Chapter 2
When everyone reconvened in Makoto's room, the energy of the room had changed from attentive to something close to active bloodlust. Ukyo loved this part, the sharpness of it, the electricity. He glanced at Eduard out of the corner of his eye, and the blond man nodded slightly in response. On his other side, Kaname stood, rolling his shoulders and slowly stretching and flexing his fingers.
"Everyone clear on their jobs?" Makoto demanded as he looked over the room, pausing curiously to stare at Kaname before continuing on. "Failure is not an option. This child's life depends on you. Nagasaki shall know its vigilante bring justice."
With that, they were all dismissed into the night. Kagura and Asagi took to the rooftops first, light-footed as ever. They would scout the area and keep track of the mark, only intervening if absolutely necessary.
"You ready?" Ukyo asked as he wrapped an arm around Kaname's tiny waist. He didn't wait for the apprentice to answer before taking to the roof himself behind Ed.
The complaints were almost immediate. "Put me down, dammit! I hate it when you do that!" Kaname's hissing and spitting reminded Ukyo of an angry kitten.
"You need to eat more. You're no heavier than a load of laundry. Are you seeing Shintaro for training like you're supposed to?" In addition to being a ninja, Shintaro was a master swordsman who ran a dojo in town that all the ninjas trained at during the week.
"Of course I am! Now let me go!" Kaname's struggle gradually became insistent as he twisted and turned in his grip.
"Turn him loose, 'Kyo," Ed intoned, and though his expression never changed, the vague annoyance was clear.
Rather than hear him go on, Ukyo released the young man and they all took off running toward the ambush site. Once there, they paused and waited for Asagi's signal.
"So are you gonna guess?" Ukyo asked Ed as he peered over the edge of the roof and into the alley below. They were perched atop the target's house awaiting him to return with his prey.
Eduard sighed and gazed at his best friend. "Will you stop talking about it if I do?" Ukyo nodded once. "Fine. You saw Natsume."
Ukyo blinked at how close Ed's guess was to reality with Kitsune being Natsume's younger sister.
"Was I right?" his friend prompted when he didn't reply.
Before he could answer, a bright blue-white light bloomed and hissed next to them, Asagi's shikigami signal that they were in play. Kaname dropped down first and hid in the shadows beyond the door. Ed dropped down next and took to the shadows across from the door, effectively flanking the suspect once he arrived. Ukyo's role was essentially 'death from above'.
A man, looked to be on the tall and thin side from what Ukyo could tell from his perch, came tearing down the narrow alleyway with what looked to be a sack of rice over his shoulder. He slowed as he neared his home, his labored breathing audible even on the rooftop. Five steps away from the trap… two steps, one… the moment he touched his front door, Ukyo dropped down behind him with his sword already drawn.
"Drop the bag."
The man froze with his hand on his door handle before raising up to his full height. "Vigilantes? What could you want with a man out procuring rice to feed his family?" His smile was oily and made Ukyo's skin itch.
Just then, the bag in question moaned and twisted against his shoulder, ramping up the tension immediately. The man spit and pulled a dagger he'd had hidden in the folds of his clothes and began to feint like he was going to stab what or whoever was in the bag.
"I'm not going to tell you again. Drop the bag." Ukyo took a step to his left, seeming attempting to flank the kidnapper and driving him to turn his back on the shadows that hit Kaname. "Last warning." Making eye contact with Kaname, who slipped in behind him and was in his ready stance, Ukyo made his move.
Raising his sword to swing at the kidnapper, he distracted him just long enough for Kaname to snatch the bag from his shoulder and make his way down the alley with it. Now that they were alone, the commissioner could do what he did best.
Clearly his dagger was outmatched against a sword, so the target tossed it aside and resorted to begging. "You don't have to kill me!" the man implored. "I'll never do it again. I swear!"
Ukyo sighed and shook his head. "Take it up with your gods, because I'm not interested." He then drew down his sword, piercing the other man's vital organs and leading him to his last breath.
Wiping the blood from his sword and sheathing it, he looked to his best friend who materialized out of the shadows.
"You alright?" the blond man asked him with his head cocked over to the side like he was studying him.
Ukyo nodded, flexing his fingers repetitively to help them work through the adrenaline coursing through him. Without another word, they took to the rooftops and headed back to regroup at the Meiko Salon.
Kaname was to meet up with Asagi and Kagura to return the child to his family before heading back in. In all, a successful night.
They returned to Kagura's room when they arrived back at the salon and took their time bathing and cleaning up before changing back into their normal attire. Blood was always difficult to explain otherwise.
"So was I right?" Ed asked as he knelt down to attend to his boots. He was the only one of the vigilante to dress in Western-style clothes due to his position as the head translator for the Dutch Trade Chairman.
"About?" Ukyo replied absently as he tended to his obi belt and saya. Tying the appropriate knots and making sure his scabbards were correctly positioned was a process.
"Who you saw earlier. I guessed Natsume and you got a look on your face that I didn't quite understand."
So much had happened in the last few hours, it had slipped his mind entirely. "Not Natsume, but you're close."
Ed frowned as he adjusted his belt. "Not Natsume," he repeated. "You don't mean—"
"Ukyo, a word?" Asagi barged into the room without bothering to knock. His expression was even more serious than usual and he seemed out of breath.
"Come on in," he gestured magnanimously while retying the knots on his hakama pants. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" The cleric wasn't known for being quite so theatrical.
"The envoy. From Edo." He paused and worked to slow his breathing. "They're here."
Ukyo's eyes widened until he was sure they matched Asagi's. "Here, as in at the salon?"
The taller man shook his head. "No, here as in, in town! We had a messenger arrive at the shrine from Edo today. A woman from Kinshiro's office."
The mention of a woman carrying out magistrate business brought Ukyo up short. "Since when does Kinshiro employ women for anything other than his enjoyment?"
"Are you sure it was a woman?" Ed asked at the same time.
Asagi shrugged and smiled wryly. "She was dressed as a man, but there was no disguising a body like that, regardless of what she may say to the contrary."
Ed and Ukyo both snickered. Even though their friend was a priest, he certainly didn't hurt for female attentions, nor was he one to overlook a beautiful woman. "And how do you know she's the envoy Makoto was talking about?"
"I performed a divination after she left."
"And?" Ukyo prompted, growing impatient as the wheels in his mind turned to the one woman from Edo he'd met up with recently.
"And she is here with an agenda, but I couldn't discern if it was personal or business because they were so tangled up."
Ukyo caught Ed's sidelong glance and nodded slightly. "Alright then. Where do I find her?"
