The air was cool in the early morning hours as the travelers continued along their weary path, the uneven trail they followed zigzagged through the dense forest. Most of Japan, in fact, was either impenetrable forest or inhospitable mountainous terrain. It was one of the reasons why the cities were so crowded. The insects and birds provided the only sounds to be heard, apart from the footsteps of the travelers and the soft neighing of the horses some of them rode. A chilly breeze blew by as they reached a curve in the path. A large, old oak tree was to the right of them, its branches twisting as it reached upwards toward the sun's light. The leader of the group stood under a pine tree as he looked around, the trees blocking out the sun and the shadows on the forest floor making their dark clothing all the more effective. Immediately to his left, the broad path proceeded. In front of him was a smaller path fit only for travel by foot or on horseback, and to the right was the mighty oak. "Sempai (elder, mentor), which way?" the young apprentice in the group asked the leader. "We can rule out the smaller path. Witnesses say the woman matching Stingray's description came by wagon with the others." "Sir, how much of a head start do they have?" "About twelve hours from the time the clothing store was destroyed to when we went out after them. From the lone survivor's description of what happened at the store, she was no simple clothing store owner. That, and the fact that those we've questioned who saw her say she travels with three others..." "Any description of the others?" "Only of one; a gaijin with hair yellow like the sunflower." "Sempai, I still can't believe we accepted this commission after what happened. Twenty-two of our clan are now dead because that gaijin didn't give us the information we needed. We should've killed him on the spot after delivering the gun and accepting the bounty on Kirkland." "I'm sure we would've, if the gaijin hadn't offered the extra six thousand yen for Stingray's head and two thousand more for each of the others. You must remember, pupil, we are no longer under the patronage of the Tokugawa Shogunate. We must do what we must to survive. Besides," he said, his voice now getting deeper as a dark shadow crossed his face from a bird flying overhead, "There is the matter of honor. That bitch alone cost us seventeen o-niwaban. If we let such an insult go unchallenged, we would loose face. What kind of ninja looses a fight to a woman? No pupil, we had no choice but to accept the commission." "I... I suppose. But still, this won't be an easy job, not with a twelve hour head start." The master smiled at his apprentice. "You're still such a novice at this, aren't you? I sometimes forget that." "Sempai?" "One of their number, the boy, was wounded. The fact they no longer travel with him means he either died and they stopped to bury him, or they had to leave him somewhere to be treated. In either case, tearful goodbyes are never done quickly. That, and the fact that they're trying to transport a cart along this rut-filled path are both factors slowing their progress. Factors we do not have to deal with. By my estimations, we should be catching up to them any time now." Crossing a bridge, the forest began to clear as the sempai, his apprentice, and the twelve other Iga Clan members continued on their path. The trees slowly gave way to tilled farm land. A peasant was tilling the ground to the left of the path when he looked up and saw the o-niwaban. He quickly abandoned his till and plow horse in the field as he ran in terror for his hovel. The leader, making a quick motion with his hands, sent his apprentice to silence the farmer, just as they had silenced the witnesses they'd questioned along the way. No word of warning could be allowed to get back to their quarry. A scout sent ahead to search out information now came galloping toward the Iga Clan hunting pack. "There's a village ahead, sensei. The yakuza seem to run the place." "Yakuza? Hmm... Right, lead the way." ------ The seedy little drinking establishment reeked of beer, sake, vomit and opium. What good members of society were still left in the town kept well clear of the den of iniquity. Run by the yakuza, in the back and upper rooms one could find gambling, prostitution, and just about every other vice imaginable. It was a place full of pimps, yakuza, and addicts. All of whom turned with no little curiosity at the two young ladies coming in the front door. The one, dressed in a kimono with both a katana and dotanuki sword in her obi (kimono sash) and carrying a naginata (long wooden pole with a curved blade at the end) as a walking staff, was accompanied by a cute blond gaijin in western corset, heels and bonnet. The two walked past the tough looking thugs at the tables in the room over to the bar, the blond sitting down as the other woman turned around facing the room as if to guard her. "Two drinks. Sake. One for me, and one for my bodyguard Yamazaki here." "Miss, I'm not sure we should be stopping in a place like this." her "bodyguard" said. "Nonsense. We wouldn't have to be here at all right now if you hadn't lost the directions." "Ma'am." the bartender spoke up, "Your bodyguard's right. You two shouldn't come into a place like this. This place is run by the yakuza." "That's right." A nasty looking man with an eye patch said, grinning as he and five of his friends began to cautiously approach the two. "Bad things can happen to pretty little girls like you around here." "Miss, should I..." "Oh, Yamazaki, quit being so overly dramatic. They're working for my father, aren't they? They're not going to bite the hand that feeds them." The six men looked at each other confusedly before turning back to the two ladies. "Your father?" The one-eyed spokesman for the group asked. "Oh please, like daddy didn't tell you his daughter Nene Mason was coming to pay him a visit." Everyone's attention in the room was now drawn like a magnet to the bar. "M... M... Mason?" he stuttered out. "What's his daughter doing here?" an onlooker skeptically asked. "Well," she whispered to him so the others wouldn't hear, "I was supposed to be joining my father at the prison they have the emperor and gun locked up at, but baka (stupid) over here lost the directions and location of where they are." The man started to laugh. "You mean your bodyguard lost the directions to the Nishi Honganji Temple? Humph, some bodyguard. Your dad should've gotten one of us to take you there." Nene smiled. Sylia was right; the gun and the emperor were both at the same location, and the average yakuza was an idiot. "Hey!" Yamazaki protested. "I would've gotten her to the... Nishi Honganji Temple is it? Well, she would've been to the temple by now if..." Linna was cut off by the front door opening and a collective gasp escaping from the occupants of the room. Five large men dressed in black from head to foot stared out at the room's occupants from beneath the rims of their kasa hats. "O-niwaban..." the man with the eye patch whispered. "Answer our questions, and we'll let you scum live." the one in front said as he placed his hand on the handle of his katana, "We're looking for four..." he just then noticed Nene's blond hair underneath her bonnet. "You, at the bar!" "Chikusho (damn)!" Linna cursed as she tossed the naginata she had on her to Nene. She then pulled out the two swords as Nene held the naginata in a defensive position. ---Two Minutes Earlier--- Outside the bar, two observers from the woods were watching the tavern's entrance. "Do you want to talk about it?" the one asked. "You're damn right I want to talk about it! Why the fuck do you always have to keep so many secrets? Where did you get that gun, anyways? And why..." "I tell you and the others what you need to know." "Sylia, that's bullshit and you know it. We could've all been killed because of you and your need to only tell us 'what we need to know.' And now, we not only have to save Emperor Meiji, but destroy the damn gun (which, by the way, you should've done long ago), and keep ahead of the o-niwaban while doing it." "The involvement of the o-niwaban is not my fault." "I know that, Sylia, but... chikusho." She gasped as the ninjas went in the bar. ---Back in the Present--- "Quick, surround Mason-sama's daughter." The one eyed yakuza ordered. "Idiot!" the ninja in front of the others answered, "Brian J. Mason has no daughter!" "What? Why you little bitch, you... hurrkk!" He gasped out as Nene slit his throat with her naginata. Linna attacked the two goons nearest her before they could pull out their swords. She and Nene now watched as all in the tavern pulled swords out to cut them down. "Nene?" "Hai." "How many would you say?" "Including the o-niwaban, eighteen." "You take the left." Linna said, before leaping at the group in front of her. Nene groaned; she wasn't used to fighting in such an up-close situation. Still, the naginata had a long reach, which helped give her distance. "Out of the way, baka!" one of the ninja yelled, "They're ours!" Linna was beginning to get into a rhythm with her two swords; block with one, slash with the other. She didn't usually use such an aggressive fighting technique, preferring a softer form of martial art to the hard one she was now using. As blood splashed across her kimono, she smiled as she pondered that she was beginning to take after Priss in that regard. "I said move!" the ninja yelled again as he slashed at a yakuza in his way. "Wh... What in the fuck are you doing?" one of the yakuza asked as he brought his sword around to thrust at the ninja. The o-niwaban ducked underneath the blade, swinging his own in an upward arc, decapitating him. "Kill everyone, but save the heads of the two women!" he now shouted as the bartender wisely hid behind the bar for cover. Another ninja, after killing a yakuza and starting to walk toward Nene from behind, felt a soft tap on his shoulder. "O-niwaban..." a sultry voice said. The surprised ninja turned around, to see the silver Knight Saber standing in front of him. "Here, hold this." she purred, placing something quickly in his hand before running to join Linna and Nene. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he looked down to see... A lit stick of dynamite. BOOM! The o-niwaban, the three persons closest to him, and part of the wall behind him disappeared in one earsplitting moment. "Damn, Sylia," Nene said, "What is it with you and explosives?" "Stop, this is pointless!" an older member of the o-niwaban Iga Clan called out. All in the room held their swords at the ready, breathing hard and eyeing each other suspiciously. "If we fight the yakuza and them, we'll get nowhere!" he said. "We put aside our differences until the Knight Sabers are dead, then we'll..." Through the opening in the wall Priss now ran, holding her dotanuki above her head and giving a loud battle cry as she charged the room. The six yakuza and three o-niwaban Iga Clan members left joined forces against the now united Knight Sabers. A yakuza went for Priss. He went to deliver a death blow to the side of her neck, but before he could do so she'd already brought her sword down upon his skull, stopping when the blade reached as deep as the base of his nose. Unfortunately, her sword got stuck in his head, and before she could pull it out a ninja was already coming after her. "Shit!" she exclaimed as she quickly slid across a table and tipped it on its side, using it for a shield. The ninja swung down, imbedding his sword in the table's edge. Priss swiftly put her right hand on the back of the blade and swung her body over the table, kicking the o-niwaban in the side of the head. She then promptly pulled his sword out of the table and buried it in his chest. Nene was furiously engaged in an exchange with a yakuza. She was keeping him at bay with her naginata, while he was blocking her thrusts and jabs. As she was backing up a bit, she tripped over a body and dropped her weapon as she hit the floor. Panicking, she quickly tried to get up, only to slip in the puddle of blood underneath her. The yakuza, now toying with her, kicking the naginata away from her as he grabbed her by her now blood-stained collar. "Now, pretty little one, prepare to go to Meifumado (the Buddhist Hell)!" Nene, unarmed, did the only thing she could think of; she kicked as hard as she could in the male yakuza's most sensitive area. His eyes bulged out as he released his grip and fell to his knees. Nene quickly grabbed a katana sword lying on the floor by her and used it to kill her would-be assailant. The two remaining o-niwaban surveyed the carnage surrounding them. There were only four yakuza left, themselves, and the Knight Sabers. "What do we do, Shiro?" "We return to the clan, and report what happened." The two ninjas ran out the front door, leaving the four remaining Yakuza alone to deal with the Knight Sabers. "What the hell?" "Cowards!" "Oh boys..." Priss called to the remaining men. They took a step back as the Sabers gathered together side by side in front of them. "S... Stay back!" one of the last men said as he was backing toward the door. "Tell you what," Linna said, resting the dull side of her katana on her shoulder, "We can either send you baka off to Meido (the afterlife), or you can tell us where we can find the Nishi Honganji Temple." The men looked at one another, then back at the women in front of them. "Kyoto. It's in Kyoto." one of them said. Sylia smiled. "Good. Now... run." She growled in a low tone. The yakuza didn't need to be told twice. They ran like the devil himself was after them out of the tavern. ---A Short Time Later--- "Sensei, we had no choice." "If we didn't leave when we did, we'd be dead." "Silence!" The hunting pack's leader roared. Shaking with rage, he glared at the two o-niwaban in front of him. "You allowed three of your fellow clan brothers to be cut down by women. You ran in fear of women. Women! What in the hell kind of ninjas are you?" "Sensei," one of the o-niwaban bravely spoke up, "With all due respect, you didn't see them fight. They're ryu (fighting style); I've never seen anything like it. It almost appears to be a mishmash of suiyo-ryu, ninjitsu, and..." he was cut off, literally, as his leader decapitated him. The other ninja, in fear, turned to run away, only to run into the sword of one of his Iga Clan brothers. As the ninja who killed the second man swatted the blood off his blade, the leader called his apprentice over. "Hai, sempai?" We've run out of options. Take this," he handed the young ninja a scroll, "and return to Tokyo. We'll continue the hunt. You must go back and find... her." "Her? B... But sempai, I don't..." "You're not talking back, are you?" he asked threateningly. "What? No, of course not sempai." "Good. Things have gotten completely out of hand. We have no choice but to call upon her." "H... Hai, sempai. I... It's just that..." "Coward! You have the scroll, your safety is secured. She will not harm you as long as you carry the proof of your affiliation with the clan." "Hai, sempai." the pupil quietly whispered as he got on the horse offered him and took off. The leader watched his apprentice ride off, and then looked back at the two fallen ninjas. He had no choice but to silence them. From their descriptions, the four Knight Sabers were more than a match even for the whole hunting pack. If he allowed his men to know this, though, the hunt would end here. And the honor of the Iga Clan, to say nothing of the money at stake, demanded they pressed forward. He did allow himself a shudder, though, as he thought of whom he was sending his pupil to get. If even half the rumors about the wench were true, he was sending his young apprentice to make a deal with the devil himself (or herself, as the case may be). ---Meanwhile--- "Tell me again what we're doing here?" Leon asked. Daley had dragged him back down into the subterranean chamber under the ruins of the Silky Doll, and he was uncomfortable going down the now charred and rickety spiral staircase. "Stick close to me," Daley said, holding the lantern in front of him, "There's something I want to show you. Something I found while prowling around here the other night." "Wait, you came back here to look around alone? Do you know how dangerous that could've been? What if the roof had collapsed on top of you?" "Yes dad. Sorry dad." Daley said sarcastically. Leading the British army captain over to a back corner of the den, he held up the light to two pieces of graphiti scrawled on the wall. One was in a very common handwriting style, while the other looked more refined and controlled. "Can you read Japanese?" Daley asked? "No. What do they say?" "They're in haiku, a form of Japanese poetry. This one in the more uncontrolled scrawl says:" Beautiful geisha You hold me tenderly now And I am at peace "I see. You've dragged me all the way down here at twilight to show me love poetry?" "No, to show you this one written in the elegant calligraphy:" Sylia Stingray Leader of the Knight Sabers She is my sensei Leon's eyes nearly popped from their sockets. "You're bleedin' joking, right?" "Dead serious." "But wait, you said before this underground lair was empty, suggesting Sylia was planning on leaving. That, and the cart and horse tracks left in the floor, meant she'd planned it ahead a bit. If she knew they were leaving, why would she leave evidence like this behind of who and what she was? Was she unaware of its existence?" "Possibly, or she and the others were caught off guard and didn't have time to erase this." "The dead bodies and the fire." "Exactly." "Shit. Well then, where do you think she and the others are now?" "If you were a vigilantly, given the current state of things, where would you go." Leon thought a moment. "No way..." "Can you think of any other possible scenario?" "The Emperor?" "His kidnapping, if made public knowledge, could cause a war." "Yes, but there's only three of them." "Not so; witnesses say there's now a fourth one." "Even so, four on a rescue mission like this?" "I know what you mean. Let's get out of here and get some fresh air." ---To Be Continued--- End Notes: Terminology for this chapter came from a glossary in the back of a Lone Wolf and Cub manga.
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