The Hinomoto Rebellion by Elizabeth Staley

meters away from him. Andrea dodged a night stick by ducking beneath it and swinging her leg out, breaking both of the police officer’s kneecaps with a single blow. She leaped back to her feet, slamming her fist into the underside of her second attacker’s jaw.
    The black-haired girl used her bo to stop a night stick from colliding with her head, sliding her weapon down to the cop’s arm. She flicked the bo so fast that D didn’t even see where she hit the man before he tumbled over on to the ground. Four of the six policemen were lying on the concrete and both of the ones Andrea had dispatched were bleeding.
    The last of the policemen attacking the black-haired girl swung wildly, his night stick no match for the length of her own weapon. In a few brief moments he too was lying on the ground, his right arm jutting at an odd angle to his body.
    Andrea faced off with her last opponent, narrowly dodging some well-placed attacks. Finally she managed to seize the man’s wrist and squeeze, causing him to drop his weapon. The nightstick clattered to the pavement as Andrea stepped in and delivered one succinct blow to his ribs. She dropped his arm as he followed his weapon to the ground.
    The black-haired girl grabbed Andrea’s arm. “Come on!” she yelled, turning and running down the street with Andrea in tow. D leaped around the corner and followed the two fleeing females, leaping over a few of the prostrate bodies they had left in their wake.
    The trio ran ten blocks before finally stopping in a small, dark alley. They threw themselves down in three heaps behind a dumpster, breathing heavily and wiping sweat out of their eyes. Not a word was spoken for a few minutes as they struggled to catch their breaths, each ragged inhalation bringing them closer to calming their racing hearts.
    Finally, the girl with the bo looked at Andrea. “Thank you so much.” she said with a small smile. Her face was oval-shaped, with a cute button nose and large blue-green eyes framed by thick eyelashes. Her eyebrows were high and shaped well. She carried herself like a trained fighter, and her exposed arms were lean and toned. The band of fabric circling her head was long in the back, hanging with trailing ends to her waist. She wore black skin-tight pants and brown kneehigh leather boots that carried the signs of being well worn. The wooden staff also had the look of years of use. The handgrip had been rewrapped several times and the wood was uneven, dented and cracked from practice with the weapon.
Andrea pointed to the bo. “You shouldn’t carry that thing unless you like to ask for trouble,” she replied.
     
The girl simply smiled, then her face changed to an expression halfway between shock and recognition. “Hey... you’re Andrea the Tiger, aren’t you!?” she exclaimed.
    D and Andrea exchanged a glance, Andrea’s eyebrow raised a little. Then they both looked back at the girl with the headband. “Yeah,” Andrea answered. “Do I know you?”
    “I’ve been looking for you for two days!”The girl jumped up and bowed, “Mezushi Aki,” she said, “I’ve come to help the ronin who are working to free Hinomoto.”
Andrea jumped up, D not far behind her. “How the hell did you find out about that?” snapped D.
    Aki grinned at him. “Rumors travel quickly in the underground. A few people got away from Tony’s Place during the raid, one of them was talking about it at the Shark’s Den last night. Imagine my surprise when he said he’d overheard the Tiger talking to two rebels!” She stepped forward, her eyes pleading earnestly, “Please, allow me to help you! I can’t stand to watch this corruption any more! Ronin should have done something about this a long time ago!”
    Once more, Andrea and D glanced at each other. Andrea’s muscles were tense, as though she were getting ready to attack Aki at any moment and leave her lying here in the alley. The three were silent for a few moments, and finally Andrea seemed to