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Chapter Nineteen -- Love Not Human, Redux

Miyatsu's ears pricked and swiveled at the sound of crunching gravel. He shielded from light, flicking into invisibility even as he opened his eyes to see a car drawing up to the entrance of the Raikatuji Building.

He drew a quick breath; he was right, Sakaki always was an early riser. The sun was barely peeking above the horizon, and there was nobody else about yet. The catamaran should have reached Shima by now; probably Aiko's parents would have already contacted the mainland authorities. It wouldn't be long before the police came to the Centre with pertinent questions for Raikatuji-sama. And Miyatsu was going to make sure Sakaki would still be there for them to arrest. He only hoped they wouldn't waste time by going to Shima first to get Aiko's statement. Surely she would impress upon them the need to act immediately.

He stood in a single lithe movement, trying to settle his dew-dampened fur down as adrenaline began to surge through his body.

As Sakaki got out of the car and shut the door, Miyatsu loped invisibly across the intervening space. Any sound his paws may have made on the gravel of the drive was masked by the car's wheels as Sakaki's driver accelerated smoothly away.

Sakaki touched his thumb to the entrance lock, and the door slid open to admit him. Miyatsu slipped through just behind him, marveling as always at the incredible olfactory blindness of humans. The lobby of the building was empty and dim. Sakaki crossed the marble floor to the elevator with Miyatsu still a close shadow, walking cat-quiet behind him. Miyatsu rode with him up to the top floor, all without Sakaki suspecting that he wasn't alone.

The elevator door pinged and opened directly into Sakaki's luxurious office, with its two picture windows and their panoramic views of Kagoshima on one side and the ocean on the other. Miyatsu gazed around at the remembered opulence as Sakaki seated himself behind his desk. All, all was as he remembered. The only thing that had changed was Sakaki. Now that he was in the well-lit office, Miyatsu could see that his face looked -- not old, exactly, but sick. His skin was drawn tight across his cheekbones as if he hadn't eaten in some time, and his eyes were bloodshot. Aiko had told Miyatsu that Sakaki was going through withdrawal symptoms as he tried to get off Anodyne. Miyatsu hoped vindictively that the man had been having as much trouble sleeping as he had.

Sakaki picked up his desk phone and dialed. After a moment, as the ring tone continued unabated, he began tapping his fingers on the green leather-upholstered desktop impatiently.

"Come on, Rin, pick up," he muttered.

Finally he put the telephone receiver down and went to gaze out of the seaward-side window, his hands clasped behind his back.

Miyatsu let himself flicker back into visibility. "Hello, Sakaki."

Sakaki spun about, his eyes wide in shock and his face paling when he saw who his visitor was.

Miyatsu raised one eyebrow. "Aren't you going to say anything, brother? You did tell me I should drop by anytime."

Sakaki recovered himself with an effort, the urbane mask slipping back on to cover his uncertainty. "Of course I did, of course. Miyatsu! Let me say, er, I saw the news about -- about Aiko's abduction, the police requests for information and so on -- what a horrible shock! If I can do anything to help, anything at all... "

Miyatsu nodded and walked forward, his face grave. "I appreciate that, my brother. You were always -- very fond of Aiko, weren't you?"

"Of course! You know how I feel about both of you."

Miyatsu put a friendly paw on Sakaki's shoulder. "I used to think I did. And yet, at the moment of my greatest distress, my brother didn't care enough to call me to offer his condolences, didn't bother to make contact in any way. Even though the woman he claims to have been so fond of had been brutally murdered in full view of her whole family!"

The friendly grip had turned to a vice of iron. Sakaki yelped and wrenched himself away from Miyatsu, outrage and fear in his eyes.

"What, are you crazy? You're hurting me!"

Miyatsu's fur was bristling now. His claws extended and his ears laid flat against his skull, his tail lashing in anger. "It was a clever plan, Sakaki," he snarled, a low growl beginning in his throat. "To lure me from Shima and steal Aiko away. I remember you even rang me on the catamaran when I was on my way to the mainland that day and you asked about Aiko then. You wanted to make sure she'd stayed on the island, didn't you?"

He took a swipe at Sakaki with one paw, and Sakaki leapt backwards, his eyes fixed on Miyatsu's claws.

"Where were your abductors? Hidden around the other side of the island, were they, waiting for the signal from you that it was safe to go in? And what would you have done if she'd decided to come with me that day, hmm? Would you have told them to wait for a few days and have another attempt later?"

Miyatsu snarled, baring his teeth. "But hiding her beneath the seabed in your new power station, what can I say? A stroke of brilliance. You must have guessed I'd never think to look under the ocean for my mate."

Sakaki made a run for his desk, but Miyatsu headed him off in a single swift leap.

"But then, you were the one who helped me refine my talents, so you know my limitations. I confided so much to you when I first came here about what I could and couldn't do. I was so grateful to you and when I found out how we were related, well, I would have moved mountains for you!"

Miyatsu stopped, panting heavily. The intense emotion of the previous night along with the lack of food and over-exertion of the past week were all taking their toll on his energy reserves. His eyes fixed on Sakaki's face, the anger giving way to desolation.

"Why, Sakaki?" he whispered. "I know now that you must hate me. I can accept that, even though I don't understand it. But why hurt Aiko as well? She never did anything to you to deserve that."

Sakaki's expression had hardened. "Got it all figured out in that little cat brain, haven't you?" he sneered. "I didn't credit you with that much intelligence, to tell the truth. And don't give me the affection routine, don't bother to claim any sort of relationship. We don't have one, we never had one. I donated some stem cells to add to the genetic mix, that's all. I'm not your brother, or your father, or related to you in any way, you misbegotten experiment!"

Sakaki had been backed up against his bookshelf. "You look tired, Miyatsu," he taunted. "Do you think I don't know you have Pershan Syndrome? You're as thin and mangy-looking as a feral cat. Probably haven't slept in a week either."

With one hand he pulled out a book from behind him and lobbed it at Miyatsu with all his force. Miyatsu lifted one arm to stop the heavy volume hitting his face, grunting in pain when it smacked against his forearm.

Sakaki grinned evilly at this sign of weakness. "Just as I'd hoped, no telekinesis left! Well, well, how the mighty have fallen. I was counting on you losing your psychic powers, but that you'd come after me weak and unprotected is better than I could have imagined! You ask why I took Aiko? Because she needed to be reminded what it was like to be with a man for once, you freak!"

Miyatsu snarled and launched himself at Sakaki again, and Sakaki made a mad scramble for his desk, hitting a concealed switch there. A metal cage slid up from the floor, barring off the small corner of the room where Sakaki stood, a modified version of the trainer's booth on the circuit.

Miyatsu swung about to face one of the windowless walls which had rumbled heavily to one side when Sakaki hit the button. A room was revealed behind the wall, still cloaked in darkness. Inside the room, in deepest shadow, a pair of eyes shone eerily red, unblinkingly fixed upon Miyatsu.

"After your last attack on me, I thought I might some day need protection from you," Sakaki's voice sounded triumphant. "So I had these additions to my office built. Now I'd like you to meet an old friend. Come on out, Koneko. You remember Miyatsu, don't you my pet?"

The thing in the room moved. A metallic foot appeared from the shadows, then more legs, all jointed metal. The creature emerged fully into the office. Six legs splayed out like a huge cockroach. Mounted on one metallic shoulder was an industrial laser, the type used by builders to slice through plate steel. The creature's head was the only part of the original animal left: the rest was cold metal and wiring. Its neck disappeared into a cuff of studded metal.

Koneko scuttled to Sakaki's cage, putting its -- her -- head by the bars for a pat from her master. She fixed her eyes on Miyatsu, and his psychic sense prickled at the waves of despair emanating from her.

Miyatsu stared at the apparition, appalled. "Koneko?" he whispered. "Sakaki, what have you done to her?"

Sakaki glared at Miyatsu. "I saved her life," he said angrily. "Her heart stopped when she was under anesthetic, the same day you took Aiko and left me, twelve years ago." He stroked the head tenderly. "But I put her body into a gestation unit and kept her brain alive. I had this robot developed and mounted her biological brain to it, giving her a new body. She'll live forever, thanks to me."

"Sakaki, how can you make her live like this? This -- this is an abomination!"

"Shut up! Just shut up, Miyatsu! Koneko might only be an animal, but she's loyal to me, she loves me more than anyone ever has! Koneko would do anything for me!"

Suddenly Miyatsu understood: Sakaki wanted the true love Miyatsu and Aiko shared. But Sakaki could never have the love he craved because he wouldn't surrender himself to another enough to obtain it. To him, control was everything. But Koneko loved him. It didn't matter that it was the unequal dynamic of master/slave; in fact, that was the only relationship Sakaki would countenance.

It was no wonder Sakaki had turned against Miyatsu and disavowed any genetic relationship. Sakaki's precious control was threatened by a character as stubborn, in his own way, as the human. Once Miyatsu had become self-confident enough to insist on his freedom, that had turned him in Sakaki's mind into a competitor. And in Sakaki's experience, competitors were either bought out, absorbed by the Raikatuji empire, or destroyed. Sakaki didn't love Aiko, he had just deluded himself into thinking he did. She was the prize to be obtained once Miyatsu was destroyed, not a person valued in her own right. And Sakaki never gave up on anything he wanted.

"Koneko's never had a living target to practise on before, have you, pet?" Sakaki said, smiling into the robotic creature's eyes. He pointed to Miyatsu. "Now I want you to eliminate that for me! Fire!"

Miyatsu had a bare instant to spare as the laser swiveled in his direction. It was just enough time to throw himself in a sideways somersault to avoid the beam. As it was, he felt the heat of its near-miss before it splashed against the wall of the office, burning a hole through the wall and leaving a large scorch-mark on the surrounding priceless silk wallpaper.

Desperately, Miyatsu flickered into invisibility, and heard Sakaki burst out laughing.

"That old stunt of yours won't work here, Miyatsu! Koneko has heat sensors built into her body. She can see you just as clearly as if you were visible! And remember, she's got a similar sense of smell to you. Fire, Koneko!"

The laser spat again; Miyatsu flung himself to the floor to slide beneath the deadly beam, flicking back into visibility again.

"Oh, nearly got you, Miyatsu! You're still fast, I'll give you that, but you can't keep dancing around my office all day! Fire!"

Another blast, and Miyatsu felt the sensitive whiskers on his face shrivel as he jerked backwards.

Sakaki laughed jeeringly. "What a pity I don't have a monitor recording this! I'd love to watch a playback of it later! Ah well, I'll just have to treasure the memory. Fire, Koneko!"

Sakaki was playing with him. Miyatsu searched for a way out as he dodged yet again. He was panting for breath now, his sides heaving as he fought to catch his breath, trying to make his exhausted brain think. He'd be trapped if he tried to get into the lift. The only other way out was through the window, and without telekinesis the drop would kill him...

"I realize you must have stolen Aiko away from me again. All my good work of the past week trying to wean her off her addiction to you has been wasted. But I'll get her back, you know that, don't you, Miyatsu?" Sakaki said it with infuriating certainty. "Oh yes, once you're disposed of I'll offer her a deal: come to me willingly or have those pets of hers killed off one by one. Fire!"

Miyatsu spun away, but yowled in pain as the beam caught him a glancing mark side-on across his flank. Koneko's aim was improving, and it was only Miyatsu's speed that had prevented that last shot from hitting him fully in the middle and cutting him in half. And he was tiring, his vision going grey around the edges...

The window on the seaward side suddenly imploded, showering the room with glass. Miyatsu had an instant where he saw a lithe, younger image of himself hanging in mid-air, then with a yowl of fighting rage, Montaro arrowed straight for Sakaki in his protective cage. The bars shook but held as the teen attempted to bend them with his telekinesis to get at Sakaki. He landed, snarling, in front of the cage, one arm snaking through the bars as he tried to grab the man cowering back against the wall.

Koneko!" Sakaki screamed. "Leave Miyatsu. Get this one! Fire!"

Miyatsu didn't stop to think; as Koneko's deadly laser swiveled in his son's direction, he grabbed the teenager with his telekinesis and flung him across the room, out of the way of the beam he could see lancing towards the cage. And then doubled up on the floor, heaving and dry-retching as pain blossomed inside his head.

It was over, Miyatsu thought, lying gasping on the floor as the sick throbbing subsided to a dull misery. Sakaki had won, and any moment now he'd feel the laser skewer him and see his first-born son die...

But then a furred hand was reaching down to him, helping him stand. Miyatsu clung to his son as he got shakily to his feet. The boy was unhurt, but he wasn't looking at his father. Instead he was staring wide-eyed in horror at something over by the desk. Revulsion was coming off the youth in waves.

Slowly Miyatsu followed his son's gaze. Sakaki was staring at them. He'd slid down the wall and lay splayed out on the floor, one leg protruding through the bars of the cage. The hole through his chest was still smoking, and the wall behind him was stained rust-colored with the superheated blood that had been blasted out of his back where the laser had passed through his body.

As they watched, the light of life left his eyes.

Koneko had crouched low to the ground submissively. Now she scuttled towards her master, making odd mewling sounds of distress. She put one long jointed leg through the bars and nudged him, her sounds rising as she tried to get some response from him, utterly ignoring the pair of Miyatsus in her grief.

She pulled away from the cage a little and determinedly put two of her legs over her back, wrenching the laser on to a new direction, one it had never meant to be pointed in. As Miyatsu and Montaro watched in horror, she laid her head on top of her dead master's knee and blasted the laser one last time, directly into the top of her skull. The robotic body jerked once and collapsed to the floor as conscious control was removed.

"Dad? What do we do now?" Montaro's voice sounded lost, forcing Miyatsu to look away from the dead Pershan and the man that had been his brother.

He met his son's scared blue eyes and took a deep breath, trying to centre himself and concentrate his scattered thoughts on what needed to be done next.

"Let's get out of here," Miyatsu answered. "Only we'd better not use the elevator, we don't want any record that we've been here." He forced himself to look around the battered office. "And this shattered glass everywhere: that would tell police that something came in through the window."

"Leave it to me," Montaro answered. The teenager's forehead knotted in concentration and shards of glass lifted free from the carpet, forming a glittering sphere in mid-air. More glass slivers slid out from beneath the desk and around the room, all of them adding to the growing ball of glass hanging in the air. When no more pieces appeared, Montaro walked to the window and glanced down.

"Nobody's arrived yet," he murmured. Standing to one side he let the glass ball float through the window to land in a shower on the ground far below. Moving back to his father's side, he put an arm under his shoulders. With a grunt of effort, he levitated them both into the air.

"Shield now," Miyatsu warned. "We mustn't be seen leaving."

The pair flicked out of sight together. Montaro floated them through the shattered window and lowered them, slowly and carefully, over the glass shards and onto the lawn beyond the Raikatuji Building.