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===Act II: Oni=== :>It's tradition that the Husband goes on a year long pilgrimage after getting married, to contemplate his new life. :>The husband's mother takes the new wife and teaches her everything there is to know about running a household. :>I don't have a mother anymore. Once there were seven of us. Mom, Dad, me and my four siblings. :>But our clan's never ending war took it's due from my family. :>I was the only one left. :>Naomi was in tears when I finished telling her this. :>Naomi's mother maintained her face though, and nodded in understanding. :>I shall fill in for your departed mother then, and teach my daughter what she needs to know. Do you manage any land? :>Sort off...? :>Mother in Law gave me a smile that I had learned meant "the fuck does that mean?" :>We did have a Jade mine, but it played out years ago. :>Ah, I see... :>I didn't elaborate on what that meant. The Jade in the Earth keeps it pure, safe from the taint. Many times, when the creatures of the Shadowlands slip past the wall, they do so by burrowing through the tainted earth of an exhausted Jade mine. :>Such a thing was the main reason I was the last living member of my family. :>I was fortunate enough to be left for dead, by the swarm :>Though I still bear a scar across my face in the shape of an X. The lines intersect just above my nose and between my eyes. :>Most people flinch instinctively when they first see my face. :>So off I went, pilgriming away. :>Really had no clue what the hell I was supposed to be doing, so I just went to a few random temples. Did hit up the main temples of Osano-Wo, Kisada, and Yakamo though. :>Always makes me feel good about how many divinities once walked Ningen-do as Crabs. :>The colors of the Crab clan are blue, grey and black. :>After a year of temples and monks and praying my balls had gone through all three. :>Upon my return to my only slightly dilapidated home, my new(?) wife attempted to give me the standard Rokugani greeting. No, just the first two. Naomi is a good girl after all. :>Welcome HomeEEEEEEEK :>I scooped her up, tossed her over my shoulder and headed inside. :>The Kitsuki looked up from the tea he was sipping. :>Ah, Ishigaki. We've got a... :>Nope. :>Busy. :>Time passes. :>Not as much time as could have passed, given my endurance, nor as much time as my balls wanted to have passed. But I wasn't about to kill my wife on our first time together. :>Though there was extra time spent cuddling. I was a full foot taller than her, and wide enough she could use me as a futon. :>Once I came back out blinding my party with afterglow they let me know what our next assignment would be. :>Serial Killer. :>Off we go, in ass end of fall trying to reach the city before the winter snows catch us. :>We get inside on the day of the first snowfall. :>Of course by the time we're there the last victim found had already been cremated and the scene cleaned up, so there was no way for the Kitsuki to get any leads using the usual methods. :>Interview time. :>I sat in and glowered whenever the Kitsuki tapped his fan on his right knee. I made a decent bad magistrate with my messed up face. :>No one ever seemed to see or hear anything out of the ordinary, just find a body one day. :>Often in various states of decomposition, such that it was hard to know what had even killed them. :>Only the sheer volume of mysterious deaths led the local magistrate to conclude a serial killer was at work. :>Deducing that this was above his pay-grade, he sent for the Emerald Magistrates. :>The local magistrate would have fallen over himself fawning over us, were it possible for something that round to fall over anything. :>So I guess he rolled over himself fawning over us. :>While I contemplated the fact that there existed a human being shorter than me but twice as wide as me, with all the grace and speed of a drunken silkworm the Kitsuki tried to figure out what, if anything Blob-san could do to assist us. :>Being the genius that he was Kitsuki deduced that was provide extra bodies in the form of Yoriki should we need them. :>The Monkey and the Mantis, meanwhile were down in the seedier parts of town. Apparently the Mantis, like all his kind, was a merchant pretending to be a Samurai and knew how to deal with such people. :>The Monkey went along to bring the wrath of the Fortunes down on the Mantis, where it belonged. :>Our Water Tensai attempted to provide clarity at several of the crime scenes, only to find the local Kami had been chased off by something or other. So she tried some more specific spells. But something interfered with her magic. :>So now we know that someone, either skilled at magic or with a Nemuranai of some sort, was killing people. And showed no signs of stopping any time soon. :>Winter had just begun, so no one was going anywhere for several months. :>The hunt is on. :>Unfortunately, nothing was forthcoming from the underbelly of the city. :>The Mantis was convinced that someone from that side of the world knew something, he just wasn't sure who. :>I proposed a game of who talks first, but the Kitsuki was of the mind that a massive disruption to the underworld would create to much chaos, making it HARDER to find the one we came for. :>So we all sat around scratching our collective heads until the next body showed up. :>On an impulse, I did something I hadn't in a while. :>I prodded the corpse with a finger of jade. :>The body smoldered, smoke tinged with the old scent of burning taint wafted through the room. :>Everyone's face had gone just little bit paler as they stared at me. :>Looks like I get to take center stage again. :>Hooray. :>Step one, get all the Jade. All of it. :>No way to get a Kuni Crystal. :>Fortunately we're able to scrounge enough Jade I don't think we need to go hunting obsidian. Proposing that would have gone over like a fart in front of the Emperor. :>Alright, you two. Send the Mantis and the Monkey on patrol. Your mission is to DISCREETLY touch this small bits of jade to people's skin. :>Our killer is either using a tainted weapon, or maho. Or both. Or is an Oni. Whichever it is, if they've gotten spoiled because no one knows anything about unclean subjects like the taint, we might just get lucky and catch them this way. :>Pfft, yeah right. This is a stupidly long shot, but I've got nothing better right now. :>Naomi you know how to check for spiritual imbalance and kansen, right? :>I'm not very good with Earth kami, but I do know the theory. I'll try. :>Kitsuki, Shiba, you're going to get the Yoriki ready. Grind up this jade for powder, show the Yoriki how to powder their yari, we might need them after all. :>Uh, neither of us have ever done this before. :>Fuck. Okay Shiba you go with Naomi, I'll stay here with Kitsuki and show you all how it's done. If you find something COME BACK and get us. :>One last thing. No one goes anywhere alone. Not even to take a shit. Keep an eye on your buddy AT ALL TIMES. Yes, ALL TIMES. And when the groups come back into contact everyone holds up a piece of jade to bare skin. No exceptions. Shape-shifters and skin stealers are a bitch and a half to deal with. :>I got them moving before they could ask me to clarify what I meant by skin stealers. :>Ah yes, the other reason to make a Crab an Emerald Magistrate. Knowledge of maho and the Shadowlands is taboo, so most Rokugani are woefully misinformed. :>Misinformed though they were, the Yoriki still knew that Jade powder could only mean one thing. I did my best impersonation of my old Gunso and told them that if anyone of them spoke of what was going on they would ALL answer to me. :>The Yoriki decided to be more afraid of the Crab in front of them than the hypothetical Oni they may have to face and obeyed. :>Good. :>I was still holding out hope our quarry didn't know we we had found out it was tainted. :>Everyone gathered at the magistrate's as the sun began to set. :>The Mantis and Monkey had no luck, as I expected. :>Naomi, on the other hand, found Several places that were out of whack (she used some elaborate and formal language I can't really remember but out of whack gets the point across). :>We dug up a map of the city and had her mark them down. :>The Kitsuki realized something. Many of those places were at or very near where bodies had been found. :>Mind like a steel trap. Never forgets anything. :>He deduced that the places where Naomi found the disturbances must be where the actual murders had been committed. :>He studied the map for a time. :>I think I can guess where our killer will strike next. There's a pattern here. :>Good, good. Stake out time! :>In the middle of the night. All of us hidden in alleyways and rooftops. :>Monkey playing the drunken samurai bumbling about and singing off key. :>Left the Yoriki behind. Too many people. :>Still hoping our quarry doesn't know. :>Then we see her. :>My mother. :>Surprised hiss from Naomi next to me. :>What's my mother doing here? :>Look at her. :>You see YOUR mother? :>Yes, right there don't you see her? :>No. I see my mother. :>But your mother is dead... :>Yes. :>What does that mean? :>We should have brought the Yoriki. :>I knew what that was. It was an Oni that preyed on lone travelers, eating their hearts. No matter who looks at it, it looks like their mother. Worse than that, that damned thing had the power of Invulnerability; it could only be harmed by magic or the three sacred substances. Jade powder was only good for two or three strikes before it was all worn off. We had enough powder for each of us, save Naomi, to coat a single weapon. :>I don't think we could kill it with only that much. :>It's already upon the Monkey, who has no idea what's going on. :>Too late now. :>I tell Naomi to tell everyone else to powder their weapons and follow my lead. :>And then I charged at the beast. :>If the Monkey was taken aback by a screaming Crab beating his mother with a tetsubo covered in Jade powder he recovered quickly enough. :>The fact that I had thrown aside any thought of my own safety, something I almost never did, was apparent to everyone there. :>They all quickly powdered their weapons. :>The Oni, enraged, tore into me. :>It was not braggadocio when I say that I could take twice the beating an average samurai could. Add to that my armor, the teachings of the Hida Bushi School, and my own resistance to pain and I am a very difficult person to injure. :>I was barely standing after the Oni's assault. :>Naomi. Small, frail Naomi ran up to my side in arms reach of the Oni, to heal me. :>The Oni saw that and knew right away who it had to kill first. :>Thank the fortunes the Shiba was faster. :>The Mantis sank both kama into it; the Monkey's grandfather scolded the Oni. :>The damn thing was barely slowed. :>I placed myself between it and Naomi. Continuing on my with my foolishness I attacked with reckless fury again. Two solid blows echoed through the snow filled alley. And my jade was spent. :>The Oni seeing me in it's way chose to remove me first. As I hoped it would do. I steeled myself and made ready to meet my Ancestors. :>I looked up from where I lay, surprised I was still alive, even awake. My body, however, would not move. :>The Mantis and Monkey attacked again, but their fear held them back from committing fully. :>The Kitsuki knew what was at stake, but his skill with a katana was even worse than mine. :>And so his blade failed to land. :>Our Jade was almost gone. :>The Shiba took a breath, and fell into a stance as though he were preparing to attack a straw target in a dojo. :>Again, life poured into my limbs as Naomi begged the Kami to save me. :>My mind was blank, my body moved on instinct. With the speed of no thought I did the only thing I could. I warped my arms around the Oni. :>The beast was taken off guard. I knew it could break my grip with ease, but still I held on. :>The Shiba took full advantage. Swimming deep in the void, he struck with a blade that was still fully powdered. :>The Oni sagged in my arms and almost took me to the ground with it. :>They all sagged with relief as the Oni fell :>I had kept it's attention on me, for the most part, so I alone was wounded. :>But they had all strained themselves to their limits in that battle. :>But it wasn't over. :>NAOMI! We need pure water to cleanse this Oni blood off, NOW! :>Get to the temples, wake up everyone. We need salt, Shugenja, monks. :>I may have been going a bit overboard, but better safe than sorry. :>Evil is a physical thing. It seeps into our world from deep within the Shadowlands, where the 9th Kami fell. :>It corrupts everything it touches. Twisting once good people into mockeries of their former selves. :>It can linger on long after the original source is gone. Seeping into wood, even stone. :>The Wall is constantly under construction, because sometimes the bricks themselves become tainted and must be replaced. :>A tainted building could taint it's inhabitants. Such a thing would be very slow, especially with only a single Oni as the source of the taint this far from the Shadowlands, but it could happen. :>The Crab have methods to reduce the risk of such things occurring, and contingency plans should the worst come to pass. :>The rest of Rokugan does not trouble itself with such unclean things. :>Excessive countermeasures it is then. :>I supervised the Eta as they boxed up the Oni's corpse. We took it outside the city walls and burned it downwind from the city :>As I watched the smoke drift away I remembered the story of Oni no Satsujinku with a shudder. :>I then had Naomi check myself and all the Eta for taint. I was glad none were infected, if only because I didn't want to have to behead one in front of her. :>Head back to meet up with everyone. :>Something is nagging at me. :>Run through everything I know about Yamuba again. :>Invulnerable. :>Looks like your mother; good at infiltrating the Empire. :>Prays on lone travelers and children. :>Eats hearts. :>... :>Shit. :>Kitsuki-san, was there any mention of the victims missing their hearts? :>No, the reports were sparse on gory details. All they said was that the bodies were decomposed. Our last victim, however still had theirs. :>And no children have been killed? :>By the Fortunes no! :>We're not done yet. :>Sea of blank faces :>Yamuba, that's what that Oni we fought are called, they're cowards. It's true they're invulnerable, but they attack from ambush, they prey on children. And they eat hearts. They DON'T drain chi and leave a withered husk like we've been finding, and they aren't as dangerous in combat as the one we faced. :>The Monkey was the one to ask what all that meant. :>When an Oni summoned, it must be given a Name. It must be Name owned by the summoner, or surrendered voluntarily by someone else. The Oni then subsists on the chi of the person whose Name it bears. It grows stronger, gains new powers. :>We have to find the Maho-Tsukai that summoned it. :>Now the Mantis spoke up. How in the hell are we even supposed to do that? Wait for them to do something else? They're just going to lay low and slip out once winter is over! :>No, there IS a way. :>As I said, the Oni DRAINS the chi of the person whose name it holds. It sickens them, taints them even. At the very least, their spirit would be so disrupted that they would have extreme mood swings. And that Oni had grown very strong. :>We need only find someone who has taken ill. :>The Mantis went back to his seedy fellows, asking after anyone with a sudden turn of ill health. :>The Kitsuki, now with the job of babysitting our Jinx, did the same with the higher placed members of society :>Some monks take mercy too far. They are willing to hide the tainted, give them tea of Jade Petals. They think it is possible to restore the spiritual balance of a tainted person the way they would fix any other imbalance. :>I told Naomi this, and asked her to check all the temples. The Shiba went with her. She was kind, he could be firm. :>I wandered the streets. :>I checked out teahouses, restaurants, inns, bath houses and brothels. :>Every place I could think of to find a Witch Hunter. :>I was taking another long shot, hoping against hope that someone more suited to this task may be in the City. :>While I was well versed in the creatures and dangers of the Shadowlands, I knew only enough about Maho to recognize it when I see it. :>I had already exhausted my knowledge on the subject, and it was only due to my familiarity with Oni that I knew even that much. :>Of course, I was also deliberately moving alone, and being visible. :>The Tsukai would know their Oni was dead. Being the Crab, it would naturally make me the biggest threat. :>A Crab must be strong, so that all of Rokugan can take shelter behind them. I knew my Duty. :>I failed to find any one who could help, and the Tsukai, wherever they were, did not take my bait. :>The Kitsuki learned nothing. :>Naomi found no temples hiding our quarry. :>The Mantis though came through. :>Though he adamantly refuse to disclose how he came by this information, the boss of the City's only gang had indeed taken ill. :>The Kitsuki tapped his fan to his lips at that. :>Of course, we had no idea where the boss was. :>But Blob-san did indeed know of a restaurant the gang used as a front. :>So we gathered the Yoriki, stormed into the place, and played who talks first. :>The Shiba took the head of the winner with a quick, smooth cut. The losers were taken back to Magistrates to await a less pleasant end. :>Naomi ran outside to throw up. :>We had always done our best to shield her from the harsher truths about keeping the Emperor's laws, but we were just too pressed for time to do so now. :>There was no telling what a cornered Tsukai might do, we HAD to catch him as quickly as possible. :>Racing through the streets we made it to the Inn run by the gang where the boss was hiding :>I stormed through the rice paper door on the outside, tetsubo in hand, not even bothering to open it :>The silence was deafening :>There was dust on the floor. :>Only a few tracks in and out. :>Hear a rattling wheeze from in the back. :>I am here :>Okay, he's inviting us in? :>What's he planning? :>With the Yoriki surrounding the place we moved in. :>A wasted husk that might have once been human laid on a futon. :>I'd seen zombies that looked healthier. :>Please, please kill me. :>A bony hand attached to an arm so emaciated it was practically skeletal raised up, beseeching us to end it. :>Summoning an Oni is never a good idea. I guess you see that now. :>I did not. :>Why lie at this point. :>I did not. :>The Kitsuki stepped in. :>Ishigaki-san. You said an Oni must be given a name, but you suggested it does not have to the name of it's summoner, correct? :>Yeah, if someone can be tricked into giving up their name willingly, or if you own the Name you're giving. :>Own? :>Uh-huh. Yeah, a Lord owns the lives of their Samurai, so they could give an Oni the name of one of their vassals, or if a Tsukai saved the life of another person... :>Like, say, a corrupt magistrate NOT executing a criminal he caught in exchange for a cut? Would that work? :>... :>... :>... :>...MOTHERFUCKER. :>We raced back to the Magistrate's. :>And walked into hell. :>While we were gone Blob-san had taken it upon himself to do his job and execute all the gang members we captured. :>Now the courtyard was full of porcelain masks. :>We venerate our Ancestors with every thought and deed. Our souls are born into this world, we live, learn and die. Emma-O then sends our souls to another realm to shed any negative Kharma before we are reborn. If we do it right, we're reborn into a higher social caste, and if we get THAT right, we get to dwell in Yomi, becoming one of the blessed Ancestors ourselves. :>Undeath flies in the face of both those things. Cheating Kharma, and turning your own Ancestors into abominations. :>There is nothing more abhorrent. :>Should you touch dead flesh, and then perish unclean, you will reborn as an Eta. :>To fight the undead, you must risk your very place in the Celestial Order. :>And so it was little surprise that I, and I alone, was unmoved by this ghastly scene. :>Fortunately, zombies are slow, shambling and weak. :>They ARE difficult to put down for good; you must destroy their head or remove their mask. They feel no pain, hunger, thirst, or fatigue. A severed hand will drag itself with its fingertips and try to grasp and claw. :>And as I said, they are TERRIFYING to all right thinking Rokugani. :>As an obstacle, they are a fine choice. :>The Yoriki were useless, half of them couldn't even keep a grip on their Yari. Some ran, others were too frightened even to do that. More than a few soiled themselves. :>My companions were little better off. :>I could see the white knuckle grip of the Shiba, trying and failing to draw courage from his Grandfather's soul. :>The Monkey and the Kitsuki stared with mouths open. Blades forgotten in their saya. :>Naomi's legs gave out. :>A sheen of sweat glistened on the Mantis' brow as he readied his Kama. :>For once I couldn't bring myself to mock him :>I felt no fear; fear is a sin after all. :>The magistrates office had a wall running all around it, with an opening in the front for a gate. :>Just past the gate was the courtyard. :>One of the zombies had fallen into the koi pond. :>I took my place in the center of the open gate, and I readied a Kata taught by the Hida bushi school. :>I would not be moved, no enemy would pass me. I would become a wall myself. :>The grim tide surged at me. :>I was surrounded instantly, the rotting things clawing and scrabbling, trying to find purchase on my armor. :>They could not. :>I paused just long enough to wonder at my serene calm, before I methodically began to raise my Tetsubo and strike. The masks which gave them life acting as targets. :>Through sheer weight of numbers, the undead were able to get past my armor, but the wounds were little more than shallow scrapes. I knew I would win eventually, even if I had to do this all alone. It was only a matter of time. :>But then my allies rallied themselves and joined me. :>Then something amazing happened. :>A torrent of water rushed past me, bowling over a half dozen zombies and tearing great chunks off of them. :>My Hana-chan, who had never so much as spoken a cross word in all the time I'd known her, was standing there with a scroll in her hand and a snarl on her face. :>It would seem spitting in the face of the Celestial Order was where she drew the line. :>THAT served to prod even the Yoriki that remained into motion. :>Eyes wide with fear, tears and snot running down their faces, they nonetheless took up their Yari and charged. :>Impaling the zombies on the points of their lances, two or three Yoriki would push a zombie to the ground while another or one of my companions stepped in to finish it. :>We cleared out the courtyard. :>Inside we found Blobtsukai-san. :>And we saw what he had been buying time to do. :>Many Tsukai, upon summoning an Oni, get a fairly random result. Often a thing that has yet to ever walk in Ningen-do. The oni then takes its name and grows in power until the one whose name it bears is consumed. :>But a tsukai with knowledge or skill can call forth an Oni that already exists, getting exactly what they want. :>Blobtuskai-san had called forth a replacement for the Yamuba we killed. :>It was an Oni no Tsubaru spawn. How fitting. :>NOW TAKE MY NAME DEMON, AND SLAY THESE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO HARM ME! :>Oni no Blobtsukai-san teleported over to us. :>We took to long getting here. Now we were staring down another invulnerable Oni, this one a true monster that would swallow us whole, damning our very souls to an eternity of torment in it's sizeable gut. :>I waved the others to step back, and struck it with my Tetsubo. No effect, of course. :>It reached out with it's massive claws to seize me. :>I let it. :>I then took the finger of jade I always wore around my neck, held it between my fingers, and punched the Oni. Driving the jade right :into its eye. :>I did it again. :>Oni no Tsubaru spawn are too fat to move around on their own. They teleport themselves. :>They must be able to see where they are going. :>As all eyes turned stared at this turn, the Monkey ran up behind the slightly less fat fuck and put an end to him once and for all. :>As we were in the magistrates office, all the jade powder we had prepared was readily available. :>It took some time, with us darting in and out of the thing's reach, but being blinded it could not catch us, nor run away. :>Two Oni in one day. Not a bad day's work. :>Of course there were still questions that needed to be answered. :>How long had Blobtsukai-san been a Maho-Tsukai? :>Where did he get such knowledge in the first place? :>Why the hell would he call for people to come investigate his own crimes? :>And why were ALL the bodies dessicated? Even if the Yamuba had gained the power to drain chi, that would have taken time. It would have eaten hearts until then, or perhaps even continued to do so. :>As we sat around a teapot, mulling over these questions, a memory stirred. :>There was another time when we "solved" a case without getting all the answers. :>We never did find the Ninja that tricked the teahouse girl into drugging me, nor find out why the hell they would even do that to begin with. :>The Mantis snorted, insisting that there were bound to be times things like that happened. :>The Monkey, more politely, agreed that I was overthinking things. :>Naomi just blushed at the memory. :>Meanwhile the Kitsuki was practically chewing on the end of his fan, and staring at nothing. :>I knew his mannerisms enough that I could spot when he was thinking, and he was thinking as hard as I'd ever seen right now. :>In the end, we did find two scrolls bearing maho on them. :>One for the ritual to summon an Oni, and the other for calling forth the undead. :>Nothing to explain the unnatural desiccation. :>We reluctantly concluded that Blobtuskai-san called for Emerald Magistrates as an alibi, a way to preemptively clear himself of any suspicion in this matter. :>Long ago, when he was still a Yoriki himself, he had caught the man who would become boss of the gang. :>Blobtuskai-san made the boss an offer. I let you go, you give me intel on the gangs. :>And so the corrupt Yoriki rose to prominence with the help of his inside man. He became the magistrate, and used the powers of his office to remove the former leaders of the gang, placing his pawn in charge. :>He then cracked down on all the rival gangs, until only one gang ruled all the vice in the city. :>And that one gang paid him tribute. :>The Kitsuki retired to go over all the old reports and paperwork, double and triple checking everything. :>He enlisted the Mantis, Monkey, and Shiba to assist conducting interviews with everyone even tangentially related to any of Blobtsukai-san's cases, hunting for the discrepancy that may point to the truth. :>I, meanwhile, took my wife on a picnic. :>Bundling her up in extra layers to keep her warm, we rode out of town a ways to sit and be alone together. :>She fed me slices of cucumber, served me tea, and snuggled up in my lap while playing a konto. :>It was just too perfect, too adorable, too soothing after everything we had just been through. :>I couldn't resist, and neither could she. :>The blood of the Fortune of Fire and Thunder in my veins kept me warm, and my body kept her warm as we made love in the snow. :>She felt the chill just enough that her nipples could cut steel. :>We snuggled up under a mountain of blankets and and our kimonos and slept. :>I awoke to something being out of place :>I was surprised that my first instinct was no longer 'grab weapon and smash' but rather 'Is Naomi okay?' :>She was, sleeping soundly. She would stay that way for a while. :>She had confessed to me that she loved the fact I was able to push her to the limits of her endurance, but also attentive enough that I never pushed her past those limits. :>As the fog of sleep lifted off of me, I realized what had woken me. :>Voices. :>There were people nearby :>I slid myself slowly on top of Naomi, just in case someone had the bright idea to stab into our little makeshift tent, and listened. :>Damn looks like they ate all the food already. :>Shit. Slim pickings this winter. :>We could take the horse, at least. Eat it, if we have to. :>Where the hell did they go, anyway? :>Bandits. Great. I guess it's just too much to ask for a nice quite fuck with the wife while everyone else is off doing work. :>Of course, just because life away from the wall had softened my rougher edges, I was still a Crab. I was never far from a weapon. :>As I expected, the sight of a 6ft+ man, covered in scars, with long wild hair erupting from the snow and brandishing a tetsubo took them by surprise. :>Oh, and I was still stark naked. :>I could tell by the looks on their faces that I had won. :>I began to teach them what happens when you come even a little bit close to threatening my wife :>At first, they were overconfident. Emasculated, but over confident. Then they struck my bare flesh, and saw that a true descendant of Hida can take a blow just fine even without their armor. :>HOLY SHIT THAT GUY NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THIS! :>K, grabbing you now. :>As the rest run off I pull the mouthy one in real close. :>I'm still naked, btw :>What did you just say? :>He spilled his guts. Wasn't much, but a dude (no name given, of course) had told this little band of thieves roughly where we would be, and that we would be easy prey. :>I made him describe the man as best he could. Three times, just to check for discrepancies, as the Kitsuki would. :>Satisfied, I spilled his guts. Hey, he's a bandit after all. We were just going to execute him anyway. :>Glancing back over my shoulder to make sure Naomi was still sleeping (she was) I nudged the bodies away with my tetsubo and kicked fresh snow over the bloodstains. :>Didn't want her to wake up to THAT mess. :>I got dressed, made a nice pot of warm tea, and woke Naomi. :>Thank the Fortunes she was still groggy and not paying attention. :>I gave her some tea to warm her up, helped her get dressed so her obi wouldn't be tied in the front (Only whores do that) and got her away from that place as fast as possible without raising her suspicions. :>The Kitsuki was excited upon our return. :>He had something. A small thing but he was sure it was important. A stranger no one seemed to know had been seen having tea with Blobtuskai-san a few times before the murders began. :>I pulled him into another room and, after swearing him to secrecy, told him what happened on our little picnic, and what I learned. :>I could hear the click form his head as pieces snapped into place. :>He called a meeting, gathering us all up. :>He summed up everything we knew about our hidden manipulator, managing to gloss over how exactly he got the info I gave him, and then laid it out in plain Rokugani. :>We have someone, likely a Ninja and probably a Maho-Tsukai who has hated us since we first came together and is trying to manipulate events to kill us! Not only that, but he's probably connected in some way to our superiors! :>How do you figure that last bit? :>Because otherwise there would be no point to what happened here in this city. Any group of magistrates MIGHT have been sent. He made sure, it was US. :>The Mantis is less than thrilled at this idea. :>Which one of you pissed of the Ninja Blood Sorcerer then? If he had it for us from the day we met, he must have a hate on for ONE of you from before we met! :>Sure it's not you he was after? :>Or course not! :>Try though we might, none of us can think of any enemies that old who could do this. :>But the Kitsuki is right about him being connected to our superiors in some way. :>Time to start mapping out relationships. :>Stuck in the city we as we were, we were forced to rely on letters and the daring fools that would take letters long distance to begin laying the groundwork for our investigation. :>Otherwise the time was quite peaceful. :>I discovered my sweet Hana-Chan had quite a voracious appetite, much to my delight. :>Perhaps those long years of being starved for true love by her family contributed to this. :>In the middle of winter, the Kitsuki's sensei showed up. :>I walked into our new headquarters, the former magistrates offices, one day to see him doing a full dogeza before a white haired old man and getting a fairly nasty tongue lashing. :>The words YOUR ANCESTORS ARE WEEPING were used. :>Nope :>Not touching that :>I went to the kitchen to get some rice balls. :>When Kitsuki stumbled in, I proffered one and asked what the hell that was all about. Did he get pissed we were snooping on our superiors? :>No, he doesn't know about that so could you keep it down? :>Then what... :>He's upset with my Kenjutsu. :>Hah? :>He left from the Dragon lands about the same time you got back from your pilgrimage. He knows nothing about what happened in this city yet. :>But it would seem everyone thinks my Kenjutsu is horrible, and that as a magistrate I should be able to defend myself better. :>But am I really that bad? :>Ummm. You're worse than ME. :>Well, it looks like you all will have to take over the investigation. I'm going to be getting some "special training" from Sensei. :>...that sounds... :>DON'T. SAY. IT. :>I chuckled as I left. :>Time passed :>Sensei was pretty damn rough. :>I happened upon Kitsuki-san in the bath once, and he was covered in welts and bruises. :>If I didn't know any better I'd swear he was learning Mountain Does not Move. :>Apparently Sensei's "Special Training" boiled down to "Beat my student until he learns to get out of the way." :>You sure this guy isn't a Crab? :>Because these training methods seem familiar. :>The Monkey snickered at this. :>Maybe an Oni stole Kitsuki-san's sensei's skin! :>Kitsuki bolts upright :>Ishigaki-san, You DID say something about skin stealers, yes? :>Um... yeah. Bog hags are the most common type but some Shadowlands creatures can flay a person and wear their skin as a disguise... :>Would they still be vulnerable to jade? :>Yeah, the skin gets tainted after being worn for long enough, so the Jade will still burn. :>Later that night... :>YOU TAINTED BASTARD! :>SCREAM :>WHAM :>THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING :>I exchange a glance with Naomi. :>What the actual fuck is going on :>We rush to see what's happening. :>Kitsuki, Mantis and Sensei are there. :>Sensei is on the ground, clutching his abdomen :>Sensei's face is green :>Kitsuki and Mantis are looking confused. :>Explain this shit. :>Kitsuki-san, considering how strange it is that someone would set out on a journey so far and so close to Winter, and factoring in our faceless nemesis with ties to our superiors, came to suspect his own sensei. :>So a test of Jade was in order. :>Alright, so far I can see where your coming from. :>But why is his face green. :>Knowing that Sensei was also a Kitsuki, Kitsuki-san felt there was no hope of being able to do this discreetly. Sensei's eyes see all. :>So... why is his face green. :>Kitsuki-san and Mantis asked Sensei to come to the room being used as a dojo. :>They waited just behind the door. :>When sensei opened the door, Mantis used the element of surprise to throw jade powder at sensei. :>Then sensei screamed, so Kitsuki hit him with a bokken. :>OF COURSE I SCREAMED YOU COLOSSAL DUNCE YOU THREW A POWDERED MINERAL INTO MY EYES! :>It's true that Kitsuki-san did make logic leaps and conclusion jumps from time to time. :>But he was usually right, or very close to it. :>This time though... :>This time... :>Naomi tended to Sensei's injury as I helped him to his feet. :>As we were already touching, I went ahead and pulled him in close :>Conspiratorial whisper :>Look at it this way, you know and I know a real battle isn't like a Kenjutsu match in a dojo, right? Why don't you just write this off as him trying some real life trick to make up for his lack of skill? :>Sensei, clearly displeased by my arm around his shoulder, considered. :>Fine. take your hand off me. :>Whew. :>The rest of that winter passed without incident. :>Kitsuki-san's swordsmanship noticeably improved
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