Silence In Numbers: File One (40 page)

“Alright,” Katsumi nodded, looking to Ayane. “Hold his eye open.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lenora paced the hallway nervously. Waiting for information on Katsumi in a hospital hallway was too familiar a feeling; Reno looked nervous, too, while Sano looked bothered by something at the same time. Law and Rufus had declined to come, saying they were sure she’d be fine and they preferred to do what she’d want. Maybe that was the best option, but Lenora couldn’t see herself doing that. This time, however, they only had to wait a few minutes, not hours. They were actually surprised when the doctor came out so quickly.

He looked at Sano. “I’m glad you were able to get me the information of her usual doctor. There’s nothing new to report, I’m afraid; this is simply her pre-existing condition. It’s quite known, even expected by this point, he said.”

All of them were caught off-guard by this announcement, understandably. Lenora shook her head. “Pre-existing condition? This isn’t something new?”

The doctor smiled. “No, it’s no new threat.”

“How long has she had this condition?” Sano spoke up.

“Are you family?” Sano shook his head and the doctor gave an apologetic smile. “Then I’m sorry, I can’t tell you anything more.”

Reno looked between the other two. “You think she has what Ayane has?”

Lenora shook her head. “Probably not. Ayane’s is slow, extended, and weakening; she doesn’t collapse suddenly.”

“I wonder if this is related to when I found her sick that one time,” Sano said more to himself than anyone. “She reacted really harshly to any questions about it.”

“We’d have to ask her ourselves,” Reno stated. “And I don’t know about you, but if she’s hid it for however long, that doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Lenora looked away, toward the room she knew Katsumi was in. Why couldn’t anything ever go the way they planned?

Katsumi came to with a throbbing headache and heavy fatigue. She felt like she had to fight her way to the waking world against the weakness pulling her back. The shock helped; she forced herself up upon realizing she didn’t recognize her surroundings, and then her mood darkened even further once she understood she was in a hospital room. A nurse glanced in, noting her movement. “Oh, good, you’re awake. You have visitors, I’ll go get them,” she said with a smile, leaving before Katsumi could say anything.

She realized she was still dressed from the night before, thankful for such a blessing as she stumbled out of the bed and slipped into her shoes just as Sano, Reno and Lenora entered. They all looked rested, so at least she knew they’d gone home, but she was still annoyed that they’d come back, and at the situation in general. It was unfair that her secrets kept getting revealed. Lenora stepped around the other two. “Katsumi, you really shouldn’t be up yet-“

“
Really?
” Katsumi turned around, raking her glare across all three and making them shift uncomfortably. Good. They deserved to be as uncomfortable as they were making her feel right now. She had no idea how many times she’d told them not to come when she was sick or injured, that it just made her feel worse. They didn’t listen, though; they didn’t seem to accept that she was different from them. They’d rather make themselves feel better by checking on her than listening to her wishes. She was tired of it. She folded her arms, keeping her glare on them. “Perhaps you’d like to tell me all about my sickness? Maybe you’d like to tell me exactly what I can and can’t do, how I can deal with it?”

Reno stepped forward. “Come on Boss, that isn’t fair.”

“Shut up.” Katsumi shook her head. “I’m tired of this. At first I felt bad, you know, you guys were only trying to help, only trying to make me feel better, even though I told you it didn’t work. It just makes it worse. But you needed some time to understand that, I knew that. But now? Look, if you can’t just drop things like this, then you can’t be in more than a business relationship with me.” She sighed, rubbing her temples. “Thanks for caring, thanks for bringing me here, thanks for making me important enough to worry about. I appreciate it. But please…
Please
just let it go, and try
listening
for once.” She grabbed her phone and turned around as they looked down sheepishly, grabbing her jacket and pulling it on. “I can’t deal with this right now anyway. What floor are we on?”

Lenora blinked. “Um… Third?”

“Good.” Katsumi pulled open the window, slipping through and dropping out. She heard the other woman gasp and could feel her watching a few seconds later as she landed on the pavement with both feet, standing and continuing to walk without breaking stride.
Let’s see if you’ve learned this time… Leave me alone… Leave it.
She kept her team cyber link open and looked at her phone as she walked. Several minutes passed without any attempt at contact from them and she sighed in relief, sliding the phone into a pocket. She really didn’t want to deal with the whole ‘why didn’t you tell us you were sick’ thing. It was enough having Ayane worry about it, she didn’t need her entire team doubting her abilities and treating her like a sick little girl. Her illness may be new to
them
, but
she’d
had it for years, and they needed to realize that.

Katsumi took a roundabout path, heading back into the hospital through a side entrance. She stepped into an elevator, hitting the button for the fifth floor. She was sure they knew she was going to her sister’s room, but she didn’t think they’d be stupid enough to try to meet her there. She got out of the elevator and headed towards the room, thankful the hospital was so quiet at this hour. She smiled when she saw Law sitting on the bench outside Ayane’s room; she didn’t know if he was waiting for her or Ayane to wake up, but she knew he was one of the only people in the world she wanted to see right now. The dark-skinned giant looked up when she approached, giving a nod. “She’s asleep,” he whispered.

“She better be,” Katsumi replied in a quiet voice. “C’mon, there’s a coffee room down the hall.”

“Perfect.” Law followed her down the hall and into the room, thankful he could speak normally here. “Heard about the incident. They bother you about it?”

Katsumi sighed, grabbing a cup and filling it with straight, black coffee, adding nothing before beginning to sip it, hoping it would wake her up more. “Of course they did. Not thirty seconds after I wake up, they’re crowding into the room acting like I’m dying.”

Law chuckled, beginning to make his own coffee. “Well, give ‘em a break, you surprised ‘em last night.”

“It wasn’t my idea. I tried to leave before I collapsed, I just wasn’t fast enough.” Katsumi leaned against the wall, crossing her legs as she blew on her coffee. “I might apologize later, but I’m just really tired of them not listening. I’ve been put in a hospital so much recently, shouldn’t they be used to it by now? I am.”

Law shrugged, looking at her. “Shouldn’t you be used to Ayane getting hurt by now?”

Katsumi frowned. “That’s different. She’s my sister.”

“You’re their friend.”

“If I died they’d be sad. If Aya died I’d break.”

“Fair enough, an’ I get your point, but they’re not as hard as we are.” Law leaned against the counter, looking a little funny with the tiny cup in front of his large frame.

“I just want them to be like you,” Katsumi said as she looked over at him. “You and Rufus understand. You don’t look at me with that concerned pity.”

“No, we like our bones where they are,” he said with a chuckle, drawing a smile from Katsumi.

“I’ve known you longer than they have. Besides, they feel a bit betrayed now; their friend didn’t trust them enough to tell them about a sickness she was dealing with.”

“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s
my
business, not
theirs
. I don’t have to tell them
anything.
”

“
You
know that, an’
I
know that, but
they
don’t know that.”

Katsumi sighed, rubbing her cheek. “Fine, I’ll try to clarify it later. I probably overreacted a bit…”

“Why, what’d you do?”

“Jumped out the window.” He laughed and she smirked at him. “It was the quickest exit! And I wanted to make a statement. I’ve just been so stressed and emotional lately, I lose control
so quickly. Sometimes I even
know
I’m losing control
while
it’s happening, but I can’t seem to stop myself.”

Law cracked his neck. “Sounds like a problem. Maybe it’s somethin’ you should think about a bit more, talk to Ayane about.”

“You think so?” Katsumi looked down at the cup in her hands. “I just… I guess it could be more than stress… But you know, I’ve always been a difficult person to be friends with.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, receiving a dry look from her. “You still somehow got a bunch of ‘em. I hope they at least appreciate how hard you’re tryin’.”

“
Thank
you,” Katsumi said with a sigh. “Do you know how much effort it takes for me just to visit someone? Or to smile when asked a question instead of shutting off completely? A lifetime of behavior is hard to undo.”

“I think they understand that. I try to explain a bit to them.”

“Oh, so you talk about me behind my back, do you?”

“All the time,” he said, grinning as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “But it’s all good things. Mostly.”

“Uh-huh.” Katsumi walked past him, yanking the cigarette from his hand as he brought it to his mouth, sticking it between her own lips. He gave her an amused look before pulling out another. Katsumi let out a breath of smoke as she stood at the doorway, looking down the hall. “I appreciate you running interference.” She turned around, leaning against the doorway as she studied him. “Do you know me better only because you’re my oldest friend?”

Law thought about that as he took a draw from his new cigarette, looking at the ceiling. “Maybe. Although it could be ‘cause we’re more alike, too. After all, Rufus understands most of it, an’ you haven’t known him all that long.”

“True.” Katsumi rolled the cig between her fingers. “They’ll never fully understand me, but they can at least accept what they don’t understand.”

“It’s not that hard when y’get down to it,” Law said as he looked at the floor. “What you do is, look at the situation: would you give a normal person a ‘get well’ card for whatever’s goin’ on? If so, leave Katsumi the hell alone. Simple.”

Katsumi chuckled softly, leaning her head against the wall. “Surely I’m more complicated than that.”

“
You
aren’t that simple;
dealing with you
is.”

“I guess so. I don’t get angry at you nearly as often.”

“Maybe you should just have your sister give ‘em some lessons.”

Katsumi grinned. “Dealing With Katsumi 101?”

Law shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.” She looked down the hall again and he chuckled. “Why don’t you go in there?”

Katsumi looked back into the room, tapping her cigarette over the trash can. “She needs her sleep.”

“She needs her sister.”

“Think so?” He nodded and she looked down the hall again. “Well, if you say so. Make sure you come in if you’re still here a few minutes after she wakes up,” she said before putting the cigarette out on the rim of the trashcan, dropping it in and heading down the hall.

Law chuckled. “That took a lot of convincing.”

Katsumi slipped into the dark room, closing the door quietly behind her. Ayane looked a lot better; she had more color, and no longer had an oxygen mask. Katsumi took a seat, not wanting to wake her, but also wanting to wake her. She settled for watching her, leaning back in her chair
with a smile. Despite what their father had done to her, she was still beautiful even though it hadn’t all healed yet; Katsumi made a mental note to tell her that once she woke up.

Unfortunately her visit didn’t last for very long before Law opened the door, gesturing to her. With a concerned glance she left the room, pulling the door shut and studying Law’s serious face. “What is it?”

“Sorry, boss, there’s something important goin’ on at HQ. Director wants us over there; we might have found Hitomi.”

Katsumi narrowed her eyes. “Let’s go.” She glanced back at Ayane’s room before leading Law out of the hospital. Half an hour later Katsumi stood in M’s office surrounded by her team, watching a recorded video M had received shortly before.

Sigma was on the screen in his black, electronically-lined cloak and hood, the bottom of his face visible but hard to read. Katsumi was finding it difficult to see the person from her dream (which seemed like ages ago) in real life, but there he stood. “I’ve located your missing teammate. This is my third warning to you, Major Samakura. You only get three.” Shoot the heart, the text about the two attacks, and this – that did add up to three warnings, but the text had made it seem like he was partly responsible for the attacks it had warned about. But then, this man did like to play games, so it still made sense – he was just a sociopath. “She is here,” Sigma continued, and an image of an old abandoned house along with a GPS location appeared around him. “Another important note, Major - my surveillance was able to determine that your father often visits there.”

Katsumi tensed up, forcing herself to remain still as the rest of her team glanced at her. Sigma continued speaking, lifting a hand and causing numbers to scroll over the screen. “However, I was able to hack into his computers and communications and discover that he is never there between
six PM and six AM. Apparently the house is cursed and the door can only be opened between those hours, so he leaves it shortly after six in the evening and returns shortly before six in the morning. He leaves no guards because it would attract attention, and because he does not believe he needs them. Your father is quite arrogant, is he not?” Sigma finally offered a slight smile. “I suggest you go when he is not present, then perhaps set a trap for him afterwards. But I would certainly go tonight,” he said as the image switched to an interior camera showing a restrained Hitomi. “She might not be left alive for much longer.”

The message ended and M turned to Katsumi. “This could very well be a trap, obviously.”

“Right…” Katsumi sighed. “But we have no choice. We’re going.”

“Are you taking his advice?”

“It’s worked out for me before… Besides, he said the door won’t even open before six. We’ll send someone to verify that it won’t open, and if it doesn’t, we’ll get there around seven to be sure my father isn’t in the area.”

“So what’s with this whole set-up?” Sano said with a shake of his head. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know nearly as much as I’d like to, but I would guess my father is planning on trying to use Hitomi to lure me and my sister into a trap at some point, or maybe bargain for our allegiance. This could be that very trap, even. But like I said, we have no choice.”