As they approached the Scorpion tents, Mikoto wished she had been more clear on which one the girl was in. There were more than a handful, and searching each one would take up time they probably didn’t have. The group as a whole stopped, each person looking around, probably attempting to guess which place to start like she was. She eyed each tent in view, it had to be a big one, no way someone could be held captive in something made for just sleeping. That one. Mikoto took a step forward and then she heard it, the muffled cry of a young girl. Her eyes darted towards the noise, it was just a bit smaller than the one she had chose, but that didn’t matter now. They knew where the girl was. Without thinking she rushed towards the tent, Shiba had apparently had the same idea as she charged ahead of Mikoto, katana in hand.
There was that strange buzzing screech. When Hikaru was small, she caught a rabbit near Mikoto’s house. The way that rabbit screamed, she would never forget. That’s kind of what this sounded like, except if the rabbit was filled with bees. The sound stopped as suddenly as it had begun and the tent flap flew open. In its entrance was a man-sized shadow, like the other shadow people walking around, except this one was thicker. It was as if 100 of the faded forms she’d seen all day were standing on top of one another. He was a black hole in the grey world. Mikoto flicked open her warfan, locking the ribs in place. She was more than ready to remove another one of these dark soulless things from their path, especially since it appeared male, and especially for that poor little girl.
As if the man of black had anticipated their interference he raised his weapon, a sword of some kind, and pointed it at Shiba who was leading the charge. It was a mocking gesture, or so Mikoto believed until a wave of darkness errupted from the tip of the sword catching Shiba in the chest. She heard Shiba gasp, and slow for only a moment. Then the group was on top of him. The man turned, making a thrust towards Shiba. The graceful Shiba knocked it away as if it were a feather. She was rather elegant the way her kimono sleeves flared with each movement, like she had her own breeze following her, gusting at the right times. Daigotsu was the opposite of Shiba. Where Shiba was elegant and almost refined in her movements, Daigotsu was powerful and raw. Daigotsu took a step forward, using her legs for power and hurled the blade of her bisento at the darkness man, cutting into his side. That was the kind of thing Mikoto liked. Well, really, Mikoto liked a little of everything, but the way Daigotsu had a reckless abandon when fighting had her feeling a little flushed. Asahina sliced with his katana, it wasn’t anything spectacular.
Mikoto pointed at the shadow man, “Hikaru, kill!” She commanded. Hikaru sprinted forward, swiping at the man’s legs. She watched Shiba strike with devastating accuracy. Daigotsu knocked the abyss man’s knee with the tail end of her polearm, throwing him off balance. And Asahina took advantage disemboweling the thing, if it had had bowels to remove. These things didn’t bleed when struck. But hit it enough and it died, like everything else. The man of black fell to his knees leaving him open for Hikaru to rip at his throat. He went limp, dropped to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
There was a commotion from behind them and several Jade Magistrates, fully armored and armed rushed into the tent. Impeccable timing. She was aware they weren’t part of her world, and she wasn’t any longer a part of theirs, at least until she beat that Jashuwa man at his silly game.
“Good, good.” Jashuwa’s foreign voice resonated through the air. Mikoto turned to find Joshua standing only a couple feet to her left. She was learning he had a bad habit of popping in and out of existence. “You have completed the task for today. Do you understand?”
Daigotsu spoke up. “I understand we have little pull in life. Here we fight the dark emotions of people but ultimately we do nothing to keep them safe. What if those guards didn’t show up?”
“No. That’s not it.”
The world blinked off.
Mikoto opened her eyes to find the same dismal world, full of bleached buildings and faded people. She was standing in the street, in a circle with Asahina, Shiba, and Daigotsu, much like the one they had made yesterday. In fact, if she were to guess, it was the exact same spot they had circled up yesterday. The only difference, this time, was Daigotsu was wearing a traveling pack she didn’t have the day before.
“This doesn‘t taste right.” Daigotsu said, squatting and throwing her pack off in the same movement, bringing it in front of her.
“What do you mean?” It was Asahina that asked, but Matsu didn’t understand the expression either.
“If we are actually dead, and bandits were close enough to the tournament for me to find you three,” Daigotsu swept a finger across the group then began shuffling through her pack, “who I’ve never seen before in my life, then why is the tournament still taking place?” Matsu watched her pull out a wooden bowl and a small, strange looking pouch, too stiff to be cloth.
“Maybe no one knows we’re gone yet.” Shiba suggested.
“That’s not how my family works.” Daigotsu dumped the contents of the strange bag into the bowl, reveling several odd shaped tokens. “No, they would know.” She closed her eyes and shook the bowl a few times, then glanced down at it, continuing on. “And the Magistrate, why wouldn’t they have gone to handle the bandits? There were plenty of them in town. Why would I pick you three? There’s just too many unanswered questions.” Daigotsu had finished with her strange ritual, tucking the pouch and bowl back into her bag and leaving it on the ground.
Daigotsu was right about unanswered questions. Jashuwa had said in order to take part in this game they had wagered the closest thing to their heart, and Matsu was certain she would never have done that. She couldn’t gamble with the life of another for her own. She was a samurai, and she had no fear of death. And speaking of unanswered questions, there was the matter with Daigotsu herself. Mikoto was almost certain Daigotsu was female, but she had a funny way of using masculine forms when referring to herself.
“You can pick me anytime, Daigotsu-san.” Mikoto blurted.
“O…kay.” Daigotsu blinked.
“What I mean to say is I can be a partner in other ways. Like seeing what‘s under your obi.” Mikoto gave a knowing smile.
Daigotsu looked down, obviously confused. “My kimono is under my obi.”
“I could take that from you.” Mikoto pressed, did she need to spell it out for her?
Asahina scoffed. “She threatened to feed me to her lion and I wasn’t even asking to see her under her clothes.”
Matsu could see it click for Daigotsu, her furrowed brow smoothing out in understanding. “Oh! Oh. Oh no, I don’t think you‘d like that.”
“Why not?” Mikoto mused.
“Because you’re a woman, and I share that with you.”
Mikoto grinned, just as she had suspected. “That’s okay. I do like that.”
“We should get started.” Asahina lifted his palm and began walking away.
“Asahina-san, wait!” Diagotsu called after him. “Jashuwa told Matsu-san and me that you needed to keep in pairs to fight the noise.” She took a few hurried steps and caught up with Asahina, the two of them headed towards the dueling grounds.
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