Akira Morimoto, from Genesis: The Shinsengumi, a roleplay on RPG

"He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end." - Henry Emerson Fosdick

A pale hand extended outwards, its fingers slightly curled in towards the palm. With a harsh caw, the incoming crow alighted on the proffered wrist, wrapping its talons with surprising gentleness around the delicate limb. Kohaku drew the creature back to her, using her other hand to stroke its glossy, dark feathers for a moment before she moved to its leg, removing the small tube tied to it and handing it off to the dark-haired hanyō standing to her immediate left.

"What does Tachibana say?” Her inquiry was delivered quietly, but with the slight steel thread of authority, as though not providing her an answer simply wasn’t an option. Not that she really thought it necessary—it was simply natural.

The strikingly-beautiful man holding the message scanned over it for a moment, then dropped it, slicing it with several precise blades of air on the way down, scattering the miniscule pieces to the winds. “He’s secured us places at a temple just outside Edo. The old priest recently died, and they’ve been having some trouble keeping up with the demands for their services. They were only too happy to receive a few new monks and a priestess.” A slight smile quirked his lip, and Kohaku nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Suzumori.” Transferring the crow to her shoulder, Kohaku started forwards, the other three trailing in her wake, as they usually did. To her left was Suzumori, with Morimoto to her right and Inoue acting as rear guard. It was a loose formation, and didn’t look like a team of excellently-trained bodyguards protecting their charge, but this was on purpose. All of them were dressed modestly, in garments belonging to monks and shrine maidens, itinerant religious folk who would draw little to no notice passing through a place. Disguise was important for this purpose, after all—she had no doubt that if she’d entered these lands as herself, Yōichirō would have sent people to kill her already.

He was that far gone, now.

“And what’s the plan when we’re there, Jōcchan?” The question came from the second of her followers, Morimoto. He was the tallest of the party, edging out Inoue by a few inches. At present, his rather bright red hair was darkened with a temporary dye so that it was an umber brown instead, but it was still worn the same way—a messy topknot with an entirely unnecessary braid in one side, the whole mass fluttering like a pennant in the slight breeze coming from the direction of their destination. He carried a shakujō staff, mostly for show, the rings on it jingling faintly every time he set the butt of it against the ground. They day was clear, and surprisingly warm for this time of year, but it made their travel swifter, and they were all glad of that.

He knew the general gist of the plan, of course—they all did. But it was just like him to ask her, to pry for more details and try and keep Kohaku from spending too much time in her own head. She wasn’t sure whether she was grateful for that or just annoyed; which feeling won out tended to fluctuate with her mood. As they walked, she answered.

"Well, it’s going to take a bit of time to establish our cover, but once it seems secure enough, we’ll need to familiarize ourselves with the people in town, and get a feel for the yakuza activity. We can’t just march up there and deal with Yōichirō, you know that.” What was more, Kohaku wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to, but this was not an insecurity she chose to share. All of these men were the people she trusted more than anyone else, and Akira Morimoto was first among even them. But there were many things Kohaku felt she could not say.

"We need an opportunity. Something that will give us a chance to tip the scales in our favor.” Her ambitions may have been towering, but her ego was far from it. Kohaku was not so arrogant as to believe that she could achieve her goals with ease, but she was confident enough to believe that, with intelligent planning and the right people at her side, she could achieve them. She would unite this country. She would rule Nippon.

“So long as I don’t have to pretend to be a monk the whole time,” Akira mused. It might have been a simple complaint about the guise, but they both knew that neither his appearance nor his temperament was really suited for the ploy. The other two could pass well enough—Kaoru could pass as anything—but he just didn’t look like a monk or a priest, even supposing he could curb himself and act like one for long enough.

“Actually, I might have an idea about that.” Kaoru broke into the conversation easily, his voice as smooth and ambiguous as the rest of him. “You would, perhaps, make a poor monk, but there are other guises you might take on, ones that are truer to type, perhaps.” There was a subtle touch of mockery in the hanyō’s tone, one that was long familiar to Kohaku. Just because she trusted them all didn’t mean their temperaments were perfectly harmonious, after all.

Before Akira could respond and start another round of verbal ninjutsu, she broke in. "What do you suggest, Suzumori?”

He smiled thinly. “The yakuza are well known to run dens for everything from opium to gambling. What is more common in such places than ronin and common mercenaries down on their luck and looking to find favor with fortune?”

He had a point. Among Akira’s less reputable skills were definitely things like gambling and smoking—and he was known to maintain that the latter was definitely a skill. It wouldn’t even be a problem if he were to be more flashy as a mercenary or ronin; such people were likely to play things like that up in order to have a better chance of being noticed and therefore hired. It also wouldn’t be terribly suspicious if he slept at the temple—he’d just be another hard-bitten lowlife imposing on the generosity of the monks, probably in exchange for hard labor. As cover, it would survive most any scrutiny.

"Morimoto?” Kohaku glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

He was giving Kaoru a dirty look, but at her inquiry, he grinned. “Please, don’t strain my acting skills or anything. I suppose I could manage it. Maybe see about getting myself hired for a few yakuza gigs, huh?” He was far from the ideal spy, but that wasn’t to say he was completely hopeless.

Kohaku’s eyes narrowed at him for just a moment, a wordless warning conveyed within them. She shook her head almost imperceptibly. He, on the other hand, just grinned a little wider. “Don’t get yourself all twisted up, Jōcchan. I know what not to do. This dog is well-heeled, don’t you think?”

She didn’t. Not in a million years. She knew Akira held her in high esteem—he’d practically told her so, and he was honest to a fault, really. The least dissembling person she’d met in her entire life. But… he was still independent. His fate was, and always had been, entirely with his own control, and she held no illusions that she could keep him here if he chose to go—or keep him on her side if he chose another. She’d accepted this.

"You’re not a dog, Morimoto.” She sniffed as though mildly irritated, but the statement held a world of meaning, given their shared history. "Don’t call yourself one.”

“We’re close.” That was Inoue, breaking into the discussion for the first time. He jerked his chin forward, and Kohaku realized that she could indeed see the shrine gates looming ahead. The building at which they would be staying was no more than a mile or so outside of Edo proper, and served both the city and the surrounding countryside. A wide dirt road led from the shrine into the city, but they would have to wait before they took that. Part of Kohaku was impatient, but she knew it was more important to make sure this was done properly than to satisfy her urge to make progress as soon as possible.

"All right. According to Tachibana, they should be expecting us, so let’s not waste any time.” She started back towards the gates, her inner circle fanned out loosely behind her.

Akira Morimoto

0 · 202 views · located in Sengoku Jidai || Japan

a character in “Genesis: The Shinsengumi”, as played by RolePlayGateway

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Akira Morimoto's Story

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