I'm back! With many apologies - I've been sick, flu or something fever headaches cough etc., but I still should have updated weeks ago. Anyway, here is chapter seventeen, enjoy.
Chapter Seventeen:
Shinko stared at the now rather battered window frame, thinking. If she could just get out, then she'd be able to find her sword, and her way home. She should have attacked Kiyoshi when he'd come with her dinner, but... he'd managed to take her off balance, and keep her calm until he left. Either he wasn't a threat, in which case it would have been mean to attack some poor servant man, or he was very clever. No matter what, though, there were probably guards and stuff or something outside.
"So, I can't smash you up with a broken bowl, or pry you loose with chopsticks, and I've broken all of my dinner things." She murmured to the window, thinking. It was just slightly too small, if she could just get the frame off... Shinko paced back to the door, studying the metal handle. If she could get her hands on that... Shinko changed her mind suddenly as inspiration struck her.
She picked up a fragment of one of her chopsticks – the end was snapped into a wide, thin splinter. Carefully she inserted it into one of the two small knobs on the handle, which had crosses inscribed on them. Misao had told her about Hyotokko's lock picking and other shady skills, as well as the rest of the oniwabanshu, whenever she thought Aoshi wasn't listening, and this seemed as good a time as any to test the theory she had learned – after all, Kenji had learned Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu from stories, lock picking couldn't be half as hard.
The knob jiggled slightly as she twisted it to the left. Encouraged, Shinko continued to turn her improvised lock pick, until the knob came loose in her hand. It was attached to a small, pointed piece of metal with a ridge spiralling down it.
"Nani?" Shinko studied the screw, before turning back to the door, jiggling the handle. Instead of turning, the handle slid right away, exposing a small hole in the door with tightly packed and complicated clockwork. Shinko prodded it cautiously with her screw, trying to jiggle some of the pieces like Misao had described. Of course, the kunoichi had never mentioned lock picking to be done like this, but there was a first time for everything.
After a few minutes of delicacy, Shinko became bored, and picked up one of the bowl fragments, careful not to let it cut her fingers, and used it to bash at the clockwork. After a few more moments, something gave way and the clockwork crunched, letting Shinko pull the tiny pieces out. When there was nothing left inside the small hollow under the handle but a metal plate with a small hole in it on the other side of the door – that was probably the keyhole, Shinko figured; there hadn't been one on her side of the door.
She let the door handle slide back into place and gathered up the tiny pieces, before she turned the handle. The door swung open easily, beautifully, and Myojin Shinko was free.
Resisting the urge to laugh with giddy joy, she peered down the corridor. To her left it ended just beyond her door, with another window, this one covered in a rice paper screen painted with a dragon pattern. A small vase with a sprig of yellowing leaves rested on a table under the window. At the other end was a set of stairs running down, with a tall, dark-skinned guard waiting. Shinko hissed in surprise. She'd never seen one of the Afurica-jin before, but she'd heard that they lived in deserts where it was always hot, never rained, and they all knew how to fight. She wasn't sure if she was pleased or disappointed at that as she snuck up behind him – she wished they could have met on friendlier terms.
The man heard the scrape of her bare feet about a metre away, and spun, drawing out a Japanese-style sword that he held with skill if not familiarity. If there had been time, Shinko would have sworn, but as it was, she barely had time to duck the blade as it hissed towards her head.
*break*
"Masaru-san!" the young man looked up, seeing Kenji and Shinya approach him as he tied his sandals back on.
"We want to find Shinko as soon as possible; if there's anything that we can do to help you find her..." Shinya trailed off, his jaw set, as Kenji watched the slightly younger man with steely eyes.
"What do you know?" He asked quietly. Masaru raised his eyebrows, blinking.
"I am oniwabanshu, I report to Aoshi-sama, not you."
"Well that's too bad, because you will tell us what you know."
"Or, as the English say, Else." Shinya added, trying to look menacing.
"Fine. There are two large houses bought in shady areas of Kyoto since Toranaga's ship came in. You two can check one if you want to play the hero, while I check the other. If you find it, then come back here and report. We'll meet at dawn." Masaru handed Kenji a slip of paper, before walking away into the evening.
"He doesn't really believe that we'd waste time coming back to fetch everyone if we found her?" Shinya asked as he peered at the address over Kenji's shoulder.
"No, he doesn't. Let's go."
"I don't get you quiet types." Shinya muttered, following Kenji out of the yard, tightening his hold on the bokken at his waist.
*break*
Shinko ducked under the blade, running back along the corridor as the guard followed. She dodged the deadly blade again, grabbing the lacquer sheath at her waist and lunging. The end of it stopped more than an inch short of her target before the guards blade thudded into it, cracking the sheath and pulling it's slippery surface out of her grasp as the guard recovered. Shinko backed up another step, looking desperately for something else to use to defend herself. The sword swung down again as she reached the end of the corridor.
Twisting, she brought her hands up to block it, the blade slicing into her left arm as she missed it. She screamed in an automatic response, but the pain didn't start yet, and her body didn't stop as her right fist slid forwards along the back of the blade. If the dark-skinned man hadn't been nearly a foot taller than she was, the punch would have hit him in the nose. Instead, it connected with his windpipe. The man gasped and his knees gave as his throat was nearly crushed. Shinko grabbed the vase off the table behind her, bringing it down on the guard's head as it came down towards her level. His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.
"Thank Kami," Shinko sighed, falling to her knees as well, as pain suddenly flared through his arm, replacing the adrenalin. After a few moments trying to bite back tears and calm her shuddering breath she reached down and grabbed the sword, awkwardly slicing a long strip off the sleeve of her gi. Biting her lip harder, she wrapped the makeshift bandage tightly around her forearm, trying to stem the bleeding. The cut was long, but thankfully shallow, a thin flap of skin that had been peeled away nearly to her elbow.
"Ittai..." She whimpered as she knotted it, shoving the katana into her waistband with her left hand. Her right arm tingled, the fiery pain so intense that her mind refused to accept it, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage in a slowly spreading stain. She flexed her fingers, feeling the blood pulse faster into the bandage, but fortunately, the blow had been glancing enough not to sever any major muscles – she had heard the story of Yutaro and Raijuta, and how 'Cat-eyes'' future as a swordfighter had been destroyed.
When she had recovered slightly, she looked around, stepping carefully over the guard and the shattered vase. She wished that Gohei were here to discuss things with – she'd never realised what a comforting presence the big old man had been, without even having to do anything – but the only way to go was down, so she cautiously began to descend the stairs.
*break*
The house was tall and slightly dilapidated, but not enough to stand out among the other tall houses in the area. The gate was open and a narrow path led up to the house, shaded by small trees.
"So do we just walk in?" Shinya asked, staring at the unimposing building, his mouth dry.
"Why not?" Kenji asked, smiling mirthlessly.
"Because I say so." Both boys whirled at the sound. A burly man came round the corner of the house, a pair of long, serrated blades lying along his forearms.
"Who-" Shinya asked, reaching for his bokken.
"I am Kuroshin Kasuke." The man said flexing his wrists, but still waiting a good distance away from the two boys.
"Should that mean something to us?" Kenji growled, dropping into a fighting stance, one hand on his bokken.
"He doesn't recognise us, nii-chan?" a petulant young boy's voice asked as a child came round the corner as well. He was slender and short, about fourteen, and had short black hair that had been raggedly hacked into spikes that brushed his shoulders. "Not even after I had to cut my hair for that stupid charade?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Kuroshin Kana – I'm Toranaga-sama's 'Shinko'." The boy smirked, folding his arms and leaning against his brother's shoulder in an obviously contrived movement. "You can also see me performing in the Kyoto Shingeki production of Ibsen-sensei's 'Love's comedy'."
"Ototo..." Kasuke said warningly, pushing him away.
"What? They're allo-" Kana started, sniffing haughtily. His composure was shattered a moment later as Kenji and Shinya moved. Kenji darted around Shinya, drawing his bokken as he launched himself at Kasuke, leaping high off the ground and angling himself down towards Kasuke. Shinya was a moment behind, ducking behind Kana and grabbing his gi and pinning his arms behind his head. As Kenji's bokken descended on the side of Kasuke's head with a crack, instant's before the big man's serrated blades would have sliced across his midriff. "-wed to... appreciate... art..."
"Quiet midget." Shinya said, sidestepping neatly as Kasuke crumpled.
"You hit my Nii-san!" Kana shouted angrily, trying to squirm out of Shinya's grip.
"He didn't exactly make it difficult. Kenji said shrugging. "Now, where is Shinko?" Kenji asked, his face very close to Kana's and his voice nearly cold enough to frost his breath.
"I don't–" Kana broke off as Shinya's arm tightened around his throat. "She's probably on the top floor..."
"Let's go Shinya-kun." Kenji said, turning away.
"But what about him?" Shinya asked, jerking his chin at the boy in his arms.
"Hit him on the head and dump him next to his brother." Kenji said, which caused Kana to start protesting again.
"But he's just a kid..."
"He looks about a year younger than you." Kenji said, nonplussed.
"It's an important year... anyway, he's smaller than me. You're not allowed to hit people smaller than you..." Shinya shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"He's about half an inch shorter than you."
"An important half-inch."
"I hit you all the time." Kenji said, ignoring Kana's indignant complaint as he tried to wriggle out of Shinya's arms again.
"Wait! Don't!" Kana said, holding his hands up.
"Fine. One more question. Where was Shinko-san when you and your brother were playing your little game?" Kenji asked, turning back to Kana.
"Toranaga-san was in the first room with Ayame-san. They drugged her and waited for you to leave before they took her here.
"What about Natsuko?" Shinya asked, just as Kenji spoke up.
"Who's Ayame-san?"
Kana snickered, a smug smile breaking out across his face.
"Ayame-san is the best actress I know... hasn't been round much lately though. She was playing a role for Toranaga-san somewhere."
"But..." Shinya's eyes widened and his face went slack with surprise. Kenji barely twitched before smacked the hilt of his bokken into Kana's temple.
"There. Now let's go find Shinko-san." Shinya dropped Kana's limp body, following Kenji slowly, his movements dazed and careless.
"Natsuko..."
*break*
Shinko crept down the stairs, feeling the uncomfortably heavy weight of the katana at her waist. It wasn't as well-balanced as the blunt one she had received from Kaname-san, and heavier.
"But Toranaga-sama..." Shinko froze as she heard Kiyoshi's voice, "I don't think that Shinko-dono would be willing to work for Tanuki-sama."
"Everyone has a price, Kiyoshi." Toranaga's voice came from a room on the left side of the corridor at the base of the steps.
"I know that," Kiyoshi said, bitterness in his voice. "But I don't think she does."
"She'll find out. Her brother is in Tokyo now, is he not?"
"He came for... 'Natsuko-san'."
"Ayame-chan was telling me about that." Toranaga chuckled. "Well, you should probably go feed her – I have to go meet with our talented young spy." Shinko ducked back up to the top of the stairs, peering around the corner as Toranaga left the room, walking briskly down the stairs, Kiyoshi emerging a moment behind with a tray in his hands, his head drooping, causing a fall of hair to obscure his expression.
*break*
NB: The black guard was not meant to be derogative, but at the time there were probably fairly few Africans wandering around and I wanted to make the point that Toranaga did show up on a ship recently, and probably had crew-members from around the globe, and so please no-one get pissed off at me. The weird spelling is because I gave a phonetic equivalent of what 'African' would be in Japanese to emphasise the strangeness of them to the Japanese at the time. I don't think this should be enough to upset anyone, but if it is then please tell me and I'll change it. But please remember that this story is set in 1899-1900, before things such as 'political correctness' was invented, and I am kinda trying to maintain some period integrity. Anyway, it is a stylistic device that I think enhances the tone, but I will it remove if it offends, and I shall defend myself no further about it...