Hiro leaned against the rock, " We want to know who you made a gun for?" asked Rei, using the rice paddy water to wash the thick soot off her face.
" Gun?" asked Hiro, " I don't make those."
Koji glared at him through the thick covering of soot his face looked practically demonic. " Okay, okay" he said, " but the last gun I made was almost fifty years ago."
" What?" they both asked, fearing their information had been totally wrong.
" You wanted to know didn't you?" he asked, " like all blacksmiths we made guns in those days before they were outlawed by Lord Keiyo. But the last one I did make was special, took me nearly six months to make. I wish I could have kept that one, it would have been a great token of my life's work."
" Tell us about it" said Rei.
Hiro patted his pockets until he found his pipe. He put the pipe in his mouth and looked like he was about to talk when he started to pat his pockets for his flint. Rei found her satchel and took her flint out. She lit his pipe and let him take a very long drag. " It happened years ago, I was young then, barely twenty then" he said, " I had just left the big city to setup my shop out here. It was different then, peace was the way of things and these roads were so filled with traffic I could barely keep up with customers."
Hiro let off a long plume of smoke, " It was late one evening, my wife and I had just been married and you know how newly weds are" he said with a smirk, " I had almost closed up the shop when a man came in."
Hiro looked up at the sky, " I can remember that man, I will remember him until the day I die" he said, " I had never seen such a look in a man's eye in my life. He offered me 100 Ryu for a rifle barrel to be fitted into a piece of wood he would provide. He gave me the length and size he wanted and then left.
" I worked day and night on it, 100 Ryu was a lifetime's worth of money back then. My wife thought I was more in love with the 100 Ryu than I was with her. I made the barrel perfectly, it was a work of art. But he didn't return, and didn't return. I put the barrel in storage and had all but forgotten about it.
" I didn't see him for almost four years, my wife was pregnant with my second son then. He returned with a piece of black wood, black as a moonless night. He wouldn't tell me where he got the wood but it smelled of death. I knew he had taken it from a hangman's tree. I showed him the barrel, it had gotten a little dusty over those four years but he was pleased and instructed me to fit the barrel into the wood and make a stock from it. Of course I complied, those 100 Ryu were hard to argue with. I finished the weapon for him and then he showed me what he wanted to fire from it."
Hiro stopped to refill his pipe, once relit he began again. " They were rocks, black rocks. They weren't rounded at all, I told him time and time again they would never fire properly unless he tried to round them a little. But he brushed me off and took the weapon. He told me he was heading across the Sea of Storms and then left me with a warning. He told me I keep my mouth shut, he would return one day" he said.
Hiro again stopped, possibly he was spooked by his own story, or was genuinely worried. " You two saved my life" he said, " I owe you at least this much. A few years later government officials from Jota to survey the area to see if they could squeeze anymore taxes from us. They carried with them new wanted posters to hang on the wall of the tavern. Like the others in the area I cam to have a look, strictly for curiosity sake. It was there I saw the man whom I made the rifle for it. It was Shuuya Shikami."
" The Shuuya Shikami?" asked Rei.
" You know him?" asked Koji.
" Shuuya Shikami was believed to the be the last living member of the Shikami Merchant Clan" said Rei, " they settled the Yonamura during the reign of the Emperors. But after the fall of the Nokota Dynasty rumors began to circulate about them. It was believed they practiced the black arts and would sacrifice children during the rituals. The family was disgraced and driven from town, most died during that terrible winter, the few that survived were hunted down and hung as common criminals. In the end the only member of the family that was never caught was Shuuya. But that was over sixty years ago."
" Where the rumors true?" asked Koji.
" Nobody really knows anymore" said Rei, " some say it was the Merchant's Guild who set the whole thing up to break the Shikami hold over the mountain passes, but some people said that kids would disappear in Yonamura and it was all covered up by the Saito Family. So much as been said about the whole incident that the truth was lost long ago."
" Hm, I too had heard those rumors" said Hiro, " whether they were true or not I never saw Shuuya again but his 100 Ryu has kept me very comfortable over these years."
Hiro looked over at the ruins of his home and business, " Guess that is a sign from Rupan that it is time to head back to town and live with my daughter-in-law. I have been meaning to give up blacksmithing, just not enough travel anymore. You two best be on your way, I know the local garrison commander. He wants to be a war hero in the worst way and will definitely make it hard on you if you stick around."
" Thank you for the information" said Rei, " hope city life treats you well."
" Guess we'll all find out" said Hiro.
Koji and Rei got to their feet and slowly walked down from the hill. " You think that the invisible killer or whatever really is Shuuya Shikami?" asked Koji.
" He must be in good shape, he'd have to be at least 75 years old by now if not older" said Rei, " it is more possible he trained someone younger to do his dirty work."
" I know somebody who will have some answers" said Koji.
" Who?" asked Rei.
" Your girlfriend" said Koji, " maybe you can squeeze some information out of her."
" I'll see what I can squeeze" said Rei.
" Out of her right?" Koji asked poking Rei in the side.
" Yah" she said.

Shin was slowly getting to his feet with Koji and Rei appeared. He saw them and attempted to run, he couldn't exactly walk let alone run so he staggered and stumbled down the road barely six feet before collapsing in the ditch on the side of the road. Koji walked over and hauled Shin up by the back of his kimono. " Hello" he said.
Shin responded by spitting in Koji's face. " Hmph" he said, Shin's spit and blood dripping down Koji's face, " not friendly huh."
Koji grabbed one of Rei's daggers and slammed Shin into the nearest tree. He pinned Shin to the tree by sticking Rei's dagger through his kimono so that his feet didn't touch the ground. " Okay you have two choices" said Koji, letting Shin kick his legs in a vain struggle to get down, " one I leave you here, let the local soldiers use you for target practice, or two you tell me who sent you and why?"
Shin, even in his impaired state, didn't need to think much, " Takamoto" he said, " the lumber merchant, he sent us to kill you."
Koji had a blank look on his face until he remembered the greasy fat man he humiliated for Aki. " Him?" Koji asked rather disappointed, " I guess we'll have to pay him a visit when we get back."
Koji pulled Rei's dagger out and handed it back to her letting Shin fall on his ass. " Run fast little man" said Koji, sounding more and more like a demon, " you best not stop until you reach the Hanzou Islands."
Shin didn't need to be told twice and started off at a drunken run through the rice paddies as fast as his wobbly legs could drag him. " You know" said Rei, patting Koji on the shoulder, " if I didn't know you better, I'd be scared of you too."
" You aren't scared of me?" asked Koji.
Rei shook her head, " You're too cute" she said.
The pair started walking back for Yonamura at a much slower pace than they started out with. Rei did the best she could but unfortunately while she could heal the cuts and bruises, the exhaustion that was starting to take control was a lot harder to deal with. They would need a day to recover but it didn't look like that would be in the cards anytime soon.

The pair stopped for the evening under the safety of some large trees as a storm blew in. The pair changed each other bandages and Koji managed to catch two rabbits for dinner. Luckily they had cooked the rabbits before the storm hit. They ate their meager meal and fell asleep the moment the last piece of meat was eaten. They laid close to each other, their warmth keeping the chill of the rain at bay.

Asuka walked through the castle as the rain lashed the shutters. The shouting had stopped from downstairs and Asuka headed down to try and talk sense into her brother. She passed his advisors, all rather flustered and grumbling among themselves.
Oji was sitting looking out at the storm. " I don't want to hear it" he snapped.
" We are in danger, everyone in this household is in danger" said Asuka, " you have to face the truth."
" The truth?" scoffed Oji, " we don't even know it is really him."
" Who else could it be?" asked Asuka, " the cave is too well hidden for it not to be him."
" What do you want me to do?" asked Oji, finally looking at her, " you want me to show the world the cave? The Keiyo Family would strip us of all our land. Do you think father would want that? We would destroy everything our family has built."
" He is already destroying it" said Asuka, " in a week the Keiyo envoy is going to arrive, then what? What good will our honor be then?"
Oji smoldered, " You never were good with the hard decisions. That is why father told me to stay" she bitterly said.
" Father never knew your disgusting habits, dear sister. Noble women and your servants are one thing, but that filthy mercenary" he said.
" Your driving this town into the earth and all you can think about is my sleeping with women?" asked Asuka, " idiot."
" Whore" Oji shot back.
" I don't want to hear it" said Asuka, " no one can reach you when you are this way."
" You don't like hearing the truth?" laughed Oji, " you aren't even my sister, that is why father kept you here, if anyone knew you were the child of a whore father use to see in town, no one would take you. The only thing that kept you from the same life was father felt sorry when your whore mother died!"
" I don't want to hear it!" Asuka screamed, " you filthy son of a bitch!"
Oji flew into a rage and raced over to Asuka. He hit her with his closed fist knocking her to the ground. Before she could yell at him he grabbed her neck and slammed her against the wall. " Never speak of my mother like that" growled Oji, " never!"
He threw her back to the ground and let her cough and gasp for air. " I do not want to see your face until the envoy arrives" he said, " get out of my sight."
Asuka limped away, the black cloud in her mind was only growing bigger. Oji was never stable as a child after his father showed him that, and now it was getting worse. Asuka shook her head, she better start looking at her options after the Keiyo family stripped them of their lands.

Asuka went back to her room and immediately went to bed. She hoped the light of a new day would clear the clouds over this house. But she found sleep incredibly elusive, she rolled over and over thousands of thoughts running through her mind. The more and more negative her thoughts became the more and more intense the storm became.
Asuka sat up with a tremendous roll of thunder shook the entire castle. But there was something else in that thunder, it sounded wrong. She slipped her kimono on and went to make sure the roof didn't collapse, that was the last thing they needed tonight.

The castle was silent, strangely silent even during the storm. Asuka started to feel uncomfortable about the strange silence in the hall. Asuka felt sweat roll down her back, cold clammy sweat. Asuka wanted to run away, everything told her to run, but she kept on walking as if being pulled by an invisible force.
Asuka walked into the room where her brother was sitting. He was sitting very still, slowly leaning as he looked out the window. A strange smell filled Asuka's nostrils in the room as she slowly headed towards her brother. She reached him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
His head rolled back, a hole was in his forehead, a thin trail of blood running down his face.

Asuka screamed as he hit the floor. " Why are you screaming?" came a voice.
Asuka spun around and saw him, he was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room that awful black gun in his hands. " He said so many awful things about you" he said, " I thought of all the people, you'd be the most happy to see him dead."
" You're insane" she said, trying to find a way out.
" He was going to tell them all, he was going to tell my secret" he said, producing a piece of paper.
He threw the paper at her. Asuka saw the paper as it landed at her feet, it was a confession. Asuka couldn't believe what it was saying. Her brother had confessed everything. " I couldn't let him do that" he said.
He tilted his head to the side, " But I do not believe I can trust you any longer either" he said.
Asuka watched as if the world had slowed down to a snail's pace as he raised the gun. She wanted to run, dive for the table, anything but found she took was moving as slow as everything in the room. He leveled his horrible weapon just as Asuka started to run.
As she ran her foot caught one of the pillow that sat on the floor near the table. She stumbled forward as the gun went off with a great crack. The room was filled with a great cloud of grey foul tasting smoke.
Asuka knew the bullet had passed only inches above her head and if not for falling over the pillow she would be dead now but had no time to celebrate her good fortune. She picked herself up off the floor and using the grey cloud to hide her movements she ran.
His low congratulator laugh was cut short when he heard bare feet slapping on the floor. She shouldn't be alive, he never missed. Now his blood was up as he quickly reloaded his rifle. Quick was a relative term, it took him almost twenty seconds to reload the weapon before he could go on the hunt for his quarry.
He exited the room into the hall and saw her running for all she worth. He took aim and squeezed the trigger.

Again fate was on Asuka's side and decided to run up to the stairs instead of running for the downstairs stairs a few more feet down the hallway. She heard the gun crack as she started to run up the stairs. She wasn't going to stop until she was free of the castle.

He snarled as he quickly reloaded his gun, now this was starting to piss him off. He finished loading and took off at a full run, pulling the medallion from his kimono. He wasn't playing any more, this bitch was going to stuff the fullest extent of his fury.

Asuka came to the end of the hall and grabbed for the panel that led to the secret escape passage. She knew all these escape passages better than anyone and knew this one would get her to safety but the damn panel wasn't giving way. Too many years of disuse had made the wood expand into the frame which the panel had rested. Asuka pulled as hard as she could, through the ringing from the gunshots she could hear him walking down the wooden floor. She began to kick at the panel, panic setting in. She wasn't going to turn around and look, she wasn't going to let him see her fear.
Asuka finally kicked the panel open and it swung slowly on rusted hinges that groaned in protest to their movement. She saw the passage and started to climb in.

He leveled his gun, his teeth exposed in a vicious snarl. He squeezed the trigger and fired. He was momentarily blinded but heard a loud scream and a thud. The smoke cleared and he saw the blood splattered on the wall. He wanted to make sure and put a final bullet into her but he knew his time was up. If that shot hadn't killed her, the poison that bullets brought to their victims certainly would. He rubbed his medallion and slowly melted into the wall.

Asuka lay at the bottom of the passage swimming in her blood. Slowly her hand reached out and gripped the top of the panel.