Akane slept very badly that first night, between the hardness of the floor and waking every three hours for prayers, and Ayami, who'd grown up in such conditions, spent much time in consoling her, and assuring her that she'd get used to it soon. Akane trusted her mother, but was still very glad when they went out the next day to get a great deal of meat. The two of them spent the entire day, once back from their trip, in slicing the meat, praying to their Lord and Master, and drying the meat until they had enough to last the entire four weeks around Long Night, barely finishing in time to don their prayer clothes, along with boots and jackets, and reach the Temple in time for the sunset service.

The High Priestess noted with approval Akane's tiredness, and Ayami's lesser fatigue. It was good to see they were performing their penance honestly. To the sisters, Akane's tiredness was a bit puzzling, until they remembered that she was on the full schedule of eight prayers where they'd grown up on six: Sunset, early night, midnight, late night, sunrise, and noon. Their mother had ruled that they would need the extra rest to reach their physical and mental peak.

The service, with its droning chant and repeated prostrations, proceeded smoothly. They had their incense, their prayers and chants, and now, a surprisingly deep bell, which Rika struck at carefully measured intervals. Ayami and Akane thanked the High Priestess for permitting them to attend, then quietly departed. Once home, they removed their prayer clothes, and took a sparse meal before taking turns in the bathroom and trying to get a bit of sleep before the early night prayer.

Akane twitched and moaned, unable to get comfortable on the hard floor. Had her mother actually grown up like this? The thought of it made her heart sink, she'd have to be extra helpful from now on. Her mother shook her gently awake, they donned their prayer clothes and offered the early night prayer, then they removed their prayer clothes and tried to get some more sleep.

.oO()Oo.

"The men you humiliated will not let this pass," Ayano told them. "They will seek retribution again; they are too prideful to bear any loss of control, and when they strike again, you must kill them. All of them. I know we taught you when not dealing with the Samurai to accept surrenders, to kill only when needed, and those teachings are true. It is only that these men will not surrender honestly, or cease seeking your death."

Ashi nodded. "We understand," and her sisters nodded in wordless agreement. "Thank you for your wisdom, Sister Ayano."

.oO()Oo.

A few more days came and went, the girls working at the Dome, exploring the city, visiting with the Waves, and performing their devotions. Then as they walked home one night, they caught glints of metal in nearby windows, and suddenly sprang to the relevant roofs, vanishing their snowsuits' arms in flight. Down stairways and into halls, then with impossible synchronization, seven doors on seven floors of seven brownstone buildings were in need of new frames.

Jo-Mo turned to fire, and a lightning bolt blew out his nervous system. In seconds, Adi reduced his soldiers to cooling corpses; out of respect for the building's owner and the other tenants, she used only her hands and feet, snapping necks and crushing windpipes, while in the other apartments, her sisters did similar things. Just under two minutes from their initial leap, roughly four dozen corpses went out assorted windows, and the girls after them; they gathered around Jo-Mo's body.

"These men sought our deaths," Ashi announced. "They found their own. These men, and people like them, are not welcome in this place. Their signs are not welcome in this place. This place will be made clean and safe." And with that, they continued on their way to the Temple, not even noticing the muffled commotion trailing them.

.oO()Oo.

They told their mother of what had happened, and though they could not see it, they could read in her body language she was pleased. "You have acted well and properly, my daughters. Those men and those like them will not challenge you again. Truly Aku's spirit is within you."

"Thank you, Mother," Ashi said, her heart warming at her mother's praise, and she knew her sisters felt the same.

A moment later, they heard the door open at Ayami and Akane's arrival, just in time for sunset services. The twelve made their prayers before the idol, and all were glad to see that Akane and Ayami were indeed adapting to the new schedule their penance imposed.

.oO()Oo.

Back in their apartment, the little family stowed their prayer suits in the shrine alcove, and Akane sat down on the bare floor, their mats and cushions packed away for the duration. Her mother sat beside her. "It's time for our meditations," and they both shifted to full lotus and their breathings slowed, then became erratic as they entered into the empty stillness in which time was irrelevant. When the phone's alarm went off, one of the few bits of modern technology the High Priestess had exempted from normal Temple discipline, the two unfolded themselves, donned their prayer suits, and performed their devotions by the light of the shrine's oil sconces, Akane adding to their small idol's bowl a bit of myrrh, its bitter, woody, slightly medicinal scent scent filling the shrine. They prostrated themselves repeatedly, and droned the wordless praises of the early night service, then after extinguishing the sconces and incense, departed the shrine and removed their prayer suits before they went to Ayami's bedroom and their pillows. How she ached to hold her daughter close, ease her troubled heart.

.oO()Oo.

In Kuri's shared apartment, the Waves and the Dark Stars had spread out, each group doing something different. On the larger bed, Aji and Ari sat with Kuri and Yazu, playing something called a "board game." It was some sort of escape simulator, and surprisingly stimulating. On the smaller, Adi was learning from Sulka her first card game, something called hanafuda. And in the main room, the others practiced at secular music; they were getting better at the new styles, and sharing the song with the Waves was surprisingly enjoyable, in a way they'd never known before. The evening passed pleasantly until the time the Stars needed to depart for Temple.

The Waves gathered in the main room once their guests were gone. "You know," Sulka said, "I'm really surprised at those girls. Considering how they grew up?"

Kuri nodded to that. "Yeah, I know. But I'm still glad we're getting them on our side, just in case." And the others murmured agreement. A few songs later, they either readied themselves for bed, or headed to their own shared apartments, and Kuri, Yazu and Sulka slid far down in the larger bed, and in the quiet dark, they drew very close indeed.

.oO()Oo.

After the service, the High Priestess questioned them closely as to their activities. Her displeasure was clear even with her tightly controlled voice and posture, but she ordered no punishments, hoping her clear disapproval would be enough to keep their from straying too far. Sadly, she had been right about the necessity of their learning to survive in cities, and Ayano had been right about the risk of their losing focus. But come the spring, that would change. There would be more training, enough to fill even Ashi's endless appetite for questions, then the girls would go after the Samurai.

.oO()Oo.

It had only been days after the deaths of the fools who had sought their deaths, and in that short time, the marks had indeed been removed, including the one on their door, and it was not long after that a knock came at the door, just after the afternoon prayers. The High Priestess answered, and stepped outside to speak with the skinny, shabbily dressed old woman. That one looked about. "Could we talk inside?" she asked, her voice thin and plaintive.

"No," the High Priestess answered firmly. "The Temple is only for those of the Faith. If you would talk inside, we must go elsewhere."

The woman sighed, and led her into the upper section of the building. The two sat on the bench in the narrow entryway. "It's my daughter, she's been taken. Can your girls help get her back? Please?" Her eyes brimmed with tears, her voice shook, and the High Priestess nodded.

"We will do what can. Tell me about your daughter and those who took her."

.oO()Oo.

The sisters rarely appeared in the fighters' green rooms, since they'd been removed from the fighting circuit, and so the many fighters turned their heads when they entered those rooms. In one of them, Aki approached an exceptionally underdressed fighting woman with bright yellow skin, one she suspected might know where she could look for information she needed. "What brings you here?" the woman asked. "You're not coming back to this circuit. Are you?" and her voice shook a bit at that thought.

Aki shook her head. "We're not. But… a girl from where we live was taken," and she told the other woman what she knew about the abduction. The woman's eyes went wide.

"If that girl's still alive, you need to get her out, and everyone with her," she said. "I don't know where they are, or who, but maybe you can get hold of them. I've got an idea."

.oO()Oo.

After running the suggestion past their mother, Aki consulted with Kuri about the plan.

"It won't work," Kuri said. "Not without some changes to you. New hairstyle, new clothes… can you take that suit of yours off?"

She shook her head. "When Ashi said we were one with the darkness, she meant just that. Our darksuits are part of us, they don't come off."

Kuri frowned in thought. "Right. That limits our options. Your darksuits look like matte latex, so…" She slowly smiled. "I have an idea, come on!" and she led Aki to a part of town with stores selling strange sorts of clothing and footwear, all of which looked extremely impractical. Kuri led her visibly confused companion into a particular one, one with exceedingly strange clothing, and other items Aki decided not to ask about. This was confusing enough already.

.oO()Oo.

Aki looked at herself in the mirror, or more precisely at her feet in their bizarre shoes. "I can barely stand up," she complained. The shoes forced a thoroughly unnatural posture upon her, and even with her exceptional agility, she felt about to fall over.

Kuri smiled. "That's the point. You want to look like you're very new to all this, good bait. I know you can protect yourself, but don't. When the guys grab you, don't fight back until you know if they're the ones you want." She took some time to explain to Aki how to know the kind of man she needed to follow, and when and how to use and not use force in this task. She seemed to have some experience in these matters so Aki listened and learned.

.oO()Oo.

At the Dome, Ashi approached her, and passed her a small object. "Our… helper told me about these once I thought to ask. It's called a phone, it will let us talk when we're far apart. If you need help, you can use this to call us to you," and she showed Aki how to do that. "We'll stop whatever we're doing and come to you as fast as we can." Aki gaped, then hugged her impulsively. Ashi hugged back, then after their match, Kuri showed Aki the way to a club where she might be approached by the men they sought.

.oO()Oo.

It was the night before the Long Night ceremonies that Aki finally got lucky. She'd "lost her nerve" or "changed her mind" on several others, but this time, when she turned away, her entire nervous system lit up and she collapsed, barely conscious. She chose to feign true unconsciousness, allowing the man to lock her in a cage in the back of their van. Perfect. As they drove, she produced her phone, and shielding the glow with her body, called up the map, doing her best to keep track of their location. She wasn't sure where she was being taken, but she was sure she'd want her sisters' help soon. When the men got out of the van, she vanished the phone and did her best to act groggy and wobbly (not hard in those ridiculous shoes). They'd gone about ten hours' walk from the club, so even if she called for help, her sisters would need at least a half hour to get there, probably more; her skin grew cold and her guts chilled at the realization that for the first time in her life, she was entirely on her own.

The larger man grabbed her upper arm, and forcefully escorted her through a door in the side of a large, extremely plain, grey room with a metal door, then hustled her through another large room; to her left, she caught glimpses of naked women in rooms with bars for one wall, then intentionally fell over when shoved through a second metal door, then clambered awkwardly to her feet. The room was as plain as everything else, a neutral grey, furnished with a large desk, a plain, simple wooden chair with arms, and a large raised wooden platform with leather restraints at its corners and in the centre of one short side, and a belt with chains in the centre. That was very puzzling, why have such a thing in this room? Why have it at all?

A relatively small man sat behind the desk, his eyes cold and his suit and hair similar greys to the paints. "Nice piece," the man said. "Get your clothes off, girlie. Or do you want my boys to take 'em off?" Aki carefully removed her collar, her cuffs, and finally her boots (a considerable relief), then when he ordered her to remove the catsuit, her darksuit she presumed, she refused. The man who'd escorted her drew a gun and went down from a kick to the sternum, then the grey man received a kick to the head that left him out cold. She searched them both, and found nothing useful except for his stun gun, which she vanished, then searched the room, finding nothing more helpful. Time to explore. But first, she produced her phone.

"I've found the place where the girls were taken," she said after greeting Ashi. "I don't need help yet, but I'll call you when I know more." Ashi accepted that, and she ended the call. Aki felt so much better in just her darksuit, and stepped out. The large room outside the office had the two barred rooms, and a doorway off it, and she walked into the next room. Behind a large desk, two men sat, and lining the room, more bar-walled rooms, with more naked women, laying on cots or staring with empty eyes. The men were alert, aware, fast and sharp, pulling what she recognized as stun guns, but against her? They never had a chance, and slumped over their panels, unconscious.

Aki looked to the girls. "Can any of you tell me how to open your doors?" she asked, and one girl mustered the will to answer her, helping her to find the controls to the cell doors. She flipped switches, and doors swung open. Some inmates shuffled out, others didn't dare move. Again Aki produced her phone, and told Ashi the situation. Then she vanished her phone, and with soft words and gentle touches, coaxed the fear-frozen girls out of their cells. Eventually, her sisters arrived, with clothes for the girls; most dressed very quickly, but two declined, eyeing the garments with dread, and so, the sisters escorted them out to the waiting minibus, then they themselves walked to the nearest bus stop.

At the wheel, Ayami watched the girls being herded aboard, despite their evident fear of her, masked and robed and sheathed in black. She would not have been allowed to leave her apartment, but the High Priestess had agree to permit the exception as she was the only Sister who could drive. She looked over the now-former prisoners, noting their varied builds, from powerfully muscular to nearly skeletal, and wondered what kind of man would want the latter sort. But one by one, she took the girls to where they asked, except for the two who hadn't dared to dress, the ones with nothing but fear behind their stares. What to do with them? Perhaps… She reluctantly dropped them off at a different brothel, one whose manager took pride in being able to train any girl into an eager wanton. She'd spent some time there herself, learning the arts of seduction and pleasure. Many would say it was a bad choice, and if asked, she would not have disagreed, but it was the best choice she could come up with. Finally, she returned to the apartment, and with Akane, performed the midnight devotions.

Back in the control centre, the men were stirring. "Are there any above you and your boss?" Aki asked the first man to wake up enough to question.

He sneered at her, "I ain't tellin' you nothing, you…"

She grabbed his shoulders and slammed him against the wall. "I stunned you and your partner in less time than it took you to draw your guns. Which I've already taken. Now, let's try again: are there any above you and your boss?"

Woah… this frail was not frail! He could feel the coiled steel in her grip, and knew she could break any bone she wanted. He shook his head. "I never heard about anyone," he said, voice shaking.

"Good," the shadow-sheathed girl snapped. "You have new orders, from me: Leave. Now. Take him with you," and she gestured with her head, not taking her eyes from him. "Never come back. This place is closed. Permanently."

He nodded hard, and Aki tossed him aside before vaulting the control console. Once the former guards were gone, she and her sisters systematically demolished everything they could before making their way to the nearest bus stop. They just hoped they'd be back in time for midnight services.

.oO()Oo.

There were in time, just barely, and all but simultaneous with Ayami and Akane. Ashi apologized to her mother for their near-tardy arrival, and once the fires were lit and the lights turned off, the twelve prostrated themselves repeatedly before the idol, droning a minor chord. Then Akane and her mother went to their apartment for the last day before the Long Night services.