Anthology - SHADOWRUN - Spells and Chrome

The oyabun did not speak at first, leaving Kage standing just inside the panel doors as Kanaga withdrew and they whispered closed. Although they looked like traditional rice paper, they were actually a far tougher polycarbonate composite. The Shigeda-gumi was a progressive one, after all, and the Chairman (he preferred that title whenever possible) sought to blend old and new practices suited to the Sixth World. The virtual rendering decorating the wall opposite the windows was symbolic of this: based on the first famous commuter-captured photo of the Great Dragon Ryumyo in Japan, displayed across the Internet in the days just after the Awakening at the end of 2011. The iridescent dragon and the sleek bullet train were a contrast between the ancient and modern, the mythical and technological. The paired swords displayed on the polished wood credenza were replicas using modern carbon steel with monofilament diamond edges. The calligraphic wall scroll, on the other hand, was authentic, from the 1800s, as Kage recalled.

Chairman Shigeda stood in front of the window to the side of the room's low desk, arms clasped behind his back, looking out into the rain spattered darkness through the carbon-composite windows in a manner Kage found achingly familiar.

"My son," he began in a low, firm voice, "is not worthy of your efforts, Yojimbo."

"Shigeda-sama…" the oyabun's hand went up, cutting off any further protest and indicating he was not looking for vain denials of what they both already knew.

"Still," he continued, as if not interrupted. "Tomashi is safe in your care. I know this. You were made to be his perfect companion and protector… as his mother wished."

His perfect plaything, Kage thought, but kept the comment to himself.

"Your service has been right and honorable, but my son has not followed your example as I had hoped. I must now send him away, and you with him."

Kage's head involuntarily lifted, eyes flicking toward the window. Fortunately, the other man had not turned around and did not see, focused on whatever images were there for him in the darkness beyond the glass.

Chairman Shigeda was a relatively young man for his esteemed position, and believed it was important to maintain appearances. He dressed in a Western fashion, in a dark, tailored suit with a cream-colored, perfectly pressed shirt and a handmade silk tie. His collar and cuffs were long enough to conceal the irezumi, the traditional tattoos he wore, and his black hair was neatly trimmed and styled.

Kage considered the contrast between them, dressed as he was in a flowing armored coat, even indoors, with the close-fitting dark clothes underneath made of modern armor-cloth blends. He wore serviceable combat boots rather than imported leather shoes, and was permitted not even the tattooing of a lowly initiate, as he could not be acknowledged as anything other than what he was: Not of pure blood, but with mixed Japanese and Western features. His head was shorn, for simplicity and utility, making him look much like a dark-clad, lethal Buddhist monk, sworn to follow his path for life.

They were a study in contrasts, and yet there were things in common: a strong set of jaw, the steady gaze, the proud carriage, if you knew what to look for.

"It will be easier for you to protect him elsewhere," the Chairman said, somewhat sadly.

"To protect him from what, Shigeda-sama? Is there a threat I should know about?"

"There is always a threat, Yojimbo, but yes, I have heard rumors. Others may move against me. When that happens, it would be best if Tomashi were elsewhere."

"Yes, Chairman," the bodyguard said with a bow. It was the only possible reply.

"Go and pack what you need. I will speak to my son alone. You will leave tonight."

"Yes, Chairman," he bowed deeply and backed out of the room, the doors whispering open behind him, then sliding closed, cutting off his last view of the study and the man he had served his entire life.

Yojimbo, he was called, "bodyguard," in the old Japanese fashion. It wasn't a name, merely a title, no different than calling a chair a chair or a sword a sword. Tomashi called him Kage, "shadow," his ever-present companion since he was allowed out of his mother's sight, his ever-present champion. Kage Yojimbo, shadow bodyguard. His life was lived in the shadows: the shadows of other men, the shadows cast by the gumi, the Shigeda clan.

His quarters were even more Spartan than the Chairman's study: just a sleeping mat, a wall cabinet for weapons and personal items, and a small, recessed closet. Necessary displays and the like were all virtual, projected via his headware and commlink as they were needed, although they rarely ever were in here.

There was little actual packing to do: Yojimbo kept necessities packed and ready to go at a moment's notice. Still, he welcomed the order as an opportunity to take a few precious minutes to himself to gather his thoughts more than his meager possessions. He would take his essential weapons, of course: the matched Fichetti security pistols with extra magazines, collapsible shock baton, the concealable ceramic and carbon fiber blade. The Chairman hadn't mentioned the need for heavy ordinance, or else he would have provided it. Besides which, Kage was his own best weapon.

You were made to be his perfect companion and protector… The Chairman's words were truth. Kage closed the door of the cabinet and looked down at his hand, flexing it slowly as if seeing it for the first time, feeling the power of the myomer-fiber enhanced muscles, the nano-composite laced bone. He recalled the middleman's throat, held in his vice-like grasp, dangling off the floor…

"Did you fuck her?" Tomashi asked. He recalled the woman, half-covered in the forgotten sheet, all her attention fixed on him, her dark eyes bottomless pools. He remembered the gun in her hand from underneath the sheet, how easily he took it from her, stepping in, grabbing the hand holding the gun faster than the eye could follow, pinning the wrist in a vice-like grip. He could have broken it with just a twist or a squeeze, could have pushed her down, but he didn't. She didn't beg for mercy or even look away, capturing his eyes with hers. She pressed the gun into his hand instead.

"You know what you have to do," she said, and it had taken him aback. Did she want to die? Her tone was different, haunted. Then he saw the neural socket behind her ear, the particular glimmer to her eyes. She was bunraku, a flesh-puppet, her brain wired with software to make her whatever fantasy her client wanted. Was it the software speaking to him, or the true woman coming through? His hand closed around his own Fichetti pistol, alone in his room, recalling how he had gripped the gun, taking it from her unresisting hand, and stepped back.

"Do what you have to do," she said in the same tone, not looking down or away for what seemed like a very long time. It was Kage who finally broke their gaze. He turned and walked out, leaving the woman behind. Tomashi was going to be disappointed, and worse, angry at him, not only for the witness he left behind, but for the opportunity he passed up to improve the "show" for him. But Kage found he didn't care.

"Your service has been right and honorable…" the Chairman had said, and hot tears stung the bodyguard's eyes. If only Shigeda-sama knew. He was as much a whore as that woman, as much a puppet for the entertainment of a spoiled child. The boy Shigeda's wife adored beyond all reason, the boy the oyabun indulged, the boy Kage swore to protect with his life's blood. With the sim-rig, Tomashi was inside of him, as surely as if…

The sound of the gunshot had Kage moving almost before he was aware of it, a lifetime of training taking over in an instant. As he ran down the corridor, pistol in hand, there came a second shot, then a third. He counted five by the time he reached the doors of the Chairman's study and they obediently slid open for him.