The Red Hand

Akagi's appearance at the Prime Minister's press conference simultaneously shocked, horrified, and amazed not just the people of Japan; but the entire world. His address was broadcast globally and watched by several billion people. Across the world, various governments began to hold briefings on what they witnessed, and intelligence agencies began to investigate the returnees. In Japan, things fell into chaos, as almost immediately after Akagi vanished, the Prime Minister and most of his cabinet tendered their resignation. The Diet announced a series of criminal inquiries into the government's actions, while the military disavowed those who participated in the scheme. It seemed that Akagi wouldn't have to worry about government retaliation in the near future, but she wasn't going to make any assumptions.

Akagi and her sister were currently sitting in a public park not too far from their home. It was a place the two had come many times during their younger years to play and was something of a refuge from their parents. Seeing Akagi's actions on T.V., their parents demanded to meet with Akagi, most likely to disown her, and Kana was told to stay away from her sister. This confrontation had been a long time coming, but that didn't make it any easier. They wanted to meet as soon as possible, so they left work early to meet immediately. Yumi also accompanied the girls at Akagi's insistence, which required a bit of explanation to Kana about Yumi's condition.

From what she told Kana, Akagi could detect that Yumi's mental health was damaged by her interaction with Minazawa. Yumi often had trouble talking about her past, and the times she did so often led to an attack later on; that's how traumatized the girl was. Akagi's personal history with mental illness was useful in providing treatment, and after some time, Yumi had made about a 90% recovery. However, no matter how much Akagi tried, she could never completely undo the mental trauma inflicted upon the girl. As a result, Yumi still suffered from nightmares and panic attacks; things she likely would never fully recover from. Akagi had gotten to know Yumi's tells for when an attack was imminent, and she informed Kana that it could occur at any time. So she refused to leave her side until it passed.

Around four o'clock, Kana received a message informing her that their parents were home and would be waiting for them.

"Onee-chan, please don't do anything rash, ok?" Kana pleaded with her sister to remain calm. She honestly wasn't sure what was about to happen; in the back of her mind, she expected Akagi to kill them.

The three girls began walking together along the sidewalk.

"I promise that I won't do anything crazy, Kana." Akagi looked at her sister. "But, I won't sit by and take insults, nor will I allow them to dictate my ability to see you. That is non-negotiable."

Of course Kana wouldn't want to be separated from her either, but she felt powerless in the face of both her parents demands. She knew that one day things would come to a head and conflict between her sister and them was inevitable, but with Akagi's changes the dynamic had gone from a lone, but powerless girl, fighting her parents to a situation where her parents could realistically do nothing to stop her. Kana's parents had always treated her well and were generally quite kind to her. As a result her feelings were a mixture of sadness for their actions and anxiety at the rift between them and Akagi. If she could have it her way, her parents and Akagi would repair their relationship, but she doubted such a thing was possible at this point.

Akagi figured that she was going be formally disowned by her parents and told to stay away from the family and Kana from now on. Naturally, Akagi didn't really care about being part of the Tomogawa family, and she had been planning a formal exit for some time. But, she would never accept separation from Kana, not now and not ever; and this was likely to be the thing that started a fight. Akagi had a lot of patience for her so-called parents in the past, but now she wasn't sure she could bite her tongue. The dark emotions that swirled within her mind had only grown stronger over these last four years, and the fact that her humanity had dwindled didn't help matters. It only took a few minutes to walk from the park to their house and their mother, Shima, was waiting for them inside the door.

"Hey mom, I'm home." Kana greeted her and was immediately pulled away; with her mother putting herself between Akagi and Kana. She stared at Akagi, her eyes filled with little more than contempt and anger. It was a look Akagi had seen many times during her life.

"Nice to see you too Shima." Akagi couldn't even pretend to treat this woman as her mother.

*SMACK* Kana's eyes went wide as she watched her mother smack Akagi across the face.

"How dare you put Kana in danger!" her mother screamed.

Akagi was surprised, she'd only been struck by her parents once before.

"I guess you can't blame the alcohol this time," she replied sarcastically.

Kana freaked out. "What are you doing mom?!? Why would you hit Onee-chan?"

"You shouldn't call her that Kana; this thing is little more than a monster, she's not your sister." Shima's words shocked Kana who was left speechless. "And you!" She looked at Akagi." I always knew you were a mistake. From the day you were born, I felt something was wrong with you, and now I know why!" Shima denounced Akagi with no hesitation in her voice.

She turned to Kana. "Go into the living room, you don't need to be here for this," she said with a serious look in her eye.

"What, there's no way I'm going to-" she was interrupted.

"Go, Kana, she's right; this won't take long. Please." Akagi motioned for her to leave. She didn't want Kana to see the impending dispute between her and their parents.

Kana could only hang her head and nod; she walked up the hallway, bypassing her father, and went into the living room. Akagi didn't know if she would keep out, so she wanted to make this as quick as possible.

"Come with me, and leave your little friend/monster behind; she's not involved." Shima looked at Yumi.

Yumi refrained from saying anything out of respect for her master, but Akagi wasn't content to let that slide.

"First, Yumi isn't a monster; she's a priestess. Second, she's someone very important to me, I won't have us separated. So drop the attitude." Akagi growled.

Shima responded unflinchingly. "Fine, I don't really have the energy to argue with you over something this stupid; you can bring your priestess." Shima turned, and the three women walked into the dining room where Taichi, her father, was sitting. When Akagi entered the room, Taichi gave her a look of disgust, and his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

{These two people, why did I ever care about what they thought of me? I can't really remember a time when they acted like parents or even pretended to care about me. Is it really ok to leave Kana in a place like this?} she pushed away her thoughts and took a seat.

She quickly activated her telepathic link with Yumi before coming to the house.

{Yumi, listen. These two are probably going to say some things that are going to really upset you. I need you to remain calm and, just stand there and take it, ok?} (Akagi)

Yumi nodded, but it was clear her instructions didn't make her happy. Everyone took a seat at the kitchen table and Taichi was the first one to speak. "Rishia, you know why you're here right?"

Akagi shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I do, but how about you tell me yourself, Taichi. And also, don't call me Rishia; my name is Akagi, not that you ever cared about what I wanted." Akagi was trying to get under his skin as much as possible.

"I will call you whatever I damn well please!" he snarled back. "I'll cut straight to the point, you are hereby banished from the Tomogawa household and will be removed from the family registry. Henceforth, you are never to use the Tomogawa name again; we want nothing to do with a monster like you." he looked at her in contempt. Formally removing someone from the family was an old practice that had little legal significance in modern Japan, but its social and cultural impact was massive.

"Fine by me, I wasn't planning on keeping that family name anyway. The two of you both disgust me as much as I disgust you anyway." Akagi said as she picked at her fingernails.

"You are also to stay the hell away from Kana; I don't want her wrapped up in any more of your problems, you hear me!" Shima yelled.

Akagi replied. "Oh, I hear you alright. However, I fail to see why I should listen," Akagi replied with a smirk. "You have no power over me. If I want to spend time with Kana....." She leaned in. "I would love to see you get in my way."

Strangely, the two seemed unfazed by her threats.

"You really are a monster, aren't you? You killed all those people, and you don't even care." Shima looked at her. "Are you going to kill more? Are you going to drag Kana into this? Are you going to make her kill? Is that what you want?" Shima yelled.

Akagi took a moment to answer. "You're right. I am a monster. But what does that make you?" she pointed at Shima. "You two threw away your daughter just because she wasn't that smart, because I had some issues, and because I wasn't a child you could take pride in. You cast me aside in favor of Kana, for what?" Akagi fired back. “What kind of parents do that to their own child? If you ask me, its the pot calling the kettle black when you call me a monster!”

Akagi looked at the two of them. "I'll tell you what I think. The two of you don't actually care about Kana. You see her as nothing more than a trophy, something you can brag about to others, and as someone who will be your meal ticket in the future." her voice grew angry. “This family never has any use for people that can't be shown off as status and I guarantee you would throw Kana away in a heart beat if she ever show signs of struggling!” The Tomogawa family was quite ruthless and she'd heard tale of other members being cast away in the past.

"What are you talking about; Kana is our daughter; of course we love her!" Shima practically screamed. “We would never cast out our own child!”

"And what was I? Was I not your own child? Your own daughter? Before I got trapped in FWO, I had no powers, but neither of you treated me as one; hell you were embarrassed by me." Akagi laughed. "Once you figured that I wouldn't be anything special, you abandoned me, left me to rot, and tore me down at any chance you got." Akagi couldn't even remember a time where these two even pretended to care about her or her well-being. “I'm sure you would have killed me at that time if you could have gotten away with it.” Akagi's eyes turned sad as she said this.

"That's because you were never our daughter in the first place; from the day you were born, we knew something was wrong with your existence," Taichi interjected. "We could never figure out just why, but Shima and I could tell that you weren't our child. It took until today to figure out exactly what was wrong with you and now we know." His words cut deep. “You are little more than a creature that took the place of our child, a monster in the guise of a person! I don't know who or what you are really are and I don't care. But, I am absolutely sure that you are not Rishia Tomogawa and you never were!”

Hearing that they never once thought of her as their daughter Akagi found herself shocked. All this time, she thought that they at least tried to love her in the beginning. Looking back, it was clear she was deluding herself. The "happy memories" she had from when she was a kid were nothing more than an illusion. Her parents always treated her standoffishly and never once told her they loved her. There was never any chance these two would, because to them, she was nothing more than a mistake, one they wished to rid themselves of as soon as possible. Sure, Akagi had always felt different than others, but she had always thought herself as human; but now, hearing their words, she began to doubt herself.

{Was... was I ever really human?} Akagi's mind went back to the day of her mental breakdown and the things she saw and heard in her mind.

"Man, that kinda stings, hearing that." Akagi fought to hold back her tears. Her thoughts drifting the mistake she almost made on that day all those years ago.

Right now, more than anything in the world, she wanted to kill these two people; but she couldn't. She couldn't make Kana an orphan, no matter how much she hated them. Even if they were just using Kana, she couldn't bear to face her sister after doing something so heinous. Akagi became trapped in her mind; she bounced between thoughts, stuck in a loop as she tried to figure out what she should do.

Yumi looked on, her face plastered with concern for her master, and contempt for these people. She couldn't bear to see Akagi in such pain, but her orders stopped her from intervening.

It seemed like this cycle would continue indefinitely until Kana's voice broke the silence in the room. "Is that true?" her eyes were wet. "You... You never loved Onee-chan? You never thought of her as my sister?" Kana's face looked like she was ready to cry at any moment. “How could you say such horrible things!”

"Kana!" her mother yelled. "I thought I told you to wait in the living room; you don't need to be here-" Kana's scream interrupted her words.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU DID TO HER!" Kana screamed so loud it rattled the windows. "You treated her like dirt, acted like she was a stranger in her own home, and drove her into despair so deep that she almost killed me!" She looked at her sister who was shocked by her statement.

"Yes Onee-chan, I know about that," Akagi had tried to hide the fact that she almost killed her for all these years; she thought no one but her knew why she experienced a severe mental breakdown that day.

Before Akagi could say anything, Kana continued. "I was awake when you entered the room with the knife, but I pretended to be asleep." Kana continued. "I knew what you wanted to do to me, and I was prepared to accept it." she began to cry.

"Why? Why would you just accept me killing you Kana!" Akagi yelled, completely baffled by what her sister was saying.

"Because.... because, I thought that I deserved it for taking your family from you." Kana began to cry even harder. "I thought that.. that if I died...... mom and dad would go back to loving you."

{You knew? You knew all this time and yet you still loved me as your sister? After I almost did something so horrible.} Akagi's face began to fill with tears, as her mind went blank.