Free The Hinomoto Rebellion by Elizabeth Staley Page A

and then ordered a drink and a plate of food for the martial artist. Kanjou started to protest, but the Daimyo insisted, and Kanjou knew there was nothing he could say to change the politician’s mind. He gave a resigned sigh and let the issue go.
    The waitress scampered away and Shinrai gave a grin at Kanjou. “So, I hear you guys had some trouble the other night.” he said, suppressing a laugh.
    A frown crossed Kanjou’s face. “Yeah. Well it was stupid of me to even try it with only four of us anyway. We were disorganized and handled ourselves like a bunch of beginners.” he took another gulp of water and nearly slammed the glass down on the table, but calmed himself with a quick mantra and a deep breath.
“I told you to wait for the conference. It’ll be easier than trying to get to him beforehand.”
    The two men stopped talking when the waitress came back and put a glass in front of each of them. They both smiled at her and continued talking once she had walked away again.
    “Yeah well... I just want to get this over with. We’ve been working at it so hard for a year and... I thought that if we could get rid of him earlier than the conference, we won’t have so much to worry about.” Kanjou rested his head in his hand, setting his elbow on the white table. “The good news is that we got two new members in the past 24 hours. Finally found some ronin we can trust. At least, one I’m sure we can and one that’s powerful enough for me to take a chance on.”
“Oh? Anybody I’d know?”
    Kanjou grinned. Shinrai was a secret fan of the underground fighting circuit, something that would land him in prison quickly if it was found out. “You might know the one. Girl by the name of Andrea the Tiger.”
    Shinrai’s mouth fell open for a second. “I have heard of her,” he breathed, “How did you manage to get her? I hear that she’s a coldhearted killer! She’s supposed to be a very powerful fighter!”
    Kanjou frowned again. “I wish we could say that she joined out of the goodness of her heart but... she had no place else to go. The bar she was living beneath was raided last night, then she set it on fire.”
    Just then the waitress came back with the plate of food for the brunet. She placed it in front of him as she winked and then headed off again.
“Will you all be ready by the time of the conference?” Shinrai took a sip of his drink.
     
Kanjou sighed as he picked up his chopsticks. “We need more training but I think if we work at it every day and maybe get another member or two we can be ready by then. We’ll have to be, anyway.”
    Shinrai stood, reaching into the pocket of his shorts and pulling out a wallet. “I don’t need to tell you how important this is, Kanjou. It’s for the good of every single person in Hinomoto. Make sure you all are ready.” He smiled warmly and dropped a bill on the table that was more than enough to pay for the two drinks and the food, then he turned and walked away.
    Kanjou graciously ate the meal that had been bought for him, then handed the waitress the money and left before she could bring change.
    The tall brunet dawdled a bit on his way back to Headquarters, enjoying a nice walk alone as the citizens of Shibasaki began to batten down for the night, in some districts they surrendered the streets to the ochiudo .
    Kanjou hated that word just as much as all martial artists did. Ochiudo. Though some of the fighters that lived in the underground had actually turned to lives of crime the government used the word to apply to all who practiced the fighting arts. To most martial artists, learning the traditions of their people wasn’t a crime, especially since the current government was founded because of the hard work of warriors with the same training. For a time the new government had been the ideal solution for Hinomoto, but then the leaders had outlawed martial arts out of fear of another rebellion.
    Kanjou watched a police car cruise by. He tried not to