Not Tonight

Mei tied her hair in a simple loose plait like lower class girls do. Her hair like that and without the elaborate makeup no-one from the court would recognize her even in the beautiful deep blue kimono. The good thing about being a court woman was that no-one ever looked at the real you. Even if someone did recognize her, they would probably see nothing more sinister than a lady having shady fun where she should not really be. That was, after all, precisely the reason why any nobleman or samurai would be here themselves in the first place. They also used disguises when doing so, though not nearly as good ones as the ninja did.

- "Where to?" Yukemori asked.

- "Thousand Oni," Mei replied. It was a rowdy inn with an opium hangout in its backroom, located in an area of disarranged thatched-roofed houses of the poorest people in the outskirts of Dojyu. Nearby the inn there were charred ruins of an area where a lot of heimin had burned to death in a big fire. The spirits of the dead still haunted the ruins. For that reason only those who had the confidence to face ghosts and oni ever visited the place, and thus it was the source of much illegal business.

- "Want to tell me about your worries... Mei?"

- "There. When I have sake. For now we can talk about... bonsai trees? Do you like them?"

- "Well, I have nothing against them. But I do not have the patience to work on them."

- "If I ever get married and have a house and garden of my own, I will make a bonsai garden," Mei said. "I have helped the gardener... where I live. The gardener has taught me. I like creating something beautiful with my hands. I think beauty is important. That is why I like the tea ceremony. It is more than just drinking tea."

- "So they say, though... wait!" Yukemori's eyes flashed as he looked at two young men approaching them. They had tattooed arms. The tattoos were different from Yukemori's.

He uttered a curse.

- "Lotus Blossoms." His voice was full of anticipation and menace.

The men certainly didn't look like lotus blossoms. Both were burly thugs, the other one a korobokuru, a dwarf whose kind lived in poverty in the outskirts of the city and did the work everyone else considered beneath them. That, or joined the yakuza.

Mei calmly regarded them, her body ready to attack.

- "Two Gang brat," drawled the korobokuru, his dark eyes full of hatred and excitement. "Walking with his whore at Lotus Blossom's area."

- "Since when is this Lotus Blossom area?" asked Yukemori. He seemed a bit nervous. His hand was at the hilt of his tanto.

- "Since now," said the other man. They approached.

- "Please, good men. We mean no harm to anybody, we are just on our way for a nice evening drink. Let's just part ways, shall we?" Mei said in her best pleasant, conversational court woman voice.

The yakuza laughed hoarsely.

- "The bitch tries to talk as if she were a lady," the human one snorted. "Like a lady would be on her way to drink in the Thousand Oni. Let's make short work of them and have some fun with the girl as well!"

It was almost embarrassing how easy it was to lock their arms so that moving and inch would make it break. Mei had her knee pressed painfully against the small of the back of the human one, holding him in the lock. It had only taken a few seconds. These were thugs who were used to stronghand people with brute force. They were no match to someone who had practiced unarmed combat. Mei could see that Yukemori had had some training too, and was also able to bring the korobokuru down.

- "We could kill you, you know," she said, again in that conversational tone.

- "Do so and there will be a war!" the man snarled.

- "There already is a war. My friend, shall we kill them?" She asked, shaking her head at Yukemori when they could not see. He looked a bit surprised.

- "I don't think so. Let them run to their ringleaders and tell them how the Two Gates gang fights," Yukemori said.

They let the men go. Glaring angrily at them they disappeared into the mazes of the houses.

- "I wonder if it was a wise move," Yukemori said. Mei shrugged.

- "Trouble either way. I... didn't want to kill anymore. Not tonight," she said quietly, and was grateful that Yukemori didn't point out that it was essentially her job.

They passed a second alleyway after the incident when Mei sensed death. After that it was just a dance, everything happening like in an ethereal dream, no thinking, just acting.

- "Down!" she yelled, sweeping Yukemori's feet from under him, simultaneously whirling and unleashing her sleeves at the direction where the death was advancing. The shurikens hit flesh. Two thuds.

She crept to the men, finding them quite dead. The poison had acted quickly. These men were young too.

- "Ambushed us. I didn't think they would have the guts," she said.

- "We humiliated them. They had to try, I guess," Yukemori said.

- "And now they are dead," Mei sighed. She felt blue. They had it coming, but still... five men dead today, all by her hand.