A/N 11/11/2016: Minor tweaking done on this chapter.
The Clan Leader's Proposition
Another night has come to Kawasabus, and thus was another night for the assassins to come out and play. But despite the night being the time for the assassins to do their jobs, it was also the night for the Neo-Shinsengumi to resume their nightly patrols. Unfortunately for the Neo-Shinsengumi, tonight would not be a good night for them at all.
Within the woods of the Kawasabus National Park, Iizuka and Matt, both of which were dressed in their usual attire, were currently walking along the pathways leading to tonight's killings. They had been assigned to eliminate a few members of the Orimakishu Clan's ninjas to help lessen their numbers and increase the strength of the Kawasabus rebels, the group in which the Ishin-Mirkwood clan is aligned. Yet instead of finding any of their designated targets, both Matt and Iizuka were met with a very slow night, for not a single one of their targets were found… or so it seems.
Right as the two were about to call it a night, since nobody was in sight and they both had plans tomorrow (School for Matt and Clan Business for Iizuka), the loud sounds of sports whistles being blown were going off. The two assassins immediately turn to the left pathway and discover roughly seven approaching figures were heading their directions. But they weren't the ninjas they were assigned to kill. No, these were members of the Neo-Shinsengumi, and they were rushing towards them with great speed. All of them were wolves, whether they be arctic, timber, or a hybrid of sort, and every single one of them had their swords pulled out and prepared for their next kill. Neither one of them expected the Neo-Shinsengumi to show up at the National Park at this time, nor did they know the reason for their presence as well. But now was not the time to think about such things, for it was time for the two assassins to engage in battle.
Both Matt and Iizuka quickly rush towards the seven Neo-Shinsengumi members with their swords gripped tightly around their hand-paws, the fox leaping a good several feet towards one of them and performs a diagonal slash attack. One of the arctic wolves tried to block the attack, but the blade was unfortunately broken in two as a result along with having his torso sliced in half from the upper left shoulder down through the right oblique muscle. The bloody contents of the body's organs along with excessive amounts of blood began to splatter around the area, some of which spray onto Matt, Iizuka, and some of the Neo-Shinsengumi members. Some of the members rush towards Iizuka while another attempts to perform a horizontal slash against the fox. However, Matt drops onto the ground and performs a leg sweep with his right leg, knocking the attacker onto the ground before the fox stabs the wolf right through the chest with his sword. As soon as the blade was pierced right through his chest, the fox places his left hand-paw behind the back of the blade and pushes it upward, managing to slice right through the wolf's head and killing him instantly.
After Matt managed to dispatch his attacker, Iizuka manages to quickly eliminate two of the remaining five Neo-Shinsengumi assailants easily. However, the other three manage to corner him against a tree as the tanuki prepares for his next set of kills. But right as the wolves prepare to attack, however, the fox quickly kills them by using his sword to decapitate them. Their bodies fall onto the floor just as fast as blood starts spraying out of their bodies almost like water shooting out of a fire hydrant. Iizuka looks up to the fox and nods with a soft, thankful gesture before standing up. However, more sports whistles start going off just right of Matt's direction, the fox and the tanuki quickly turning towards the source of the sound. And once they spotted roughly more members of the Neo-Shinsengumi, Matt starts growling as both he and Iizuka grip the hilts of their swords tightly.
"Shit, there's more of them!" Iizuka exclaimed with a growl, the sounds of sports whistles going off becoming louder with each passing second.
"Surrender in the name of the Neo-Shinsengumi!" A vulpine member of the Neo-Shinsengumi shouted, the red and gray furred fox sprinting towards the two assassins with his blade drawn. Both Matt and Iizuka turn towards one another before turning towards the left pathway, noticing a large set of stairs up ahead.
"C'mon, we can take care of them up there!" Iizuka exclaimed before sprinting towards the stairs rapidly, with Matt following behind almost immediately. The Neo-Shinsengumi immediately notice this and began following them quickly, getting in hot pursuit of the two assassins rushing towards the stairs. Up the steps they go, the assassins continue their attempt to flee from the other assassins. Then an idea came to mind, with Matt turning towards the tanuki next to him.
"Iizuka! I'll take care of these guys. You go on ahead and hid behind one of the trees!" Matt exclaimed towards the tanuki, the other assassin giving him a cocked brow at the suggestion. As reluctant as he was about it, he nods with understanding and quickly rushes away from the stairway and into the woods.
As soon as the fox steps onto one of the square platforms, which was close to where a red Japanese gate was located, the vulpine quickly turns around with his sword raised and jumps towards the other fox near the bottom of the stairs. The Neo-Shinsengumi fox raises his katana up to defend himself from the assassin, but despite successfully managing to block the vertical attack, he was knocked back by the sheer force of the attack and hits one of the other approaching members by accident. He quickly makes a recovery and launches himself towards the assassin, but Matt's blade manages to stab right through the Neo-Shinsengumi fox's skull, killing him instantly. Pulling the blade out of the body's skull as quickly as he did, the fox notices three more Neo-Shinsengumi members, all wolves, rushing towards the fox with their blades in hand.
Seeing the three wolves approaching him as quickly as they did, the fox tightens his grip on the handle of his sword before rushing towards them with haste. One of the wolves raises his blade upward and attempts a vertical slash attack, but the fox quickly tilts the blade perpendicular to the angle of his opponent's sword and blocks the attack. An idea comes into the fox's mind just before the blade clashed loudly with the wolf's, clenching his left hand-paw into a fist and punching the back of his own sword and applying more force against his opponents. The resulting action was enough to slice Matt's sword right through the wolf's own, the top half of his opponent's blade spiraling upwards until the sharp tip of the broken blade stabbing the bark of the tree and sticking itself onto it.
With his opponent disarmed, the fox quickly performs a horizontal attack against his opponent and slices the wolf's body in half, severing the torso from the lower part of the body as blood starts splattering out of the two severed halves. Now his attention turns towards the other two wolves plus the third Neo-Shinsengumi member, who was a brown and white Siberian husky. The three remaining Neo-Shinsengumi members start rushing towards the fox rapidly with their swords in hand. Although Matt wanted to deal with them one at a time, he needed to end this quickly. With this in mind, he slowly gets into his battojutsu stance, performing the action by placing his sword back into its sheath and moving his left foot-paw back. He also leans his torso forward and twists his upper body to the left a little bit, his right hand-paw grabbing onto the handle of the sword and causing the three Neo-Shinsengumi members to stop right in their tracks. The fox's eyes were focusing on the three enemies in front of him, and he was ready for the next set of kills.
After a prolonged silence, the fox suddenly rushes towards them and jumps, pulling his sword out of the sheath and performing a diagonal slash against them, slicing the first two in half from the bottom right parts of the torso to the upper left. As for the husky, he had only sustained a slash mark across his chest, not bleeding too heavily from the wound itself. But the fox sought an end to the husky's life, performing an aerial sweep and deeply lacerating the husky's throat. Within a mere instant, the Neo-Shinsengumi husky collapses onto the ground and dies almost instantly due to excessive blood loss. With the Neo-Shinsengumi members dead, the fox grabs a cloth from his left cargo pocket and wipes the blade clean with it, only to place it back in the same pocket and sheath his sword shortly after the blade was cleaned.
The fox was rushing towards the spot where Iizuka hid, but suddenly stops on his tracks after hearing the sounds of sports whistles going off. Fortunately they were from a far away enough distance to where they can avoid getting seen by the approaching Neo-Shinsengumi, but that didn't mean they could stick around for a little while. No, they needed to get the hell out of there, and NOW! Spotting Iizuka rushing out of the woods, the fox nods towards the tanuki and quickly starts running though the forest, taking a shortcut to where Matt had parked his car.
"Dammit all! We were ambushed again!" Iizuka yelled furiously while quickly following Matt towards the hidden parking spot through the woods. "Those were definitely Neo-Shinsengumi, I knew it!" he furiously continued, quickly reaching into his hakama pants pocket and grabbing a hold of his ICarrot 3G smartphone and pressing the button. "I'll call Thrandeer and tell him we have a traitor in our midst!" the tanuki yelled towards him and slides his thumb right through the slider to unlock his phone.
"Iizuka, don't try calling Thrandeer just yet!" Matt exclaimed with a calm and collected tone of voice. "If you try calling him now, there's no doubt the Neo-Shinsengumi or other Neo-Shogunate groups will be able to trace the call. Wait until we get to the car! That way I can turn the jammer on and prevent them from tracing the call", the fox explained, continuing to sprint as fast as he could while trying to up the pace quickly. Iizuka was a bit skeptic about refraining from calling when Matt first started speaking. But after he had finished, the tanuki nods and places his phone back inside of his pocket, focusing his energy on getting the hell out of there as soon as possible.
Five minutes quickly pass like it were only three, with the two assassins making it to Matt's 2009 midnight black Dodge Challenger, which bore two red horizontal stripes on the hood and sides of the car. Grabbing his keys from his right pocket and quickly pressing on the unlock button, with a few soft beeping noises, the car doors were unlocked and allows the two male mammals to get in the car quickly. Matt places the keys into the ignition and starts the car right away, turning the radio jammer on so it would allow the examiner of executions to make the phone call without being traced by the local authorities, Neo-Shinsengumi, or any other members and clans in the Kawasabus Neo-Shogunate. With the car started, the fox quickly pulls out of the secret parking spot and drives onto the road, with Iizuka making the phone call to Thrandeer to tell him everything that had transpired at the assassination site.
At the Assassination site, a few minutes after Matt and Iizuka's escape
Lamps and flashlights illuminate the assassination sight at the Kawasabus National Park, with several members of the Neo-Shinsengumi examining all of the bodies that lay dead on the early soils. While they were not surprised that some of their own would be killed, the caliber in which they've died was an entire different story. Two of the members, Okita and Saito, approach one of the severed bodies on the stairs and kneel down in front of the corpse, pointing their flash lights towards the lupine's body, which was horizontally sliced in half. And what they saw was a rather sickening sight to behold….
"His bones were cut clean through…" Okita said upon examining the clean cut that severed the wolf's upper body from the lower, especially after seeing the clean cut on the lower part of the vertebrae. Hell, the cut was as clean as a knife cutting through cheese.
"Was the assassin a jigen swordsman?" A lupine Neo-Shinsengumi member asked, examining another body next to the one Okita was looking at, seeing a husky Neo-Shinsengumi member with a lacerated throat.
"No, not possible", Saito claimed, pointing his flashlight towards the other bodies throughout the rest of the stair cases. Okita looks to his left and notices a broken piece of a sword sticking onto the bark of a tree nearby, standing up and taking a closer look at the broken blade. "The assassin must've blocked Sudo's attack before using his own blade to sever Sudo's", the wolf explained, his eyes narrowing slightly at the broken sword in the corpse's possession. "The level of damage is consistent with the method of a jigen swordsman".
"This technique is more exact…" Okita claimed, his eyes continuing to examine the broken piece of the blade that once belonged to the late Sudo.
"Far more so…" Saito replied. "With an assassin of this caliber at large, I should've accompanied these mammals personally" the wolf added.
"Who could've done this?" A lupine Neo-Shinsengumi member asked with a set of widened eyes, again not expecting a grisly scene like this to happen, especially with an assassin of this skill level.
"A demon… in vulpine form", Saito answered before turning around towards the other corpses within the area, aiming his flashlight at the spots where the mortal injuries were located. "Yet something tells me that, despite having done most of the work, he wasn't alone…" the wolf thought within his mind before resuming the investigation at hand. He knew the assassin needed to be stopped… and quickly before the body count continues to rise any further.
Matt's Hotel Room, One and a half hours later
After having a rough night at the assassination site earlier that night, along with having to go to a hectic meeting with other members of the Ishin-Mirkwood clan, a nice, hot shower sounded rather nice right about now. And whats what Matt did right as soon as the meeting had concluded, having taken a thirty minute shower to cleanse his body from both the smell and stains of the Neo-Shinsengumi blood on him. The hot water helped relax the tense muscles on his body along with helping slow the blood flow coming from the scar on his left cheek. But despite having to deal with the Neo-Shinsengumi along with a very hectic meeting, a nice, how shower was definitely a great way to conclude the night.
After having showered for a good half an hour, the fox steps out of the bathroom holding a white towel over the scar on his left cheek. Dressed in a dark gray T-shirt and a pair of black pajama pants with white stripes on the side, Matt walks into the living room and takes a seat on the couch, resting his feet-paws on top of the coffee table. He leans forward and began to reach for the remote on the coffee table, but a knock on the door stopped him on his tracks. The fox stands up from the couch and starts walking towards the sliding door, grabbing the handle and sliding the door to the left. And the person standing by his doorstep definitely caught the fox by surprise.
The mammal standing at his doorway was none other than Jenny Bunni, the rabbit he had met at school roughly a couple weeks ago. The clothing she wore definitely caught his eye, especially dark green, tight fitting T-shirt she wore on her torso. On the chest area bore the Kawasabus Shrine Inn hotel logo in white. Her midnight blue nylon pants fit tightly around her hips down to her knees, only to give a nice bootcut down to the leg openings. White stripes can be seen going down on the sides of her hips, which give off a nice look to the pants. Lastly, her signature black and white Chuck Taylor shoes were worn over her feet-paws. A white Styrofoam box was in possession of the female's hand-paws, clearly smelling of freshly cooked chicken teriyaki with noodles, steamed veggies, and steamed brown rice. As the bunny continues to stand in front of the hotel room doorway, she looks up at Matt's left cheek and notices him holding the towel over it, which clearly meant one thing….
"Your wound's bleeding again, isn't it?" Jenny asked, the vulpine nodding softly towards her once in response. "Do you need any medical supplies?"
"No, I'm alright. Though I appreciate your offer", Matt replied calmly before a question of his own began forming in his mind. "But what are you doing here? I thought you checked out last Saturday", the fox asked with a curious tone.
"Amaya asked me to work here during the weekends for both morning and night shifts", Jenny answered before lifting the box containing the food inside. "Speaking of which, I was told to deliver you your order", she claimed, the smell of freshly cooked food filling the male's nostrils. His stomach growls a bit in response to taking in such a pleasant smell.
"Thanks, Jenny. I was starting to get a bit famished", Matt replied with a thankful nod before gently grabbing a hold of the Styrofoam box with his right hand-paw and holding the door open by leaning his back against the edge of it. "I'll have to grab my wallet from the bedroom so I can pay you. Would you like to come in?" he asked before the bunny looks up at the fox with a nod.
"I would like that", Jenny answered before the fox steps to the side, allowing the to rabbit enter his room. Entering the room as she did, the fox closes the door behind her with his right elbow and walks to the living room, setting his food on the coffee table before walking to his bedroom door. Jenny takes a seat on the couch right as the fox opens the sliding door and enters the bedroom to retrieve his wallet. The bunny looks around the room a bit and stretches her arms and legs, a yawn escaping her muzzle right as the fox exits the bedroom with his wallet in hand, and the towel no longer being held against his left cheek.
"How much is the order, Jenny?" Matt asked, opening his wallet and placing his hand-paws inside the main compartment. The bunny leans forward and moves her right hand-paw inside of the corresponding pocket, grabbing the receipt from it and pulling it out. Quickly looking over it, she looks back up to the fox before handing it to him.
"The order's ten-fifty", Jenny answered, the fox nodding in response and grabs both a ten and one dollar bill from his wallet and handing both bills to the rabbit.
"Keep the change", Matt replied before taking a seat next to her on the right, grabbing the packaged chop sticks attached to the top of the Styrofoam box and snapping the back parts of them off by gently pulling them away from one another. He opens the box and takes a brief sniff of the contents inside, the aroma of the freshly cooked Japanese food filling his nose quick. Man, was the fox famished right about now. Grabbing a piece of grilled chicken teriyaki and twirling the piece around some of the thick noodles, he pulls the chopsticks up towards his muzzle and places the food inside his mouth. As he ate, the female looks up at the scar on his left cheek, seeing that, although still red, the wound no longer bled.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but can you tell me about your scar… regarding why it still bleeds n' all?" Jenny asked, wanting to try and make conversation in some way while he ate his food. Matt was chewing in the first bite when she asked that question, swallowing his food before turning to face her with a calm look on his face. He was still unsure about what to say on the matter, nor was he unsure of what she'll think of him after he tells her. But for now, one thing he knew of what to do was wait until the time was right to explain. With a calm sigh, the fox places the tips of his chopsticks into the brown rice before turning to face her.
"I'm honestly unsure on how to tell you about it just yet", Matt replied, grabbing some of the brown rice with his chopsticks and placing some of the rice into his mouth.
"I see…" Jenny replied with a slightly disappointed tone of voice. She wanted to know more about the scar on his face, amongst other things about what he's been doing. She knew he had killed someone already, but something told her there was more about what he had been doing than what the fox told her. But despite the questions forming in her mind, she couldn't place them into words just yet. But there was one thing that she can put to words regarding his scar. "You know, every time I look at your scar, I keep getting reminded on how you made the rain bleed… I don't know why", the rabbit claimed, turning away from him following a sigh. She closes her eyes as well, yet the feeling of a reassuring hand-paw on her right shoulder snapped her into attention, her sapphire blue eyes looking up to jade green.
"Jenny, I promised you I would tell you everything when the time came, and I intend to keep that promise", Matt reassured with a calm tone of voice, one that sounded reassuring as well. She nods with an understanding tone before gently wrapping her arms around his muscular left arm, her head resting on his deltoid muscle. However, her eyes widen from her own actions and quickly releases her hold off him, a soft blush forming on her face after she did that. Thankfully, the fox was softly smiling towards her before gently patting the upper part of her back with his left hand-paw. "You should go on ahead and get back to the lobby. Amaya might start looking for ya if you stick around for much longer", the fox claimed. Although she found herself reluctant to leave for reasons she didn't know, the rabbit nods with understanding before stepping off the couch. Walking towards the front door as she did, she turns her head towards him before waving at him with her right hand-paw.
"Have a good night", Jenny said to the male before she exits the hotel room, closing the door behind her and began heading for the elevator. With the rabbit gone, the fox turns back to his food and grabs the chopsticks he was using, continuing to eat his food slowly with a small, content smile on his face. He felt at peace for the time being, but for how long, he was uncertain. Then again, only time can tell….
Inside Matt's hotel room, Sunday morning
Sunday mornings were usually peaceful mornings for a lot of people across the planet, whether it would be sleeping in for as long as needed, or to going to church in some cases. But that wasn't the case for the Ishin-Mirkwood clan inside the Kawasabus Shrine Inn. In fact, for a Sunday morning, it was rather rowdy and almost unruly, and with good reason as well. After Iizuka had told Thrandeer what had transpired, he had the clan have a meeting on the same night regarding the incident. Now another one was going on, with this one taking place inside of Matt's room since Thrandeer was out taking care of clan business. This particular meeting was about an order the deer had told examiner of executions to tell the others, and now Iizuka was sitting on the couch preparing to give the order Thrandeer specifically told him to give.
"What exactly did Thrandeer say to you?" one clan member, particularly a silver fox, asked.
"'You must refrain from any aggressive action until I instruct you otherwise'. Those were his exact words", Iizuka claimed almost immediately, loud groans and growls escaping the muzzles from many clan members, predator and prey alike, with the exception of Matt. He was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, his back leaning against the wall adjacent to the wall where the front door was attached. His sword was sheathed and leaning against the front of his left shoulder.
"You can't be serious?!"
"What are we supposed to do? sit on out hand-paws and do nothing?!"
Those were only a few of the questions and complaints many of the mammals inside were saying, many others continuing to express their disbelief and disapproval of the order. Nobody liked the order the tanuki claimed Thrandeer had given him to tell the others. Hell, many of them were even questioning on the legitimacy on the order itself. Did Thrandeer actually give the order to the examiner of executions to tell the others? Or was it the tanuki who made up the order as an attempt to settle things down?
"The Neo-Shinsengumi are slaughtering patriots everyday! NOW should be the time we should be attacking them and those Mibu and Orimaku monsters!" another Ishin-Mirkwood clan member, a black and white furred Siberian Husky, exclaimed, a lot of the other clan members exclaiming in agreement.
"Yes!"
"Yeah!"
"We should fight!"
Theses were only a few of the chants many of the other clan members cried, their thirst for battle increasing with each passing second. The meeting was starting to get rowdier with each passing second, and something must be done to calm them down… and quickly at that.
"ENOUGH!" Iizuka shouted at the exact moment he slams his right fist onto the coffee table loudly, managing to silence the clan members who were able to attend the meeting. A few of the others were softly shushing the other who were still trying to be noisy. And despite the disappointing order, most were still wanting to know what the examiner of executions had to say. "The mammal standing next to you may in fact be a spy for our enemies! Should we plan an attack only for them to know in advance?!" the tanuki asked loudly, which that has proven to be an interesting point. Many of them were looking amongst one another cautiously, but not with malice. Were any of them spies at all, or was it in fact a joke? "Thrandeer's right. We wait", and with this, the meeting concluded regardless of the other clan members wanted to say. But right now, Matt was still dead tired, barely only getting five hours of sleep thanks to Thrandeer having requiring him to use his room for the meeting.
Out of respect for the fox, the clan members began to leave the room to let the fox sleep peacefully. Matt didn't even notice his wound beginning to bleed for some odd reason. But honestly, he didn't care, because sleep sounded good right about now for the fox. Once the last member had left and shut the door behind himself, the fox began to drift off into a much needed sleep.
The Kawasabus Shrine Inn Gardens, a couple hours later
Clouds filled the entire sky in the latter part of the morning, especially within the shopping district region of the Japanese themed rural town. Soft sounds of thunder can be heard across the sky, but the sky did now begin to rain… just yet. In fact, a female rabbit by the name of Jenny Bunni was walking into the garden to lend a helping hand with Amaya and a couple of the other girls who showed up to work, with irises . Dressed in a black and blue kimono, along with a pair of Chuck Taylor shoes, the rabbit enters the Kawasabus Shrine Inn's garden and into the nearby shed. Her ears flicker to the sound of rain falling to the ground before a soft sigh of relief escapes her muzzle, having brought a large umbrella with her just in case.
"Is it raining again?" Amaya asked with a curious tone of voice, with Jenny turning towards Amaya and two nine tailed female arctic kitsunes, both of which were twins. They were both dressed in kimonos as well, with Amaya wearing a black and red kimono, while the two female kitsunes were dressed in purple and indigo colored kimonos. The first kitsune had purple as the main color and indigo as the secondary, while the second had indigo as the main color and purple as the secondary.
"Unfortunately it is", Jenny answered.
"Good god, I'm sick to death of the rain", Amaya answered. "Though Melissa and Maria on the other hand, are quite fond of it".
"Of course we love the rain!" Both Melissa and Maria replied in agreement, giggles escaping the muzzles of both multi-tailed vulpine women.
"The weather forecast said it might be the last one for the fall. But honestly, since when could the weather mammals predict the weather accurately regardless of the up to date technology", Jenny claimed with a slight chuckle escaping her muzzle.
"True", Amaya replied with a slight chuckle. "But nevertheless, we can help brighten the day by rearranging the irises", she claimed.
"Need any help?" Jenny asked before Maria, the second kitsune, turns to face the bunny nearby her station.
"Please, help Melissa cut the carrots", Maria suggested, the bunny turning to face her and nods.
"Sure, I'll do what I can", Jenny replied before starting to walk towards where Melissa was located.
"You're just like an Iris, Jenny", Amaya claimed, stopping the bunny dead on her tracks as she turns to face the gray vixen nearby.
"Huh?" Jenny asked with a curious, almost dumbfounded expression on her face, wondering what the gray vixen had meant behind her words.
"In other words, you're like a beautiful flower, but one that stands out more on a cloudy day than a sunny day", Amaya claimed, making the bunny look at her again with the same expression as before. However, she shakes it off with a chuckle before walking towards Melissa's station, taking a seat on the chair opposite to the one Melissa was sitting on. Grabbing a knife with her right hand-paw and a carrot with the left, she began to cut the vegetable with the knife piece by piece in silence, thinking about what Amaya meant behind those words and hoping to understand the meaning in due time.
Matt's Hotel Room, roughly 1:15 pm
The peaceful sounds of soft, tender breathing fill the hotel room Matt was staying in, with the fox sleeping against the wall adjacent to the wall where the front door was attached too. The sounds of rain hitting the ground outside can also be heard from inside the room, albeit faintly thanks to the window muffing the sound. Aside from those soft sounds, all was silent… until the hotel room door was opened by one of the maids with the use of a key card. And the one who opened the door was none other than a particular rabbit the fox knew.
Jenny Bunni opened the door to Matt's hotel room and walks inside of the room with a roller cart in the grip of her hand-paws, the cart containing various items like toiletries, towels, and several other room necessities. She began examining the room before turning her head to the right where the fox was located, seeing the fox sleeping so peacefully. She had been sent up there by one of the maids to go check on him and possibly clean up his hotel room if needed. Fortunately for her, the room was completely clean and free of any trash around the area. Regardless of the fact, she couldn't help but stare at the sleeping figure roughly five yards away from her. She couldn't help but let soft smile form on her face at such a sight, the male breathing slowly in such a peaceful manner.
But her soft smile didn't last long, however, for she notices the fox's left cheek was partially blood stained, which meant his scar had been bleeding again. She wondered if whether or not he had actually killed someone, yet based on his scent lacking blood except for the slash on his left cheek, that was quickly dismissed. Pulling the cart back as she did, she pushes the cart forward and approaches the sleeping vulpine nearby. She places the cart next to the vulpine's left and began to examine the scar on his left cheek, and based on how the scar currently looked meant it must've stopped sometime in the latter part of the morning. The bunny was about to grab some medical supplies to help tend to the injury when she examined the male's face closely, which reminded of something she did not expect.
"His face… the way his face looks reminds me of a sleeping child…" Jenny thought within her mind and continues to look at his face closely for another few moments. But the chill in the air soon snaps her out of her trance as another thing came into mind. Despite his fur, she figured he might've been cold in some way. With that in mind, the bunny turns to the cart and grabs a large, light gray towel, and wraps it around the sleeping fox's shoulders gently. Her eyes gaze towards his face for the second time, similar thoughts starting to form inside of her mind. "A child may be able to commit murder. But…" the bunny thought from the back of her mind, yet began to lean forward and moves her right hand-paw towards the male's face. However, she stops on her tracks and turns towards the cart, moving away from the fox with the intention to grab a few things from it.
The rabbit began examining the middle compartment of the cart she had brought into the room, her hand-paws moving through it at a decently quick pace. She was looking for some medical rubbing alcohol along with cotton swabs to help disinfect the wound. Fortunately she was able to grab a hold of the necessary supplies she needed and places them on the ground next to her. Closing the compartment as she did, the bunny grabs a cotton swab and the medical peroxide, opening the cap with her left thumb and sticking the swab into the bottle. She pulls it out moments later and closes the bottle, setting it next to the front left wheel of the cart before scooting towards the fox. The bunny starts moving the wet swab towards his cheek, but what was about to happen next was something she herself did not expect at the slightest.
When the cotton swab she had was only a quarter of an inch away from his scar, the fox's eyes suddenly shoot wide open much to the bunny's surprise. No! That wasn't the right word to describe how she felt. She was in pure shock! And what happened next within a mere fraction of a second, the fox grabbing the rabbit and pinning her to the back left corner of the couch with his sword unsheathed, the sharp edge of he blade only half an inch away from her throat. Never before did she see him in such a terrifying form, his now fiery green eyes and seething white teeth exposed to the bunny in a predatory sort of way. Fortunately for Jenny, the terrifying look on Matt's face wouldn't last much longer.
Almost right after the fox had quickly penned the bunny against the back left corner of the couch, the fire in his eyes burn out in an instant. His fiercely narrow eyes widen with shock before releasing the bunny, taking a few steps back away from her with soft panting following shortly after. For a moment he thought he was about to get attacked by an unknown enemy within the safety of his hotel suite. But never did he expect Jenny of all people to be the one inside of his room alone. And when he turns his head towards the left a bit, seeing both the cart and the medical supplies on the ground, he immediately realized she didn't pose a threat at all, but only came in here to tend to the wound on his cheek. Turning his head towards the bunny, the fox began panting slower after seeing the terrified look on the rabbits face, his eyes narrowing apologetically within a matter of seconds before a soft sigh escapes his muzzle.
"I'm sorry…" Matt apologized softly to the terrified bunny in front of him while sheathing his sword. But almost immediately after sheathing his blade, he notices a light gray towel over him and pulls it off, looking at it for a moment before turning back to the rabbit nearby. Although she was still terrified about what just happened, she manages to get back onto her feet-paws and looks down towards the medical supplies to her right, her eyelids closing partially.
"I thought you were… might be cold…", Jenny began, her left hand-paw moving to the upper part of her right arm. "And… I also saw blood on your left cheek and… thought I can help clean up your wound", she continued, the fox's eyes gazing towards her momentarily before closing them.
"I'm sorry…" Matt apologized for the second time, his voice bearing more of an apologetic tone compared to the calm tone he first used to apologize with. He starts walking to the coffee table in front of the couch before placing the sheathed weapon on the table surface.
"Do you tend to sleep against the walls like that?" Jenny asked, now bearing a curious tone of voice despite the somewhat terrified look on her face.
"Not always", Matt answered, his eyes set upon the sheathed weapon before him. "Regardless, though, a swordsman like myself must adapt to all environments if a bed or couch isn't available to sleep on", the fox explained while Jenny was picking up the medical supplies and placing them back into the middle compartment. She closes the compartment and pulls the cart away from the couch, turning it a hundred eighty degrees and rolling it towards the front door. The rabbit turns around after placing the cart by the door, shifting her attention to the fox sitting on the couch.
"You know, you could stop killing if you wanted to…" Jenny began, approaching the fox and climbing onto the couch, taking a seat next to Matt as she spoke. "No one can go on killing forever. You can find a place of peace where you can sleep without a sword by your side…" she claimed, managing to grab the fox's attention with those next set of words, his jade green eyes staring down towards the rabbit's sapphire blue pair. But despite the brief moment they gazed at each other, the fox turns away from the rabbit and lets out a calm sigh, closing his eyelids before beginning to speak.
"I've… been trying that since I was only a kit, ever since I lost my aunt to the hand-paws of several assassins many years ago…. It's not easy", Matt responded, reopening his eyes and gazing towards the sheathed sword in front of him. "I wish sleep was my only fear, but I guess that's not the case for me", he added, his hand-paws moving to his thighs and clutching them almost tightly. The bunny gasped softly upon hearing about this, since never before did he mention anything about his parents, especially with mentioning the death of his mother.
"Matt…" Jenny replied softly, unsure of what else to say next. However, the fox's brows furrow and his eyes set themselves towards the rabbit.
"I already know I'm not gonna live a long life, and I've come to accept that fact", Matt claimed before standing up from the couch, closing his eyes and turning his head away from her. "Look, I understand you're only trying to help, and I appreciate what you're doing. However, you're wasting your time worrying about it more than I do", the fox continued with a calm tone of voice, his hand-paws unconsciously clenching slightly into a fist momentarily before unclenching his fingers. He turns his head towards the rabbit with his eyes partially open. "I thank you for your kindness and all, but its better spent on someone else, Jenny. Nothing you possess should ever smell of blood", the fox finished before turning away from her, grabbing his sword and began walking towards the suite's bedroom.
The fox approaches the bedroom door and places his right hand-paw onto the handle of the sliding door. But before he could open it, however, the fox felt a hand-paw turn him a hundred eighty degrees following a loud SMACK to the face from the same hand-paw. He was about to let out a growl, but stopped himself as soon as he notices the pair of sapphire blue eyes looking up at him angrily, and on the verge of tears.
"What the hell's your problem, Matt?" Jenny growled, soft sobs escaping her muzzle as she began to speak. "I was only trying to help you and you're just gonna push me away like that?!" she nearly shouted towards him, marching up to him and shoving him against the door with a surprisingly strong force, obviously from how upset she was.
"Jenny, I-" Matt began.
"NO!" Jenny shouted from the top of her lungs, tears now flowing freely down her cheeks with fury. "Its obvious you don't want me butting into your personal life, even if I was only trying to help! And if you don't want me around anymore, SO BE IT!" She shouted following a series of sobs before turning away from the fox and running for the front door.
"Jenny-" Matt spoke and was about to sprint towards the door to help calm the bunny down, but the female gave him a rather deathly glare, stopping him dead on his tracks.
"DON'T try talking to me anymore, Matt! JUST DON'T!" Jenny shouted through her sobs before grabbing the cart, rushing out of the room before turning around briefly to slam the sliding door. Matt was too shocked to move, nor did he wanna fuel the fire anymore than he unintentionally had. A heavy guilt-ridden sigh escapes his muzzle before closing his eyes, shaking his head in a similar tone before walking towards his bedroom door. He didn't know what to do, and he felt really bad about what he said to her. His heart felt heavy after hearing those words, like a pile of bricks had crushed his heart. The fox opens his bedroom door and enters the room, closing the door behind him. Today was definitely not his day….
The Inn Penthouse, six hours later
The day has been rather hectic for the Ishin-Mirkwood clan, especially after having a rowdy hotel meeting inside Matt's room earlier. And since that meeting, its been getting a lot harder to keep the clan under control, even after returning to the hotel a quarter til five in the afternoon. The clan was hungry for blood, and they wanted to kill off the enemy clans and Neo-Shinsengumi immediately. But now was not the time to think about such things until after proper planning has been arranged.
About two and a half hours after returning to the hotel, Thrandeer Katzuma was currently sitting on the sofa inside of the Penthouse he currently occupies, a small cup of sake in his right hand-paw. Despite not being able to taste the beverage, he is in a real need for it to help settle his nerves and hopefully lower his stress levels. Usually dressed in clothing suited for battle, tonight was an entirely different story. His attire now consisted of a black tank top along with a charcoal gray pair of pajama pants with black stripes on the side. The deer could've set up another meeting with give the rowdy members a piece of his mind, but right now he just wanted to relax… or that would've been the case of he hadn't heard a knock on the door. Then again, he knew it must've been room service coming to deliver him his dinner.
"Come in", Thrandeer said to the person knocking on the door, the sliding door opening to reveal the English-born bunny Matt had met recently. And telling by the look she bore on her face, something told him she wasn't in the best of moods.
"Your food's here, sir", Jenny replied to the deer before walking towards him with the Styrofoam box in both hand-paws, barely managing to place it on the table by standing on just her toes. "That'll be nine-fifty, Thrandeer", she said to the buck before the deep grabs his wallet next to his food, pulling out a ten for the female and handing it to the bunny.
"Here, keep the change", Thrandeer replied, the female rabbit nodding prior to accepting the ten and placing it inside her kimono pocket. She turns away from the male before walking towards the door, which an idea soon began formulating inside of the buck's mind. Recalling a conversation he had with Maria a few days ago, maybe…. "Pardon me, Jenny, assuming I guessed your name right", the deer began, the rabbit stopping on her tracks before turning towards him with a curious look on her face.
"Yes, Thrandeer?" Jenny asked, curious on what it is he wanted to say to her.
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to talk to you for just a moment, please", Thrandeer replied. And although the rabbit wasn't exactly in the best of moods, she nods towards the deer and walks towards him, taking a seat on the sofa right across from the one he was sitting on.
Once the bunny had gotten comfortable on the other sofa, Thrandeer began to explain some of the reasoning behind her presence inside. One of them regarded Matt Wilde and how the deer had made him into an assassin through his own teachings. As uncomfortable as the rabbit was to hear about Matt, especially after the heated rant she made after trying to help him, she continued to listen in hopes of at least trying to figure out something the things the vulpine was getting himself involved in. She wasn't surprised on the fact Matt had been an assassin (especially after seeing him carrying a sword almost constantly), but she was still somewhat shocked about the caliber of his skill. Once Thrandeer had explained everything, the entire talk taking about fifteen minutes, now it was time for the bunny to bring up an interesting question.
"Justice disguised as insanity?" Jenny asked with a cocked brow.
"It was a principle that was brought forth by my master, Yoshida", Thrandeer began. "In order to facilitate a greater good, one must sometimes do what is abhorred", the deer explained further, the rabbit's eyebrows furrowing at what he said.
"So you've made Matt the embodiment of this concept?" Jenny asked, a prolonged pause filling the air as the buck looks towards the rabbit with a calmly serious look on his face.
"Yes, I suppose…" Thrandeer replied. "Which is precisely why I need to talk to you, Jenny", he claimed, making the bunny cock another curious brow at him. "My friend, Takasugi, has lived a very violent life… one that will soon come to an end. He would be a lost cause as a mammal if not for his consort, Uno, who serves as his sheath".
"His sheath? What do you mean?" Jenny asked curiously, yet now stating to become intrigued by what he was saying.
"She shields him from his inner self", Thrandeer answered, now time to bring up the next important question. "Will you be a sheath for Matt?" and with that question, Jenny's eyes widen slightly upon hearing this. She didn't know exactly how to answer on that, nor was she sure if she's willing to perform such a task.
"You ask me…?" Jenny asked, albeit a bit reluctantly.
"A part of Matt is crying out for something meaningful. The life I've made for him will not satisfy that", Thrandeer answered before letting out a soft sigh from his muzzle. "You're the only one who has ever touched him. You have the best chance of saving Matt from himself", he claimed, making the rabbit's eyes widen in response to such words. She didn't expect to hear the clan leader to ask her such a thing, nor was she unsure if she can go through with it after earlier this afternoon. She looks down to herself and began breathing a bit faster.
"I… I don't know if I can go through with the request", Jenny answered honestly. However, a reassuring hand-paw from Thrandeer helped slow her breathing rate, along with getting her to raise her head towards him.
"You don't have to answer me right away. All I'm asking for you is to take some time to seriously think about what I've said", Thrandeer replied. "Please… I'm willing to do anything to keep Matt from becoming an unrepentant killer", the male calmly pleaded, willing to do anything to help Matt in anyway possible. Jenny was still unsure about the request after what had happened today, but she also didn't want him to become an unrepentant killer as well. But after a moment, she closes her eyes and lets out a heavy sigh, still unsure of how to answer.
"I'll think about it, Thrandeer… but I can't make any promises", Jenny answered with an honest tone, the deer nodding with understanding.
"Thank you", Thrandeer replied before grabbing a notepad from the coffee table along with a pen, opening the pad and begins to write down something on the notepad. When he finished, the male buck rips out the piece of paper and hands it to the rabbit. "I do expect an answer from you by Friday night at the latest", he said, the rabbit nodding and looking at the phone number he had wrote down for her.
"Alright", Jenny replied with a nod before standing up and walking towards the front door, stopping halfway there to turn her head to the left. "As I said, I can't make any promises. But I'll think about everything you've said to me", she finished before turning away from the deer and walking out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving the buck to himself.
"I sincerely hope you make the right decision, Jenny. I'm counting on you", Thrandeer thought inside of his mind before grabbing the Styrofoam box Jenny had delivered to him moments before, pulling the chopsticks off the top of the box with the intention to eat. Now that he was alone in his room, all he can do now was hope for the future of his clan, Matt's sanity, and for Jenny's decision being the right one.