Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue of Suzaku's Oracle for a blanket disclaimer.
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Warnings: Rated PG-13 or Fiction T. Leikaku Bandits. Tasuki, too. That means language!
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Notes: 0-0-16 In the last scene of the previous chapter, Tasuki was thinking a little about the conversations he and Aneko had as they traveled through Konan. So what does a bandit and a Tokyo girl have to talk about? Well, Tasuki would want to tell her all about being a bandit leader, for one. (He's been away from Mt. Leikaku for three weeks now, and we already know he's worried.) Aneko would want to talk about her life in Tokyo (leaving out her painful memories of Danno for now), because she's homesick. You can be sure Chichiri was listening in on it all! ~Sapphire
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Oracles of the Four Gods
"Suzaku's Oracle"
By: Sapphire
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Part Twenty-eight ~ Spy's Return
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Kouji was sitting in his tent when the shout came from the gate. Satoshi was back. Mt. Leikaku's premiere spy wasn't expected from his latest mission for a few more days yet. Kouji wondered what brought the bandit back early. He flung the tent flap open and hurried outside. He glanced upward at the overcast, darkening sky and threw the flap closed behind him to keep out the impending rain.
"They're sendin' 'im here," Tohru announced when Kouji arrived in the kitchen shack. "I cleared the place out." Kouji nodded, then pulled a stool up near the fire, and propped a foot up on it, leaning on his knee as he waited. Moments later, Kaneto hurried inside, dragging Satoshi along with him.
"It's all clear," Kaneto announced as he plunked himself down on a second stool. "Daishiro 'n Katsuro are standin' guard. It's safe ta talk." Kouji nodded. Then he, Tohru, and Kaneto turned to Satoshi.
"What happened out there, Satoshi?" Kouji asked.
"It aint' good, Kouji," Satoshi warned. "I got close enough ta watch fer a few days. At first, wasn't nothin' worth seein'." Satoshi glanced between the three men opposite him. "Three days back, they started actin' fuckin' weird."
"How?" Kouji demanded.
"Instead a actin' like a normal camp, they turned all predictable. Everyone was the same." That startled Kouji. If there was anything a band of mercenaries was not, that was predictable. Even under the best of captains, a mercenary group was prone to change its mind and intentions at the drop of a hat- or an ample amount of gold coin. "They were actin' like an army." His audience chewed on that for a long minute.
"Anything else?" Tohru finally asked.
"Yeah," Satoshi said reluctantly. "They're comin' here."
"Ta Mt. Leikaku?" Kouji was alarmed. "When?" he demanded when Satoshi nodded.
"I couldn't hear that much, but that damned woman made it clear, she wants the mountain. She don't care if those mercs kill us ta get it. An' there's more of 'em than before."
"Shit," Kouji spat. "You talkin' about the woman that made the earthquake?" Satoshi nodded. "Shit!" Kouji looked to Kaneto and Tohru. "We need Genrou. Somebody has ta go get 'im." Genrou wasn't going to like this, but there was little else they could do. "Oh, hell, I'd go, but I can't leave. Wouldn't be right. Genrou left me in charge." He looked between Tohru and Kaneto. There was little choice in the matter. No one else in camp could cook a decent meal, except Tohru. Kaneto would have to go. "Kaneto-"
"Yeah, I know. I'll go. Right now." He stood up from the stool.
"Ride hard, don't stop 'less ya have ta," Kouji instructed as he followed him out of the kitchen, leaving Tohru in the midst of packing food supplies for the trip. "When ya get ta Eiyou, go ta the palace. Tell the men at the gates yer lookin' fer Tasuki. They might not let ya in. Shit. If I could go..."
"Ya can't. So get the hell over it," Kaneto told him. Kouji had to grin in spite of himself. The kid was right. "What'll I do if they ain't gonna let me in?" Kaneto prompted.
"Go back every day, or, just camp right next ta the gate. Stay there 'till they bring him to ya." Kouji stepped over a deep, mud filled rut in the soggy ground. "One thing. Don't go gettin' any ideas 'bout sneakin' in. Only bastards in a rush ta get dead do stupid shit like that." Kaneto nodded. "Genrou'll come ta you. If he doesn't, he ain't there. If he ain't there, wait 'till he gets back."
"That all?" Kaneto asked as they reached the pasture where they kept the horses.
"One last thing," Kouji said. "It's a five day trip. Try ta make it in three."
"I'm only human," Kaneto complained.
"An' I'm dead serious," Kouji replied.
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"I'm goin' ta get some sake." Aneko looked up, watched Tasuki rise from his seat, and sighed as he headed toward the counter. Her eyes followed him as he got himself a bottle of sake, then found some less-than-reputable looking men in the corner of the crowded inn's tavern, inviting himself to join them. She continued to watch as Tasuki managed to swindle a second bottle of sake from one of the drunk men, as well as lift a beautiful bone handled dagger that, Aneko thought, had probably been stolen property anyway. She shook her head and sighed.
"I guess he really is a bandit," Aneko commented to Chichiri.
"He never learns, no da," Chichiri agreed with a shrug. There was silence again. Aneko felt uncomfortable, but it didn't last long. "I'm going to go see about some rooms." The statement was abrupt as Chichiri pushed his bench back and stood.
"You're leaving me alone?" Aneko asked, surprised. Since leaving Mt. Daikyouku, one or the other had constantly been by her side.
"Tasuki is just on the other side of the room, no da," Chichiri pointed out. "I think I'll try and find someplace to keep the horses, too, no da." Aneko was speechless, watching him walk away.
When he was out of sight, she sighed and pushed her plate out of the way so she could spread her map out on the table. Already tired of traveling, she just wanted to get back to the capitol. She traced their route out on the map and counted the days it had taken them to get as far. Then she measured and compared the distance left to go. It would be three days, maybe four, before they arrived at their destination. Aneko sighed again. She pushed the bench back as she stood up to roll the map scroll around its wooden dowels.
"Pretty thing," a heavy, grainy voice said behind her. Aneko barely had the time to register it as unfamiliar and unfriendly before she was roughly grabbed around the waist, and pulled right over the bench between her and the uninvited stranger. Finding herself being manhandled, Aneko twisted in the grip of her assailant and stared at his wrinkly, dirty face over her shoulder.
"Get your hands off of me," she demanded, jabbing an elbow into his ribs. He released her, pushing her forwards, and she fell unexpectedly against someone else. She looked up to find a much younger, but equally dirty man looking down at her with drunken lust. "Disgusting," she grumbled to herself. The pair seemed little better than those slavers she'd encountered her second day in Konan. It was a very unsettling feeling as she tried to extract herself from the younger one's grip.
"Hey Pa," he said, eyeing Aneko critically, "can I keep this one?" Aneko's eyes flew open in surprise. "She's a pretty one, foreign looking." Aneko glanced across the tavern where Tasuki was still sitting, enjoying his sake. He hadn't even noticed there was anything amiss. Her eyes darted around, searching for Chichiri, but the monk was still out attending to his errands.
"You ain't going to throw this one away this time," the older one said authoritatively. "She'll be worth somethin' to a brothel somewhere when you've finished with her." Aneko couldn't believe her ill luck. They actually were slave traders, and they were going to rape her and sell her.
"Tasuki!" she shouted, "Help m-" The younger one holding her captive clamped a hand over her mouth, and the last of her shouts were cut off. She felt panic begin to rise from the pit of her stomach. It took effort, but she fought it down and forced herself to think. Instinctively she knew she couldn't let them get her outside, and time was running out as they dragged her toward the door. Her gaze lighted upon two large men, built up from a lifetime of hard labor, sitting on a bench with their backs to her. "I need a diversion," she thought.
As they approached the two men, she waited until they were right beside them, then planted her feet hard on the floor. Her captor was momentarily stunned by her forceful resistance, and she used that against him. With all of her weight, she threw herself into him, causing him to stumble backward into the two seated men. She was rewarded by the sound of the bench toppling over with a crash, the two men sitting on it landing with a thud on the floor.
"Hey, what'd ya do that for!" one shouted, outraged. Both were fuming.
"Huh?" her captor mumbled, bewildered, "I- " Aneko bit into the hand covering her mouth, and the man yelped in pain. Aneko spat, the awful taste of his dirty hand making her sick. She tried to ignore the horrid salty bitterness in her mouth as she tore herself from his grasp. A stocky, muscular man stood barring her escape.
"Where d'you think yer goin'?" he said, staring down at her. The panic started to rise again. She'd thought she was free... "Them two owe us fer knockin' us over. I think you'll do just fine." Aneko felt cold fear steal over her as the stocky man reached for her.
"Don't even think about it," Tasuki stood to the left, tessen in hand. Aneko was relieved, the panicky feeling dissipating. The stocky muscle mass turned and faced the bandit.
"What's a skinny whelp like you gonna do about it?" he taunted. His taller companion grabbed Aneko by the wrist. She yelped, not expecting it. "You can have her when we're done." A choking fit suddenly afflicted the bandit, to Aneko's sheer disbelief, and she wondered if she was going to make it out of there in one piece or not.
"Not me," Tasuki finally managed, "and not you, either, bastards."
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To be continued…
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End Note: Kouji is a smart guy. He knows what he can and can't handle, and he's quick to realize that the demon woman (who scares the bejeezes out of most of the bandits on Mt. Leikaku) is more than he can handle. He knows there's something seriously dangerous about her. He also knows that Genrou is Tasuki of the Suzaku Seven. If anyone can take care of the demon woman, it stands to reason it would be one of the shichisehishi. ~Sapphire
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