Chapter One
Copyright 2021 by Kat Thomas
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Canva Kat Thomas
Book design by Kat Thomas
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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She wondered why her father brought her along on this business trip and then left her alone in the hotel for the duration. She was in a new country. A new place to see things. However, she was stuck in hotel that was the size of their house may be smaller. Every day was the same promise that he would finish up his meetings, and they were explore. Every day something new came up.
When he walked in the door, she knew what he was going to say. Though she was not in the business world being the only child of a man like him, she knew that sometimes business was more important to him than she was. She hung her head low.
“Father, instead of you taking me for a walk, can I just go to the park that I see from the window? It is only across the street. I won’t get lost of anything. It will be fine.” She pleaded as he ordered dinner from a local restaurant.
“Alexandra, normally, I would say no, but this time you are old enough to do so. Go ahead but only to the park across the street and be back in an hour.” Her father said as she grabbed her small bag and bolted out the door. To give him a few minutes of peace and for her to be able to feel the sun on her face again. She was afraid she was becoming as white as one of the woman who used the white makeup and wore a fancy kimono. She couldn’t remember their names but her father had a special liking for them. At thirteen she was amazed at the world but at the same time afraid of it and all its people.
This was one of the first times she got to see somewhere without her fathers overprotective eyes on her. She made her way carefully to the park and looked around to all its beauty. When she spotted a statue in the middle of the park. It was slightly bronzed green, and it stood out from all the rest. She walked to it and sat down off to the side. The details on the statue were enough to make it seem like there was really a samurai riding through the park on horseback. She looked at the statue like there was nothing else there to see. As she sat, she looked around and saw she was the only one around the statue. The fountain around it was littered with small coins from all over the world.
Alexandra dug through her pockets and found a penny from America in there and smiled, she closed her eyes and wished in her mind as she tossed the coin in the water at the base of the statue. Her wish, I wish you would be my friend.
“What a most particular wish to wish for little one.” A voice from in back of her said. She whipped around and looked at the man standing before her. He was dressed in Sengoku clothes. His kimono was glaringly white with flowers on the sides of his chest. His families kamon.
“I am sorry I didn’t mean to say it out loud.” She said.
“And you didn’t,” he replied.
“Then how do you know what I wished for?” Alexandra asked as she looked at the man standing before her. He looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. She looked around and saw people looking at her strangely. “What is going on?”
“My dear, those others can’t see me. It must look like you are speaking to yourself.” He chuckled. “How amusing you are. Do you not know how theses wishes work?”
“Who are you?” She asked, now extremely flustered.
“Akechi Mitsuhide.” He said, “ At your service, my princess.”
“Wait, I know that name,” she said as she tried to remember how and why.
“Forget that for now. Why would you wish for a friend, little one? And why ever would you choose me of all the others?” he asked.
“I was asking the statue.” She said softly.
“And I have been trapped in that statue since my death.” He said.
“Wait, what?” she asked.
“Do you not realize what I am, my dear?” he asked.
“You’re a ghost?” She asked.
“I prefer a whole host of other terms that sound better than ghost.” He said flatly, “But it is nice to see you can follow along.”
“Wait, you are a ghost? What did I do wish you free from the statue?” She asked.
“You asked for a friend.” He replied. “We are given a chance to grant a few wishes here and there. Yours was the only one that seemed simple enough to do.”
“Mr. Akechi.” She started.
“Mitsuhide.” He replied. “Now, what is your name, little one?”
“Alex.” She said.
“Alex?” he asked.
“Alexandra.” She replied. “Mitsuhide, this has to be a dream.”
“I assure you it is not.” He replied.
“Can you leave the statue?” She asked.
“I just did.” He replied.
“I mean, go further away from it.” She stated.
“No, I believe I have to remain somewhat close to it.” He replied as he tilted his head and wondered about the small girl in front of him. It had been far too long since someone wanted him around. He was one of the most hated men in all of Japan. the people who fashioned these statues had been from a long-forgotten temple that made it possible to attach the spirit to an object. All the men he had known and then the younger ones who would take their place among the warriors of the times were all attached to a statue somewhere. Though he knew that he did not know how he did. Maybe it was the fact they were all long dead now and could send each other messages through the wind like I am stuck too.
“How?” she asked.
“Little one, I do not know for sure.” He said as he looked around. Seeing the park and the buildings around it through his own eyes instead of peering through the statues defenses on keeping him in, it was amazing. “What year is it?”
“Two-thousand, and ten.” She said.
“You are jesting.” He said as he spun around. “You are not Japanese.”
“I am an American.” She said. “an ocean divides the continents. I am from a different one than Asia.”
“Why are you here?” He asked.
“My father is doing business here. He brought me along so I could see Japan. He has been so busy with work we have only seen the inside of our hotel room.” She said with a strained smile.
“oh, I see Little one why you wished for a friend then.” He said with a smile. “However, you are stuck with me for the time being.”
“You will be my friend?” she asked.
“I do not see why not.” He said, and she looked to her wrist.
“I have to go back now. I had an hour.” She explained.
“When you come back to the statue knock three times.” He said. “That will be our cue.”
“I will try.” She said. She took off toward one of the breaks through the green field. He looked around one more time, and then he was back in the statue. He hoped for a more permanent reprieve from the metal coffin he was in. now that he had a taste of freedom, he wanted more of it. He would have to think on how he could break the bond that trapped him here. He wanted to rest. He wanted to move on. He was trapped with bonds he didn’t understand within the metal that coated the stone.
She walked in the room and saw her father on the futon in the middle of the room already laid out asleep. The food was on the counter, and she looked it over and took a few bites. She wasn’t hungry. She wasn’t anything. As soon as she had seen her father, she knew that she wanted nothing more than to go home. She wanted to be away from this man that she called a father but she so rarely got to see. He had promised her so many things to do and see here in Japan. He had been and always would be too busy for her. She was never going to see more than the park she suddenly knew.
She had to wonder if her mind had made the whole thing up. A spirit stuck, trapped for all time, in a statue was a tad bit far fetched, but she knew it had to be real when she touched her pocket, and she had a stone with a tiny bit of bronzed metal encasing it. He had managed to place it there somehow. It was a small piece of him that she now had. It was something real. It was the smallest piece of her new friend.
She held the stone in her hand as she curled up on her own futon and went to sleep. She saw things she knew she had never seen before. Places that were old and no longer here any longer. As she dreamt the dreams became more and more vivid. She looked around and enjoyed what she saw. It was like a history lesson come to life. When she woke, she looked at the stone and knew he had been sharing things with her through the stone. He was giving her something that was better than a real gift. He was giving her his memories. She had complained that she hadn’t saw any part of japan but her hotel room and the park. He took her on a tour of places that were not there anymore. Things he had seen when he was alive. The small stone grew warmer and then colder. She looked around and saw her father had left again. She knew he had said that she was supposed to stay in the hotel room while he was away, but she changed her clothes and then went to the park. She looked up to the statue as she grew closer. Again no one was around it. No one wanted to be near it. She went to the side and knocked three times.
“Did you have a nice dream little one?” he asked softly in back of her.
“Thank you, Mitsuhide.” She said as she turned, “You showed me Japan in a way I could never see.”
“Well, little one, you gave me a taste of your world. It was only fair that I gave you one of mine.” Mitsuhide said.
“I think that being friends with you will be interesting, Mitsuhide,” Alexandra said.
“And I believe we have much to learn from each other, princess,” Mitsuhide said. “Here is to a long friendship.”
