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Kimi walked slowly, with an almost bored expression on her face. She was dirty, and tired, and more than a little annoyed. She'd been on an undercover mission for nearly a month, and had finally completed her task. The mark was dead, and she twirled the scroll she'd snatched from him in her hands. How dull. She had been hoping that the guy would be more fun, more passionate. Warriors usually made her trips entertaining, all raw passion and fury, an utter lack of control. They were so much different than the typical monk, ninja or samurai. Much more free spirited, and Kimi usually enjoyed missions in which her mark was all passion and brawn. However, the man she had been sent after had the temperament of a monk: calm, quiet, and generally extremely dull. The only ounce of passion he had shown had been in battle, and even then it was a controlled, almost disciplined kind of rage.

She sighed. It had certainly been a long month, but at least she had gotten the job done. It ended simply enough, with a poisoned drink, but Kimi couldn't help but wish she could get some excitement. Right now she just wanted a break, some time to unwind from the month long charade. It would be more than a little relieving to finally drop the act and be herself for awhile. She found herself craving a simple assassination mission. Something that would be less long and drawn out, and wouldn't be so involved. She was in the mood for something stealthy and simple, it had been awhile since she'd gotten a job like that though, and she'd have to talk to Kura about it. Maybe she could request a few, just to help get some action rather than being the peace-loving monk she played as. She approached one of the secret tunnels that led to the ninja complex, and purely out of habit, checked around to be sure no one was watching. When she was satisfied that no one was around, she slipped inside and made her way through the maze of tunnels to her destination. Now she just had to find Kura and report... oh joy...

----

Ahara leaned back in the rickety chair she was sitting in, her feet resting on a table. She held up her drink and let out a hardy laugh, and the men around her followed suit. They'd been drinking most of the evening, and would probably continue until one or all of them passed out, but it was a time for celebration. They were on they're way back from a job, and were promised great pay for their efforts.

"And he thought I was a mere woman!" Ahara shouted, cheerfully. "That be a lesson to you all! I am not mere woman, but a warrior!" She was proud, and rightfully so. She had proven, once again that she was more than just a woman. She was strong, and fierce.

"I dunno 'Hara." A bald, terribly scarred man beside her commented slowly, the booze taking effect. "I think I could take ya down." He chuckled slightly and smiled at her.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that some other time, when you aren't drunk and pathetic." She raised an eyebrow at him, and the rest of the men around the table laughed and shouted in agreement. Despite what they said, most of her companions held a great respect for her, though a few still believed they could best her, most were glad to have her around. She served as a rather unexpected wild card in battle, that had proven to be endlessly helpful.

There were more pointless toasts and loud proclamations of superiority, but all was done in good humor, though the other patrons of the bar seemed to be getting a bit frustrated with their loud antics, they were either too drunk, or too happy to bother noticing.

"Stand aside, peasant! Make way for your Emperor!" ordered an Imperial Retainer. He was a Samurai, or claimed to be, anyway. Samurai were nothing but hypocrit warriors. Preaching honor when they really knew nothing of the sort. Twisting this Samurai's neck until his head snapped off was a tempting venture, indeed.

"A thousand apologies, m'lord. Please do not kill me!" begged Saki, hurriedly standing to the side, seeming to cower. Other peasant gardeners were there, doing the same. Where were they? The Imperial Palace Garden, tending to the trimmings of the various plants. Fortunately for Saki, all the things his birth father tried to teach him about farming and gardening were paying off.

"If I did that, who would be left to tend to His Highness's garden?" he said, finally ignoring Saki as the regime made it's way through the Gardens. Apparantly, the Emperor had been in the mood for a stroll through the Garden today.

Saki bowed along with the others as the regime passed. Saki considered striking now. The Emperor was mere feet from him. He could effortlessly pounce and slit his throat with the gama he held in his hand. Instead he did nothing. Now was not the time. The Emperor was too guarded at this time. To kill him now would forfeit Saki's life. And Saki needed to survive this assignment, because his master would have further need of Saki later.

Saki's mark was a couragous one: The Emperor himself. His master had been slaving away at climbing the Imperial ranks, awaiting his chance. Ever since the mysterious ninja activity started, Saki's master decided that now was the time. Saki had been ordered to quietly and patiently get close to the Emperor and eventually kill him. This, according to the plan, would leave a power vacuum that Saki's master would take advantage of as one of the higher ranking lords. While the power struggle commenced, Saki was to systematically kill his master's competition until none were left.

This mark required patience and deception beyond any other. But, Saki cared nothing for the reward. He saw this as the ultimate challenge. A challenge he would meet.

...

"It seems all is clear. Good." said Yukimura, once again finishing his rounds. Of course it was clear. Who would be fool enough to attempt a direct invasion of the Imperial Palace? No matter. Yukimura had his job, and he did it without question or complaint.

Loyalty is the key to honor. And honor is above all else. That was Yukimura's philosophy. Of course, there was more than just that. But Yukimura summarized Bushido in those words, and followed them like a religion. Yukimura was perhaps the Emperor's most loyal vassal. While others in the world seemed to wish the Emperor's downfall, Yukimura could only wish this: That he could face them and defeat them in the name of his esteemed Emperor.

But, a vassal's duty was to protect, not to kill. Yukimura's duty was to guard the Palace, and the Emperor, with his life if necessary. Still, perhaps one day he would be called to the battlefield. Until then, Yukimura would do his assigned duty. Speaking of which, he gripped Kencho Tora as he went to make his rounds again.

Kura stood still, trying to make himself seem bored and tired. He stood in the middle of a hardwood floor arena, the floor decorated with scratches, cuts, and the occasional blood stain. Surrounding the arena were ninja of various types. Slow and strong, fast and deadly accurate, it didn't matter. No one would be able to hit him. It was "Mission Impossible" day: The once-a-month training excersize for the lower rank ninja. The objective was simple: Try to hit Master Tarabashi any way one could.

Without warning the first person through his knife toward Kura's face. The razor sharp blade flew with deadly percision and speed, but Kura easily dodged. He moved his head to the right, but only enough so that the knife passed so close to his head that he could feel it. For some reason the lower ninja loved when he did that.

Then came the barrage. After the first knife had been thrown more knives and stars quickly followed. Kura all that needed dodging. Then about half the ninja decided it was time to rush him. They surged forward, one at a time, to confront him. Kura blocked and fist, dodged a knife, then disabled his close range attacker with a punch to the throat.

Another disabling, this time with a kick to the back of the knee's. Kura took down more and more of his students, which was getting harder and harder each time they came at him. They were getting much better.

Finally their leader, the chosen ninja to lead the other lower ranks during this training session, called an all-stop. He walked towards Kura and bowed respectfully. "It seems you have bested us again, Master Tarabashi. We will defeat you next time."

Kura nodded and bowed. He didn't want to speak because the strain in his voice would show how close they actually came to getting him that time. He turned and strode from the training arena and into a tunnel that eventually led him to his private room.

The white forest was quiet. Peaceful. Birds chirped here and there, and the occasional animal darted from behind the giant trees into the remaining bushes, the ones that hadn't been covered in snow. A breeze blew, but didn't make it that much colder. Snow still fell from the skies, white and powdery. The forest was surreal. That's what Tairou thought as he walked along a small path. He couldn't see the ground, but the absence of trees signaled a buried road. And so, the young monk patted on, his boots crunching softly in the snow. His hood was up, and his hands folded inside his overlapping sleeves. He was silent, at least on the outside.

You've been walking for hours. You should stop.

No. I will continue on. The next village can't be much farther.

But you're exhausted.

Of course I'm exhausted. But a monk can overcome. I can overcome.

Tairou's other self fell silent, leaving him to the soft padding of his boots and the sound of the forest around him. The cold felt good on his skin. Some would say it was too cold, but Tairou didn't believe in "Too cold." It was never too cold. It was often very cold, but never too much so. Tairou liked the cold.

Kimi stalked through the intricate halls of the complex making her way to the arena. To say she was tired would have been an understatement. She felt as though she might pass out at any moment. Three days of travel without sleeping was not really the smartest thing she'd ever done, but the mission was what came first, and she refused to compromise the scroll. In the arena men were practicing intricate maneuvers which Kimi noted would be useless for the most part in actual confrontation. The moves were too involved, but they served as good training, exercising both strength and agility. Kimi also noted with amusement that most of the moves were designed specifically to hit an impossible target. Kura. She found herself chuckling aloud. Obviously they had failed at the task for the day. Kura was nowhere to be seen. She stayed a moment longer, however, watching her fellow ninja train, and idly realized how much she missed the time in her life that she had spent most of her time in the arena area. Times were simpler then.

With a shrug she stood from the wall she had been leaning against, and moved to the second most likely place to find Kura. His room. After all she did have that report to make. She smiled to herself. She had missed being home.

---

A small man approached the large, table of loud patrons. The man seemed nervous and almost seemed to recoil as he noticed exactly what he was getting himself into, but he had a job to do.

"Um... Excuse me." He asserted meekly. He went completely unnoticed by the boisterous group. "Um." He tried again. "Excuse me." He was a bit louder this time, and earned Ahara's attention, but the conversation continued, no one paying any heed. "Um!" He tried a finally time.

Ahara smiled taking pity on the man. "Oi! Shut up,yeah?! This little guy here seems to wanna say somethin'." She turned to the terrified looking figure beside her. "Can we help ya with somethin'?"

"Uh. Yes. You see, the other patrons seem to be just the slightest bit disturbed by your... ah... behavior. If you could just tone it down..."

"Is he tryin' a kick us out?" the bald man from before shouted, his displeasure quite evident. "It's cold out there, and I don' care who you is, or whatever it is you own, but I ain't goin' out there 'til I'm damn good an' ready." There was a cheer of agreement from his drunk companions. "Ain't we payin' jus as much as the rest of 'em? We have every right to stay an' be as loud as we want!" Another cheer, and they all raised their glasses in a toast.

"It's just... ah..."

Ahara interrupted the man with a hardy chuckle. "It's a celebration." Her tone was loud, but not as overwhelming as her companions' had been. "No worries, we aren't here to cause any trouble. I'll keep them in line for ya." She slipped him an extra few coins with a wink and a smile before she joined back in the loud conversation, and the retelling of their battle stories.

Kura laid back on his bed. Although he wouldn't admit this to anyone, his students were beginning to wear on him a little. A blew out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. He lay still for a few minutes, his mind half drifting towards unconciousness, the other half always in red-alert mode. Kura was a very light sleeper when he needed to be. If he was in a safe place though, he was hard to wake up.

Strange how he thought of this place as "unsafe". All the ninja here were loyal and nobody (except the ninja that have been told, of course) knew the location. Even if someone managed to stumble across one of the secret entrances it would take even longer to navigate their way through the labrynth of identical tunnels into Kura's private chambers. But still, the title of Ninja Master was earned either through naming of a successor or through the murder of the previous Master. Kura didn't really have a problem with the current rules. They were, after all, ninja's.

A soft knock brought him from his half-sleep. His feet were on the floor even before his eyes opened. "Come in," he said, trying his best to remove any wearyness from his face. The door slowly opened and Kura spotted a very familiar, and very beautiful, face looking in at him. "Oh, it's just you.." He said lazily, his voice sounding as if he didn't care. In reality, he was glad to see Kimi.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, then turned away from her. He flopped down on the bed and looked up at her. Playing games with Kimi had always been fun. "Well, I know why you're here, but I'm sorry to have to disappoint you-" he gestured with his hands over the small-ish bed and smirked at her (he wasn't wearing his mask), "But it only fits one."

Kimi gave a smirk. Sure she was tired, but this little game was something she had grown accustom to, and something she would not admit that she had actually missed quite a bit in her time away.

"That's a shame. I've learned a few new tricks since I've been gone, and I was so looking forward to showing you." She moved inside the room to lean a bit more comfortably against one of the inner walls. "'Just' me, huh? After all this time that's how you greet me? Nice to know I was missed. It's like you didn't even notice I was gone." She stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout, going so far as to let it quiver slightly and gave him a doe-eyed look. "And here I thought we were so close."

She dropped the act before it went any further, and adopted her previous smirk once again. "I see you haven't changed much since I've been gone. Still untouchable." She knew he would understand the reference to the exercise that had taken place earlier in the day, one she had taken part in while she was still in training. She let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulder, changing the topic once again, as was her fast-paced nature. "Would you like my report now or later, Master?" She called him by his title almost teasingly. Yes, she had definitely missed this.

Kura sighed and swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood up. "Hmm... Maybe later.." he said. He slowly began to walk around Kimi, never taking his eyes off of her. He stepped up close behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "For now I've got something... Special for you..." He moved his head closer so that his mouth was close to her ear. "An assignment." He smiled and quickly stepped away from her. "Easy one this time. You and me are gonna hit the town tonight! So go get changed, maybe something a bit more scantily clad," he said. He smiled and winked, but the way he made his voice sound made it hard to tell if he was joking or not.

"What? Don't look at me like that. I'm serious. We haven't had a chance to go out in a long time... Besides, I'll be leaving soon on my own personal mission..." He looked away, an almost sad look crossing his face. "I'll be in the west, in the mountains, and I don't know how long I'll be gone..."

Tairou walked softly into the tavern, exhausted.

So you made it.

Tairou smirked.

Didn't think I could make it, could you?

Well...No. I didn't think so.

Typical/

Do you expect anything less?

Not really.

Tairou looked around the room, finally laying his eyes on a familiar figure, with a familiar group of friends with her. Padding softly over, he left his hood on as he stood behind her and spoke. "Hello, Ahara. Having fun, I see." His deep voice rumbled through him, and drew more than a few looks from the surrounding taverngoers. But he didn't care. Ahara was always fun.

And always drunk.

Hey, not always. Actually, she's sober most of the time.

She's drunk every time I pay attention.

Tairou mentally chuckled.

Maybe you should focus on her face, more than her figure.

His other chuckled as well.

It's not my fault...

Kimi nodded slowly the hint of sadness about Kura not escaping her; she did not question him however. She was tired certainly. Going on four days with of no sleep, but Kura was worth it. She had missed him, and it was a rare thing for them to be able to go out. Still she gave him an uncertain look, but he assured her that he was indeed serious. She smiled brightly.

"Alright." She bowed quickly, hoping the sadness in her own eyes had gone unnoticed. She turned to leave, stopping just before she left. "I'll be ready in just a minute, and I want to know everything you are able to tell me about this mission."

She tried to conceal the slight worry in her voice, but she heard it herself. It was silly to be worried about him. He had earned his title, and she shouldn't have questioned him, but still she worried. It wasn't very common for Kura to take a mission himself, the fact that he had only meant whatever it was, it was dangerous. She hurried through the labyrinth of tunnels to her own room, washing up a bit, and changing into an outfit less revealing than her monk attire. It was some of the only civilian attire she owned, hoping the outfit would help her blend in with the crowd more. It was a simple kimono that accentuated her curves, but actually covered all of her girlie bits in full, unlike the monk attire. She put her hair up in an intricate fashion with a few pins, nothing about her look was particularly fancy, she looked rather plain, at least in her own opinion, which meant she had accomplished her task. She wouldn't stand out. Content with her appearance, she made her way through the tunnels once more to meet Kura, and hopefully learn something about this mission he was going on.

---

Ahara looked up at the figure beside her, her face a slightly reddish color from the booze. "Hey!" She all but shouted, glad to see a familiar face. "What brings you here?" She stood and clapped the man on the back in greeting. Raising her class to all of her companions, not giving Tairou a chance to actually respond to her question. "Oi! This here is Tairou!" She grinned, leaning on the table for support. "He's somethin' of an old friend, yeah?" She raised her half full class in toast. "To old friends!" There was a cheer and the men around the table raised there glasses and drank heavily from them. Ahara set her glass down once she had downed the remains of it, and patted one of her companions on the shoulder in a silent request for him to refill it for her. He grumbled but did so.

She was obviously quite happy to see him, though it could have just been the alcohol and her overall cheerful mood. She threw an arm around the man's shoulder, as though they were the closest of friends. "It's been a while. Why'd you say you were here anyway?"

Kura smiled as Kimi came up to him. He stood waiting by the most commonly used entrance/exit to this ninja haven, leaning against the wall. He was dressed as usual when going out: baggy dark blue shirt and pants, black leather shoes, and a facemask. What someone wouldn't see, however, was the durable, skin-tight black shirt and assortment of tools underneath the baggy shirt. Kura always came prepared.

He held out his arm for Kimi to take and smiled in a mischievous way, then walked beside her out of the complex. Even though she trying her damndest to look like another commoner, Kura still managed to notice her curves. He quickly switched his attention to something else, and hopefully before she would see him looking. Kura's eye for the women had gotten him into trouble more often than not.

The sun was on the brink of falling below the horizon, dividing the sky between deep, star strewn purple and fading orange. It was a beautiful sight.

Then Kimi brought up his mission again. Kura had hoped she wouldn't, but he was a ninja master and would be able to come up with a wordy explanation that didn't really explain anything. "I'm, um... It's personal..."

Kura rolled his eyes at himself. Nice wordiness.

Kimi just stared blankly, blatantly annoyed with the attempt at a response. "You're the boss..." She said blandly, as though it explained everything. She wanted to slap him and tell him to just not say anything next time. She wanted to tell him a simple 'It's classified' would have sufficed, but she new better. She'd be lucky to even land the hit. She put a hand on her hip and stared intently for a few more minutes, just to get her glare across. Then she spoke once more. "Well, what are we going to be up to tonight?" She let the heaviness of the atmosphere drop away. She didn't want for her worry to ruin their night out if this was going to be the last time she'd see him for awhile. Once again, she was mentally denying that she had any sort of special attachment to her superior. He was just her boss, her leader... it had nothing to do with anything personal. This was business. The kind of business where talk of business is avoided and all things are done strictly for the sake of pleasure. That sort of business. Yeah... she always lost that argument.

She walked with Kura wherever they were going. In all honesty Kimi wasn't even sure if he knew himself. More often than not Kura tended to just wonder around until he stumbled on something that struck his fancy, though he acted as though he'd meant to go arrive at that point all along. Their time together meant more to her than what exactly they ended up doing. They always had fun. Still, Kimi couldn't help, but ask "So, where are we going?" She was sure the answer was going to be something along the lines of 'it's a surprise' or something equally ambiguous, still, it was fun to ask, almost like a ritual. Still, in the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder if Kura would make it back alive this time, or if he'd make it back in one piece if he made it back at all. She did her best to ignore that part of her mind, and focus on the moment. Now he was alive, and breathing and well. Now he was there, and that was what mattered.

Kura hated the way Kimi glared at him. Normally, he would have told her, but this really was for personal reasons. Although they were close, Kura has never let anything truly personal out to even his closest of friends. He locked that part of him deep inside when his parents were murdered before his eyes.

He walked with her and, seeing that noone was around, pulled his facemask down. He was sure he would come back just fine. This mission of his really wasn't that dangerous at all, but things could always turn ugly. He looked over at her and smiled. "Don't worry about it. We're going somewhere." Kura loved to not give full answers. It had become somewhat of a hobby of his when he was around friends.

The walk wasn't far, but Kura and Kimi discussed her recent mission to fill the time it took to get to the small town. They entered, secretly, and started for the town center. The lower living class made their home at the edge of town, while the wealthier of the townspeople lived more towards the center. The town did no have a square, but a circle. The cobblestone from the outer ring of the town turned into a more civilized stone street and the poorly kept buildings also upgraded.

In the center of the town, where Kura had stopped at, stood a huge tree. The trees leafy canopy kept the town circle relatively shadowed. The stone walkway that made the town circle extended from the circle of grass at the base of the tree to the many shops that crowded the circle. Strings and rope ran from building to tree branch all around the circle, each holding up a different colored paper lantern. These provided light and a pleasing sight.

Kura spotted the small resturant that he had taken a fancy to and pulled Kimi along to it.

Kimi simply smiled at the vague reply she received. It was exactly the kind of answer she expected, the kind of answer that doesn't really answer anything. Kura was like that about most things. Which is why she didn't press the matter of his going on a mission. She could pry until the end of time, and still Kura would not have given her a straight answer. Perhaps that was what made him so fascinating. No matter how close they seemed to be, Kimi didn't really know anything about Kura at all. It was a delicate balance of understanding and ignorance. Though, Kimi couldn't blame him. She was much the same way. She often told stories about her past which she completely fabricated. Allowed people to believe they'd gotten to know her, when in reality, they knew nothing about her at all.

Kura never lied to her about those things though, and for that Kimi respected him. He simply avoided answering at all. In return, Kimi tried to avoid lying to Kura about her own past and personal information, not so artfully avoiding answering questions that pried just a little too much, but Kura rarely asked prying questions. He had an understanding of what was private, and rarely pushed those boundaries.

Kimi allowed Kura to pull her along into the small restaurant. They had eaten there before, and Kimi recognized the place almost instantly. While she sincerely doubted that Kura had actually planned to take her to there from the start, she did enjoy the familiarity of the place. It was nice to be surrounded by things she was used to after such a long period away from everything she'd known.

"Seems you've taken a liking to this place." Kimi commented dully, noting that Kura seemed to favor that small restaurant over their other haunts lately.

Kura looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, then looked around the restaurant as if it was the first time he had seen it. "Oh, are we here again? I didn't even realize..." He looked back down at the small menu. Although Kura acted like he hadn't meant to go into this perticular restaurant, he actually did. He pretty much had this whole night planned out, though it pleased him to go through it as if everything was on a whim.

When the waiter came up to their table and asked for their order, Kura told her that he would need a few more minutes to decide, then told her to ask Kimi instead. When the waitress turned back to him he kind of pointed at the menu. "I guess I'll have this, uh, chicken thing.."

Yet more masquerading. Kura knew exactly what he wanted. It was what he had gotten last time, and the time before that, but his visits were far enough apart that the employee's wouldn't recognize him as a frequent customer.

Kimi raised an eyebrow certain that this whole night had been "planned out", which really meant that they would do whatever struck Kura's fancy at any given time. That how it always went on nights like these, at least as far as Kimi could tell. It was fun this way though, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

They sat down at their usual table, though Kimi was fairly certain that they came too sporadically for anyone to actually recognize it as their usual table. Kimi didn't bother looking at the menu. She'd been on the road for weeks, which meant no good food. She wasn't in the mood for experimentation. She was going to get a simple shrimp dish she'd gotten just about every time they came here. Simple and tasty. She watched as Kura went through his charade of "not knowing" what he wanted to eat. Kimi recognized the act and couldn't help, but smile. It was nice to be back. Kura ordered his usual chicken dish, and they both nonchalantly watched as the waitress left. An old habit of making meaningless small-talk ensued as they waited until the woman was out of earshot to actually start talking.

Tairou smiled and took off his hood, the whole of the table laying out before his eyes. Ahara had made new friends since the last time they had met. Tairou hadn't made a new friend in...to long. You didn't make many friends as a monk, but he was sincerely glad to have the ones he did. Even if they were usually a bit...tipsy. "I was just passing though, and noticed you in here. HAd to drop by and say hello, didn't I?" He smirked and took a seat beside Ahara, ordering a water. He didn't drink.

Yeah, that's what they all say.

Tairou mentally chuckled again.

I've been saying that for a long time. I've done pretty well so far.

Well, I can't blame myself. It smells disgusting.

It's an acquired taste, I guess.

Tairou left his other alone and brought his attention back to Ahara. "So, what've you been doing since we last met? It was a little over a year ago, right?"

Ahara chuckled and plopped back down into her seat. "Has it been a year already! Well, ain't that somethin'. I ain't been up to much, just takin' jobs where they come. I found myself a little band of idiots to run around with to get the job done." She looked around the table at her companions, camaraderie evident in the atmosphere. "Just got done with a job, hell of a good pay waitin' for us a few miles down the road." She smiled at Tairou fondly. "If you was lookin' for some company I ain't got much else goin' on. I can dump these guys once the pay's been divvied."

She did enjoy the time she had spent with her little group, but Ahara wasn't really one for permanency, not to say she was disloyal, she just had a short attention span. She had spent too long with these people and was craving a bit of change. Tairou was always an interesting man.

"You been up to much? It's mighty damn cold out there, and you been walkin' in it. I assume you're goin' some kinda somewhere if you're puttin' yourself through that."