On the Plane Prologue

On The Plane Prologue is a fanfiction by Japanlover86, it is set before the events of On The Plane, it is from Ichiro's view.

Chapter 1
I lost everything, my only friend is Maria-Kitsune, who is on a leash and we were wandering around Tokyo, I was starving, my name was Ichiro, my parents and sister died in Hiroshima and Tokyo was in ruins, I could barely find anything to eat, by the time the war was over, my liver condition entered an advanced stage and the medics said I only had 6-8 weeks left to live and wasn't expected to live past 20 years old, starvation days at the POW camp had made it even worse and caused my life expectancy to go from 5 years to 6-8 weeks.

"I don't have any." I said, trying to ignore the pangs

My stomach whined and cramped in protest as I laid a hand on it, it's been two days since I had a bite to eat and hunger was really getting to me

"I know you're hungry, I am too, but I don't have any yen!" I said,

I found some garbage dumpster near an airport and decided to look for food scraps.

"Come on....." I said

Then US soldiers spotted me, looking into the garbage like a child

"A Japanese soldier, this dude must be starving or something to look in the garbage." One of them said.

Then I found nothing, and walked off, then my stomach cramped and growled from hunger again, a crouched and I put a finger on my mouth.

"Shhhhh......" I said, putting a hand on my stomach.

Hunger was really getting to me at this point, the fact I was in an Imperial Japanese Army uniform didn't help either.

"Hey." One of the soldiers came up to me.

I looked at him, quite frightened.

Then I decided to look into the garbage again for food.

"Must be starving....." said the one who came up to me.

Then he grabbed on of my hands, I was frightened, a burly US soldier vs. a skinny Japanese soldier who hasn't eaten in two days, I shut my eyes in fear, then he hugged me.

"Look, come with us, okay kiddo?" he said to me, softly

My stomach growled again, I looked at him then pushed away while holding my midsection due to the organ that refused to be quiet.

"Your stomach's growling, you hungry?" He said

I turned my head side to side.

Then he sat down next to me.

"You think you're being funny?" He said.

"Iie!" I said

"You are, I saw you looking in the dumpster for food, you are malnourished, You are suffering hunger pains." He said

"Iie, it means no in Japanese." Said one of the soldiers.

"If you're not starving, then why were you looking through the garbage like a homeless man?" He said to me.

"Lead him on the plane." one of the GIs ordered the soldier talking to me, I held Maria-Kitsune tightly in my arms

I followed them, I was shy, what were they gonna do to me?, Starve me? Force me into labour? Torture me? Make me die of disease? Torture Maria-Kitsune?

"Hey general, we found this Japanese soldier, he was looking for food nearby our plane, he's starving, looked like he never had a good meal before, and he's very pale." said one of the GIs that found me.

"What did you do during this war and how old are you." He said, looking at me.

"I am nineteen, I am almost twenty in two months, I worked in Omori PoW camp, near Tokyo." I said.

"How many POWs did you torture?" He asked me.

"Just one, Mikey Kimmings." I said.

"That's very unusual for that." He said

"Mikey did bad things to me in the 30's" I said.

"Okay, due to your work in the camps, we'll have to keep your in prison for just a week, is that okay, ask if you want to go outside, if you're hungry, go to one of the females in the prison to make you something, we will not treat you inhumanely." He said

"....." I said, trying to hold back tears.

"Look, kid, I know you are only nineteen and your parents and sister are dead, but, I can't change the sentence, let me make it up to you, when you are released, would you like to come to the US?" he said

"Hai." I said.

"That means yes." One of the GIs said.

"Where is the prison?" I asked him.

"It's just a small jailhouse in Tokyo, don't worry, there's not too many people." he said.

"Are you gonna kill me?" I said.

"No, look, everyone has their skeletons in the closet, some Allied personell treated Japanese soldiers like dogs because they hated them so much, but, look, I'll make sure you receive the best care." He said.

A GI went up to me with my.......Ameican passport?

"I found this in your pocket, Is this an American passport?" He asked.

"Hai, I lived in America until 1937, I am a dual Japanese-American citizen." I said.

Chapter 2: Week in Prison.
I was in a prison cell with Maria-Kitsune, I slept on the bed, I was tired and thought a good night's sleep would help.

A female officer went to my cell

"Hey." She said

I woke up and got up, I slept without a jacket or undershirt on, leaving me shirtless, I had my scar, I was painfully malnourished from the lack of food, she could see my ribs underneath my flesh, I looked at her, she looked shocked.

"How long since it was when you've least eaten?" She said, concerned about me

"I haven't eaten in two days." I said.

"Why didin't you go to us two days ago." She said

"I was homeless, had no yen, no food, my feet were hurting me and other c***." I said.

"I'll go get a doctor." she said

She walked off, then came back with a medic.

"Sheila is telling me that you haven't eaten in two days, come out, I shall weigh you." He said

He opened the cell and put me in a doctor's room.

"Put your feet on the scales." He said.

I did what he had said.

"84 pounds." He read my weight to me

"He also has an acute liver condition, he only has 6-8 weeks to live, probably from malnutrition." Said the doctor.

"When I was born, the doctors said I would never live past the age of 15, and I need a liver removal and transplant, I will die if it's not here." I said.

She was shocked.

"How tall are you?" Shelia asked me

"Five-foot-four." I said to her.

"That's not healthy for a five-foot-four male, you are below the average weight for a man your height." She said, then she gazed at my scar.

"Who did that to you?" She said.

"Mikey, Mikey Kimmings, he did it to me when we were pre-teens, he was a POW I tortured, the only one, I lived in the US until I was 13, I was taking a shower and he dragged me out, NAKED, and he stabbed me in the stomach 5-7 times, his parents kept and kept apologising to me mother and father, I needed stitches, when I was swimming in Japan, females my age thought the scar was kind of sexy, in truth, I was very insecure about it, but I'm not anymore." I said.

"Okay, Ichiro, we have fears of refeeding syndrome, so, we will have to give you short rations, okay, Sheila will give them to you." He said

I nodded.

I went back to my prison cell, there was some cat food, I decided to give it to Maria-Kitsune and she ate very patiently, even when both of us haven't eaten in two days, but Maria eating made me hungry, and my stomach reminded me as it growled loudly, I placed a hand around my midsection and grimaced.

Then I saw the same woman, with a bowl of bread and some fruit, like the ones in the jungles, then she opened the door and put it on the floor.

"Hey, I thought you might of been starving right now, so, I got food." She said

I snatched the basket off her ate the food, for the first time, very quickly and voraciously, the fruits were very sweet, and when I finished them, I licked reminds of fruit and bread off my face.

"You must of been starving." she said

"Gomenasai, I haven't eaten in two days." I said apologetically, a little embarrassed by my impolite manners, since I was such a polite person.

"No...no, it's fine honey." She said.

"Um, miss. I'm still hungry....." I said, It was delicious, but I was still hungry

"I'm sorry, but, I was on strict orders not to give you anymore unless you died of refeeding syndrome." She said

"I hate that rule." I said, with a little annoyance in my voice.

She kneeled down to my height, and her face was full of understanding.

"Do you remember Auschwitz? prisoners were starving for so long they died soon after when they were giving food, I don't want the same thing happening to you, you have barely ate anything in days, did you eat anything before the two days you've last eaten?" She said and asked.

"Once in every few days or so, my fellow soldiers had to feed me, Huizong was dead, so was my otosan, okasan, and my sister." I said

"Who's Huizong?" She asked

"He was a colonial soldier from Taiwan, he died in Hiroshima, he was 23, he was described as cheeky, mischievous, but he, to many women, was very good looking despite him being below average weight, he weight 104 pounds and stood at 5'5, his twin sister and niece died in the bombing." I said

"Hm, what did you do during the war?" She said.

"I worked at Omori POW camp, Since I didn't beat up POWs very often because my parents didn't want me getting sick, it wasn't a good one, it smelled like something had died and if the POWs had too many disease, my parents took me out until the diseases had settled, I liked being outside Omori because I had more friends, my mother visited the camp and she thought it smelt like s***, I saw one where one guy was brutally beating one because he discovered battle secrets, and another had to cover my eyes because he was beating him upside down." Ichiro said.

"How did your father die?" She asked.

"He developed gangrene because a piece of dirtied wood from one of the buildings hit his foot, hard, when he was found by doctors, Sachiko-chan and okasan were dead, so, they brought him to the nearest army hospital, they told me he wouldn't live past the 15th of August, as the medical expertise wasn't available in Japan and he couldn't travel abroad, he died after hearing the surrender speech, his last words were, according to a fellow soldier was "Thank Amaterasu, it's over.....", soon after, he died from his injuries, just 9 days after the atomic bomb, and when getting him to the hospital before he died, he had to be carried on a stretcher as standing was painful." I said.

"DId you hurt anyone?" She said.

"I-I-I used to work in Shangi, in the Burma theatre, I accidentally killed this-this-this British POW by-by-by accident, I ch-ch-chopped his head off, I was aiming for another POW I really disliked and that I actually knew, and I had to leave and so did some other POWs, including him, who was sent to Omori....." I said, I tried to hold back tears.

'He couldn't really forgive himself for killing an innocent life that did nothing wrong, maybe the POW that he hated did something to him many years ago.....' She thought

I broke down crying, that poor man that had to die, Since I was of the Shinto religion, my father taught me that all life is sacred and killing is wrong, even to enemies, I buried my face into my knees.

She put me into an embrace, and gently pat me on the back.

"There, there, just let it all out...." She said.

I cried and screamed to the point I couldn't even speak, I will never make any British friends if they found out what I did!

I cried for 5-10 minutes until I couldn't cry no more, I started coughing and hiccuping.

"Better now?" She said

I sniffed and I looked at her with fearful eyes, she noticed the worry in me.

"What's wrong?" She said.

"Are-are you, go-go-gonna kill me?" I said.

"Kill you? No, why did you ask that?" She said

"Otosan, to-to-told me some U-U-US cap-cap-captors of Ja-Ja-Japanese POWs ki-ki-killed them because they hated them so much." I said.

The Army taught me that if any soldier was captured, he was a coward and that US soldiers will kill him.

"Yes, that did happen, but, I would never do that to you....." She said.

"Thank....you...." I said.

She picked up Maria, then handed me to her.

"Here, Maria wants to know if you are okay, she's worried about you." She said.

I smiled for the first time in days and wrapped my arms around the small fox I grew to love.

I yawned though, I put her down and fell on the bed.

"If there's anything troubling you, ask one of the guards for me." She said

I was tired because I cried for many minutes.

Chapter 3: After the week
Some US soldiers came into my cell, I got up, got dressed, picked up Maria, then got out

"Come on, kid." The other said.

I followed them, I was fed on short rations for a week and I was really hungry, 7 days with little food, fan-freaking-tastic, my stomach was cramping, causing me to hunch a little.

"I'm hungry." I said to one of the soldiers, I rubbed my stomach to soothe the pains.

"I know you're hungry, but, you'll just have to wait."

I boarded the plane, I looked at Japan for the last time.

I sat down on the plane, with Maria-Kitsune curled up on my chest.