Memory 2: "Penny Pincher"

September 15, 2012 in Italy
After how abruptly yesterday's animus session had ended, I was a bit reluctant for whatever today had for me. I had gotten so used to playing around with someone else's genetic memories that I didn't really want to see my own again. I wasn't sure what was so important about this Tsume kid, but I didn't really want to find out anymore.
Then someone who wasn't Dr Fletcher stepped into my Animus room with an Abstergo Industries coffee mug in hand. He was dressed like Fletcher: lab coat to his knees and most of a suit underneath. His beard was white as snow if the snow were half made of ash. He tried to smile warmly, but it didn't feel warm so much as it felt hot. It was difficult to place whether he felt angry or annoyed or if he just wanted to burn me with some kind of Hellvision. Whatever it was, we were already at a point where nothing about this guy felt like good news.
"Good morning Mr Marshall. My name is Dr Vidic, Warren Vidic," he didn't want to shake my hand, but his was out anyway. I put my hand out to shake, but he grabbed and did all of the work himself.
"Gabriel Marshall. Pleased to meet you." I wasn't. Nothing about this man didn't make me think he was a dick. Even his name had a dick in it, "Erm, where's Dr Fletcher?"
"Dr Fletcher will not be working with you any more. Both he and Ms Roman have been moved to work with other Abstergo agents," Vidic started pacing with his free arm behind his back, "We have big plans for you, Mr Marshall."
"Uh, okay. Care to tell me what these plans are?"
"Not now, Mr Marshall. Everything will be revealed in due time."
My eyebrow raised.
"Just get in the Animus," Vidic snapped.

April 25, 1852 in Edo, Japan
It had been several weeks since Tsume and Hitsu fled from the warehouse. It had been several days since they had eaten. They did not know what had become of their parents and they were afraid to find out. They had taken to living in the streets again. That much would be fine, but Tsume did not know how to care for a baby and the money he had stolen weeks ago had been used up completely. All he had to work by were his wits and the advice of strangers.
Tsume felt his money pouch in the delirious hope that maybe he had missed a coin. Just a few mon were all he needed for baby Hitsu to eat. Nothing.
Tsume's heart fell into his fists. He punched the ground. He screamed. No one seemed to notice. He beat the ground again; hoping, praying that something would come of it. Still nothing.
Though Tsume had stopped his assault on the dirt, he was not calmed. He stood upright in hopes to find some sort of witness to his scene, unsure of what he would do to someone who had seen his spectacle. He glanced about, but not a soul was there.
Tsume tried to think for a moment, but nothing was coming. He wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream, to hurt, to. . . He wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to do. He needed money, and pride was not an object. He felt his pocket again but still felt nothing in it.
He did get a different feeling, though. It rose from his stomach in a roar and flooded his mouth with bitterness. He tried to withhold it. Anticipation tightened his face until tears squeezed out. He tried to swallow this disgusting thing, but couldn't hold on any longer. He opened his eyes and saw it; yellow and plegmy in the dirt. There was no food in there.
Tsume's jaw trembled for a moment. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. He felt it rise again, but managed to suppress it. He tried to think. It couldn't have been that long since he had eaten. He looked around. Someone had to have money for him, but still no one was around. He sat in the alley and began to sob.
Then he heard it.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Wooden sandals were walking his way. Tsume wiped his face onto his sleeve.
His opportunity had come into sight wearing a lavish kimono. Tsume approached the man with his hands cupped. "Please sir, could you spare some money?"
The man smiled. He reached into his robes for the poor boy's gift. The coins jingled hope into Tsume's heart. . . A single mon. . . He then walked away from the boy.
Tsume's hands accepted it eagerly, but he knew that the man had more. He heard it. He followed the man. "Excuse me mister, but could I have another? Me and my brother are hungry."
Without turning, the man stopped for a moment and slid his hand back into his kimono. Once again, Tsume heard the wonderful chime of money. A coin flipped over the man's shoulder and landed before the boy's bare feet. Once again, Tsume took it with a hunger before he saw that it was another singular mon.
His patience was wearing thin. He knew this man had more, but was unwilling to share it. The money he had given so far was not even enough to buy a bowl of soup or an eel, but that man could more than afford it; probably a hundred times over. He needed that money for Hitsu. He needed that money for himself. "Sir, this isn't much. I need more."
The man stopped. He no longer wore the kind face Tsume had seen earlier. Instead a scowl had been crossed over it. "I don't think you get it," he told the boy, "I need this money for my own family. Go bother someone else."
"No, you don't understand! I have nothing! My brother is sick and dying! Could you please spare me some coins?" Tsume fell to his knees with his hands in the open, "Please, I'm poor, sir. I need the money."
The man threw him another mon, "Last one. Now leave me alone."
Once again, Tsume snatched the coin. This was enough to feed one of the brothers for maybe a day. "Please sir, this isn't enough."
"I told you, kid, that's all you're getting."
Tsume dropped to his knees. Surely this selfishly generous stranger would give more with a new kind of begging.
The poor boy crawled to the man and grabbed him by the leg. The man tried to shake him loose, but Tsume's grip was tight. They were both growing exasperated of bargaining for charity. "Get off of me!" the man yelled as he punched Tsume in the mouth.
With his lips bloody and his strength slipping, Tsume fell. His body was hurt, but his spirit was not deterred. The man was running now, but the boy gave chase.
Golden specks began scattering across his now fading vision; detached from everything but impossible to avoid. Weakness filled his limbs. His stomach growled. As he fell into the dirt of the alley, a kind of comfort surrounded his body. He could hear Hitsu crying.
His mind fought hard against his body not to fade, but he failed. He was overtaken where he lay by sleep and dreams that the Man in White would come to save him again.

Gentle prodding woke him after what must have been hours. He could taste the blood and bile leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Hitsu!" Tsume jolted from the ground and to his knees. What began as a crawl advanced to a flimsy walk and became a clumsy run as he sought out Hitsu's location.
"If you're looking for the baby, he's with me," a woman's voice said from behind Tsume, "I was told you would be around this general area."
Tsume turned around to see this woman. In her arms, Hitsu softly slept. Tsume walked closer, with his hand beckoning for the child to return. The woman gently reunited the brothers. With one arm cradling Hitsu, Tsume felt the child's belly. He didn't feel hungry. He didn't even feel restless.
Tsume's eyes reverted to the good woman, "Thank you, but we should get going. I don't want to stay ar-" The woman clutched his cheeks so abruptly that a little blood leaked onto his tongue.
"Don't worry," she reassured him, "the guards aren't coming, but I want to check the gifted little street urchin I'm supposed to save."
Tsume was too confused to struggle as she inspected his face. The boy couldn't help but to examine her in return. He noticed now that her right eye was obscured by a patch. He tried to study her other features like her long hair, slender jawline, and dainty mouth, but his focus kept returning to the patch. All in all, this lady was clearly young and very pretty, even with her eyepatch. Then the boy saw her other eye, and the world seemed to stop. It was inquisitive but strong, as if she had seen a lifetime of-
She had yanked his head down to examine his scalp. With his face level to -and inches from- her chest, he saw that her kimono was somewhat open on the right. A brownish patch of skin peeked from a wet spot on her hem. "Excuse me?"
Tsume had just noticed that she had let go of his head when she jerked him downward. "I didn't say anything," Tsume said with his eyes locked on to the bit of her nipple he could see.
The woman stepped back a bit. Surprise and disappointment were written across her face, "What are you doing?" She looked down and clutched her half-exposed breast.
Tsume sunk his head, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to look."
She smirked and lightly slapped the boy. He didn't respond. "Not much of one to fight back, are you?" she scowled as she grasped his bicep, "scrawny too."
Tsume shook his arm from her hand, careful not to drop Hitsu, "What do you want from me?"
"I'm here for a foreigner by the name of Akuraito. Said you had a run-in with his messenger boy a few weeks ago."
"Wait, does he wear white?"
"Yeah, the messenger wears white."
Excitement was growing in Tsume's heart, "He wants to see me?"
"He wants to give you a job. Said he can promise a home, a steady income, and a future."
Tsume touched Hitsu's cheek and smiled, "Do you hear that? We're finally getting out of here."
"Yeah, about the kid," she broke eye contact to face the sky before taking a deep sigh, "We weren't aware that there'd be one involved."
Concern tightened Tsume's cradle, "What does that mean?"
The woman smiled and ruffled Hitsu's hair, "Don't worry. I'm sure we can work something out."
She began walking out of the alley. Tsume couldn't see it before, but now he could see her hair flowing past where her back ended. She had only taken a few paces before turning to Tsume and Hitsu, "Are you coming?"
"I... I don't even know you."
She bit the side of her lip and rolled her eye, "Kasai Asuka, but you can just call me Asuka. What about you? What's your name?"
"Tsume," he responded, "and this is my brother Hitsu."
"Alright, Tsume and Hitsu, do you have a surname?"
Tsume stared into the corner. His family had always been too poor for something like a surname.
Asuka nodded, "I see. Well, if everything goes well, we can get you one. Okay? Now come on. I don't want to keep him waiting."
Uncertainty held Tsume where he stood. Asuka bit her lip and made a pouty eye as she gently raised her wet hem, "Maybe. . . I could show you more once Hitsu's not around."
Tsume eagerly nodded and followed Asuka out of the alley and into the street of Edo.

Asuka slid open the door of what appeared to be an average middle class house. However, the inside was like nothing Tsume had ever imagined. Seats were placed upon small tables only big enough to hold a single person. The regular table was high enough from the ground that a full-grown man could crawl under it. There were other things so alien that Tsume could not begin to describe them.
Asuka glanced around the room and sighed. She yelled something in the same foreign language spoken by the Man in White and the men who killed Tsume's parents. A deep man's voice said something back.
A door slid open and the man who emerged was easily a head taller than most men Tsume had seen. He wore short golden hair and what would have been a full beard were his chin not cleanly shaven. His face also had the big nose and wide eyes Tsume had been seeing on foreigners. His obviously alien clothes were black but thankfully closer to those of the Man in White than the barbarians from the warehouse.
Tsume couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed and somewhat distrusting of all of this foreignness. He wasn't sure if they were here to help or hurt. If they were anything like the Man in White or what Asuka was promising, then this would probably go well. If they were anything like the men from the warehouse, this would turn ugly very quickly.
Tsume took a heavy breath of skepticism and clenched his eyes. He bowed to this Akuraito fellow. The gesture was returned.
"I Arkwright, Charlton Arkwright. What your?"
Assuming Akuraito just asked for his name, the boy answered, "Tsume."
"Sumi. Only Sumi? No family name?
Asuka interjected in the alien language. Tsume tried to make sense of it, but could only catch Asuka mention his name.
"Sue May?" Akuraito seemed a bit confused.
"T-sume," Asuka corrected.
"Soo meh?"
Asuka's eye rolled before she said something else Tsume couldn't understand. Shortly after she finished, Akuraito resumed speaking to the boy. "My Japanese bad very," he apologized as if Tsume couldn't deduce such a thing on his own, "Mrs Kasai will speaking for me."
He muttered something to Asuka. She looked to Tsume and said, "I hear you met my apprentice, Josefu. He said the two of you had something of an adventure together."
Tsume blushed, "I wouldn't call it an adventure."
The foreigner laughed and muttered again. Once again, Asuka translated, "But he would. He says he sees potential in you."
Akuraito motioned to one of his tiny tables with the seat on top. Tsume sat on it, but was confused by the fact that it had a tiny wall. He struggled to sit on his knees in this seat. Akuraito chuckled then demonstrated the proper technique for sitting on this most unusual seat, which involved leaving one's legs to the floor and with one's back to the tiny wall. Tsume adjusted to what he saw, which he found more comfortable than what he was doing.
Akuraito muttered again, and Asuka continued, "We want to hire you as a courier. We will give you food, security, and education."
Tsume found this offer to be as appealing as it was suspect. This couldn't be everything. "Is this some kind of trick? Or am I dreaming? Am I still in the alley?"
Tsume's questions went ignored, "Who child?" Akuraito asked in Japanese with a finger directed toward the sleeping baby.
"This is my brother Hitsu," Tsume tightened his hold.
Akuraito muttered again and again Asuka spoke for him, "He cannot stay with you during your apprenticeship, should you accept. He will stay with us; by which we mean me. Asuka."
"But he'll have somewhere to stay? You'll be good to him?"
Asuka put her hand on Tsume's shoulder and nodded. He couldn't help but to feel optimisic about these people in spite -or perhaps because- of the lofty promises being made to him. "What else can I do? Anything is better than being homeless. . . I'll do it."
Akuraito smiled. "Excellent," he said in Japanese, "Tomorrow, you call me Sensei, and you working under Joseph direct. Joseph!"
"Yes, Sensei?" another door slid open to make way for a young man; also foreign. Despite that, he wore Japanese clothes, albeit not very well. They looked tight and uncomfortable, and his obi was tied to the side instead of the front. Even his kimono was worn like a corpse, with the right over left instead of the correct way. Despite the fact that his face was almost impossible to see last time, Tsume recognized him immediately as the Man in White.
He said something in his language to his master before being pointed to Tsume. He said something else, this time clearly directed to Tsume. He approached the now incredulous boy and bowed, but it was not a regular Japanese bow. His hand was over his heart and one of his knees had bent a bit. "My name Joseph Kent. What your?"
"Josefu Kento. . ." he was trying to fight back his joyful tears and ignore the fact that Kento is not really a foreign name, "My name is Tsume," he stood and bowed with Hitsu still in his arms.
"Sumi? Good meet you."
Kento's Japanese was horrible, but Tsume didn't care. His hero had returned after all. In fact, he was so overwhelmed by this entire day that he hadn't noticed Asuka taking his brother from him.
"It's probably been a long day for you," she said to him, "You'll be staying here with me until Akuraito and his friends have found a place to stay," she licked her thumb and rubbed the boy's cheek, "but before you settle in, take a bath. You're not staying in my husband's house as long as you smell like vomit and road."