See 1st chapter for disclaimer
Chapter 3: Enter Tomoe
Sheidu Izukowa sat in his office chair across from Lord Kadogowa. The meeting between them had been strenuous in length and discussion. The assassin had struck again last night, this time it had been members of the Shinsen Gumi, but what worried him Sheidu more was there was another assassination, this one had been a high official in the Shogunate. He had been killed in his quarters while under guard; and no one had even seen anything until the maid came in the next morning. At first they had just believed it was the same killer, but from the reports and approximate time of death both killings occurred within the same hour at least.
"Well then guess I'll be taking my leave then," Kadogowa said before standing up and pulling his cloak close tom him.
Sheidu stood up as well and bowed in response then said his farewells. After Kadogowa had left Sheidu walked over to the fire and poked it a few times to sir up the wood for more heat. It was unnaturally cold this night. Even standing next to the fire and with a coat he was freezing.
He needed to send someone down and have the maids bring up some warm tea. Well, maybe that could wait till he got done signing some papers and headed off to bed.
"You are Shiedu Izukowa, commander of the Kyoto defense army are you not?" a soft emotionless voice asked from behind him.
The man nearly jumped out of his skin then turned around but there was nothing there. Or there was nothing there until it seemed as if the space in front of him seemed to fold open revealing the arm of a woman. It reached out and covered his mouth before Sheidu could cry out for his guards. Her hand was cold, as cold as ice.
Then a second hand lashed out and stuck him in the chest, ripping through his ribs, removing the heart.
As Shiedu dropped to the ground unable to draw in breath a woman in a cloak materialized out of thin air and dropped his heat on the ground while looking at him with cold blue eyes while frost came from out of her breath. She only took a moment to look at him before turning away and walking towards the window. Before the light faded from Shiedu's eyes he caught sight of the kanji character for death on her snow-white cloak before she faded from sight.
Wrapped deeply in the Soul of Ice Ranma kicked open the window before covering her head with her cloak then ran across the roof before heading back across the rooftops of Kyoto towards the inn. She had forgotten just how long she had been doing this now, remembering faces and dates made it harder to block out the emotions that came when she killed. But she had to do this, she had to.
The Phantom of Kyoto, that's what Katsura called her now. Well, he didn't call Ranma that in front of everyone else, to the rest of the Choshu faction she was just a simple waitress that the owner of the inn had taken a liking to. No one but Katsura knew her real purpose.
Of course there were rumors. Some said that Ranma was Katsura's niece or some other family member he was giving shelter to because of the war, other's said that she was just some pretty young thing that he had decided to make his concubine; wrapped in the Soul of Ice Ranma didn't really let that one get to her. There was also the last rumor that some of the guys were talking about, that she and Kenshin were related because of the red hair. However that rumor was more of a joke, and a rare one after Kenshin displayed his displeasure about the comment. He seemed pretty touchy about his family.
Kenshin Himura, Ranma remembered that name: Battousai the manslayer, the strongest swordsman the world had ever seen. Ranma had never been much of a history buff herself, but during the training trip she did learn about famous martial artists, Kenshin being one of them. And from what Ranma could tell, the redheaded teenager was well on the way of claiming that title.
Quite frankly, Kenshin scared the hell out of Ranma. He had an aura that was like Ranma's Soul of Ice, only, as far as Ranma could tell…it was perfect. He had no emotion, no remorse, and no chill in the air as a side effect; with Kenshin's version of the Soul of Ice he seemed to radiate death and manslaughter at all times. While Ranma had to convince herself to kill each and every night for the restoration of her manhood and a way back home, Kenshin just killed.
Kenshin stood in the alleyway, cleaning his sword of his target's blood. Tossing the now red rag away onto the dirt he put his blade back into its sheath then looked back up towards the Izukowa estate. He had felt…something coming from there a few moments ago. It was a strange ki that he had never encountered in his experience.
The assassin shook his head then stepped over the body that was once Lord Kadogowa before the feel of something wet touched his skin. He looked up to the sky to see a clouded sky but no rain, then moved his hand up to his face to feel his cheek. The scar, it had broken open again.
Why? Why was it doing this? With as quickly as Kenshin healed it should have recovered by now, but it continued to let the blood flow. Iizuka had said one night that it might have been the man Kenshin killed trying to get revenge from beyond the grave. It was utter nonsense, just an old wives tale.
Well, at any rate Kenshin would need to get something to wash his face off again. Looking back down on the body he cut off a piece of the man's robes to be used as a towel until something better could be found. He took one last look at the body then headed down the street towards the inn that was doubling as Katsura's base of operations.
Iizuka had met up with Kenshin again after the job was done of course. Personally Kenshin had never actually seen the man fight, only come around later after the jobs were done to check up on him. He had offered to buy Kenshin a drink but the assassin refused and sent Iizuka on his way. He had other things on his mind.
On second thought perhaps he should go get something to drink. Sake didn't taste as good anymore for some reason but it was still better than water from the well.
A few minutes later as Kenshin was walking down the street and neared one of his more favorite inns it started to rain making him frown in irritation. He really should have thought to take Kadogowa's umbrella while he was at it. Well, too late to be crying over spilt milk. The red-haired assassin was about to continue when his danger sense flared and he dodged out of the way just in time to avoid a sword that came from behind.
As Kenshin turned around he saw a man that had stepped out of the alleyway from behind him. He was dressed in a black outfit and his face was covered by cloth. He wasn't Shinsen Gumi, just another hired assassin like Kenshin. The boy looked over to the ninja's weapons. He was using two swords, wakasashis that were chained together at the butt of the hilt. Probably a self taught style, nothing to really worry about.
The ninja was the first to move. He threw one of his swords towards Kenshin, who in turn deflected it with a battoujitsu strike to knock the short swords blade into the ground. The ninja then charged and once within range Kenshin struck out. The ninja dodged the attack by diving to the side and then using the chain that connected his two blades to entangle the redheaded swordsman before landing on the roof.
With Kenshin's tied up his arms were pinned to the side, his sword arm was almost completely immobile but his left hand could still be used, it was free from the elbow down. The ninja then jumped off the roof and made his attack, a downward slash that added his weight for power. Reaching back Kenshin pulled the man's other wakasashi out of the ground with his left hand and brought his arm up to deflect the blow. The ninja's attack slipped but Kenshin's continued on, cutting the man in half from the neck down while the momentum from the ninja's jump carried him over Kenshin's head.
Panting Kenshin collapsed to the ground, absently noting that his scar had opened again. But there was something else…a scent in the air; it was…white plum? The assassin looked to where the smell was coming from. There was a woman standing in the rain and holding an umbrella. Her skin was a bit lighter than the normal person's, and she had long midnight black hair and a silk scarf in her left hand. But the most obvious thing about her right now, was that her kimono was covered in blood. Blood, from the man that Kenshin had just killed.
Kenshin could only stand up and face her. Her eyes, they looked right at him but at the same time made her seem like she was staring at someplace far, far away. She said something, but Kenshin wasn't paying attention to her words. He tossed aside the short sword in his hand and looked at the woman.
She saw me, he thought. As an assassin it was his responsibility to kill his targets without being found out. So far Kenshin had been very good at that. Not one of the people that had seen him murder another had lived to tell about it. But…the only people who had ever been around when he did kill were the bodyguards of his targets, never an innocent bystander. So…what should he do? Should I…kill her?
"You're bleeding," the woman said before walking towards him. "Here, let me…help…you." She only gotten a few more steps before collapsing, the woman would have hit the ground had not Kenshin reached out and caught her.
He looked down at her unconscious form and smelled that scent again. It was definitely coming from her. Well, he couldn't just leave her out in the rain like this. Throwing the mystery woman over his shoulder Kenshin walked over to where her umbrella was then started to make his way back to the inn. He could figure out what to do with her later.
Once again in her guise of a kimono and ordinary serving girl, Sakura cleaned the dirty dinner bowels while under the supervision of the inn's mistress. Since no one knew of her real occupation so she needed to keep this one for show, Katsura went so far as to have her move inside the inn like the other girls who worked there.
All in all it wasn't that much different than her time at the Kogoro estate. Katsura had even arranged for Sakura to have her own room, it was in case she was ever injured on the job. People would become suspicious if a waitress came home late one night with gashes all over her body to have them disappear the next day. Getting caught in an assassination wouldn't be a good excuse, while Ranma was an assassin, Sakura was supposed to be an ordinary girl, and no ordinary girl could survive running into an assassin or questioning by the Shinsen Gumi.
"When you're done with that there's some laundry that needs-" a knock on the door cut the landlady off and she looked over to the back door. She had Sakura return to her work before going to answer it. "Ah, good evening Mr. Himura."
At the sound of Kenshin's name Sakura looked up from her task to see the redheaded samurai walking through the door with a blue umbrella in his hand and a woman flung across his back. She was dressed in a kimono that had been smeared with blood. She also had a strange, flowery scent about her.
Sakura could only blink at the sight with little passion. To keep going insane from regret she had followed Kenshin's example and kept her icy exterior up at all times, or else she would have become nothing but a mass of tears weeks ago. Ther were a few side effects, and she could not keep her frozen shield in front of her heart when dreams assaulted her, but apart from that the icy shell wrapped around her heart kept the sorrow at bay.
"I will require a room for this woman," he said before walking in and taking off his sandals then putting the umbrella and woman down.
"My you Choshu soldiers are so industrious," the landlady replied. "You go out killing all night and still find time to pick up a whore."
"I said a need a room for her," Kenshin told her a little bit more forcefully than before.
"There are no vacancies," the landlady said as she turned her attention back on a bowl she was cleaning. "Besides I run a replicable inn, not a brothel. You should try taking her down to Mr. Tanaka's."
"My room."
Both Kenshin and the landlady looked up from their conversation and over to Sakura. "If…if you want her to stay for the night so badly I can let her stay in my room with me. She smells too nice to stay in a place like Tanaka's" the girl looked over to the woman and then to the landlady. "I trust that is alright you?"
The woman looked at Sakura for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, go and clean her up while I find some dry clothes."
Sakura nodded then slowly got up and walked over to the mystery woman's unconscious form before lifting her up in both arms. She studies the woman's face for a few moments, it was so peaceful, and refined…just like…Sakura shook that train of thought out of her head then started to head towards the stairs.
"Thank you."
"No problem," Sakura told Kenshin. "But bring some extra blankets to my room for her, more than the usual amount. It gets very cold at night in my room this time of year."
After making her way to the back of the kitchen where they could have some privacy. Sakura put a kettle of water over a small fire to warm it up so she could wash the woman's face without freezing her. They didn't have the time right now to clean her properly, so a hot washcloth to wash away the blood would be enough.
A moment later the owner of the inn came with some fresh clothes for her to sleep in and laid them down quietly while Sakura removed the woman's kimono. Midway through Sakura stopped as she felt something solid that should not be there tucked away behind the woman's back, and then grasped it before removing the object. "A dagger," the assassin mumbled as she looked at the sheathed weapon before handing it to the landlady and continued the task of undressing the mystery woman.
As Kenshin stood there in the now deserted room he held up the dagger that he had slipped out of the woman's clothes then looked back to Sakura easily carrying a woman much larger than her with no apparent discomfort. That girl…there was something definitely wrong about her. Kenshin couldn't quite put his finger on it, like it was something edging at the back of his mind but he couldn't quite bring it to the surface.
Well, he'd have plenty of time to dell on that strange feeling later. Repressing a shiver from the odd coldness of the room Kenshin walked into the inn to find some blankets. Perhaps he could get one for himself, there seemed to be a strange chill in the air tonight.
Tomoe Yukishiro awoke to the sound of someone shifting blankets and a depressed voice moaning in her sleep. She slowly sat up wondering where she was before a splitting pain in her skull caused her to stop. She clutched her hear and massaged her forehead a little to try and help with the hangover.
Last night…she had remembered becoming depressed, and then seeing a bar so she decided to get drunk and drown her sorrows, but nothing after that. She had been doing that a lot lately ever since her fiancée's death, it seemed to be the only thing that could help with the pain in her soul.
Her fiancée, the man she had loved since childhood was dead. Killed on the streets of the very city she was in while serving one of the shogunate as a bodyguard. His family, as well as her own, they all blamed her for it, and she agreed with them. She had encouraged him to try and be a man he was not, and because of that he was dead.
"No…please…I'm sorry..."
Hearing the sound across the room again Tomoe looked over while letting her eyes adjust to the low light. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon so most of the room was still cast in shadow, but she could make out the shape of a girl rolling around and trying to kick free of her blankets.
Since the girl was obviously having a nightmare the woman slowly slid the blankets off of herself then slowly made her way over to the girl. Once within reach Tomoe reached over and shook the little redhead on the shoulder causing the girl to practically jump awake with a small scream.
Ranma jumped awake panting and soaked in her own sweat. It had been that dream again. He had been standing alone as a male in a dark room while voices, dozens upon dozens of voices of dead men calling out his name, asking why did he kill them. Then the walls would start to bleed and eventually drowned her in blood.
That dream was even worse than the one with the cats.
As always it would end with Ranma awakening with a scream and then the feelings of guilt, remorse, and self hatred would settle in. The realization of just what she was doing, and then the tears of regret for those actions. Then she would push them away and wrap herself in that ice-cold armor of the mind. But the feelings were getting harder to push away every morning.
"Are you alright?"
The voice brought Ranma out of her morning routine as she realized that her arms were wrapped around something and a hand was wiping away her tears.
The woman from last night, Ranma realized as she felt the stranger's other hand stroke her hair while Ranma's breathing slowed as her mind calmed down. However she did not let go of the woman just yet while her head lay against her breasts. The woman's presence comforted Ranma somewhat, and that was something she had not had since arriving in this time period months ago.
"Are you alright?" she asked again. "You were crying out in your sleep, I thought it best to wake you." Ranma's mind heard the woman's words and took in her scent, everything about her seemed to radiate a kind of peace, and Ranma clung to it desperately.
However it had to eventually come to and end and Ranma eventually let go of her and then looked up into the woman's face. "I…" Ranma paused trying to think of the right words to say. She had no want to put her foot in her mouth this time around, and the Soul of Ice option was out, it didn't seem right for Ranma to hide herself in front of the stranger. "Yes, thank you for your concern."
The woman looked at Ranma carefully for a moment then finally spoke. "Are you the one who brought me home? I remember someone with red hair, and…red rain. I'm sorry, I was very drunk at the time."
Ranma blinked at the woman then shook her head. "No," Ranma replied. "The man who brought you in was Kenshin, I just offered you my room since there were no vacancies. He is the one you should thank." Ranma paused for a moment then spoke again. "So, what's your name?"
"My name is Tomoe," she told the boy turned girl in a gentle voice.
As the morning came to pass, Tomoe found herself working at the inn she had stayed at the night before thanks to Sakura's influence. Either one unable to go back to sleep she and the younger woman had spent the entire morning talking to each other while the sun rose. In that short time Tomoe had found that she liked the short woman, although Sakura's manners definitely left something to be desired.
It was later on when she was serving breakfast that Tomoe met her other benefactor. He was a young man with a scar on the left side of his face, a swordsman, there seemed to be a lot of them here. However one in paticualiar caught her attention, he was loud, rude, and obnoxious. He also got a tray of food thrown at his head by Sakura when he asked Kenshin if he and Tomoe had slept together and if she was good.
Ok, so maybe Sakura's lack of manners wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Sakura frowned as she was forced to clean the fine china rice bowls by herself under the supervision of the landlady. Then after this she had to clean out the pantry, and about a dozen other jobs. Gee you break one stupid rice bowl and you're paying for it for the rest of your life. I said I was sorry…well to the boss anyway, Iizuka can get a concussion for all I care, she thought to herself with a frown.
Although, even though she was stuck doing the crappy jobs, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little happy. For the first time since she had started…working here she wasn't wrapped up in the Soul of Ice. It felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her chest after talking with Tomoe and crying in the woman's arms.
Crying, less than half a year ago Ranma would have been beating herself up for doing such a thing. But, to let out all that pain and despair while wrapped in the comforting arms of another, it felt…good. And the fact that Tomoe seemed to just ratite a motherly aura only helped take the pain away.
Was this what it was like to have a mother? Ranma really didn't know. She had met her mother before as 'Ranko Tendo' but that relationship between her and Nodoka was just a lie. Ranma couldn't ever come to his mother with his problems because she was one of the problems, and if the curse was ever revealed and by some act of God Nodoka decided to ignore it, crying was definitely not manly. Then there were the others, they would just laugh at him or try to use the pain to try and curry favor in the fiancée race. Genma would belittle him, Akane would laugh at him like she did with his first kiss being a guy, Shampoo would try to use it go get closer to him, as would Ukyo, and Nabiki would probably tape the thing and sell it to his rivals.
How…childish that all seemed now. That was the funny thing about killing people; it sure made you grow up fast.
Hearing someone enter the room Ranma slipped back into her Sakura persona and looked up to see Kenshin standing there in the doorway. He looked over to the landlady and called her name to get her attention. "I was wondering on how long you plan on letting Tomoe stay here?"
"The new girl that Sakura brought in?" the lady asked. "Well she is a good worker."
"Yes, I'm sure she is," Kenshin replied. "But how long?"
"She can stay as long as she likes," woman told him. "You are the one that begged me to take her in remember? Besides, all of you Choshu men may be very good customers, but you keep my girls very busy. Do you know how hard it is to serve twenty hungry and lecherous men? Especially when all on of my girls does is shout and break things?" Sakura looked up at her boss and glared for a moment before returning to work. "She may have made some mistakes in the past but that's hardly my concern."
The conversation was brought to a grinding halt as Iizuka came into the doorway looking for Kenshin. He was still sporting the bruise from when Sakura had hit him earlier. "There you are," he said. "Katsura and Katagai are here and there wanting to meet with us." He looked over Kenshin's shoulder and down at Sakura. "Oh, and he wants the tramp to bring him some tea for the meeting."
Mustn't kill, mustn't kill, Sakura told herself. She thought about wrapping herself in the Soul of Ice, but if she started doing that again she might get back in the habit of keeping it up, and feeling any emotion was better than none. "Very well, just let me finish this bowel," she said before they both walked off.
"Well it seems that the boy is not the only one being effected by this newcomer," the landlady said as Sakura stood up.
"Huh?" Sakura asked.
"Your eyes, they seem to have a fire in them that hasn't been there for some time now," she replied. "The same with that boy, he seems to be softening up a little. Well, hurry up and get going, you still have that extra work to do today you know."
Katsura walked down the halls of the inn next to Katagai and with his head assassin and his field chief trailing behind while Sakura was off to the side of the two assassins offering them drinks. For once the cold air that seemed to always accompany the girl had dissipated. She had explained to him once that it froze her heart and emotions so that she could go through with the assassinations he assigned to her; the coldness was just a side effect.
As they passed an empty room he noticed a new girl in a pink kimono with long black hair carrying a basket of laundry and headed in the opposite direction as them. He stopped for a moment and studied her to make sure he hadn't seen her around anywhere before asking. "Who is that woman?"
"The men whisper of a new girl," Katagai informed him.
"That's the whore," Iizuka confirmed.
Off to his side Katsura could see Sakura's face twist into a frown at Iizuka's words while Kenshin turned around. "She is no whore," he snarled.
A new girl that Kenshin had brought in then. Well, it was said that love sometimes made you blind. She could have been sent in as a spy, Katsura wasn't one of those men who immediately discarded women as useless when it came to war. Sakura's appearance and abilities only seemed to confirm those beliefs. "Has she been alone with any of the men yet?" Katsura asked.
"Master Katsura," Kenshin cried.
"No sir," Sakura assured her. "So far she has only spent one night here. We slept together in my room, that is all."
"Very well," Katsura said. Well, there was no chance taking risks. None of Sakura's combat gear was stored inside the inn to be on the safe side, but still…she was given a separate room for a reason, to keep her almost superhuman regeneration abilities a secret. "Iizuka, find out what you can about her just to be on the safe side."
"Yes sir," Iizuka responded.
"Himura," Katagai called out in his usual deep and serious voice. "We didn't come here to talk about that woman. Did you kill a man last night?"
"Yes sir, just as we planned," Kenshin told him.
"I'm referring to the man who attacked you on the road last night," Katagai clarified.
"So the boy ran into trouble on the way home," Iizuka said. "But we didn't have time to clean that little mess of his up."
"Where was he from?" Katagai asked.
"I believe he was an assassin sent by the Shogunate," Kenshin told him.
"One of the Shinsen Gumi?" Katagai theorized.
"No, he was far too crude and vicious for those wolves," he said.
"Then it must have been a Niwaban-Shu ninja," Katsura concluded.
"Yes," Kenshin confirmed.
"This is distressing," Katagai said. "You're the second most secretive assassin working for us. Only a select few of our people even know about your existence. I can't see how anyone would know to send someone after you."
"So then there is a traitor among us," Kenshin said.
Katsura sighed and nodded in agreement as Sakura handed him a cup of tea. If he was going to keep her around for these meetings then he might as well keep up appearances. Personally he had long suspected that there was a traitor, and he would have to be in the top ranks to even know about Kenshin's existence. That was why Katsura had kept Sakura's involvement in this plot to himself. "Yes, that is something I must regretfully agree with you on. I will have to deal with this matter personally. Just have the men focus their efforts on the Shinsen Gumi for now, and allow me to deal with this traitor."
"Yes sir," all the men agreed.
Katsura dismissed the men and they left down the hall leaving him to nurse his cup of tea while Sakura attended to him. "You seem different today," he said.
"Yeah," she agreed in her usual crude manner. "I got to let go of some of my frustrations last night." She paused for a moment then sighed. "I take it that you'll be wanting me to investigate this matter then? I can be quite discrete."
Katsura nodded his head causing Sakura to smile and looked up at the sky. To his memory, it was the first time that he had seen a smile on her face. She took in a deep breath through the nose then looked back to Katsura. "What's got you so in high spirits today?"
"Are you kidding?" she asked. "Today I got a new friend, finally managed to get Iizuka to shut his stupid mouth, walked out of that damn cold shell, and you just gave me a break from having to murder people. I'd say that's plenty to smile about."
Katsura looked at the girl for a moment more before smiling back. "Well I suppose you're right. Just don't get too used to the rest, you're my best assassin and I'll need you back to work as soon as possible."
"Yeah, yeah," Sakura replied while waving her hand as of to shoo Katsura away. "Spoil my good mood." Before Katsura could say anything else she reached over and snatched his cup from this hand and started walking away. "Now if you'll excuse me I've still got bowls to clean."
Katsura merely stood there for a moment longer before shaking his head and heading off to catch up with Katagai to prepare his own investigation into this spy business. Whatever had seemed to effect Sakura seemed to be for the best, and he would leave it alone for now as long as she did her job. He hated having to resort to using his greatest weapon against his own men, but if the Shogunate knew about Kenshin, then the leak would have to be very high up in the chain of command.