Brian J. Mason looked impatiently at the grandfather clock, noting the time. Where was he? He was supposed to be here half an hour ago with the necessary documentation. A knock at the door pulled him out of his sullen thoughts. "Mr. Mason," his secretary called, "Masamune-san is here to see you." "Good. Send him in." A small middle aged Japanese man with thinning hair and glasses slowly walked in carrying a pile of papers. Mason studied the man disinterestedly from his desk before getting up from his chair to come over to him. "Well?" he asked. The older man began nervously fidgeting with the papers in his hands. "Um, let's see. It wasn't easy to find, mind you. And it took much longer to dig up than I..." "Get to the point, Masamune. Did you or did you not find anything?" "Yes, Mason-san. Nine generations back, under Emperor Go-Mizunoo (Emperor from 1615-1680). One of Kiyoshi's ancestors on his father's side seems to have been a lady in the court who was cast off, supposedly due to being with child outside of marriage." "Was there any record of the father ever having been discovered." "None, Mason-san." Mason smiled malevolently at Masamune, "So it could've been Emperor Go-Mizunoo's, correct." "Well, I suppose anything's possible. But then one could just as easily argue it was the stable boy's or the cook's." "Nevertheless, the possibility is at least raised." Mason said more to himself than to the man in front of him. If he could raise the possibility that Kiyoshi was a blood descendant of an Emperor, even if illegitimately, it would make his plans much easier to carry out. "Any word yet on the location of the rest of the royal family?" "None yet, sir. We only know they are most likely under British protection." "Keep up the search. We need them eliminated, especially the young prince." As his lackey left, his secretary came back in. "Mr. Mason, sir?" "Yes, what is it?" "Well sir, we've found Kiyoshi, but..." "Let me guess; he's at Madam Shizue's brothel, right?" "Yes, sir. Shall I send for him?" "No, not yet. Let the drunken slob have his fun." "Very good, sir. Will there be anything else?" "No, not for now. Good day." "Yes sir. Oh, I almost forgot; a cable came from across the Sea of Japan. The ship with the weapons shipment should be here within two weeks." Mason's eyes lit up at that. He'd been waiting to hear those magical words now for weeks. Once the shipment came in, the profits from their sale to those yellow savages out there would put him over with the Genom board. And now that he'd seen to it that Rosenkreutz would never return he, Brian J. Mason, was a shoe in for Chairman of the Board. As his secretary left, Mason poured himself some more wine, sat back behind his desk, and relaxed. Things were going his way, and no one was around to stop him. ------ Priss was stuck in the quicksand up to her chin now. She was frozen solid, her body shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly, a dark figure started to rise out of the slimy substance in front of her. Her eyes opened wide in dismay as the shadowy kappa (water demon) began to move toward her. As she sunk to the point were her mouth was now submerged, the blurry, vapory figure slowly started to take on a human form. Now reaching a hand out to her, Priss could make out what it was. It wasn't a kappa at all. It was a geisha. As Priss reached out, the stunningly beautiful woman with the painted face took her hand, smiling at her as she pulled her with ease out of the deadly morass. Bringing her safely to dry land, the geisha cupped her cheeks in her hands as she came closer. She tilted her head to Priss' as she opened her mouth and closed her eyes... Priss opened her eyes to find herself sweltering under a pile of blankets. Linna was curled up next to her, her right arm under her head and her left arm around her midsection. Priss could feel their legs were intertwined as well. Looking beneath the blankets, she saw that her body was covered in a grayish-brown layer of dirt. As she looked back to the young woman still sleeping in front of her, the memories of the previous day came flooding back. Her Linna, her beloved geisha, had saved her life. She looked at her sleeping form, at her chest rising and lowering with each breath. As she watched, Linna's face suddenly took on a sad expression. "No..." she murmured in her sleep, "No..." Priss began to gently stroke her cheek, waking her up. Linna opened her eyes to find Priss looking at her with concern. "Linna-chan." Priss said, "Hon, you were having a nightmare." Linna's eyes teared up as she pulled Priss over to her, burying her face in her shoulder. "I wouldn't get too close to me right now," Priss tried to joke, "I smell pretty nasty after my dirt bath yesterday." Linna either didn't hear her or didn't care. "I... I dreamed that I... lost you, and..." she couldn't get anymore out. Priss began to brush her fingers through the thick stubble growing on her head where she'd shaved her hair off. If Linna were to wear men's clothes, Priss mused, one might easily mistake her for an effeminate looking boy. As she tilted Linna's head back, she smiled one of her rare smiles at her, the kind that made the former geisha feel warm inside. Priss brought her lips to Linna's, her beloved melting in her embrace. At last pulling back, she looked into Linna's eyes. "You saved my life." she whispered, "I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for you." Linna blushed. "You'd have done the same for me, my love." Priss continued to look into her beloved's eyes as she stroked her cheek, leaning forward so their foreheads touched. As they continued to cuddle, Priss remembered something. "Linna-chan?" "Hmmm?" "Where are the others?" ------ She slowly opened her eyes and looked outside the tunnel entrance to see that the rain had stopped overnight and the clouds were dissipating in the morning sky. Near her, she could hear the other two snoring. Looking under the nightgown she had Nene grab for her last night, she winced at the sight of her blood-soaked bandages. She then looked over to her two traveling companions, both still sound asleep. The Emperor had insisted on Nene and her taking the only two mats, and as a result had paid for being a gentleman by sleeping on the floor of the cave. As she watched the youngest member of her team sleep, she understood a bit of why Galatia had been so infatuated. She was cute, after all, what with that little button nose and those big eyes... 'What in the hell am I thinking?' Sylia thought to herself as she quickly shook her head clear of the mental images threatening to present themselves. Taking a deep breath, she slowly began the painful process of getting up off the mat and getting to her feet. Nene was annoyed to be woken to the sound of a puppy dog whimpering. Looking around sleepily through half-closed lids, her eyes came upon Sylia, and realized it wasn't a puppy, but her leader, whose stifled sounds of pain woke her. She watched as tears formed at the corners of Sylia's eyes from the pain she was undergoing as she tried to stand up. Alarmed, the young woman rushed over, giving her a helping hand. Once the leader of the Knight Sabers was on her feet, she allowed Nene to take her arm and drape it around her shoulder so she could use the young blond for support. "Nene?" Sylia said, trying to ignore her lightheadedness and pain. "Yes?" "Are you sure you telegraphed those two messages to British Military headquarters and the Palace Guards?" "Yes, Sylia, I did just as you told me." Nene answered a bit defensively. Sylia made a face as she looked again out the cave entrance. "Where in the hell could they be?" she asked. ------ "Where the hell are we?" Captain Leon McNichol asked. The four men had been traveling since eleven o'clock the previous night. They were working on two hours sleep in the last thirty-six hours (except for Leon, who'd slept an extra four after he'd passed out from too much sake). After being caught in the rain last night, they were cold, wet, and tired. As each was nursing his own hangover, Colonel Roland looked back toward his fellow officer. "It doesn't matter where we are. As long as we stay on this road, we're sure to reach them eventually." "If they're still alive." Police Chief Toodou added. "What do you mean 'if'?" Leon asked angrily, "We'd already be to them if you weren't slowing us down." "I'm not the one who had to stop every twenty minutes back there to throw up." Toodou angrily countered. "Gentleman, please." Daley interrupted. "Our mission is hard enough without our bickering amongst ourselves. We're only a few hours ahead of those fugitives back there, and now we have to save a group of strangers in a cabin along with the Emperor and Nene." "And the Knight Sabers." Leon added. Roland glared at him. "Captain McNichol, are you forgetting that these women are dangerous vigilantes who have openly broken the sword control laws on numerous occasions and placed innocent civilians in danger by their reckless acts?" Chief Toodou nodded. "Agreed. Once we meet up with them, the first thing to do (after assuring the Emperor's safety, of course) is to place those women in custody." Both Daley and Leon were shocked. "Are you suggesting we arrest them? After they themselves have put their lives on the line to save the Emperor?" Daley asked incredulously. "Yes, officer Wong. That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Toodou answered. "Look," Roland said. "You remember that fire at the Silky Doll, right? Most of those bodies were burned beyond recognition, but those that weren't were identified as ninjas by their clothing and weapons. Obviously a fight took place, and I'm willing to bet that those Knight Sabers were in on it. And what happened? The place burned to the ground. We couldn't even identify the remains of the poor owner Miss Stingray or her butler." Colonel Roland paused, sadly remembering the pretty young lass with the bow in her hair who always went out with her umbrella and always had a smile for him when they passed on the street. "The fact that the fire didn't spread to other buildings in the vicinity was a miracle. They're a menace, just as much as those they fight." Daley and Leon looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, 'If they find out about the note left in the basement, and about what we know about Sylia, we're both dead meat.' ------ The five horsemen rode along the winding path, passing the bottle of sake between themselves in the morning chill. "So what are we supposed to be doing again?" one of them asked. "Baka, how many times do I have to tell you?" a second member of the little group answered. "There's twenty-four coming here from Tokyo to kill Meiji and those four sluts from the temple. We're coming from this direction to cut off any escape route." "What happens if we run into them first?" a third asked. "Leave it to me." The second one said. "I can kill them all by myself." "Really?" the fourth one asked. "Look, just because you were able to kill an unarmed nun running out of a temple doesn't mean..." "Shhh, quiet." the fifth member of the group whispered, "Look at this." They all looked ahead to see what he was pointing at. There, ahead of them, was a wagon with a horse carcass still attached to it. "What do you make of that?" the fourth asked. "Must've encountered robbers along the road. Look at the way the horse's neck was cut." "Do you suppose they left anything behind?" "Let's tie our horses off at that log over there and check it out." ------ Linna was tying her scarf around her head as Priss reluctantly dressed, still covered in filth from yesterday. Making a silent vow to bathe as soon as humanly possible, she finished putting on her men's hakama pants, tucking her dotanuki into her sash as Linna was putting both her katana in her obi (kimono sash). They both started for the front of the wagon to go check up on Sylia and the others, when they heard movement outside. Linna and Priss both exchanged worried glances. "Wait here." Priss said as she cautiously turned around and made her way to the back of the wagon, opening the curtain and sticking her head out. There, outside the wagon, were five drunk men, the distinctive clothing they wore showing themselves to be yakuza. "Hey, lads, what have we here?" one of them asked. "Looks like a little tart." another answered. "I want first crack at her." "No way! Last time you had first crack, you strangled the bitch to death before any of us could have a crack at her!" "Well she was struggling." "Struggling? She couldn't have been more than twelve. How hard could she have been struggling against you?" he asked, referring to the one man's muscle mass." Priss' eyes narrowed as she firmly placed her left hand on the hilt of her sword, her thumb pushing the blade an inch out of the scabbard. Linna, hearing the conversation, silently opened the flap in the front, withdrawing her two swords as she crouched down in the seat behind the dead horse. The men, still unaware of Linna's presence, turned their attention away from bickering with each other and back toward Priss. "Hey bitch." one of them called over to her, "Why you so quiet? Usually most other bitches would be crying by now or begging for mercy." Priss surprised the five men in front of her by smiling a bit at the corner of her mouth. "Tell you what, boys." she began, "It's early, and I'm still tired, so I'm going to make you a deal. You leave the horses over there, turn around and run for your lives, and I won't have to kill any of you." The men looked at one another, then back to Priss, before they all started laughing. "Look out, I'll take her first." One of them said, lunging forward with his hand to grab her. In an instant, the wagon flap was open as Priss flew out, unsheathing her sword in a flash of movement. She landed on the ground just before her would-be assailant's arm did. "Aaargh! My... my... Aaaa!" The man screamed as his fellow yakuza unsheathed their swords and came at the woman holding the bloody sword. As Priss sliced through one man's torso, the one-armed man came up behind her, his sword withdrawn prepared to strike. A quick flash of steel later, however, and he fell dead behind her. "Shit! There's two of them!" The more muscular one yelled out. Linna swung both katana toward the nearest fighter, her left blade blocking his hand as her right decapitated him. The muscular one now looked to his only companion left standing. "Well, go ahead." "What?" "You said you could kill all the Knight Sabers yourself if you had to, right? Well, there's only two of them, so this should be easy." Priss held her dotanuki at the ready, waiting for the next attack from the two men left standing. As she looked over to Linna, however, she saw a strange look in her beloved's eyes. "Linna-chan?" Priss asked worriedly, thinking she might've been injured. "Linna, what..." "You." Linna growled, pointing at one of the men with the bloody tip of her right katana, "You were the one that killed Irene." The man she was pointing to suddenly became very scared. "What? Irene? I don't know any..." Priss turned away from Linna and her opponent to focus on the muscular brute coming at her. As he raised his sword, she delivered a swift, well-placed kick between his legs, sending him to the ground. "That was for the twelve-year old." she said as she buried her sword in his chest, pulling it out just before he fell dead before her feet. "The nun!" Priss heard Linna shout as she started to stalk toward the man in front of her. "You killed her as she was coming out of the temple!" Before he had time to react, she was upon him. As she forced him to block her right side, her left blade came around, gutting him. "Linna-chan?" Linna stood there, looking down at the dead body of the man who'd murdered her friend back at the temple, tears starting to silently run down her cheeks. "Linna-chan, it's over." Linna looked over to Priss, who was re-sheathing her sword. She quietly flicked the blood off both her weapons before putting them back away in her scabbards. Priss put an arm around her shoulder, and began to lead her away from the carnage and into the woods. "Come on, anata (dear), let's go tell Sylia and the others the good news." Linna looked at her love in surprise. "Good news?" she asked, now looking back at the corpses they were leaving behind, "What good news." Priss smiled at her, "The acquisition of five horses, of course." ---That Evening--- "Did you hear that?" Nigel asked. "Indeed I did, sir." Henderson said, alarmed. "Someone's knocking at the door." "Take this." Nigel said, passing the butler a gun, "Go into Mackey's room. Don't come out unless I tell you it's safe." "Very good, sir." Henderson answered, making his way to the young man's room. Nigel waited until he was out of sight before opening the door. He and the two men on the other side stared silently at each other for a second or two before Nigel finally broke the silence. "May I help you?" he asked. "Yes, well no. Er, that is, you see..." "Forgive Captain McNichol, sir. My name's Colonel Roland, and we're both from the British military outpost in Tokyo. You and everyone else in this cabin are in grave danger."
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