War of Rage Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

“He… he has what?!” Akane cried in panic.

“You heard me.” Graciela paced back and forth in the living room. “Some of the samurais saw his face. The wanted posters are already up in the city now.”

“What’s going on?” Kawa asked. He heard their hysterical conversation, so he came out of the guest room in curiosity.

“Kawa!” Graciela exclaimed. “You have to leave Mars!”

Kawa stared at her as if she grew another head. “What are you talking about? Why are you telling me to leave here?”

Graciela was about to say another word when she froze with her mouth open. She finally realized what the situation looked like now. Akane and Kawa were not wearing a lot of clothes and were revealing a lot of their skins, especially Kawa. He was half naked, for pete’s sake!

“Graciela?” Akane asked worriedly.

“Did you sleep together?” She asked suddenly and bluntly, watching their reactions carefully. She got what she wanted to see.

Akane blushed fast and looked away from her comrade while she was rubbing her arm nervously. Kawa scratched the back of his head, trying to avoid Graciela’s smirking hazel eyes.

“Fine, you don’t have to answer. I figured anyway.” The Europan samurai chuckled softly. “Anyway, yeah, Lord Ares placed the bounty on your head, Kawa. They are looking for you right now.”

“What? Bounty?” He asked.

“One hundred million pounds. The Martian citizens are very loyal, so of course they would do anything to find you. Europan and Venusian samurais are looking for you as well.”

“Fuck,” Kawa cursed. He was seriously considering staying here and changing his name just for Akane, but it looked like it had been backfired. “What am I supposed to do?!”

“I have an idea.” Graciela walked across the room and sat on the couch. “How about returning to Ceres? The Cereans are very neutral people… although they want to be liberated from Mars.”

Kawa frowned at the thought of going back to the dwarf planet. The thought of hiding and running away from Martians, Europans, and Venusians forever. What if he had been caught on Ceres and then had to run to a different planet or moon again?

If he were James, then what would he do then? He widened his eyes in realization. If he were James, then… why the fuck was he doing nothing, then? He ran away like a crybaby just because he lost someone whom he depended on.

If the Lunan samurai were here to see this, then he would have kicked him right back to the Moon.

“That’s a great idea!” Akane said. “We can purchase one-way flight tickets to Ceres, and we can live there instead!”

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Graciela asked in half surprise and disappointment.

“Your life is in danger! They are going to kill you!” Akane cried.

“I know.” Kawa clenched his fists in anger. “But I can’t do that. I can’t run forever. I almost lost the purpose of coming here with James in the first place, but now I know why I’m here.”

“You’re going to face the Martian samurais alone? Are you fucking crazy?” Graciela yelled. “I’m trying to save your life! I warned you not to hurt her! If you die, then you will only hurt her!”

“I’m not going to fight the Martian samurais.” Kawa turned around, about to go back into the guest room. “I’m going to find Lord Ares and end the war.”

“I’m not going to let you do that.” Graciela snapped at him. “Why are you betraying us?! You know that we are loyal to Mars and Europa!”

“If you want to stop me, then do it,” Kawa said almost dangerously. “Back then… James was trying to tell me something but it was too late. He died before he could tell me. I want to find Lord Ares and demand that he tells me who started the war in the first place. If it wasn’t Mars and Earth, then who did it?”

“What are you talking about?” Akane asked in concern.

“We… I mean, we the Earthlings think that the wife of Lord Terra was murdered by the Martian samurais who were sent by Lord Ares.”

“T-that’s not true.” Akane widened her eyes. “Where in the solar system did you hear from?”

“Yeah! Lord Ares’s wife was murdered by the Earthling samurais! They were sent by Lord Terra, so they started the war first!” Graciela said.

“And, that’s why James was trying to tell me.” Kawa looked up at them with so much determination in his eyes. “I’m going to see Lord Ares… and then I’ll decide what to do from there.”

“Akane!” Graciela shouted in worry.

“You’re not going to kill Lord Ares, are you?” Akane asked.

“I…” Kawa was trying to find the right words. “The… The Mars Lord has to know what or who triggered the war. Why else would James find out about such a secret right here, not on Earth?”

“Revenge is not the answer!” Akane yelled.

“How would you know?!” Kawa said angrily. “You had been on Ceres ever since you joined the Mars troops! You have no idea what they did to us back on Earth! They killed every single innocent that had done nothing wrong!”

“That’s not true --”

“Did we send the Earthling samurais to your districts? Eh?!” Kawa glared angrily at the women. When he did not get any response from them, he continued coldly, “Thought so. You’re lucky that you have been living in peace for the last decade!”

“Do you seriously think like that? You are a fucking asshole!” Akane stomped towards Kawa and her face got closer to his suddenly. “How do you know that? We worked our asses off just to protect our homes! We don’t fight on our land, so we try to keep the enemies out of our boundaries! Thousands of Martian samurais died for us! Including my parents who went to the war and died! I lost my parents to the fucking war!”

Kawa was completely speechless.

“Don’t you see? We all suffer because of the war,” Graciela said softly. “Revenge only creates new hatred and more revenge. If you take out Lord Ares, then what do you think would happen then? There will always be someone who wants to avenge the Mars Lord.”

“I know,” Kawa said softly. “Even so… I’m willing to take the risk. I’ve been through so much that I can’t ignore the reason why I am here. I am not the type to run away the moment I sense danger. I’m… I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

The entire time while Kawa was getting dressed up into his blue Earthling samurai outfit was awkwardly quiet. Three of them did not want to say anything because they feared that a single word could blow up into another argument.

Kawa put on the white hooded cloak, covering half of his face and then left the ladies all alone, on the way to the Ares Palace.

~EARTHxMARS~

For the entire way, he had been thinking about stuff that he and others said in the heated conversation.

But that was not the important thing.

The most important question was -- Who turned the districts against each other in the first place? If Akane was right about Lord Ares not sending the Martian samurais to kill Lord Terra’s wife, and if Lord Terra did not send the Earthling samurais to kill the other’s wife, then…

Who the fuck did it? What was the exact point of the war if neither of them started it?

Moon? No way. They did not have such advanced technology like Earth did. So they could not have made it to Mars by themselves. That was the reason why they teamed up with Earth in the first place. They had some trouble with Europa for whatever reason Kawa forgot.

Venus? Impossible. Earth had the satellites in its own orbit around the Sun. They would have detected Venus’s spaceship passing Earth’s orbit back then.

It couldn’t be Ceres either. They never wished to get involved with the war, although they just wanted to be freed from Mars’s rule, but none of them had their own troops of samurais or something like that.

Only one remaining planet or moon left was Europa.

Kawa was rubbing his chin in wonder. If it was indeed Europa, then why were they aiding Mars in the war against Earth? They could have stayed back and watched the whole drama between Earth and Mars. Besides, they had been Mars’s allies ever since the civilization started on Europa.

Either way, it did not make any sense.

He stopped to look up at the red sky through the glass dome. He wished it was blue instead. It usually helped him to relax and think better. But the red sky was only making him see only rage, nothing else at all.

As soon as he looked back down only to find two Martian samurais talking casually to each other, he quickly dove into the narrow alley and waited patiently until they walked past.

Sighing in relief, he got out of the alleyway and turned around only to bump into a brown-haired man. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You! Who are you?” A hand grabbed Kawa’s arm.

“Hey!” Kawa jerked away from the strong grip. “Watch it!”

“You look familiar, you know?”

Kawa froze when he realized that the person he was speaking to was a samurai. It was not Martian and Europan samurai. He was wearing a yellow samurai outfit this time.

Oh shit! It’s a Venusian samurai! Kawa thought to himself, but was not trying to freak out. He casually shrugged his shoulders. “Umm… I’m just minding my own business. I just got in a fight with… my girlfriend. Sorry about bumping into you. I will just get out of your way.”

“Show your face.” The Venusian samurai demanded.

“Do I have to?”

“Yeah, there’s a wanted guy that will give us one hundred million pounds if we bring him back to Lord Ares. So, show your face now.”

Kawa frowned at him. “And if I refuse to?”

“I will have to force you then.” The Venusian withdrew his katana and pointed it at him. “Kawa knows how to fight with swords, so if you are not the Earthling guy and don’t want to fight me, then remove your cloak.”

“But why? Why are you helping Mars now?” Kawa asked angrily. “What did Earth ever do to you?”

The Venusian samurai shrugged his shoulders carelessly. “I don’t know. I’m just doing what I’m ordered to. Lady Aurora sent us here.”

Kawa blinked in surprise. “She did? Even after how we helped them out?”

“I don’t know all of the answers, but please remove your hood and then you have to come with me.” The Venusian samurai reached out for Kawa to take his hand. “Then we won’t have to fight.”

Kawa glanced behind himself, finding one more Venusian samurai who was holding his sword, making sure that he had no way to escape from them. “But why? Why are you siding with Mars? Even after all the time we helped your people out after one of the volcanoes exploded near one of your towns?”

“That is none of my concern.” The brown-haired Venusian samurai said. He nodded his head at his comrade, signaling him to do something. “I suggest you reveal yourself. If you are not who you are, Earthling or not, then we will let you go. I promise.”

They are still concerned about Earthlings. Kawa thought to himself. He smiled lightly at the Venusian samurai. At least they still care.

“I’m getting impatient here.” The samurai said, his tone still consisting so little of patience. “Or else you are in trouble.”

The Earthling samurai flashed the biggest grin at him. He shook his head and said, “No way!” And then he turned to run away from them.

~TO BE CONTINUED~