Mei slipped from the shadows to the spot where she knew Yukemori held his post. It was a spot on a small plaza near the docks. On the plaza there were entrances to a kabuki house, a tea room and an inn. Mei could hear faint music and sweet singing from the nearby hanamachi, 'a village of flowers'. So was called an area of geisha houses, its apparent tranquility a peculiar contrast to the gruffness of the inns nearby.
Mei poked Yukemori lightly in the back. He whirled around, freezing in horror for a moment, his face relaxing after he recognized the eyes.
- "Reki! You scared me half dead, creeping around in that ninja dress!" He took a closer look at her, recognized the welling of her eyes and the swollen lids for what they were.
- "You are upset. What is wrong?" he asked in a softer tone.
- "A lot of things," Mei answered gravely. "How has this day found you, my friend?"
- "My day has been the finest," Yukemori grinned. "I will be off duty in a minute. Would you like to share my company and hear all about that?"
- "I was counting on that," Mei smiled.
- "Shall we go gambling?"
The apparently dark and quiet storehouse nearby was in reality an illegal gambling hole. Mei and Yukemori had shared some fun there, betting high, losing some, winning some.
- "Not tonight," Mei answered. "I want just... your company."
- "Do you need to buy anything?" Yukemori asked.
Mei shook her head. Yukemori was a fence and a peddler, or a tekiya, as they were called in the yakuza. They also were involved in protection racket, which was in more or less of a war-like state at the moment in Dojyu. She had often purchased poisons and expendable ninja tools from Yukemori, and he had also found her the masterly built ninja-to. Most good blacksmiths wouldn't make such a weapon with the same devotion as a katana, if at all.
- "That's my brother," Yukemori said, and Mei slid into the shadows before the approaching yakuza could see her. They were all brothers. Many yakuza were originally eta, literally 'non-people', the lowest of all the classes. In yakuza they could advance to a respected and powerful position that birth had denied them. The ties to one's yakuza family were as strong as ties of blood. Yukemori's family was the biggest and currently most powerful of the families - the Two Gates gang. But there were upstarts, and older enemies. Dojyu had grown quickly after the court had moved there from the old capital, and the balance between the shadier power groups was yet to be found.
After being released from his post Yukemori followed Mei.
- "What is wrong, Reki?" he asked. "Have you come straight from an assignment?"
Mei nodded.
- "You wouldn't happen to have an extra kimono with you, would you? I would love some sake, but if you go to an inn with a ninja, we are bound to attract undue attention."
- "As a matter of fact I do."
- "You do! It was a joke."
- "Courtesy to a recent liberation endeavour," he grinned.
- "I just want a friend. I want to drink sake with someone who has an idea what I do. I want to laugh and smile and... be alive," she said, biting her lip. Yukemori looked worried indeed.
- "I have no clue what clan you belong to, anyway. And I don't care. You are a valuable customer, and... a friend," Yukemori said.
Mei smiled. They walked quietly to the docks, Mei keeping out sight, both of them familiar with the shortcuts and shades.
- "Come on, tell me what it is you are so happy about," she said. "Never mind me... it is already better now that you are in my company."
- "Well, well. My days as tekiya are about over," the young man said smugly. His sardonic long face was alight with smug good humor.
- "By all the kami and giant carps! You'll be made bakuto!" Mei exclaimed, and Yukemori grinned widely. It meant that he would have a considerably higher position and more demanding responsibilities including running the gambling, smuggling and bounty hunting business. Mei wondered how he dared to tell her that.
- "Now I have told you something that could get us both killed. Now we both have lost equally face once you change into this most beautiful kimono your faithful servant has personally liberated for you," he explained, smiling slyly, but eyes serious.
Mei nodded. It was a gift for her. She took off her silk hood and bent down to wash the matte black off her face. She tossed her hair and faced Yukemori.
- "Before you ask. My mother was a kami of a bamboo grove. And my name is not Reki. It is Mei."
