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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Black Omega" data-source="post: 514850" data-attributes="member: 79">“Dead already?”  Toshiro exclaimed, not so much displeased the man was dead, but rather he had some questioned he wanted answered first.“Hai, very dead.  Beheaded I understand, though the Imperial Magistrate investigating the scene can no doubt tell you more.  Frankly, I had thought you might have done it yourself as a matter of honor.  That would have solved the question very nicely.  Now that I see it’s not the case, the investigation will proceed.”  Shinjo Yuji commented gravelyToshiro also passed along the basics of his dream to Yuji-sama, who promised to ask at the temple about what sort of prophecy this could be.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The group was taken directly to the site where the man had been killed.  A path Kaz knew very well indeed, to the red lantern district on the outskirts of town.  A walled off area of sake houses and places of less sophisticated entertainment.  The body was lying in an alley just off the red lantern district.  Ikoma Ichiro, Imperial Magistrate, was already on the scene. Ichiro’s assistant was already at work making a sketch of the crime scene, the alleyway spattered with blood, the headless body lying on it’s belly with the head sitting off to the side, eyes wide, blankly staring back to it’s body.  One can only imagine what his final thought must have been.“Ah, Toshiro-san, I was planning to look you up.”  Ikoma Ichiro commented while looking closely over the corpse.  “More interesting than I’d thought on first glance.  See here?  He was killed from behind, judging from the angle of the cut.  A fine strike too, beheaded in one blow.  His money is taken, which is suggestive of a robbery.  But his katana was broken as well.  Why would a thief bother with that?  A very stealthy thief.  He or she could not have avoided getting blood on them, yet there were no reports of anyone seen with blood spatters.  We’ll have to follow up on that, to make sure.  It doesn’t prove anything.”  He comments to Toshiro “Only a confession will suffice, since it seems unlikely there is any eyewitness beyond the killer.”The group looked over the scene but found little more to add.  The katana was magical but that glow was fading.  Volar did indeed recognize the dead man as one of the men from Mimura he had spread the rumors among.  And it gave him an idea for investigating.  Discussing the situation out on the street, Volar enlisted Yukiyo and Mindra’s Rokugani form to help him later in the day when the Red Lantern district was open.  Kaz had his own contacts in the area he wanted to talk to as well.  Toshiro had his own suspicions on who might have killed the man he planned to check on.  Mir had her shrine outside town to check on.  And casting glances over to Mir, Verick was less concerned over the murderer than he was over the most likely target to be kidnapped…Mir.Splitting up, the group went their separate ways and into their daily routine.  Training for most, working for Mindra, the agile gray monkey’s work fixing roofs drawing small groups of onlookers.  By the afternoon, Verick had a break in training and he went out looking for an old friend.  He found Gyo in the Merchant’s Quarter, a flipped gold piece catching the crafty driver’s attention before it disappeared into his grasp.  Verick looked around before leaning in to murmur, “Find a friend you can trust.  I need someone followed.”  Later that day when Mir rode out to her grove, she had a shadow watching her every move.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training for the day finished, Toshiro stopped by home to clean up and get dressed in a new kimono, his little old lady making sure every hair was in place.  Then Toshiro set off to visit Shinjo O-Hisa, his suspicion on who might have killed the criminal had weighed on his mind all day, and he had to know the truth.  But all that disappeared in seconds as he approached O-Hisa’s home and saw a delivery boy there first, bearing a package that looked to him suspiciously like a gift.  Fading into the late day shadows, Toshiro watched and waited until the delivery boy appeared again, then he stepped into the boy’s path, growling “What are you doing here?  Have been bringing a lot of presents here?  From who?!”The terrified boy was speechless for a moment “But…I…samurai-sama!  I just bring packages!  I don’t know whom they are from or what’s in them or anything!  I swear!  This is from...from the House of the Golden Sunset…they make kimonos! I’ve been bringing a lot of gifts here lately! I don’t know anything else, promise!”  When Toshiro stepped back out of his way, the boy disappeared in a flash of movement.Toshiro still had a purpose for the visit fixed in his mind when he went to the door, though that purpose had changed quite a bit.  Allowed in, the servant girl led him to a room, offering tea as she let him know O-Hisa would be out soon.  Twenty minutes was relatively soon, and it was obvious Shinjo O-Hisa had used the time well, a shimmering kimono in purple trimmed with white.  Her hair done properly, the subtle scent of perfume wafting around her.  Sitting cross the low table from him, the smiling Unicorn girl nodded “It’s great to see you again, how has the training been?”“Not bad.  I was coming over here for a reason though; I need to ask you something.  But first…who’s sending you gifts?!  I just saw the delivery boy when I was coming up to the house.”A most impolite question and it took O-Hisa a moment to recover from her surprise “Um…someone from the temple.  It’s really nothing you need to worry about…”  More than a little taken off guard it seems, if O-Hisa’s slight blush was any indication.“I need to know who’s sending you gifts!  I mean…we have something going here.  But if I have a rival I want to know…” Toshiro began.“It’s NOT like that!  There are a lot of reasons gifts might be given, and even if he wants there to be something more to it, I’M telling you there isn’t.  Trust me.”  O-Hisa said firmly, the surprise changing to a smoldering anger.Toshiro nodded, a deep breath drawn in and released “Ok...ok.  Thanks for seeing me.”  He said, rising to leave before a cough from O-Hisa caught his distracted attention.“You did say you were coming to see me about something before you saw the delivery boy.”  O-Hisa said with a frown, that smolder in her eyes growing.  She had just spent 20 minutes preparing to meet him, after all…“Oh…yes.”  Toshiro said as all the other events of the day came back to him “Yes.  If you knew someone…a ronin…was spreading false stories about me, what would you do?”  He asked.O-Hisa gave it barely a second’s thought “I’d smash his head in with my hammer and let you know.  He wouldn’t deserve me getting my katana out.  Why?”Toshiro went on to explain about the killing that morning, and his own suspicions regarding it.  He had thought it might have been her.  Finally chatting, the tension in the room decreased…a little bit.  They shared stories about their days and a date was made to go out together the next night.  O-Hisa suggested a sake house.  Toshiro countered with a play.  And they finally compromised.Toshiro’s first words to his little old lady when he got home were “I need help picking out a present.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Toritaka Kazuyuki went out to do his own investigating that night.  On his way to the Red Lantern district he found himself challenged to a test of swordsmanship and was forced to put it off until the next day.  He’d been getting a lot of challenges lately, and he was the one who had gotten the Coin of Bishamon, the Fortune of Strength.Entering one of his favored sake houses, he was greeted with a hearty “Kaz!” from the regulars, of which he was one.  But tonight he was putting off drinking in favor of asking about that ronin.  It took visiting several sake houses but Kaz tracked down a place the fellow had been known.  A new guy in town, loud, a little obnoxious.  He acted all secretive but once he’d had a few bottles of sake you couldn’t stop him talking, the owner of the sake house explained.“So, what was he talking about?”  Kaz asked.“Well, he says ‘I’m with Toshiro’s group, I need to get in touch with him.  I have bad news.’  Then I said ‘What kind of bad news?’  ‘Really bad news.’  He said.  ‘Sounds pretty bad.’  I said  ‘Yep, very bad’  he said.”Kaz ahemed,  “But did he talk about the bad news?”‘Well, that’s just what I was getting too.  He says ‘Toshiro’s a bigshot, you know the type.’  ‘If I knew the type, why’d I be asking?’  I said, and then he says ‘You know the type.’ And he makes this hand gesture.  You know the type.”  And the sake house owner makes this hand gesture.  Kaz did know the type.  Organized Crime.  Yakuza.“I can’t imagine where he got that idea but he was pretty sure.  Then he says ‘Someone’s moving in on Toshiro’s territory.  He’s taking over the whole town.’  ‘What’ town’s this?’  I said and he looks all annoyed ‘Toshiro’s town!’ he says.  By this time I’m getting pretty annoyed myself but he suddenly gets nervous and clams up.  Talking’s thirsty work, think I’ll have some sake.  Care to join me?” the innkeeper offered.By this time Kaz was ready for a drink.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Volar’s own little plot was in motion at this same time.  Volar used illusions to disguise himself as Rokugani, Yukiyo dressing herself up in silks, trying to look perfectly harmless.  And Mindra used his amulet to take on his Nabe persona.  And the three of them went on their own trip to the red lantern district.Pretending to be friends of the dead ronin from Mimura, they made their own splash on the red lantern district.  Sake cup always in hand, even if they were careful not to drink too much, they asked around about their friend.  And finally, their ‘fishing expedition’ got a nibble.  Some sleazy gamblers in a less reputable sake house broke the bad news.  “Your friend is dead.  Killed while leaving the district.  Guess he had it coming from someone.  Guess he had a good time before going though, he left with a girl…”“A girl, who?”  the disguised Volar asked ‘Anything you can tell us about his death would help.”“So, you with this Toshiro group that guy kept talking about?  Yeah, saw him leave with a  dark haried beauty.  He seemed to know her.”Volar considered this “What did she look like?”“Oh, I didn’t look at her face much…she had this kimono cut down to…”  the gambler’s hand waving lower. “I’d recognize that cleavage anywhere, though.”Volar sighed “But he seemed to know her?”“Yep.”  The gambler replied “he was pretty nervous but he relaxed when he saw her and left with her after she whispered something.”The three had a chance to give this some thought while the gamblers all generally agreed they’d have gone about anyplace with that girl.Finally, Volar leaned over “Hey, if you guys could tell me if you see that girl again, I’d consider it a favor.  I have a certain interest in finding this girl.  And I’d be a good friend to have.” The disguised elf murmured.That got the gamblers attention.  “And why is that?”  one asked.  And Volar gestured, crafting an illusion of a black haired girl in a kimono “This.  Now…can you tell me a little more what that girl looked like?”The gamblers were suitably impressed, this was a very casual use of magic…this guy must be pretty powerful.  They gave a little help toward crafting the illusion, but ultimately it still could have been almost anyone fitting the description ‘female, black hair, well built, young’.“Hey..what else can you do with that illusion?”  one of the gamblers asked, waggling his eyebrows.Volar caught the implication and winked, making the figure dance, then do a little strip tease with the kimono.  Now –that- really got the gamblers interested.  “Can you do this with anyone?”  one of them asked.“Well, anyone I’ve seen.  Hmm...if you are interested, I could teach one of you the magic.”The gamblers quickly agreed and the three went to leave.  Volar paused at the last second and nodded to the gamblers “and just remember…I’ll be watching.”  Then he dropped the illusion around himself for a moment, revealing himself as Volar before he walked out.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`The next morning Toshiro awakened, stretching his arms, ready to start a new day.  But his hand brushed something on the bed.  A rose left beside him.  A rose…in the middle of winter.  And beside it on rice paper a haiku in very elegant script.From within the darkA mingling of love and bloodI will be watching</blockquote>

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