Editing Memories of a Stone Wall (section)

===Act VII: An Unusual Request===
:>After an exhaustive hunt for just the right nanny, Naomi, Toshiro, Kitsuki-san and I headed north, into the lands of the Crane. 
:>We met up with Monkey and Mantis in a port city named Suitengu's Blessing.
:>The Mantis sported a brand new suit of full O-Yori, with such ornate lacquer work I wondered if it was meant to even be worn in battle.
:>Clearly, he had been making lots of money in the time we had been apart.
:>Oddly, his kama were the same worn ass peasant weapons he'd carried since the day we met.
:>The Monkey had put on some muscle since I saw him last. 
:>Hey, hey Ishigaki-san! I did it! I'm a father!
:>Jaws dropped, then congratulations followed.
:>The Mantis snorted.
:>How the hell did you pull that off, anyway?
:>Do...do you not know how it's done?
:>Don't be stupid! Of course I know. I'm asking how you managed to get your Hime-san to go along with it, you twit!
:>I didn't.
:>She just said she wanted a baby one day.
:>She's been nicer to me as well. Especially when mom is around...
:>So that was it.
:>Monkey's mother had been a Samurai-ko before she settled down and got married.
:>I had only met her once, but she seemed to me to be quite strong. Maybe not a great warrior, but one possessed of a deep calm. The kind you feel from someone who is exactly aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. 
:>Like the quiet you feel deep a bamboo forest.
:>I could see her calmly wearing down Hime-san's protestations with pointed logic over the year Monkey was on "pilgrimage"
:>Probably taking calm sips of tea, not even bothering to open her eyes.
:>I hopped my daughter would turn out like that, instead of an O-Ushi.
:>But considering how she was already acting, the later seemed more likely.
:>Naomi pressed the Monkey
:>And? Boy or girl? What did you name them?
:>It's a boy! I named him Tokichiro!
:>We stayed at an inn that night, staying up late into the night catching up with one another.
:>In the morning as we gathered up our things we were greeted by a very strange sight.

:>A woman lurched through the streets, lugging a heavy bucket.
:>Her hair was done up in a bun, but tangled strands fell out all over the place. 
:>Kimono tied in the front, with a shoulder bared.
:>Face painted like a geisha but all smeared, as though she had slept with her makeup on.
:>She lurched and staggered, and I could tell it was not just the weight of the bucket causing that.
:>Liquid slopped over the side. Yellow and brown liquid. There were chunks.
:>GoeeeeeeeeMON! yah bashtard! Get out ere!
:>Gots a nice gifth for ya!
:>It wasn't really our place to stop what appeared to be drunken geisha lugging a pail full of piss and shit from doing...whatever it was she was going to do, but our curiosity got the better of us.
:>Kitsuki-san asked a nearby fishmonger who Goemon might be.
:>That would be Doji Goeman-sama, great samurai! He is the magistrate of this city.
:>The fishmonger pointed at two large wooden doors forming a gate to a nice house.
:>He lives right there.
:>We arched eyebrows at each other. Now we definitely wanted to see where this was going.
:>Um. Should we not do something? She might get herself in trouble!
:>I shook my head. 
:>That woman is already IN trouble, and she doesn't care. Get in her way and we'll just become targets of her anger.
:>The woman stormed up the gate
:>And threw her bucket all over it.
:>THERE!
:>YOU THINK WE'RE LESSN SHIT, WELL NOW YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH SHIT!
:>She lost her balance and fell.
:>Naomi broke from us at that point and rushed to her side helping her up
:>Just as the gates opened and Yoriki swarmed out with yari.
:>Well shit.
:>I moved to interpose myself between the Yoriki and my wife. Unfortunately it looked like I was also defending the mad geisha.
:>MATE!
:>The Yoriki lifted the yari at that, and a man with white hair came out of the home.
:>That must be Doji Goemon.
:>He looked at me first. 
:>I had taken to wearing my armor and damn the social niceties again.
:>Did I miss something? Are the Crab and Crane at war again?

:>No, but I wouldn't be a very good Yojimbo if I wasn't ready at all times for danger.
:>You suggest that my city is not perfectly safe?
:>I suggest it's much harder to be surprised if you are always ready.
:>He narrowed his eyes at me. 
:>Besides which, it's just polite to wear my armor.
:>And I took off my mempo.
:>He flinched.
:>I see.
:>I tied my mempo back on and smirked.
:>While I had been distracting him, Naomi had spoken quietly to the geisha. 
:>Then he looked over at Naomi and the geisha.
:>And you? What do you have to say for yourselves?
:>Naomi produced the chop that was her badge of office.
:>I am a Jade Magistrate. Is it true you have been not been investigating the disappearance of several geisha in this city?
:>What business is it of yours how I conduct my affairs? How do a few geisha going missing have anything to do with the spiritual purity of the Empire?!
:>I would not sear you delicate ears with knowledge of unclean things. Suffice to say the servants of Evil have their ways.
:>If you will not investigate this matter, then I will.
:>I grinned behind my mask. Naomi may seem soft, but she had a core of fine Kaiu steel.
:>Her compassion could bring forth some righteous anger on behalf of those who are wronged.
:>And it seemed like we had, quite unexpectedly, gotten our first case as Jade Magistrates.

:>I leaned in close to Naomi and whispered in her ear
:>You do realize that the cause of these disappearances ACTUALLY falls under our mandate, right?
:>I do not care. If it is not within our mandate, then we will turn over what evidence we collect to the magistrate. He will HAVE to act then, if we do his job for him.
:>Fair enough.
:>We did have a right to go poking around, but we were definitely stepping on toes doing so.
:>I didn't mind stepping on toes.
:>Especially blue and white toes that smelled like expensive perfume.
:>The Doji simmered for a moment as he reached the same conclusion.
:>Do as you wish then.
:>The geisha looked up at us both, eyes wide.
:>She bowed.
:>Thank you. Please, put an end to this!
:>Naomi knelt down beside her.
:>We will, I promise
:>Enough.
:>The magistrate gestured and his Yoriki butted in, grabbing the geisha.
:>I grabbed Naomi.
:>I knew what was coming. No honorable samurai could allow an insult from one beneath their station to pass.
:>Leggo! I can walk on my own dammit!
:>She straightened up her Kimono as best she could and walked over in front of the Magistrate.
:>My name was Satsume she said, without looking back. 
:>Say a prayer for me, please?
:>Doji Goemon didn't say anything. He looked at the mess on his door, with a wrinkled up nose, then back at her.
:>She knelt.
:>And he drew his blade in an iai and cut her head off.
:>A Yoriki handed him a handful of rice paper squares to wipe his blade.
:>Someone clean all this filth up.
:>All of it.
:>Naomi gave me a quick nod once she had steadied herself.
:>Mantis gave us an over hear head jerk
:>We followed him.
:>What is it?
:>While you were busy antagonizing the magistrate and finding us work, I asked around the street. I know where ...Satsume, was it? I know where she worked. 
:>Lead on then.
:>The madame bowed deeply as we entered, at first assuming we were all customers. 
:>But then I walked in.
:>With Toshiro right behind me.
:>Ah, what is the matter great Samurai?

:>Kitsuki-san spoke up, his tone gentle to put the madame at ease
:>You had a girl by the name of Satsume, did you not?
:>She stiffened at the word 'had'
:>What did she do? 
:>Kitsuki-san related the story of this morning to the madame.
:>Oh that fool! Goemon-sama does not care about the plight of a few geisha! What was she thinking?!
:>Toshiro spoke up. 
:>She was hoping someone would notice, and investigate. She was right.
:>He set his magistrate's chop down in front of her.
:>We're going to look into this matter. We will need to speak with you and your girls, in order to get to the bottom of this.
:>Hai.
:>The madame clapped her hands.
:>Girls, girls come out here
:>Please, great Samurai, sit. Relax.
:>We did and a girl paired off with each of us.
:>They had sake, but only the Mantis drank. The rest of us asked for tea instead.
:>I was on duty, no sake for a Crab on duty.
:>The madame spoke first, informing the girls what had transpired.
:>Tch. Stupid little bitch. Getting herself killed and bringing attention down on us like that!
:>TATSUKI! Satsume gave her LIFE to protect us!
:>Tch.
:>Forgive her outburst, please. She is still in training. I will speak with her later.
:>Tatsuki wilted a bit at that.
:>Naomi, Kitsuki-san and Toshiro took turns asking questions, getting all the details of the events in question.
:>Two months ago, the first girl went missing.
:>I do not believe I am overly harsh with my girls, but some simply cannot adapt to this life. So I thought her just a runaway.
:>But a week later another one vanished.
:>Like clockwork. One a week.
:>For two months.
:>We asked after suspicious customers, but there were none.
:>Or, at least none of the women were inclined to speak of the Samurai that came to visit them.
:>With eight girls gone there wasn't a single customer that they had all been entertaining either.
:>Monkey suggested a local peasant. Someone who could not afford to come.
:>They DID have a few of those. Three brothers, Isaku, Nisaku, and Sansaku.
:>Our first lead.

:>The three little saku's were all fishermen, so we went down to the docks to wait for them to come in with their day's catch.
:>Following the adage of “a net cast wide catches more fish”, the Mantis spoke to yet more peasants, seeing if anyone had anything else to say about the disappearances of the Geisha.
:>They did not.
:>However, one old man, his back bent with age, mending a net mentioned that other people had vanished without a trace BEFORE the geisha.
:>For nearly a year.
:>Before the geisha, it was fishermen. And it was 'only' one a month. 
:>A younger fellow salting fish and setting them out to dry pipped up.
:>Don't listen to old Kisuke there, people fall from their boats and drown all the time.
:>It's no great mystery what happened.
:>Hrm. I wondered about that.
:>The three little Saku's came ashore nets full to bursting.
:>They looked horrifying similar. Bulbous noses and thick fat bodies. I realized I would have a hard time telling them apart.
:>Kitsuki-san addressed them. Isaku, Nisaku, Sansaku?
:>They looked surprised, then bowed.
:>Hai, great samurai!
:>We split them up and began to question them.
:>Kitsuki-san gave us all a script to work with, basic things about their lives and daily activities.
:>I played bad magistrate to Naomi's good magistrate, the Mantis and Toshiro took another one, and Kitsuki-san questioned the third with the Monkey.
:>None of the questions would yield anything of note to the investigation. The point of the first round was to see who might be lying..
:>After we had read off our scripts we met back up to compare notes.
:>So far, all three answered the questions in the same way.
:>Kitsuki-san scowled. are these the EXACT things they said?
:>Toshiro had taken notes, he nodded.
:>So had I.
:>He scowled. Their responses are identical.
:>Hah?
:>When asked a question, each responded in the exact same way.
:>Three brothers. Unmarried. Living together. And they took great pains to make it as difficult to tell one apart from the other as possible.

:>Kitsuki-san, the Mantis, and I searched their house. Naomi checked with magic. 
:>Toshiro and the Monkey kept an eye on them as the bowed, waiting for us to finish.
:>Nothing. 
:>We tested them with jade.
:>Nope.
:>Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
:>So we spoke to their neighbors, and those around town. 
:>We had asked about their daily activities over the last few months, if we could catch them in a lie...
:>But no. All we learned was that they had an unsavory reputation.
:>When pressed as to the nature of this, it was nothing in specific. They were just...odd.
:>Aside from the fact that no one was sure which one they were dealing with, they largely kept to themselves. Speaking only to sell their fish, or when spoken to.
:>We set the Monkey on our three little Saku's, tailing them and observing.
:>The rest of us ate, I decided to grab a bath.
:>While the Monkey tailed the Saku brothers, I decided to stay up all night and keep watch over the Geisha house. Discreetly. Kitsuki-san had wondered if they were all in on it, or just one, since they were so hard to tell apart.
:>He assured us he could though.
:>There are small mannerisms unique to each. They are very subtle, though.
:>So there was no easy way. You'd have to look closely when the right situation presented itself, to see their individual tics.
:>This was proving to be quite difficult.

:>I treated myself to a couple sticks of dango after my bath.
:>In keeping with my tradition of attempting long shots on the off chance they pay off, I asked the owner of the bath house about the Saku brothers.
:>Hrm. Them.
:>I only allow them to come here because the smell would drive us all mad otherwise.
:>Ohho.
:>Seems this shot in the dark had hit something.
:>So I asked him how they had managed to get under his skin.
:>I've caught them peeping on the women's bath several times.
:>All three?
:>No, one at a time. That way they can cover for each other by all denying it! Twins are born sharing a soul, but triplets? Eh, I think maybe there is not enough soul to go around for three.
:>Pleased with myself for finding something new, I got one more stick of dango and headed back to the inn to let everyone know what I had learned.
:>And got stabbed in the back.
:>As I turned down an alleyway to head for the inn, a peasant pulled a tanto from their robe and rushed me.
:>I heard the draw, but spun too late.
:>Fortunately I'm a thick Crab, and the tanto didn't penetrate very deep.
:>I spun and jabbed the peasant in the neck with my dango skewer.
:>He was wearing a mask around his face. I could tell by his build he wasn't one of the Saku's.
:>What in the fuck is going on here?
:>He tried to lunge again, but this time I pushed aside his wrist, grabbed it and wrenched his arm.
:>I snatched off his mask with my free hand.
:>I recognized him. One of the Yoriki.
:>No seriously, what in the fuck!?
:>He elbowed me in the stomach, hard, and I lost my grip. 
:>Didn't expect him to be THAT strong.
:>He took off, my dango skewer still in his neck.
:>I gave chase.
:>But outside the alleyway there were still crowds moving about, even though the sun had set.
:>Too many people got in my way, and I lost sight of my would be assassin.
:>Chikusho.
:>I made my way back to the inn.
:>Naomi was a bit distressed at my injury.
:>Kitsuki-san was more surprised I got hurt at all.

:>I was just careless, that's all. Didn't notice him till I heard the sound of the blade being drawn.
:>As Naomi eased life into me and healed my wound I let them know it was one of Goemon's Yoriki that stabbed me.
:>Great. Now that Doji is trying to kill us?
:>Kitsuki-san shook his head.
:>We do not know if the Yoriki was acting on Goemon-sama's orders, Mantis-san. 
:>Bullshit. Even if he never gave explicit orders, that Yoriki was acting on Goemon's behalf.
:>And the neck wound will prove that's the one that tried to kill Ishigaki-san. I say we confront the bastard with that.
:>Toshiro objected.
:>We've only got the word of the Yojimbo to a Jade Magistrate. And we'd be accusing a Crane.
:>How's your Iaijutsu technique, Mantis-san?
:>The Mantis grunted at that.
:>Fine then. I'll go keep an eye on them.
:>Mantis-san...
:>I know. Be discrete. I can take care of myself.
:>After the Mantis left, I mentioned my thought to keep watch on the Geisha.
:>But with the Mantis and the Monkey both spying on people, maybe I should stay here with all of you.
:>But the others assured me they would be fine.
:>Toshiro spoke up. Naomi and I can set up symbols. We'll just stay in one room. We'll be safe.
:>Be careful, Ishigaki-kun.
:>I will.
:>Since I was intending to be sneaky, that meant leaving my armor behind.
:>My intent wasn't to scare off the cause of the disappearances, should it show itself. But to catch it in the act and dispense with all this running around chasing smoke.
:>I found a wagon stacked with crates to hide behind, and settled in to watch the geisha house.
:>Samurai entered, Samurai left, and soft music wafted out into the night.
:>Of course the Samurai all wore masks.
:>Love is a thing for poems and plays. A Fantasy. 
:>Whether engaging in an affair during the winter court, or visiting a geisha whose contract you want to buy, you're supposed to be discreet about it.