Snippet 81: Lord K
A.N./ Curse my slow timing and the interruptions of life.
Just assume this is a few days before the GIANT ENEMY DUST MITE - ATTACK IT'S WEAK POINT FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE
Spoiler
She's on the bridge when Juuchi finally finds her.
Not doubt, after the last few days of being left to stew in her embarrassment, and the company of the odd student of the bronze raven feet, Juuchi has finally formulated her plot to reclaim her honor against her sister.
There are a number of things that tell Kagotsurhe that her search has been long and particularly focused. A subtly flavored hints of satisfaction upon her sister's discovery of her, quelling the mild irritation that had previously been building. The lateness, towards the end of a class period, also suggests that Juuchi has probably been searching her out since the end of the last break. She has also apparently discarded her disguise of a child, if the length of her now heeled stride on the bridge's wooden boards, and the shifting of leather belts and heavier material than the normal school capes are any indication.
It also helps that she ran into Luna earlier, who just happened to mention in passing that June was looking for her.
And so, Kagotsuruhe had decided to have her little fun. No doubt it was doing Juuchi's head in to know end, wondering if her elder sister had somehow known she was looking for her and chosen this out of the way spot on purpose. Or alternately, if the Blade of Hopelessness was only gazing out over the grey, windswept scenery of the Scottish highlands in Autumn while wearing the shape of her 'usual form', simply because she could. Technically though, it was a bit of both.
"You've certainly been sparse today," observes Juuchi levelly. "You finally get tired of all the teen drama-fests and inter-house soap operas?"
Idly, Kagotsuruhe notes the knock of wood-on-wood behind her. Sensing no real hostility from her sister however, the Blade of Hopelessness, simply allows her back to remain turned. She is rewarded by the slight twinge of annoyance that colors Juuchi's emotions, undoubtedly in response to the older tsukimogami finding the scenery more interesting than her.
"I thought it prudent not to... 'overindulge', if you could could call it that." Still not deigning to turn around, Kagotsurhe shakes her head. "Rich and productive though this castle and it's residents may be, this is not the norm for my usual 'feeding habits'. It would not do to become
overly used to such anomalously bountiful conditions."
"Sure,' replies Juuchi dryly.
"I take pride in the moderation of my vices."
"Like Chisuheri?" retorts the younger blade.
"Chisuheri," counters the Blade of Hopelessness with bland boredom, "Adheres to a belief in control of her nature. I practice moderation. There is a difference."
The is an odd pause, that Kagotsuruhe can only take to mean Juuchi pausing for a moment to try and process her sisters words.
"I see..." she then finally says, only to then pause. "Or maybe to be more accurate, I don't really. Care I mean. As well as understand."
If Kagotsuruhe were anyone other than Kagotsuruhe, she's pretty sure she ought to be annoyed at that. Unfortunately, few people can give so little a damn as Kagotsuruhe can when in her natural state.
Behind her, the Blade of Hopelessness hears the Ten Thousand Cold Nights give an irritated growl. "Okay, on to more important things-" Hearing the shift of fabric, no doubt Juuchi making some large movement, Kagotsuruhe finally glances over her shoulder-
- Just in time to then react with lightning quick reflexes, as she spots, identifies, and catches in one hand, what Juuchi has tossed to her.
With serene poise, Kagotsuruhe calmly examines the slightly curved stick her sister has thrown her. It is carved out of some kind of old heartwood. Rather recently too judging by the dust and unsmoothed notches at various points along the length of the blunt and blocky shape. It is a bokken, about the length of her true form at her hip. Idly, the blade of Hopelessness notes that Juuchi has a similar wooden aid mirroring her own blade as well.
"Training blades?" asks Kagotsuruhe with an unemotional, yet curious, lift of an eyebrow.
"Why not?" says Juuchi with a grin, twirling her own sparring aid in hand. "With my kohai in Japan, I need something to keep my skills up. And who better to help me, than my
dear onee-chan."
The older sword spirit's expression remains unreadably impassive, even as she stares down her sister. "Sarcasm is unbecoming of you."
"Come on
onee-chan, just a little one-to-one sparring. No magic, no powers or abilities, no enhanced feats. Just pure skill and humanly possible swordplay. Don't you think you
owe me a little
positive sisterly interaction?"
"Positive for you maybe," comments Kagotsuruhe, even as her grip subtly shifts on the bokken held casually and unguarded by her side. "Direct combat is not my forte to the same degree as the rest of you."
All the younger sister does in response, is give a brightly innocent smile that is at total opposites to the slyness and poorly restrained enthusiasm in her voice. "I know."
Slowly, Juuchi raises her bokken, adopting a classic jōdan-no-kamae stance; sword raised above her head with the tip pointed back and the blade facing up, in readiness to maneuver and strike.
In counterpoint, Kagotsuruhe adopts a modified stance more inline with what she is used to. A one-handed variant of gedan-no-kamae or a 'fool's guard', with the point of the her bokken lowered to the ground, appearing to "foolishly" expose the upper parts of her body and baiting an attack that could in fact be easily parried or countered. Seeing the Blade of Hopelessness raise her free hand while keeping it close to her breast, at first Juuchi merely brushes it off as habit learned. After all, her sister's wielders were known to have often mixed offuda and magic with their sword play from a distance, and Kagotsuruhe herself made it no secret that she was primarily most comfortable at range in an even fight or until she gained an advantage.
Then, unreadablely unemotive as ever, Kagotsuruhe calmly
opens and closes her fingers. A universal challenge for 'bring it'.
Gritting her teeth, Juuchi glares.
Forget the fool's guard! She's the better fighter anyway!
"Fine then!" With the machine gun clatter of wood on wood, the battle is met.
Despite the surety of her defense, Kagotsuruhe is immediately on the back-foot. And yet in spite of the fact, the blade of Hopelessness shows not even a hint of concern for the fact.
With her empty gaze showing neither worry or tension for the ground she surrenders or the skill she faces, Kagotsuruhe weathers the storm of blows her sister rains down, often turning aside, parrying and side-stepping blows more than actually blocking them. To Juuchi's frustration, trying to put pressure on the Blade of Hopelessness is like trying to grasp oil in water. Though Juuchi dominates the fight, Kagotsuruhe controls it's pace and direction.
Even without her magic or aura, the blade fights with a disposition for subtly nudging their duel towards setting up for her rare counter attacks and tactics. Like a slippery eel, just when Juuchi think she has her sister cornered and up against the wall, the older sword spirit blocks an overhead strike from her sister, only to then use the motion to pin Juuchi's blade to the rafters above. A reflexive back-step to avoid a palm-thrust from the free hand of the Blade of Hopelessness, then inadvertently gives Kagotsuruhe the room to slip away, before letting Juuchi assail her yet again, now with the entire length of the bridge they already traversed, behind her to fall back across once more.
Where Juuchi is crushing power and overwhelming skill, Kagotsuruhe is equally reflective of her power in her 'mundane' fighting style. She is mercurial and unpredictable, constantly within reach and open, yet not. A style to fill one's opponents with growing doubt, fear and uncertainty of both their perception of her skill, and their faith in their own.
For Juuchi though, it mainly just pisses her off, as she rains down a flurry of blows that back her toward the end of the bridge.
"God! Damn! You! Stop! Running! And! Fight! Bac-GURK!"
Her irritation needled with pin-point precision, Kagotsuruhe now exploits the over-aggression of her sister with a punch to the gut while both their blades are locked. As Juuchi flinches and stumbles, instinctively she brings down her blade in another overhead attack to put some distance between herself and Kagotsuruhe, only for the Blade of Hopelessness to not just block, but then grab the hilt of the younger Muramasa's bokken with her free hand.
Growling furiously, Juuchi then locks eyes with Kagotsuruhe, only to freeze. Gaze empty except for remorseless, unfeeling hunger, the Blade of Hopelessness' frigid stare penetrates into her very soul. Fear blossoms in Juuchi gut, locking her in place.
Except.... the all consuming, nightmarish terror she expects to crash down upon her like an avalanche, never comes.
Instead, Kagotsuruhe unlocks their blades, and with a parting slash that juuchi easily blocks, even on reflex alone, the Blade of Hopelessness then slips around her-
-to once more place herself with the length of the bridge behind her, and available to slip, dodge and feint across while executing a fighting retreat yet again.
The
actress had
acted.
Furious, and more than a little embarrassed, Juuchi glares. Kagotsuruhe was still most definitely the inferior swordswoman when it came to pure kenjutsu when bound within human limits, but this was not the cathartic cake walk she had expected a sparring match/training session/opportunity to her rub her skills in her sister's face and regain her pride, to be.
As their bokken clash in another lightning fast staccato of wooden impacts, the greatest of the Muramasas grinds her teeth. With their full powers and capabilities at their disposal, this battle would have been over in seconds. Kagotsuruhe could not become invulnerable or intangible on command as Kyoshu could, and no matter what hardiness their creator had granted her, Juuchi was both newer and specifically enchanted to cut all that was in front of her, with only the most exceptional of human made blades of succumbing given sufficient time or strength of her blows.
Furthering her irritation as she ducks under an advancing counter-slash from her sister that instead turns out to be a feint into a sweeping low-kick at her knees, is also the undeniable knowledge that if a real fight between herself and Kagotsuruhe had actually drawn out this long, the Blade of Hopelessness would have won by now. Face to face was not her sister's style. Either there would have been somebody else running interference as Umitsubame had, or she would have only initiated the fight with a crippling ambush or a barrage of magic from range first. Hampering her foes and slowing them long enough for her devastating aura to find the chinks in their minds and do it's paralyzing work.
Instead though, at the limits of human capability they were restraining themselves to, they were both relatively evenly matched. Sure, Juuchi edged out ahead, but it mattered little when Kagotsuruhe
kept on running away.
"I thought you were supposed to be an actress!" she grinds out.
Kagotsuruhe gives a dispassionate shrug, idly taking a moment to nonchalantly inspect some of the cracks that have been growing in both her and her sister's bokken. "I do all my own stunts and action scenes."
Juuchi glares, bearing down on her sister with a flurry that turns into yet another frustrating game of cat and mouse. At one point, she finally seems to have Kagotsuruhe dead to rights after a kick to the older blade's gut inadvertently goes low and catches her in the groin. Her opponent cringes, but not one to pass up on the opportunity, Juuchi thrusts forwards with a riposte, only for the hissing Blade of Hopelessness to narrowly avoid her wooden blade. Putting some distance between them, Kagotsuruhe then levels a dryly unimpressed look at her sister as she completes her recovery. "This isn't a bar fight. Have some class."
Before Juuchi can come up with a response though, a sound then makes both sisters pause. A pair of new voices - male and female, likely teens, and nearing the castle-ward side of the bridge quickly. Likely a couple, 7th years enjoying a shared study break together, judging by the laughter.
For the shortest of moments, the two sword spirits share a look.
Then in sync, they clamber over the railings of the bridge and disappear over the sides. Shimmying down the wooden beams and trusses of the bridge, eventually the two end up inside the cage-like cantilever's that run underneath the walkway. Looking upward, Juuchi strains her ears, listening quietly for any sound the two of them have been heard by the youths. Thankfully, as the laughter and footsteps not only grow nearer, but then pass above them and begin to fade in turn, there is not sign the couple even suspect that there could be anything or anyone in the awkward structural jungle-gym beneath their feet.
Which is good, because Juuchi swears loudly, as something then slaps her completely unaware. Looking to the side, Juuchi finds Kagotsuruhe, hanging upside down beside her, in the space to small from them to swing their bokken.
The Blade of Hopelessness shrugs apologetically. When one's normal sparring partners are Akutoku and Norimune, one becomes used to receiving cheap shots or giving them in return, whenever they can until training is over or someone specifically notes not to.
Juuchi however, grits her teeth and furiously slaps at Kagotsuruhe in return. The upside down Muramasa swings like a pendulum from the force of the impact, but merely quirks and eyebrow in response, even as her cheek reddens. For a moment, the two hesitate, checking that the teens producing the increasingly distant footsteps above haven't heard.
Then the brawl really begins in earnest. Not even with actual punching and kicking, but simply an out-and-out girl fight involving a prestigious amount of slapping and hair pulling between the upside down Muramasa and her sister. Finally, after one blow too many that leaves Kagotsuruhe leaning or swinging just beyond her reach, Juuchi let's out a roaring battlecry of frustration.
"ALL RIGHT! THAT'S IT!" Backing up on the beam she has been balanced upon, Juuchi then charges forwards and tackles the upside down Blade of Hopelessness. Unfortunately, the combination or weight and momentum were not what Kagotsuruhe was expecting, as with painfully abrupt realization, Juuchi realizes she has pulled both herself and her sister off the cantilever the elder Muramasa hooked her knees over. "W-Wait oh
shit!"
"The events transpiring are not how I envisioned this day," comments Kagotsuruhe dryly, as they hurtle towards the bottom of the ravine.
No doubt Juuchi has a multitude of tricks for getting out of long falls, especially after living so long around western wizards with their love of broomsticks. Therefore, Kagotsuruhe decides to employ one of her own.
Darkness gathers about her form like gaseous cloth, flickering and flapping in the wind. Finally though, it solidifies into a tattered black cloak, which billows and slows her fall into an unnerving and unearthly descent. Ragged ribbons of material not quite between aether and unearthly fabric, coil and spread behind her like the ghastly shredded wings of something more alien than avian.
For the briefest of moments, Kagotsuruhe is an image of something out of the old testament, melded to a figure of the new. Equal parts terrifying and beautiful in it's unsettling glide, without need for either wing beat or motion in it's flight.
Then the Blade of Hopelessness reels and careens drunkenly, as something lands on her back and attempts to clamp a choke-hold around her neck, only to cover most of her face with it's elbow instead.
"Get. Off."
"You're not getting away that easily!"
"I am
trying to fly here."
"Well you're doing a shit job of it!"
"I wonder why."
"Oh hell! The cliff!"
"Where if I may ask?"
"Turn!"
"Your arm is obstructing my-"
"Left!"
With little option, Kagotsuruhe sighs and wordlessly complies.
"OH CRAP TOO MUCH LEFT! TOOMUCHLEFT!!!"
-------------------------------
Bruised and scraped, but with their pride (or to be correct, the younger blade's pride) more injured than themselves, Kagotsuruhe and Juuchi bob together on their backs in the lake.
Idly, Kagotsuruhe notes a broken bokken floating by.
"For what it's worth..." offers the Blade of Hopelessness after a lengthy deliberation to consider what might be the most diplomatic response. "You probably would have won eventually. Without our powers, I only have so many tricks and bluffs before you start seeing through or calling them."
Quietly, Juuchi sighs. "Let's be real. Neither of us won that."
Kagotsuruhe makes a sound of agreement as they float and stare up at the sky. "Truce?"
Juuchi makes a sound, as if discovering the particularly unappealing lemon she had bitten into, were even more unappealing than first thought. "Truce," she finally agrees through gritted teeth. "For now. Until we get out of this lake. And maybe clean ourselves off and re-oil our true forms. So at least until dinner. Or after."
"How about until tomorrow?" offers Kagotsuruhe with casual indifference.
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." Juuchi trails off and grumbles to herself, staring at the grey Scottish sky.
It would be an almost picturesque view, if it wasn't for the dementors occasionally lurking about between the clouds beyond the grounds at the opposite end of the lake.
Finally, Juuchi breaks the silence. "What do you make of them?"
Turning her head, Kagotsuruhe looks over to find Juuchi gesturing at the distant wraiths and looking at her oddly. "The dementors?"
Juuchi lowers her hand with a limp slash and goes back to contemplating the distant group. Most probably with thoughts of if she can get away with murdering them, and if so, how most efficiently. "You came here to use the things as spare parts, but you don't seem in any hurry to actually help kill the things."
"Why do work I can count on others to do for me?" is Kagotsuruhe's smooth reply.
"I'm being serious," retorts Juuchi, before calming her temper. "Do you... what? Like the things? Have sympathy for them or something? I've seen you terrify them and look irritated by their presence, but we both know you don't
actually feel anything. So what is it? Do you actually like them or something?"
"No," is Kagotsuruhe's flatly unemotive, but nevertheless firm reply. "I do not like them."
"Then how
do you feel about them?" asks Juuchi sarcastically.
The Blade of Hopelessness is silent for a moment, actually taking a moment to consider the rhetorical question anyway. "I am...
'indifferent' toward them, I suppose is one word."
"You're indifferent to a lot of things," comments the younger Muramasa dryly.
"True," admits Kagotsuruhe, "though I suppose if I were entirely honest, if there were any emotion of similar context or description to what I
think of them.... it is pity."
Blinking as if uncertain she misheard, Juuchi rolls over in the water and looks to her blank-faced sister in disbelief.
"Pity?"
Kagotsuruhe shrugs, or at least as best she can while floating on her back. "As near as I can discern from what people tell me of the feeling, and my rare opportunities to sample it in others."
"Yeah, well unfortunately pity is one of those things people really ought to feel towards you more often." The Blade of Hopelessness does not rise to the barb, causing Juuchi to snort and roll back over in the water. "Okay. Against my better judgement, consider me curious. Why
would you say you pity them?"
Kagotsuruhe makes another motion of casual indifference which Juuchi hears more than sees, thanks to the lapping waters of the lake around. "I suppose I pity them, for what they fail to be."
Juuchi snorts. "Why? Disappointed that the heartless soul-sucking monsters you're made from aren't as good as a you?"
The older Muramasa hums a noncommittal tone. "In a way? Yes."
With empty eyes, Kagotsuruhe stares up at the vast open sky above them. "We were born as weapons of war Juuchi. And yet in the centuries since our creation, we have each risen to be so much more than that, even as we both honed our arts in pursuit of ever improving our original purposes. I have been a blade of the Azi. A weapon and symbol of terror. A guardian. A Source of council and instruction. An unofficial family member. An Aunt and sister by blood shed in battle, rather than the water of the womb. I have been a wandering traveler, a shock trooper, and a professional thespian.- "
"Is this going anywhere?" asks Juuchi.
"- But I also know those same malevolent desires and that Sisyphean hunger which marks dementors and lethifolds alike. And yet in the almost half a millennium both myself and dementors have existed, I would be extremely skeptical if any have ever been born or personally evolved to surmount those instincts which chain them. Oh sure, they may learn. But at the end of the day, what motivates them to learn, is merely an intelligence chained to the whims of avarice and appetency. In a vacuum without any intervention, dementors could grow, feed, multiply, and die for over a millennium, and the world nary change. Tomorrow you could erase from the face of the planet every single dementor, and once again, the world would nary change."
"Except for the minor fact that 'prison guard' suddenly becomes a very high demand occupation," quips Juuchi. "Also the issue of you ever getting a spare hilt again."
"True," admits Kagotsuruhe. "But my point remains. These are not dumb animals or simple creatures. Yet they produce no great works. No art. No history or tales that they would preserve of their own choosing. There is naught built by a dementor's own hand or initiative, that shall ever truly say that they were there, nor anything other beings would willingly or in sound mind, mourn or find value in. At the end of the day, each dementor is no less distinguishable than any other, unless acted upon or influenced by an outside source in it's experiences."
Slowly, the Blade of Hopelessness raises a hand up, to emphasis her next point. "There could be a million copies of the two of us, each cloned and placed upon the earth in an instant. Enough of us to outnumber all the kyu guntos ever made. Meanwhile, you could erase every single dementor in the world except for one singular example. And yet, even in the briefest seconds after we are copied, each of us and our clones would already would be far more unique individuals than that singular dementor ever could be. Each of us would contain the potential to accomplish so much in a single human lifespan, while the dementor would surmount to nothing, even if it lived to the heat death of the universe."
With a quiet splash, Kagotsuruhe lowers her arm. "Even if I cannot fully grasp it on my own, I have come to at least understand and appreciate what it is to be more than and look beyond my desires and hunger. So to share so much in common with them, only to realize that without fear of them, merely just
exist.... it is
'disappointing' to comprehend just how intrinsically worthless they actually are outside of the terror they inspire and allow themselves to be used for, along with the fact that they will never grow beyond such a base nature."
For once, Juuchi doesn't attempt to formulate a flippant reply right off the cuff, and at least takes a moment to consider her sister's words first. "Well.... that's one way to look at it I suppose."
Briefly, she then winces, remembering the train, even if she doesn't regret it. "To be honest, I wouldn't care if they all dropped dead."
"And having been inside their heads, I would not fault you," says Kagotsuruhe. "To borrow the parlance, if such were to happen, 'then nothing of value would be lost'."
Humming in agreement, Juuchi makes a face as the two lapse back into silence.
One which the younger blade eventually breaks after realizing Kagotsuruhe has said her piece and the discussion is basically over. "Okay.... well, I think we've floated around long enough. We should probably get back to shore. If we float around any longer, the Giant Squid might either confuse our true forms as litter and toss us onto a beach, or it'll think our avatars want to have some fun with it."
Too Juuchi's mild surprise, something about her words draws a reaction from her older sister. Glancing over at her, the Blade of Hopelessness raises an eyebrow. "Did you just say 'Giant Squid'?"
"Uh... yeah, why?"
Kagotsuruhe does her best to effect an uncanny-valley frown of concern. "As in a creature of unusually large size, likely with big fleshy tentacles of a cephalopodic nature?"
"Yes?" The younger Muramasa now turns her own intrigued gaze upon her sister. "Wait, are you afraid of squid or something?"
"I do not fear things, let alone some oversized Ika-sashimi to go." Her gaze unreadable and blank, the Blade of Hopelessness ripples with darkness as she shapeshifts back to her cloaked form with it's nightmarish ethereal wings."However, I do have a
healthy respect for the great creatures of the deep after some of the tales Umitsubame has regaled me of her personal experiences traversing the open ocean in ages past."
Juuchi shrugs. "Well, you got nothing to worry about with this one. It's tame. It'll even play with people on occasion."
Briefly, a twinge of something almost like distaste then breaks her blank emotionless facade, as Kagotsuruhe rises aloft on her shapeshifted tendril-wings of shadow and cloth. "Unfortunately, Akutoku is our sister and as an actress, I am also unfortunately familiar with more than a few joking suggestions about some of her work under less family friendly pen-names. Therefore, I'd rather not take the risk of lingering longer than necessary."
"What?" Juuchi physically feels her brain momentarily flat-line, and then have to restart. "Are you... joking? Because it's kind of hard to tell if you're making an 'I've seen enough hen-"
"I shall see you back at the castle Juuchi."
Baffled, the younger Muramasa stares as her older sister floats away like some kind of horrific mix between a dementor, a lethifold, and an Old Testament Angel of the eldritch variety. Then she blinks.
"HEY! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST GIVEN ME A LIFT YOU KNOW! ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THE SQUID!" With an irritated sigh, Juuchi slumps and goes back to bobbing in the water, before finally starting her swim back to shore.
Well, today worked out
great. And Kagotsuruhe was supposedly one of the calmer and more sane members of their family these days. She couldn't imagine what kind of chaos it was like now that everyone back in Japan seemed to, in spite of all logic, get along with one another these days.
Even just a few weeks of being stuck with the Blade of Hopelessness made her ponder what kind of unearthly dumpsterfire life was like when you had even
more Muramasas living in close proximity.
-------------------------------
Spoiler
At the biweekly Muramasa family meeting (this time at Chisuheri's house), the Waterwitch Blade sighs. Underneath the triumvirate gazes of Umitsubame, Suisei and Chisuheri, Akutoku and Norimune shift.
"Okay, run that by me again.
You two got calls from Honjo Masamune"
Akutoku nods. "Yes."
"She wanted your help with some guy who was plotting to abduct magical swords with spirits. In particular, either Juuchi or Honjo herself."
"Yep."
"You two then roped Kagotsuruhe into this."
"It was a good idea," grumbles Norimune. "Crowd control, interrogation, and infiltration if needed, all in one."
"You then assaulted the building."
"Well....." mumbles the Unrepentant Blade, "technically there wasn't much in the way of assaulting since Honjo and her teen-Scoobies had already been through the place by the time we got there."
"You then found a Masamune in similar condition to Kyoshu."
Akutoku grimaces, for once not very flippant. "It was.... kinda worse than her actually. Kyo-chan can at least walk and talk."
To the side, Suisei's eyes become almost as sharp and cold as the steel that makes up her true form, even as she places a steaming hot rack of cookies on the table for everyone's consumption. "And you two let Kago cut loose on one of the men responsible for her state?"
Akutoku tries not to look like she enjoyed the fact and that it was a matter of seriousness. Largely though, she fails. "Well, he
was our best source of information available for what happened to her, and who better to make him ~sing~ like a bird."
"Or shit in terror like one," mutters Norimune under her breath.
Taking off her reading glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, Umitsubame continues. "And then, and then upon finding out the state of her situation and similarity to Kyoshu, you two volunteered us to look after her as well, should it prove difficult for Honjo make to make her own arrangements with the Tokugawa."
The Unrepentant blade shuffles in her seat. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Oh,
and you ran into Tonbo. Who none of us have
seen for well over a century since she stabbed Chisuheri."
"That about sums it up," quips Akutoku, who's fool-smile then momentarily fades. "Although, when we ran into her... she did seem kinda broken up and apologetic about how things kinda went down the last time we all crossed paths."
Starring at the two sisters who are supposed to be
older than her, after a long moment, Umitsubame reaches into her pocket and pulls out a potion flask. Uncorking the vessel, the Waterwitch Blade then begins knocking it back.
Chisuheri grimaces quietly. "No harm came to me, nor any scar that lingers. I have long since forgiven her for that night, and only wished for confirmation of her safety. As for the rest of this incident, you are lucky the Aurors were not involved and that you at least covered your tracks."
Akutoku shrugs casually. "Meh, even if we hadn't, you'd have to be an idiot to mess with Kago. You know how she is on the rare occasions when something
does get her blood up."
Norimune meanwhile, looks to Umitsubame and opens her mouth to say something, only to be stopped when her sister raises a finger in request for a pause while she continues to drink. Finally draining the glass flask, the Waterwitch Blade looks back at her sisters with a calm smile on her face. "Aside from the dubious legality of you two breaking into a house and then mentally torturing a nomaj for information on what is apparently either a survivor or emulator of Sub Unit-942's work on our poor sister that Jiromaru-san missed.-"
"In our defense," interrupts the Unrepentant Blade awkwardly, "This guy was looking for magical blades, was already working with a wizard, and was treating memory magics like they were punishments in the time out corner."
"Aside from all that," continues Umitsubame as if she wasn't interrupted. "I don't have any problems with looking after Honjo's sister if the need arises."
Spoiler
Suisei gives a determined nod of agreement. "The poor thing. My place isn't exactly wheelchair accessible, but until she learns to walk again, I'd still be more than willing to help out how I can, or during my breaks from work if Honjo or somebody else requested it."
Umitsubame however, now eye-smiles at Akutoku and Norimune.
"Now I have just one question.
Please tell me someone told Honjo's sister about Kyoshu. Because even if she didn't have her memory of recent decades wiped, it sounds like she was in the middle of nowhere, and I
really don't want to have to deal with her getting stabbed again for at least another year."
All eyes shift to the currently sleeping sister in question, curled up in the corner and mumbling to herself in her sleep.
Spoiler
Akutoku looks at Norimune.
Norimune looks at Akutoku.
The Sword of Corruption laughs awkwardly. "I'm er.... sure Honjo would have brought her up to speed."
Umitsubame facepalms.
"If I may point out," chips in Chisuheri with her own two cents. "The last person we attempted to bring up to speed regarding Kyoshu, thought that she had finally discovered the secret to brainwashing the rest of us."
"Oh come on, you guys worry too much," says Akutoku merrily. "Sure we've
all stabbed her at some point, but this Masamune can't even walk. It'll be
fine."
Umitsubame adds a second hand to her face, as Suisei pats her sister on the shoulder.