Chapter 13 – The Enemy of My Enemy

Late night in downtown Hinata was a stark contrast to the bright, friendly place people experienced when the sun was up. Although the city was mainly known for its numerous hot springs, awe-inspiring mountains, and breath-taking views of Sagami Bay, Hinata also possessed its share of dive bars, gambling dens, and brothels. The entertainment district had been on a downward spiral during the past several years, mostly thanks to the crackdown on illegal activities thru the Mononobe-run Imperial Guardians. However, thanks to their demise the more sinister elements had risen to prominence once again. Most of them were even being funded by the Tachibana clan, right under the Imperial Family's and local law enforcement's noses.

...and a certain Tachibana triplet wasted no time putting the perks of that arrangement to good use.

"I-I-I'm telling you the truth, Tachibana-sama! W-W-We haven't s-seen or heard a-a-anything about a red-haired assassin around here!"

"Now you're just pissing me off," Rikimaru growled as he tightened his grip on the bar owner's smock. He had arrived at the bar only minutes ago, his black-suited personal task force immediately locking the place down. One patron had tried to escape, but was now moaning in a corner, nursing a stab wound to the leg for his trouble. The squirming owner held in his fist, a mousy-looking middle-aged man in dirty clothes and a worn apron, stared fearfully at the unkempt looking Rikimaru, who with his wilder looking hair and bags under his eyes, more closely resembled a manic, self-destructive murderer hell bent on vengeance.

"I know for a fact that this dump of yours is a haven for every piece of scum on this side of town! DON'T TAKE ME FOR A FOOL! I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING SOMETHING PEASANT!"

The bar owner nearly wet himself at the sheer level of killing intent being sent his way. Barely anyone in the bar took a single breath through the whole altercation, afraid of having the depraved boy's attention shifted to them. Seeing the older man shrink into himself further, Rikimaru growled and threw him into a table, a loud 'crack' coming from the bar owner's back as he slammed into the wooden furniture, several glasses of drinks falling and breaking on the floor.

With a frustrated sigh, Rikimaru began to leave, but not before giving one last order to the guards, "Interrogate every single one of these roaches. Find out everything they know about that red-haired bastard. I don't care how bad you have to break them to get the information."

"Understood, Rikimaru-sama!"

Blocking out the cries of pain and pleas for mercy that echoed out into the street, Rikimaru walked back into one of the black SUV's currently parked outside. Relaxing into the plush black leather seat, he picked up his tablet and absently checked the date.

May 2, 2014.

It had been three weeks since his family had sent the urn with Ranmaru's remains back to the main compound in Hakodate. Ever since saying his final goodbyes, Rikimaru had spent his time shaking down every crooked bar and club in Hinata, looking for even the smallest clue on his brother's killer. Unfortunately, the assassin had covered their tracks extensively, as most of his late night busts ended in failure.

"From the looks of it I can probably cross this one off the list," the elder triplet said to himself as he brought up a notepad app and absently crossed off the bar he had just attempted to squeeze for intelligence. Surprisingly, it was Kimiko who had given him a list of possible places to begin his search, citing that vengeance for the clan came before any personal grudges. Rikimaru had reluctantly agreed, and accepted her assistance.

Though not without ranting to Ichimaru about it for several hours afterwards.

'Tch…I should've known better than to trust that gaijin…probably gave me shitty knowledge on purpose just to spite me…'

He was sorely tempted to just dump the list and start fresh, however he would be back at square one without the potential leads.

Seeing his gang of guards beginning to leave the bar, Rikimaru's eyes narrowed in disappointment, noticing the frustration on some of their faces. The doors to his SUV opened, and three of them hopped in. The driver started the vehicle and pulled away from the decrepit-looking building before speaking, "Apologies, Rikimaru-sama. It seemed that none of them had any pertinent information regarding the target."

"I figured that might be the case. We are dealing with a professional after all," the red-haired boy growled, "Did you at least take care of the patrons?"

BOOM!

"…just as you instructed, Rikimaru-sama."

Rikimaru smirked a bit as he noticed the orange glow coming from their last stop, "Good…in that case we'll go check out a couple other places on the list. The night is young after all…"

"Alright, it seems you have a much better grasp of how to work out these math problems. Try the next set on your own."

"Y-Yes, sempai!"

Haruka watched in light amusement as Keitaro and Naru took turns helping the younger tenants of the dorm with their homework. Or rather, it was more Keitaro and Naru helping Shinobu, since Suu barely needed help with any of her assignments, save for her Japanese class.

The past few weeks had been peaceful as usual, with nothing out of the ordinary that grabbed the tea house owner's attention. The Hinata-sou was taken very good care of, and the tenants were all as happy and carefree as normal. Even Keitaro seemed to be calmer; having committed more to his duties as landlord and, to his aunt's surprise, taking up the study of his family's lost art of forging. While the girls had gone out one day two weeks ago, the Mononobe heir had secretly had a smithy installed in the basement, complete with everything he would need to forge his own weapons. While they had plenty of automated smithies at Nagareboshi, Keitaro had been rather adamant about learning it himself.

'He said it was for some kind of future project or something. I think Kazuya-ji was into making his own swords too once,' Haruka recalled for a moment, faintly remembering the former Mononobe heir's collection of self-forged weaponry, 'It was like a rite of passage for the Mononobe clan heirs to forge their own blades after inheriting Yawarakai-te...come to think of it, I think Ginokami was the last one Kazuya-ji forged himself.'

Regardless, Haruka had thought nothing of it at first, chalking it up to an eccentricity that all the Mononobe had possessed, and quickly gave him the green light for the installation.

She made it clear to him he would have to keep it a secret from the girls though, especially Suu.

He agreed in a heartbeat.

"Keitaro! Suu doesn't get what this kanji means! Can you tell Suu the translation?!" the foreigner's panicked voice broke the lovely tea shop owner from her thoughts. Keitaro chuckled and looked over to Suu's workbook, "You memorized the radicals they're made of, right? So just use the meanings of the smaller radical symbols to figure out the meaning of the kanji as a whole."

"But it's sooooo confusing~"

Haruka chuckled at seeing the hyperactive blonde complain as she held her adopted nephew's arm, crocodile tears streaming from her eyes. The girls at Hinta-sou had really done a number on Keitaro, to the point that she could barely believe he had only been the landlord for a little less than five months. From cleaning up the halls, to making repairs, to spending time with the girls just hanging out or doing homework, Keitaro had seamlessly woven his way into the group.

And yet, despite all of his improvements, Haruka still felt uneasy.

Hearing Kitsune mention something about a part time job a few weeks ago had stirred something in the former Urashima heiress. Though his identity as Kyoshiro was recorded as deceased in the city archives, Keitaro still had access to the vaunted Mononobe fortune through Granny Hina, as well as his share of the profits of Nagareboshi. If one combined all of his resources and income, the boy would easily make the Forbes list of the wealthiest people in the world.

It was definitely the second greatest secret the landlord had to keep, considering he lived with Kitsune.

With such wealth at his fingertips, the absolute last thing Keitaro needed was a part time job. However, Haruka had heard it straight from Kitsune's lips in the heat of the moment, so there was no way the foxy resident had made it up.

'What the hell could he possibly want a part-time job for? He's busy enough here as a landlord …'

It gnawed at Haruka something fierce, to the point that she knew she would have to investigate the matter personally. The timing between his new "job" and the murder of Tachibana Ranmaru seemed far too convenient to just write off as coincidence.

'As much as I hate to believe it, there's a chance he might have had a hand in that mess,' she mused with unease, 'Granny told me Kyoshiro-kun all but shouted he would join that assassin if he could. I really hope I'm just being paranoid here...'

Noticing the young landlord heading towards the kitchen, presumably to get snacks and drinks for the girls, Haruka fell into step behind him, "Well aren't you popular these days, Keitaro-kun."

"Oh, hey Haru. Didn't see you there," Keitaro greeted warmly as he walked to the fridge and pulled out some sliced fruit and a couple bottles of water, "Is everything ok down at the tea house?"

"Dull for the most part really. Everyone's finally stopped talking so much about that debacle over at Tensai so I'm grateful for that."

Keitaro chuckled, "Yea, I'll bet. Nothing keeps the public's attention like a grisly murder, especially when it happens in Tokyo."

The café owner smirked, watching as her "nephew" began putting the fruits together into a simple, yet elaborate-looking fruit salad, "Ain't that the truth. So, it looks like you know your way around a kitchen now. I still remember when you used to burn water and Sakuya-nee would chew your butt off."

"…I was hoping you would forget about that," Keitaro's shoulders drooped as he finished preparing the fruit salad, "Can you really blame me for taking my dad's advice back then? How was I supposed to know he couldn't cook to save his life?"

"Excuses, excuses. Still, I guess you picked up a few things over the years from the look of it," Haruka narrowed her eyes into a slightly accusatory stare, "Probably learned even more from that temp. job you took a couple weeks ago, didn't you?"

The older woman almost missed the slight twitch in Keitaro's shoulders as he turned around to put the knife he'd been using in the sink, "Oh…you heard about that?"

"Kitsune mentioned it a few weeks ago while you were busy trying to keep Motoko from bashing your head off," Haruka continued, leaning against the sink to get comfortable, "Something about you working at some restaurant or whatever. Kind of surprised me, to be honest."

"Well, it was only temporary," the landlord replied, picking up the plate and heading back to the main room, his "aunt" moving from her position to follow, "There were a few expenses around the dorm that I had to take care of and I was short on cash. Had to get the money from somewhere, right?"

Haruka lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, "You're kidding me. You do realize you still have access to your accounts, right? Money is the last thing you should be struggling to get."

Keitaro glared at the older woman next to him, "Could you say that any louder? I thought we agreed to keep that a secret too," he motioned towards a certain foxy-eyed woman who was currently laying on the couch watching the afternoon races, "unless you want to poke the bear sitting in the next room."

"She's so wrapped up in those races, I doubt she would notice an earthquake," Haruka dismissed, though she paused long enough for Keitaro to set the fruit salad and water bottles down at the table, the landlord telling the others he would be having a quick talk with his "aunt" before heading to the hallway with him and continuing, "Anyway, you could just dip into those accounts if you needed funds to repair anything around here…"

The landlord rubbed his eyes, "You have a point, but keep in mind the Tachibana might have someone keeping an eye on those accounts. The financial department has had their hands full keeping them from trying to steal my money under the guise of 'conducting a criminal investigation into the massacre', but if they noticed the Urashima taking anything from it, they would raise hell and start asking a lot of uncomfortable questions."

"Fair enough. But that still leaves your stocks in Nagareboshi," Haruka pointed out.

"I would rather save that money for an emergency, which repairs and secret installations of hobby equipment don't really count as in my eyes," Keitaro replied, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, "Besides, I've always felt a little guilty about accessing that money. I didn't really earn it, even if I am majority shareholder and official CEO."

The café owner wilted a bit, seeing the logic behind Keitaro's belief, "…Kazuya-jii really nailed that work ethic and just rewards system into your head real good, didn't he? Fine, I guess I can understand where you're coming from."

Keitaro smiled thankfully, "I appreciate your understanding. I know a lot of my former classmates would call me crazy for thinking that way, but hey, not their problem right?"

Haruka smirked again, "Damn right…so why did you end up leaving after a week? Normally temp jobs last a bit longer than that don't they?"

The young landlord sighed, "They closed down. As I told the others a few weeks ago, they had a really poor marketing strategy. Not to mention they were located in a section of the city that's a major hub for competitive restaurants, bars, and so on. Without making a big enough buzz to draw in people they were unable to make their rent, so the only logical ending was the place going up in smoke."

The tea café owner twitched slightly at the phrasing of the end of her "nephew's" explanation, "I see. Well sucks for them. If you still want a job in a kitchen, I could always use an extra hand or two."

"I'll keep that in mind next time I feel like brushing up on my culinary skill," Keitaro laughed before heading back to the main room, "Anyway, I have to go back and help the girls with the rest of their homework. We'll talk again later."

Haruka waved at the landlord as he headed off before taking leave herself. As she descended the stairs of the Hinata-sou, the tea café owner went over the discussion in her head.

'The reasoning is flimsy at best…but knowing his character, it makes sense. Still…the timing of everything seems way too convenient. Plus, I never heard of a new restaurant opening up in that area of town…'

Throughout the subtle interrogation, Haruka had noticed that the young landlord seemed a little tense, though it was to such a minor degree that she nearly brushed it off as nothing.

'Maybe I am just a little uptight after calling Granny…he really doesn't seem like he's up to something…regardless, I better stay close to him. With this assassin resurfacing, there's no telling what Kyoshiro-kun might get tempted to do…'

"DID YOU LEARN NOTHING FROM YOUR BROTHER, YOU FOOLISH BRAT?!"

"At least I'm actually doing something out there, which is more than I can say for you and the rest of the clan Tou-san!"

Akisora winced as he walked into the main room of Minato's Tokyo compound, where the burly Fifth Pillar was engaged in a heated argument with the eldest of his triplet sons. Standing barely a meter apart, Minato and Rikimaru shouted and raged their points across, whilst Rikimaru's personal guard (or attack dogs if you asked Akisora), stood to the side, none of them wanting to get any closer to the fiery engagement than they had to.

"I used to think that whole twin synchro stuff was nonsense before, but your stupidity is making me think twice about that!" the older man fumed, his face darkening to a deeper purple than his robes, "your brother hasn't even been dead for a month yet, but here you are following right in his footsteps! You want to end up in an urn that badly too!?"

Rikimaru's glare intensified, "Did you even hear what you just said? A month! One! Whole! Month! And neither you nor anyone else has done anything to try and hunt down the bastard that killed Ranmaru and made a clan of legendary assassins look like helpless kids! Well, forgive me if I want to be the proactive one for once!"

Shaking his head at the younger boy's bullheadedness, Akisora decided to interject, "Cool your jets gaki. Don't you think all this uproar and confusion is exactly what that murderer wants?"

The two arguing Tachibana turned to the new voice as the new Tokyo U student calmly took a seat on one of the plush chairs, one hand coming up to his face to rub his eyes, "I had a chat with Tora-aniki over the phone yesterday. He's been going through the details of the other murders over in Matsue with Otou-sama, and they managed to find a pattern of sorts."

Motioning for the two to take a seat, a request which only Minato acquiesced to, Akisora continued, "Once he's taken out his target, the bastard lays low for a few weeks. Meanwhile, all of us are running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, turning into emotional wrecks that don't try to use logic to make sense of things. Then given enough time, someone finally loses it and does something reckless-"

"Exactly like what you're doing now, you stupid little boy," Minato interrupted, shooting a pointed glare at his belligerent son, "Don't think I haven't noticed all those places you and your dogs have destroyed over the last three weeks. All you're doing is putting a big fat bullseye on your back!"

"It's obvious you don't get my methods" Rikimaru countered, "I'm putting pressure on every single place that assassin can go to lay low. Once I snuff out every hiding hole he can use, he'll get pushed into the open by the scared little sheep. And the second that bastard is forced into the light…"

The elder triplet drew a finger across his throat, a wordless proclamation of his intentions. Akisora could only sigh while Minato rubbed at his temples, the older man struggling to keep his temper in check.

"Listen you little punk…your older brother is sending a couple of his best men to give us some back up to help nail this bastard to the wall. If you're gonna go out half-cocked on a suicide search, at least wait until they get here."

Rikimaru sneered, "Of course…our dear big brother will save us if we leave it to him. The rest of us should just sit tight while the inspectors take a hundred years to get here…"

With a condescending huff, the elder triplet headed out of the room, "This is a waste of my time. Let's go men, we're burning daylight."

Hesitatingly the suited guards looked briefly at Minato, before shuffling out of the room at Rikimaru's heels. The Fifth Pillar sagged back into the chair, defeated. Akisora could only palm his forehead, "I see he hasn't lost that bullheaded attitude that we all know and love…"

"He's been uncontrollable since Ranmaru died," a weary Minato replied, "Between helping Yurina-chan get settled, fighting that blasted Nagareboshi for another defense contract and that thrice be damned news report, I haven't been able to reign that idiot boy in at all."

The younger redhead nodded slightly, completely understanding the older man's crisis. The past few weeks had been rough on the entire Tachibana clan, especially with the surprise exposé that aired on the news a week prior, detailing almost all of Ranmaru's past crimes. The Third Pillar family, who controlled all intelligence related to the clan, was still trying to figure out how the media obtained such privileged information.

"I can understand his frustration…we've let this guy take out five of our pillar families and our four most reliable sub-branch lackeys with nothing to show for our attempts to find him. Everyone's been on edge and it's making us sloppy."

"And the last thing the Tachibana need to be is sloppy right now," Minato clenched his hands tightly, the giant of a man recalling a chilling theory he had heard before, "Y'know…Hachi had an inkling about the possible identity of this guy…thinks he might be a remnant of them."

Akisora's eyes narrowed, immediately catching on, "Pretty sure that's what everyone is thinking in the back of their minds. It's obvious that whoever this guy is, he knows about what Kurotora and Ensui did and how all of the current pillars helped them."

"If it turns out Hachi is right, then we're all in deep shit," Minato grumbled, shuddering at the thought of such implications, "I hope those detectives from Matsue won't take too damn long getting here…"

"Funny you should mention them, Tou-san."

The two occupants in the room turned their attention to the entry way, where Ichimaru stood with his trademark smile and squinted eyes. Standing behind him were four men dressed in navy blue suits and dark trench coats, each with a badge pinned on their chest.

"Apologies for the lateness," one of the men stepped forward with an outstretched hand, "We are the detectives requested by Tachibana-keishi from Matsue. What are your orders?"

Minato shook the man's hand firmly, "Thank you for coming. Unfortunately, I have to send you out into the field immediately. One of my boys has foolishly launched his own hunting party for the assassin responsible for the murder of his brother and our other kinsman. I want you to tail him and keep him safe from the shadows."

"We'll begin right away, Tachibana-sama."

The lead detective quickly motioned to his colleagues to follow him out. Minato breathed a sigh of relief, "Well at least that's handled. Maybe now, Rikimaru will stand a bit of a chance."

"Maybe," Akisora replied, somewhat doubtful of their chances, "In any case, you look like you could use a drink. We can raid aniki's stash since he's not here."

Minato chuckled and clapped his nephew on his back before following him past the pillars in the main hallway up the stairs. A few moments after they left, out of sight of anyone, Kimiko emerged from the shadow of one of the pillars, her face marred by a small frown.

'So they're getting help from Ruumari's unit now…this could pose a bit of a problem.'

Keitaro moved quickly about his room, grabbing a black duffel bag and stuffing his assassin garb and mask into it as fast as he could manage. Picking up Ginokami and stashing it away with the clothes, the landlord did a quick once over around the room to make sure he didn't forget anything.

'Figures...not even two days after Haru corners me like that, and now we have another set of hurdles pop up...talk about being hit by Murphy's Law...'

Kimiko had called him just minutes ago, warning him of the detectives from Matsue that had arrived and would be acting as a separate task force to subdue him. While the clues and decoys Kimiko had planted in the bars around Hinata would fool Rikimaru easily, they would stand no chance against trained professionals able to spot a lie in an instant.

Feeling his phone buzz in his pocket, Keitaro picked it up and placed it to his ear, "Keitaro speaking."

"I hope you're on your way to the designated point boya. Riki-chan's started his rampage around the city again and it won't be long before he gets to my planted snitch."

"I'm leaving the dorm now so relax," Keitaro replied, slightly annoyed at Kimiko's chiding tone, "You sure everything's ready?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? Of course the preparations are ready; all we need is the main star. Now get over there already."

Keitaro hung up and slung his bag over his shoulders. As he descended the stairs, he made sure not to be noticed by Kitsune and Suu, who were lounging on the couch watching the usual evening sitcoms.

'Ok…those two are there, and Shinobu-chan should be in the kitchen preparing dinner. Naru-chan is studying and Motoko-san was on the roof last I checked. Should be clear…'

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, revealing a slightly confused looking Motoko, "Urashima-san?"

"Motoko-san? I thought you were training on the roof?"

The kendoka shrugged, "I was up there to train, and then I went into the forest to meditate. I felt a bit restless on the roof and I figured going to that shrine I found you at before would help calm my mind," she then noticed the large duffel bag hanging from Keitaro's shoulder, "Where are you off to so late in the evening?"

It was Keitaro's turn to shrug, "Just some late night ki-training. I didn't want to disturb you or the others with what I plan on doing, so I figured I would head to a more desolate location."

The Aoyama heiress sensed something was slightly off with his answer, despite the fact that Keitaro had replied with no tells of lying whatsoever. She stared hard at him for a few more moments, before sighing and stepping out of his way, "Just try not to be too late for dinner. You know how upset Shinobu gets about you missing meals with us."

Keitaro chuckled, "Well, I won't make any guarantees. You know how carried away I can get with my training. But I'll keep an eye on the time as best I can," he gently patted the younger girl's shoulder, "Keep an eye on Naru-san and the others while I'm gone, ok?"

For some reason, the simple request seemed a bit more serious than normal to the resident kendoka, though she nodded anyway, "Of course. Just be careful, Urashima-san. You still owe me a duel and I will not have you use ki fatigue as an excuse to get out of it."

"Hah, I see someone wants another lesson. I'll be happy to oblige you whenever you feel ready," the landlord gave Motoko a smile as he gently squeezed her shoulder before walking out of the door. Blushing lightly at the unusual gesture, Motoko stared at the direction her rival/landlord departed in until she heard someone calling her name from the stairs, "Oh, hello, Naru-sempai."

Naru took a few steps towards her and looked out the door, "Is everything ok, Motoko? You were staring outside for a little while…"

"Everything is fine, I was just seeing off Urashima-san. He said he was going to do some training away from Hinata-sou in order not to disturb us."

The lovely brunette sighed, "Yea, he does that from time to time. He should be back by dinner though so there's no need to worry."

Motoko huffed and turned to walk back inside, "As if I would ever be concerned about what that bastard does at late hours of the night."

Naru giggled as she watched the resident swordswoman deny her poorly hidden concern, "She just won't admit she's warmed up to him even though it's obvious," she took one last glance out the door, her bright eyes honed on the edge of the stairs, "…he's been training a lot more these days. If I didn't know better I'd say he was getting ready for a fight or something…"

The grin on Rikimaru's face was reminiscent of a child who had just found buried treasure.

After storming out on his father and cousin, the eldest Tachibana triplet had gone back to his new routine of shaking down Hinata's shadiest locales, and after searching for nearly an hour, they finally hit the jackpot.

Thanks to an old drunkard that had been seated at the bar during the boy's "questioning" of the bartender, the Tachibana and his personal task force were now driving full speed towards the old industrial district near the port. Though the source seemed pretty shady, and could very well be leading them into a trap, Rikimaru felt only glee as he recalled the brief, but illuminating conversation he had just a few minutes ago.

"…I think I seen the guy yer lookin for…he was covered in sumthin, so I didn't see his face, but he…'burp'…looked like he had red hair…donno if it was real though…."

"I see. You say he loiters around the old foundry, right?" the redhead asked. The drunk took another sip of his drink and nodded, "Yup…no idea if he's squattin there or not…but that's where I saw 'im when I was passin thru…"

Rikimaru nodded, "Thanks for the intel, sir. You'll definitely get a reward from my family if this checks out."

The Tachibana rose from his seat and motioned to his men, "Alright, we finally have a decent lead. Time to go corner our red-haired rat."

As the rest of his guards rose to their feet and began walking back to the SUVs outside, the informant called out to Rikimaru one last time, "Hey kid…just a word of warnin…that guy…he seemed kinda off…like he could be trouble or somethin…you be careful kid."

Rikimaru scoffed, "You don't need to worry about us. Just go back to enjoying your drink. We'll be back as soon as we've confirmed your information."

The arrogant boy left immediately after, never noticing the sinister smirk on the drunkard's face as he polished off his beverage.

"Sir, we're arriving at the edge of the industrial district now," one of his guards informed, pulling the young Tachibana out of his thoughts. Smirking, Rikimaru picked up his weapon of choice from the floor of the vehicle: a pair of twin wakizashi with golden ray skin wrapped around the handles, "Good. We'll park here then and continue on foot. Inform the others and tell them to bring everything they have."

The driver nodded and proceeded to get on the radio while Rikimaru and the other three guards with him stepped out of the SUV. The eldest triplet had made sure to come prepared, dressed in a pair of black cargo pants with several pockets, a black form-fitting shirt and a dark red flak vest. Sliding his wakizashi into holsters on his back, Rikimaru began sending his guards off in several directions, "I want you five to cover the east side of the district, while you five take the west. The remaining four and I will come up the middle and regroup to surround the foundry."

"UHS!" the guards replied before they began combing their assigned areas for any signs of life. The clicks of their dress shoes echoed dully through the air as the hunting party peered through every window and carefully opened every door. Rikimaru had even decided to take to the rooftops to scan the area for random lights or other signs of power usage. From his bird's eye view, he was able to see the entire district, the darkened and derelict buildings looking more like forgotten ruins left to waste away from exposure to the elements.

Moments after the boy leapt to another rooftop, four men emerged from the shadows below, doing their best to keep up with Rikimaru and his team.

"Remember to stay out of sight. Minato-sama made it very clear he does not want Rikimaru-kun to know of our presence."

"Understood, Keibu (Captain)."

Unbeknownst to the detectives, a pair of midnight blue eyes watched their every move with a mischievous gaze. Reaching one hand to her ear, a very distinct, feminine voice purred.

"Oh Goshujin-sama~ It's time to enact our plan. It seems like boya might have bitten off more than he could chew with these guys."

The lovely assassin switched off her comlink before jumping to the ground below and blending with the dark, bringing silence over the area once again.

By the time Rikimaru and his task force reached the other side of the district, the sun had long since completed its slow descent below the horizon. The light of the full moon cast an eerie glow about the deserted buildings, turning the already unsettling factory district into a haunting ground ripped from a horror film. There was a tension in the air, an anxiousness that slowly began to build up the closer the Tachibana got to the last building left unchecked. At that point, the elder triplet had regrouped with the other two squads of his task force and they converged cautiously on the two-story foundry.

The foundry building itself was rather nondescript, with several broken windows, towering smoke stacks, and dust-covered walls. However, Rikimaru sensed something in his gut, something that separated this particular location from the rest of the district, "I think this is it. East team find the front entrance, West team go thru the rear. Once you've confirmed his presence, radio back and we will move in together."

"Understood, Rikimaru-sama," the heads of each team replied before signaling to their team members to enter the foundry. Moving with the grace of predators on the prowl, the two teams swiftly entered the decrepit building without a sound. The young Tachibana and his team only waited about ten minutes before getting the call, "We've found something, Rikimaru-sama. You may want to take a look at this."

Smirking at the news, Rikimaru nodded to his own group, "Looks like we cornered our rat. Be prepared for anything."

The five men went thru the front door, entering a cavernous room full of milling machines, enormous clay crucibles hanging from old but sturdy chains from the ceiling on conveyor belts, casting molds, and a large deactivated open-hearth furnace system in the center.

And seated at the base of the furnace, surrounded by his sword-wielding guards, was the man Rikimaru was looking for.

"Hmph…seems I have guests tonight," the man coughed out. He sounded young; however it was hard for Rikimaru to tell that by looking at him. The vagrant was covered with a ragged brown cloak, a hood pulled over his head to hide his hair and a brown face mask that hid everything but his eyes. Those bored-looking grey eyes were honed directly on the Tachibana, uncaring of the very real threat to his life coming from the menacing teams of guards around him.

Rikimaru unsheathed one of his wakizashi and pointed it at the man's face, "I've been hearing around town that a suspicious person was spotted coming in and out of this place…and that this person may be connected to the murder of my brother. Identify yourself now, peasant."

Instead of cowering like everyone expected, the vagrant began to chuckle, bewildering everyone that had surrounded him, "I see the Tachibana still possess the manners of bloated pigs. Even after one of your own is so brutally slaughtered, the rest of you still act like you're untouchable. Talk about pathetic!"

"What was that, you asshole?!" one of the guards yelled, brandishing his katana at the man's head, "I dare you to talk like that to Rikimaru-sama again you fucking bum!"

Rikimaru's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You seem pretty brave for someone that's supposed to be a vagrant with no support. I'm only going to ask nicely this once…was it you?"

The man went silent, his bored eyes narrowing while Rikimaru questioned him, "Are you the one? The one who killed my brother along with so many others in my clan? Are you?!"

The vagrant put his head down, hiding a familiar vengeful grin, "…Heh…just like your stupid brother…all…too…easy…"

Without warning, the bottoms of several of the hanging crucibles blew open, dropping hundreds of pounds of sand and dust onto the floor. One of the guards pushed Rikimaru to the ground as the room was quickly engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke.

Outside of the foundry, one of the Matsue detectives noticed a large cloud of dust spill out from the broken windows, as well as the sound of surprised shouts. He quickly pressed onto the communication headset in his ear, "K-Keibu! There's something wrong at the foundry! Sounds like they ran into trouble-AAARGH!"

The detective recoiled in pain as a loud screech pierced his ear from the communication before the signal went out. Pressing it several times, he began to panic when he realized the device was dead.

"What the hell is this?! They were working just fine-"

Something hard hit the back of the detective's head, knocking him to the ground. Head throbbing like a drum and his consciousness fading quickly, the detective just barely heard footsteps walk from behind him in the direction of the foundry building, as well as a distorted voice.

"Sorry bud…can't have you ruining the kid's fun yet. You just go sleep for a while and we'll deal with you later."

Looking at the building ahead of him, a low sigh came out his lips.

"Oh the things I do for love and revenge…when did I become the god-damn cleanup crew?"

The attacker then started to search through the unconscious detective's coat before pulling out his wallet and several other items that were on his person.

"I wonder if you got any good loot on ya. Your precious Keibu had quite a bit of blackmail material on him if I'm right about that USB drive. Let's see what you got for me..."

Rikimaru coughed dust out of his lungs as he slowly got back onto his feet. The cloud of dirt and sand still hung over the room, a thick fog of brown that made it so one could only see a few steps in front of them. Looking around, the young Tachibana noticed that several of his men had the misfortune of being right under the debris when it fell, leaving them buried and unconscious…or worse.

"Dammit, what the hell was that?!" one of the guards shouted as he slowly got back to his feet. A short distance away, another guard unsheathed his wakizashi and glanced around the room, though the dust in the room hampered his efforts, "Shit…I can't see a thing in this-"

The sound of steel piercing flesh cut the man's sentence short as two rapid stabs from a blade split apart his spine and pierced his heart. Rikimaru whipped his head in the direction he heard his guard speak, only to see him crumple to the ground lifelessly, "So he is the assassin! Keep your eyes sharp and don't panic! There's still six of us and just one of him!"

"You say that as if it actually matters," Keitaro's disembodied voice echoed throughout the room, keeping Rikimaru from pinpointing his location. Two of his still able guards flanked him on his sides, while the other three set about searching behind the machines and up near the hanging crucibles for any sign of the murderer. One guard went up to the walkways that crisscrossed high above the large furnace. A faint footstep nearby had the apprehensive guard swing his sword at a shadow. Checking behind him, he sighed in relief, "Looks clear."

"Not quite."

Back on the ground, Rikimaru heard a chilling scream from above, before the head of another guard fell at his feet, bursting like a melon when it hit the floor, "BASTARD! SHOW YOUR FACE YOU DAMN COWARD!"

"Now, now little Tachibana, I thought you would know how this assassination game works…after having played it so much yourself and all," the faux redhead taunted, "How about I make things a little easy for you?"

Suddenly, the lights in the factory began to switch on, revealing that despite the dilapidated appearance on the outside, the machines within were mostly new, and still in working order as several of them switched on. The dormant furnace roared to life, with the stores of scrap metal behind it being melted down into molten steel. The crucibles that hung on the conveyor belts started to move towards the basin of the furnace, where the liquid metal was released into them before they were moved to nearby molds, emptying their scorching contents when they were in position.

"Heh, amateur. You just took away your greatest weapon against us!" Rikimaru boasted, seeing two of his other suited task force members hurrying to join him and the others. The now four guards surrounded Rikimaru, protecting him from all sides on the ground. Feeling confident, the elder Tachibana triplet smirked, "There's nowhere for you to hide from us now. So why don't you come out before we decide to start looking for you?"

"Heh, and there's what I was waiting for you to say. The typical Tachibana arrogance I remember from back then. Who ever said I needed the shadows to hide from you?"

Two grunts of pain distracted Rikimaru from his search, the boy's eyes suddenly going wide as two of the guards fell to the ground, one with a kunai lodged in his forehead, the other with a kunai piercing his chest. The last two looked on in horror as their comrades died instantly, "D-D-Did you even see where that came from?!"

"Even without the dust in the air, we still can't find him!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Rikimaru scolded, "He's just messing with our heads, trying to put us off focus. If we stay together, then there's no way he'll be able to pick us off."

"Wrong."

Another kunai sailed through the air, aimed at Rikimaru's head. The guard to his left tackled the boy to the ground while the last guard took out a pistol from his coat pocket and fired several rounds at where the small blade had come from. So occupied with that one spot, the distracted guard never noticed Keitaro phase into position behind him.

"Five little pigs down, just two left to go…" the avenger whispered before flipping his sword behind him and thrusting it through the unsuspecting guard's neck. The man dropped his gun and gripped his throat after Keitaro quickly removed his blade and disappeared again. Blood seeped through the dying guard's fingers as he too crumpled to the ground, his last words a mix of gurgles and groans. Rikimaru and the last surviving member of his task force leapt back from the grisly scene, their eyes hastily scanning around the clouded room.

"He has to be nearby! There's no way anyone can just disappear into thin air!" the rattled Tachibana kept his blades raised in a ready position, refusing to be caught off guard the same way as his men, "You go check in the rafters! I'll look around the furnace."

"H-H-Hai, Tachibana-sama!" the final guard stuttered out before running to the stairs and climbing up into the walkways high above the factory floor. Rikimaru crept over to the milling machines his other guard had shot at before, carefully peeking around the corners and hugging the wall to guard his blind spots.

"I just need to calm down…Ranmaru was reckless when he tried to pull his scheme off, but I came prepared! He just got the jump on us, is all…"

The sound of quick footsteps immediately caught the boy's attention, the clicking sound of the heels letting him know it was only his last subordinate who was approaching, "Did you see any sign of him?"

The still wary guard shook his head, "N-No sir, but he couldn't have gotten fa-"

A brief flash of light at his waist was the only indication he had of an attack, before he suddenly lost all feeling below his chest. The guard looked down slowly, not even making a sound at the sight of his upper body sliding off his waist before falling to the ground. Still in shock, the dying man gazed up at the ceiling, his sunglasses casting a dark shadow over everything he saw.

Or was that his vision darkening? He couldn't tell, really.

Rikimaru fought the urge to scream as he watched the bifurcated body of his last guard sink to the dusty factory floor, the culprit standing over his latest kill with a blank stare. The assassin took his time lifting his gaze back up to the enraged Rikimaru, before closing his eyes in a mocking eye-smile, "Well…I guess that just leaves you and me, little one."

Screaming his rage in a wordless battle cry, Rikimaru surged forth from his hiding place, his twin wakizashi raised above his head to deliver a devastating blow, but Keitaro simply moved his single blade up to block, canceling out the younger man's strike with his own strength. Without pause, Rikimaru leapt back a step before attacking again, this time going for multiple strikes from different directions. But each strike was dodged by the slimmest margin, Keitaro grinning the whole while as he saw the frustration build on Rikimaru's face with each failed attack.

"What's wrong, little Tachibana? Is that all you have? A couple of your aunts put up a better fight than this!"

"I'll show you a better fight you BASTARD!"

Feeling his right blade get parried, Rikimaru used the motion to speed up his overhead strike coming from the left hand, the sword tip scoring a light hit on Keitaro's chest. Grinning at the hint of surprise from the assassin, the Tachibana thrust his right blade forward, aiming to capitalize on his last hit. Seeing through his plan, the Mononobe avenger parried the blow, twirling out of the way while sending Rikimaru forward. Unable to stop himself, the young Tachibana stumbled forward, suffering a stinging slash to his back as punishment.

"Dammit!" Rikimaru cursed as he fought the pain from his wound, "I hit him, but he got me even worse..."

"I'm impressed, little Tachibana," Keitaro's voice rang out from above, "You actually managed to cut me…well, my shirt anyway. That's a lot better than most."

Looking up, Rikimaru spotted the assassin leaning against the railing of one of the walkways, his grey eyes seemingly laughing at the wounded boy. With an angered growl, the young Tachibana sprinted up the stairs, hopping over the railing to face down his hated opponent, "Keep talking big, you fucking coward. It'll make it that much sweeter when I take your life!"

"You clearly don't know when you're outmatched gaki…but that's fine," Keitaro whispered menacingly before bringing his dark grey blade to bear, "Show me more of what you can do and try not to bore me to death."

Rikimaru roared angrily before he charged again, sending a flurry of strikes at the confident assassin. Instead of dodging like before, Keitaro actively parried each strike, sneaking his own attacks in between. Several cuts began appearing on Rikimaru's arms and chest as the seconds went by, though to the brash Tachibana triplet, it seemed as if he had been fighting for days.

"Well, I can't say I was too disappointed since I've learned to temper my expectations of you crimson-headed idiots, but I think I've let you drag this on enough," Keitaro stopped the younger boy's last strike cold before kicking him hard in the chest, nearly caving in Rikimaru's rib cage. As he stumbled back, struggling for breath and bleeding from several new cuts, Rikimaru barely noticed Keitaro's blade glow orange before he disappeared from his sight.

A searing pain burst from Rikimaru's left arm, the boy looking over in shock as he saw the limb severed from the shoulder. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the arm fall from the rafters onto the floor below. Before he could even scream, Keitaro grabbed him by the throat and effortlessly tossed him into a passing crucible. The container shook as Rikimaru landed at the bottom, but continued on its path to the forge. Having the air knocked from his lungs after landing on his back, and suffering from massive blood loss, the grievously wounded Tachibana slowly glanced up as the crucible came to a stop under the furnace.

"B-B-BASTAAAAAARRRRRDDD! Y-YOU THINK YOU'VE WON?!" Rikimaru screamed, gasping for breath and trying his best to block out the unfathomable pain he was in, "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM?! LET ME OUT, DAMMIT!"

"I know exactly who you are...that's why I'm going to kill you," Keitaro growled out as he walked back to the ground floor over to the control station for the furnace, "Your death will be another message to your clan…a message from the ones they murdered."

'The ones…we murdered…' the weakening Rikimaru was caught off guard, unable to think of anyone his clan had killed who would have gone through all this effort to get back at them. To his knowledge, the Tachibana never left any survivors, "W-What the hell are you talking about?!"

Keitaro placed his hand on the dial and began to open the shutter that would release the molten steel on Rikimaru's head, "If you really want to know, then you can ask your dear cousin Kurotora-"

"When you see him in hell? That's usually how you finish the line, right?"

Caught off completely off guard, Keitaro could only look over his shoulder to where the source of the new voice was standing. Casually leaning on the entrance to the control station was a lean looking man, with blue hair that was dyed white at the tips, and a bone-white face mask with only slits for eyes and a grill for his mouth, like an evil spirit in Kabuki theaters or those that wanted to declare themselves faceless to the rest of the world. Dressed in a white shirt with a large yin-yang symbol on the front, a pair of slightly worn dark jeans, and white and blue sneakers, he appeared rather unassuming at first, but Keitaro was not fooled. Whoever this guy was managed to sneak up on him when he still had his guard up, which was NOT an easy thing to do.

Apart from his deceased family, Kimiko was the only person who could do so with any measure of success. At least until now.

"Who are you?" the Mononobe assassin asked carefully, turning to face the man fully. Behind his back, he gripped Ginokami tightly and prepared to strike just in case. Anybody that was capable of what this stranger had just done warranted more of his skill than he had showcased to the young Tachibana that was slowly dying behind them.

"No need to get so rattled kid. Believe it or not, I'm not your enemy. I came here on the word of a…mutual friend, I guess you could call her."

'Mutual friend? Who in the world…,' Keitaro mused to himself as he continued to assess the strange person in front of him, 'Wait. He said 'her'…'

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're a friend of Kimiko's, then?"

"Got it in one. You are a smart one," the masked man chuckled, "Well…maybe not that smart. Did you know about the inspectors shadowing that brat and his task force? They were about to bust your party when you dropped that dust cloud."

Keitaro's eyes narrowed, "I did sense them and I would have taken care of them myself after leaving…but I'm guessing you already handled that, didn't you?"

"Consider it a gesture of good will. I didn't 'dispose' of them like you would have, too messy, but they'll wish they were dead after I put out what I found on them to the public. 'Best of the Best' my ass."

The Mononobe heir's expression lightened up, sensing no malice on this strange assistant for the moment, "I guess I owe you thanks…though forgive me if I'm still wary of you. It's a little hard to trust a man in a mask."

"Fair enough. It's a bit of a drag, but I suppose I can demonstrate my allegiance another way…"

Stepping forward, the masked man walked over to the control panel. From his position in the crucible, Rikimaru could just barely make out a new person in the control booth. Hoping against hope, he lifted himself as best he could to the lip of the crucible, "H-Hey! You up there! Did you kill that bastard?! Get me out of here, and my clan will give you anything you want!"

Keitaro couldn't make out the man's expression due to his mask, but the growing chill he felt in his aura brought a cruel grin to his face. His assumptions were rewarded as the man replied, "The only thing I want from you and your clan…"

Rikimaru's eyes bulged as he saw the man fully turn the dial, before all he saw was the violent orange and yellow of the river of molten steel crashing down on him.

"…is for you all to die screaming…stupid reds."

The eldest Tachibana triplet's screams lasted only a few seconds before he was fully submerged in the searing liquid metal. The crucible was then lifted from its place under the furnace and carried to the casting molds, before being tipped enough to pour the mix inside.

Keitaro watched the process with a slightly satisfied smirk, before turning to face his strange new ally, one that displayed the same kind of hatred that he exuded whenever he went on one of his hunts, "Well…as far as demonstrations of loyalty go, that was pretty good," he shot the man a small grin as he put his hand out, "So, does the masked man have a name?"

"The masked man does have a name," he replied as he took the Mononobe's hand and shook it, "You can call me…Lawliet. Lawliet Nara. Yoroshiku."

The moment Urashima Haruka woke up that morning, something felt off.

Going about her usual routine of opening up the cafe, nothing really seemed to be out of place at first. However, even as she prepared the tea for her morning regulars, the taciturn young woman could not shake off the unease that coursed through her veins. Deciding to pay a visit to the dorm to check up on things, Haruka put up a sign that she would return in a half-hour, and started making her way up the daunting steps.

As she finished her ascent and stepped into the lobby, the tea shop owner felt the sense of wrongness in her spike without warning. It wasn't long before she found her way to the common room, where Kitsune and Shinobu sat on the couch watching a news report on TV.

A news report detailing another Tachibana murder.

"Behind me is the Daichi Metalworks foundry, where just minutes ago, the body of fifteen-year old Tachibana Rikimaru was found within a cast of recently cooled metal. Several members of his task force were also discovered strewn about nearby, with multiple casualties and those who survived in critical condition. Authorities also located four inspectors from the Matsue police headquarters lying unconscious outside-"

"What the hell is this?" Haruka asked out loud, startling the girls from the report. Kitsune was the first to respond, "It's crazy right?! First that boy gets burned alive in his own club last month and now his brother gets killed in a metal foundry!"

"W-W-Why would someone d-do something so cruel," Shinobu whispered, almost tearing as the report continued to detail the circumstances of the grisly find. Kitsune could only keep her wide brown eyes glued to the screen, "It's startin to get as bad as it did last year when that other family was killed…someone's really got it in for those Tachibana folk..."

Haruka could only nod in agreement, 'Seems the assassin is definitely back to their old game…I wonder how Minato and the rest of those idiots are going to respond this time…'

Looking around the room, the tea shop owner noticed the absence of several people, "Hey, where is everyone? I thought they'd be glued to the screen to watch this too?"

"Naru went to visit her family for the day, and Motoko is out training," Kitsune answered, sinking deeper into the couch as the report ended, "Suu is still sleeping…probably from bein up all night workin on who knows what…"

"What about Keitaro?"

Shinobu looked up at the older woman, "S-Sempai went out to train last night. N-Naru-sempai and Motoko-sempai both saw him leave."

A cold shiver ran thru Haruka's body at that piece of news, "…Training, he said? Did he come back at all?"

"H-He didn't come back for dinner and no one s-saw him this morning…"

Wasting no time, Haruka quickly walked up to Keitaro's room. Slamming the door open, the bad feeling that had been bugging her suddenly made sense as soon as she realized the room was empty.

'Dammit kiddo, I really hope you didn't do what I think you did…'

Rushing back down to the lobby, Haruka nearly bumped into a grocery-laden Keitaro, who was turning the corner from the lobby, "H-Hey Haru, where's the fire?"

"Where the hell were you?!"

Caught off guard by his aunt's demand, Keitaro lifted one of the grocery bags in front of him, "Well, I noticed that Shinobu was running low on some supplies, so I figured I would go to the market and grab a few things…as well as apologize to her for missing dinner again last night."

Despite his seemingly honest answer, Haruka still felt wary, "Hmph. You really should start being more careful. Didn't you see the news report?"

"What, about that other Tachibana that was killed at the foundry last night? They've been running that story since…6am? It's almost 10 now," the landlord replied, "Guess this means that assassin really is back, huh?"

"Yea…seems that way," nothing in the younger man's responses seemed deceptive to the inquisitive tea shop owner, but the nagging feeling in her gut refused to go away, "So you might want to cut back on the late night training. Just use the forest out back if you're going to work on your ki. I don't want you out late near the city with that psycho running around, understand?"

Keitaro nodded, "I understand, Haru. I'll stick to Urashima clan grounds," he gave her a sheepish look and hefted the bags, "Can I go put these down now? They're a little heavy…"

Haruka stepped out of his path and watched as the boy put the groceries down on the table, Shinobu quickly running over to help him sort everything and blushing when he ruffled her hair as thanks.

'…nothing out of the ordinary…but I can't believe I couldn't sense him leaving last night'

She could admit to herself that she had grown lax in watching the boy, as his duties as landlord, his studies and his new hobby were keeping him rather busy.

As was his new relationship if the gossip from Kitsune was to be believed.

'Dammit…I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong here…and Kyo's in the thick of it…'

Making up her mind, Haruka returned to the tea shop, but before she took the sign down, she pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts list. It had been awhile since she last contacted this person and for good reason. It was only her concern for her charge that forced her hand on this.

Or so she told herself.

"I swear he better pick up this time or so help me," she growled as she pressed the send button, hearing the other line ring for a few seconds before a male voice answered, "Hey! Haven't heard from you in a while, how is every-"

"Save it idiot. Look, I need your help with something…and it has to do with Kyoshiro."

"…I'm listening."

Author's Note - Greetings and Happy New Year to you all! I realize it's been...ten months since the last update? For that I apologize, but starting grad school and traveling ate up a lot of time, as did getting this and the next chapter together. If you're still reading this story of mine, you have my eternal thanks and gratitude.

So we're starting to get the the end of this 'Fifth Pillar' arc, with two triplets dead, and only the father and the middle child remaining. However, with a certain someone about to enter the equation, it appears Keitaro and his new ally might have a new obstacle to worry about...or will they?

The next couple chapters will mainly just build up to the coming climactic end to this arc, and then...well...you'll see. Big shout out to Cloud Link Zero for beta-reading and tolerating my ridiculously long silences and lack of updates due to life.

Til next time, stay safe, stay humble, and keep striving for happiness in life.

Ciph signin' off