Chapter 3: Carriages
-Kisagi Household. Evening.-
The sun turned red on the golden horizon. During this time, many families would be settling down to have dinner and share with their family their affairs of the day. This was true for most families but the Kisagi family had not a thought of food in mind. A carriage was waiting outside their house for them. The driver was busying himself loading the belongings Kiyoko and her mother packed. Diru, after much persuasion, conceded and agreed to come with them. Since that discussion, he had remained solemn with a scowl on his face.
" Please, Kiyoko-sama, step in."
The driver helped Kiyoko and Mother into the carriage, letting them settle down together. Diru came quickly to the carriage and entered, taking his own seat and not paying notice to the driver's startled presence. The wooden door to the carriage was pushed shut and the driver took his seat, taking the heavy leather reigns of the two charcoaled horses into his hands. A snap of the reigns on the horses' sides alarmed the horses' passiveness, their cries echoing the air as they lurched forward. Inside the rattling carriage, Kiyoko let her eyes stay averted from both her mother and brother. The pretty eyes watched as the horizon burned in the colors of the solar's fire. Ideas formed in her head, wondering maybe what this killer looked like. One wouldn't call this attraction of any sort, but maybe an awe. Kiyoko was a softened woman, one of dignified manners. To murder someone, to lock up your emotions to take a life...she knew it took courage or a cold will. Kiyoko played a game in her mind, one many women have often played before. She imagined this man to be strikingly handsome, mysterious and smooth in his own ways. A real charmer aside from his darker self that wishes for bloodshed. A brief frown crossed her soft cheeks, embarrassed that such a thought would occur despite it being harmless. The silly smile she had when thinking such a thought was quickly erased from existence. Aside from the fantasizing about a "dangerous" man, to be involved with one only brought dishonor and stains to the family name. No man no matter how handsome or how courageous should be thought of as desirable if he had murdered an innocent in cold blood. A man like that deserved no honor nor praise.
"Kiyoko? Hey sis, you ok?"
With a placid face and no turn of her head from the carriage window, Kiyoko laid eyes on her brother who expressed deep concern for her emotional state. Trying her best to abate her brother's uneasiness, she gave the usual sad smile. Diru always saw this smile as " I am troubled, but please do not worry for me". Prying into his sister's reasons was below Diru's morals so he sat back, returned a smile and rested himself the best he could.
-Further down the road-
Imagawa Akira lived in a rural part outside of Tokyo. He had wished to not live directly in the city of Tokyo, preferring more of the quieter life on the ocean side. Steep cliffs ran down at a slope into the crashing waters. A few miles from this water's edge, was the house of Imagawa. It was a grand sight to the eyes, beautiful architecture displaying the brilliance of original Japanese art. A road from this house led the way down and into Tokyo's main road. This long winding road was threaded through hillsides and a deep forest before it reached the industrial civilization of Tokyo. It was a long nine miles to travel whether by foot, carriage or horseback.
"It won't be long, I bet."
Halfway through this road residing in the deep, dark forest with minimal shine of sunlight, five men made up a blockade. All five were starved for money. When the turquoise eyed man presented them a bountiful pay to simply kidnap a girl, their mouths salivated like a dog's. The huskier man of th bunch, stood about six feet and weighed well over 200 pounds. A large, machete-like blade was tied to his obese side and the face he wore was of iron and stone. The run into this sort of man at night, you would be lucky to escape with your life. A smaller, skinnier man stood at this beast's side. Though skinny, he had the most gorgeous features that could even rival Akira's. His chestnut eyes were so placid yet so emotionless, one could cry when seeing them.
" Yukishiro-sama is promising us a large sum of money, Shin, so do not mess up and kill her."
The handsome faced man shot a look of complete authority. The large man nodded with his fat head in unwilling consent. The other three of the group, your average looking men, sat at the sides of the road, waiting for the carriage that should be approaching soon. A chilled wind blew through the forest, ruffling the mens' clothes and giving them the appearance of menacing demons.
" Do you really think we ca trust that man, Tomoya?"
The slender man looked back to his comrade and gave such a smooth, heartless smile that was enough to strike the coldest fear.
" I, like yourself, Shin...am a criminal. Criminals like us are able to tell through the lies of men. We are by nature defensive and always study the person before we concede and take a deal from anyone especially one like this. While talking with that man, I had kept my eyes locked into his during the whole conversation. Believe me, Shin...I can tell when a man lies right off the bat. This Yukishiro-sama...he is a kind of criminal that will always uphold his promises. If I suspected otherwise, I would have been able to tell in his eyes."
The carriage clattered its way into the thickening forest. The sound of the horses' hooves beating the ground became a nonstop annoyance. Kiyoko rested into her mother's arms, happy to feel her mother's warmth around her. Diru was laid back and nodding off to sleep. Both the women wondered how he could stand to sleep like that while the carriage bounced and rocked.
" Kiyoko, you seem to have really put your best charm forward this afternoon for Akira."
" Yes, I must be convincing, mustn't I?"
" Daughter, you do not have to marry this man just for us...I want you to be happy with a man you love from the bottom of your heart. If you do not truly love Akira, please reconsider this marriage."
Kiyoko didn't look up to her mother but instead reasted her head on her bosom, closed her eyes and let her mother hold her close. Kiyoko was more optimistic than her mother and brother. Akira was smart and loving. She knew she would come to forget his political position and love the man for who he was. He was wealthy too, which would help her and the family out greatly. Kiyoko refused to let mother become a geisha again and sell herself. Diru worked a hard job most of the time at the Akabeko restaurant but the money wasn't enough to support all three of them. Their best chance would be Kiyoko finding someone wealthy enough to marry. Akira had been a great find. She even smiled as she remembered how she met that man. It was pouring rain in the middle of fall. The streets were crowded with people rushing to get home and out of the rain. Kiyoko was just leaving a store and heading home. A man in too much of a rush pushed her into the street. She landed wrong on her ankle and sprained it. As if that wasn't bad enough, not far ahead was stampeding horses with a large carriage being drug by them. The beasts showed no relent and she had shielded herself, knowing death would be close. Then...someone grabbed her by her arm and jerked her back onto the sidewalk and out of the carriage's way just before it rolled over the spot Kiyoko had been. When she looked up, she saw a man with such handsome features and such a perfected smile. Both were soaked head to toe in the rain, but the little imperfection did not bother them as both looked into one another's eyes for the longest time. And then his creamy, masculine voice spoke..."Are you ok?" And since then, she had admiration for the man...once she learned he was the Meiji Governor named Imagawa Akira, then she strayed for a bit, but not for long. She was drawn to him but never completely in love with him like the girls she knows always describe. " To be in love, you feel so light, so fluttery. your head swims and your heart beats three times its pace. Your lungs breath deeper and harder and your whole chest aches. You feel rubbery and so weak when you see him. And your eyes cannot help but wander over his body then lock into his eyes. What a feeling it is!" Kiyoko regretted to say she never felt that kind of feeling around Akira.
"WHOA!"
The horses whinnied and stopped abruptly, the carriage coming to a screeching halt. There was some shouting and yelling. Diru had landed on the floor, but was soon awake once he heard the bone-chilling sound of human flesh being cut. The yells abated. Diru growled and grabbed the hilt of his sword. The sword he carried had been a special one. It was two wooden scabbards, one a fool scabbard to make the real sword appear wooden. He wasn't about the draw the sword though with the camouflage scabbard. Whatever was happening out there, demanded the skill of a real, metal sword.
" She's in the carriage!"
The yell of a man chilled Kiyoko and her mother. Diru hopped out of the carriage to see who exactly was out there. Once he did, a large man opened the other side of the carriage. Kiyoko shrieked like a banshee as she was plucked from her very mother's arms. Diru turned around to see just in time. He hopped onto the carriage and slashed down at the tall, obese man only for the man to catch the blade in his hand! Diru fastened his grip onto the sword and tried to cut down but this mean looking outlaw tugged the sword and slammed Diru into the ground.
" KIYOKO!"
Kiyoko had been knocked out and was slung over the man's shoulder. Four of the men ran off down the road and then into a secluded part of the forest on a trail. A single man stood in the road to be witness to Diru's suffering. Blood dripped from the corner of Diru's mouth. The last glimpse Diru ever saw was that skinny man with such passive eyes watching him with the faintest touch of a smirk. And then...blackness.
-Secluded clearing in the forest. Late Evening.-
Tomoya came back to the group of men waiting for him. the girl had been laid down with a wet rag on her head. Shin was hunched over her, taking care of her and damping another wet towel around her neck. The other three men were laughing and joking around. Shin looked up to see the small Tomoya make his entrance. Tomoya gave a nod of acknowledgement before coming and kneeling by Kiyoko's side. The back of his fingers rested on her cheek, feeling it warmer than the usual. Shin had the look of confusion and shame on his face.
" I am trying to cool her down, Tomoya...It was a bit too much for her."
" I can see that. Hmph, you know she would make a great toy for men like us. Such a beautiful woman."
The men chuckled. Tomoya now looked up to see the men at ease. A sickening, snake-like grin split his face and before Shin knew it, Tomoya had unsheathed a katana sword and brought it down with such force that Shin's obese body had been split into two slabs. Before the other three could react, Tomoya jumped in between the small ring and slashed right and then left, cutting the men in half at their waists. Blood was splattered all over the trees and surrounding grass and rocks. A fine dotted line of blood was fashioned on his face. after the twitching of the bodies dissapated, Tomoya approached the unconscious Kiyoko, staring down at her doll-like figure. Tomoya raised his sword and brought it down with the same rush of force, but stopped it only a centimeter from the collar of the kimono. Slowly, he ran the blood stained blade down the front of her, cutting slightly the silk material. After exercising his bit of fun, he sheathed the katana and gathered Kiyoko into his arms and walked further down the path. Down that way laid another smaller road where a hidden carriage with harnessed jet black steeds stomped impatiently. Tomoya nodded to the driver, entered the carriage with Kiyoko and took a seat. Across from him sat the turquoise eyed man.
" So this is the infamous Kiyoko?"
" Yes, this is the fiancee of Imagawa Akira, Yukishiro-sama."