Memory 3: "Road Trippin'"

June 17, 1852 at a post station east of Nagoya, Japan

"So, what do you think of Nippon?" Tsume asked Joseph in Japanese.

Over the last few months, the two had been learning each other's languages. Joseph was at the point where he could understand Japanese well enough when it was around him.

"It is useful, I'm trying to get used to everything yet. How will anyone see me nervous me," but he still couldn't speak it very well.

Head shaking, Tsume grinned, "Say it in English."

He couldn't be entirely critical of Joseph's Japanese. Tsume was trying to learn English himself. He just wasn't making as much progress as he would like. At this point, it was easier for them to just speak in their native tongues.

"Well, it helps that the girls are pretty and the cities are clean."

Tsume blushed with pride but lowered his head with shame, "I guess. I have never seen any other kind of women."

"Maybe someday you'll get to travel around the world."

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Have you ever been involved with a girl?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought it was obvious. Have you ever had a girlfriend or something like that?"

"Girl friend?" Tsume was not sure why Joseph was asking if he had been friends with any girls, "I've had some friends like that."

"Oh?"

Tsume took a drink of his tea, "Yeah. Why?"

"What were they like?"

"What are you asking?"

Joseph blew into his tea to cool it. After a quick drink, he realized that it still had not cooled. He let it return to the cup before placing it back on the table. "Have you ever been in love? Have you ever had sex?"

Tsume's head tilted, "Sekusu? {Sex?}"

"Okay," Joseph made a circle with one hand and moved his index finger in and out of it.

Tsume's eyes shifted awkwardly, probably giving away his answer.

"Have you ever even kissed a girl?"

Tsume's head drooped.

"That's a no," Joseph picked up his tea again, "We'll have to fix that," he glanced around the room with a sip, "See that girl?"

He pointed with his left thumb to a girl eating her dinner alone in the corner. Tsume nodded.

"You're going to talk to her. I want you to kiss her tonight," Joseph reached into a pouch on his belt and withdrew a coin worth several mon. "Order us some sake."

"What!"

"Yeah, just a little. It'll give you courage."

Tsume stared at Joseph with an I-know-you're-not-really-going-to-make-me-do-this look, "I think we should just worry about getting Sensei's letters to Nagasaki."

"Okay," he scoffed, "I'll tell the storm to quiet down so Sumi can ride to Nagasaki alone and miss the fun. Do you want me to tell the sun to rise as well?" Joseph slid the coin to his thumb and flipped it towards him, "Just order."

Because he didn't track its flight, the coin thumped Tsume's throat. He tried to catch it as it fell, but it slipped through his fingers and into his kimono.

Tsume dug it out and sighed. His friend was right. They weren't going anywhere until the next morning. "Excuse me!" he called to the waitress, "Um, yes, I would like some sake."

Without a word, she snatched the coin and approached the sushi bar. Tsume looked back to Joseph's air of smugness. "Trust me. You'll be fine," he assured the boy.

With little time lost, the waitress had returned with a hot bottle, two small cups, and a solitary mon. Tsume pocketed the coin and snatched one of the cups. It was hot, but not too hot to handle. With his right fingers lightly grasping the cup to guide it to his lips, he placed his left underneath to secure its path. He drew in a heavy breath to catch the aroma. Aroma would not be the right word to describe it. It wasn't quite a stench, but it was definitely pungent enough to make his nose twitch.

Tsume stopped his breath for a moment before swallowing the cup's contents in their entirety. His teeth wanted to clench, but the heat of the drink had already expelled his tongue.

"How fast do you want courage?" Joseph laughed and sipped his sake, "and why is everything here so damn hot?"

Tsume couldn't resist but to snicker. Before he knew it, though, he felt awash with a warmth. It wasn't the same warmth in his belly he had developed from drinking warm tea and hot sake. It filled his extremities in a way similar to fainting from hunger, but he wasn't hungry.

He quickly filled another cup and drank it. It wasn't quite as hot that time. Now his vision was beginning to feel something else strange. It felt as if his eyeballs were detached from the rest of his head and all of his worries were leaving with any feelings of cold he may have held before.

He tried to fill his cup again, but spilled much of the bottle to do so. Seeing this, Joseph withdrew the bottle from Tsume's side of the table. "No more for you," he told Tsume with disapproval, "You've already had too much too soon. Now go talk to that girl."

Without a word, Tsume nodded and stood and walked to the girl. At least, he would have, but he tripped over the corner of the less-than-knee-high table. Undeterred, he looked around the room to see if anyone had noticed. Some had, but only Joseph and a few people sitting directly around him. He began pushing himself up when he felt a hand on his chest, assisting his return to a standing position.

By the time he had realized that it was the waitress who had helped him, she had already begun dusting off his kimono. Tsume checked the room again to find that the whole room's attention was now centered on him, even the girl in the corner. He looked back at Joseph, who just smiled and nodded.

Tsume tried to sit back down, but Joseph had stopped him. "Don't give up," he handed the waitress the mon he'd received as change for the sake, "You'll be fine, Sumi, just try not to talk about yourself. Okay?"

Tsume shut his eyes and drew a deep breath, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Just go."

Tsume swallowed his metaphorical pride with his physical throat. His head shook to regain its senses. Most everyone's attention had reverted back to whatever they were doing at their own tables, but the lonely girl was still watching him with her dainty hand trying to cover a massive grin. She had to be lonely. Why else would she be sitting alone at a post station?

He started walking to her. Every step made his chest lighter, but his feet still felt heavy. didn't feel heavy, but walking felt like he was trudging through mud. It wasn't until he had finally reached her table that he noticed that he was not nearly as drunk as he thought he was.

The girl now had her palm still failing to cover the breadth of her smile. Her fingers spread all across her face with a single eye poking through. Tsume leaned onto one knee. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked.

Without a word, she nodded him to be seated. He settled onto a cushion directly across from her. A quick observation of her table showed that she only had tea.

Tsume tapped the table, unsure of what to say. Luckily for him, she spoke first, "What's your name?"

"Tsume. Just Tsume. What is yours?"

"Call me Mitusko," she poured herself a cup of tea, "So, Tsume, what brings you here?"

"Me and my friend Josefu are delivering some things to Nagasaki."

"Oh? And what are these things?"

"Some messages and a package."

"Oh, okay," she sipped her tea, "How do you plan to get there?"

Tsume thought for a moment. It was an odd question. "Well, we're riding horses," he told her.

Mitsuko laughed, "Can your horses swim?"

Tsume was confused now. He never needed to know geography beyond he streets of Edo. Everything he knew about Nagasaki began and ended with the fact that it was the only port to allow foreign Japanese trade. "No," his head tilted, "why?"

"Because Nagasaki is on Kyushu."

"Kyushu?"

"You must not be from Nippon. Is that why your friend looks so goofy?"

Tsume had been long accustomed to getting accused of idiocy, but never an alien. He checked behind for Joseph, who was obviously oblivious. Tsume attempted a toothy grin which must have come across as awkward. "I guess that big nose does make him look goofy."

Mitsuko approved of his statement. "So Tsume, where are you from? Chuugoku {China}? Kan-koku {Korea}? You speak very good Nihongo {Japanese} for an alien."

"Chuugoku, definitely." Tsume tried to think. Which of these places would make him more kissable to Mitsuko? Probably China. Even Tsume knew the people were smart there.

"Oh? How is the Qing faring against the rebellion?"

"Uhh... Rebellion?" Tsume found himself wishing he had chosen Korea.

"You don't know?"

"Oh, THAT rebellion. Yeah, we're winning."

"So you stand with the Qing?"

"Oh yes. Definitely. I fucking hate the other guys."

With a chuckle, Mitsuko's teacup was set on the table, "You're not really from Chuugoku. You're from Edo."

Shame dropped Tsume's head. Should he have just been honest from the beginning? Should he have told her that he was some poor kid who was leaving Edo for the first time and could barely read? Would she want to kiss someone like that?

"It's fine," Mitsuko reached across the table and tapped Tsume's nose, "My dad runs this place, so I can spot any accent from anywhere in Nippon. You're just a first-time traveler is all."

Tsume nodded, of course. A smile curled across Mitsuko's face, "So, considering your friend, you must work for Mashuuperi {Matthew Perry}."

"Uh."

"Did I say that right? He's the Amerika {American} who is demanding that all of Nippon's ports be opened for foreign ships. He's not the first to try, but I hear he'll be the first to succeed."

"I've heard of him, but I don't work for him. I work for Akuraito Charuton {Arkwright, Charlton}. Have you heard of him?"

Mitsuko's eyes closed. Her mouth seemed to be saying something, but Tsume couldn't discern what. She leaned back on her arms with her hands on holding the floor. Tsume tried to get a glimpse of her face, but she snapped back upright, "Yes!"

About as quickly as she jumped forward, Tsume fell back; his hand clutching the kimono over his heart. Mitsuko must not have noticed, because she continued, "Yes, I heard about him a few months ago. Some Amerika stopped here on their way to Nagasaki. I thought it was weird, because I didn't remember them coming from Nagasaki."

"Do you think they might be the same people I'm delivering to?"

"Possibly. The lady had red hair, which I've never seen before. Not only that, but one of them was huge and thick and had brown skin. I've never seen anyone like him."

Tsume became incredulous. He knew that foreigners could have brown hair like Joseph or yellow hair like Sensei and his son Garen, but brown skin? Ridiculous. He glanced back at Joseph, who was either telling the waitress that he had a demon problem that was being chased by a homosexual or asking for some more onigiri and sake; probably the latter.

Now equally amused and embarrassed, Tsume faced Mitsuko again. "You should be careful," she told him with her eyes fixed into the cup, "Most natives don't take kindly to foreigners. They haven't been welcome here for a long time, so there's still a lot of hate left. The way Mashuuperi is treating the Tokugawa only makes that worse. As for us, my dad doesn't care who comes in as long as they pay in mon."

Tsume straightened his stance. His mind began traveling back to the day his family died. "I've had some bad experiences with foreigners," his hands balled into fists, "Very bad. It's hard for me to deal with it sometimes."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Then why do you work with them?"

"Because the foreigners I know are not bad. They came to help me and didn't even know me. Without them, I'd still be living in an alley in Edo. I'd be begging for money from strangers just to make sure my brother could eat."

After a silence, Mitsuko stood up. Tsume noticed now that her kimono was long and blue with sakura branches patterned on the cloth. Her father must have been a wealthy man to afford such a thing. As she strolled around the table to his spot, he noticed how the pattern made he branches seem to flow in the wind and how- She sat down next to him and before he had time to think, her arms wrapped around him. He could feel the fluff of her breasts making their own embrace around his arm.

Remembering why Joseph wanted Tsume to speak to her in the first place, he drew a heavy breath, "Mitsuko, could I kiss you?"

June 18, 1852 on a road just west of Nagoya, Japan

"I'm sorry she didn't like me," Tsume couldn't get over the shame of having failed his idol like he had last night, "but could you take off your hood and talk to me?"

Joseph's hood had been on since they left the post station that morning. He didn't wear it often, but when he did, he rarely spoke. Tsume was still unsure of why it seemed to have that effect on him, but it never did the same for Sensei or Sensei's son, Garen.

Tsume pushed his horse closer to Joseph's, "Josefu! Konnichiwa? Hello?"

Still, he did not receive an answer. He pushed closer still. Leaning as far as he could, his arm stretched to reach the white hood that hid Joseph away from the rest of the world. He moved the horse close enough that riders' legs were almost touching.

Finally, the tips of Tsume's fingers managed to grab hold of the cowl. With a single motion, it was flipped from his head. "Gah! Shit!" Joseph cried, "I'm awake!"

With his hand shading his brow, Joseph tried to accommodate his eyes to the influx of light. Tsume tried to stifle his laughter, but the rise in his chest was growing too quickly. As soon as his sight had acclimated, though, Joseph saw the humor himself.

"Alright Sumi," he said as his laughter cooled, "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing really," Tsume said while creating distance between the horses, "I thought you were mad at me because of the girl at the post station."

"Psh. There will be other girls at other stations. You'll get better in time."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Promise?"

"I'm serious. I can see it in you. If you keep trying, someday the girls won't be able to keep their dresses closed."

With that, the boy's mind drifted off to the realm of speculation. There, he would visit Mitsuko again, but with his new-found abilities. He would use them to know exactly what to say to kiss her. They would get a room to themselves. They would be interrupted by Asuka. Intrigued by what she would see, Asuka would join.

Then another thought occurred to him, "Josefu, how was I supposed to know what to say to her?"

"There's no way to know to talk to anyone. What works for one person won't always work for someone else."

Tsume thought on that for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered what his teacher, Nariko-san, had told him. "The gift of knowledge. . ."

"What?"

"Huh?" Tsume was unaware that he was mumbling aloud.

"What did you just say?"

"Oh. Nothing."

"No, you definitely said something and now I want to hear it."

"Don't worry about it. It's not important."

Joseph rode his horse almost into Tsume's, "Okay, now I REALLY need to know."

With a roll of the eyes and a heavy sigh Tsume confessed, "During my class a few days ago, Nariko-san told me that I have a gift. She said it was the gift of knowledge."

Joseph removed the pipe from his jacket pocket and began stuffing something into the little cup. He was obviously getting it ready to smoke. Tsume had grown accustomed to seeing this process. Joseph paused before he dug around his pack for a match, "I'm still listening. Go on."

"She said that I should be able to just know things."

"Still listening," he probably wasn't. His attention was still looking for the matches in his bag.

"Well, she says that I'm the only other person she's ever known to have the gift."

"Who is the first? Ha! Found it!" Joseph struck the match to light his pipe before taking a few puffs.

"She is. She said not even her son Kennosuke has it."

"Yeah, I know Kenoskay. He's a good kid."

"She can be scary. She doesn't have her eyes, but I've seen her read with her hands."

"Yeah, sure she does."

"I'm serious. She can read with her hands."

"Alright. How?"

"I don't know. It's weird. She just touches the words and she knows what they are."

"Huh. That is weird. And she says you can do that too?"

"I think so. She said it would take years of practice and if I can do it now, I would only be able to pick out people from crowds or something."

"That doesn't sound so impressive."

"I mean strangers."

"Yeah, I can do that now. Do you think I might have the gift too?"

"It's difficult to explain, but I understand what she means."

"That must be your gift telling you, because I sure as Hell don't know what you mean."

Suddenly, the two became silent. It wasn't so much awkwardness as their conversation had run dry. Tsume searched around for something to talk about. Personally, he didn't mind the silence. It gave him a chance to notice just how lovely today was.

"It's a pretty day, don't you think?" Joseph seemed to blurt from nowhere.

"Yeah," Tsume smiled, "I'm enjoying it."

Above, the clouds of last night's storm had scattered but not lost their gray tint of rain. Around, the leaves glistened with their post storm wetness. Below, the road was muddy, but Tsume didn't mind.

"Yeah, you'll want to watch out for mud," Joseph said, "It can slow down your horse and leave you open to attack."

"Attack? By who?"

"Bandits, guards, assassins. . ." Joseph counted each one with his fingers.

"Asashin? {Assassin?}"

Joseph paused. Though he was looking to the road ahead, Tsume watched a brief fear flash in his eyes, "Has Sensei told you about them?" Joseph's gaze remained transfixed to the road.

"No," Tsume wasn't really lying. He'd heard Sensei and Asuka both use the word between one another, but he had never confronted them learn its meaning.

"Well," Joseph puffed on his pipe, "I've heard them called many things: murderers, demons, and heroes, usually. Most people don't believe they exist, but I know they're real."

"Have you ever seen one?"

Joseph puffed a laugh. "I see them everyday. You do too, but you'd never know it. A good Assassin can hide in plain sight. You could be staring him in the face, but unless you manage to make him mad, he's just a regular guy. Sometimes, even that won't tell you. For all you know, I could be an Assassin."

Tsume tried to restrain a grin from growing, "Josefu, you couldn't be an Asashin."

"Why not?"

Tsume failed to restrain a grin from growing, "You don't look like a regular guy."

Joseph was quiet for a moment. "Really? I hadn't noticed. I thought something must have been wrong when I saw everyone else was wearing kimonos and looking all Japanese. Thanks for pointing that out."

"Why not wear your native clothes more often?"

"Because then you might think I'm an Assassin."

Tsume became skeptical of Joseph's seriousness. He turned a raised brow to his friend in white, but Joseph's sarcastic glance quickly knocked the brow back down. Tsume tried to resume his attention to the road, but a thought had occurred to him, "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something."

"I'm listening."

"How does Sensei know Nariko-san and Asuka-gozen? I mean, foreigners have never been allowed further than Nagasaki unless they want to talk to Tokugawa."

"Well, we're all part of the same organization. The way Sensei says it, your laws haven't always been so strict about foreign trade and immigration. In fact, it goes back about 300 years and I honestly don't remember the rest of the story. Sensei knows it, though.

"Truth is, we've been around forever, and we're all over the world."

"But all you do is deliver packages."

"We deliver messages to improve peoples' lives."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what? What am I doing?"

"Stop keeping secrets! I have been working with you for months, and you still haven't told me anything! Why do you keep making me do these things? Why do I have to learn how to run around the rooftops just to deliver a package? Why do I have to learn how to build a house or raise a pig or ride a horse?" his legs tightened. He wanted to dig his heels into the horse's flanks, but he didn't want to startle it, "Why am I taking these classes? I'm tired of being told that you'll tell me later!"

"I can't tell you, Sumi. There's a lot we have to teach you and Sensei wants you to learn on your own. Now stop asking."

"I'm not asking! I am DEMANDING that you tell me what you really want from me. What do you see in me?"

Silently, Joseph flipped his hood back on. His head lowered, putting him into the same state as when they began their ride. Tsume once again rode closer to remove the curtain around his friend, but Joseph's horse created distance.

Tsume felt his temper slipping, "Dammit, answer me!"

Excepting the occasional pipe puff, Joseph sat motionless.

"Fine," Tsume's eyes rolled in their sockets, "I don't care, but I'm leaving after this delivery is finished."

Joseph sighed,"You could have run, but you didn't."

"What?" Tsume honestly hadn't expected a response.

Joseph plucked the pipe from his teeth, "A thief runs if he gets caught. You didn't. You decided that money was yours and refused to let him take it back. You fought for your right to eat and we need that kind of dedication."

"How did you know I wanted the money for food?"

"You were skinny and almost naked. I know what a poor kid looks like."

"Skinny..."

"Well, you've filled out a lot in two months. You're looking better now and if you keep it up, the girls won't be able to keep themselves off of you."

Tsume pulled up his sleeve to examine his arm. He never stopped to notice, but Joseph was right. All of this manual labor, bathing, and regular eating had changed him a lot in the last two months. He flexed his arm and tried to squeeze the muscle and found it was solid. He split his kimono open to inspect his new body. He felt the firmness of his own chest. As his hand moved down his abdomen, he couldn't help but to be impressed whenever his fingers slid in and out of the ridges between each muscle. What struck him most, though, was how he had gone so long without realizing his transformation.

"Hey Sumi, when you're done fondling yourself, care if we get back to our conversation?"

Tsume quickly adjusted his kimono back to closed.

"You're doing good, Sumi," Joseph reassured him, "If you weren't, you wouldn't still be with us."

He thought on it for a while. Tsume considered trying to reason himself out of it, but working under Sensei and Joseph and Asuka was genuinely the only opportunity he had ever been given. As miraculous as this life was for himself, it would be so much more for his brother. Hitsu would never remember poverty or hunger or. . . his parents. They had been pervading Tsume's mind lately. What had happened to them? Did they receive a proper burial? Were they-

"You know, Sensei and Aska say that you remind them of themselves when they were younger," Joseph interrupted, "Who knows? You may end up like one of them."

Naturally, Tsume was mildly annoyed, but was willing to forgive him on the grounds that Joseph could not hear his thoughts. He would have turned his focus to Joseph had he not had more important matters on the brain. "What do you think?" he asked without any hint of interest.

"Personally, I think you're a lot like my brother Daniel."

"Wait, since when did you have a brother?"

"Since before I was born," Joseph turned and leaned onto his free arm which he propped on the horse's rear hip "He looked after me a lot like you look after Hits. Hell, did you know that Sensei found Daniel in exactly the same way I found you?"

"I've never heard of Danyeru before, so no. I did not know that.

"That's really why you saved me, isn't it? Not because I'm stubborn, but because I remind you of Danyeru."

"Pick your favorite. They're both true."

"Josefu, I have another question."

"Shoot."

"Shuuto?"

"I mean. . . Go ahead and ask," Joseph picked something out of his eye.

"Actually, it's about something like that," Tsume pointed to Joseph's digging, "Do any of the women in your organization have both of their eyes?"

"That's a weird thing to ask."

"Well, Asuka-gozen has that eye patch and Nariko-san is missing both of her eyes. Are all of your women like that?"

"I have a feeling that that only applies to Japan. Virginia came with us and she has both of her eyes."

"Vajinya?"

"Don't talk about her like that. We're going to meet her once we get to Nagasaki."

"Oh. Hey, that reminds me. I heard about a man-"

"Jack?"

"She said he has brown skin."

"Yeah, that's Jack. He's not like any man you've ever seen. In fact, you're about to meet some very different types of characters in Nagasaki."

"Who else?"

"Well," he lifted some letters from his jacket, "We need to deliver these to Virginia Stewart, Jack Freeman, and Daniel Kent. Trust me Sumi, this is going to be a great trip for you."

"Hey, I've been meaning to tell you, my name isn't Sumi. It's Tsume."

"Yeah, Sumi."

"No, Tsume."

"Sumi."

"Tsume."

"Sumi."

"Tsssume. You hiss like a cat."

"Sssumi."

"Uhh... it's like a sneeze."

"Ahh-TSUME!"

"Hai! {Yes!}"

"Hello you too," Joseph laughed, "Now you need to start getting my name right."

"How am I wrong?"

"First of all, Joseph is my name. Kent is my family's name."

"I haven't made that mistake in weeks."

"Whatever. Also, my name is pronounced Jo-Seph Kent. Not Josefu Kento. You're adding an extra vowel to each name."

"Baowa? {Vowel?}"

"Something like that. A, E, I, O, U," he counted each sound with his fingers.

"Ei, I, Ai, O, Yu."

"And sometimes Y."

"Wai."

"Hell, I don't know."

"You don't know much, do you?"

"I know plenty."

"Okay. How are we getting to Nagasaki?"

"By horse, obviously."

"How? Nagasaki is on another island."

"Did I stutter?"

"No?"

"I'm just joking. We'll get a boat at the next-"

September 20, 2012 in Italy

"That's quite enough of that," Dr Vidic said coolly as the simulation ended.

I held my eyes closed as I waited to hear the Animus visor slide open. Once I heard that zwoosh, I immediately sat upright. My sight was still really blurry, but digging my knuckles into the corner of my eyes probably helped. I wish I hadn't tried to clear it up, because the first thing I saw was Vidic looming over me like a watchtower.

"Something wrong, doctor?" I didn't really care that much about why he was standing like that. I just wished he would stop.

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed by now just who your ancestor is."

"Tsume? As far as I can tell, he probably had something to do with the Assassins. I don't see what the big deal about him is, though. He just seems boring."

"Oh, believe me. He was very exciting. He was one of the most important Assassins of the last two centuries. Not to mention a constant pest for the Templars in Japan."

"Then why am I working with him? Shouldn't we be focusing on the simulations everyone else is going through?"

"Your ancestor has some information we need."

"What kind of information?"

"Let's just call it a road map for now."

"Okay. That doesn't tell me why I have to go through all of this boring shit. Why not just find the memory you need and call it a day?"

"We've tried that before and didn't like the results. We need to ease your mind into its own genetic memories before we can access that. If we don't... well, there would be two possible outcomes."

"Like what?"

"On one hand, your mind could reject the Animus, leaving both the memory -and yourself- useless."

That was nice of him to say. Even if the memory was useless, I'm still an able-bodied recruit. Surely Abstergo could just put me to work at something else. Hell, considering just how deep the Templar machine runs, I could do any number of things. This would have to be something really harsh for me to be useless. "And the other?"

I was expecting the doctor to say something. I was wrong. He just smirked and patted my arm.