I am SO sorry - I have had dead internet and crazy too-much maths and nearly finished school and just LOTS of stuff on. But here is the chapter, and I'll try adn update again this week to make up for it...
Chapter twenty:
Misao smiled comfortingly at Yuki as she folded the letter, her eyes trained away from the long shadow that crossed the rice-paper door.
"In all the years I've been Oniwabanshu, no-one ever threatened an eight-year-old girl. What happened to hon- actually, what happened to basic human decency?" Misao asked Ayame, nearly shouting, her cheeks burning with anger and her eyes burning with fear as she watched the door behind Ayame, still smiling at her daughter.
"Too old-fashioned." Ayame shrugged, nonchalant, but her eyes widened as a hand gripped her wrist from behind, twisting it away from Yuki's neck and forcing her to drop her wakizashi.
"They say that with age comes wisdom."
"Otousan!" Yuki said, a smile breaking out across her face as Misao gathered her daughter up into her arms, smothering the eight-year-old in a tight hug.
"Don't kill her," she hissed over Yuki's head, her eyes cold. "She's mine."
Aoshi raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, holding Ayame immobile with contemptuous ease – one arm holding her arm behind her back, the other constricting her windpipe just enough that she could breathe, but not speak – as Yuki pulled away from her mother, enough that she could breathe, but staying close enough to clutch Misao's sleeve.
"Look Otousan, I managed to hit her when she tried to get me!" She said proudly, pointing at the tear in Ayame's sleeve.
"Well done." Aoshi said, his grim expression lightening slightly as Yuki beamed at this highest of praise.
"She looks confused," Misao said with a mirthless laugh, picking Yuki up again. "She actually thought we were that stupid."
"You knew...?" Ayame croaked, her pale face flushed.
"No, we weren't certain," Misao shrugged, picking up her kunai. "And we didn't expect you to go after Yuki if you were working for Toranaga."
"When is Masaru-san coming back to ask her questions?" Yuki asked, curling up in her mother's arms. Misao frowned as she felt the small body shuddering, her little heart pounding.
"Soon, sweetheart," Misao said, stroking Yuki's hair. "But it's past your bedtime."
"Okay, will otousan tell me a story?" Misao looked at Aoshi over their daughters head, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course. Misao, can you take Ayame down to the storage cellar?" Misao nodded, gently nudging Yuki off her lap so that she could take hold of Ayame, leaving the little girl to go with Aoshi.
As the petite woman's arms wrapped around Ayame, the girl twisted, trying to get away, but instead of one of Aoshi's long arms, she found a razor sharp kunai at her throat.
"You tried to hurt my daughter," Misao hissed, her eyes icy. "I am not in the mood to be nice." The words were cold and the two women watched Aoshi carry Yuki out of the room in front of them, taking the opposite turn down the corridor.
*break*
Masaru found Shinko and the others just outside the house; Kiyoshi was checking Kenji's hip with gentle fingers.
"It's only dislocated. Hold him." He gripped Kenji's leg as Nanako and Itsuki braced themselves against Kenji's back, holding him still as Kiyoshi pushed against Kenji's thigh, pushing the bone back into place with a stomach-turning click.
"We can go now." Masaru said, with a slight frown as he helped Kenji – who had gone slightly pale from having his leg reset – to his feet. The redhead could stand, and even walk a bit now, and Masaru set off down the road, thinking. It would have been easier, and safer, to have killed them all, but Masaru's gut rebelled at the idea. The Oniwabashu wasn't like that anymore.
"Wait. I can't go with you – I need to stay – I'll cover for you." Kiyoshi smiled, tilting his head at the building and smiling slightly at Shinko's disappointed expression.
"Nanako-chan will you go with – actually, you stay here. Itsuki-san? If Ayame has made her move, they may try to kill Nanako-chan on sight, or..." Nanako and Itsuki nodded as Kiyoshi bowed farewell, walking back into the house.
"We should hurry." Itsuki said briskly, setting off down the path leading back to the street. "Kiyoshi-san will blame Oniwabanshu – it'll make you seem stronger, which will delay retribution."
"Do you think the oniwabanshu was like this?" Shinya murmured to his sister, too quietly for Masaru, who was in deep discussion with Itsuki a few yards ahead, to hear. Shinko shrugged, letting Shinya wrap his arm around her waist taking some of the wait off her still bleeding leg.
"Easily." Kenji replied, a grunt of pain slipping between his lips as the street began to climb uphill.
"Let me help." Shinya and Shinko spoke in unison. Shinya looked at his sister, raising a sceptical eyebrow as he pointed a glance at the bandage around her leg. The girl looked slightly sheepish. "Don't worry, imoto, I have another shoulder."
"I'm not your imoto." She muttered, looking away sheepishly as Shinya dragged Kenji's arm over his shoulder, in order to support his weight as well.
"I'm going on ahead with Itsuki-san." Masaru said, an impatient bite in his voice as he noted the three fighters' slow progress. "Meet us at the Aoi-ya."
"Okay, I can see it now." Shinya muttered as the two shinobi sped up to run, vanishing around the corner without looking back. Shinko elbowed him half-heartedly.
*break*
The Aoi-ya was sombre and silent. Shinko, Kenji and Shinya were all exhausted from adrenaline and blood loss as they slumped around the table, eating the soup Misao insisted they have. Masaru had already vanished by the time they arrived, taking Itsuko and Aoshi with him, but the look on Misao's face was more frightening than Aoshi's coldest glare.
"Are you three okay for now?" She asked briskly, her fingers tapping rapidly against her thigh as she looked towards the door again.
"Fine, Oyasumi narai, Misao-dono." Kenji said, smiling at the kunoichi.
"Oyasumi narai." Misao muttered in reply before promptly turning and leaving the room. Shinko slumped onto the table, pushing her empty bowl away and resting her forehead on her arms as Shinya helped himself to another serving.
"I wonder what they're going to do to Natsu-Ayame-san..." Shinya said suddenly, putting his bowl down with a clack, worry crawling across his face.
"Don't want to think about it." Shinko mumbled back, her shoulders arching as she yawned.
"They'll have to use her as a show of strength. Masaru-san left Toranaga-san's main force alive, which either sends the message that we are confident that they aren't a threat, or that we're too soft to kill if need be."
"What?" Shinya's head snapped around to stare disbelievingly at Kenji.
"I did not want to know," Shinko murmured quietly, sitting up and grabbing her sword, rubbing her eyes. "Let's go."
"To find Ayame-san?" Kenji asked standing up.
"Of course." Shinya said, resting a hand on his sister's shoulder with a small, grateful, smile.
*break*
"Next time I would appreciate it if you warned me before bringing possibly hostile spies into my home, Masaru-kun." Aoshi said coolly as he regarded Itsuki.
"We need to expand our force if we have a hope of fighting Toranaga or Tanuki." Masaru explained. "Kiyoshi offered us his help, and Itsuki is here for that reason."
"I cannot tell you much about what is happening in Kyoto – we have only been here for a few weeks, and Toranaga does not trust Kiyoshi-san. However, the entire wealth of what we do in Osaka will be at your disposal."
"What about Tanuki?"
"He rules with a loose hand, and deals in information. The money we make interests him very little – and I doubt Kiyoshi will be as willing to help you against Tanuki-sama as against Toranaga."
"Is that all you can tell us?" Aoshi asked.
"There are the details, but most of it will not help you against Toranaga."
"Aoshi-sama? Will you discuss them with Itsuki-san? I want to go and speak to Ayame-san."
"Leave her alive, Masaru-kun." Aoshi said, glancing up before turning back to Itsuki.
*break*
Ayame tasted blood in her mouth as she watched Masaru, quiescent by the door, watching her with disturbingly blank eyes, a cold, uncaring stare that sent a shiver down her spine. People never looked at her like that. They saw her face, her slender form and lustrous hair, and they desired her, to possess or to mimic, but there was always heat in their eyes.
"Natsuko..." He said the name slowly, watching her. "Why did you choose that name?"
Ayame narrowed her eyes, swallowing and looking away, but forcing her jaw to relax, the tang of blood from the bitten tissues of her cheek spreading across her tongue like the taste of fear.
"A dead family member then..."
"What are you – a charlatan who peddles in petty fortunes and messages from the dead?" She snapped anger clogging her throat as her hands clenched, the ropes binding them together digging into her wrists.
"I merely seek to know an enemy." Masaru shrugged picking up a thick roll of heavy cloth that clinked slightly as it moved.
"I'm hardly an enemy of consequence."
Masaru crossed the room in two swift paces, kneeling down so that their faces were at nearly the same height as he unrolled the cloth.
"You are an enemy of great consequence – you infiltrated the oniwabansuu onmitsu and I am the one who must decide how to respond to that, and the challenge posed by Tanuki and Toranaga. Also, I am sadly lacking in information about these enigmatic characters, and have to rectify that." The last folds of cloth pooled out over his hands, drawing Ayame's eyes down to the neat rows of metal implements, curved blades and sharp spikes, straight and serrated edges gleaming against the cloth.
"My pretty face first?" She asked with an indifference she did not feel.
"No – torture is a strategic enterprise, and your 'pretty face' is a powerful tactic that can only be used once, like kidnapping the child of one's hosts, perhaps..." Masaru shrugged, a hint of regret flitting across his features. "And, of course, it would be aesthetically regrettable."
"What the hell does that mean?" The wooden door banged open – it could only be locked from the outside – Shinya stood in the opening, poised and irate, with his feet apart and one hand on his bokken. Shinko and Kenji stood behind him, both looking slightly worse for wear than Shinya, Shinko particularly had dark shadows around her eyes that contrasted with her pale face.
A brief murmur of frustration escaped Masaru's lips as he placed the roll of cloth several a few feet away from Ayame's reach and stood up again, stepping away from Ayame before giving her his back so that he could face the three younger warriors.
"What do you want?"
"We came to stop you from... this... vile, despicable..." Shinya was staring around the room, disbelieving that Masaru – who had been raised almost as Yuki's brother since Aoshi and Misao adopted him, more than ten years ago – could even contemplate such an atrocity.
"We're here to ensure that honour is maintained." Kenji clarified smoothly, resting a hand on Shinya's shoulder.
"You won't hurt her, Masaru-kun." Ayame stared in disbelief as Shinya faced down the older, taller boy, his hands trembling in anger.
"And what do you propose to do with her instead?" Masaru demanded, a hint of frustration creeping into his cool, impassive voice.
"Send her to Tokyo – Chichi can keep an eye on her, Haha wouldn't need to know the details, pretend you killed her brutally if you have to, but if you hurt her..." His gaze strayed to Ayame and he trailed off, betrayal making its way across his expression, hurt, and a silent question in his eyes, but mixed with equal parts of anger and resentment.
"Why do you care about her?"
"I don't." Shinya looked away from Ayame, back to Masaru, everything other than anger draining away from his features. "This is about honour."
"I will talk to Aoshi-sama," Masaru said after a long pause. "Stay here with her." He left the room, shutting the door behind him with a click.
"Shinya-kun?" Ayame asked, twisting her wrists against the bonds to try and let the blood flow to her numb fingers. The boy didn't look at her, staring instead at the wall behind her, the interlocking stones flawlessly clean except where a faint shower of dirt had spilled through, but scratched and scored, as if by some huge violent monster. "Shinya-ku-"
"Don't talk to me. You are a betrayer and a liar. So just leave me alone." The hurt crossed his face again, his voice nearly quavering on the last words, and Shinko stepped forwards to wrap an arm around his shoulder and murmur something comforting in his ear, her own posture mirroring his as she shared and understood the hurt and the fractured innocence. Kenji moved away from the two, the closeness of their sibling relationship as awkward as the intimacy between any couple for an outsider to witness.
"That is one of the only men in the world who would do what he is doing now for the sake of his beliefs, and certainly the most naive of them – in spite of your best efforts. You should count yourself lucky." He said quietly to Ayame, not even glancing at her face, or seeing a flush of shame creep across her cheeks.
Silence fell across the room, as the four waited for Masaru to return.
*break*