Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Oiran no Gaijin - "The Foreign Courtesan" ❯ Slave Law ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Well, I suppose that's that," Himejima-sama said softly, watching the young man walk away. She turned to Nicole, who stood right where she was, gaping. "Maa maa, darling, we'll have you fixed up in no time."

"No," Nicole said quietly, still staring at the door.

Himejima-sama furrowed her brow and tried again.

"Come on now, what's done is done," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "It's time to get you clean and presentable."

"No," repeated Nicole, her voice drifting. "No, no, no..."

She sank to the floor, curled up and whispering "No" over and over. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her mix of emotions - shock, fear, grief, and the pain of betrayal - would not allow her to cry. A sudden accidental shift of weight caused her foot to catch on her cape, tipping her over and rubbing another friction burn, this one on her cheek. Himejima-sama stepped over to the girl on the floor, looked down at her, and shook her own head. This simply wouldn't do - it would be evening soon and she would have to be ready for business by then.

"Yumi-chan! Saki-chan!" she called. "Come here for a moment, if you would."

Two young women came out of the hallway, both of them wearing off-the-shoulder kimono and giggling. One of them looked like she was a little younger than Nicole and one looked a little older. Their faces turned to polite amusement as they bowed respectfully to their mistress. Himejima-sama nodded her head at them and gestured to Nicole. The young women understood and automatically nodded. A new girl, and this one seemed like she was kind of special, being a gaijin and all. They knelt beside her and each put a hand on either of her shoulders. Nicole shook her head and curled up tighter, but they continued to pull at her. Finally, she went limp and the two of them half carried, half dragged her into the back, towards the bath house.

She's so different, they thought, looking her over.

Nicole jerked back up, hyper-alert, when she felt the heat of the bath house and felt the two young women trying to remove her clothes.

"Hey! Hey! I can do this myself!" she snapped, swatting their hands away. "And I'd like to keep my clothes. Is it possible to have them washed?"

The girls took one look at Nicole's pants and shook their heads in unison.

"I have to keep my cape, though, alright?" Nicole bargained, to which the girls agreed.

She stripped down to her underwear - they were all girls, so it didn't matter.

"And my underwear!" she snapped as the girls got a little too nosy for her comfort.

The girls giggled and nodded.

"Oh! We haven't introduced ourselves!" piped up the one in the mint-green kimono with orange trim, her speech casual and her voice chipper. "Atashi Nakajo Saki!"

Nicole bowed respectfully to Saki.

"And watashi wa Komagata Yumi," said the older woman, her voice musical like Himejima-sama's and her speech leaning on the side of formal. "Onamae wa nan desu ka?"

"I'm Nicole Barrington," Nicole introduced herself. "Hajimemashite, Komagata-san and Nakajo-san."

"Oi, call me Saki-chan," Saki said dismissively.

"You may call me Yumi-san," added Yumi, nodding sanctimoniously. "Forgive us if we ask a few questions?"

"Sure!" chirped Nicole - all right, she could handle this, just some girl talk.

"First of all, how old are you?" asked Saki. "I never can tell with gaijin."

"I'm eighteen, how 'bout y'all?" replied Nicole.

"Erm, I'm not entirely sure what you just said, but I'm seventeen next week," said Saki - it seemed she was the talkative one of the two girls. "And Yumi here is, what, nineteen?"

"I'm twenty-one, I'll have you know," snapped Yumi, poking the other girl, who "eep"-ed. Then Yumi tried to change the subject. "Saki-chan, I know you have the night off tonight, but I have work, so can we just get Nikooru-san clean and dressed?"

"Oh! Sure!" chirped Saki, turning to Nicole. "Bath time!"

"I could sure 's hell use a bath, thank you," responded Nicole, nodding her head in thanks.

She thought the girls would leave right about then and just let her take her bath, but she was sorely mistaken on that point. They averted their eyes while Nicole stripped down the rest of the way, but then they wrapped her in a towel and bustled her on into the bath house. She tried to protest, but she was more concerned with holding her towel up, which was scarcely enough to keep her covered. How in the world could the girls on Sailor Moon go OUT to a hot spring in only these tiny little towels? she wondered.

"All right," said Saki cheerfully, showing up with a wooden bucket full of warm water. "Towel off!"

"Now wait just a minute!" protested Nicole, clutching her towel. "Don't I get a say in --- YEEP!"

"Nope," quipped Yumi as she jerked the towel out of her hands and held it away from her, snapping it with a flourish.

Nicole squawked and squalled, curling up and trying to keep herself covered, but the girls pried her hands away from her body - she immediately snapped them back.

"Y'know Yumi?" asked Saki conversationally, as if this was something they did every day. "I think we're just going to have to do this the hard way."

"Proceed," agreed Yumi.

Saki nodded and Yumi hopped out of the way as she up-ended the bucket of almost-hot water over Nicole's head.

"HEY!" roared Nicole, clawing at her hair in an attempt to get it out of her eyes. "What the fuck!? What the bleeping hell was that for!?"

Saki popped up, her sleeves tied back and with a new bucket of warm water and a bar of soap in hand. Yumi was bringing up the rear, juggling an assortment of different-shaped bottles. Nicole, who had curled up again, trying to preserve what was left of her dignity, growled menacingly as the two girls advanced on her. Yumi pulled up three stools, sitting on one herself, giving one to Saki, and piling all the different bottles on the third. Another low growl emitted from the back of Nicole's already-sore throat.

"Um... Yumi? I think she might bite me," Saki said, giving Nicole a look that paired almost-disgust with almost-fascination.

"Just put soap on your hands and let her try," responded Yumi.

Saki still looked rather disconcerted.

"Give it here," snapped Nicole, snatching the soap. "Finally I know what something is. I can take care of this myself. Turn around!"

"You'd better get used to this, gaijin," drawled Yumi, hopping out of the way of a thrown wet towel. "You might get special treatment at first, but once you're one of us, don't expect it."

Nicole growled rather disturbingly and Yumi felt it was wise to back away. The auburn-haired girl growled again and Saki, who had been trying to poke her with a bath brush handle, jumped backwards for the sake of her well-being. A third and final growl and they were both thoroughly convinced that turning around was just the right thing to do. Satisfied, Nicole sudsed up the brush Saki had been trying to poke her with and started vigorously scrubbing her shoulders. The real boar bristles were stiff but yielding and they left her skin rather pinched-feeling and red. She supposed she would get used to it until she could find her way to a better situation.

Next came scrubbing her legs. She wished she could have somehow had her razor get warped through time with her, because being the cultured Western girl she was, she needed to do a little maintenance. Then a chill ran down her spine - the Japanese knew just about everything about hair removal... Her teeth clenched and she gave an involuntary twitch - shaving and doing it herself was fine, but she was a little leery of waxing and a lot leery of... Well, you know... She continued down her legs and started on her feet - she hated her feet. Because of all the walking she did, well, she just didn't like them, let's leave it at that. The boar bristles were good exfoliators though... Finally, she twisted her arm around, held her hair out of the way, and started scrubbing her back as best she could. Being a fairly talented contortionist, she managed pretty easily.

"Are you done yet?" whined Saki, fidgeting.

Nicole snarled a negative response and reached for a washcloth. She stuck it in the warm water and started rinsing the soap off herself. The water felt nice to her over-exfoliated skin, so she took a little longer than she normally would have, but then again, this wasn't exactly a normal situation, was it? She growled in irritation at herself and picked up the water bucket, intending to dump it over her head. Then she remembered something from back home - water buckets can be thrown with deadly accuracy. It was on the list of All I Needed To Know In Life I Learned From Rurouni Kenshin, the paper copy of which resided taped to her wall. If she ever got home, she would have to re-tape it.

If I ever get home... she thought sadly, tears welling up in her eyes.

Yumi and Saki heard Nicole sniffle and turned around, averting their eyes as much as they could, to see what the matter was. Nicole was curled up on the floor, crying into her washcloth and stinging her eyes with the soapy water. Yumi gently pried the washcloth out of Nicole's fingers and dipped it in the bucket, helping her rinse off. With the soap gone, Saki handed Yumi a towel, which she gave to Nicole to wrap herself in. Nicole wrapped herself in the white towel and continued crying into a corner of it. Yumi patted her head, unsure of what else to do.

"We're going to wash your hair now," she informed Nicole, taking the wet mass of auburn waves in one hand and reaching for one of the many bottles with the other.

"Use the oil first," directed Saki.

Yumi took a bottle that looked like a sake bottle and poured a measured amount of lavender oil onto the crown of Nicole's head and started working it down to the ends. Nicole sniffled - lavender was her favorite scent to use in the bath back home. Following this, Yumi took a comb and started separating a few locks of hair at a time to de-tangle. From not having access to a brush in two days, Nicole's hair took its time in cooperating. However, eventually Yumi was able to sit back and watch Nicole's hair hang in a straight, glistening cascade with the ends touching her tailbone.

"Let me do the shampoo!" squealed Saki. "I love doing this - please?"

Yumi handed Saki the shampoo and Saki started sudsing up Nicole's hair. Nicole could have started purring if her throat wasn't so sore - Saki had long fingernails and it felt like one of those 'tingler' things. You know, the things that look sort of like copper spiders that you rub on your head? She sighed deeply and squinched her eyes tighter to keep the shampoo out of them and to keep her tears from escaping. Saki was quite enthusiastic - a little too enthusiastic - so by the time Nicole's hair was thoroughly sudsed, her ears looked like they had been boiled - they were red from Saki's fingernails.

"Keep your eyes closed!" warned Saki, taking the new bucket of warm water from Yumi and up-ending it over Nicole's head.

I just need to get used to that... Nicole grumbled inwardly.

"Use that conditioning cream stuff!" Saki chirped at Yumi.

"Way ahead of you," replied Yumi, pouring some of the cream on her palm and rubbing her hands together.

Yumi wasn't as forceful as Saki was, but the effect of the massage on Nicole's scalp was just the same - it had kind of a tingly feeling. It was like when she wa little an her mom would wash her hair for her, then do the cream rinse just like the lady at the salon said to - her hair was so easily tangled and the cream rinse helped. Nicole sniffled - it seemed like just about everything reminded her of when she was back home. Would she ever be able to get back? Questions bowled themselves over in her head, tripping over themselves in their haste to get to the forefront of her mind. It was enough to give her a splitting headache, even with Yumi's scalp massage.

"Rinse time," Yumi told her, pouring just a little water on her hair and combing through it.

It was taken a little bit at a time, until Nicole's hair hung straight to her tailbone once more, softened, straight, and still shining. It was allowed to drip dry for a few minutes, then Yumi wrapped it in a towel and gently squeezed the water out. Then she piled it on top of Nicole's head in a sort of knot and stuck a hair stick through it. This was quite an achievement with one hair stick, as Nicole had a lot of hair. Saki came bounding out of the room where the big bath was, her face bright red and her hair in frizzies from the humidity.

"Bath's ready!" she chirped happily. "Nikooru-chan! Come on!"

Nicole clutched at her towel with one hand, wiped her eyes with the other, and tried to rise to her feet. Her knee protested painfully, cracking quite loudly, and she sank back down again. Yumi slid one of her arms over her own shoulders and helped drag her up. Saki took hold of her other hand and helped pull her along. Nicole managed to put a little weight on her bad knee and was able to sort of hop to the tub. There was steam rising off the water and for a moment Nicole thought, oh great, more ways to burn my skin off.

"You can keep your towel on if you like," Saki offered helpfully.

"Arigato gozaimasu!" Nicole replied with sincere gratitude in her voice, hoisting herself into the tub. "YEEOW SHIT!"

She hopped right back out again, slipped on the wet floor and fell flat on her backside, where she sat, fuming.

"Okay, let's try this again," said Yumi resignedly.

So Nicole was pulled back up and practically shoved into the bathtub. She found that it was actually quite nice if she didn't move too much. Saki beamed and Yumi shook her head at the younger girl's enthusiasm - it just wasn't her day, now, was it? Yumi heaved a tired sigh and backed out of the room, quietly mentioning that she had work to get to. Saki nodded and Nicole tried to, but found it rather painful to move in the hot water. She looked around the room. It was sparkling clean, except for the mess the three young women had made in the floor with the water and oil and hair products. When she looked straight again, she saw Saki watching her.

"So how did a girl like you end up here?" the girl in green asked unabashedly. "And how in the world did you get so dirty?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Nicole said stiffly, trying not to cry again.

"Oh come on! We all know each other's stories here!" Saki urged persistently. "My father sold me off to pay a debt and I can talk about it. Yours can't be that bad."

So Nicole once more launched into her explanation of the water spell and the bubble and waking up on the tail end of the Bakumatsu. Saki's eyes widened until they looked to be the size of saucers, but she kept silent, listening carefully to what the new girl had to say. Nicole sniffled as she told Saki how she had watched her best friend walk away and how everybody back home must think she was dead. The girl in green didn't quite understand most of the story, but she knew how painful it was to watch someone you cared for and who cared for you in return walk away. Nicole was just getting to the part about how she was running around in the forest playing Quidditch by herself. Saki didn't even want to know what Quidditch was.

"And then there was Miku..." she said softly. "He found me."

Breathing erratically and obviously in tears, Nicole continued her story about how Miku had found her, lying unconscious on the forest floor, and tried to help her. Her voice turned wistful as she thought out loud about the way he had helped her eat, though she assured Saki that at the time she wanted to smack him - Saki smiled. Nicole's voice turned rather dull as she recounted their walk through the forest and how she had twisted her knee. Her face turned redder than it had been before as she told Saki how he had kissed her to distract her and how it had flustered her so. She sounded even sadder as she thought back to how nice Hasegawa-san had been and how cute the little girls were.

For some reason, those little girls looked so familiar, she thought vaguely.

But the vague thought passed quickly. She had not heard any of Hasegawa-san's arguments with the grandfather or Miku's either. She just continued on, how Miku took her shopping and all the pretty things that they saw. A hiccup made her twitch as she came to the part about the sakura tree. Mentioning the candies made her throat go dry and she was almost unable to force out another word. She wiped her tears away and made herself continue.

"And then he... brought me here..." she finished lamely.

"Wow..." was Saki's awed reply. "With the way he treated you, I bet he'll come back for you!"

"I don't think so," Nicole half-mumbled, sinking lower in the water. "Not after the way he just walked off. And asked me to forgive him..."

"Will you forgive him?" asked Saki.

Nicole closed her eyes and nodded.

-- At the Hasegawa's house --

Chizuko was beside herself with grief. She couldn't believe what she had just done - what she had just made her youngest son do. Okon and Omasu were crying again, hungry, but she had nothing to spare that she could give them as a snack - food was tight enough as it was. She couldn't stop dwelling on it. The old man had gone back to sleep, the lazy old pig, so here was Chizuko's chance to act. The old man had disgraced their family. She knew what she would have to do after it was over, but the price was worth it. Her mind was made up and that was final. Quickly, she got the girls dressed and got dressed herself. They were going out for a while.

"Okon! Omasu!" she called softly, getting the young girls' attention back on her. "We're going over to Nakamura-san's house and you're going to stay there for a while."

The little girls knew better than to ask questions when their mother had "that" look on her face, so they kept their mouths shut and held on to their mother's hands. Omasu, the six-year-old, tripped over her sandals and Chizuko had to do some fast talking to keep her quiet. The little brown-haired girl nodded and slipped her feet into her sandals with the help of her eight-year-old sister, Okon, who already had hers on. Chizuko nodded at her daughters and slipped on her own sandals. Okon slid the shoji open and the three of them stepped outside together, leaving the door standing open.

It was a quick and quiet walk to Nakamura Miharu's house in the center of the village. Chizuko had Omasu hold her sister's hand as she (Chizuko) knocked on the door. Since most of the time people just came in with a polite "gomen kudasai", this was a major sign that something was wrong. There was a scuffling noise on the other side of the door and in a few moments, a woman who appeared to be in her twenties appeared. Balanced rather precariously on her hip was a five-year-old girl with raven hair and even darker eyes.

"Michi-chan!" squealed Omasu. "Michi---"

"Quiet, Omasu," Chizuko snapped, a little harsher than she meant to. She tried to cover it up with a cheerful greeting for the younger woman. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Nakamura-san."

"Youkoso!" replied the young mother. "Won't you come in?"

Chizuko and her two daughters stepped into the entryway and all slid their sandals off. Nakamura-san set her daughter, Michiko, down and the three little girls scurried away to one of the back rooms of the house. Chizuko brushed the traveling dust off her kimono and stood until Nakamura-san gestured for her to sit down. Normally, Chizuko was on familiar terms with the younger woman, but today stress was making her act very formal and distant. Nakamura-san immediately noticed the change and knew something was wrong.

"Hasegawa-san, what's wrong?" she asked quietly, figuring that the neighbors could do without hearing this conversation. "You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

"Nakamura-san, can I entrust you with my daughters for a while?" Chizuko asked, dodging the question. "It's a matter of some urgency."

Nakamura-san checked over her shoulder to make sure the little girls weren't listening and nodded.

"Of course. They can stay as long as they need to," she said cheerfully. "I don't mind them. I need more to keep me busy with Makoto off fighting in the war..."

Her voice trailed off and Chizuko coughed politely to bring her attention back to the present moment.

"The old man has gone too far," Chizuko said firmly. "He has disgraced our family and I will tolerate it no longer."

Before Nakamura-san could ask, Chizuko poured out the story of how her son had brought home a gaijin girl and what a stink it had raised in the house. The old man simply would not listen to reason and insisted that they sell her off, and Chizuko, unable to override his decision, had complied. But that wasn't the worst of it, she continued. Since he couldn't go wandering around - too old - and he couldn't have Chizuko out there, he sent Miku to do it. Nakamura-san gasped - she always knew the oldest Hasegawa was a piece of work, but she never knew he would stoop that low.

"In complying, I have disgraced our family as well," Chizuko explained, her voice now curt. "I do not wish for my daughters, who are innocent in this, to suffer, but I know what I must do."

Nakamura-san didn't know exactly what her friend was going to do, but she had a pretty good idea and she didn't like it one bit - still, for the sake of the little girls and the Hasegawa family's honor, she would go along with it.

"Well... Do you want to say good-bye, or do you not want them to know?" she asked finally.

"I'll say my good-byes, thank you," Chizuko replied, her voice strained. "Okon! Omasu! Come here!"

There was a thundering noise and the three little girls - Okon, Omasu, and Michiko - came pelting into view. Okon, in the lead, stopped short and the others rammed into her from behind. All of them fell over in a very cute little puppy-pile, looking up at their respective mothers. Chizuko and Miharu couldn't help but smile at their little girls. Okon pushed herself to her feet and pulled her sister up with her. Michiko hopped right back up like a little bunny rabbit and dashed over to her mother's side, landing on her mother's side in a flying tackle-hug. Okon and Omasu carefully sidled up to their mother - they knew she was in a funny mood and they knew it wasn't good.

"Mama is going to take care of some business at home," Chizuko said softly, opening her arms to her daughters. "Come here and tell me good-bye."

Okon swallowed hard and stepped forward to hug her mother.

"'Bye 'kaa-san," she whispered as her mother held her tight. "I love you."

"I love you too, Ko-chan," Chizuko whispered back, finally letting go of her older daughter. "Come on Maa-chan."

Omasu curled up in her mother's lap and looked up at her plaintively.

"Maa-chan lov'th 'kaa-'than," she said softly, lisping because she had already lost her two front teeth. "Don' go 'way... Onegai?"

Chizuko had to fight back tears as she held her youngest child for the last time.

"Daijoubu, Maa-chan," she said quietly. "You and your sister are going to be fine."

She said her good-bye and lifted the child out of her lap before she had a chance to ask "What about you?"

-- Back at Himejima-sama's establishment --

"No fucking way! Absolutely not! I refuse!" hollered Nicole, thrashing as best she could while trying to keep herself covered with her towel. "There is NO WAY you're getting me into that!"

Saki sweatdropped, exasperated - for the last half hour, she had tried coaxing, cajoling, whining, pleading, insisting, coercing, and everything short of outright physical threats to get Nicole into a kimono. It wasn't that Nicole had anything against kimono - in fact, she was perfectly comfortable in one. She had even worn one to school and gotten away with it all day - but the authoress digresses. It was the type of kimono that Nicole objected to - she did not want to wear an off-the-shoulder kimono and she wouldn't, no way, no how. Saki considered using the koshimo, the ribbons that held all the folds in place on the kimono before the obi was tied, to tie her up and dress her forcefully, but decided against it. After all, with Nicole's arms pinned to her sides, it would be even harder for Saki to dress her than it would have been to begin with.

"Nikooru-san, onegai!" she whined once more. "Himejima-sama won't be happy when she sees what a fuss you're making! Come on! It's just a kimono, only it's worn a little different!"

"I will not go about looking like my clothes are about to fall off!" countered Nicole. "I won't! I won't! I won't!"

She couldn't care less if she was being childish - back home, if she didn't like something, she let everybody know it loud and clear.

"Well you can't very well go about in THAT either!" Saki shot back, pointing furiously at the towel that was still wrapped firmly around Nicole's body. "It's not like you have a choice! Just wear THIS!"

She brandished the purple kimono with lavender trim, waving it about like a banner - it didn't matter, since these kimono were made to withstand a little rough handling. Nicole, still clutching at her towel, folded her arms as best she could and pouted, grumbling to herself and swearing in English and Japanese. Saki smacked a hand to her own forehead - this girl was impossible! Why in the world had Himejima-sama taken her on at all!? Couldn't an experienced madam like her spot trouble when it was right under her nose!? Why couldn't she see the trouble that was currently sulking on the tatami floor with its hair in scraggly wet ringlets? Saki muttered a few choice words of her own and finally decided she'd had enough.

"FINE! Go about in a towel! A little, skimpy, barely-covers-your-T-&-A TOWEL!" she screeched, waving the kimono around fiercely. "Do what you want! But don't come to me or bother the other girls when you have more work piled up than the rest of us put together!"

She finished and stood there, huffing and puffing bigger'n Dallas with her face as red as Nicole had ever seen anyone's face ever get.

"Meep..." went Nicole, finally cowed and holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, okay! You win! I'll wear the fucking kimono!"

"And watch your language!" screamed Saki. Then she took a deep breath and had a rather sudden mood swing back to her normal, cheery old self. "Now come here and let me put this on you! Sorry, but that's the rule!"

-- At the Hasegawa house --

Chizuko slid the shoji closed behind her. The lamp was off, of course - no use in burning it during the day, and she had been out for quite a while - so the only light coming into the house was the moonlight let in by the rice paper panels. Even then, it wasn't much - despite how the day had been, clear and bright, the night was cloudy and the sky threatened rain. Huge black clouds nearly blocked the moon out entirely. That was exactly what Chizuko wanted - she didn't need a lot of light to see by tonight.

This is for the family honor, she thought, steeling herself for what she was about to do.

She tiptoed across the living room, which still had Miku's futon spread out on the floor - in the chaos of the morning, no one had thought to fold it up and put it away. Reaching the hallway, the neat-freak in her kicked her brain and she went back to do just that. With the futon folded up and piled into a far corner, she nodded and turned back to the hallway - it was darker than the rest of the house because it wasn't directly in the light. A shiver trailed up Chizuko's spine, but she suppressed it for the most part and took a deep breath. She needed her wits about her.

The door to the old man's room was closed as usual - had the old pig slept all day? No, the bowl and chopsticks laid outside the door told her that he had at least dragged himself up to grab some rice. Disgusting old man, taking extra meals when there was barely enough to subsist on... Chizuko shook her head and stretched out her hand to the door. But no, she had forgotten something - the thing she needed most at the moment. She hurried back to the living room and pulled up one of the tatami sections. Under it was the little security her husband had left her, to be used in case there was any trouble while he was away. Something told her that he would approve its use now, so she took it up without her hand shaking.

Her courage waned slightly as she approached the old man's door again. What if he was awake? She shuddered at the thought - did she have it in her to do what had to be done and look the old man in the face? Furrowing her brow and straightening her shoulders, she pushed debate aside. The situation was simple - there was one thing that needed doing and she was the one to get it done. She turned the little security over in her hand, fiddling with the handle - questions left her mind and it was set. She slid the door open silently.

The old pig was snoring away on his futon, a disgusting lump of bones, skin, and muscle gone to seed. Chizuko eyed him angrily, cursing him in her mind for all the wrongs he had done the family over the years. She thought of how he would try to bully her husband into doing what he wanted with threats of disgrace. A smile curved her lips as she thought of how bravely Mamoru had stood up to his father, asserting his independence. He never really had cared much for convention. But those thoughts were irrelevant now. The moment was come. Slowly, Chizuko drew the tanto from its saya, setting the saya down carefully by her feet. She took a long, hard look at the disgusting old pig and a red haze clouded her vision for a moment.

The knife was slightly off the mark, wounding the old man badly and, of course, waking him up. Chizuko almost dropped the tanto when she heard the old pig's first scream. Clutching the wound in his shoulder, he cried out for help and flailed his other arm uselessly. No one could hear him - even if they could, the old man was obnoxious and disliked by the entire village, so they didn't care anyway. Powered by adrenaline, Chizuko re-gripped the dagger and tried again, this time cutting a nasty gash in the old man's abdomen. Blood poured from both wounds and spattered on her kimono as she withdrew the blade to try one more time. The old man screamed in pain, trying futilely to shield himself with one arm. Chizuko reared her arm back one last time.

The tanto struck its mark, burying its blade deep in the old pig's chest - as it pushed into his heart, he cried out one last time before his eyes glazed over, his expression forever frozen in terror.

Chizuko calmly flicked most of the blood off the blade, then wiped the rest on the sleeve of her kimono - that didn't matter anymore anyway. Bending down, she picked up the saya and slipped the blade back into it. Smiling bemusedly, she straightened the blood-stained blanket over the still-warm body and stood up again. She hummed a little tune as she tucked the sheathed dagger into her obi and left the room, closing the door behind her. Now she had another task to complete.

"Miku hasn't come home..." she mused out loud as she stepped into the living room and settled herself on the floor.

Now deadly silent, she slipped the dagger out of her obi and unsheathed it again, carefully placing the saya on the floor by her side. The blade glinted in the dull moonlight, almost hypnotizing her with its small spot of light. It was odd, the things one in her situation noticed, like the millipede crawling determinedly across the floor. More fascinating was the dot of light on the wall that was reflected off the blade in her hand. Yes, the oddest things did dawn upon those who were dying. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and...