Furious

50

It was well after sunset before Kris left. And she left by the front gate. She was surprised by how many newsies had stuck it out, but it seemed there was still time to make the late-night news.

The sunset, as seen from the Fujimi-yagura, or the Mt. Fuji viewing keep, had been spectacular. If the snow-covered volcano wasn’t the actual sacred mountain, it was a perfect stand-in as far as Kris was concerned.

So Kris was feeling rather mellow as she made her way out the main gate and toward the waiting van. Her Marine detachment had formed up at a distance, far enough away that the cameras could get her alone but close enough to keep anyone from jamming a mike in her face. Maybe that was what caused her to lose her usual control over her tongue.

The shouted questions were the usual ones although at least one woman reporter was informed enough to want to know about the viewing of the scrolls. Kris let them holler for most of her walk, then paused, and in her command voice announced, “I’m sorry. I cannot talk to you fine people of the press. The courts require me to say nothing. Maybe you can get your stories from the Imperial Household?”

As she expected, someone gave her the straight line she was looking for.

“The Imperial Household never tells us anything.”

“Oh,” Kris said, putting on her best imitation of shocked innocence. “Are they under a court gag order, too?”

Newsies are not known for their humor, but that drew a chuckle from several, and even Kris’s Marines seemed to be smiling as she approached the van.

Kris felt the bullet hit before she heard the rifle’s crack.