

“Let’s get some sleep.”  She pointed to the futon beds set on the straw tatami mats lining the floor.  “I’ll take the one closest to the door, okay?”

Jimmy settled himself on the futon, wiggling his toes, which were finally free after being in shoes for the entire day.  “Won’t that innkeeper start blabbing all over that we’re here?”

“Who is he going to tell?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s not everyday that he has two people show up at midnight asking for a room.”

“That’s probably true.  But I tend to think we’re safe.”

“Why?”

“Because people in the rural areas of Japan value their privacy a lot more than those in the city.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Vanessa laid down on the futon and propped herself up on one arm.  “I’m not ever certain of anything in this game, Jimmy.  But that’s just the nature of what we have set before us.  We do the best we can with what we have at hand.  We make decisions and hope they’re the right ones.  Sometimes they are.”

“And if they’re not?”

“Then we deal with the consequences of that.  But the important thing is to not stay sitting on the fence in life.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning that you need to make a decision about where you stand.  Too many people in this world try to live their lives appeasing others, living in fear.  They never commit to anything.  They never stand up for an ideal.  And as such, they aren’t truly alive.”

“You’re saying I need to commit?”

Vanessa shrugged.  “I know you’ve committed to the training.  We all saw that on the ship on the way over here.”

“So, what then?”

“The bigger picture, Jimmy.  The reason you’re here.”

"I'm not sure I have the complete big picture yet."

Vanessa smiled and then stifled a small yawn.  “Well, you will soon enough.  And I hope then when you have the answers to the questions you’ve been wanting to ask, that you take some time to digest them before making a decision.”

“I will.”  Jimmy laid down on his futon and yawned.

“Because,” continued Vanessa, “it may well be the biggest decision you ever make in your life.”

Jimmy turned and looked at her.  “You really know how to make a guy relax right before bed.”

She laughed.  “It’s a talent.”

“That’s one way to phrase it.”  Jimmy took a breath.  “Did you always know what you wanted to do?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess.  I mean, growing up the way I did, I always wanted to make my father proud of me.  I guess it was a pretty natural thing for me to enter the military and then work for the government afterward.”