It was the part of morning that was just starting to change into afternoon when Kurogane heard the sound.
He was tired, and really feed up with all the waiting they'd had to do. Sure, the occasional stake-out was fine, but he was really hating the long nights spent without a speck of action. Night after night, they hid by that castle, the one with the ghost princess rumored to be in it, and night after night, they were always disappointed. Bleary-eyed and badly in need of some alone time, away from the mage who couldn't seem to stop taking (even when they were supposed to be quiet), and the princess who always seemed to fall asleep (and forced him, inadvertently, to carry her back to their rooms).
He missed the thrill of battle, that moment of pure ecstasy when an opponent burst into view, his for the taking. This sort of living...well, it didn't even come close to that. For now, he was just stuck.
Hands spaded in the pockets of his warm overcoat (stupid weather, it had never been this weird in Nihon), he began to cross through the village square. As he passed the grocer's and deli shop, he sighed. His heart just wasn't in this any more.
Sakura had won them enough money to let them last comfortably for a few more days, which was good. The townspeople who had challenged her at cards were shocked to discover that she won every game, and were wary of playing against her again. Kurogane rubbed his forehead, trying to force himself awake. It was this damn weather. Back in Nihon, he surely would have been able to stay up for many more nights than this.
All this snow was making him want to sleep.
Yawning, he creaked the door of the bakery open. They were running out of supplies at their room, and since the tavern below their quarters didn't serve food at the odd hours they had become accustomed to waking up at for their jaunts, they'd been buying food on their own. He spent a few long, soporific moments staring at the breads in the case before a baker came to him to sak what he wanted.
Baguette in hand, he turned to go, hearing the tingle of the bell above the store entrance once more.
"Aw, I'm hungry." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a trio of street scamps, eagerly eyeing the merchandise. The baker seemed none too pleased.
"Out, out, you little knaves!" He cried, brandishing a broom at them. Kurogane cocked an eyebrow as they ran out of the shop. The baker noticed this and shook his head.
"I do apologize that you had to see that, sir. Last time those children came through here, I lost two of my freshest loaves and I won't have it happen again, what with all the sickness spreading amongst the young ones." He sighed. Kurogane nodded, too tired to really put together any coherent response, and exited.
And then, he heard it.
Crying.
Trying to keep a collected face, even though the sound of it was starting to drive him nuts, he quickly found the source. A young girl, bundled up in a frilly pink cloak, was sobbing into her muff on the ground.
"Hey." He said. "What's wrong?"
The girl swallowed, and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Kurogane tried to give her a comforting smile, but this only made him look like a gaunt ghast about to spirit her away. A whimper escaped her lips.
"Come on already," he said more irritably, crouching down beside her. Damn it, he was no good with kids. This was a job for that idiot mage, not him. Kurogane would even bet that Fai would have some puppets or something on hand to amuse the kid while he calmed her down.
Then anger surged through him. Well, if that joke of a magician could amuse small children, then he, the most feared ninja Nihon had to offer, could surely do the same. The girl began to cry again, clutching her muff to her desperately, and Kurogane applied his newfound resolve to the situation.
"Talk to me. What's making you cry?"
She took a deep breath, and then blurted:
"They stole my kitty! I just got her today and they took her from me!"
Kurogane frowned. Theft of an animal? This was indeed grave. When food was scarce in Nihon, there had been heavy fines for robbery of grain and livestock. Even when Shirasaki needed to requisition food, it always repaid the people it borrowed supplies from with interest. The cat might have been a gift from her parents, something to calm their daughter in times of woe. He remembered all too clearly what gifts like that could mean to a child.
An action of this sort was inexcusable.
He knelt before her, fist above his heart in solemn vow. "Then I promise you I shall return your cat to you."
She clasped her hands together, snow settling sparklingly on her face and hair. "Really? You will?"
He bowed his head in affirmation. Maybe he was just so exhausted he'd agree to anything to cut down on noise so he could rest undisturbed, he mused. The girl gave him a faint smile. "Thank you! The meanies that took her ran off down that alley!" Her features dissolved into worry once more. "Oh no! What if they're doing mean things to my kitty? What if she's afraid?" Tears sprang back up, and with one more assurance that he would return the animal to her, he departed down the alley.
It didn't take him long to find the culprits.
They were leaning up against a wall, muching on a loaf of bread, and talking about what they planned to do with their ill-gotten gains.
"I say we play hacky-sack with this thing. That'll teach her to stick her tongue out at us!"
"But I don't know how to play that game! And it's a cute cat..."
"Aw, come on!" said another, snatching the beast and making to run back down the alley with it. Suddenly, he found himself up against a black-clad wall of ninja. It was quite disconcerting.
"You have something that does not belong to you. Give it back without hassle," he said, a grin sweeping diabolically across his features, "and I won't be forced to make an example of you to other animal-thieving scum."
Perhaps he'd smiled a little too diabolically (he'd really only expected them to sullenly hand it over and slouch away), he thought, because the gang of three dropped the cat to the ground like a hot coal and sprinted off over fences and crates, somehow managing to keep a hold of the warm bread. Kurogane sighed and hoped that the feline wasn't angry at being wet or dropped, and scooped the creature up in his arms. It was cold, but surprisingly placated.
Returning to the girl, he handed the cat over to its rightful owner. "It seems a little wet..." He began.
"Oh no, that will dry out just fine when we get her home! Thank you so much!" The girl said, hugging him with the cat tightly between them, squished against his legs. Kurogane was amazed. Why wasn't it striking out or clawing them? That had to be the calmest cat in existence. No wonder the girl had wanted it back so much. Surely, she had seen the value in having so peaceable a pet around her.
He nodded, watched as the girl went back home and shut the door behind her, safe from retaliation from the three he'd dispatched.
At last, finished with his good deeds, he headed back toward the inn, where he was greeted warmly by the innkeep.
"Good show by you back there! Sophia is my niece's girl, and she loves that little kitten of hers. You almost wouldn't believe it was a stuffed animal, the way she treats it! Those three, though, they're trouble. This town needs to..."
Kurogane nodded to the man's suggestions, sleep seeping its way through the warm air of the tavern and welling up around him. If he could just get to his bed...
Soon, other patrons began chiming in on the state of the town, and amidst a rallying call to reform the streets, Kurogane snuck away into his chambers, while a voice called after him that their dinner was on the house. On entering, Kurogane found his bed, not even bothering to undress save shucking off the coat damp with snow, and collapsed.
"Looks like that servant fellow of yours really does have a heart after all, doesn't he?" The innkeep said merrily to a man in a white coat. "And here we all were, thinking he was some heartless, ruthless guardian."
The man smiled mysteriously. "Kuro-bun has much more of a heart than a lot of people give him credit for. You'd be surprised."