I've not sensed anyone around me. The ever present watched feeling hangs about me, having followed me from Konoha. At first I'd thought to take up the same spot as last time, but these meetings with Yusei can't afford to be predictable. This one I'm at now is closer to the palace, a shaded alley behind a row of jewelry shops, the other side against a string of weavers and seamstresses. Being closer to the palace, I think I'll have a go at stretching the Rainmaker Jutsu past the palace wall. Perhaps, having been around Yusei several times now, I'll be able to sense him before he finds me.
Making the hand seals, I raise my hands and begin the jutsu. I really pour myself into it, working up as much chakra as I can, and after a few moments I can see the rain clouds forming in my narrow slice of the sky. The downpour starts with a pitter-patter, slowly building up. I think my reserves have increased, just a little. Even so, at such a large scale the Rainmaker Jutsu is a heavy strain on my chakra. I feel the people of the royal city scurrying to avoid the rain, and a handful of people stopping and starting at odd points. Would that be Yusei and his men, looking through the alleys? I struggle to maintain the jutsu for as long as I can, but again, it's only a couple minutes before I have to stop. I let go of the jutsu, and as I lean against the wall to rest, I hear the last voice I want to hear right now.
"Into the alley!" And running towards me, I see that it is indeed Lady Sorano, along with one of her servants, and tall and slender woman with dark hair. Even worse, Lady Sorano hurries over. "You don't even have an umbrella, do you?"
"No. I don't mind a little rain."
"How? You've only got some pants and a tank top on."
I sigh, and massage my temples for a second. "Umbrellas are more skin to be seen with, young lady. I'm not a little flower like you are."
"You don't need to get defensive. Umbrellas can look as drab functional as you want them to."
"True. Sorry to be so short with you miss, but you need to leave this alley, right now."
"Not while it's raining, I'm not!"
"It won't be raining again today."
"And how can you be so sure of that? Weather is impossible to predict." Working up a bit of my remaining chakra, I form the hand seals and spit a small stream of water directly into Lady Sorano's face.
"Leave. Now."
"H- how dare you! Do you know who I am?!"
"Yes, Sorano. I know you and your family very well. The men I'm going to be meeting with know your family better than I do, and have even less patience for a smartass like you." That felt really good to say, despite it not being the best.
"I ought to have you arrested for such insolence!"
"You need to learn to distinguish between insolence and truth, Sorano. Royalty isn't a free pass to the world! Actually, it isn't a free pass to anything; you're just a prisoner with a title."
"What?"
"Ask your father. Miss, please drag her away." Lady Sorano's servant moves closer, but in a protective manner and not to pull her charge off.
"No, you tell me. What do you mean, 'I'm a prisoner'?"
"Why do you think your brother Sho has no interest in succeeding your father? He's a simple man, Sorano- much like your father- and while I cannot endorse him as a daimyo, you could learn a lot from him."
"You can't just insult my family like this, you don't even know us-"
"I know you better than you think. You and your brother Taizo see it as just a bothersome game, and-"
"Taizo too, now? Who in the Hell do you think you are?!"
"Your brother Taizo is a piece of shit. He isn't the man you think he is." Lady Sorano darts forwards and moves to slap me. I take the surprisingly hard blow, not blinking or moving an inch. "If you don't want to believe that about Taizo, I don't blame you; I'd hate to think one of my family members was such a-"
"Taizo isn't a monster…!" Lady Sorano says, breathing heavily.
"Ask him about Nurari and the Rainmaker." I turn and start to walk away, but I'm stopped in my tracks. This is like a nightmare that keeps getting worse- there, at the other end of the alley, Yusei and his men are coming up. I frantically think of what to do, and in a split-second decide to wave him over. I can see his eyes go wide as he recognizes Lady Sorano, but he still approaches.
"Raiko?! What is this?!"
"I was about to ask her the same thing," Lady Sorano agrees.
"Yusei, meet Sorano. Sorano, meet Yusei."
"Why are you introducing me to some commoner?" Lady Sorano asks, looking Yusei over.
"Because commoners, as you call them, do more for the Land of Fire than you ever will."
"What do you mean?" Lady Sorano asks, shifting uncomfortably.
One of Yusei's friends, the shorter and muscular one who spoke up last time, speaks up again. "We're the ones who plows the fields and drive the oxen and make your clothes. You don't have any wealth or glory without us."
"A body is no good without a head," Lady Sorano retorts. "And who are you?" She asks Yusei.
"The head," Yusei says with a formidable and impressive glare. "I'm going to be very blunt here, Lady Sorano- your father is a weak daimyo. His advisers are corrupt, and the Land of Fire needs leaders who have a backbone, and integrity."
"My father isn't weak. He's a generous man, and he values differing opinions"
"That may be how you see it, but that definitely isn't how everyone else does." Yusei and Lady Sorano stare for a moment, and I clear my throat.
"Shinseki's outpost?"
"Taken care of. We actually salted the earth, too."
"Thank you. I trust you to make good use of the list, but I want to mention Toriko Yotsuki. With Nurari out of the picture I want him gone next. Two of his plants are down, and he's going to be scrambling to shore up the next one before the hit he thinks is coming."
"Yotsuki won't be that easy," Yusei reminds me. "He's not as hands on as Nurari was."
"True. But perhaps you might make it known that a certain someone has the recent shipment records that vanished from Ogata's plant. His grunts might be more willing to talk then."
"You?" Lady Sorano asks. "You're some terrorist attacking some trader who's just doing business?" Lady Sorano asks me, rubbing her eyes. "You say Taizo is a monster while you're doing that?! And who is Nurari, anyways?"
I turn towards Lady Sorano and stare deep into her eyes. "A man who called innocent young girls he had kidnapped 'basic, run-of-the-mill product'. He deserved what he got, Sorano."
"So he's a slaver, that's not the worst. Not all slaves are treated like dirt."
"Those girls weren't going to be slaves." It takes her a moment, but once she understands Lady Sorano recoils.
"And what would my brother know about him?" Lady Sorano asks. "No, forget that. Who are you? People who know what you know don't just come from nowhere. That Yusei guy said your name was Raiko, right? What is your family name?"
"I have no true name-"
"Hold her for me so I can slap it out of her," Lady Sorano says to Yusei and his men. Somehow, my luck gets even worse, as I feel them actually do so. Lady Sorano slaps me again, harder than the last time. So many emotions are going through me right now: joy that Lady Sorano isn't just an inhuman smart aleck, and that she's beginning to question how the Land of Fire is run; guilt for the things I've said, fear at how things will be for Raiko… "Start talking."
"...I'll tell you my last name on one condition."
"What?"
"You get Taizo to publicly reveal all of his activities in Tanzaku Quarters."
"Pointless, as everyone knows he likes to party. Your name?"
At this point I have too many things to think through at the same time to think of a name, so on the spur of the moment I take an immense, titanic risk. I close my eyes and slightly alter the Transformation Jutsu, and then open them. "There. Does that answer your question?"
"What. N- no, that shouldn't be- but, but she said… how…" I shut my eyes and revert to Raiko's "natural" dark irises.
"Yusei, you know how to find me. I've got a couple things to take care of here in the city."
"Alright. And farther away, next time."
"Of course." Yusei lets go, and I immediately use the Body Flicker Technique, leaving the scene in a swirl of leaves.