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A nova shone forth with blinding radiance that forced Tasuke to shield his eyes and look from the light that blasted throughout the room. A brush of winds graced his side, likely the girl making her retreat. She was gone when the shine waned, disappeared with the dawn that boiled over the horizon outside. He wasn’t able to gaze upon the empty window for long before the woman from earlier bolted in the room, crying a name.

Azalea, hmm?

A fitting name, he supposed, but such a traveling train of thought grinding to quite a halt when he noticed Aki’s inclement glare. It was more than enough to launch pins into his heart, of both mild regret and increased criminality. She wasn’t happy with him, slightly in the doorway with arms folded in contempt. He could only hope that she would dart off and save him an argument, but that was not her way. She would challenge him. The most he could do was head towards the door and hope she kept silent as he passed. That did not happen, however. He’d only made it about four steps away before she raised her voice, the normal friendliness replaced with harsh octaves. “Do you have nothing to say to me, Tasuke? Do you have any idea how I feel about this?”

You want to stop me.

And stop him she did, at least in terms of him walking any further. The hands he left at either side began to tremble with a mix of grief and anger. His mouth went as dry as desert sands, but he found the strength to reply, glance frozen to the smooth lacquer of the oak floor. “Not really, Aki. This is something I’ve decided to do…”

He heard her heavy footfalls, thunderous stomps that trickled adrenaline into his veins. He shut his eyes and welcomed the darkness, for once at peace within it. His motives were beyond him or his importance, his value. He had no objections to dying as a martyr of peace, not one. It wasn’t until he felt her hand upon his shoulder that he opened them, Chiaki spinning him around and raising her right hand. Then he felt something else. A hot, painful and echoing slap across the face that knocked him into a rightward stumble; while he had expected it, that didn’t reduce the sting of her strike. Tasuke could see the anger clearly now, her cheeks red and tears in her eyes. The glistening rivers gathered at the corners, ready to fall while she bit her quivering lip. She was shaking.

“You idiot. Do you know what you’re doing, really…?” She shook her head in protest with a hard blink that tossed liquid stars into the air, voice reduced to weak string of words. “I… I don’t want to lose another person I love.” She ran at him, though not in attack, but desperation. She slammed into his chest and clenched the fabric of his kimono in her hands, quaking with a sob as she rested her head against his exposed flesh. “You’re all I have, you know…? I’ve lost Aoi…I can’t lose you, too…”

She began to weep hard, her shoulders jerking with the teardrops. He couldn’t even move for a moment. That paralysis returned, though this from internal pins that made a cushion of him with their prick of pain and guilt. His lips sunk into a sorrowful grimace while he looked down at her crown, through the obsidian and white strands and into the heart that beat against him in powerful hammers. His own was like a slug, Tasuke as if the living dead while she cried into him. Until then, he hadn’t any true idea that she actually considered him important. He’d thought she was forcing herself for the sake of the sister he had heartlessly massacred, a shield to keep the pain from eating her heart like a worm within the apple. He knew now he was mistaken, that she genuinely loved him…and that he couldn’t leave her.

I…don’t want to leave her…

Slowly, compassionately, Tasuke lifted his arms over her shoulders and pulled Aki close. Suddenly his own heart pounded like a jackhammer, alive once more as the calefaction of their embrace sizzled electricity through his being. She stopped shaking, at least much less intensely, and wrapped her arms around his waist in loving return. His cheek nuzzled carefully against her hair, a sort of brotherly gesture that both brought a smile to his face and eased the lightning storm that sparked from his excited blood-pumper. His words came softly, unheard by even the dust of the passageway. “I will stay with you, Aki. I promise you that.”

She looked up with wide, wet eyes, as if shocked to hear his words. “You will…really?”

He nodded with a brightened smile and glowing complexion. “Yes. Don’t be surprised, though. You have a gift for getting through to me, you know.”

Her eyes narrowed with joy, teeth flashed in her grin while she giggled heartily. “I suppose I do. But what about Shisuka?”

“I’ll convince her,” he said without thinking, despite knowing that it would not be nearly so easy as his calm phrase suggested. Her wounds ran as deep as canyons cut into the earth, and little could slake her sheer thirst for blood. However, he was sure he could sway her resolve, as Aki had his. After all, neither of them seemed to consider the impact foreign influence would have on their cherished traditions, now that he thought on it. Aoi’s tavern would become a place of brutes and drunkards, and Shisuka’s temple would run rampant with other religions and greedy vipers that sought gold for another’s salvation. It would seem that the Shogunate served a good purpose, at least in that aspect. But it didn’t mean he had formed an affinity for it. He supposed the most he could do to change anything was to start at the dirt and build up, to give strength to the people and cripple the powerful—though not in the way originally intended. He had until tomorrow night to sort his ideas, but for now, he would spend the morning with the Winter Iris, the girl that pulled the drowning from their pools of darkness.

And I will have to deal with Retsuya, as well.

He wouldn’t have to worry about looking for her, however; she would seek him out as she so desired, but the next time would be the last.

__________________
Armies lay in waste, their corpses strewn along, an all-too-faint breath of death, a shallow little song.

With my sword I kiss the wicked, and bring them to their knees, with this sword their evil is answered and heaven is well pleased.

Those who spread the tainted seed, who know that they have sinned, will feel the icy steel I swing like a whisper in the wind.

__________________

An elemental rhapsody had been constructed, played upon rooftop and earth alike in a serene whisper of sweetly falling rain. The sun had been blotted out in the paper of the musical writings, smudged without clarity while heaven’s tears continued to pour and stain the roads with a ghostly sheet of floating mist. Tasuke had made his way to the usual place to dine and meet with Aki, the corpse of the previous night removed and not a drop of her blood upon the land. Minor mentioning of the murder had made the news and chatter of the folk upon the street, but as far as he knew, no one had the slightest idea of truth; there was a very good chance that the trained imposter was none other than a pawn built up for such a meaningless death, yet another notch upon Retsuya’s belt of manipulation and massacre.

Kneeling at the usual table with swords at his side, he raised a cup of his favorite sake to his lips and swallowed. The delicious elixir soothed his throat and mind, its warmth a welcome distraction from the current busyness of his days. He set the cup upon the table and took the jug into his right hand to pour another, but hesitated once the contents had been poured, instead gazing down at the glassy, opaline liquid. Aki remained diligently distracted with the folks of the establishment, unusually few in number for such an early hour.

His thoughts drifted. He began to think of the girl with cerulean eyes and fragrance of jasmine, and the reasons why Retsuya had told him to seek her out. Other than possessing useful information of important members of the Shogunate, he saw absolutely no use of her. But it was her words that stood out the most, suggesting that their, he and Shisuka’s, gander was not in precisely the right place; Shisuka wished to begin the assassination of the Shogun in only a day, and it would be useful to meet with her at a time before that. It would reduce the chances of her getting overly anxious and emotional, allowing her to think rationally so they could correctly plan their next move.

Unfortunate you are so driven by the melody of revenge…I hope you listen to reason.

The front door of the tavern slid opened and allowed the voice of the shower to sing in, just as a closed parasol pierced the space and the very girl in question stepped inside. Clothed of the same red kimono of the previous night and without a tear of sky upon her, she leant the umbrella against the wall to the right of the door before her eyes found him quickly. Her objectivity had not diminished in the slightest, for it was obvious she had come for business as usual. She held her hands together before her lap and walked toward him with the aesthetes all but lost among the common women of Japan, a gorgeous formality that concealed the deadly tiger beneath the surface. Shisuka elegantly kneeled opposite him, her ferocity so awing that he could not so much as bring himself to drink the sake he had poured. She appeared vehement, wroth, and prepared to strike. Such energy threw Tasuke’s normal easiness aside, seriousness its replacement while he asked, “You do not look happy, Shisuka. Perhaps you could tell me what’s wrong.”

She reached her slender right hand into the front of her obi and pulled from it a folded letter, the parchment placed upon the table and wordlessly slid toward him.

He took the note in his hand and began to read.

~To you, who wishes for rebellion, for revolution, know you are not without a watching eye. The voice of the wind carries your words, and lest you wish them not to reach a curious ear, seek the Wind Reaper.~

Just how much of this have you actually planned, Retsuya?

Tasuke chuckled with amusement, mildly annoyed by Retsuya’s inconspicuous methods. The intoxicating desire to run his katana through her belly swelled beyond measure, even far greater than at the previous night. Such an arrogant bitch she was.

Shisuka called him to attention. “Can you tell me what this means, Wind Reaper?”

He nodded firmly. “This is from a girl named Retsuya. She is a murderer with a strange infatuation of me, and she is keen to our activities. I actually wish to converse with you regarding that.”

She didn’t show an outward interest, but he could see her curiosity through her piercing gaze. “Go on.”

He collected his thoughts quickly and said, “I don’t think we should kill the Shogun. There are other ways to accomplish our goals, without causing a terrible catastrophe.”

She pursed her lip with anger. “You’ve abandoned this endeavor?”

He shook his head. “No. I simply do not wish to destroy the Shogunate. I do not wish to lose our traditions to foreign powers, but wish to keep them and establish a true peace in our country. We can do this with some powerful persuasions that do not need to utterly eradicate the Shogunate.”

She didn’t even laugh. “Shut up.”

Tasuke shook in surprise, staring intently upon her as she continued.

“There is no other way,” she followed. “Those in power will not listen to reason and justice. They will be deaf to our mouths and words.” She sighed in displeasure. “We have been through this. Something must have happened to change your mind.”

“I can’t lose you, too.”

Aki’s words rang in his ears and brought a soft simper to his lips. Never had he been told those words out of love rather than use. He had been a tool of murder, useless in any other way. Death would be the reward for his insurrection, and the shattering of that tender girl’s heart. He caught a glimpse of her as she tended to her duties about the bar, dusting the floor with her broom in a smooth series of educated motions. She looked genuinely joyful, beaming with a radiance she must have restrained until now; to rob her of that would be a crime without excuse.

“You’ll die, you know.” His words shattered the calm atmosphere of the establishment, though did little to fracture the resolve upon Shisuka’s unshaken expression. She had obviously chosen to die.

Shisuka remained silent and looked upon the smooth wood of the table. Glinting bangs of obsidian masked her lowered face, but he could clearly see the grim line her lips formed. They quivered as if tears yelled their stampede, but she did not weep. She only said, “I have nothing but revenge…If I can taste blood for my mother and father, I will do so in death.”

Shisuka…your life means more than that.

“You have me,” he calmly replied.

Her face snapped up in wonder, eyes sparkled with teary gems. Her voice shook with mild tremor, a loose thread of slowly selected words. “What can you do to quell my hatred…” The water in her eyes began to spill over and streak down her cheeks, her face a portrayal of misery and heartache. “I can never hear my mother laugh, or feel my father’s hand through my hair…they died for nothing, and the Shogunate is responsible!”

The terrible anger and pain in her voice stabbed into his heart with a hot knife, cutting in glee like a salacious child of sadism with his foot upon the ants. He knew her anguish better than perhaps anyone else, for Aki’s forgiveness of his murder of her beloved Aoi was proof enough that the heart can heal through any tragedy. Shisuka had become blind, just as he had, to the cycle of vengeance, and she needed to be sure she knew what she was saying. “So kill them all…and then picture their families when they hear the news. They may seek blood as you have, and cause more death. It is a perpetual cycle…spiraling endlessly.”

His words had reached her. Already her resolve had crumbled while she lifted her fists and slammed them into the table before burying her face in the palms of her hands. Sharp sobs followed in-between muted phrase, but he could hear her well enough. “What am I doing…I’m not better than them…” Another series of hard jolts followed before she slowly recovered the pieces of herself, albeit minus a few of the unwanted portions. She dropped her hands and exposed her red face, strained from the tears as she took a deep breath and regained composure. Returning to her formal position, she weakly asked, “What am I—are we to do now, Tasuke?”

He almost chuckled and finally took the warmed sake in his hand while crushing the letter in the other, drinking and setting the cup atop the table before he said, “We find Retsuya, and kill her before she decides to talk to the wrong people if she has not already. And for that I have a plan…”

I can’t wait to see the look on her face.

__________________
Armies lay in waste, their corpses strewn along, an all-too-faint breath of death, a shallow little song.

With my sword I kiss the wicked, and bring them to their knees, with this sword their evil is answered and heaven is well pleased.

Those who spread the tainted seed, who know that they have sinned, will feel the icy steel I swing like a whisper in the wind.

__________________

"Where are we going Riyagi? It is starting to rain." she whispered worriedly as she stared at the graying sky. "My father would find out about this and we will be punished!"

He walked on, holding her by the waist with his right hand, all but propelling her deeper into the woods. "What difference does it make? He punishes you all the time anyway by locking you in that house! And he is too weak to know! Do not fool yourself into thinking that he will recover anytime soon. They have made sure of that." He stopped abruptly and stared at her pointedly. "And you are no longer the child that you were who fell ill just because you've breathed frsh air."

"What do you mean? Who are they?" She steadied herself by grabbing on to his arms that were still securely around her.

He smiled bitterly at her and did not answer. Instead he began to pull her into the woods again.

"Answer me, Riyagi!" She tried to stop walking. "What do you mean!"

He walked ahead, cradling his head in his hands. "You do not have to act dumb with me."

"I am not acting dumb! Really, what do you mean!"

"You've been poisoning your father! How dare you betray him! What did those clans offer you? Leadership? Wealth? What! What could have possibly been more important to you than your honor?" He whirled around as he said this, facing her with an almost wild eyed stare.

"I've not poisoned father!" she said in outrage. "Who gave you that idea? You should know me better than that! How dare you!" She shook in outrage. "Riyagi, who fed you these lies?" She was beginning to be wary of the man's wild eyed look. He seemed to be slowly losing grip of his control and sanity.

"I know. The clans told me who they hired." He wheezed out a laugh. "You don't have to hide it from me, I myself have been trying to kill him."

She gasped at the news and whirled around to run. She tripped because of the length of her kimono and fell. She felt the weigh of Riyagi behind her as he launged towards her when she attempted her escape.

"You do not need to pretend to be dignified with me, woman, I know your type! You were supposed to die with your father, I had the orders to kill you too but they suddenly changed their minds. Who did you sleep with? Who did you service with this body that they spared you?" She was struggling against him but he had pinned both her hands above her head with one hand. His knee pinned her kimono on the ground and restricted her from moving her legs. He held her throat with his other hand. "Were you not promised to me?" He said savagely.

"I have not been with any man!" she cried. Tears fell unheeded down her cheeks. "Stop this, Riyagi, you are hurting me. Please, let me go--"

Riyagi slapped her. Blood dripped from her mouth. Her vision blurred at the force of his slap. "Oh no you don't!" he shook her awake. "I want you to know and remember each and every moment of this. I will claim you but tell me first, who hired you?"

"No one." she answered faintly. "Why do you do this to me, Riyagi? Do you not love me? This is not like you at all."

He punched her abdomen. "This is the real me, you bitch. How dare you choose another over me! I could have protected you too! I thought you were different from all those other whores, I've been gentle to you and this is how you repay me?" He tore at her kimono.

"Please, Riyagi, do not!" She gasped in pain as he mauled her with his bruising hands. "Please, do not." tears fell. He dealt her with punches as much as he can, weakening her.

He faced her and would have kissed her but she turned away. "You dare deny me a kiss? Had you not given me this priveledge already?" He grabbed her face and kissed her forcefully. Blood trailed on both their lips as he lifted his face to look at her. She stopped struggling entirely.

"Do you like this, Youko? Why do you not fight anymore?" He ran his hands crudely over her.

She stared bleakly at him. "I have loved you." she whispered.

He wheezed. His sight began to dim. She moved off of her slightly and shook his head. "What is this?" His body seemed to be weakening. He supported his weight with one hand and held his temple with another. "What did you fdo to me!" he said in rage and hit her limp form again.

"I have not been poisoning my father. He has been poisoning me." She struggled to keep her eyes open. "I have been tasked to test poisons for him. I ate his food and drank before he did. That is why I always fell ill when I was a child. I received the poison intended for him. I am immune to most of these poisons now, in fact, I am instead, a walking and breathing poisoned being. My blood is poison. My tears are poison..." She looked him in the eyes. "He's dying because he never developed immunity to any poisons. He is too weak." She coughed up blood. "And now so will you. Did I not beg you not to kiss me?" She cried.

He fell limply on top of her and breathed his last breath. She did not even move or flinch. She looked at the sky. The sky was gray, yards and yards of dirtied white silk swirling above her. Rain pelted her unmoving body, coloring the grass with red, running and eddying around her in what seemed to be a cradle. The sky was suddenly hazed with her blood. She tried to blink away the blood but it would not go away. She tried to lift her left hand but it fell back limply on the ground. She was too weak. Rain pelted her body and darkness enveloped the edges of her eyes until not even the tears could clear it.

"I have succeeded again father. You were right about him. He is a traitor." She whispered.

__________________

...some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill them...

The downpour had entered into another powerful chorus of singing hydration, the streets made derelict in the continuing rainstorm while Retsuya stayed patient in her watch upon Aoi’s tavern. Standing against the right wall in a close alleyway opposite the building’s entrance, she was nearly invisible in the shadows, adorned in a gray shawl and quite dry under the curves of the roof that spanned overhead. The waterfalls that fell over the sides offered an additional pitter-patter of music to the entirety of the rainy rhapsody, a ghostly medley that drowned the sounds of the environment and demanded her to keep her wits at all times. She had little fear of being noticed in the darkness, however, for she would make haste in escape should she see the need.

She estimated that Shisuka had long left the tavern, with Tajira in his usual place within. How delightful he must be, finding his solace within the embrace of the Winter Iris, the very woman he had tainted with the blood of innocents and yet she managed to retain her purity. She knew it was the guilt that kept him coming back to her, but Retsuya was not a very giving woman when it came to him. Already the thoughts of them together enkindled a fire inside, fed by a stream of rage and whirling jealousy. She clenched her teeth in a snarl and balled her thin fingers into tight fists at her sides, lustful for nothing more than to glide her knives across the girl’s supple flesh for hours on end…to hear her scream in sheer agony, with an invigorating cry that would give her the most primal and sexual of satisfactions. That day would come, yes, but not yet. She had plans for Aki still, and her life was worth that much to her until Tajira could be returned to his old self. Such was her ambition, her desire to once again loose that unrepentant killer upon the world and enjoy a life of carnage at his side. A process of careful planning, months in the making was nearing fruition, with only a few more steps to be taken.

All that is needed is for the Azalea girl to acquire a fondness in his heart…and for Thor to sound his hammer.

Her thoughts were cut short with a startling crash, the doors of the target building blown open by a man of black kimono that stumbled drunk over the steps to fall clumsily upon his face. Restuya had managed a wry smile, half amused until the man lifted his head and brought his right arm forward—the limb soaked in blood as he tried to pull himself forward. It was then that she recognized the strained face of pain, tired exhalations huffed into a fine mist while he crawled into the wet road.

Tajira…?

Her heart froze like a man at gunpoint, Retsuya unable to breathe as she attempted to place the pieces together. He was severely wounded and without his swords. It didn’t make sense that someone could get the drop on him so easily, but she could see it was no act. Her first instinct was to run to his aid and offer bandage, but she knew that Aki would soon come to the rescue. Even as he managed to rise, slow and with a near-buckling leg, he began to walk left with his left hand clasping his right side, the sleeve torn loose and area coated in a glittering scarlet. Each breath he released was a groan of anguish, each step one of speed and desperation as if he were attempting to run but could not; he only made it perhaps ten steps before falling to his knees with a heart-wrenching gasp of pain…and Aki would not come.

Where the hell is she?!

She bit her lower lip with anxiety, her muscles restless and like a pin cushion as needles pricked her limbs, screamed for them to act. She found herself torn. The necessity for secrecy and stealth found itself overshadowed by the cries of her breaking heart, and just when she had decided to bolt into the open in rescue, Chiaki stepped out with his katana in her right hand. The silver edge had been stained red, and the look upon the girl’s face carried little compassion. It were as if she sought to take his life—or come damn close to it.

Just what the hell is going on…?

None of this made any sense. She could think of not one scenario from the possibilities leading up to the current point where this would happen, but here it was nevertheless. A multitude of thoughts raced through her mind all at once, flooding reason. All she could focus one was the image before her eyes, the damaged body of her beloved while he turned onto his back and pushed himself back from the coming killer with a look of utter terror. Restuya spoke objections under her breath, shook her head in complete disbelief of what she saw to be real…it was only when she stepped out of the shadows and into the light that she began to understand, and understand well.

Pain. Instant and intense. A shock and force collided with her right shoulder so hard that it knocked her flying upon the ground like an abused daughter, an arrow fired straight through the flesh. Sensation instantly became lost in her arm, forcing her to use the other to keep her up while she looked to the rooftop of the tavern. There stood Shisuka, gallant while the waters fell atop her, bow in hand and a doll’s vacant look upon her face. Immediately movement from Tajira screamed for her attention, the man fast in his sprint. His sword was held effortlessly in both hands as he kept it lowered to his left, the former display of agony washed away and replaced with remorseless lust for the kill. He—they—all had played a ruse…and she had fell for it like a stupid fool.

There was nothing she could do now. She was dead.

~~~

At long last, the final loose end would be sewn to perfection. Now, assuredly, each wet snap of his sandals saved the seconds for Retsuya’s death, and not a thing would be able to spare her. Within moments he was within the fatal range, bringing his katana overhead like the scythe of the Reaper itself. Down it would soon cleave, through bone and cartilage alike whilst it ate through his skull…only to be interrupted by the off-key clinking of chain.

A linked viper flew forth from the path behind Retsuya, a razor nail upon its tip that came hungrily for his throat. A swift downward diagonal cried in the cacophonous connection, the threat parried and immediately pulled back to its source. A ninja full in black silk and theater mask painted with crimson markings came into view, though it would not be for very long.

Along the ground rolled a vial of mixed color, soon to stop at his feet like the stray ball of a toddler—only to erupt in a blinding flash identical to the one the Azalea girl had produced. Tasuke shielded his eyes in primal reaction, though too late to prevent the stun from the blossoming nova. The image of the alley sailed and burned before his retinas, cutting the surroundings into his mind with a single jarring portrait. It lasted only a few seconds, but when he finally came around, Tasuke could feel no joy for the outcome.

Retsuya was gone.

He clicked his tongue in displeasure and turned around. Stepping toward Aki and Shisuka, he couldn’t help but feel that persistent drive to maim…he wanted blood, Retsuya’s blood. And now it appeared she had the alliance of the Shogunate, if not at least the ninja on her side.

“What happened?” Shisuka asked, her bow at her side. “Did you finish her?”

He shook his head with a sigh. “No, but it looks as though we’ll be causing trouble for the Shogunate after all…and they us.”

Her expression boiled intensely. “What do you mean?”

Tasuke looked upon the unsightly gash upon his favorite kimono, now ruined for nothing…yet another debt Retsuya would repay. “Retsuya is in league with our enemies, and has likely told them of us. Assassins will be deployed, so this place is no longer safe. Shisuka, may we stay with you?”

She nodded gently. “Yes. Come with me. We should not idle in the rain.”

__________________
Armies lay in waste, their corpses strewn along, an all-too-faint breath of death, a shallow little song.

With my sword I kiss the wicked, and bring them to their knees, with this sword their evil is answered and heaven is well pleased.

Those who spread the tainted seed, who know that they have sinned, will feel the icy steel I swing like a whisper in the wind.

__________________

“My lady, should you not excuse yourself for dinner? Your father cannot see you like this.” Saiko, Youko’s serving girl asked while applying salve on Youko’s face.

“Father will not tolerate my absence, we will have guests tonight and it is imperative that I be there.” Youko looked at the polished metal before her that reflected a blurred image of herself. She was never sure of how she looked because the metal could not show her the details she wanted to know. She constantly needed Saiko to check her appearance. “Saiko, do I look presentable?” She asked absently, in her usual calm and quiet way.

Saiko stared miserably at her mistress. She sat clad in a jewel toned green kimono decorated with pink and lavender blossoms. Three obi belts were wrapped around her waist, a white one under a black one and a final darker hue of green at the uppermost. The garment was heavy as it had several more layers underneath and Saiko knew that it had to hurt to have them on over her mistress’ wounds and bruises.

They have worked hard to conceal the bruise on her cheek and the wound on her lips and for the most part, at least in candle light, they were successful. Her hands fisted as she remembered the condition her mistress was in when she found her. She was against a tree and her torn and muddy clothes made it obvious that she had crawled to that position from somewhere else. There were wounds and bruises though that Saiko was sure did not come from a fall from a cliff as her mistress told her as an explanation. She sniffed as she remembered the condition of the soiled clothes that could not have come only from her fall and crawling to that place.

She had gone out looking for her mistress who was late for their dinner preparations. She entered the woods behind the grand manor and found the lady in that poor condition. The lady refused to tell her more than the doubtful cliff excuse. She had gone back and immediately asked the help of the stable boy to carry her mistress back home.

Her mistress had refused to let her help. She insisted on bathing alone and she had bathed as if she had been dragged through all sorts of dirt, she bathed and rubbed her skin as if she wanted to clean both inside and out. Only then did her mistress welcome her assistance. Then she had given strange orders that concerned the disposal of her bath water. It was as if there was a stain she did not want anyone to get tainted with.

Saiko was sure the stain was dealt by a man.

She looked at the steady and gentle eyes of her mistress. Those eyes looked at her as they usually did, as if she had not just spent the afternoon falling off a cliff. Her mistress looked as she usually did, serene and lonely. “You look beautiful, my lady,” she said honestly.

“Thank you Saiko,” she smiled. “Can you help me with my hair? I cannot reach up properly.” Her voice remained serene. “And I seemed to have wounded my palm.”

“Of course, my lady.” Saiko stood and knelt behind Youko. She took a comb and began running it gently through the obsidian tresses. Youko’s hair was long as it had not been cut for more than seven years. The straight and thick length reached past her hips. Saiko proceeded and arranged it artfully, framing her mistress’ face better.

When she finished, she walked around to see the over all effect and nodded in satisfaction. “You would charm the guests, whoever they are,”

A knock came on the sliding panel. “Lord Aono asks for your presence.” said the man behind it.

“I will come immediately.” Youko stood gracefully and walked towards the door. She stopped before completely exiting. She looked back at her helper Saiko. “Riyagi’s father is visiting tonight. Perhaps they have come to finalize our wedding?” she told her.

“You must be very happy, my lady.”

“I must be.” She answered and stepping out of the room.

Saiko stood in place and stared at the place where her mistress had looked back at her. Her mistress’ most arresting feature was her eyes because they were two deep wells of loneliness. They looked at you with a haunting vulnerability that you cannot help but remember them. Those eyes were quieted for a while now in the company of the Daimyo’s son Riyagi, why were they lonely again?

__________________

...some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill them...

The scent of honey stuck to the air of the tiny room in which Tasuke sat, Aki beside him while they knelt before the finely polished square table within its center. In silence they remained, Tasuke redressed in silk of purple yet with hair still wet. Aki had unfurled her ponytail, the stripes of black and white licked over her cheeks and slender neckline. It gave her normally childlike innocence a new maturity, an eloquence that allowed her uncommon beauty to be shown like dawn light creeping up through high hills. Only those that did not know her would ever doubt her ability to kill, a hidden ferocity that allowed her to loose a sea of blood in her wake. Tasuke could only admire her, but for the moment both wore expressions of unease.

Twilight had begun to soak the land in waning sun, the glow from the rightward window reduced to a dismal dark with the rain’s leave. Night would fall within the hour or more. The room was simple, perhaps more of a quiet area of study if one were to judge by the rows of bookshelves that lined both side walls. Nothing more decorate the area, nothing to gander upon while they waited for Shisuka to return with tea. A light hum could be heard floating from the open doorway to their left, one he knew to be no more than an attempt for her to distract herself from the hatred she fed within; while their previous conversation momentarily removed her desire to kill, he knew her thirst for vengeance grew ever more ravenous.

And now all three of us are in danger.

Without question, Restuya was more an annoyance than he could ever hope to arouse. A deluded master of manipulation, who meticulously thought out every possibility, thought out every action to suit her needs that now was likely shamed and very wroth. He estimated her first goal would be retaliation, and Tasuke was well aware she knew Aki was the dearest thing to his heart. But her would protect her—and break anyone that sought her harm.

A light bump of his shoulder pulled him from his ponderings, attentive to Aki as she leaned against him. A look of dolor stained the features of her face, but she did not speak. “Aki?” he called.

She stared forward in emptiness, as if entranced by her thoughts. Several seconds passed before she finally replied, “You know, that day when I left the group, I thought I would be free. I thought I’d be able to return with Lady Aoi and come back to the tavern…then she died. I lost the person most precious to me…but even so, I thought I could be happy so long as I was close to you. But…” She paused. “The blood I have spilled keeps pulling me back. Even now we will be forced to kill to survive.”

That was an unfortunate truth. Where she had once had a choice, she—they—now found themselves in a position without retreat. They were to fight or die; while he had formed a comfort in that before, now he lived for a better reason—one greater than a conditional killer. He’d long resolved to die on his terms, by the sword if anything else. But now he breathed for Aki’s smile, and there would be no simper in his death. He would not taste death, nor would she, but those that stood against them would not know his mercy.

Aki would get no consolation, however, for Shisuka glided into the room with her elegant stride and a tray with three steaming cups atop it in her hands; as she carefully placed the tray before them and took a kneeling position at the opposite end of the table, Aki not so much as rose her face to look, nor reached for the offered refreshment.

Tasuke took his cup in his hands in unison with Shisuka’s thin pianist fingers, but could not join her in the sip. He simply stared absently into the dark liquid that rippled with hand tremor, the waves as uneven as the thoughts which vexed his mind. He sought answers and a plan, as the Shogunate surely knew where Shisuka lived. The could not afford to dally. He looked up to the woman of refined aesthetes and asked, “What are we to do, Shisuka?”

She finished her sip with a satisfied exhalation and answered, “We will travel to Yokohama, and leave by a carriage to be arranged by nightfall. We will stay with my contact in Yokohama until we devise a plan of action against Retsuya and the Shogunate.”

That was satisfactory, even enough to incite him to smile. “Good.” He took a gulp of tea, the sweetness of honey a tickle to his tongue. Its rich texture and smooth taste reflected great care, and he restrained a chuckle when he thought of how Shisuka took all the time needed despite the situation. Her training in making tea seemed to be seared into her character. Regardless, they now had a course of action, and could carry Retsuya’s game—and their own—along a bit further.

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Armies lay in waste, their corpses strewn along, an all-too-faint breath of death, a shallow little song.

With my sword I kiss the wicked, and bring them to their knees, with this sword their evil is answered and heaven is well pleased.

Those who spread the tainted seed, who know that they have sinned, will feel the icy steel I swing like a whisper in the wind.

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