(五) Chapter-five; Two-Faced Geisha

On a breezy Autumn night, five individuals gathered around a blazing fire. Over the fire lay six skewered fish; right behind each of them lay a small plate of mushrooms and fruit accompanied by a pair of chopsticks. Sakura sat on her forelegs, carefully mending Hinatsu's yukata, while everything else that comprised Hinatsu's clothes lay beside her. Meanwhile, Akamaru attempted to acquaint himself with Fan.

"Hey, Yao, are you a man or a woman? Why do you wear that mask? Can you not speak?" He asked, which earned him no response.

"You can try all you want, but that doesn't mean you'll get to talk to them," Lingren replied.

"Since when can you speak for them?" Akamaru questioned, slightly annoyed.

"That's enough! You two really do not need to be having that conversation right now!" Sakura exclaimed.

"By the way, Mrs. Himoame, you still owe me ninety-five sen," Lingren said as the shrine maiden sighed.

"I'll give you the money tomorrow morning." She uttered, before swiftly resuming her task.

"Anyways, where's Hina... ...I mean Saiko?" The red oni inquired, to Lingren's suspicion.

"I do not know; she is probably somewhere nearby." The shrine maiden answered, earning herself a nod from the youkai.

"I'll go look for her." The foreigner uttered, before getting up, and searching throughout the forest. After about a few minutes, Lingren came across a woman, who he presumed to be Hinatsu. She was washing her naked body and hair in a flowing river. Her entire front side was obscured. However, what caught his attention was the deep lotus-shaped burn scar on her upper back. As he stood there, shellshocked, he kept a fair distance between them.

Although, after a few moments of minimal sound and movement, Lingren slowly made his way back to the camp, all while trying to make sense of this new revelation.

'There's no way I'm mistaken! I found the Nagayori family crest burnt into her back! Here I thought they were all long dead. If what I heard about the Nichimoto-jin Revolution is wrong. Then what does that mean?' He said to himself. However, he had no choice but to cast these thoughts aside and pretend that he saw nothing.

"Mr. Junshigoto, did you find Saiko?" Sakura asked as Lingren came into her view.

"No, I couldn't find her." The foreigner lied, which luckily fooled the rest of the group.

"And people call me ignorant." Akamaru retorted. Once Sakura finished mending the yukata, she grabbed Hinatsu's clothes, searched for the said female, and then returned them to her. The shrine maiden then proceeded to lead her friend back to the camp, where the party of six enjoyed a meal. However, once they said their thanks, Fan grabbed their food and took it away.

"Yao, please get back here. You are being disrespectful." Sakura spoke.

"Just let them be..." Lingren said simply. After a few moments of awkward silence, the party dug into their meal. Once dinner was finished, Tetsuya gathered the entire party together and presented them with the detailed map he drew into the ground.

"First we carry on moving south. Then go southeast; from there, our pace should pick up." Tetsuya explained.

"However, in the meantime, we should go to sleep, or else we'll be lethargic tomorrow." The kitsune spoke before the group gathered around what remained of the fire and slept throughout the night.

"If I wasn't an outlaw, I would have rented myself an inn long ago," Lingren commented while leaning against a tree trunk.

"Too bad!" Hinatsu angrily replied before shutting her eyes.

...

Early the following day, while Hinatsu was carving herself a new pair of wooden hairpins, Lingren approached her.

"Good morning, Mr. Junshigoto." She greeted the foreigner.

"Good morning, Mrs. Hayagawa. I was just about to ask you, would you care for a spar? I'm interested in seeing whether or not you can hold your own against me." Lingren spoke, which caught Hinatsu's interest.

"Of course, I'm up for a spar!" Hinatsu replied while setting aside her newly carved hairpins with her tiny knife. She then got up and grabbed a long stick, while Lingren did the same but with a longer weapon. The two of them steadied their stance and circled around each other. Before too long, Hinatsu charged at the foreigner, who countered her attack. Lingren then hurled his weapon in the direction of the young rounin, yet she managed to jump back and dodge the attack. The foreigner then repeatedly charged his gun at her, with Hinatsu countering it all to overwhelm her. Suddenly, he kicked her in the leg, causing Hinatsu to fall to the ground. However, she swiftly tripped him. The two then pointed their weapons at each other before concluding their spar in a draw.

As the pair lay on the ground, catching each other's breath, Hinatsu spoke to Lingren.

"Mr. Junshigoto, what is your purpose for going to the southern capital?" She questioned, to which he chuckled.

"You may call me insane, but I'm seeking nothing more than immortality." He answered as Hinatsu's eyes dilated.

"Could you say that again?" The rounin uttered, hesitantly.

"I am searching for immortality." The foreigner replied.

"Do you have any idea what living forever actually means?! And what makes you think you would obtain such a thing even in a place like the southern capital?!" Hinatsu exclaimed.

"You see, my father, Emperor Qingshang Jiang, is growing very old, and his health is doing no better. He currently has thirty-five surviving sons, so succession is naturally a messy game. So wouldn't the best way to secure my right to the throne be to become immortal?" Lingren said as the young ronin sighed.

"That may be the case. However, have you ever considered the consequences of living forever? Imagine watching everyone around you and the world itself grow and develop, all while the same can never happen to you." She spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about," The foreigner replied.

"I guess you really are more selfish and ignorant than I initially thought," Hinatsu uttered before she and Lingren got up and carried on with their day.

...

A few days passed since Qingshang Lingren, and Yao Fan joined Nagayori Hinatsu, Tetsuya, Akamaru, and Himoame Sakura on their journey to the south. As the party of six was traveling, the young ronin found an enormous structure in the distance. Her eyes sparked with interest, for it seemed like her first time seeing any man-made building of such scale.

"Tetsuya, Akamaru, Mrs. Himoame, Mr. Junshigoto, look!" She ordered while pointing to the giant structure in the distance. It was an enormous castle constructed within a mountain made from dark wood and white marble.

"That's Hiromae Castle," Sakura spoke as Hinatsu gasped with excitement.

"If that is a castle, wouldn't some noble household live there, and if that's the case. Then maybe we could obtain leads to reach the southern capital and kill not two, not three, but at least four birds with one stone!" The young ronin exclaimed.

"I think you're being far too optimistic. I'm not sure if anyone still lives there, especially considering Emperor Yonku has not been very kind to those in power unless they bend the knee to him." Lingren replied.

"Well, even if I don't find what I'm seeking, at least I tried," Hinatsu spoke, slightly annoyed by the foreigner's pessimism.

"Hina... ...I mean Saiko is right! It's worth a shot!" Akamaru uttered.

"I have my doubts, but for entirely different reasons than Mr. Junshigoto," Tetsuya admitted.

"As for me, I am also doubtful of Mrs. Hayagawa's assumption. However, I want to believe there is hope for all of us." Sakura said. The five ultimately decided to at least attempt to enter the castle and see what they found. They swiftly headed in the direction of Hiromae Castle. Then the six found it surrounded by stone walls, yet no guards seemed to be patrolling it. Yao Fan then ran off and concealed their presence.

"That's odd, I would think that a place like Hiromae Castle would be under thorough protection," Tetsuya commented.

"Who knows? Maybe the guards are waiting inside the walls." Akamaru replied.

"But wouldn't that make it harder to detect upcoming invaders?" Lingren questioned.

"Well regardless of the situation, neither of us except for you, Sakura, and maybe Yao have the thing you call a traveler's pass. And I really do not feel like dealing with another guard confronting me about my lack of such a thing." The young rounin told the foreigner before an idea popped into her head.

"Akamaru, can you lift me up for a moment?" Hinatsu requested, as the red oni nodded while picking her up, and lifting her high above the wall. She gazed over the walls, carefully studying what lay around the castle.

"You can put me down now." She said as Akamaru gently placed Hinatsu on the ground.

"The guards are on the other side of the wall, and within the walls, if we manage to sneak past them, we can reach our destination," Hinatsu uttered.

"But how will we conceal whatever this thing is?" Lingren asked while pointing towards the red oni.

"This thing you speak of has a name," Sakura uttered, clearly irritated.

"It's fine; I'm used to it," Akamaru commented.

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"Also, I uh... ...can shapeshift." The red oni lied, which raised Lingren's suspicion.

"Transform into a human, right now!" The foreigner ordered as sweat raced down Akamaru's forehead as he took a deep breath. Before the foreigner's eyes, Akamaru's body took on a far more humanoid appearance. Yet, his size did not change one bit. He shut his eyes tightly while Tetsuya prepared himself to cast an illusion on the red oni, by draining the life out of some tree's leaves.

"See that; I look just like the rest of you!" Akamaru exclaimed, yet Lingren kept his doubts. Hinatsu, Sakura, and Tetsuya played along with Akamaru and planned to do that for a long time until they could trust the foreigner enough to give him the entire picture.

"Saiko, whether or not Akamaru is a human is the least of our concerns. How do you suppose we obtain an audience with the nobility of Hiromae Castle?" Tetsuya asked sternly.

"I'll figure that out once we've made it inside. Let's get moving; we have no time to waste!" Hinatsu uttered as the five of them entered the city while hiding away from the sight of any guards patrolling the city. Hinatsu took the opportunity to look around the settlement. Soon enough, Akamaru tried to hide behind one of the smaller houses while standing up, revealing a part of his upper body and head. Naturally, citizens passing by swiftly noticed him, and that drew the attention of some city guards, who quickly confronted him.

"Who the hell are you!? And what makes you think you have the right to simply sneak into our city, and commit whatever misdeeds you have planned!?" The city guard exclaimed while Akamaru struggled to find the right words. Hinatsu, Tetsuya, Lingren, and Sakura watched these events unfold before their eyes as the red oni tried his best to defend his actions without success. The young rounin attempted to help Akamaru, yet the fox spirit gripped her clothes tightly, restraining her.

As if out of nowhere, a woman appeared before Akamaru. She wore a lavish red and white kimono with floral patterns. Her face and neck were covered with white makeup, her lips and eyebrows were red as blood, her teeth were painted black, and she wore bright red eyeliner. The woman's hair was tied up and decorated with over a dozen golden hairpins. She also carried a shamisen in her left arm. Her few sentences were enough to make the guards and the city's citizens leave the red oni alone.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly; Akamaru gleefully nodded his head as the stranger smiled. She then turned toward Hinatsu, Tetsuya, Sakura, and Lingren.

"There's no point in hiding. I know you all are there." She uttered as the four of them hesitantly revealed themselves.

"I presume the four of you are with this young man. Now, what might your name be?" She asked politely.

"My name is Himoame Sakura; the family name spelled with the characters for divine and rain, the given name spelled with the character for cherry blossom. This is my friend, Hayagawa Saiko; the family name is spelled with the characters for early and river, and the given name is spelled with the characters for talented and child. This one over there is her older brother, Hayagawa Tetsuya; the given name spelled in Hiragana. The young man you speak of is Saiko's other older brother, Hayakawa Akamaru; the given name is spelled with the characters red and peak. And this is-" Sakura bowed and introduced herself and the other party members while lying. However, before she could finish her final sentence, she was interrupted by Lingren.

"-Junshigoto Ayato, thirty-fifth son of Qingshang Jiang of the Xia Empire! My family name is spelled with the characters for pure and business. And my given name is spelled with the characters mature and person." Lingren spoke as Sakura, Hinatsu awkwardly nodded their heads, and Tetsuya mentally cursed the foreigner.

"It's nice to meet you all! My name is Takamaki Haruka; the family name is spelled with the characters for tall and roll, and the given name is spelled with the characters for spring and flower. I am a Geisha. May I ask, what brings the five of you to the city of Hiromae?" She greeted the party with a bow and asked them. Hinatsu felt obligated to answer her question. However, she could not find the proper words to say, which was especially difficult since she wished not to tell a complete lie, and share a part of the truth. Luckily, while she was searching for the proper words, Tetsuya answered the question, sparing her embarrassment.

"We're traveling to the southern capital and want to speak with the noble living at the castle for leads." He replied as the geisha's smile widened.

"Lucky for you five, I have connections that may benefit you all," Haruka uttered, naturally catching the attention of the entire five-man band. Hinatsu, Sakura, and Akamaru were all shocked, yet very much interested. However, Tetsuya and Lingren, on the other hand, remained skeptical.

"Really?" Hinatsu asked as if wondering whether or not this was some sweet dream.

"Absolutely! I could arrange an audience with the nobility." Haruka replied.

"Uh... ...We would all really appreciate that." The young rounin said.

"Excellent! Now, for the time being, you all can stay at my home, while I request the audience. It should only take one day for me to get my answer." Before turning around and heading towards her house, the geisha explained, with the party of five following behind. However, along the way, Lingren's eyes remained glued to the area around where Haruka's tailbone should be. He was indeed interested in it, but in a very different way than one would imagine.

That evening, Haruka shared some exciting news. Their request for an audience with the Hiromae clan had been accepted. And they would all discuss matters over a meal. Haruka, Akamaru, Hinatsu, Tetsuya, Sakura, and Lingren then made their way toward Hiromae castle.

Although, shortly before the party made it inside, Lingren spoke in his native tongue, commanding Fan to reveal themself. Haruka seemed surprised by that sudden, yet said nothing about it and proceeded. Once inside, the seven of them were led into the dining room, greeted by dozens of servants. An old man wearing a black eboshi hat and a red kimono with long flowing sleeves stood at the back center of the room.

The seven of them were served a bowl of rice, soup, vegetables, and a plate of warm soba. However, before Lingren was allowed to eat any of it, Fan lifted their mask and tasted it. The party waited in silence for several minutes; Fan passed out on the tatami floor. Lingren, Hinatsu, Akamaru, and Sakura's eyes dilated as they shifted their attention toward Haruka.

"That was unexpected, but oh well, I guess I'll have to do things the hard way!" She said as her once-black eyes turned bright green with slit pupils. Then her body quickly reshaped into that of an enormous black cat that stood at around two meters in height and three meters in length and had two tails. Haruka's clothes fell off as the castle walls collapsed in the process.

"You're a nekomata!" Hinatsu, Tetsuya, and Sakura exclaimed in unison. The shrine maiden ran off into a slightly safer space while the young rounin, the kitsune, the oni, and the foreigner readied themselves for battle. The supposed retainers and the noble then pulled out weapons of their own, surrounding the four of them.

Haruka swiped at Hinatsu and Tetsuya, who both managed to dodge. Then the fox spirit revealed himself and drained the life out of some of the nekomata's men, killing them and concentrating some of that energy into a giant fireball, which he hurled at Haruka. However, she jumped, breaking the ceiling and landing on the next floor while the flaming ball hit the ground. When Lingren witnessed this, he gasped.

"You're a Huli jing!" He exclaimed under his breath before dashing towards the stairs with his polearm. The fire spread rapidly as Hinatsu swiftly stabbed, mutilated, and slashed through Haruka's men. She then followed the foreigner upstairs.

Meanwhile, Sakura pulled out five different paper dolls, then recited words in the language of the kami, breathing life into these paper dolls. The paper dolls known as the shikigami made their way into Haruka's sight, who was smashing through the walls of the burning castle. They followed her as she ran up the stairs along with the rest of her party, excluding Fan.

The nekomata, upon noticing the five shikigami tried to swipe and bite them, yet they kept on dodging, maintaining her attention. Lingren then took the opportunity to stab Haruka. However, she drew her attention towards him, attempting to bite his head. He held the handle of his polearm between the nekomata's enormous teeth. One of the burning walls collapsed, landing on the five shikigami and destroying them. Then Akamaru ran towards Haruka before swinging his tetsubou towards the nekomata's neck. However, she jumped, breaking the ceiling once again and making it to another floor, but this time, she whipped her tail in the direction of Lingren. Akamaru then grabbed the foreigner by the arm, pulling him out of the way. By then, it seemed as if the flames had spread throughout the entire castle. And Hinatsu, Lingren, Tetsuya, Sakura, and Hinatsu were all running out of time.

"Where did she go?" Hinatsu asked as she approached the red oni with the foreigner, accompanied by Tetsuya and Sakura.

"I don't know," Akamaru replied simply.

"We have no time to waste! It's either we kill the nekomata, or we flee! Which one will it be?" Tetsuya said sternly.

"I think I have a solution, but this is quite risky," Sakura uttered, earning the attention of her other four party members.

"Make it quick!" Lingren ordered.

"My solution requires me to perform an exorcism, which should greatly weaken Haruka or even paralyze her. However, if Tetsuya and Akamaru are close enough to me, this will also affect them." She explained.

"I think it's worth the risk!" Hinatsu exclaimed as the other three party members nodded their heads in response.

"Alright! Now first, I just need to find the youkai!" Sakura spoke.

Meanwhile, Fan awoke to find themself amid the chaos and destruction. Corpses, blood, organs, and flames filled the dining room. Yao Fan did their best to not inhale the smoke as they scaled the castle, searching for Haruka. Eventually, they found the geisha, who turned into a nekomata. Fan hid behind a painted screen as they readied their crossbow. They carefully aimed an arrow toward one of Haruka's eyes. However, before Fan could fire it, the nekomata appeared in front of them. The youkai then violently swiped at Fan's face, breaking their mask. While they did manage to dodge the attack, their right cheek down to the lower jaw area was scared. Fan then placed a hand over their cheek, feeling a warm, soft face that gushed with blood rather than a hard-painted mask.

While the nekomata was confronting Lingren's personal attendant, Sakura found Haruka and then readied her gohei along with a sound-producing instrument. There she closed her eyes, then began rapidly moving in circular motions before constantly leaping in the air. This allowed her to channel the power of the kami to perform her exorcism and unleash it upon Haruka.

Like that, the geisha was reduced to a naked woman lying in a burning castle. Once Sakura performed the ritual, Tetsuya, Akamaru, Lingren, and Hinatsu rushed into the scene. To the surprise of almost the entire party, Haruka had two long tail bones, both hairless. Then the party's attention turned towards Fan, whose face was revealed. As it turns out, the one behind the mask was a woman who looked no older than Lingren.

However, while the party was occupied, Haruka made her way to one of the balconies. Soon after Hinatsu heard the geisha's footsteps, she watched Haruka climb to the balcony ledge before throwing herself off the castle. The young rounin attempted to reach out her hand to save her, but Lingren grabbed Hinatsu by the arm.

"Why are you trying to save her after she tried to kill you!?" He asked.

"It's only fair that now that she can no longer harm us, I would have some consideration for her life!" The young rounin replied.

"How pathetic!" The foreigner said under their breath.

"Anyways, if we're quick enough, we can take Haruka's clothes and accessories and then sell them." He said while walking away from Hinatsu.

"How disgusting!" Hinatsu said to herself before following him.

...

The sun had already set, and the party of six managed to flee Hiromae castle. Sakura used her healing techniques to treat Hinatsu, Lingren, Fan, and Akamaru. After the young rounin received her treatment, she came to Tetsuya to discuss something important.

"Hey, Tetsuya! May I ask what did you sense from Haruka? She didn't seem like any other nekomata I've ever heard of, and it didn't even seem like she was possessed by one either." She spoke as the kitsune sighed.

"I really do not know what she is, but I can tell you that I sensed something very similar to her in Ryuujinsato." He said. Hinatsu immediately knew what he was talking about, and it scared her. What does this all mean? Is Haruka more than just a two-faced geisha?

...

Once Haruka escaped the Hiromae Castle, she returned to her tent and wrote a letter to emperor Yonku. The message was carried by the talons of a crow, who sent it to the tyrant's castle within a few days.

My Lord,

I come bearing information that would interest you. I found the girl described in the report from Itsubakawara. However, she was accompanied by an eight-tailed kitsune, a Nakakunijin prince, a red oni, a shrine maiden, and that foreign prince's bodyguard. Unfortunately, my attempt to poison them and put the girl to sleep failed. However, I only wish for the information I shared to help us significantly in capturing the Nagayori.

~Your most reliable ninja, Iga Yoruichi

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