August 16th 1:45 am In the Redmond District
Very slowly, Matsuma took a deep breath and let it out quietly. She waited fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes to make sure that anyone left in the apartment had gone back to sleep. Moving as quiet as a snail, she finished her climb up to the window. Bracing her knees and feet against the bricks of the building, and using her left hand and arm to steady herself against the window frame, Matsuma used her right hand to very slowly and very carefully test to see if the screen was loose.
Matsuma watched the figure on the futon, taking quiet shallow breathes. She braced herself against the building with her feet, knees, left arm and upper torso, while cautiously sliding her right hand down to her right hip pocket. Carefully, she removed a small, razor sharp pen knife and opened its long blade. With her eyes locked on the figure on the futon, she inserted the blade tip into the upper left hand corner of the window screen.
Waiting for a minute or two to see if the figure inside heard anything, Matsuma then slowly and carefully slide the blade farther into the screen. When the blade was about one fouth its lenth in, she paused again. Ever so slowly she began to cut the screen across the top of the frame. Almost ten minutes later she had completed cutting the top of the screen.
Pausing once more, she moved the blade to the direct center of the top of the screen. With eyes still on the sleeping figure, Matsuma began to cut length wise down the direct center. Moving as slowly and as quietly as possible with every tug of the knife, it took nearly fifteen minutes to cut to the bottom of the frame.
Very slowly she removed the blade from the screen and paused again before inserting it once more. This time she started at the lower left corner and worked her way as slowly as possible along the frame toward the center cut. Five minutes later, she had one half of the screen cut and pushed inside. Moving the blade to the lower right corner, Matsuma spent the next five minutes finishing the other half of the screen.
With both sides cut and pushed inside, she carefully and quietly closed the knife and slipped it back into her pocket. Matsuma held her breath, her eyes locked on the futon. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed before she was satisfied that her work on the screen had gone undetected. Bracing her hands on the window sill, she pushed down, and using her feet for some added leverage, slithered slowly through the window head first.
Matsuma looked around the room. She could make out the shape on the futon, his chest rising and falling. She could also make out the shapes of a katana above his head, hung on a rack on the wall. On the floor near his hand was a shape she couldn't make out, but it had the metallic gleam of gunmetal. The path to him was clear. All she had to do was move the short distance to his bed, touch him, and survive the consequences. Slowly, she began to move.
Outside, the sound of squealing tires split the night. The shape on the futon stirred. Yurei sat bolt upright, hands reaching for both blade and firearm, as the sound of splintering wood and gunfire came from below.
"Knock, knock, Drowned Man!" bellowed a voice. "Haiku has a message for the Tin Mosquito!"
Matsuma froze at the sound of squealing tires and splintering wood. Her breath was frozen in her chest as she watched the form on the futon sit bolt upright, reaching for blade and gun in the same instant. Slowly slid her right hand down her thigh to the holstered Browing Ultra-Power.
With all the care in the world, she drew the weapon. Shifting ever so slightly to bring her firearm into a firing position, Matsuma sighted on the head of the stairs and waited.
Yurei moved into the centre of his apartment, sacrificing cover for movement space. He snapped off a burst from the machine pistol he was holding. It was a Ceska Black Scorpion, lighter than Matsuma's Browning, but with a larger clip and a higher rate of fire. "If you have a message, I suggest you write it down. I might forget it before morning," called Yurei.
There was a laugh from down below, and something big moved into the stairway. Not troll big, or orc big, but big enough to be worrying. "I'll do that. Do you mind if I tear off one of your arms to use as a writing tool?"
Yurei caught sight of Matsuma, and shifted the Ceska towards her in a movement that was almost too fast to follow, but he did not fire. "If you wanted me dead, you could have shot me by now. Once I have dealt with my uninvited guests, I will have time to ask you why you are here," he said in japanese. Then, sword held high, he launched himself feet first down the stairs towards the intruder.
Matsuma rolled to her right and in the same movement was on her feet facing the wall behind the futon. Pivoting on the balls of the feet, she was suddenly facing the door and Yurei's back. She moved in fluid motions, almost as fast as Yurei had.
As soon as he dissapeared through the door, Matsuma was moving to follow. Less than a minute after Yurei had left the bedroom, she was thru the door and heading down the stairs with her Browning at the ready. Looking into shadows for any sign of trouble, she made a silent promise to cover Yurei's back whether he wanted the help or not.
It was an odd sight, seeing Yurei fighting naked in the streets against a man almost twice his size. Their movements were fast and fluid, far faster than any normal men could achieve.
Yurei, Matsuma noticed, had discarded the gun. It lay on the sidewalk beside a smoking shotgun. Both men, it seemed had elected to leave the firearms out of the fight. Then again, it was hard to get a bead on some one, when they were close enough to kick the weapon out of your hand.
Steel rang against steel, Yurei's katana matching it's edge against the tetsubo the bigger man carried. Given the relative size, and the reach advantage of the weapon, Yurei was facing an uphill battle if he wanted to win this fight.
Not knowing if he would appreciate the help or not, but knowing that Iron Butterfly would certainly have her head if Yurei died, Matsuma dropped the Browning and in the same motion, drew the katana from its scabbard inside her coat.
Moving swiflty to the left of Yurei, she came in low, aiming just below the knee cap of the other man. Her blade bit deep into the flesh. Blood flowed freely down the mans leg and onto the pavement.
The big man grunted, and with an almost negligent snap, drove the tetsubo into Matsuma's face. She found herself sitting in the street, several yards from the fight. Her katana lay at her feet.
Yurei made good use of her interference. He moved up onto a parked car, forcing his opponent to move on his injured leg to close with him. The injury more than tipped the odds into Yurei's favour. It now gave him full mastery of the fight.
"My name is Yurei, Ghost of the Drowned, not 'Drowned Man'," he said in a calm voice. Despite his nakedness or his opponents superior size and reach, Yurei seemed calm and in control. There was no hint of anger of fear in his voice when he spoke. "And you are not worthy to speak the true name of the one you call the 'Tin Mosquito'. I have a message also, for your master, Haiku. Unfortunately for you, that message is the lack of your returning."
The big man growled, and swung the tetsubo at Yurei's legs, denting in the roof of the car. An alarm shrilled. Yurei leapt over the weapon, vaulting over his opponent and landing behind him on the sidewalk. The katana flashed in the dim light, and the big man staggered out into the street, but did not fall.
"It'll take both of you, Drowned Man," said the big man, trying to stand erect. "You never could have beaten me alone. Too bad your friend has no honour. I considered it a great privledge to be sent out to bring in the head of the Iron Butterfly's favourite ninja."
Suddenly Matsuma found herself sitting on the pavement, her blade at her feet. Quickly, she shook her head, trying clear out the cobwebs and stop the bells that were ringing in her ears. An incredibly fast front roll, found her on the balls of her feet, blade back in hand.
She pivoted one hundered and eighty degrees while coming to her full height.
'It is you who has no honor. Attacking a man in the dead of night and in his own home smacks of cowardice,' Matsuma growled in Japanese.
Moving with a speed almost uncomprehensible to the average human, she was beside Yurei, blade at the ready.
"You speak of cowardice, yet you attack me without warning while I am fighting another? I name you a hypocrite. And if I were to attack him, where would you have suggested I do it? At the lunch counter of his favourite sushi bar?"
The end of the testubo was trembling slightly, as if he were having trouble holding it steady. It moved quickly enough to parry however, when Yurei attacked, and there was no hesitation or weakness when it whistled past Yurei's head, close enough to stir the hair.
Yurei dropped, as if the blow had connected, and tried to come up under it. He had to parry hard, as the tetsubo came down, but he managed, and drove his foot into the big man's knee. The man cried out, and for a second, Matsuma saw that his flank was open.
Matsuma saw the opening left by Yurei and went for it. Her blade flashed toward the big man's exposed flank with startling speed. A high whistling sound, like a low keening wind, came off the razor sharp edge as it moved towards its target.
The katana bit deep into his side, just below the ribs, a fine mist of blood filling the air. As the sword was withdrawn from the gash, a gush of blood followed. A scream tore from the man's throat as his side was torn open. Wounded know in two places, and loosing a good deal of blood, he was finding harder to hold his own weapon steady.
"Fuck, that hurt!" bellowed the big man. He staggered forward, throwing all caution to the wind. He knew he was dying, and he was not willing to accept defeat without dealing out as much harm, as possible.
Yurei cut him four more times before the big man went down, but not before receiving a glancing blow to the face that laid open his cheek. Finally the big man had driven the ironshod quarter staff through a window as he fell, barely missing Matsuma. Only her inhumanly fast reflexes allowed her to evade the blow that should have caved in her skull. Shards of glass opened up half a hundred wounds on each of them, but the majority of the blood on the sidewalk belonged to the big man.
August 16th 4:00 A.M. In the Redmond District
It was long moments before he lay still at last. Yurei did not relax until he was certain the man was dead, then he turned to Matsuma. He bowed.
"Thank you for your assistance, and forgiven me for my immodest nudity. I will dress, then we can talk. I also suggest you call and inform your superiors that they will be needing to send another driver to pick you up, as your old one seems to have suffered a broken neck." He pointed, and sure enough the man Matsuma had come with was slumped against his seat, his neck at an impossible angle.
Matsuma bowed low and walked back to the car slowly. The young man was slumped in the drivers seat, his face looking peaceful in death. She went to her knees and began to pray for a safe trip for his soul. It took nearly a quarter of an hour for her to complete the entire ritual.
After she was thru, Matsuma called the number Iron Butterfly had given her. The phone was answered on the first ring.
"Hello?" a soft, feminine with a slight Japanese accent said.
"This is Matsuma Kurumesie, the driver I was sent with is dead. I will need a someone else to pick me up when I am ready to leave."
The voice on the phone said only one word. "Explain."
Matsuma sighed inwardly. She did not relish the idea of explaining what all transpired at the apartment. But orders are orders and one does not disobay the Yakuza.
"I had left the driver with the car while I did my survialance of the apartment. After I had determend the best way to enter, made good with my entry. The driver waited below in the vehicle. Minutes after I had made my way into the apartment, a man broke in saying he had a message from someone named Haiku.
The owner of the apartment engaged this man in battle and with my help was able to defeat him. After the battle, we discovered the man that was sent with me in the vehicle with his neck broken. I suspect the intruder killed him before breaking in and attacking. Both the owner of the apartment and myself have sustained minor injuries of no note.
I will call again when I have more to report."
You will do no such thing," said the voice. "There will be nothing for you to report. A cleaning squad is on the way. Touch nothing. Everything will be taken care of. In light of the interference, you're first test will be cancelled. However, you will have a second test, which will be conducted by the gentleman you fought alongside. I will inform him of the particulars. I suggest you introduce yourself, if you have not done so already." The phone went dead.
Matsuma sighed as the phone when dead. It looked as if she was going to have a very long day ahead of her. She turned back to the apartment and dead attacker. With her blade still in hand, she walked slowly back. When she reached the body, she reached down and wiped the blood off of the katana. Staightening, she slid it back into its hidden sheath inside her trench coat.
Limping slightly from glass shards in both her legs, she made her way to the door of the apartment and up the stairs. Moving slowly as not to startle the man she had just fought with, Matsuma knocked and entered
"I thank you for knocking, although the state of the door makes it unnecessary," said Yurei as he pulled on a pair of pants. The blood had clotted, and no longer flowed. He did not move in a manner that suggested an injury. Only the blood showed where he had been hurt. "Who are you, and why were you here?"
Matsuma sighed inwardly again and pushed stray strands of her long black hair off of her face.
"My name is Matsuma Kurumesie. I was dispatched by my Oyabun in Tokyo to retrieve an item that was stolen from a high ranking member of my clan. Iron Butterfly has set me a number of tests to complete before I can continue with my assignment. The first was to enter your apartment, touch you to awaken you and survive. Please forgive my intrusion, but one does not disobey a direct order from the Yakuza."
Matsuma bowed low, holding it until the man in front of her spoke again.
Matsuma felt the tip of his blade touch the top of her head. "You are either very brave, very trusting or very foolish to lower your eyes like that. I could kill you easily." After a second, she heard the sound of the sword being sheathed. "I suspect the test will be aborted, due to the circumstances. I wonder what the replacement test will be?"
"All I was told was that you would be informed about the detail of the replacement test," Matsuma replied.
She looked around the small apartment with a practiced eye. From her vantage point she could see a small kitchen, a bath and the main room into which she had made her initial entry. Slowly she moved to the window she had come thru and shut it tight.
"I believe you should keep this window closed until have had the time to replace the screen." She let a small smile slide onto her features. "Please forgive my ruining it in my gaining entry. I needed a way into your humble dwelling, this window provided me with the best access." She bowed again as she motioned to the window she had just closed.
"I would have expected entry from the side, coming in through either the kitchen or the bathroom. Coming in from the street side showed a certain degree of foolhardiness." Yurei smiled politely. "If you will forgive my being so bold as to say so."
Sounds outside indicated that the clean-up crew had arrived. Within minutes, there was no sign that a fight had taken place. Yurei's door had been replaced with an identical new one. Both Yurei and Matsuma were required to give a detailed description of what occured, and then they were both treated for their injuries. Then the crew departed, leaving Matsuma behind.
Yurei looked at her. "Would you care to spend the night here, or do you have your own lodgings?"
Matsuma returned the smile. "I take no offense. As you said, the kitchen or the bath would have been the most obvious entry points. One would expect an intruder to enter thru one of those two windows. It takes someone of great skill to enter thru the front window without being seen from the street, even with a second person on watch.
As for your offer of lodgings for the night, it is greatly appreciated. I hope it will be no inconveneance to your guest from earlier."
Yurei gave no indication of surprise. "My guest was called away. She will not be returning. Please, accept the bed. I will sleep on the floor. We will talk again in the morning."
"Please do not trouble yourself. I am no stranger to sleeping on floors. It is the custom in Japan. I would not feel right taking the bed. If you have a spare pillow and blanket, that is all I will need." Matsuma took off her trench coat and draped it over the the back of a chair. She undid the buckle on the holster for the Browning and layed it on the floor next to where she planned on sleeping. She unzipped the jumpsuit she wore and slipped down to her waist, revealing a tanktop the same color underneath. As Matsuma turned her back, the man could see a tatoo of crossed swords on her right shoulder blade. Pulling her hair back into a braid for the night, another tatoo could be seen entwining her entire left wrist. This one was of an eastern dragon done magnificently in blues, greens, reds, golds and purples.
"If that pleases you, then so be it," said Yurei, as he lay down on the futon bed. He made no comment about her tatoo. She had obviously seen his... and much more. His was far more elaborate. It covered most of his back, and even part of his left arm. It started by his right hip, and depicted a battle on a boat. While warriors fought off attackers, a young servant armed only with a knife was leading a virtuous maiden through a valley of demons, and into the safety of the hands of a benevolent god. If Matasuma had looked closely, she might have recognized the servant as Yurei, and the maiden as Iron Butterfly. He had earned the tatto the day he had saved Iron Butterfly's life. It was the day he had taken the name Yurei to honour a man that had drowned so that Yurei and Iron Butterfly might live. This was the task of a bodyguard. To die in the place of the person they guarded. Yurei hoped never to betray the courage of that man's sacrifice.
Matsuma bowed and lay down silently on the floor. She checked to see that the browning was loose in its holster then closed her eyes. Within moments she was fast asleep.
