[Flashback]
Rikimaru grunted as he dispatched the last guard within the brig of Gohda castle, heart hammering in his ears. The shinobi was careful to pat the last guard down and was grateful to find cell keys, as Rikimaru's blood froze when he heard familiar screaming halfway within the underground cavern.
"Ayame, I'm here," Rikimaru murmured before moving towards the back of the brig.
Rikimaru rushed to the rear-most cell, and unlocked it before processing what he was seeing.
"Stop! I will slit her throat," Lord Gohda exclaimed, holding a bloodied tanto to Ayame's throat. The man was sitting next to Ayame, who laid nude, chained, and bloodied from his tanto.
Rikimaru saw red, " How FUCKING DARE YOU!" Gohda never even saw the shinobi move before he was disarmed and shoved against the wall.
"Unlock her. Right-goddamn-now. I might let you live," Rikimaru gritted out. The daimyo laughed,
"And who are you to tell me? Hell, I could order the both of you killed for what you've done to my wife and daughter, and my kingdom would support it," Gohda immediately cried out from Rikimaru striking him and breaking his nose.
"Well then, Matsunoshin, I'll just have to break your arms and legs until you do."
30 agonizing minutes later, Gohda was a sobbing, immobile mess. Rikimaru had broken both Gohda's arms, legs, his collarbone, and right elbow. The shinobi held no pity for the man as he hissed into the broken man's ear,
"We've gone through worse. All in your name. This can end, just tell me where the key to unlock Ayame is."
Gohda informed Rikimaru where the hidden key was, and the shinobi sighed in relief the moment he was able to free his partner.
Rikimaru stripped Gohda to his underwear and gave Ayame the upper part of Gohda's hamaka, before chaining the man by his wrists and ankles at the wall, making the daimyo scream in pain.
"Hey, at least you might be found before you lose a limb, and it's more than what you deserve considering what you've been doing to Ayame."
"Don't- don't you dare leave me here!" Gohda panted and sobbed, "I'm still your ruler, and you my servant: I order-"
Rikimaru slammed Gohda's head against the wall, hard, knocking him unconscious.
[End Flashback]
Rikimaru jerked awake, blinking at his surroundings and seeing the evening sunset. The boat was docked at a small, but busy town. He and Ayame had come to Shimonoseki, years ago when they were teens, before... well, no sense in triggering another mental breakdown. Part of him was hoping that everything up until now had been a bad dream, but…well, the shinobi knew better at this point of his life.
"Hey," Ayame greeted, "you ok? You've been sleeping since last night." Rikimaru shook his head,
"Not really," the kunoichi laughed,
"Me either. Tesshu and Hisano went to bribe the captain of the ship to let us on; so we'll be leaving in a couple hours. They took Daisuke with them."
"Who's Daisuke?" Ayame smiled,
"My son. Hisano and I were talking names this morning- she and Tesshu were sick of calling him 'the baby'. It was time anyway."
"Yeah?" Rikimaru asked with a sigh as he stretched, feeling his spine pop in several places;
"Daisuke's 3 months today…At least that's what Hisano told me anyway," the kunoichi sat next to her partner, both of them listening to the waves.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," Rikimaru said after a while. Ayame bristled,
"Yeah, no. We're not gonna do this. The only person whose fault this is, is Gohda's. Not yours, not mine, not the kid's. So unless you have anything constructive to say about all of this; shut the fuck up."
"…you're right. As usual."
"Mmhm, isolation and trauma gives you lots to think about. Speaking of:" Ayame wrapped Rikimaru into a tight hug, "I really fucking missed you."
The shinobi was tense at first, still overwhelmed by his own emotions of guilt, shame, and sadness; but Rikimaru returned Ayame's hug, whispering into her hair,
"I missed you, too."
"Let me go, you bastards!" Screamed Suke as she was dragged into the healer's room by Hayakawa Katsumi and another guard.
The guards forced the voluptuous woman on her knees before General Morine Yoshinori and Lord Gohda, who was sitting up with the assistance of several pillows. General Morine looked exasperated, while Mei and Juno barely hid their distain for the daimyo as they mixed potions nearby.
"As requested, my Lord, the apprentice healer, Suke, who assisted Rikimaru in helping Ayame escape the brig," stated Katsumi, "we caught her and her sister attempting to leave Otsu." The man was a bit confused though,as he thought Ayame died over a year ago.
"Good," nodded Lord Gohda as he shifted to help ease his pain, "and Hisano?" At this Mei and Juno's eyes widened, and Juno crushed the medicinal herbs hard.
'Oh shit. Oh shit. Not old lady Hisano!' the two healers thought, exchanging a look.
"We found some signs of herb mixing at the place we found the student shinobi, my lord," said Katsumi, "Hisano may be with Ayame and Rikimaru. Their trail is cold going south west."
"My lord, if I may, regarding the encroaching rogue mercenary threat-" interjected General Morine, only to be waved off…at least as much as the daimyo could move his left arm, anyway.
"Send a small unit of 15 men to Okayama, Morine. I want those three dead within a fortnight. As for you, Suke, I offer you one chance: tell me where Ayame and Rikimaru are headed, now. It is the only chance you and your sister have to leave safely."
Suke's eyes filled with tears as she grit her teeth, hard, "I don't know where they are going; and even if I did, I would never tell a disgusting rapist like you! Besides, you'd probably kill me either way, you paranoid madman! Poor Kiku must be so ashamed at how far you've-" Suke cried out as she was struck by the other guard. Mei gasped quietly, and Juno squeezed her hand tightly.
"If that's how you feel, then I sentence your sister, Kameyo, to serve the rest of her days at Yoshiwara; you, Suke, are sentenced to sawing."
Juno dropped her mortar and pestle, while Suke screamed,
"She's NINE, you sick bastard! And I don't know where they are!"
"My lord, perhaps reconsider. Suke is a woman, and hard labor should-" Gohda cut Morine's suggestion off with a glare,
"Perhaps you'd like to take her place?" The general grit his teeth and bowed his head, silent; "then take her away."
With a sick feeling in his stomach, Katsumi dragged the screaming and crying Sake out of the healer's room to the brig. Juno grabbed Mei's arm and excused the two of them to another room, stating that they needed more herbs for Gohda's tsūsensan tea.
"Juno-chan, Suke is gonna be… she's gonna d-die…" Mei began to sob quietly into Juno's kimono, who held the short thin woman tightly,
"We have to choose between our duty as healers, and our duty as civilians, Mei. Gohda can't get away with this," Juno whispered woodenly.
"What do you mean," asked Mei sniffling.
"We have to kill him."