Whew! On a roll! No school visits for another week, so I'll try to advance the story as much as possible. Again, a big thank you to all my reviewers!

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"At night, quietly

A worm in the moonlight

Digs into a chesnut."

Matsuo Basho

Edo, Chapter 7B

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By the time Yohji had gotten himself on the road to Takatori's, it was late afternoon. He didn't arrive at Reiji's holdings until nearly one in the morning. He crept stealthily over the foreboding-looking heavy wooden walls and into the yard. Weaving through the shadows, he crept up to the back door and knocked once. The servant who answered the door looked quite sleepily rumpled and thoroughly annoyed, but he made no remark and simply showed Yohji inside.

He was shown to a cold, dimly lit room with nothing in it save a small lantern and he sank tiredly to the tatami while the servant went off in search of his master. It had been a long, tiring journey, made even longer by the fact that this was Yohji's second night of no sleep. Last night had been spent disposing of the two rather large and heavy bodies he had dispatched, and the duration of his time since then had been spent riding hard from place to place. He wanted nothing more than to curl up on the floor right here and sleep.

It was not long before he was summoned to see Takatori. When he arrived at Takatori's private rooms, he was received with a grave, and somewhat annoyed face.

"I hope you aren't bringing me bad news." Takatori said darkly. Yohji's smile was grim.

" 'Fraid so." he replied. Takatori remained silent before him, simply waiting. He did not invite Yohji to sit, or have tea, or sake, and this put Yohji in a slight unease. He wore his night yuukata, and hadn't bothered with his haori, telling Yohji that he'd hurried from bed. His hair was wild-looking and unkempt, and one of his side-burns stuck out quite a distance from his face while the other was flat against his cheek. If the situation was no so serious, Yohji might have allowed himself to be amused. Not that he looked much better in his three-day old clothing.

He cleared his throat in the silence and decided the direct approach was the best. "It seems that a survivor has been discovered from the attack on the village, although he's badly wounded." Yohji had almost used the word 'massacre' instead of 'attack'. That would not have gone over very well. He was quite surprised when Takatori's expression eased suddenly into one of grumpy relief.

"Is that all? Gods man, you had me all worked up, coming here in the dead of night. Sit down, sit down. You could have waited until morning for this." he grumped, waving a hand carelessly at the empty seat before him. He bellowed loudly for a servant to bring tea. Yohji sat, silently releasing a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Yes sir, but I felt it was urgent. You see, I overheard about this from two of your lower men. Sir, they were discussing it openly in a public izakaya, and they even used your name freely in the discussion. Fortunately, I was the only one near enough to hear." Yohji pressed on, sinking onto the satin zabuton Reiji indicated gratefully. Gods, he hated calling Takatori 'sir', but sometimes it had to be done. Takatori's frown deepened again at this bit of news.

"Bloody idiots. I hope you did away with them." he grumbled. A servant entered with a tray bearing two cups of tea and a small pot. She was young and looked rather nervous. Takatori gave her a whack on the rump as she departed and she squeaked, jumping nearly a mile high. " A little faster next time." he grumbled. The poor girl nodded quickly and excused herself. Beneath the table, Yohji's fist clenched tightly as his other hand served tea to Takatori and then himself. Bloody fucking bastard, he thought darkly. But he turned his mind to the conversation at hand instead.

"They were dead before I arrived to do just that." Yohji replied soberly. "Right in the alley. Apparently, Kritiker is guarding this guy. I can't imagine what they want with him." If Yohji thought that final bit of news was going to ruffle Takatori, he was quite surprised. The man just snorted.

"Saved us both a headache then. It's no surprise they're all over him. That bloody clan was loyal to that bastard of an emperor. Probably think like they're going to be getting some kind of allegiance from the damn ninja. Probably think they owe him too. In any case, I don't give a shit why. To be safe, however, I'll have him eliminated. No sense in having a thorn in my backside." he grumbled, with the enthusiasm of a man who'd been woken in the middle of the night for no good reason. Yohji didn't know if he wanted to laugh or be disgusted. A little of both he supposed. He wondered, briefly, how Takatori had made it as far as he had. He decided as he recalled the insults the man had just spewed that it was rather unlucky that he had managed to make it this far.

He pressed on carefully, not really wanting to ask his next question, but having to out of duty. His next course of action depended on the answer. No matter what Manx said, Yohji was not going to kill Ken or Ran. Not without good reason. Kritiker could find themselves another double agent. He drew the line at committing the very crimes for Takatori that Kritiker was trying to prevent.

"Do you want me to take care of it?" He was proud of how casual he sounded. As if he were bored. Takatori snorted again.

"Don't be ridiculous. You don't need to be dirtying your hands doing menial work like that. I didn't hire you to be an assassin. And if Kritiker caught you, you could kiss your ass goodbye. I thought you had more sense than that Yohji." he growled. Yohji raised an eyebrow, relief allowing his casual nature to take complete control once more.

"Sorry. Figured since I was supposed to be with Kritiker it might be easier for me to do." he replied easily, sipping his tea gratefully. Takatori shook his head.

"Maybe, but it's too much of a risk. Don't worry about it anymore; I'll take care of it. Wouldn't want you to lose your head over something as stupid as that." he grumbled. Yohji chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"What will you do then?" he asked, amusement lacing his tone. Takatori shrugged.

"I'll send out more capable men to take care of it. You said he was badly injured. It shouldn't be too difficult." he replied, airily waving his hand about as if there were an annoying fly before him that he were shooing. Yohji nodded in approval and smiled again into his tea.

"Terribly sorry to be shocking you for nothing. I hope I didn't interrupt anything too serious." he quipped. Takatori grinned. As a matter of fact you did, you damn devil, and I'm almost tempted to kick you out and make you find an inn to rest your sorry carcass in for the night." he growled, although without malice. Yohji's smile widened even as he fought to keep from telling Takatori that he'd much rather stay at an inn than beneath the same roof as the man.

" Well, it would serve me right I suppose." he replied casually. Takatori shook his head in annoyance.

"No, no. You were only doing your job, I can't hold that against you, as much as I'd like to. But now that the 'crisis' has past, I'm going back to bed. Stay in any room you want. But make sure you aren't found tomorrow morning. It was bad enough coming to my house in the dead of night…" he trailed off. Yohji nodded.

" Wouldn't dream of it. Night Takatori."

"Hmph. Goodnight yourself." and with that, Takatori was gone. Yohji heaved a sigh and forced himself up and out of the room. He located the room closest to the back door and settled in the darkness on cold tatami for a night of no sleeping while pretending to be asleep. He tried to reassure himself with the fact that things could have been worse. Somehow though, laying there in the dark with the disturbing sounds of Takatori's night-recreation echoing throughout the house, Yohji couldn't take comfort in that thought. He hoped it wasn't that poor little maid in Takatori's bed. The thought made his blood boil.

Suddenly, he was assaulted by the memory of Ran, on one knee, his sword hilt in hand ready to slice his Yohji's head off, and he smiled; a real smile. He felt his worry gently ebb away. Somehow, he'd forgotten about Ran in all this. Ran, who was perfectly healthy and lethally skilled, without a doubt. Yohji suspected that anyone who tried to attack Ken would be very, very sorry, and he took consolation in the thought.

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Yeah, Takatori is really, really rude to Yohji by any standards in this chapter, but especially by Japanese standards. Poor Yohji ne? And what will become of our dear Kenken? (Heh….actually, maybe we should be worrying about the lackeys sent to attack him?)

Ack. In other news, I want to apologize for a lot of the mistakes I keep finding after I post. I don't have any beta readers (Aside from HeatherR, whose praise keeps my confidence afloat…) and so can't catch everything. I'm also sorry for any inconsistencies in the story. Because of time and internet restrictions, I can only type the story as I go. Hopefully, it won't get too disjointed. Thank you to all of you, once again, who have reviewed. I say it every time, but your comments keep this fic going! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

And nukiuchi-Saitama! Wow, lucky you! There's a reason I'm leaving already. Come live in Aomori on the Tsugaru penisula and then we should talk-I WISH I lived in Saitama. I'd probably be staying for longer if I did. Are you near the Edo Mura? I wanna visit there soon. I was looking up some Ryokans in the area...

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