Hey all! So sorry it's taken so long to post again, I've been struggling a bit. I hope it was worth the wait, even if it is a little short. I hope you enjoy!
That first night had been a cold and wet one, so despite her anger with her husband, Kaiya was forced curl up against Hajime for warmth while they laid near the fire. While the rest of their journey was warm, it continued to rain off and on throughout their whole trip; making all three of them miserable and cranky. By the next morning, Kaiya had given up on being mad at Hajime and rode with him. He even let her ride in front of him while he wrapped his arms around her, trying to protect her from the rain…not that it helped much but Kaiya appreciated the thought.
When Edo finally came into view, they were all relieved to see it. The first thing they did upon arriving was to find an inn to stay in and a stable for the horses. They had been sent with a sizable amount of coin just in case there stay ended up being prolonged and had to track Kodou around the country, so they could afford to stay in a fairly nice inn and Kaiya and Hajime could have separate quarters from Souji but it was festival season and almost everything was booked up; making them have to bunk together.
Once they'd dried off some what, the three of them sat at a table in the inns small but bustling restaurant and ordered steaming dishes of food and warmed tea. After they'd eaten a couple of mouthfuls Kaiya spoke up.
"So what now?" She asked as she looked between the two men.
"Walk around listening for information." Souji said with a nonchalant shrug.
"What about Shiranui-san? He's supposed to be helping us." Kaiya wondered.
"Shiranui-san will find us when he wants. He's more interested in killing Kodou-san and his so called clan, then he is helping us." Hajime said with a hint of disdain in his voice. "He's unlikely to find us until he knows more of where Kodou-san is. He's likely been here for several days now. All we can do for now is do our own search. I have couple reliable sources of information that we can check first."
"You have sources here?" Souji said surprised.
"You forget I was on my own, years before I met you and Kondou-san." Hajime said with a shrug. "I spent quite a bit of time in Edo before I came to Kondou-san's dojo. My sources were the reason I ended up there to begin with."
"Wait I don't think I know how you ended up there. You just told me you ended up in Kyoto after everyone, I don't think you've ever told me how you met everyone." Kaiya said suddenly interested in the story. "I don't think I know how most of you met."
Hajime shrugged again. "It's not a particularly interesting story, although I'm pretty sure I've told you. I was going from dojo to dojo, challenging the best warriors when I arrived at Kondou-san's dojo to challenge him. He wasn't there when I arrived and so Souji met my challenge. Afterwards I would return to dojo off and on and eventually I just became one of them."
"Wait now I remember! You said that it was a draw because Kondou-san and Hijikata-kun interrupted the match." Kaiya suddenly remembered.
"I totally would've beaten his ass if Kondou-san hadn't interrupted!" Souji said confidently with a cheeky smile.
Hajime smirked slightly. "I guess we'll never know. Now back to the present. It's barely past noon, Souji and I can go out and see what kind of information we can find. You should stay here, Kaiya, and dry off. Maybe Shiranui-san will show up here."
Kaiya frowned at him. "I don't want to stay here while the two of you go out and get drenched!"
"No, Hajime-kun is right. It'll be easier for us to get information without you around." Souji said as he patted her hand with his free one.
Kaiya's frown deepened to a scowl. "What does that mean?" She asked, in irritation.
"Well most guys probably won't talk with you around willingly and Hajime-kun isn't very likely to be as…persuasive as he can be, when you're around." Souji said with a slight smirk.
"Just stay inside, Kaiya. You're still soaking wet and we can't have you getting sick." Hajime said with a sigh. "Besides, you haven't been sleeping well. Take this chance to catch up on sleep, who knows when we might have to leave again."
Kaiya crossed her arms, "Fine. I'll stay…for now but you're not leaving me behind tomorrow." She said firmly.
Hajime and Souji exchanged looks. Souji shrugged and they both looked back at Kaiya. "Fine." Hajime said. "We won't leave you behind."
Satisfied she gave a nod and the two men got to their feet, Hajime kissed Kaiya on the lips and Souji the top of her head and left. When she'd finished her food, Kaiya headed up to the room they'd book. Hajime was right, she was exhausted and freezing. The Inn keeper had rented a large kerosene lamp to use as a "heater" to attempt to dry their clothing.
Kaiya hung all her clothing and the spare sets of clothing that Hajime and Souji had left behind on a line that Hajime had strung across the room then looked at their pile of blankets for a moment. Kaiya was tempted to hang the blankets out the window but she really didn't want to let in anymore humid air than was already in the room and the fact that she was completely naked at the moment. The last thing she needed was some peeping toms watching her.
She rolled out the futon, then after checking to make sure the door was locked, slid down underneath the covers. She must have been more tired than she had realized because she fell asleep almost immediately. At one point she had started to wake up upon hearing hushed male voices but then her subconscious recognized Hajime and Souji voices and started to drift back asleep.
"She's right out isn't she?" She'd heard Souji say before drifting back into complete unconsciousness.
When she woke up the next morning she was toasty warm and mostly dry for the first time in days. She also noted Hajime spooning up against her back side with barely anything on. Most of the time that'd be very appealing and tempting enough to wake Hajime up for some play time but with her cousin only six feet away, back turned to them or not, she couldn't possibly.
Kaiya considered her current naked conundrum. She had planned on waking up before they'd returned and dressing in her semi dry clothing but that hadn't happened. So now she had to either get up and risk her cousin seeing her naked or wake Hajime up and make him get her clothes for her. Kaiya glanced over at her cousin again, his breathing was deep and slow, so Kaiya decided to risk it.
Carefully she slid out from underneath Hajime's arm and the cover. Once on her feet, she tip-toed over to the clothes line and quickly snatched her still slightly damp clothes off of the line. When she had dressed and turned around, Hajime had sat up and was rubbing eyes watching her. Luckily, though, Souji was still out dead to the world.
She grabbed his driest set of clothes off of the line and brought it to him. After a quick kiss he took the clothes and dressed. Once dressed he indicated for her to follow him out of the room and once they were both out, he grabbed her hand and led her to the Inns small eating area.
After they had sat down and ordered, Kaiya was the first to speak up. "So did you find anything?" She asked Hajime.
Hajime shook his head. "No but I didn't expect to find something on the first day, we're rarely that lucky."
"So nothing unusual?" Kaiya asked. "Usually theirs a trail of bodies when they are near by."
"Usually but they must be cleaning up after themselves. Their have been many disappearances but Edo is so large that no body really notices, especially when they are usually homeless or poor people." Hajime said with a hint of sadness.
"That's a very sad truth." Kaiya said with as sigh as she stared down glumly at her breakfast.
"Indeed, that's one of the reasons I had come here in the first place…when I was younger. To disappear, to become one of the faceless." Hajime took a sip of his tea, probably trying to hid his expression from her.
"Well I'm glad you didn't." Kaiya reached across the table and stroked his hand.
After a few more minutes of chatting Souji finally showed up looking sleepy-eyed. Kaiya smiled as he sat down with them.
"Good morning, sleepy-head." She said to him.
He smiled at her. "Morning! You two started with out me!"
"We needed a little bit of us time." Kaiya said. "We didn't get a lot of alone time with you around all the time nor have we in the last year or so."
"You do realize that you two were fighting when we left." Souji said as he waved a server over.
When he had order his own plate of food Kaiya looked at him. "Well I tend to forgive easily, which is a good thing to with all the block heads I work with."
"Oh, ouch." Souji said with a laugh.
"I hope you're not lumping me in that group?" Hajime asked with a sigh.
"I am in fact. You and your friends the most emotionally constipated group of people I have ever met." Kaiya replied with a cheeky grin.
"Hey!" Souji complained as the server put the food down in front of him.
Hajime let out a bit of an annoyed sighed. "Shouldn't we get back to business."
"Alright. So, if you two want to have alone time, then you two can go out together and I'll go out on my own." Souji replied trying to hide his smirk.
Kaiya gave him a suspicious look. "Let me guess, so you can go and see Masumi-chan?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said before he shoved food into his mouth.
"Who is Masumi-chan?" Hajime asked looking confused.
"I guess its not surprising that you never heard of her, she's Souji's girlfriend or…was anyways." Kaiya replied with a mischievous grin.
Now Hajime looked surprised. "You had a girlfriend?"
Souji scowled, "Don't be so surprised. No one would've thought a cold hearted bastard such as yourself would be able to catch such a sweet caring woman as her." He said indicting Kaiya with his thumb.
Hajime just gave Souji the stink eye, it was Kaiya whom responded. "That's enough Souji." She said with a sigh.
"I'll have you know that I intend to do my job. Besides I doubt she's waited around for me." He said before downing the last of his meal.
"You don't know that, she seemed like a reasonable young lady." Kaiya had genuinely liked the girl.
Souji cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you were trying to make sure I behaved myself, Kai, and not go chasing after some girl."
Hajime sighed. "Can we move on, we're wasting daylight."
Kaiya chuckled and patted Hajime's hand. "Fine, Hajime and I will go together and you, Souji, can be all by yourself."
Hajime nodded. "Kaiya and I will go into a residential area, maybe there will be rumours there. Children and women are easy prey, there are likely to have been several bodies over the months."
"Makes sense, I'll go to the docking yard and along the shore. Nobody really questions the death a sailor." Souji said as he got to his feet.
Hajime and Kaiya also got to their feet. "Be careful, Souji. Don't be picking any fights." She said, then went up on her tippy toes and pecked him on the cheek.
He just smiled and winked at her, then turned and walked out. Hajime looked down at her. "I'm going to get my daisho, I'll meet you at the front door."
"Can you grab my katana while you're at it?" She asked sweetly.
Hajime smirked slightly. "Not today. If we're going to be talking to families, you probably shouldn't be visibly armed."
Kaiya smiled. "I suppose you're right."
He bent down, pecked her on the lips then moved towards the stairs. She watched him for a moment longer than went to the door and peered outside. Annoyed at what she saw, Kaiya glared up at the sky as it was once again was raining. After staring for a few minutes, she felt someone breathe down the nape on her neck as someone sighed. Startled by the sudden presence of another and the proximity, Kaiya spun around and shoved backward.
Hajime's iron grip latched on to her arm as he stumbled back a bit, startled by her reaction. When they both had recovered, Hajime smiled and chuckled lightly and Kaiya chuckled as she put her hand to her chest.
"Sorry, you're so quiet I didn't hear you approach. I didn't know someone was there until you breathed on my neck." Kaiya chuckled again as she put her forehead on his chest.
Hajime kissed the top of her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Shall we go?"
When she looked up at him again, he was still smiling. "Yes, let's go." She touched his cheek as she turned back to the door and stepped outside.
As they trudged through the mud, they stuck close to the buildings getting shelter from the overhangs where they could. When they reached the residential area, the wandered aimlessly trying to find people to talk to but most people either were wisely staying in doors or avoided them when they approached them.
When the sun reached high noon, Hajime pulled Kaiya under an overhang. Even though the rain had slowed to a light drizzle, people were still staying indoors.
"Why don't we head to the nearest river and search around there? In Kyoto, furies liked to dump bodies underneath bridges." He said once they were under the cover of the over hang. "Maybe we'll get lucky and find one there."
"Lucky?" She said with a quirked eyebrow as she wringed out her hair then attempted re-secure it.
Hajime sighed. "A poor choice of words but you know what I meant."
Kaiya smiled. "Yes I did, I just had to point it out. Anyways, that sounds fine with me. Its not like we're getting any where's here. Maybe somewhere near the castle?"
Hajime gave her a weird look. "Why there? That's quite a ways away from here."
"All the more reason to look over there. I don't know if I have a rational reason, that's just where I want to be."
Hajime let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine, although its unlikely to find anything out there. It's fairly well patrolled, a dead body wouldn't sit around for long."
Kaiya just shrugged as she smiled up at him, then grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the castle.
A few hours later, they combed the shoreline of the rivers in the area; paying particular attention to the area around bridges. After about two more hours, they struck gold…very decayed gold. It had been half buried in the mud and likely had been fully buried until the rain washed away the mud. Kaiya crouched down beside the corpse and closely inspected the body, looking for the telltale signs that a fury had killed this person. At first glance, the body was awfully pale but judging from the decomposition; the teenage girl had been dead for a couple weeks.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the telltale marks were there in the most common area; on the neck. The girl also had a snapped neck. Kaiya hoped that the girl had been killed before she had the blood drained from her body. When she was done her inspection, she stood up and looked over at Hajime who stood by patiently waiting for her to finish and watching for any prying eyes.
"What now?" When she finished her inspection.
"We continue our search; one body doesn't tell us a lot." He replied as he offered her his hand as she stood up. "Only that there has been a fury here at one point."
Kaiya grabbed his hand and looked back sadly at the dead girl. "What about her?"
"We'll leave an anonymous tip of where to find her. We have no jurisdiction and no working relationship with the local guard, it's the best we can do."
Kaiya looked back at the dead body one more time before she allowed Hajime to lead her away.
So? Worth it? I hope so! I've been doing a little better these last couple days, maybe I'll find my groove again...maybe.
-Shockra
Edit: Mar 2nd So I was half done the next chapter when my hard drive of my computer crashed :( so I lost all my stories...trying to get them back but like a dumbass I haven't updated my backup files in a while. So now I'm waiting on a new computer (its on order) and hoping I won't have write everything again. And not just this story but I have other Fan fictions and original stories...ugh (I was hoping on putting a Mass Effect story out there)