Snippet #2693390

Seijuro stopped his tour of the room and turned towards the door as he heard it slide gently open accompanied by the swish of multi-layered fabric. The woman was dressed in all the layers of finery that showed her to be a courtesan of high rank, and she kept her eyes demurely lowered. The long dark hair that shone in the lamplight concealed her features still further. Not that Seijuro was a habitual visitor in the yukaku district, but there was nothing to differentiate the woman before him who he knew to be a Hanzo clan ninja from a real courtesan. He shouldn’t have been remotely surprised, that was … kind of the point about ninjas after all. He inclined his head towards her in the smallest of bows as she entered. While the woman took care setting out the tea, he walked to the end of the room and removed his sheathed sword from his belt to place it carefully in the sword rack. He made sure to do so both slowly and in her full view, so that it was clear he wasn’t attempting to attack. He wasn’t too concerned about leaving his sword – if this were some kind of ambush, flailing around with a long sword in a small room wouldn’t be much use anyway.

"Come, sit with me young master," she said, causing a corner of Seijuro’s mouth to twitch up at her turn of phrase. He sat down opposite her, settling himself on another of the cushions. “Please, I don’t think we need to keep up the ‘young master’ and ‘little sister’ thing now,” he said, with a slightly embarrassed smile. They were alone, and they both knew why they were there. “My name is Akizawa Seijuro, from the Mizutani of Sugahara. You must be Hanzo-san, is that right?” Under his haori the Mizutani crest of a circle containing three waves, was visible on his kimono. It served as proof of some kind that he was who he claimed to be.

He accepted the cup of tea, reaching out to take it from her hands, and nodded, “thank you.” He appeared to become more serious as the woman began to talk in oblique terms about the “problem” that was arising. “I hope that we can both help each other,” he replied. Despite going ahead and talking more openly than Suki was, he kept his voice low and measured, so that casual listeners would be unlikely to know the purpose of their conversation. Walls were thin, even in places like this. “From what I’ve learned, this is more of a problem that effects both of our people, which is why Hanzo-dono sought an alliance. But please correct me if I’ve misunderstood.

“I confess, I know very little about your people, and I understand that there may be little you can tell me, but Mizutani-dono would like to know what manner of assistance you can offer. Before that, though,” he added, “How much do we know of Tadatsugu’s plans and how much of a threat he really presents? In order to forge an alliance, Mizutani-dono would need to be satisfied that the situation warrants such an unorthodox measure.” He took a sip of the tea that she had offered, while awaiting her reply.