Warnings: language, strong violence, mature concept
Firefly Effect
Hurricane
Amaya tried to silently slide the door closed so as not to alert any of her family members that she had returned home. She wanted to be by herself to brood over the loss of Yashamaru. She thought she had cried all the tears she had, but felt more sting the corners of her eyes. There was not a chance in hell he would come back alive, not a chance in hell that she would ever see him again.
Despite her bold words on the bank of the Abekawa, Amaya didn't have the slightest inkling of how to stop the Iga and Kouga's impending war.
"Amaya-chan?" her mother's voice called from a more inner room of their chambers. "Is that you?"
Amaya blinked back whatever tears threatened to spill from her eyes and composed herself as best she could before answering. "Yes!"
"Ah, good." This time the voice was much closer, and the fusuma just down the hall from Amaya opened. Akane stepped out, a small pot in her hands. "Can you take this to Oeyo-san for me? Lord Kunichiyo seems to be sick again."
Amaya just barely refrained from letting her shoulders slump and took the pot from her mother. "Of course."
"Thank you, Amaya-chan," Akane said brightly before returning to where ever she had emerged from.
Amaya sighed and turned in the direction of the Edo women's chambers.
As Amaya drew close to Oeyo's door, she could hear excited voices within. Not wanting to interrupt, she waited patiently outside the door for the conversation to cease, but she couldn't help overhearing. Her eyes widened when she realized what the women were discussing.
"Kunichiyo is sure to be named heir," a high pitched voice chortled, "with the Kouga representing him. How could he lose? Have you seen the pretty faces of the Iga clan? Takechiyo doesn't have chance!"
"You shouldn't be so overly optimistic so soon," a serpentine voice responded, hint of sarcasm in the tone. The chuckle that followed gave away that the speaker didn't really believe the adage. "Though I do like our odds." Amaya wrinkled her nose, thinking she heard the deep inhale of someone smoking.
The first speaker made a noise of agreement.
Amaya was startled when the screen was pulled back and she found herself staring into the irritated eyes of one of Oeyo's minions. "What do we have hear?" The voice was like nails on a chalkboard and Amaya flinched away. "An eaves dropper?"
Amaya shook her head the negative. "Forgive me," she stammered. "I was just here to deliver Lord Kunichiyo's medicine to Oeyo-sama from Akane-san." She offered the pot out to the woman glaring down at her without meeting her eyes.
The ceramic container was ripped from her hands. Amaya peered up to see it placed in the slightly wrinkled hands of another.
"Is Akane-san sure this will work?" Oeyo's low pitched voice sneered. "Lord Kunichiyo's cough has not gotten any better."
"I'm sure it just takes a little time for effects of the medicine to show, Oeyo-sama," Amaya explained while nodding her head fervently. "It will most definitely work."
Oeyo snorted. "It better, or I'll get that whore mother of yours tossed out of this castle."
Amaya winced. She hadn't realized she had been recognized, nor did she appreciate the insult to both her and her mother. She bit her lip to refrain from reacting and remained bowed over, not looking at either woman's face.
She heard the two women whisper between each other, then the high pitched snigger of the woman who had opened the door, followed by Oeyo's barked command of "You may go now."
Amaya bent a little further at the waist in a respectful bow. "Goodnight, ladies."
She hadn't expected a response and turned to head back to her family's chambers, an idea having been sparked in her mind at the mention of Kunichiyo's illness. She chewed her lip and mulled over the risks of the scheme she envisioned, weighing checks and balances the entire way back to her bedroom. She felt the nausea of conflicting emotions boiling in her stomach as she untied and her obi and slipped out of her kimono for bed. The sore on the right corner of her mouth was reopened because of the abuse she was yet again putting her lower lip through. She pulled her blanket up to her chin and squinted her eyes shut. In the morning she would put the plan into motion. The matter would be settled by nightfall tomorrow.
Amaya hugged her pillow tightly and buried her face into its fabric. The issue of heir to be would be solved much faster than anyone in Sunpu Castle could have guessed.
Amaya woke when the first sunbeams peaked through the window and poured with less intensity through the thin screens of the walls. The muggy heat from the day before had dissapated leaving crisp warmth in its wake. It was a beautiful day, Amaya noted with a hint of sadness, and she was going to tarnish it.
Her mother and Jiro-san never woke before noon, Jiro because neither did Shogun Ieyasu and so he would not have to see him before then; her mother because as an apothecary she could easily choose her own hours for making medicines, allowing Amaya plenty of time to roam her mother's store of herbs and plants for the perfect poison.
Her first thought was her mother's belladonna, because her mother would never notice a few berries missing from it, but on second thought, the violent convulsions and hallucinations would be a tell tale sign of poison. The sudden death that yew berries caused would be no better. She scrunched up her brow. Last night the plan had seemed full proof, even if it had made her stomach churn.
She continued to scower the shelves. Mistletoe berries had too potent a scent that would give away their presence before they were injested, not only failing in purpose but would also get her executed. Water hemlock was another causer of tell tale convulsions, and poison hemlock could not be reduced to a liquid state. The subtle oak poison would be perfect, but Amaya didn't have weeks to wait for the boy to die. She needed something quick and natural looking or completely unexplainable. If only Takumi had not been out of rosary peas; they would have been perfect.
After fourty minutes of searching, she found a tightly sealed jar of jasmine berries, and her eyes widened in morbid joy. 'Fatal' and 'jasmine berries' were almost synonymous. They would definitely kill a boy of Kunichiyo's size in less than a day, but not without violent fits of nausea and vomitting. It would look like a sudden, lethal crop up of the flu, especially after the chest cold the boy had been suffering from.
Amaya dumped four berries into a small bowl and carried it to her mother's work table. The recipe for Kunichiyo's cough medicine was on the top of her mother's files. It was a simple enough concoction to make, much to Amaya's relief, and all she had to do was mash the berries and add them to the mix. The potent scents of the medicine's other ingrediants easily covered the mild scent of the jasmine berries and the pale red juice disappeared in the otherwise dark blue substance.
Amaya poured her poison from the mixing bowl into a similar pot to the one she had carried Kunichiyo's medicine in the day before, noting absently the white flower design that decorated it. How ironic. [1
She exhaled, put the lid on the pot, and carried it back to her room, where she stashed it carefully in the tangle of unkept blankets. Once the pot was safely tucked away, she returned to her mother's store room to tidy up, making sure to leave everything exactly as she had found it. It wasn't that she was not allowed in her mother's work room. Far from it, as she was teaching Amaya the craft of being an apothecary, but it would rouse considerable suspicion if Amaya's mother found out she was working alone in the room at early hours of the morning.
With the deadly cocktail made and the work room spotless, Amaya felt the adrenaline that had come with fear of getting caught crumble out from beneath her to leave her weak and worried about what she was about to do. She glared at the pile of blankets under which her poison was conceled.
That poison wasn't going to kill a monster or a barbarian or a tyrant; it was going to kill a boy, a child bearly out of his mother's arms. Amaya felt tears at the corners of her eyes and she blinked them back furiously. The thought of killing such a youth made her nauseous. She clutched her ankles tightly, until her knuckles ached and she was sure bruises were forming on the skin. She toar her gaze from where the pot was. As bile rose in her throat, she felt the urge to snatch up the jar and hurl it against the ground, shattering it and splattering its lethal cotents onto the ground, nullifying them.
Her guilty conscience pointed out that she was only doing this for Yashamaru; she was taking one life to save one life, and that she didn't really care about the Iga and Kouga ninja clans or the innocent lives they would take. With her entire strength she tried to fight off that awful thought. She was not going to kill this child for a such a selfish reason as to keep one man alive. No, she was going to kill Kunichiyo to save dozens of lives. Killing the boy heir would mean an abrupt end to the violence between the Iga and Kouga, and thus save any lives that might be caught in crossfire as well, she tried to justify the action.
The next guilt ridden self accusation was more painful than the first. If it was really for the good of so many lives, why not slip in and slit the boy's throat, kill him quickly and likely be caught. If it was such a noble cause, taking the life of this child, why go through the self preservation of poison so she wouldn't get caught?
Amaya shook her head, tears brimming from her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. She was completely unable to stop them. With every second thought, she wanted more and more to climb to her feet and destroy the toxic liquid stashed amongst her sleeping covers. She sobbed. It was true though: Kunichiyo would die neither quickly nor painlessly because Amaya had taken such pains to not be caught. He would suffer violent nausea and vomitting for most of the day before he died, all to look like an actual illness, all so that the fingers of accusation would never be pointed at Amaya.
Amaya chewed her lip, suddenly debating making a new poison, one that would clearly appear such, but would immediately kill the child heir and not allow him to suffer. The idea germinated in her head for several minutes, but she was startled out of her thoughts when someone slid open the door of her room.
"Good, you're awake already," were Amaya's mother's first words upon entering. "I'm spending the day with Shogun Ieyasu. We're trying an aromatherapy." She held up a wire mesh container of dried herbs. "Would you be a dear and watch the shop for me? Just write down who comes and what they think they need for me, okay?"
"Sure," Amaya answered. She was momentarily afraid she had responded too quickly.
Her mother beamed. "Thank you so much, Amaya-chan." She bent and kissed her daughter's cheek before turning to leave.
Amaya waited until she couldn't hear her mother's footsteps even if she strained her ears before she removed the little pot from its hiding place. She inhaled deeply and stared at the fateful little object that she cradled in her hands. It was too late to turn back now, the impulsive part of her reasoned, having been silent up until now. Amaya took another deep breath and started toward Oeyo's rooms.
She rapped softly on the wooden support beam between the paper panels of Oeyo's walls. The screen was flung open so abruptly and with such force that Amaya nearly dropped the clay pot. "What the hell do you want so damn early?" Oeyo demanded.
Amaya cowered back from her and started to sputter an apology.
"Goddammit, girl, look at me when you talk! I can't understand you!"
Amaya's head snapped up. She must have been white as a sheet, and she could feel roiling nausea churning in her stomach. Her hands had started tremble and her subconscious was telling her to drop the pot now and be done with everything.
"Well," Oeyo snapped when Amaya just stared at her with large, frightened eyes, "What is it?"
"Forgive me, Oeyo-sama." Amaya just barely refrained from ducking her head down to stare at her toes. "I brought Kunichiyo-san's morning medicine." She offered the little pot, deciding to bow as she handed it to the older woman.
"He hadn't been taking medicine in the mornings before," Oeyo crooned quizzically as she took the jar.
Amaya was glad she had bowed her head, because her eyes widened in horrified shock and her face must have paled another two shades lighter. She hadn't even thought of this, was completely unprepared to spit out a convincing lie.
Oeyo's arrogance saved her. "I suppose it's for the better, though. He has been getting worse."
Amaya peered up at Oeyo through her bangs. There wasn't a hint of suspicion in the woman's body language, much to Amaya's relief.
"You may go now," Oeyo informed her absently with a dismissing hand gesture.
It was a struggle for Amaya to turn and walk away in a seemingly calm manner. All parts of her wanted to turn tale and scurry off to the safety of her tower and wallow there, and she was sorely disappointed when she realized that her tower wasn't an option at all because she had to watch her mother's shop.
Amaya wasn't prepared for the stomach upset that attacked her as soon as she reached the safety of her family's chambers. She dropped onto her knees with a thud that had she not been destracted by her body's fits of tremors, she would have worried that someone might have heard, and she felt the bruising sting of the hard wood floor surface through the mats. It started as a tingle in her throat that grew in intensity until it was an undeniable burn and the pains in her middle made her want to collapse onto her futon, yet she couldn't find the energy to will her body to do anything more than rock back and forth. She groaned quietly and leaned forward so far that her forehead rested on the tatami. She barely managed to lift herself upright as she started to wretch painfully and her stomach heaved, making it hard to breath. She hadn't eaten much in the last several days, but that only made the fits of vomitting more painful.
Amaya was dizzy by the time the nausea subsided; the last thing she remembered thinking as she dragged herself on her trembling hands and knees toward her futon was that it was only fitting that her stress abuse her like this. Then she collapsed on her side, completely unconscious onto the thin mattress, arms stretched out in front of her, unable to drag the blankets up over shoulders.
The sun was setting when frantic shouting roused Amaya out of her sleep. Slightly dazed, she hoisted herself upright, startled when the yelling continued, proving not to be some figment of her nightmares. Still groggy, she rubbed her eyes. The hollering was suddenly accopanied by the thump of a fist on the wood supports. Amaya's nose wrinkled as with her regained awareness came the scent of stale vomit, reminding her of the day's activities.
"Dammit! Akane, you stupid slut, get out here!"
Amaya recognized the angry snarling as Oeyo's and suddenly she scrambled to her feet to meet the woman.
"Yes, Oeyo-sama?" Amaya asked politely bowing and trying desperatedly to hide any signs of trepidation.
Oeyo turned up her nose when she saw the state Amaya was in and sniffed distainfully. "Well don't you look the whore's daughter," she stated, gesturing absently at Amaya's rumpled kimono and mussed hair. "Where the hell is Akane?"
Amaya worried her lip between her teeth. "She's with Ieyasu-sama for the day. They're trying an aroma therapy," Amaya bit out.
Oeyo snorted. "I suppose she won't be back until late?"
Amaya shook her head.
Oeyo sighed exaggeratedly and rolled her eyes. "Well, fetch her. Lord Kunichiyo's illness has grown severely worse, and I need more of that medicine." She didn't sound worried; she sounded irritated, which made Amaya frown.
"I can make some more for you, Oeyo-sama," Amaya gritted out as politely as she could. "It'll just be a moment."
Oeyo scowled. "Make it quick."
"Of course." Amaya submissively ducked back into her mother's work room and put together the necessary ingrediants for Kunichiyo's medicine. Having already made the concoction earlier that morning, it was easy for Amaya to quickly replicate it. She capped the pot and started back out into the hall to give it to Oeyo, but when she was almost to the door she stopped, turned on her heel and returned to the work room, taking the jar of jasmine berries down from the shelf on her way to the table. She dumped several into the bowl on the table without counting and mashed them hurriedly before adding the bowl's contents into the little pot. She set her jaw and steeled herself to give the pot to Oeyo looking completely confident.
"Here you go," Oeyo-sama. She offered the jar to the glaring woman with a fake bright smile. "I hope Lord Kunichiyo feels better." Her insides were starting to churn again, and she hoped desperatly that her act wasn't unbelievably cheery.
Oeyo scoffed and turned around, turning briefly to look over her shoulder. "If only your mother knew her place as well as you do."
Amaya just clutched her hands together in front of her and bowed again to hide the way her mouth was contorting in a scowl.
She heard a second set of footsteps as Oeyo walked away and another of the noblewoman's trademark snorts. "There you are. Have fun with Shogun Ieyasu, Akane?" Oeyo sneered.
Amaya didn't here if her mother answered; she had to rush back into the work room and stash the materials she had used to mix the jasmine berries. She didn't have time to wash them. She heard her mother slide open the door just as she shoved the bowl and pestle behind a row of jars.
"Amaya-chan, what was Oeyo doing here?" Akane's brow furrowed with the question.
Amaya whipped around. "Oh! Lord Kunichiyo has been feeling worse. She wanted some more medicine for him. You don't have to worry about it, though. I found your recipe and made some up for her."
Akane reached out and patted her daughter's cheek. "How good of you." She frowned. "You're extremely pale and you feel clammy. Are you alright?"
Amaya slipped out of her mother's reach. "I'm fine. I'm a little tired, but I'm fine."
Akane frowned, but let her daughter go. "Alright." She patted her head. "Why don't you go to bed? It's starting to get late anyway."
Amaya managed a weak smile with her lips pressed together and nodded. "I think I will." Though first she had to clean up the aging puddle of regurgitated food without being seen, Amaya was prefectly content to go back to sleep.
xxx
News of Lord Kunichiyo's sudden death spread not only through Castle Sunpu, but the entire surrounding areas within the day, and right on the heels of that news was rumor that he was poisoned. No one would ever think to trace the poisoning back to the apothecaries that made the child heir's medicine; they were much too busy pointing fingers at every chef and servant to ever touch Kunichiyo's food.
xxx
Manjidani entered a state of pandemonium the minute word of Lord Kunichiyo's death reached the ninja stronghold. As with every place, whispers of poisoning followed, but the Kouga added a new theory to the rumor: an Iga conspiracy.
"Those cowardly sons of bitches!" Kasumi Gyoubu snarled and flung his arm out as if to pound his fist against the wall, but checked the gesture for fear of putting his hand through the intriciately painted paneling. "You know they must have done this!" The bulky ninja was seething where he stood. He had previously been leaning against the wall, but now he was standing upright, leaning forward a little to add force to his words.
Muroga Hyouma calmly turned blind eyes on the massive angry man. "What makes you think that, Gyoubu?" The slight hint of disbelief tainting the question was hard to miss.
"Because they're cowards! They didn't want to fight so they thought they could just settle it like this!"
No one in the room could deny the appeal of a such a insulting accusation against the Iga clan, but they did have to recognize that it was extremely unlikely.
"I would love to agree with you," Kisaragi Saemon offered, "But I don't think our Iga counterparts are any less eager for a fight than we are, wouldn't you say, Gennosuke-sama?"
Kouga Gennosuke had been pensively silent through the entire conversation. Actually, any remotely observant person could note that he had been pensively silent since word that the No Hostilities Pact had been absolved had arrived. He had only grown quieter and more thoughtful since news of child heir Kunichiyo's death and pontential murder had reached them. "I have to agree. Even if the Iga are responsible, I highly doubt they're intention was to finish this without loss of life."
"They probably just wanted to piss us off," Kazamachi Shogen snapped with an irritated snort and sipped from his small cup of tea. The spider man presented an odd picture sitting at the low table, long legs bent awkwardly to fit beneath it and abnormally long arms bowed so that he could hold his tea cup without guaging out Kagerou's eye with his elbow. The smaller woman, for her part, had been slowly inching out of range of the limb since conversation had begun.
"Mhmm," Saemon nodded, leaning back a little, "That does seem more pheasable."
"Well," his sister Okoi snarled from beside him, thrusting her right fist into her left palm with enough force that the resounding smack was probably heard two rooms over, "We're pissed. They got that right!" The kunoichi whirled to face Gennosuke. "What does the death of Kunichiyo mean to the Kouga? How does this settle of who the Shogunate favors?" she demanded.
Gennosuke crossed his arms over his chest and pondered the problem in silence. He had been waiting for one of his fellows to bring up that certain issue. It wasn't really as though any of them cared that Lord Kunichiyo was dead at all. Luckily a suggestion was voiced without advice from Gennosuke.
"I say we kill them all anyway," Kazamachi suggested coolly, still sipping at his tea, the cup of which seemed precariously balanced in his overly slim, lengthy fingers, "Then there will be no dispute at all as to who the Tokugawa Shogunate must favor." He didn't even bother to look at the rest of the room, just shrugged his shoulders and hulking back in an absent gesture. "I wouldn't mind taking on that bitch Yashamaru again."
Gennosuke was slightly disturbed to see the small nods of agreement make their way in a wave around the table.
"I say we go to Tsubagakure tonight," Gyoubu's booming voice carried over the growing volume of chatter that had begun as soon as Kazamachi had voiced his oppinion. "They won't be expecting us, and we can slaughter them!" He pounded his fist into his palm much in the same way Okoi had, but with significantly more force.
Saemon winced, wondering how the massive, short tempered ninja had not managed to do himself harm with such violent self abuse.
Only Hyouma had been silent through the excited talk of slaying the Iga ninjas, and cast a steady gaze through his eyelids at their leader who was sitting quietly, arms still crossed over his chest, mulling over what was to be done. Hyouma could sense how distraught the Kouga leader was, especially now that his people were so keyed up about the idea of a surprise attack on Tsubagakure.
"Gennosuke-sama," Hyouma leaned in close to his nephew in order to speak quietly with him. "You must decide what we are going to do." The excitement in the room was still steadily spiraling upwards, and no one but Kagerou, who had been staring at her leader throughout the entire course of the evening, noticed the exchange. She bit her lip, waiting hopefully for Gennosuke to annouce permission for the attack.
The newly appointed leader felt nothing but apprehension as he stood, drawing attention away from the fever pitched conversation and back to himself. He steeled himself for the inevitable reaction to his words. "There will be no surprise attack on Tsubagakure," he annouced. Five sets of eyes immediately narrowed to angry slits. "At least," he continued, maintaining confidence despite the outraged glares of his companions, "Not until I have met with Shogun Ieyasu to discuss the matter. They're may be no need for violence at all. The heir decided, the Pact can be reinstated and we can return to forming the tentative peace we had been working towards." Who was he kidding? No one in that room, with the exception of himself and maybe Hyouga, who if he desired peace it was only because his leader did, gave a damn about forging peace with the Iga.
Okoi's fist came down on the table hard enough that the pot of tea rocked precariously and her own cup wobbled off the edge, splattering its warm contents onto the tatumi as well as her bare leg. The kunoichi didn't seem to notice. "What the hell, Gennosuke? Those Iga bastards clearly don't want peace from us! Why should we even bother?" she snarled, slowly rising to her feet.
Saemon laid a firm hand on his sister's forearm, both dragging her down to a seated position and momentarily reminding her that it was her leader that she was snapping at. Okoi gritted her teeth and sat tense and silent, glaring at the table.
"She's not so far off the mark, Gennosuke-sama," Saemon pointed out calmly, hand still keeping steady pressure on Okoi's arm. "The Iga have made a move against us, indirect move though it may be. We don't know if their next move will be so indirect. It could be one of us poisoned next."
"Those are rumors," Gennosuke countered. "I always gave you more credit than to listen to women's gossip, Saemon," he snapped the insult convincingly even though he didn't believe it. The room fell silent, which was exactly the effect the words were meant to have. He needed to reign in his fellows before his authority was completely ignored. "The matter is settled. Because we do not act on unproven rumors, we hold off attacking the Iga until after we know for certain what is going on in Sunpu. Am I understood?"
No one hid their blatant outrage at Gennosuke's decision, for even as they nodded their heads in agreement, they glared at him with cold eyes then stalked out of the room, leaving only Hyouga and Gennosuke at the low table. Gennosuke immediately dropped onto his zabuton once they were all gone. "They're angry," he stated.
"Could you really expect them to react any differently?" Hyouga asked, quirking an eyebrow up at his young nephew.
Gennosuke sighed and shook his head the negative.
Gyoubu let out his barely restrained fury as soon as they were out of earshot from Gennosuke's compound by thrusting his fist into a concrete wall, causing the stone to tremble a little and Saemon to lay a hand on his shoulder much the same way he had Okoi, though he knew that if Gyoubu was really intent on destroying the wall in a fit of rage there was very little he could do about it. "Why does it matter if the Iga killed Kunichiyo or not? We should kill the Iga bastards anyway for what they've done to us! The No Hostilies Pact has been absolved. We are free to kill the Iga at will, whether they have made a move against us or not." Gyoubu let out an enraged shout and thrust the other fist against the wall, not heeding Saemon's barely restraining hand. This time the stone buckled a little and a fist sized indentation formed. "Why the hell does he want that goddamn pact reinstated anyway? We are better off without it!"
"So he can sleep with that whore, Oboro," Kagerou sneered, speaking for the first time that evening. "Haven't you heard, Gyoubu?" she teased sarcastically, "Our leader is in love with an Iga."
Gyoubu grunted in response and dropped his arms to his sides.
If there was such a thing as an arachnide voice, of course, it would belong to Kazamachi. The spider man leaned lazily against the wall, head bowed slightly as if thinking. "Why should we listen to Gennosuke? Clearly his judgement is clouded by his feelings for the girl, and he cannot be trusted to lead. Furthermore, if that idiot really does intend to have the No Hostilities Pact reinstated, shouldn't we kill as many Iga as we can while we have the chance?" he suggested slyly, prehensile tongue darting out of his mouth and wetting his lips hungrily.
There was a general pause as the party mulled over Kazamachi's theory. Gennosuke's "clouded judgement" was the deciding factor, and the five Kouga agreed it was reason enough to disobey their leader.
Dusk had just fallen. All traces of bright colors were gone from the sky, leaving in their wake hues of fading purples, indigos, and blues. Gyoubu stared skyward, studying the darkening sky. "If we are going to go, we should leave now." His voice was the calmest it had been all evening, though it was still a haunting bass.
"Should we tell Jousuke?" Okoi hazarded the question with a slight cock of her head to one side.
Kazamachi laughed outright at this suggestion, throwing his head back in such a way that it should have hit the wall but for his massive hunched back. "That dumb ass? He probably wouldn't even want to go and would tell Gennosuke before we got the chance to leave."
None of their party really wanted to waste the time to seek out the lecherous rubber ninja anyway, so Kazamachi's answer met no dispute, and they set out with characteristic ninja speed to ambush the Iga stronghold of Tsubagakure.
The city was asleep, which surprised the Kouga ninjas. They had expected an extensive watch to have been posted considering that they were in a state of war. As they easily slipped over the walls of Tsubagakure, all they could conclude was that Iga had let their guard down in the event of Kunichiyo's death.
Okoi and Kagerou stayed low in the shadows. Gyoubu had long since dropped his kimono and melded effortlessly into the walls. Saemon had taken the face of the first ninja they had killed and was the only member of their party to walk in clear view of anyone who should pass. Kazamachi had been lost the minute they had entered the city, though he was doubtless scrurrying over roof tops, searching dilegently for an Iga to slay.
Okoi snatched Kagerou's sleeve and tugged her around a corner when she heard the slide of an opening shoji. "Good night, Yashamaru-dono," a coy feminine voice laughed, turning to look over her shoulder one last time at her love before pulling the shoji shut behind her.
"Are all Iga women such whores?" Kagerou hissed under her to breath to Okoi, "Meeting with their lovers before they are wed and sneaking away after dark?" she sneered bitterly. Okoi just shrugged and reached to slip out a shurikin, watching in rapt fascination as a white snake slithered out from the girl's sleeve and seemed to whisper in her ear.
The Iga woman suddenly whipped her head around to face the two women crouched in the shadows. She opened her mouth to shout an alarm, but before any sound could leave it a thickly muscled arm shot out of the wall nearest her. The large hand easily palmed the back of her skull. Gyoubu either did not notice or did not care about the tiny fangs that were buried deep into the back of his hand, and he swung his arm around, lifting the tiny girl like she was a doll and crushing her face and head into the wall. The only sound of her death was the thump when her forehead connected with stone and the sickening crunch of her skull.
Gyoubu smirked and stepped out of the wall, just then noticing the small white creature that still clung to his hand, loyally trying to avenge its master's death. "Stupid animal," Gyoubu grunted and shook his wrist forcefully to loosen up the fangs so he could snatch the serpent off his hand and hold it by the throat. He thought for a split second about sparing the animal, then with a shrug constricted his hand snapped the diminuative reptile's neck.
"You should be more careful," he sniggered in the direction of Okoi and Kagerou, "You could have been caught."
"Oh, shut up, Gyoubu," Okoi responded, stepping out of the shadows, Kagerou following.
Gyoubu smirked. "I see that's one for me and one for Saemon, unless he's upped his score since I saw him last, and I have no idea what that sick bastard Kazamachi is doing. May I ask how many you ladies' have killed?"
Both women glowered at him, but before they could offer any kind of smart ass remark in response, Yashamaru, who was curious as to why there was conversation outside his door so late at night opened it to look out. He saw first the three conversing Kouga ninjas, then the gruesome blood stain on the wall and the corpse of Hotarubi's snake. He was torn between heartbreak, outrage, and shock when his eyes fell on her crumpled body, growing blood pool serving as a grizzly halo around her head, matting her black hair. He couldn't find words for what he felt, and only an incoherant snarl left his mouth as he lunged at Gyoubu, the only one of three large enough to have crushed his beloved's skull. His gokujou were already unraveling from around his forearms to slice toward the hulking Kouga.
Kazamachi chose that instant to drop down from his vantage point atop the roof where had been watching with a growing smirk on his face as Gyoubu crushed the Iga girl's face and skull. "Long time no see, Yashamaru-kun," he crooned devilishly at the younger ninja, tongue lapping at his buttom lip just once before hurling a glob of phlegm at the boy. Yashamaru ducked out of its way, only to feel another smack across the side of his face with such a force that it sent him toppling over. He scrambled to get to his feet, but two more quick bullets of the gook trapped his arms to the ground, and despite desperate attempts, Yashamaru could not force his wires through the substance this time around.
Just before the spider ninja could restrain Yashamaru's legs, the threads wrapped around them lashed out slashing across Kazamachi's face and torso, causing the Kouga to howl in pain. Yashamaru didn't bother to bind him like he had before. Instead, he shot the needle like wires toward Kazamachi. They easily punctured his flesh, breaking first through his front and then protruding through his back. Nothing but sputtering gasps could escape the impaled ninja's mouth. Another half a second of struggle freed Yashamaru's hands, and another set of wires added to the first set that were shewered through Kazamachi's body, making a point to pierce through his face and throat. Blood sputtered from the ninja's mouth and dripped down his face. Yashamaru had intented to rip his gokujou straight upwards and shred the spider ninja to guarentee the Kouga died, but a shuriken stabbed into his shoulder, causing him to faulter a little. As he stumbled, he still jerked the wires and they sliced at an awkward angle, but the effect was the same. Kazamachi was definitely dead, if his the way his flayed body collapsed in fleshy strips was any indication.
"You son of a bitch!" Okoi snarled and Gyoubu started to make a lunge for the fallen ninja.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" an angry, familiar, Kouga voice snarled. Gennosuke was stalking towards them, Hyouga close behind and little to his right, dragging Saemon, who had been reduced to his given face, with one hand. The four other Kouga ninjas did not know how he had learned of their wearabouts, but they were not about to question their clearly infuritated leader. Okoi replaced her suriken on her belt, and Kagerou slipped her knife like hair pin back with the others.
"Gennosuke-sama!" a female voice squeaked. "What is going on?"
Gennosuke whipped around. A panicked Oboro and a characteristically smug Tenzen were hurrying toward them. Koshirou appeared at Oboro's left shoulder as soon as they stopped, and protectively placed himself just slightly in front her, hard eyes locked on Gennosuke. Oboro had probably been informed of the altercation by some unaccounted for witness.
"I'm sure my fellows were merely intending to talk with you about the recent issue of Lord Kunichiyo's death," he gritted out the lie, talking as much to the four guilty ninja standing at his back as to Oboro. "This," he gestured casually at Hotarubi and Kazamachi's dead bodies, "must have some kind of misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding my ass," Yashamaru snarled venomously. "They came here for blood, Oboro-sama."
Oboro's eyes widened, begging without words for Gennosuke to deny the bold accusation.
He did not. "Whatever the cause, we'll just call this an eye for an eye." Again he gestured the two fallen bodies, one Kouga, one Iga. "And we'll be leaving." It was such a struggle to behave so callously, especially when Oboro was clearly distraught. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and reassure her that everything would be alright, but he had to dump those feelings aside for the greater good of his clan, at least until he could get to Sunpu and have the No Hostilities Pact reinstated.
"Gennosuke-sama, please wait…" Oboro called pointlessly. The Kouga leader simply ignored her and gestured the other five ninjas to follow him out of Tsubagakure.
"We should follow them, Oboro-sama," Tenzen bent and whispered to his leader.
Oboro turned and glared at him with teary eyes. "We will not," she snapped forcefully.
[1 Jasmine has a white flower.
A/N: Forgive me, but the key words of last chapter's ending author's note were definitely "like that". But no worries, I still don't (and will never) have any intention of pairing Yashamaru with Amaya.
