AN: Rewritten October 13, 2012. Much changes in this chapter.

I Am...

Chapter 4: Orientations

Some time later found Misao in a suite that was classier than anything she had lived in for years. Complete with wood floors, a kitchenette, and matching leather furniture, she had been informed this would be her new living residence. It was not its own building, but rather one of many suites that was within the expanse of the House of Shishio.

She had much to think over, much to consider, and all she had wanted to do was sleep. That is exactly what she did, too. Stripping down to the bare essentials, she climbed into the bed, one that was far more comfortable than anything she had slept in for years, and it did not take her long to fall asleep.

If she bothered to think about it, it would have bothered her. Instead, she slept well into the afternoon. It was almost three when she pulled herself from her bed. She was surprised to find the closet was lined with items that seemed to be close to her size and fit. Nothing extravagant, mostly utilitarian attire that would serve its purpose of clothing her practically. She could not complain, and pulled on a t-shirt and pants.

She turned, and to her bemusement, her yellow-tinted glasses were sitting on the counter. At first, she assumed them simply a replacement, but the scratch on the left side of the frame was there. She had no clue about how it ended up here, but instead of mulling over it, she put the frames on her face. Might as well try to figure out what this place was about.

Kaoru had been surprised and uneasy when Enishi requested her appearance at lunch time. There should not have been a reason for them to interact yet so early in the game. She had not planned for this, and it was all she could do to keep her game face on when she was escorted by a guard to the man's private office. He was reclined in a leather office chair, and dressed in a white business suit with a green tie. He wore the outfit well, at least. She would give him that.

He smiled at her over a set of small, round shades. She was reminded of Misao for a moment, with her tendency to wear sunglasses in the most ridiculous of situations. She pushed the thought from her mind and bowed. "You requested my presence Yukishiro-sama?"

He watched her for a moment before he gestured the guard away. The man gave a stiff nod and left, the door clicking shut behind him. "Thank you for coming, Hikari-san. Do you mind if I call you Hikari-san?"

She shook her head, indicating she did not. It was not like it was her real name anyway, and she could not stop him even if she wanted to. Her unarmed skills needed some work.

"Good, good. I have been reviewing your profile. I enjoy knowing my operatives." She knew that was a bold-faced lie. He rarely bothered with such trivial things, but she smiled slightly, indicating she believed him. "And after evaluating yours, I have come to a conclusion."

He stopped there almost dramatically, and she had to stop from biting her lip. Had she messed up? Did he figure something out? Her mind skimmed the details of the false identity she had. Where could she have gone wrong? Had someone trailed her last night? She had made double and triple sure she was alone...

"I want you to be my bodyguard."

Her train of thought crashed violently and she could not help the perplexed look on her face. He noted it and smiled, "Something wrong, Hikari-san?"

She had to think fast, and fortunately, that was a strong point of hers, "Well... I suppose I do not understand. I have no qualms about your request, my Lord, but from what I understand you are quite a capable man in your own right, and I am also very new, not even out of probation. Why me?"

He smiled, and she knew that look. It was one of a predator. "There are few women working under me who are trained in the ways you are. It would be easy to conceal you as nothing more than pretty face by my side, and use that to my advantage." He paused, "I am a very capable man, but I am not god." He chuckled, "At least not yet."

She managed to not quirk her brow at that. This sounded almost too suspicious, too good to be true, but she could not turn him down without good reason, and she had none. And if he was being sincere about his desire to have a female guard, then this was her prime opportunity.

"If it pleases Yukishiro-sama, I would be honored to provide you protection."

"Most excellent. I will make the arrangements immediately. Someone will come for you shortly. That will be all."

She left with as much haste as she could without making it appear awkward for herself.

It was huge. She would give it that. Misao was not sure how long she spent just trying to figure her way out of the living quarters. Sure, she could have asked a guard for help, because many passed by, but she simply did not want to talk to anyone. She knew that she was probably on camera, too. The whole place was loaded with surveillance. They were probably laughing at her.

She made sure the give the finger in the direction of the next security camera she walked by. She felt slightly better after doing that.

Rounding the corner, she almost ran into someone, and she twisted to avoid hitting them head-on. The other person took a step back and tilted her head, regarding her curiously. She was pretty, with well-styled red hair, a face done in make-up, and fashionable clothing. Misao arched a brow at her, not at all bothered by her messy hair she had not bothered to thoroughly brush, her basic clothes, and the absolute absence of anything on her face outside of her glasses. "Sorry," She muttered aloofly, and moved past her.

"Ah!" The woman turned with her, putting a finger to her lip. "You must be Misao!"

She cringed. Really, did everyone know her name here? Sighing, she looked back at the pretty woman. "Yeah, who are you?"

The woman smiled brightly, much too cheery to be working in this kind of environment. Maybe it was an act. "My name is Kamatari. I'm the Commanding Officer in Communications." She seemed to have no problems telling her this information. Either they were confident Misao would not betray them, they had a contingency plan for if that would happen, or she was a complete idiot. Any of the three were possible, if not all of them.

"Ah." What else was she supposed to say to that?

"I'm sure you're a bit lost, since going that way just loops around the housing section. Follow me. I was on my way underground. I can help you get acquainted. We've got to get your security pass anyway."

Misao sighed. It looked like she was stuck with this woman at least for a little while. At least she was not smiling all the time. "Lead the way."

The underground was even more impressive than the top floor. Shishio's resources were to be admired. The communications department held technology Misao had never even heard of, and their network of intelligence likely spanned beyond the country. She was introduced to many people, but only managed to keep the names of a few. There was a man with bad hair by the name of Cho, who was responsible for the Munitions, which meant any and all weapons were inventoried, maintained, and distributed by his team. She suspected that the cursory glance she had gotten in that area was just the tip of the iceberg as to what Shishio had at his disposal. The garage was maintained by a very large man named Anji, and a few people working with him. Misao had noted the beads around his hand, and could only wonder what someone with religious values could be doing in a place like this.

But, hey, who was she to judge?

The woman with Shishio was apparently named Yumi, and Kamatari did not like her much. She had not figured out what her purpose was short of bed warmer, but at least she had a name. The butler-man was apparently Shishio's strategist, though his name still escaped Misao and she knew she had heard it the night before. Her brain desperately wanted to mark him as unimportant.

And from what she could gleam, picking up bits and pieces of information, but not wanting to ask too much, Shishio's right-hand man was named Seta Soujiro. She knew little else besides that.

She had found herself left to her own devices when someone came up babbling to Kamatari about a problem with some computer thing Misao knew nothing about. She left them to their devices and meandered back over to the place that had interested her the most-the weapons. Her eyes skimmed the contents that were out, hearing the very muffled sound of gunshots from the target range not far away. Cho approached, blond hair sticking up in the most ungodly style Misao had ever seen and she rocked her weight back on her heels to regard him coolly.

"You're that chick they brought in last night, eh?" He inquired, though his tone indicated he knew the answer. He was polishing a barrel, and seemed about as interested in her as she was him, which meant not very.

"Yeah." She glanced around, trying to appear nonchalant about her appraisal of the workspace. Machines were all around, cleaning equipment, and diagnostic equipment for maintaining everything. There was music in the background, something obnoxious that sounded potentially like dubstep. He would.

"Wha'd'ya do?"

She blinked and looked back over at him, her expression hinting at confusion. "Huh?"

He waved a hand, making an annoyed face. "Sniper? Poisons? Blow shit up?"

"Oh." She paused, thinking. "Whatever I can, I guess. I'm decent with handhelds. I really prefer knives, despite the fact they're not practical."

"Oh?" He quirked a brow at her, and then motioned for her to follow him. She did so, not having anything better to do, and was led to a display case of varying pointy objects. She observed them, before nodding her head in approval. "Nice."

Her eyes lifted to the dart board he had hanging, and a quick glance around spotted a few darts poking into a piece of styrofoam on the shelf. She plucked them off, glanced at the target and threw repeatedly, not giving time between each dart. Cho's brows lifted just a fraction as each dart hit the home bullseye, save the last that was off by about an inch.

She sighed. "I'm rusty."

"Still ain't bad," He offered. She nodded and looked over at him, then blinked at the person approaching behind them. Tenken smiled at her, and she scowled, folding her arms across her chest.

Cho blinked and looked behind him. "Oh, hey, Sou."

Misao paused. "Wait, Sou?"

Cho looked over at her. "You haven't been introduced? He's Soujiro."

"He's the Tenken," Misao stated pointedly through gritted teeth.

Soujiro smiled, eyes crinkled at the corners. "I am both."

"Ah. So you're Shishio's right hand man and his best operative. Go figure. Next you'll tell me he's your dad." She was going to kill him. She did not know how yet, but it would be bloody, embarrassing, and involve stringing his intestines up like Christmas lights.

"He's not," The young man replied cheerfully. "But speaking of Shishio-san, he has given orders regarding your situation. You will be working with me."

'Oh god, why?'

It took Misao a week of orientation before she was summoned for something beyond training and evaluation. She had had long days to show what her strengths and weaknesses were. She had been assessed, tested, and tried. More than once had she slugged someone for angering her, and she was certain they were still evaluating whether or not her temper was a pro or a con.

Soujiro had been around for a good chunk of it, but mostly just to oversee the work. He would come and go, and always she never saw him enter or leave. He would just be there. She was starting to think Shishio had done some secret experiment on him that allowed teleportation.

Whenever she was not required to be there, she was in her suite, alone, brooding. She had only been allowed limit access to the information the Ten Swords had on Yukishiro, and she suspected because they expected her to do rash things if she had enough to go with.

They were probably right.

She made a noise of exasperation, stepping into one of the conference rooms she had seen upon her initial tour. Mission information was distributed here, roles were assigned, and she had to wonder if this meant they were going to put her on the field.

Hopefully they would give her a rocket launcher and point her at Enishi.

Soujiro stood, politely pulling a chair out for her. She glared at him and made a point of yanking out the next chair down and sitting in it. She would not be subjected to chivalry. That crap was for pansies. He sighed, still smiling, and took seat as well.

Kamatari was there, too. Misao stared at her. Rumor had let slip that the woman had once been a man. She was squinting, trying to see it. She wondered if plastic surgery had been involved.

Houji stepped in, taking a stance in front of them and began to explain the situation. It was simple, meeting an informant for an information exchange. It was so routine, in fact, that the only reason the briefing had taken place was to better fill Misao in. Her job was going to be a shadow, blend in and make sure no one realized they or the informant were there.

She was not surprised they were starting her off small. She had to prove her worth. Her blood boiled with the idea of getting closer to Enishi, but this would have to do.

Kaoru's week had been much similar. The setting was different, but her orientation was fairly parallel. Now she was being thrown into her new job of being a glorified arm decoration as she walked with Enishi into the restaurant. The blue dress flattered her figure nicely, showing off her back and arms. It gave her the ability to move if needed, but also made her appear fairly harmless. The way she walked concealed the smooth metal pressed to her inside thigh.

Enishi's white suit was lined with blue that matched Kaoru's dress, and the two men that followed were the more obvious muscle the man had with him for the evening. The meeting was of business origins with another big leader, and while Enishi had not said who, she had her suspicions. There were many large powers that Enishi interacted with, and she was not surprised when she saw the drawn face of Takeda Kanryu, drug dealer extraordinaire. She had never met him in person, but she had seen pictures. She knew more about him than any of the other big names. He was sloppier than the other two, and Kaoru suspected he would likely meet his death well before anyone else in this game.

Good riddance, too.

The men exchanged pleasantries, and Kaoru was seated. She made a point of listening in on the conversation, but kept aloof and alert to her surroundings. Too much would draw attention to herself, so she had to carefully keep her mannerisms in check, which was trialing. All this acting and layers thereof was going to be a pain.

Midway through the dinner, she got the sneaking suspicion someone was watching her, but even after a careful assessment of their surroundings she could see no one. The two parties were the only ones in the restaurant, and besides them just the employees who served them. But, still, she could not shake that nagging feeling, and it was there even as they left for the evening.

As the door to Enishi's car was opened for her, she took one last glance around before tucking herself in. She was getting parnaoid.

From his place on the rooftop, Battousai watched the car drive off, pocketing away his scope and blending back into the shadows. He had been right.

A smile touched his lips. This would definitely work in his favor.

-Phoe-chan