Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 30: Slade: Apply Pressure

Slade found Yamato at the row of urinals, where he was directing a feeble stream into the basin. The expression on his face spoke either of intense physical pain or emotional anguish, but when the man realized he was no longer alone, his face went blank. Slade nodded to him, and since he was there, stepped up to the row of plumbing fixtures and put one to use. After a moment, he remarked, "I suppose every man whose wife has an attractive sister thinks about doing what you did. I bet Haruko was a peach back in the day." 

"Uh," the man grunted, possibly in agreement. It took no great insight into human nature to see why this man had bullied and browbeaten Yukie from the very start. As better educated, more intelligent, and more articulate as she was, she must have intimidated him, but he wanted the money to modernize his brewery, and he must not have been able to get it any other way. Neither was he more imposing physically—Yukie topped him by several inches, and what with her also being a martial artist, he must have known that if he raised a hand to her, she knew how to take him apart. How else could he assert his dominance?

What a mismatch! Like yoking an ox together with a thoroughbred racer—the ox couldn't keep up with her, but he could hold her back at his pace.

Finishing up, he shook off the last few drops, tucked himself away, zipped up, and washed his hands, then waited for Yamato to do the same. Once he had, Slade made eye contact with the man. "I don't want there to be any misunderstandings," he said, "I want to marry Yukie. My last hesitation was about Rose, but she adores Yukie already. If all goes well, I'm going to ask her at the end of the trip. That would make us brothers-in-law."

He extended a hand to Yamato, who hesitated a fraction of a second before he took it.

In one motion, Slade twisted the man's arm up behind his back, shoved him against the bathroom wall, and hissed, "Unfortunately, thanks to you, in her mind, marriage is associated with feeling sick to her stomach and slow suffocation. She almost has panic attacks when she remembers being with you. Therefore, when we return to the table, you will bow deeper than you have ever bowed in your life—don't try to pull away, you'll dislocate your arm—and you will beg her to forgive you for how you treated her. You will grovel, and the word 'If' will not come out of your mouth, as in, 'If I caused you any pain, I'm very sorry.' There is no 'If' about it. I trust you understand.

"Yes!" Yamato gasped out.

"Good," Slade released him, and the man sagged almost to the point of collapse. Striding to the door, he kicked away the wedge he had stuck there so they wouldn't be interrupted, and returned to their table, not bothering to check if Yamato was following or not.

"Our great-grandfather Kuwano-" Haruko broke off from what she was telling Rose to glance inquiringly at Slade.

"He's on his way," he assured her, skewering a slice of Wagyu beef and laying it on the grill. If Yamato knew what was good for him, he was on his way, but considering the course the man had chosen for his life thus far, that was not a given.

She nodded and went on, "He was a horticulturalist who went over with the second shipment of ornamental cherry trees that were a gift from our nation to yours. He helped plant them. I'm sure you've seen them around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. Then, since many people wanted Japanese style gardens, he stayed and opened up a landscape design firm and a plant and tree nursery. His wife came over to join him, and she taught traditional flower arranging to congressmen's and senators' wives.

"Their children were born there, and so were their children, one of whom grew up to be our father. But after Pearl Harbor, everyone was suspicious of anyone Japanese, even if they hadn't been back for generations, and Grandfather Kuwano was always in and out of officials' gardens, so he was doubly suspicious. Who knew what secrets he overheard or papers he might have read? Never mind that he was barely welcome further than the kitchen or the gardening shed, all their property was confiscated and they got relocated," Haruko was saying to Rose. "but for all of that, Yukie and I are still American enough to run for President!"