Inari woke up with light in her eyes. The bloody sun was shining in through the window and hitting her right in the eyes. She decided that she might as well prepare for yet another days work. She got up and carefully maneuvered her way around the room being careful not to step on any of the other sleeping servants. Inari headed over to the small round mirror that they all shared. She saw a tired looking girl staring back at her in grey woolen clothes. She had been in this miserable condition for over a year now and no longer cared how she looked. All she wanted to do was to get through the day and hope that tomorrow would treat her better.
Inari quietly slid the door open and stepped out into the hallway and shut the flimsy door behind her. On her way to the kitchen she spotted Akiko, the head servant around here. She looked nervous and when she spotted Inari, she rushed over towards her. "Inari, what are you doing looking like that? Master's having a guest over today so we must look our best" Inari just nodded and headed back to prepare herself. Her voice had returned months ago but she found it easier just to not tell anyone and let them all believe that she was a mute. At least they won't ask me any dumb ass questions she thought as she headed back to the kitchen and Akiko
"Master" had been having "guests" over for some time now. Kiku's father, Lord Cho, had been enlisting mercenaries to deal with anyone he didn't like so today's guest was probably just another one of those mercenary ninjas looking to make some cash. Inari made sure that she looked proper by gazing at her reflection in the tea she was carrying and when she decided that she wouldn't be yelled at, she slid the door open to the meeting hall and took her place off to the side of a waiting Lord Cho. They didn't have to wait long until another servant announced from the other side of the large entrance doors "You visitor has arrived milord."
Lord Cho sat up straight and tried to look as imposing as possible. When he felt satisfied he replied "Let him in." Inari knew better than to look at the masters' guests directly unless ordered to so she kept he head down. As soon as the door had open she felt a chill sweep over the room. Her heart began to race fast as if she was scared to death. She heard no sounds as the figure made its way toward Lord Cho. Everything went just like all the others before him. Lord Cho welcomed him to his humble home, sat him down, handed him a sealed envelope with the mission details and a starting sum of cash to persuade him to do whatever the details inside told him to do.
Before the mercenary left, Lord Cho asked, "Would you like something to drink before you go?" Inari assumed he must have nodded because she never heard him yes but regardless Lord Cho beckoned her to server some tea. "Servant, serve our guest some tea." She hesitated for a moment and then proceeded to move toward the guest with her tray of tea being careful not to look at him in the face. She finished pouring the tea and bowed. When she began to stand back up she decided to take a quick peek at who the guest was. She was startled to see nothing except for a blank mask staring back at her.
There were no eye, nose, or mouth holes punched through the mask or anything painted on to represent them. It was just a slightly curved white oval underneath the black hood of the cloak. Inari locked up because it seemed that the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. Unfortunately this caused her to trip and spill all of the remaining tea and shatter all of the tea cups and pots. Realizing that she had just embarrassed her master in front of a guest she quickly began to clean up the mess she had created. Shit, shit, shit, shit. Kiku's going to be pissed at me…. Inari mentally screamed. Once she had cleaned up the spill, she rose bowed deeply in apology and shuffled back to the corner where she had been stationed before she was summoned to serve tea. Ignoring the horrified stares of her fellow servants and the looks of her master and guest, she sat back down, lowered her head, and acted like nothing happened. Inari hoped that that was the end of everything but it was not to be.
It was just as she lowered her head that Lord Cho's son got up and stormed across the room towards Inari. All she could do was sit still and hope that he wasn't head toward her. "Bitch! Look what you did!' Kiku yelled into Inari's ear as he pulled her up by her hair. He threw her to the ground and kicked her hard in the chest. "You bring shame upon your family. No wonder they ask us to take you in. They didn't want you to get stronger, they just wanted to dispose of their failure. Go wait in back until I find something for you to do"
Just as Inari stood up, Kiku's hand came and slapped her hard across the face. Hiding her tears, Inari picked up her tray and broken china and headed back to the kitchen. She could feel the stares of everyone burning holes into her and she walked back to the kitchen.