Yagyu sat on his knees with a pipe in hand as he quietly stared at the woman in front of him. His sister also sat on her knees with her pipe in her hand. Quietly taking in the tobacco with a small smirk upon her lips, she stares up at the smoke clouds that form after she drags it. Musashi, on the other hand, was too busy eating ramen to notice their strange tension.
"So, Hitomi," Musashi begins when he looks up to see Munenori glaring at his sister. "Where did you get the swords?"
"I have a friend in the Bungo Province who has hand crafted many swords for many warlords, so I asked as a favor after saving his life. Crafted all six of my swords in less than 6 months." Hitomi takes in another drag before blowing it out of her nose. "Haven't failed me yet."
"So you have killed men with your own name?" Munenori suddenly asks bluntly, making Hitomi look back at him before taking in another drag.
"I killed with my own justice." She answers as white smoke escaped her lips.
"And the prostitute?"
"She just annoyed me." Hitomi tips her pipe and drops the smoked tobacco into a dish before adding in more into the bowl and lighting it. Taking in a new fresh drag, she frowns upon remembering the prostitute attempting to seduce her the night before.
"That is no legitimate reason to kill an innocent." Munenori growls at his sister.
"You know me when it comes to intimacy; I cringe at the thought of it." Hitomi comments bluntly before taking in another drag and standing from the ground.
"Where are you going now?" Munenori follows his sister with his eyes as she walks up to the porch and towards the entrance of the temple.
"I'm going to my room." And with that, she disappears into the house.
Munenori lets out an annoyed grunt before taking in another long drag from his pipe. Musashi watches him for a moment before sighing.
"You still don't get along, do you?"
He takes in another drag before sighing. "Five years...All these fucking years… She is as disrespectful as ever. It's as though she has learned nothing from growing up with the Yagyu. We are grown up with strict trainings and manners that she shouldn't have grown up to be a killer and a whore."
"You know why though?" Munenori looks at his friend as he rests his head on his knuckles. "She may have a legitimate reason to act this way. Just like you when you do something extreme."
"Pfft, yeah, like what?" Munenori chuckles.
"Ask her yourself." Musashi stood up from the ground before walking towards the porch. "She's still on the third floor, right?"
Munenori watches Musashi leave into the mansion without answering his question before emptying the bowl into a dish and gently placing his kiseru on the ground in front of him. Sitting in the silence for a minute, he silently thought of a way to talk to his sister after all these years and after her last experience with their father.
"Lord Yagyu," His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a guard walks up to him and bows deeply. "You have some visitors."
He lets out a grunt. "Why does it have to be today when everyone visits?"
"Well, isn't he in a good mood today." Goemon says sarcastically as he walks up to Munenori and sat cross legged in front of him. "Miss me?"
"No, and I was hoping that you would be in a different Province by now."
"Well that's not very nice." The redhead pouts and tilts his head to the side, resulting to Munenori to click his tongue.
"Why are all you here anyway?"
"Would have thought you heard about Hanzo requesting us to come together and find this serial killer." Saizo bluntly comments as he stood next to Goemon.
"Oh, trust me, I heard before it became a rumor." Munenori picks up the cup of tea that was in front of him before taking a small sip of it and tasting its bitterness. "Hanzo is close to giving up, that's why he needs you all to work together to find this man who is going around and killing samurai's and prostitutes."
"Have you been in touch with Hanzo this whole time?" Sasuke asks quickly.
He takes another sip. "No, but I have been keeping in touch with the Shogun."
"And they do know Hanzo's progress with this case." Kotaro finishes.
Munenori doesn't say anything as he looks up and finds his sister looking out of her bedroom window with a blank expression. She had changed her kimono and her hair was tied back in a bun with one of her favorite hairpins. And surprisingly; applied some makeup to make her look more of a noble woman than a killer.
They only look at each other for a moment before she finally walks back inside her room and disappears. And within a minute, she walks out of the mansion and looks at the ninjas in surprise.
"Munenori, who are these people?" Hitomi asks her brother in her fake innocent voice as she walks up to them with a fresh pot of brewed tea.
Munenori cringes at her high voice before answering her. "Hitomi, these are some of the ninjas that are working together to find the serial killer that has been killing samurais in the Province." Munenori mentally braces himself for his sister's believable act as he replies to her.
Hitomi lets out a gasp. "They're looking for that killer?!"
"You've heard?" Saizo asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Why, who wouldn't? Rumors of the killer has been raining from the sky. That has been all the talk with all the noble since the third murder." Hitomi sits down next to her brother before pouring the tea into his cup and setting it down on the mat under them.
"And what are these rumors?" Kotaro asks Hitomi in interest.
"Well, I was told that there is a chance that a woman has been committing the murders." Hitomi answers with a look of disbelief. "I believe it is strange to think that a woman would be foolish enough to commit such acts when she has so much more to live for."
"You wouldn't take that as a hypocritical view?" Goemon asks directly, making Munenori glare at him in return.
Hitomi looks back at Goemon in surprise. "I may have had my days when I have been rebellious, yes, but because I got to experience that I took the path to rehabilitation and became someone who my mother wanted me to be."
Hitomi gives Goemon a smile before she was interrupted by Kotaro.
"You have swordsmanship skills, correct?"
"Yes, my father did teach me how to fight with a sword, just like he did with Munenori. But Munenori has been furthering his trainings and now training others."
"Excuse me for being rude and direct; but you are on our suspects list." Kotaro's words shocked everyone, causing Munenori to stand up from his seat defensively.
"What's your meaning of accusing my sister?!" He asks roughly.
"Why the hell am I following this with her?" He asks himself suddenly, but that doesn't make him back down from standing up to Kotaro.
"We have our reasonings and evidence, but she isn't a complete suspect." The albion calmly stands his ground before bowing to Munenori. "Excuse us, but we have work to do."
The ninjas began to file out of the courtyard before it was completely quiet between the two people left. Munenori turns around and looks down at his sister before finding that her facial expression became normal again and she sat on the ground with a frown upon her lips.
"Well this is bullshit." She simply says before standing up from the ground again and walking towards the porch. "Thanks for playing along again."
"How do I always get pulled into your trouble?" Her brother asks in irritation.
"Because you're my brother so you would do anything to protect me." She answers. "Even if I was guilty."
Munenori could only sigh in agreement as she walks away from him. Making her way into the mansion, Hitomi walks down the hallway towards the stairway until she runs into Musashi, who stood against the wall with a small smirk on his lips.
"You can really 180 yourself in less than a minute." Hitomi walks up to him.
"Takes years of strict training from my father to master anything about one's self. He made me fake cry in front of noble to get what we wanted when I was a child. Munenori hated it but it worked in my advantage."
"I know what else Munenori hates," Musashi suddenly pins Hitomi to the wall and guards her body with his.
Pulling her chin up, he makes Hitomi look up at him before he roughly locks his lips with hers and kisses her deeply. Immediately sticking his tongue into her mouth, they desperately played with each other's tongues and felt each other's close presence for the first time in five years.
But as quickly as things began to heat up between the two, Musashi suddenly pulls away from Hitomi and slides his lips next to her ear whispering,
"You look better without makeup." Before he lets go of her and begins to walk away with a smirk on his face.
~*~yagyu criminal~*~
Hitomi sat in her room with a little candle lighting barely anything, but just enough for her to see the dish and her tobacco leaves. It was past midnight and she couldn't sleep, so she just stayed up and smoked her pipe to relieve some of her stress.
"Should I have started killing them?" She asks herself as she remembers all the samurai's faces.
But then the bloody image of the murdered family flooded her mind instantly, making her clench her jaw and rethink to herself.
"Yes. They need to know the pain that they caused for the family."
Hitomi takes in another drag before creating a white cloud above her.
"Fucking bullshit."