"Did you know that Munenori had a sister?" Goemon asks Kotaro as they laid in their futons on the opposite side of the rooms.
"To be honest, I thought it was a rumor. I have heard about her, but never knew she was real." Kotaro answers the ally as he lowers the scroll in his hands and looks over at the red head.
"Hanzo didn't tell us anything about her." Goemon turns to his side and looks over to his partner.
"He maybe didn't know anything about her either."
"But, Yagyu is such a great name that we know a lot about the family line." Goemon argues.
"So?" Kotaro shook his head and looks back at the scroll in his hand. "My family line descended from pirates, but no one knows that one."
"Wait, really?" Goemon looks at the albion in surprise.
"Don't get it in your head." He realizes something. "When did the killings start happening?"
"Like a week ago, why?" The red head looks at the albino and raises and eyebrow.
Kotaro continues to read the scroll before standing up from the his futon and walking over to Goemon's. "There are threats from some civilians here. Several that say that he should be killed."
"And this is from the latest killing?"
"No, this is the first one." Kotaro stood up again and walks over to the door. "Let's go. We need to see if there are threats from the other samurai's."
"Are you suggesting that the killer was doing a favor?"
Kotaro sighs. "I don't know. But whatever he is doing, it isn't justice; it's murder."
~*~ yagyu criminal ~*~
Hitomi quietly watched Musashi sleep as his arm was around her waist. He slept surprisingly peacefully for a restless sleeper, making her giggle at his adorable face. Playing with his jade hair, she remembers back when the two were younger and he always spent a night in her room. He never wanted to be around Munenori because he was too serious and not fun at all; so he hung out with Hitomi most of the time.
But this was before he was sent out to the military, and Hitomi left home to pursue her own destiny of justice.
Hitomi looks back as she hears her sliding door open and find her big brother walking in and freezing at the sight of the barbarian on his sister. His eye slightly twitches, making Hitomi smirk.
"He's tired. Let him be like this for a little while." Hitomi says to her brother before going back to playing with his hair.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to duel today." Hitomi looks back in surprise. "Since you know how to fight with six different swords, I would have guessed that you have excellent training. From somewhere."
She frowns at him. "Well some of it was from father, but I'm not telling you the rest."
"I wasn't expecting an explanation of your training, I was expecting a duel."
She sighs. "Fine, but it better not be a rematch from when I beat you a few years ago." Munenori's eyes widen when a sudden memory flashes through his eyes and he remembers clearly his father praising Hitomi after beating him to the ground during an unofficial duel.
"Tch, I tripped." He says as an excuse.
"Right…"
"Just get ready. I'll meet you in the training yard." He says bluntly before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.
~*~ yagyu criminal ~*~
Munenori practices a few slews with his sword before hearing light footsteps coming from the courtyard. Standing up straight, he looks back to find Hitomi walking to the training yard with all of her different swords sheathed behind her back. But as intimidating as she looks, Munenori felt like the whole world just slowed down and watched her walk towards him in a slow motion manner; showing off her long, mint mane swaying back and forth, her eyes patting as she looks in his direction, her fingers combing her hair as she moves it out of her face.
But it ended as soon as it begun,
"How many rounds are you planning on doing?" She immediately asks as she makes her way up to her brother.
"Just one. But I want you to be able to use all your swords." He replies, showing off that he was only using one sword.
"So this is a challenge for you, not me?" Hitomi raises an eyebrow.
"Shut up and get ready." Munenori bluntly tells his sister as he takes a few steps back and stood in position.
Hitomi grins and stood up straight with her arms in front of her; completely ignoring her swords at her sides. Munenori watched her in confusion before deciding to take the first move and charging at her with a side attack. But as his sword neared the frozen woman, she instantly lowers her body and ducks the attack before swiftly unsheathing her chisa and mimicking his side slew at his waist. Munenori was just barely able to miss the blade by a hair as they switched positions and he took the lower position as his sister took the authority. Her grin hasn't changed, but a gleam in her eyes was saying something else. Hitomi takes the next attack and swings her chisa from above: making Munenori move back, before he needed to dodge her o katana that she mysteriously pulled out while attacking him. Circling the blade with his, he dislodges the handle from her hand and tosses the o katana away from them and leaves her with her chisa in her right hand.
She looks back at Munenori in surprise before she pulls out the katana and takes another attack to the side. And just like Munenori predicted, he takes the chance to cut past Hitomi and use the end of his handle to counter an attack and punch her in the low of her back causing her to fall forward and lose her grip on her swords. Falling to her hands and knees, Hitomi lets out a hiss before leaping away from Munenori before his attack and swiftly unsheath her nodachi. The large sword was a big disadvantage to her brother's quick speed, but she wanted to save the best for last.
"You have no chance against me with that long sword." Munenori mockes, causing her to growl and take the first attack.
Even though the nodachi is a great defence weapon, it was difficult to use such a powerful weapon on such a swift and light moving katana. Hitomi is gonna need Munenori to attack her instead of her attacking him.
"Quit dodging and attack, Munenori!" Hitomi exclaims.
"Fine, if you want me to." He replies before taking a vertical swing at her.
As her sword defended her from above, Munenori takes the chance to kick her in the gut and throw her back to fall to the ground again. Losing her grip on the sword, Hitomi fell to the ground and lets out a groan as her body takes in the pain of the kick. Before she was able to look up to find her brother, her body was pinned down by Munenori with his katana at her throat.
"I win." Munenori remarks before a cold steel causes a chill to shiver down his spine.
"Take that into reconsideration, brother." Hitomi replies as she held her o tanto to the nape of his neck.
"You and your nasty tricks." He mutters with an eye roll before taking his blade away from her pale skin.
Hitomi smiles at him as she held the blade at his nape, pivoting it to only let the dull edge touch his skin.
"And where did I learn them from?" She questions as she leans closer to his lips.
"Well, you learned them from Yours Truly. Who else?" Munenori eyes her lips before looking back up at her violet orbs. "I was really hoping you still remembered something from home."
"How could I forget?"
Her eyes dart back at his thin lips as she whispers and breathes on them.
"Don't look at me like that." Munenori whispers as he tilts his head and leans down, inching closer to his sister's lips.
"Like what, Munenori?"
Before he was able to answer, their lips met and locked together. The kiss started slow, but Munenori was eager to lick Hitomi's lips for approval before she parts her lips and readies her tongue to fight his for dominance. Twisting and tying their tongues together, Munenori wins the match and coats her cavern with himself; marking his territory.
They continued to kiss before Munenori felt himself heat up and he lowers his lips to the side of her neck. But as he sucks on her fragile skin, an unexpected moan escapes Hitomi's lips and Munenori quickly halts; remembering a certain night several years ago.
It was a night of a banquet and the lower floors of the mansion were filled with noble men and ninjas and men of higher rank. Munenori was in his later teenage days when all he cared about was training than finding a suitable marriage contract. Feeling bored of the affairs, Munenori decided to head to his room and sharpen his swords. But halfway down the hallway, even with the voices of the people and the music from the band, Munenori heard a strange sound coming from his sister's bedroom and curiously walked up closer to the paper door. Slightly opening the door, Munenori peeks through the gap and gasps in shock when he finds his sister and the young Musashi in bed, practically naked. He only stared for a moment before shutting the door and running towards his room. Slamming his door behind him, the young Munenori crumpled to the ground and attempts to erase the image from his mind.
Pinning down his sister to the ground, Hitomi looks up at her brother in shock and confusion as his eyes clouded over and he felt suddenly distant from her.
"Munenori?" She barely mouths before he gets off of her body and walks out of the training court.
Shaking her head, Hitomi stood up and individually sheathed her swords back into their scabbers before looking back to find her father drinking tea in the garden. Deciding to join him, she walks over to the old man and sat on her knees on the other side of the small mat, facing towards her father.
"Good morning, father." She greets with a bow before sitting up and pouring herself some tea.
"Has these years improved your training?" He asks, completely monotone.
She pauses and looks up at him. "I have learned many different techniques, yes, but I don't mean to share with the Yagyu samurai." Hitomi replies as she sips her tea.
"I wouldn't dare you to involve with the Shadow Yagyu or the Tokugawa. With you as an assassin to many of the loyal samurai working under the Shogun; I expect you to stay in the dark where you belong." Her father blankly advices, causing her to frown but nod her head in agreement.
"As you say, father."
~*~ yagyu criminal ~*~
"Goemon, look, the second victim had threats against him also." Kotaro exclaims as he reads the records of the dead samurais.
"Yeah, same with the third and fourth ones." Goemon agrees as he brings Kotaro the scrolls.
"That must be what relates them. That they were practically hated half their career. But, what did they do so bad that caused them to be killed?" Kotaro asks as he rubs the back of his neck.
"Are you sure you want to have a Yagyu as a suspect?"
Kotaro looks back at Goemon before looking back down at the map pointing at the Yagyu residence.
"I have my motives. And she has her secrets." He whispers under his breath. "I'm just trying to find them."