I spent the next few hours catching up on work. The rooms had little low tables which weren’t the best for sitting at a laptop and the hotel had no WiFi, but I used my cellphone as a hotspot and suffered through the terrible ergonomics. Teddy Bear visited for a bit, but got bored before too long.

  “Jiro asked what there was to do around here for me,” he said. “Apparently there’s a hiking trail that passes a whole bunch of waterfalls not far from here. I think I’m gonna go check it out.”

  “That actually sounds pretty good,” I admitted. “But I’ve got to get through these emails and read a few reports before I can go do anything. Did Jiro say how long the trail takes?” I asked, barely looking up from the market analysis of the Montreal multi-unit rental space.

  “He said it’s a two hour walk if you hustle, but that’s missing the point. It’s all about relaxing in nature and the zen of the moment,” Teddy Bear replied.

  Chuckling, I said, “I could use a decent zen moment. How cold is it outside?”

  “Cold, but not too bad. Nothing like winters back home in the Midwest, but a lot colder than LA winters.”

  “That’s a pretty serious delta,” I said with a laugh.

  “Besides, you could just jump in the hot spring afterwards if you get chilled,” Teddy Bear added.

  “No,” I corrected. “You could. I’d have to wait until after my meeting. Guys only until four, then closed until six.”

  “You planning on hitting it again tonight?”

  “Honestly, I plan on hitting it every night while we’re here,” I told him. “I mean, we are staying at a hot springs hotel, after all.”

  “So, um, Leah, it wasn’t weird for you being the only woman there last night? I tried to keep it professional, but…” Teddy Bear said.

  “No, you were just about the only one not making it weird. Nick was worst of the guys, but for them I suspect it’s more of a respect thing than anything, you know? Jiro… I think he’s just hung up. My guess is that he’s got very little experience with the opposite sex, if you know what I mean. Add to that that I’m his boss, and he’s clearly still trying to wrap his brain around the whole Night Children and shinobi thing…” I said, looking up. “I think he’s just uncomfortable in general, and not sure of his standing right now.”

  “I don’t actually think he’s gay,” Teddy Bear countered. “Just, you know, not particularly manly.”

  “We’ll see what happens tonight if Akiko actually does show up to bathe with us after dinner. I think she wants to ride him like he’s never been ridden before,” I said with a laugh.

  “I’m glad I’m not the only one who got that vibe,” Teddy Bear said. “At first I thought she was all about trying to get in my pants, but then I got the impression that at least half of it was her trying to get a reaction from him.”

  “She told me she thinks he’s like a beautiful, delicate flower,” I chuckled. “Heck, getting laid would probably be good for him.”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” Teddy Bear agreed. “Maybe if Akiko does take him to the boneyard he’ll be a little less twitchy, too.” Switching to a softer tone of voice, Teddy Bear changed the subject and asked, “Speaking of getting laid, are you and Emmy thinking about getting her pregnant again?”

  “We’ve been trying,” I replied. “Pretty much every night, and twice on Saturdays,” I joked. Turning serious, I softened my tone, too, and said that we were planning on it but had to wait until Emmy was completely recovered from the injury and the miscarriage. “Emmy’s doctor wants us to wait another six months, just to be sure she’s back up to spec.”

  “I guess I hadn’t realized she was that badly hurt,” Teddy Bear said sympathetically.

  “Emmy really doesn’t like to show weakness, so it’d be easy to think that she wasn’t badly injured,” I told him. “The truth is that it was really a lot more serious than she let on.”

  “What a fucking tragedy that whole thing was. Did the cops ever figure out who sent those guys?”

  “No, but we did,” I told him, my tone making it clear that was all he was going to get on that subject. Teddy Bear noted that he understood and kept his mouth shut.

  He said he’d let me know how the waterfall trail went when he finally recognized that he wasn’t going to be able to get me to go out and play.

  I nodded my thanks and returned to what I’d been doing. Once I finished all of my pressing work, I turned my attention to what I could learn about the economics of the local region. I’d done some research back in Los Angeles, so this was more of a review than anything. I wanted to have it fresh in my mind for the meeting that evening.

  Teddy Bear came back some time later after his waterfall walk. I’d finished my research and was just getting ready for my meeting with the shinobi.

  “The trail is worth the time,” Teddy Bear said after plopping down on the floor, sitting cross-legged on the tatami mats. “You really should do it. Take your time, though- it really is peaceful and zen.”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” I said as I put on my jacket. I took my Singapore special forces-issued knife from my suitcase and tucked it up my sleeve without even thinking about it, but Teddy Bear saw it and reacted.

  “Um, what was that?” he asked. “That looked like a knife.”

  “Yeah, it is,” I confirmed, using the opportunity to test how it slid out of the sheath and into my hand. I practiced a couple more times, since the feel was a little different than the familiar old dagger I was used to. It had the same shape to the blade and hilt, but the balance leaned towards the blade more than it did with Old Stabby. Something to do with the material of the hilt, I guess.

  “Are you actually bringing a knife to a business meeting?” Teddy Bear asked, amazed.

  I gave him level stare and said, “A business meeting with fucking ninjas.”

  He looked as if he would object, but then shut his mouth. “Yeah, O.K., I guess that makes sense. So, um, I can’t help but notice that you seem awfully comfortable with that thing…”

  I slid it out of my sleeve and spun it to a traditional forward grip, then a quick flip into a reverse grip again. Because of the design of the Fairbairn-Sykes there was no edge-in or edge-out. It was edges all the way down.

  “Yeah,” I said, slipping it back in my sleeve, then dropping it out again into my palm.

  “I was gonna ask why, but then the answer occurred to me,” Teddy Bear said.

  Slipping the blade into my sleeve, I looked at him sitting cross-legged on the floor. “And why is that?” I asked.

  “Because Leah, that’s why,” Teddy Bear said. “I mean, look, we all knew you were serious as fuck when you first started driving with us, alright? But, um, well, at least I had no idea you were some sort of warrior queen of secret killers, but now I know, a lot of things make sense.”

  “Things like what?” I asked.

  “Your confidence, for starters,” he said. “You’re more in tune with your body than just about anybody I’ve ever seen. The way you move, and, um, the way you look at people.”

  “How do I look at people?” I asked. curious.

  “A year ago I would have said that you measure people up. You take them in, decide if they’re worth your time, or not. But after Angela was killed, I’ve come to think that your evaluation is more along the lines of threat assessment. I don’t think I’ve even seen anybody set off any alarms for you, either.”

  “Not very many people do,” I agreed. ”Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go downstairs to have a meeting with some people I’m still not sure about one way or the other.”

  “Dinner afterwards?” Teddy Bear asked.

  “If the meeting ends without bloodshed,” I agreed.

  “Is that a real risk?” Teddy Bear asked lightly.

  “It has happened before,” I told him as I followed him out into the hall, where Jiro and my three guys were waiting.

  The elders were gathered outside the hotel’s dining room when I got there. There were more than the group that I’d met with in Tokyo, but I recognized most of them. They were about evenly split between those wearing makeup and those without, but I tried not to read too much into that particular detail.

  Since the elders had no obvious protection detail, I told David and Nick to wait outside our private dining room, but had Eddie follow us in and stand against the wall behind me.

  We all took our seats at the traditional low table, and I indicated that Jiro should sit to my left. Seeing this, Mr Hayate had his grandson sit, too, and Akiko took a seat next to her grandmother. This seemed to visibly annoy one of the elders I didn’t recognize, but that wasn’t my problem.

  Mr Ogawa, the speaker for the elders, poured saké for me and for Mr Hayate, starting the whole ritual. I was perfectly O.K. with the slow pace, since it helped set the tone of the meeting. I was there to disrupt their traditional way of life, but I wanted to show that I respected it at the same time.

  “It has been a difficult decision for us,” Mr Ogawa announced once we’d all had our sips of the saké. “But we agree that it is correct. We cannot hide for much longer, and it is better for us to reveal ourselves on our own terms. We are all here to discuss the ways in which we may do this, and are here to listen to Queen Farmer from America.”

  I nodded my head in acknowledgement and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed elders. I’m here to offer my assistance and advice in this matter. I’m not here to try to coerce you into anything, or insist that my way is the only correct way. I’m here to learn your unique circumstances and to get to know your culture as best as I can. I don’t expect that any decisions will be made tonight- that would be premature. This is a dialogue, and we are just starting to talk.”

  Once Akiko and Hayate translated, the elders all started to talk and then argue amongst themselves, while Jiro leaned in and quietly explained what they were discussing.

  “Some of them are disappointed you aren’t bringing a comprehensive plan for them,” he whispered. “Others say that it shows that you aren’t some sort of imperialist, come to remake them in your own image, as the West has done to Japan in the past. The old woman we met at the train station is one of your strongest supporters- she says that she has seen the way you treat your subjects, and there is no conquering, just benevolence.”

  “Which way is the argument trending?” I whispered back, sipping my saké.

  “The two who have most opposed your involvement have been more or less shut down. It seems as if the conclusion will be what you said- to start a dialogue, do some fact-finding, and then work from there,” Jiro replied.

  “Good,” I said, nodding. “That’s just what we want.”

  Ultimately, that’s where it all wound up. The elders agreed to show me everything I wanted to see of their hidden society, as well as of the towns and region they lived in. Hayate and his grandfather would be my local guides, to Akiko’s obvious disappointment. I said that I’d like to start meeting the locals the next day to get a feeling for how the average shinobi lived and what the local economy was like. We all agreed to meet again in five days, and that ended the formalities.

  A few of the elders left immediately, but most stayed to talk under less formal circumstances.

  We made small talk for maybe an hour, but eventually the elders all made their excuses and left, except for Mrs Tanaka and her granddaughter.

  “Some of those old goats need a kick in the ass,” Jiro translated as Mrs Tanaka glared at the door. “They’re stuck in a past century.”

  “I think they’ll come around,” I said diplomatically.

  “They won’t,” she countered. “But that will be their loss. They will lose stature and standing the more they cling to the losing side of this transition.”

  “Is that likely to cause problems?” I asked.

  “Yes, but not for you. I want you to do something that will help shut up old Kanawa and his lackeys. Akiko showed me the video of you fighting those attackers, but I don’t think any of the other elders have seen it. If you could visit Kanawa’s dojo and humble him in a match, that would shut him up.”

  “What does his dojo teach?” I asked. “Is it contemporary judo or karate?”

  “Yes, he teaches those things,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “But also our old ways. He’s one of the loudest about preserving our heritage.”

  “You know what? That makes him one of the people I most want to talk with,” I told her. “I want to see how your ancient traditions compare with ours.”

  “He respects strength. If you rub his face on the mat he’ll have to admit that we have something to learn,” Jiro translated for Mrs Tanaka.

  “You think that’s the right approach?” I asked. “I’m always ready for a little bit of friendly violence.”

  Mrs Tanaka laughed when Akiko translated that last bit. She put her hand on my arm with a smile. “I think you are exactly what we needed,” she said.

  Akiko asked if we were planning on using the baths again that night, and when I told her yes she said she’d stay and bathe with us. I figured she was just using the opportunity to ogle Jiro and maybe Teddy Bear, too, but I didn’t care. Like Teddy Bear said, Jiro could really benefit from a bit of female companionship.

  Back upstairs, I knocked on Teddy Bear’s door to let him know I was heading down to bathe in fifteen minutes. He said he’d meet us down there but might be a little late.

  “Are we going to do this every night?” Eddie asked as we headed downstairs in our robes.

  “Absolutely,” I confirmed. “Better get used to it.”

  “We talked about what you said last night,” he said in a low voice. “While it would not normally be right for us to see you naked, we are in a different culture here. Of course we will always do what you say.”

  “Good,” I said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “It pleases me that you’re just as willing to see naked bodies for me as you are to take people’s lives when I require it.”

  Eddie tried not to laugh at that, but couldn’t help let out a little chuckle. “When you say it like that it does seem ridiculous,” he admitted.

  “Eddie, you guys are my strong right arms. I know for a fact that you will do what I need, when I need you to do it. Right now, our job here is to bring these people into our… well, not my shadow, but my… let’s call it ‘sphere of influence’. We can best do that by first showing our respect for their customs before we upend their way of life.”

  “Like you upended ours,” Eddie said, nodding.

  “Exactly. They’ll require a slightly different touch, but in the end, I want for them what I want for our people back home- freedom from the fear, freedom from having to hide. So like I said, it starts by us getting naked in their hot springs to show we’re not so different.”

  Eddie nodded, accepting my words of wisdom. “As you say, my queen.”

  Akiko was waiting outside of the changing rooms, already dressed in a robe of her own. She spoke quickly with Jiro before the men went into their changing room and Akiko and I went into ours.

  “Where is your friend Teddy Bear?” she asked as we stowed our robes in the provided baskets before washing ourselves.

  “He was on the phone to someone back home. He said he’d be down in a bit,” I told her.

  When I lifted the bucket to pour water on myself rather than use the provided bamboo cup thing, Akiko marveled at my strength.

  “You are very strong,” she said, looking me up and down. “I’ve never seen a woman with a body like yours.”

  “Not very many women have bodies like mine,” I admitted. “It takes a whole lot of work to get like this.”

  “I think Mr Kanawa has a surprise coming,” she giggled.

  Jiro was already in the hot pool with his little towel on top of his head when we emerged from the women’s changing room, but my three heavies were standing around awkwardly waiting for me, despite the cold air.

  I nodded my approval of their diligence, idly noting their goosebumps. “Shall we?” I asked, leading the way into the natural spring’s steaming hot water.

  Once again, we were the only ones bathing, which I found a bit disappointing. Sure, there weren’t many other guests staying at the hotel, but I would have thought that a nice soak in the evening would be more popular. When I asked Akiko about it, she let her shoulders slump.

  “Co-ed bathing isn’t popular among younger people these days,” she explained, “But also, the elders have made it clear that your group is to have priority.”

  “Could you please let the hotel staff know that we’re perfectly fine bathing with other guests? I don’t want to disrupt anybody else’s time here at the onsen.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Looking a bit apologetic, Akiko said, “The other guests may be…” she said, then turned to Jiro and had a quick conversation about the proper word. “Shy about bathing with people who are not one of us. We come here to be among ourselves without worrying about being seen by outsiders, you know? Even just having the three of you- you, Jiro and Teddy Bear- stay here as guests is unprecedented.”

  “But not these three?” I asked, indicating my heavies.

  “No, they are…”

  “So it’s not the gaijin aspect. It’s the skin color,” I confirmed.

  “Yes, that is it exactly.”

  “Do they know we represent the Night Children of America?” I asked.

  “Everyone knows that now,” Akiko said. “But in our culture, we…” she said, shrugging at a loss for words.

  "Mr Hayate told me that intermixing with non-Night Children is forbidden for your people,” I told her, showing that I understood the taboo.

  “Yes! So it is very shocking for us to hear that you are not only a queen of your people but of mixed ancestry…” she said with another shrug. “It is hard for some of us to accept.”

  It didn’t take long for Akiko to find her way over next to Jiro in the hot pool. I watched with amusement as she spoke to him. They were speaking quietly, but I wouldn’t have been able to follow their conversation anyhow, since they were speaking Japanese.

  She made sure she was directly in front of him, facing him so that he really couldn’t look away. He was submerged up to his neck, but she was standing tall to ensure that her breasts were out of the water, more or less at his eye level.

  Her boobs weren’t very impressive, her butt was flat and her legs too short for my tastes, but she had a certain girlish charm, and she was playing it up for the hapless guy.

  “What did I miss?” Teddy Bear asked, settling into the pool next to me.

  “I’ll take ‘Awkward seduction techniques’ for two hundred dollars, Alex,” I told him.

  “Nice,” Teddy Bear said. He looked over at where Jiro seemed hypnotized by Akiko’s breasts and chuckled.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he hasn’t been that close to a set of tits since he was a year old,” he said in a quiet voice. “The kid really does need to get laid.”

  We watched as Akiko took the little towel from around her shoulders, and with a blatantly obvious ploy used it to wipe her neck, then her upper chest and finally each breast in turn, making damned sure that her movements had Jiro’s full attention.

  “If she doesn’t rock his world tonight it won’t be for lack of trying,” I said.

  “That’s God’s honest truth,” Teddy Bear agreed. Turning his eyes away from the sex comedy act developing on the other side of the pool, he said, “So, that call I was on…”

  “It’s what, four in the morning in Los Angeles? Who the Hell would you be talking to?” I asked.

  “Eight AM in New York,” Teddy Bear corrected. “Anyhow, as I was saying, it was a producer I’ve worked with before. He’s pitching an action movie, wants me for the antagonist. I told him that I really wanted to bring in my own action coach,” Teddy Bear said.

  “Is it a good gig?” I asked.

  “Well, it sounded good on the pitch, but I haven’t seen the rough yet.”

  “Rough?”

  “Early draft of the script,” he explained.

  “Ah,” I nodded, understanding.

  “So, Leah, you’ve got a place in New York, right? How much time do you spend there?”

  “Not as much as I’d like, honestly,” I told him, realizing it was true. “You can stay there if you’d like. It’s in Midtown East.”

  “Thanks, but that wasn’t what I was getting at. This film is going to shoot primarily in New York, and I was hoping…” Teddy Bear said.

  I gave him a ‘get to it’ look, so he continued.

  “I’d really appreciate it if you could be my action coach if I do book the role. The action scenes would only take a few weeks of shooting, and I wouldn’t need you every day,” he said. “Realistically it’d be best for me if we could work together to develop the character’s physical traits, but we can do that in LA in your free time before shooting starts,” he said in a rush.

  “When would all this happen?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from watching Akiko lead Jiro by the hand to the warm pool.

  “Like I said, this is still in pitch, so the soonest would be six months until all the pre-production is done. Filming might be in September maybe?”

  “I will admit to being flattered that you’d ask me to do this, but I honestly have no idea what the job of action coach would entail,” I said.

  “Exactly what the job title implies,” he assured me. “When I’m working up the character we’d develop the character’s physical style, right? Then for the action scenes you’d work with the stunt coordinator to block out my movements and work with me to get everything believable.”

  “I can’t promise anything based on such vague timing, but if it’s something that I can fit in, sure, I’ll do it,” I agreed, thinking it might be interesting.

  “It helps we’re about the same height, too, so our marks will be spot-on,” Teddy Bear said, looking relieved I hadn’t shot him down. “Oh, and of course you’d get paid, too.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said sardonically. “I could really use the money.”

  Teddy Bear laughed. “New York is expensive!”

  After breakfast the next morning Mr Oshida and his grandson came to the hotel with a van to take us around. I asked him if we could see his own house, and he seemed pleased that I asked.

  “This neighborhood is mainly our people,” he explained as his grandson drove down a small side street in town. “There are a few… ‘day walker’ families here, but they are too involved in our world to ever share our secret with anyone else.”

  “I see… Have you spoken to Mrs Tanaka about the community of Night Children in Cartagena, Colombia?” I asked.

  “Yes, she has spoken of them quite a bit,” the old man said with a laugh. “That old gossip won’t shut up about them, as a matter of fact.”

  “Is that what he really said?” I asked Jiro, just to make sure.

  “Yes,” he said a bit defensively. “Of course, it isn’t a word-for-word translation since the two languages don’t work well that way, but that is the exact meaning of what he said.”

  “Alright, then,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Did she tell you that those two communities are deeply embedded in their day walker neighborhoods, and everybody knows and is probably related to them on some level?” I continued.

  “Yes, yes,” Mr Oshida said. “It’s been a big topic of discussion, how they’ve lost their identity from intermixing.”

  “No, that’s not accurate,” I countered. “They’re losing their identity because the younger generations aren’t seeing the value in the old customs and language, and there aren’t good teachers to pass it on. They’ve been cut off from the larger Night Children culture and that isolation has meant that they’ve simply been losing the knowledge as more immediate concerns take up their attention. One of my initiatives there is to build schools to teach our proud history and ways to the children to remind them of what we are.”

  “Our proud history…” the old man mused. “This is important to you.”

  “Yes, it is,” I agreed. “Without our culture, our heritage, we’re just the same as anybody else. Nothing special. We should be proud of our identities as Night Children. When the world learns of our existence we need to have these achievements to show. We need to proclaim that we’ve always been here, and here are the things we’ve done.”

  “This is why you’re so fascinated with the shinobi,” Mr Oshida said, nodding.

  “That, and it’s super cool,” I agreed, making the old man laugh when Jiro translated it for him.

  Mr Oshida’s neighborhood was an old one, with older homes set back from the narrow street behind eight foot walls. Hayate pulled the van up to a wooden gate, which somebody inside opened to let the van into an open parking area. The area inside the wall was surprisingly large- about the size of four typical Southern California home lots combined. The house was just as I’d imagined an older home in Japan would be, with a tile roof, wide eaves, and carefully manicured landscaping.

  Of course we slipped off our shoes as we entered. There were loaner slippers, but they only just barely fit my feet and were too small for any of my heavies, so I declined as well. Jiro explained that socks were perfectly acceptable, even though he did take a pair of sandals.

  I guess I hadn’t expected that Mr Oshida would be the patriarch of a fairly large extended family all living in what turned out to be a compound and not just a single house, but that was exactly what turned out to be the case. Not all of them, but most, were without makeup, I was pleased to see. Hayate was the only one who spoke English with any sort of fluency, but a few of the children were happy to try out their limited vocabularies on my guys and me.

  I’d made it very clear to Nick, Eddie and David that we were here to win hearts and minds, so they did what they could to not seem like stone cold killers. They smiled and played with the kids, answering any questions any of the family members might have had for them.

  The family was a bit more reserved with me, but that was fine. I chalked it up to the knowledge that I was the queen of the Americas, and maybe a little of that mixed-ancestry taboo Akiko had talked about.

  JIro was a whole lot more willing to translate some of the children’s questions than Hayate was, to my amusement. Hayate would hush the children, but then Jiro would undermine him by translating what the kid had asked anyhow. The only really problematic question was when a boy of maybe ten or eleven years old asked Nick if he had ever killed anyone. Nick looked to me, unsure of how to respond. Knowing full well that the adults around were listening, I gave him a little nod.

  “I have,” he admitted. “Not because I ever wanted to, but because I had to do it to defend our people, to fight for what is best.. Killing is never something that should be taken lightly,” Nick said, kneeling down to look the boy right in the eyes as Hayate translated. “It should always, always only ever be the last resort, after every possible peaceful method of problem solving has failed. Do you understand? It’s a terrible thing to take a life. A truly terrible thing.”

  The boy seemed equal parts awed and intimidated, but stood straight. “I want to be a warrior for our people,” he declared.

  “Then look to Grandfather Oshida,” Nick said. “He is fighting for the future of your people, using the best possible tools he has- his intelligence, his bravery, and his dignity. This is a man to be admired.”

  ‘You just earned yourself a raise,’ I thought, proud of my guy. Glancing around, I could see that his words had an effect on the adults, too. Mr Oshida was brimming with pride, and the rest were nodding at the stranger’s words.

  Mr Oshida insisted we have tea before continuing our tour of the neighborhood, so getting to our next stop took quite a while. Again, this is what we were there for, so I wasn’t about to complain.

  After finally leaving the Oshida family home we stopped by a few local shops owned by local Night Children, with Mr Kanawa’s dojo the final stop of the afternoon. It was unlike typical American neighborhood martial arts dojos, which are almost always located in nondescript strip malls. The way to the Kanawa dojo was down a narrow alley, then over a small bridge across a stream (it would be a major river in dry, dusty Southern California). The structure resembled the Oshida family compound, with a wall surrounding what looked to be another one of the traditional homes in the area.

  Mr Oshida knocked on the door in the front wall, and after a few moments a young man opened it. He was in makeup, I noticed, unsurprised.

  We followed the guy inside, slipping off our shoes on the wide, covered porch before entering the converted house.

  When we entered Mr Kanawa stopped his class, a group of eight teenagers, mostly boys but two girls, too.

  He bowed to me and nodded to his fellow elder, then turned to his students and explained who we were. Of course the kids had been gawking the moment they saw us, and when Mr Kanawa informed his class that I was the Demon Queen from the United States their eyes nearly bugged out of their heads.

  “You have all heard that there are others like us, in the West,” Mr Kanawa said to his class. “Their ways are different from ours now, but there can be no doubt that we were the same people in ancient times,” Jiro translated quietly so that the three heavies and I all could hear. “She is called the Demon Queen because she is a fierce and terrible warrior, widely feared by her enemies. The stories are almost too much to believe,” Jiro translated, making me wonder what stories Mr Kanawa had heard and from whom.

  “Students,” Mr Kanawa continued. “I am certain that our guest would enjoy seeing a demonstration of your skills. Two volunteers to the front,” he commanded, and after a moment of all the kids looking at each other, two of them stepped forward.

  “Excellent,” Mr Kanawa said as the two faced off. After bowing to each other, then to their master and finally to me, the boys took their positions. Judging by their stances, they weren’t learning classical karate. When Mr Kanawa gave the signal the two started circling each other, looking for an opening. It was clear they knew each other well, because neither fell for the other’s feints at all. When they finally got into it I was surprised to see a sort of hybrid style, relying on strikes as much as holds and throws. This was a mixed martial art and not an overly formalized style, and looked pretty effective.

  After a bit of back and forth, one of the kids finally managed a disabling pin on the other and the loser tapped out, another touch that surprised me.

  Mr Kanawa was looking at me for my reaction, so I nodded. “Very nice,” I said. “I like that you teach them to really fight, and not merely to compete in tournaments.”

  Once Hayate translated, Mr Kanawa looked pleased at my words.

  “What is your style?” he asked. “Would you be willing to demonstrate it for my pupils?”

  Recognizing that he thought he’d trapped me, I smiled. “Of course,” I said, confident that I could deal with whatever might get thrown my way. “It would be my pleasure. Should we plan it for this time tomorrow, so that you have time to gather your other students as well? I’d be quite pleased to spar with your top student, if he or she can join us.”

  Suddenly realizing that he might have stepped on the claymore I'd set rather than the other way around, Mr Kanawa had no option but to agree. “My middle son will represent the dojo,” he said.

  “Excellent,” I said with a smile. “I’m looking forward to a nice bout with a quality opponent. I hope to learn from him and from you, Mr Kanawa. It’s important to always strive to grow.”

  “Yes. We may never achieve perfection, but must always strive for it,” he agreed stonily.

  “How did your fact-finding mission go?” Teddy Bear asked over dinner.

  “Not a lot of facts yet,” I admitted. “At this stage it’s till mostly just getting to know people.”

  “And how did that go? Make some new friends?”

  “Yes, and… maybe,” I said.

  “Maybe? Not quite sure yet?” Teddy Bear teased.

  “She’s scheduled to beat the Hell out of a guy tomorrow at three o’clock,” David said, waving a piece of beef around in his chopsticks.

  “That’s a good way to make friends,” Teddy Bear said with a laugh.

  “So, one of the hardliners against any cultural changes runs a martial arts dojo. From what I gather, he’s a strong proponent of the old ways, you know? Well, he thought he’d humiliate me by asking me to demonstrate my fighting style.”

  “Leah flipped him on the metaphorical mat when she not only agreed to a demonstration, but actually suggested that she fight his best student in front of as big a crowd as he could gather,” Jiro said, and I thought I heard a bit of pride in his voice.

  “Jiro, Teddy Bear- have you ever seen Queen Leah fight?” Eddie asked, his voice serious.

  “Well, I mean, the video,” Teddy Bear said, but Jiro just shook his head.

  “It’s not like you might imagine,” Eddie said. “She doesn’t fight. She steps in and kills. Just like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “I’ve sparred with her, and it’s truly demoralizing. This student… He’s about to get hit by a train. A full-on bullet train, traveling at two hundred miles an hour.”

  “Do you suppose it’d be cool if I watched?” Teddy Bear asked, hopeful.

  “Sure,” I said. “If I get my ass handed to me you’ll have a front row seat.”

  “When you say that Leah kills,” Jiro said. “You don’t mean that literally, do you?”

  “Buddy, have I got a video to show you,” Teddy Bear said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I’m surprised you haven’t seen it.”

  The rest of us ate in silence while Jiro watched the video on the phone’s small screen. When it was done, he turned to me. “That was real? That really happened?”

  “It really happened,” I confirmed.

  “You broke that man’s neck like a twig!”

  “It seemed like the thing to do at the time,” I said with a dismissive gesture.

  “And that other guy! You slammed him so hard on the ground it smashed his head in!”

  “Like I said. You do what you have to.”

  “Jiro, I told you that Leah doesn’t fight like a normal person,” Eddie said. “She looks at her opponent and immediately knows what to do in the shortest amount of time. I like to think of myself as a very hard man, but Queen Leah… she’s a monster. That thing about people calling her the Demon Queen? It’s real. Our enemies are terrified of her, and with reason.”

  “This,” Jiro said, holding up Teddy Bear’s phone, “Is good reason to be terrified. I can’t imagine Mr Kanawa has seen this video.”

  “No, I doubt he has,” I agreed. “He probably wouldn’t be questioning my bona fides if he had.”

  “This place offers massages, right?” I asked Jiro as we soaked later that evening. He was getting a bit more comfortable with the situation, but was still awkwardly trying to hide his semi-erect state more often than not.

  “Yeah, I got one the other day. Little old grandma lady with hands of friggin’ iron,” Teddy Bear said from where he sat on the edge of the pool. “Five stars. Would recommend.”

  “Maybe after hitting the sauna,” I mused.

  “I don’t like the idea of you being alone with this woman,” Eddie grumbled. “You’d be too vulnerable.”

  “There’s reasonable concern, and then there’s paranoia,” I groaned, imagining lying on a massage table with Eddie, Nick and David glaring at the ancient Japanese woman working on the knots in my shoulders.

  “Ninjas,” David said. “Not known for their sweet, gentle dispositions and kindly ways.”

  “I suppose there is that,” I admitted. “So, what, you’re all going to stand around and watch me get a massage just in case she has a knife hidden in a towel or something?”

  “I’ve seen videos kinda like that,” Teddy Bear joked.

  “I knew somebody was going to go there sooner or later,” I groaned.

  “That isn’t funny,” Nick said, glowering at Teddy Bear.

  “Hey, chill, dude,” Teddy Bear said, his hands in the ‘I surrender’ position. “I’m just saying it’s a weird situation, and really, if they wanted Leah dead all they’d have to do is slip some poison in her tea or something. There’s no need to get all ‘James Bond murder attempt’ on her, resorting to some secret assassin granny.”

  “He’s right,” I announced. "I’m going to get myself a massage from a little old grandma lady with hands of iron, who is absolutely not going to shiv me while I’m lying there on the table. You guys can wait outside, and if you hear stabbing sounds, only then you can come in- but not until then.”

  As it turned out I did not get shivved, but did have all my muscles loosened until I felt like Jello. Teddy Bear was right- the massage lady looked to be about ninety years old, but had hand strength off the charts. When I finally managed to lift myself of the futon (she didn’t use a Western-style massage table) I made myself a promise that I was going to treat myself to a few more before heading back to LA.

  “So, hands of iron or what?” Teddy Bear asked at breakfast.

  “That hardly begins to describe them,” I agreed. “She can probably crush billiard balls in her bare hands.”

  “Yeah, that’s about right,” Teddy Bear agreed. “I mean, I’ve had plenty of massages in my day, but grandma here… cream of the crop.”

  “You know what?” I asked rhetorically. “I’m going to make sure each one of you guys has at least one massage before we go back home. Consider it a reward for your diligence here.”

  “She’s doing you guys a solid,” Teddy Bear assured Jiro and the three heavies. “Your only regrets will be that you wasted all this time not getting massages.”

  The Oshidas picked us up after breakfast for more fact-finding, but this time we explored the city proper. Finally time to head to the dojo, Jiro asked me if I really thought I could beat their top student.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I’ve gone up against some of the world’s best and held my own, so I expect so. Here’s the thing,” I said. I was speaking to Jiro, but everybody else in the Toyota van was listening carefully, too. “Mr Kanawa is teaching his students to be fighters, from what little I’ve seen. Now, I will admit that all we saw was a class for kids, but still… Me, I’m a fighter, but more importantly, I’m a killer. The focus of my training is to disable or kill as quickly as possible while taking as little reciprocal damage as I can. That doesn’t directly translate to competition fighting, but, well, it’s really challenging to train for. Unless you actually have, um, field experience, that is.”

  “Which you do,” Jiro said in a small voice.

  “Which I do,” I agreed, leaning back.

  The gate to the dojo was open when we arrived, but manned by a guy in his mid twenties. He looked me up and down appraisingly, making me wonder for a moment if he was the middle son, but he stayed at the gate rather than accompanying us inside the dojo itself.

  There was quite a crowd inside, mostly in makeup but a few showing their faces. I recognized the elders and gave them a respectful nod as I approached Mr Kanawa.

  “Do you need to warm up?” he asked. “There is another room for you to prepare if needed.”

  “Thanks,” I replied, “but all I need is a place to change into my fighting gear.”

  “Will you need a gi? If you didn’t bring one, we can find one that will fit you,” he offered.

  “I don’t wear a gi,” I replied. “I wouldn’t even know how to tie the belt properly. I brought my gear,” I said, holding up my gym bag.

  “What do you wear?” Mr Kanawa asked, surprised.

  “I dress for freedom of movement,” I told him. It suddenly occurred to me that my fighting outfit might be a bit scandalous in this very traditional setting, and I certainly didn’t want to piss off the elders like that. “Jiro, tell him that I fight in an outfit typical of Muay Thai, and that it shows a lot of skin. Make sure he’s O.K. with that.”

  Jiro and the dojo master had a quick back and forth.

  “He says that it’s your right to wear whatever you prefer, but he fears you’ll be at a serious disadvantage without the protection of a gi,” Jiro said.

  “Understood and accepted,” I said with a nod.

  Once Jiro had communicated my position, Mr Kanawa led me, Jiro and Eddie to a the entrance of what he explained was the women’s changing room.

  “Sorry, guys, you have to wait out here,” I told them before heading inside.

  It only took me a little bit to slip out of my street clothes and into my training outfit, then wrap my ankles. I took the time to wrap my hands with a bit more emphasis on the knuckles and less of the wrists than I would if I were planning on wearing gloves. As strange as it may sound, I found the ritual of carefully pulling the slightly stretchy ribbon of cloth and weaving it around my hands and through my fingers, then around my wrist to be relaxing, letting me focus on the moment.

  Enjoying that I didn’t have to braid my still-short hair, I examined myself in the full-length mirror. Pleased with how I looked, I threw a few shadow punch and kicks, then stepped back out into the hall.

  Mr Kanawa gave me a startled look when he saw me in my fight getup, but quickly schooled his expression. He led me back to the main hall, and when we walked into the room a hush fell over the place. I was far from what the crowd expected, and it showed in their faces. Taking my place on the mat, I asked through Jiro about the rules for the bout.

  “What rules do you usually fight under?” Mr Kanawa asked.

  “I don’t often fight in exhibitions like this,” I told him.

  His mouth in a thin line, Mr Kanawa nodded that he understood. I’d picked up him eyeballing my scars surreptitiously, so I knew that he knew I had been in a few rodeos.

  “No intent to cause serious, lasting injury. No biting, no disfigurement. Any style is allowed,” Mr Kanawa said. “No killing blows.”

  My opponent chose that moment to enter the room and join us on the mat. He was taller and bulkier than his father, but still a few inches shorter and a few pounds lighter than me. I could tell even in his gi that he was nicely built, but I definitely had a weight class advantage on the guy.

  “Mr Kanawa is explaining the same rules to his son,” Jiro said. “His son asked if wrestling is acceptable.”

  “Tell him that I’m O.K. with it,” I said, and Jiro did just that.

  Once the rules for the bout were explained, Hideo Kanawa offered to ditch his gi to make things even, but I waved it off.

  “If he’s comfortable wearing the gi, I’m fine with it,” I assured the elder Kanawa.

  Everything settled, the two of us took our positions. Hideo bowed to me, and in response I bowed, then held my fists out. He looked at a loss for a moment, then recognized the gesture and bumped my fists. I nodded to him and we stepped back to our places. Mr Kanawa took a seat in what would be ringside if there had been an actual ring, kneeling on his heels on the floor.

  Mr Kanawa gave a sharp command and his son stepped forward into a ready position. I followed his example taking my own stance, waiting to act.