Shindou:
“I can’t believe you left the little miss all alone in there! And inside the cell!”
Adachi-san is reaming me but still trying to keep it down, as much as he can I guess. We’re in one of the buildings not too far from where the warehouse is and from this vantage point at the second floor, we have an unobstructed view of the perimeter.
“I thought I’d let you know that it’s only some guy in there. And he’s as drunk as a skunk right now. This will be over with if we just storm the place all at once.”
“And what of the our little ninja friend?” He glares at me and I can’t help but look to the side. “What if something happens to her?”
“She’s a kunoichi right? And she stuck herself right into -our- business and that boyfriend of hers too.”
“Naruhodou-san! Do you really report to Fujita?” He shakes his head, “Is this what you’ve learned from the man? Leaving comrades behind or at worst considering them as collateral damage?”
Wouldn’t Fujita-san do the same? He’d have left Makimachi-san too if he saw an opportunity to get back-up and ensure a -win-. I meet Adachi-san’s glare, “I think the Superintendent would’ve done what I’ve done.” I say evenly.
“Then you are nowhere near the man he writes to me about and he’s now become a -poor- judge of character. Hmph!” He crosses his arms, “We’re not goig in. The Osaka police will patrol the harbor so those boats can’t come and take the women away nor can reinforcements come.”
“Doing it her way will take a long time!” I’ve finally had it. It’s getting dark and didn’t he say a boat was going to Ito? That’s where the Sup is and I intend to be. Not relagated to these scraps. This is why I’ve never been seen as his equal, not by her nor him nor anyone.
“NO! And that’s final.” He paces the floor, “I’ll give you no choice. I’m -ordering- you to go back to the warehouse and assist Makimachi-dono and make sure she and the others get out unharmed.”
He’s really ordering me? I feel the hilt of the gun with my hand. Fine I can go back to that warehouse and I’ll just shoot the bastard so we can move this damn thing forward. “Fine if it’s an order.”
“And like I told her, no heroics. No taking this man on, just on your own because you’re in a hurry to go somewhere.”
I throw Adachi-san a look, how did he know?
“Oh come on boy! The moment you came bursting through my door, I already knew you were annoyed by the entire assignment and was just keeping it a secret from our kunoichi friend and I. I’ve been around the block, -junior- officers like you are a dime a dozen.”
Shit. Who -is- this guy? Where did Fujita-san… But that doesn’t matter now. A higher ranking officer has given me orders. “So you’ll wait for the signal.”
“Yes as we all -agreed- earlier.”
“Fine.” Shit. So I turn around and start to leave.
“Look, get your part done. That’s what you were asked to do. And I’ll make sure that boat to Ito waits for you until everyone is safe.”
I suppress a sigh. So he even knew that I was stressing about how to get to Ito on time? He’s not an idiot like he seemed to be earlier in his office. Then again Fujita-san never called him a fool. I stop by the door and look back. “Thank you Adachi-san. I’ll be Makimachi-san’s proper support.” Well that’s it. My word is my bond.
(Aoshi)
I’ve always found these new Meiji police to be useless. They’re standing around, while Misao is inside. She’s foolish to trust these people.
But I can see through the overhead window that she’s sitting around with the women, as the lone male guard is drinking. What is she waiting for?
I shift my bundle and go to the nearby warehouse where the police are -noisily- gathering.
I know of this man Adachi. I put my bundle on the ground, where a protesting noise comes out.
“The potter,” I say. “He’s addicted to the product he was smuggling, and withdrawal will be difficult, but he’ll be willing to talk.” They’ll see his hands eventually – he’ll never make another pot, and given the technique is taught by touch and not book or verbal instruction, he will not have successors.
Another arcane Oniwanban art, lost to time. As it should be. They’re only used for -ill- in this time. Misao and Okina won’t deal with these sorts, nor would they do anything -effective- if they did.
There’s a younger man, not hiding that he’s staring at me. I return to addressing Adachi, since he’s obviously what passes for being in charge of the police here.
“Are you going to go collect the women, or are you too concerned about a single, drunken guard?” I told Okina that I’m not going to go to Misao’s rescue. She’d likely yell and throw something at me, and I’ve made my position clear. Why she gets involved in this… I frown, ever so slightly. She made some alliance with these fools, they should live up to it.
Adachi:
How did he… Get past all the guards. I scowl at my men. We’ll be retraining them as soon as this is over.
“Are you going to go collect the women, or are you too concerned about a single, drunken guard?”
“And who are -you-?” Crossing my arms I ask him pointedly.
“He’s likely Shinomori Aoshi Chief. The Sup told me about him and he’s -closely- associated with Makimachi-san. One she would consider an “ally”.”
I glance back at Shindou. At least he didn’t withold information from me again. “An ally to our kunoichi friend?” I seize the man up, he strikes me as a cold one. Not passionate and likely just like Shindou okay with having a comrade be collateral damage if he’s wondering why we can’t handle a lone drunk.
“We’re not too concerned about the one drunk Shinomori-kun, especially now that we’ve ensured no reinforcements can get into the port and past us and we’ve surrounded the perimeter of the warehouse.” I walk up to the man and we’re about the same height. “Your “comrade” asks us to wait for her signal before rushing in. Are you saying we should not heed her advice?”
How much trust does these two put on the girl? It seems likely, not much. And to be honest she seems a little overzealous just like Fujita said, but I think he’d not throw kunoichi-chan’s plan out the window so easily. She’s from Kyoto and even I have heard of the girl who Fujita worked with to keep the town from burning. But this Shinomori? I’ve not heard of at all.
Misao (Inside the warehouse)
It seems like forever. I may be more patient than people give me credit for, but ugh… we have to listen to that -pig- eat and drink, all while complaning about where his new backup went.
You and me both, buddy.
But eventually, his head slumps forward to his chest, and the most horrible snore…
The “queen” approaches me. “He’s out, now. What are you going to do now? Keep waiting for your little friend?”
That Shindou-san…. I pull out my whistle. I should have know this was a poor operation when they didn’t even pat me down!
“Make sure everyone’s awake, and knows to follow my lead.” I give her a brief smile.
TWEET!!!!!
Aoshi
He’s likely Shinomori Aoshi Chief. The Sup told me about him and he’s -closely- associated with Makimachi-san. One she would consider an “ally”
I nod, slightly. At least he’s well-informed, but what is the intonation on -closely-? One of those fools who think that I pine for Misao? But the -admiring- way the cheif speaks of Misao… that does annoy me. She’s probably running around in her ninja garb, despite how unsuitable it is…
Your “comrade” asks us to wait for her signal before rushing in. Are you saying we should not heed her advice?
I’d tell this man that Misao has no idea what she’s playing at, and that Saitou’s a fool for indulging her. “She’s capable,” I say. The others, my long-gone friends, made such a pet of her, teaching her the way of the shinobi. And then Okina didn’t set her on a path to a -normal- life…
Then, it comes out through the night. A whistle. -Her- whistle, one I made for her as a little girl, as distinct to my ears as her own voice.
“There’s your signal. Isn’t there somewhere you’re supposed to be?”
Adachi:
This man… He doesn’t say much but it doesn’t take much to know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking we’re all incompetent. When Fujita gets back I’m going to give him an -earful-. An overzealous girl, a still -green- with a chip off his shoulder junior and now a supposed ally who might as well be an icicle.
But the signal comes and I barely even heard what this Shinomori was spouting. “We’ve no time for him.” I say and I don’t give a damn about being dismissive. He’s not been much help and it’s seems a step below of Shindou-kun and that’s saying a lot.
Spinning around I grab my gear and run out – it’s turned much darker – probably past eight, “Just like what we planned for men! Split into 3! One group surround the warehouse and pay a bit more attention to the rear even if there’s no obvious exit there. The others brace the main road and the docks and the rest of you come with me!” I grin a little as my men all nod in unison and file out of the room.
“Shindou-kun, you can come with me and it’s fine to holster your gun where everyone can see it. It may make others think twice in resisting us.” Not that we’d ever need it. Just our numbers alone would make anyone think twice before confronting us head on.
Shindou gives me a surprised look. “You might as well use it for what it’s really intended for. To keep the peace.”
“Of course…” He looks to the side and then back at me, “Yes sir!”
Outside we march towards the warehouse, at least a hundred strong. One man? Shindou wasn’t wrong, we could easily over power one drunk. Nor was the “icicle” wrong. But I gave my word to kunoichi-chan and I never go back on my word. And he knew it, so he came to me. I’m saving his ass again as -usual-. Who’s the better police man now Fujita-san?
Shindou:
I’m confused I think. The next thing I know we’re all out there in front of the warehouse. Not sure where Shinomori-san went but Adachi-san has many men here. And they don’t even bother to pick the lock. Instead several men ram the heavy gates and it’s started to buckle. He’s not one for sneaking around. This man just faces things head on. So unlike…
I reach for my gun, just to be ready. It’s just one drunk against all of us. But if Makimachi-san has made it this long…
(OOC: Next post unless something happens the police will be swarming the inside of the warehouse. It’s the last opportunity for anything to happen inside the warehouse before the police gets involved.)
(Aoshi)
Adachi doesn’t seem to think well of me, but I’m not here to make friends, like the Battosai would. They’re talking about guns.
I make a slight shrug. “I’ll be nearby,” I tell them, leaving quickly and heading to the roof. Even if it’s one drunk, Misao is likely to get in over her head. Tch. But Okina asked me, to stay close and not come to lecture her. Through the dirty skylight I see the flash of her throwing her weapons…
(Misao)
I hear a crash as I blow my whistle – it’s the guard, who was tipped back in his chair as he dozed, falling to the ground.
“What the hell was that?!?” The man bellows.
The other women in the cage cower as he struggles to get up. I’m still… aghast at the state of this operation. We helped with the Tanaka clean-up and that was an -operation-. This successor organization seems so clumsy – but is it intentional?
“Where’s the kid? He was supposed to be back by now!” He makes his way over, limping slightly, where I stand by the gate. “New girl, where’s the man who brought you in? Who is he?”
I stand there, staring him down, no longer playing the role of the terrified country girl. He blinks, slowly. “What kind of girl are you?” He sneers. “If that boy is part of some police operation – HA! Police here in Yokohama are idiots, stumbling over their own feet.” He laughs. “Well I have a surprise for them if they -try-!” He goes over to a stack of boxes, and kicks some over, revealing…
A gatling gun!
I shiver, my eyes wide. I’ve seen them in the newspapers, I -wanted- one at one point, this murderous creation that slaughtered four of the five men who raised me, shaped me, loved me.
I feel a poke in my back. “What are you standing there for?” It’s Emiko-san, her whisper angry. “All that talk for nothing?”
I’m knocked out of my thoughts at that, and I shake my head. “I hate those things,” I say. “I -hate- those things.” The guard is fumbling with feeding the ammunition though…
“Thank you, your majesty,” I say, with a bit of smile. In an easy motion I’m over the top of the cage, and out.
“What the hell!?!?” The guard yells, noticing my garb in the dim light. “Emiko, baby, come -on- – you know everyone else is at those damn boats tonight… why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t I take care of you?”
I use shiriken instead of my kunai and throw one, then two, into the gears of that terrible thing. He fumbles at them, screeching when he cut himself trying to pull it out. The next is a kunai that hits his right hand. He seems not to know how to use that thing, but I’m -never- taking chances.
Bleeding, he pulls a handgun from his pocket, trying to hold it with his left. “Put it down, or you won’t have either hand useful anymore,” I tell him. Aoshi-sama would hate this, me drawing blood. But he’s -not- going to get any gun going in here!
Adachi:
“Come on men one more! Ram the damn thing!”
-Finally- it gives way! And there’s a -roar- as my guys trample over the gate. Never underestimate the Yokohama police numbers!
But they look at me waiting for orders… Oh -geez-.
“Shindou and I will go in first. You guys can watch our backs.”
One guy they said? Piece of cake.
“I’ll go in first chief.” I tell him. I’ll never hear the end of it if Fujita-san found out I let Yokohama’s high ranking officer go in first, putting him in the face of danger. If anything… I grip my pistol and go past him. Motioning for him to stay -behind- me.
And just as we turn the corner where the cell is… My eyes go wide. A gattling gun! And Nakanishi pointing his gun at Makimachi-san.
Surprisingly, even with the commotion of ramming the gates earlier, the police still has the element of surprise here. But not for long as I hear,
“What’s going on there Shindou-kun? What do you see?”
I only shake my head and try to motion him to stay where he is. But i still hear the other police making their way in. I shouldn’t hesitate. I -can’t-. If there’s one thing I remember back in Yoshiwara, where Fujita-san finished the job for me… to save me…
This time, the Sup isn’t here and I can’t let Makimachi-san get shot at.
And then the room fell into complete silence as I pulled my gun and point it straight at Nakanishi’s head. I take my shot. Just one.
(OOC: I’ll leave it up to you whether Nakanishi drops dead or not. Just know that of course it will have an effect on Shindou at least. Heh.)
Suddenly the doors are opened and I hear sounds, but the guard keeps swearing at me, trying to handle his gun and kicking the gatling gun… all while bleeding?
He looks up in alarm as there’s silence, and then the terrible sound – a bang –
It’s not the guard’s gun, or worse, the gatling gun discharging. It’s another –
I turn and Shindou-san is there, holding his gun, and I hear a scream as the guard falls. “You! You! You tricked me!!”
I take a step closer, he’s fallen back, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Was that -on purpose-, or a miss? I glance back at Shindou-san, and give him a nod. I don’t approve of guns, I -never- will, but at least the fool guard is still alive to hopefully spill his secrets. so Saitou or whoever is working with him can take down this remnant for good.
“Take care of him,” I tell Shindou-san, running back to the cage. I hear wailing…
I open the gate, and see Emiko-san as I address them all. “Please stay calm, we’re going to get you out of here, but we need to make sure the location is safe first…” Nearby I see a police officer, obviously gaping at the women. “It’s cold, get them some blankets,” I tell him, knowing they’ll want to be covered when they leave.
“Are we going to be arrested?” a woman in the back wails. “I’m already ruined, I don’t wanna go to jail!”
Shindou:
I shoot but it doesn’t land where I intended.
No… in fact it -did-. Damn it.
“You! You! You tricked me!!”
I look at him and then down at the pistol in my hand. Still no good after all.
“Take care of him,”
Take care of him? Like baby the outlaw? Is she serious? But she runs past me and I turn to watch her back.
“Shindou-kun don’t space out. Stay alert my boy!”
It’s the Chief.
“Here – you should get him secured or…” He glances back over his shoulder, “My men will and they’ll -overdo- it I’m sure.”
“Yes sir.” I take the handcuffs and bind the man I had intended to kill.
“Damn you! Who are you!”
I don’t answer him. It doesn’t matter anymore.
“They’re all in the boat! They’ll come after you.”
I look at Nakanishi. Bound up and on the floor he doesn’t look like much. What would Fujita-san do at a moment like this?
“We got close to a hundred men circling the harbor. No boats is getting in nor out.” The Chief laughs at him.
It’s then I remember, what he’d do or rather, what he’d want me to do. No one escapes.
“Nakanishi-san…” I say in a low voice. “It’s not too late for you, you know. Instead of rotting in jail, work with us by identifying those boats and my superior will likely commute your sentence in exchange of your cooperation.” I say it quietly enough so that the Chief doesn’t hear. I was told by the Sup that Adachi-san is a straight man. It’s easy to know what he’d do or rather what he won’t allow to do. “Just cooperate and I’ll be sure to tell my boss what you did here to help us.”
Adachi:
Geez… I knew this junior had some issues but… At least he does what I tell him and he ties the man up. I motion some of my men to provide support to Shindou – not that, that man on the ground would ever pose a threat but I have too many men and if they start surrounding the ladies…
Which means… I go ahead quickly to where our kunoichi friend ran off to. To the cells and what do you know? Of course some of my men are already there.
“You heard her, get them some blankets or towels. The ones we stored across the street.”
“Are we going to be arrested?” a woman in the back wails. “I’m already ruined, I don’t wanna go to jail!”
I stand behind kunoichi-chan, “No one’s going to jail but we need you to follow us in an -orderly- manner. Once my men get back here with your coverings, we’ll have to take an account from each one of you. We also have some light food there for those who are hungry and a couple of medics in case you need them. ” And I didn’t want to say it but I suppose I must, it does stink here of piss. “We have a nice shower there too, if you want to get clean and pretty again.”
Shindou-san has the guard sedated so I go to tend to the women. I had a count, earlier, but I confirm it now.
Adachi-san answers the question asked by one of the women.
I nod, but I’m able to not cringe as he describes them wanting to get ‘pretty’ again. Aside from Emiko-san, most of them are plain and ordinary country girls and this is not the life they wanted. “Thank you, Adachi-san. I don’t think they’ve been fed much, and denied most common comforts,” because he -is- trying.
Emiko-san takes the blanket offered to her, and wraps it around her with the bearing of a high ranking woman wearing silk instead of what looks like a scratchy wool. “This is our… salvation?” she says, eyebrows raised, as she watches the others cover themselves.
“For now,” I say, keeping an eye on the officers, some of who seem to want to ‘hover’. Helpful or gawking? But one withering look to one of the most obvious ones from Emiko-san sends him scurrying. “We have to wrap up this operation. and what’s happening here is just a -part- of it.”
Emiko-san glances back over at Shindou-san. “So that’s the man you were waiting for?” He’s just gotten up from talking to the guard, who is now being patched up. Probably making some sort of deal, which is the best for all of us. She laughs a bit, “not what I think would be your type,” she laughs.
“He’s not at all,” I say, as I catch a fleeting shadow from the skylight above. I’d know that anywhere, and he wouldn’t be caught casting a shadow unless he meant to. I sigh a bit. So he was around. Gramps probably had something to do with it, or Himura-san. I feel Emiko-san’s and Adachi-san’s eyes on me. “Hey, let’s get these ladies some dinner,” I say.
(OOC – assume that Nakanishi will be -very- agreeable to spill if it saves his own ass, lol)
Shindou:
For some reason it’s getting harder and harder to keep my attention to things in front of me. Like Nakanishi. He wouldn’t know much about the operations in Ito but here? I look over my shoulder and see Adachi-san assisting Makimachi-san. I suppose for now… I ask the questions for the Chief first and our prisoner -easily- spills where the rest of their operations are in Yokohama. It doesn’t even sound much at all but I know Adachi-san will take it seriously. Two ships are supposed to come twice a week and one of them is docked now just waiting for the morning. One more is to come… that will present some difficulty I think.
“And how about in Ito? How robust is the operation there?”
“Aww come on. The madame never once called me in.”
I click my tongue. Of course not he’s just some low peon… a low life pretending to be a king amongst these frightened women.
“You better tell me something good. Something -useful-.” I try to look serious just as I imagine how the Supt would. “Otherwise the assistance you get from me maybe as limited as your intel.”
“Please please please!” He bows his head and puts his hand together, “the only thing I know is that she’s got protection you know? Protection from the local police there and some big shot politician named miyagawa.”
Damn it. Even I knew that… I look at him sternly.
“Oh oh! And its just a rumor but that woman’s ambition to take over Tanaka’s empire would be short lived.”
“And why’s that?” I pretend not to be surprised.
“Rumor is she’s sick. That’s why she’s holed up in that Sugiyama onsen. Apparently she has a protégé there, the daughter of her long time partner.”
“Her name?”
“Usagi I think. Usagi Sugiyama.”
I get up, pulling him up by the cuffs. Now that might be useful.
I go to the rest.
Hey, let’s get these ladies some dinner,”
“Chief i’ll take care of locking this one up but maybe leave Makimachi-san and the others to take care of the women.”
“Alright.”
The Chief looks over our lone prisoner. He probably knows already I want to give him a report but -alone-. This is still police business after all.
(Ooc shindou is taking the Chief with him unless misao insist to tag along. Either way this thread can be closed.)