Chapter 520:

Casual Machinations

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Pushing back on the masked assassin, Yuki tried to get them away from Aya so that he had some room. However, their strength proved to be more than he counted on. It was an even match with neither giving up ground. Quickly reacting once he realized nothing would happen, he jabbed his leg into the knee of the assassin to break the stance. It took two hits to get through, but he could push back enough to get them away from Aya.

She kept low to the ground as ordered while not straying too far from his sight. A flurry of swings between the two echoed the clashing metal through the tent and beyond. No doubt the alert to the soldiers was already being sounded. He wouldn’t need to last long. The assassin would either retreat or push his luck.

Their attacker seemed to think that he still had time to finish his mission. Yuki heard more noise from beyond the tent, likely Saki engaged with any of their other comrades. The assassin pressed his position flinging another couple of kunai at Aya, which Yuki stepped in front of using his tied plate armor to deflect.

Seeing that there wouldn’t be an immediate end to the attack, Yuki pressed back on the assassin. A rapid dance of blades with the assassin began to push the intruder back. He finally found the opening that he needed and pierced the man’s defense to stab in his right shoulder disabling his weapon arm. Yuki disarmed him and whipped around kicking his knees in and pinning him to the ground. “Who sent you?” he shouted demanding answers for the attack.

Silence from the assassin, as he would have expected. It might have been a futile question, but he still made the attempt. Without torture, the man probably wouldn’t talk and possibly even then. Well trained assassins were difficult to break, though these didn’t seem to be the best that money could buy.

A sound from behind the tent at the hole that the assassin came through alerted him and made him turn partly with his wakizashi drawn. “Michiko,” he muttered with relief. Saki came into the tent covered in a spray of blood from the enemies she took down. She looked completely unharmed from what he could tell at a glance. His sword returned to his sheath as he refocused on the injured assassin. “Help me restrain him.”

“There’s no need,” replied Aya as she got up on her feet now that the attack ended.

“Mistress?”

Chapter 520 – Casual Machinations

“She’s right, Juro. Just execute him right now.”

“But he could have valuable information for us.”

Aya stepped forward and grabbed the wakizashi from Saki’s side and stabbed it into the heart of the assassin while Yuki was bringing him up to his knees. Blood poured out as she removed the blade and handed it back over to Saki. “I already know everything necessary.”

Soldiers came into the tent armed and ready for a fight only to see it all over. “Mistress Aya, all intruders have been killed.”

“Yes, please take care of the bodies and see to increased security.” The two soldiers saluted her and took the body from Yuki, dragging it out, still leaking blood over the grass and dirt.

Once they were alone again, Yuki started to patch up the tear as best as he could for the night. “I know it would have been impossible, but there might have been a chance to have gotten something from him.”

“We already know that it came from either the Okamoto Clan or Matsushina Clan,” reminded Saki.

“Correct,” continued Aya, “They were the only ones that knew about the meeting. And honestly, it was what I expected. This was the first best opportunity to remove me from the picture.”

Looking a little surprised that she anticipated an attack, Yuki finished his makeshift work on the tent and turned back to Aya. “You knew that you were going to be attacked? You could have warned us? We prevented anything from happening, but it could have been different.”

“I had no proof, just what I predicted. You were already alert, no need to make you tense.” She went back to her desk to sit down as though being attacked was nothing more than another part of the itinerary.

“Do you know who then sent them?”

“Most likely it was Kumasaka.”

“What?!” they both exclaimed and then quickly silenced themselves. They couldn’t repeat anything that she said given the soldiers outside. The siblings moved quietly up next to Aya trying to get a read off her, as much good that would do given things. They already knew it was pointless, but tried anyway. More importantly, they wanted to get something more out of her.

Saki held onto her hilts defensively, though confused about what she could do. This was Aya, the one that they felt was the one the world centered around. While she could likely pretty easily kill the woman, that would be a problem for the scenario most likely. She had no idea what that would actually do to the story being run by her personalities. For all she knew they would step in and stop her from taking that action. Possibly it was impossible to actually kill this woman, like Yuki tried to think of things as a game and she was a NPC with critical story significance.

She tried to get some sort of sense of what the woman was going to do now that she said that, but she honestly seemed to only keep going through documents and personal papers. Nothing about the last ten seconds fazed her. “Did you mean what you just said?”

“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”

“That’s a serious claim. I’d be within my rights to execute you right now for such a claim.”

“True, even though you are my personal guards now, you still serve my Lord as do I.”

Yuki stepped in trying to break some of the tension that Saki wound with Aya. He doubted that she planned to do anything to the woman given what they agreed to, but it was still a dangerous statement. “Do you have any proof for your claim?”

“Nothing right now.”

“Then why would you even say it knowing the risks?”

“To observe you two.”

“What?!”

A bit of an annoyed growl came from Saki. “Are you testing us?”

“The world tests us every day. Why should I be any different?”

“Is this just a game to you?”

“The more important question is will you be playing or conceding your position?”

Yuki and Saki still didn’t understand the woman after all the time that they had known her. Normally, more interactions would make them easier to understand, but she only compounded things further with each meeting. They didn’t know what to do with her other than that she had to keep proceeding in the progress of the story.

The confusion didn’t make things any easier for them. He relaxed his guard, giving up on any sort of thought of threat. She clearly didn’t see them as a danger to her life. For as little as he could read from her, that much became clear very quickly in the minute they stared at her. “So what are you going to do then?”

“I’m not leaving the game. Are you?”

They straightened up a little frustrated with how casual she treated the whole thing. It made them want to sigh watching her. “We’ll continue our duty.”

“Good, then you can return to your post.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

The rest of the trip back went uneventful to Yuki and Saki’s relief. Though the results of it didn't make them feel good. And they could only hope that they could see Yumi soon. But the day wouldn’t be today for them.

They watched their Lord Kumasaka greet Aya back and warmly welcome their safe return. He gave no signs of deception. But it would have been bad if he slipped that easily at failure, if he indeed was the one that sent them. All they could do was be cautious around him, something new unfortunately.

Evening came and they were given their time to rest. Yuki looked over at the wall where their Master slept with his wife. ‘It’s a little unsettling imagining that he could just have someone that he brought into his house murdered. I know that is the world, but it’s all foreign to me with this much betrayal and death dealing…’ Peace times of modern Japan didn’t fit well with the cutthroat feudal era.

He looked over at Saki, knowing that she felt similarly disturbed by the events. “What do you want to do?”

“We keep the course.”

“Even if Kumasaka is trying to kill Aya?”

“We can’t let her die and it works out for us that we’re her guards now.”

“And you’re fine with him just wanting to kill her?”

“We knew the sort of man he was. What sort of men they all are here. This is the reality of this world and we’re going to have to deal with it.”

‘…Saki…’

“Don’t look at me like that. We can’t be bringing our modern morals into this world, they won’t work if we want to survive. And frankly, I’d like to actually live through one of these worlds.”

He clung his hands together not liking the words that she spoke even if they were the truth. It was something that he thought he had come to understand and agree to with Saki when they became bodyguards. Yet it became clear that one of them had and the other didn’t. A pursed frown came over his face as it all went through his mind.

Saki knew Yuki well enough to see what passed through his mind at the moment. ‘He’s always tried to act like this is a game in mind and to others, but that hasn’t really been stressed very hard until now. Is he going to make it through this world?’ She reached out and held his hand for support. “We have to be here to support Yumi. She’s our friend.”

He nodded to Saki. “I know…it’s just…”

“Don’t forget our arrangement.”

Yuki looked up at Saki with a pained expression. “I…don’t like you carrying that much…”

“We all have our roles. This one is mine.”

“Maybe that should change then.”

“No, you keep doing what you have been. We share different loads, that’s the way it’s worked.” She patted his hand giving him a little more encouragement and pulled away. Nothing would get decided tonight. They needed sleep and to prepare for the next day. “Get some sleep.”

The gears for the world had finally started moving once more.

Eytha
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