Akaname Ninja [Death]

Lord Tadanaka Akita made one final search of the room, knowing it was futile all the while. The fine lacquered furniture was in disarray, scrolls had been scattered. None of this had been due to the thief. The scroll bearing the Emperor's seal was missing. Every single item in the room had been in its usual place in Lord Tadanaka's room. One of the room's many floorboards of fine spruce had been pried up by Tadanaka's own hands. Even the hidden box sitting within the hollow space had been exactly where he'd left it. The very dangerous document it normally contained, however, was not. The potential loss of honor was incalculable. Heads would roll, the heir to the Akita intended for the thief's head to roll before his own. Not a single item in the room had been misplaced. The retainers of the Akita clan were loyal unto death, and vigilant besides. There is only one possibility, thought the tall thin nobleman. This was a matter where death and discretion were interwoven. What other sort of being could steal into the center of the Akita compound without a trace?

He would have the ninja flayed alive, whoever he was. A slow death would be waiting, and Tadanaka planned on watching it. If he were truly blessed, the document could be recovered with none the wiser. The nobleman exited the room, closing the shoji behind him, calling for a guard as it shut. He may as well set the guards to greater vigilance while he set a thief to hunt a thief. For only ninja could hunt ninja.

Sanako Gou examined the room with more than her eyes, but not in as much detail as she could. At a nod from her tall gaunt lord, the Akaname set her long tongue adrift. The long pink muscle, nearly the length of her short narrow body coiled and slithered through the air. The immaculately kept room of Lord Akita was not what it seemed, taste and scent left their own impressions and distortions of the air. The world of scent and taste were unveiled before her, and she could sense the minutia of the room's history. The lanky Lord Akita's eyes followed her tongue's coiling sinuous movements as it drew shapes in the air around a particular floorboard.

"How long ago was the intruder here?" asked Lord Akita. Among many other things, she could taste his anxiety and fear in the air. This important document she was to recover, but explicitly was *not* examine, was a grave matter indeed. It was a shame, that the thief had such an appealing taste. Lord Akita had ordered the thief be taken alive. The small Akaname was familiar enough with the shadowed side of life to know what that meant. That too was in the air, as bitter unripened apples. This was important enough that her Lord might think it wise for this to be her *final* service. It was still too early to taste clearly, humans were such roiling clouds of emotion, he'd yet to decide. So be it, Sanako thought, while responding to maximize her odds.

"The thief left here within an hour, Lord Akita. If fortune favors, my lord, he may still be within the compound. Should he have passed beyond, would my lord wish me to take pursuit?" said Sanako, doing her best to express deference loyalty and servitude. The nobleman's dark eyes flickered in thought for a moment, before giving the slightest hint of a nod. Sanako took this as leave to continue her ploy. "Of course given the delicacy of this matter, would my lord wish me to note the *associations* of my lord's quarry, should we be...less fortunate?" said Sanako. She waited as she received his instructions, the bilious taste of death bloomed as he spoke. Sanako gave no sign of her awareness, and set herself to her hunt. Damn, she thought, this really will be my last hunt. I'll have to make it a good one.

Takaie Aso was reasonably happy for once in his life. The young man's short life as a ninja had left little time for pleasantries. Sakano Gou had shown him just how much he'd been missing. Her biting wit and acerbic tone had become an acquired taste throughout their running battle. Were it not for a common enemy in the Takai clan's ninja, they would've killed each other. The ghostly twinge of pain from the now fully magically healed wound on his leg was a clear reminder. Miss Sanako Gou, or Mrs Sanako Aso as he kept reminding himself, truly was an amazing creature. It was far too late to call her anything other than Sanako Aso long before their hasty impromptu wedding, wasn't it? Flashes of memory strode forth. Her pale skin, pallid with tension, as she bound the flow of hot life pouring out of his leg. The fluttering of the remains of her breast bindings as she drew her torn kimono into a life saving knot. Then later as he was healing in delirium, how the bright outline of the moon had silhouetted her body. She'd strode forward comfortable in her nudity, her dark eyes bright with resolve, tongue unfurled and lashing with eagerness.

Thought she called the stolen document 'death', Takaie couldn't help but think it a blessing. How else would they have met? For a flower to bloom as two rivals fought in a world of mire and shadow, Takaie could hardly think it other than miraculous. A hint of uncertainty nagged at him however. Sanako's sharp wit had been missing since they'd gotten into range of his clan's lands. Their last few days of flight and hiding from the clumsy but dangerous Akita retainers must be getting to her. These were the servants of her former lord, she had likely known these people in some capacity. Yet rather than showing agitation or her usual sharp sarcasm, she had grown only more demure and gentle. The last time he'd felt her tongue lashing in a metaphorical sense had been when she'd insisted that he destroy any items that could identify his clan. This precaution hadn't been necessary, given how little he'd had that couldn't be destroyed within minutes. She was adamant on the matter, and so he'd acceded to her over-caution.

The timing of the demand hadn't been normal either, they had just managed to cross the border of Lord Akita's domain. Surely that meant capture was even less likely. The Akita retainers didn't know the brush and weave of this land as he did. He'd shown Sanako repeatedly firsthand as they avoided the retainers, while they were within arms reach. She'd delighted at the opportunity to tease and taste him as the two had sat in trees. The retainers, clods one and all, had stomped their horses about -- vexed and unable to find their quarry. All the while, Sanako's hands and tongue had slithered and brushed beneath his clothes with her endless hunger. She was unrelenting in her affection no matter whether she was firm or delicate in expressing it. He couldn't criticize her affection, but this new agreeableness to her was odd and so unlike her.

Even directly after their rushed marriage by moonlight, she'd shown her caustic wit while the taste of her had slowly faded from his mouth.

Call not lest it come, goes the old refrain, and there was the other ninja. Striding into the makeshift camp, Sanako's slight short form was a welcome sight. There was some time before the sun would rise, she'd gone foraging. He'd protested at the notion, if only out of loyalty. There was logic on his side as well, he certainly knew these lands and the resources within better than her. When he'd pointed it out, rather than a biting retort, she'd resorted to this unsettling demureness. Her eyes had dropped downward.

"Please let me do this for you, husband." she'd said, and nothing more on the matter. What could he say to that? And so he'd nodded, and said nothing as well. Hesitant to tread into uncertain water, he watched her make tea. After serving him she drank as well. The silence was unnerving, he was going to have this out in the open. Whatever it was, they were married. Hadn't they fought off a clan of kunoichi together? Talking to each other shouldn't be harder than battle. Takaie felt his resolve waver as a slight wave of dizziness hit. With it came fatigue, weakness, and torpor flowing through his limbs. He fell backwards dropping the empty cup, it clattered on the rocks unbroken. Sanako moved forward and lay at his side, there was no sense of urgency about her. She raised her mostly full cup of tea.

"I have been foraging in the packs of my former lord Akita's retainers." said Sanako "I left the stolen document in Lord Akita's saddlebag without his notice. It doesn't matter, he reeks of a slow death for us both, but I've completed my duty to my lord." Breathing was becoming difficult for Takaie, talking and movement were impossible no matter how he strained. Even now on the edge of death he couldn't understand how she'd betray him like this.

"That is a Akita clan poison I stole from them. Tasteless isn't it? My kind is more resistant than humans, it will take a lot more for me." said Sanako as she upended a vial of liquid into her tea before swallowing it all with a single gulp. She tossed the cup aside, and he barely heard it shatter on the rocks as she grasped his hand and drew him to her.

"Unto death as I promised." she said, just as she'd vowed at their marriage. As the edges of his vision turned grey, Takaie tasted her kiss and felt her touch. Then he felt nothing at all.

Fin.