Chapter Thirteen:

Prices to Pay

Not bothering to hesitate in taking her own advice, "Tashira" began to run, and no one had really noticed the hakama or the bare feet beneath the kimono. They couldn't really run to catch either of them, though, since that last statement had caught them off guard. If Tashira — who was assumed to be Shinda — claimed to have always been a girl, then why had Toge said otherwise? And why was she pretending to be a man in the first place?

"Hey look! It's the fire midget!"

Turning to look in Bontenmaru's direction, she tripped over her feet and a loud crack resounded in their ears as she fell. Toge turned to go back, but she stopped him by relocating her ankle with a sharp tug, getting back up, and continuing her run toward the surrounding woods, her foot slightly askew.

Suddenly, something silvery flashed over her head, landing where she would have been had she continued to run. If Bontenmaru's comment hadn't affected her, then this certainly did. Anyone would stop if the legendary Muramasa sword Tenro were flung at them, or at least, so Yuya thought.

"There's only one other person that can use this sword effectively. Care to try?"

She was shaking. Actually shaking at the prospect of touching Tenro. She even had her left hand outstretched to grab it.

"It was my dying wish, wasn't it? The one I didn't get to fulfill. Is Kyo-dono actually soft enough to acquiesce to a woman's request? Or are you just trying to clear your conscience?"

"As if he has one…" Yuya muttered.

"Or should I just grab this, be thankful, and use it?" She asked, left hand closing around Tenro's hilt.

Toge looked confused, "Why aren't you forgetting everything? You always forget…"

"And what do you know about my forgetting? Hm? What do you know?"

"Every time he's mentioned," Toge said, jerking a thumb in Kyo's direction, "you forget everything from before Sekigahara."

"Only if I look at him."

"I mentioned his name yesterday and you passed out!" He argued.

She waved it aside, "It startled me and I had a slight memory lapse; but not related to my issue. Now, how did you know about it?"

"I heard some stuff back at camp before I met back up with you. By the way, who's Ho…"

There was a clang of metal and Toge looked up to see his teacher standing straight up with the sword in her right hand and held behind her, protecting her back from an oddly-dressed man who had tried a horizontal hit, resulting in a clean-cut bodily separation.

"We'll continue this later, Toge," she said before turning her attention to the would-be assassin, "not very good, are you? Could have at least surprised me. If I'm gonna hate the Mibu, give me more than enough reason to do so."

Yuya blinked. The attitude was the same; however, it was difficult for her to match the faces of the male Shinda and the female Suzaku. Looking closer, all the qualities were still there, but the face… something about the face was wrong. Maybe she was seeing things, or maybe she was just plain wrong, but she didn't think this 'Suzaku' woman was the same as the Shinda she'd met.

Even the fighting style was different. Shinda — from what Yuya had seen, even if it had been only once — liked to use his body as a weapon in itself. Punches, kicks, and Yuya was sure he bit and clawed, too. The complete opposite could be said about Suzaku. For one, she'd grabbed Tenro with her left hand before transferring it over to her right hand, which struck Yuya as just plain odd to begin with. Plus, at the first sensing of an approaching enemy, she'd immediately reached for Tenro. Though Kyo had implied that only he and Suzaku could use it, Suzaku's movements were jerky, uncertain, and she seemed afraid to inflict pain, despite her earlier words.

Her diagnostics must have been plainly written on her face, for Akira stepped forward, still holding his chin, "That's not her."

"Then who is it?"

"Probably some village girl. Suzaku has four unique talents: she can wield Tenro, despite its length and her… lack of, well, height…"

"I heard that!" she called out as another Mibu assassin joined in the fray.

"…another talent is the way she can move her body in combat where the only weapon she has is herself. Something that was apparent in Shinda and not so here," he continued as though she hadn't said anything, "third, her ability to get along with Kyo is remarkable. She is probably the only one he can't every truly defeat. In combat, yes; but mentally, she wins it all."

Yuya nodded, trying to piece this together in a way she could understand it, "And the fourth talent? Something dealing with poor village girls, I assume?"

He smiled, "Her true strength — loathe as she may be to admit it — lies in her wards, or written spells. Very similar to ofuda. For example, she can change her gender with them, summon fire, or even use others as puppets, as she's doing now. the voice is hers, the knowledge is hers, but this girl isn't used to moving in this manner, so her flexibility is limited."

"Where's the ofuda, then? And why use the girl in the first place?"

"I can see Kyo-dono this way. I can look at him and still remember what happened before Sekigahara." Suzaku said as she stepped forth from the two fallen Mibu assassins, tossing Tenro at Kyo's feet.

"And you don't wanna get caught just yet, do you?"

She smiled, moving a piece of re-dyed black hair behind her ears, "That, too. And Bon?"

"Hm?"

"Using Ho-kun against me was cheating. You'll pay for that later."

He grimaced, "Had to stop you somehow."

"Made me dislocate an ankle that isn't mine." She grumbled, checking to make sure it hadn't gotten out of place again.

"Shoulda just used your own body, then," he said as she glared at him, "just saying."

"You. Quiet. You will pay."

He shrugged, "We'll see."

She smirked, "Indeed we will. Just remembered that that 'fire midget' is mine. I want him in one piece."

Before Bontenmaru could say anything more on that subject, the girl collapsed, an ofuda appearing above her and burning quickly. Toge had disappeared; presumably back into the woods where the real Suzaku may have been.

"Bon, grab her. We're leaving for Aokigahara." Kyo half barked as he reclaimed Tenro.

Bontenmaru quirked an eyebrow, "You saw the ofuda; it's not her."

"When has she ever used just one? Use your head." Akira taunted as he began following Kyo.

Bristling, Bontenmaru challenged, "You didn't know it was her either! Get back here, Punk!"

"Hate to tell you," Sasuke began, hands shoved deeply into his pockets, "but she's crawlin' away."

Turning around quickly, he saw that Sasuke was right. She'd gone a few feet already and, had he continued to argue with Akira, she would surely have made it back to the woods.

Making his way toward her, he had to smile at her failed plan, through which only Kyo could have seen. She'd dressed as a village girl and then claimed to be possessing said girl. This way they'd have left her body and she would have been free to do whatever.

But a question remained in Bontenmaru's mind:

Suzaku herself had said — or at least heavily implied — that Kyo was the reason she forgot everything before Sekigahara, yet she'd looked right at him and identified him as the reason for the memory loss, which meant that something fishy was going on. Suzaku never lied intentionally, so perhaps the information she'd been given was a lie. Whoever told her that Kyo was the reason for her memory loss had lied to her in hopes of keeping her away from him. And if she avoided Kyo, then she had to avoid the Four Emperors, and thus ultimately keeping her away from…

Suzaku would kill. It would give her even more reason to hate whomever had told her this, most likely the Mibu, but either way, the woman over his shoulder was going to start making limbs fly.

Starting with her own.