Ren Kanzaki, a songbird's story

[Sapphoria]

***Chapter 2: Taking flight***

I had thought for sure that Hideyo was bluffing about the true loyalty of his men. Later that night I had contacted Izanagi and invited him to my quarters. I had thought to play the sympathy angle- shed a few tears, bemoan my situation, flash him a little skin- you know, the things I'd learned worked with men. Or at least, Hideyo's thugs.

I was wrong.

I barely managed to get out of my quarters alive that night. Ironically, seeing me running through the halls of Hideyo's mansion with blood streaking my face and several bruises was not any cause for alarm. I'm not sure whether to praise or curse that fact, but either way that's how I made it to the hanger-bay uninterrupted. I knew Izanagi would wake up soon and the alarm would sound, and they'd be after me like faithful hounds. I hid myself behind an aging combat service freighter and spat on the names of the men I thought had any shred of decency. They're all in Hideyo's pocket, I seethed.

Suddenly a hand was over my mouth and I was yanked backwards and dragged up into the cargo hold of the CSV. By the time I had remembered I needed to be screaming, the doors were shut and I was lying on the floor as Kunio sat down in front of me, clasping his hands between his knees and giving me a serious look. Kunio was one of the quieter of Hideyo's men, rarely ever speaking and performing most tasks with an air of formality. I had always given him distance, though he had kind eyes I had seen other men cultivate such a look to deceive their prey.

"Is today the day that Kanzaki fulfills her deathwish?" he said incredulously, shaking his head at me, "Everyone is looking for you. They say you attacked Izanagi."

I clenched my jaw and refused to answer, glowering at him. "Well, we won't get very far at all if you have forgotten how to speak," he replied after some time, "they will surely find us soon. I do not know what it is you intend to do, but if it involves staying alive, I suggest you crawl your battered self into the cockpit of this thing and fly it out of here while I go tell Hideyo I did not find you, but sent out a CSV to search the area. Do so, direct the lights onto the property, but stray outside of range of his defense turrets. Then hit the afterburners and never look back."

I stared at him weakly, blood trickling down the side of my head. He gave me a nod and then got up and made for the cargo bay doors. "Wait.."

"You do not have much time, Ren."

"Why are you helping me?" was all that I could come up with. I was still in shock. Kunio gave me a crooked smile.

"Even a sleeping Dragon would hate to see something valuable be destroyed. Fly now, little wren." he replied, using a nickname I hadn't heard in years. Only my grandfather and sister had ever called me that.

There was no time to ponder the implications of Kunio's actions, or decipher what exactly his words had meant. My hands were shaking as I powered up the aging, rusty vehicle. The engines kicked to life and whined in protest, and with the horrible screech of metal against concrete I managed to direct the ship out into the night sky. I was not accustomed to flying.

I have no idea what became of Kunio on that night, but I did hear his voice on the comms before Hideyo's enraged screams came through. "Ren, you backstabbing #$%*&! Get back here! I own you! I OWN YOU!" his shouts echoed in my ears as I gunned the freighter into burn and shot off into the night.