The White-Masked Assassin

Life, Trauma/ Loss

With the morning's matches already concluded, Aotsuki Tsukamoto found himself with some free time on his hands. Later, he and Saitō Dōsan had a meeting with Maxim and his new friend Nagasone Kotetsu. For the moment, that foreign knight seemed to be wrapped up in some strange business with the Hōjō Clan, however. There was also the matter of these strange mochi-like beings crowding around his legs, but Aotsuki knew a non-problem when he saw one.   Any plans the young Daimyō might have made were cut short, however, by a strained message from Abe no Seimei. Her message was simple, yet urgent: Ikkyū had been captured. For such a kind and charming boy, Aotsuki had a lot of enemies, but Ikkyū was among the worst. He was immediately cautious. This seemed far too easy. Still, Hayashi Hidesada had called him through Seimei immediately after capturing the renegade monk. He couldn't just ignore it.   With a quick explanation to Dōsan, Aotsuki hailed Shigeaki Fujino for immediate transport to Inabayama Castle. Fujino was happy to oblige, but their journey was not destined to go so smoothly...

It felt like slamming headfirst into a wall. Aotsuki's vision blurred as he fell a few feet through the air and landed in something soft and cold. A few nearby "plap" sounds and a big "thud" told him that his Sheele, Fujino, and finally Dōsan had suffered the same fate. Staggering to his feet, Aotsuki looked around.   This was a place he'd never seen before. A lonely road, dusted with fresh snow, stretched in front of a clearly-abandoned house. Nothing but snowy fields dotted with sparse trees was visible anywhere around. They were not, however, alone. Near the other side of the flanking house, a White-Masked Merchant stood. The karakuri creature was moving its arm back beneath the snow-specked cloak around its shoulders. Just before it vanished, Aotsuki caught a glimpse of something terrifyingly familiar. A miniature black sun, blazing in unholy negative light, was contained within the mechanical man's wooden arm casing.   Had that been what tore them out of Fujino's teleportation and dropped them here? Aotsuki heard the psychic complaining that her telepathy wasn't working either, but the Merchant was already charging at them before he could respond.   Again, that lacquered karakuri arm swung from the cloak and grabbed for Aotsuki with deadly intent. As he raised his shield to defend, he saw the foe's palm glowing with angry orange heat. That would certainly hurt to be hit by. Fortunately, Aotsuki was revered as one of the land's greatest defenders for a reason. Not only did he block the attack in full, but his skill allowed him to turn the hand back on its wielder. The merchant, too, was not to be underestimated. It twisted away from the reflected attack and made as if to swing again. In that moment, it hesitated. Aotsuki was watching his foe carefully, and he thought he saw the white mask swing subtly toward Kagami before the Merchant lost its momentum.   This robotic marauder had obviously set a trap and attacked them, but Aotsuki still attempted to reason with it before making a move on his own. His questions seemed to fall on deaf ears, however. The Merchant would say nothing, focused entirely on its battle with the young Daimyō. There was still one way to end this without bloodshed, however. Summoning Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi to his hand, Aotsuki charged the blade with Amaterasu's energy and swung down with a mighty Sun Strike.   He was not prepared for what happened next. Just as Aotsuki had reflected the Merchant's attack, it too now turned the Sun Strike back upon its wielder with a deft movement of its glowing hand. Aotuski felt Kusanagi no Tsuguri enter his flesh; a dull burning spreading through his body as the heavens spoke peace to his soul. This was his original technique, however. Who better than Aotsuki to overcome it? When those he loved were in danger, it was not the time for peace. Aotsuki shook off the compulsion and returned to the fight.   Yet he was not entirely unaffected. Aotsuki felt clumsier somehow, a bit less light on his feet. It was as though a skill he'd worked hard to perfect had been ripped away from him by his opponent's glowing hand. He'd no longer be able to defend with quite the same fluidity as before. Fortunately, it seemed that Fujino had vanished from sight and gotten clear. Even beyond her, Aotsuki was not without allies. He was reminded of this as an enormous axe, well larger than his own body, crashed down over his head at the Merchant.   Dōsan had tapped into his own signature ability while Aotsuki and the Merchant fought. Now he stood a good twenty feet or more at his full height, with his weapon and armor shifted to match. Attacking the Merchant itself was folly. Aotsuki had just proven that. Therefore, Dōsan chose instead to smash the ground near their foe's feet. In a blur of speed, however, the Merchant blocked this as well. Its glowing hand interceded itself between Dōsan's axe and its target, throwing the titanic blow away. As the giant himself put it, it was just plain disrespectful.   The young Daimyō and his assassin watched each other warily. Both had taken their measure of the other. In the brief lull, Kagami's peerless perception came to Aotsuki's aid once again. She'd been fixed on their attacker since he'd appeared and had come to a curious conclusion: this was no robot. The man beneath the cloak was too fluid and muscular to be a pure machine. What's more, the signature white mask had slight eye slits cut in it. They were hardly visible, especially in the snow, but a pair of jade eyes looked out subtly from beneath the visage.   Perhaps they were too focused on each other, or perhaps Dōsan's enhanced strength was simply too great. This time, when the giant struck the ground, the "Merchant" stumbled. He fell to one knee, suddenly vulnerable. It was here that Aotsuki could have struck a deadly blow and, indeed, he felt Kusanagi no Tsurugi almost long for their foe's blood in his hand. Instead, he struck the mask itself. The white porcelain fell away under Aotsuki's precise blow. Beneath was a young man's face. While his features were yet obscured by a covering of bandages beneath his eyes, there was no longer any doubt that he could be a karakuri merchant. Those eyes, jade and piercing, filled with hatred for Aotsuki, were somehow hauntingly familiar. Above them, a kyonshi's charm dangled tantalizingly. A major weak point, if Aotsuki was dexterous enough to grab it.   Now that he knew that his foe was more than an assembly of wood and gears, Aotsuki tried to speak once again. The other didn't answer at first, but when asked about why he'd stayed his hand, he responded in a low voice. The Bandaged Avenger's task was with Aotsuki alone. That seemed to be all he was going to get, however. Further questions only echoed in the freezing air as Aotsuki's foe took action.   In one, fluid motion, the bandaged maverick rose from his kneeling position into a brutal uppercut. Aotsuki blocked this attack, and the next, but his foe's motions were becoming quicker and stronger with each swing. Something was driving this assault. Something was pushing the avenger forward. What fueled him?!   The assassin threw off his cloak, then, and reached out with that hideously glowing karakuri hand. Its lacquered surface pushed past Aotsuki's shield and grabbed onto the young Daimyō's arm. Armor heated and clothing burned. Pain flared through Aotsuki's side as he yanked himself away. It was far from a felling blow, yet the next strike...   With the inevitability of the rising sun, the Bandaged Avenger's fist came up in a shattering arc. It passed through Aotsuki's defenses, punched through his armor, and, with little resistance, exploded out of the Daimyō's back. It was a grisly, bloody sight. Indeed, Aotsuki should have died there, and would have if he'd been alone. Tama, who had been quiet up until this point, shouted out in fear and fury. In an instant, a portion of the pain and terrible wound passed on to her, opening up a wound in the sheele's abdomen to match that of her master. Aotsuki was left falling to the ground, coughing, ruined, yet somehow alive. He braced for the killing blow, but it did not come.   Instead, the Bandaged Avenger was looking at Tama with aghast horror filling his eyes. He broke off the attack, stumbling back for a moment. With a short, pained mumble about how he was not yet strong enough, the assassin scrambled into a sprint away from the party. Dōsan's axe tried to catch him, yet was thrown away by that same damned karakuri arm. Within moments, moving at a pace no mortal human could match, the Bandaged Avenger had vanished into the snow.   Aotsuki was fortunate to have powerful friends. One such had cast a spell of regeneration upon him long ago. Even now, the mangled skin of his stomach was stitching itself back together, the painful and ruinous effects of that deadly blow vanishing at a steady pace. Soon, he was able to stand again, if a bit unsteadily. Worry shone in Dōsan's eyes and Aotsuki's sheele gathered around him. Tsurugi, of course, admonished him for not finishing off the foe when he had a chance. Kagami seemed nearly in tears, and Tama merely relieved that her supernatural intervention had worked in time.   From wherever she'd been hiding, Fujino reappeared. She'd missed the grisly spectacle, possibly when she was off chasing a cicada, but could read that something traumatic had just taken place. The psychic's powers had kicked back in when the Avenger left, and so she whisked Aotsuki away without delay. Their destination was still Inabayama Castle, eventually, but they first made a stop at Ōtsu on the way.   There, Tama was seen to, and Tokku-hime doted over Aotsuki's horrible experience. Neither of them could quite determine who that man was or why he'd attacked them. Still, they would have to be more careful in teleporting around now, if there was some power that could interrupt it like so. It might be wise for Fujino to have some sort of bodyguard as well. It would be disastrous for the clan and its allies if she were to be kidnapped or worse on some routine business.   With those thoughts in mind, Aotsuki bid farewell to his hard-working wife and finally arrived in Inabayama. At his summons, Kuroda Kanbei was waiting for him. So too was Hayashi Hidesada, that agent of the Oda Clan who had brought their prisoner in.   Upon making his greetings, Aotsuki glared at the bald, piteous monk locked within the earthen cell. This man, Ikkyū, had caused more perdition with just his words and actions than the full force of an army might have brought about in his lands. It was still a shock that he'd been captured so easily. This was for good reason. As Aotsuki looked closer, the man's scowl didn't have enough malice. The top of his bald pate wasn't quite as tanned as the rest of his face. This was a close lookalike, but it was not Ikkyū.   "Ikkyu," as he insisted he be called, deflected all accusations of the sort. He was definitely the same man who had antagonized Aotsuki in the past, and was full ready to accept his punishment. Perhaps Lord Aotsuki was clouded by his rage and was remembering incorrectly, but Ikkyu was definitely Ikkyū, and no mistake.   Hidesada was understandably frustrated. This man matched the description she'd been given exactly, and yet he was not their prey. Perhaps a man whom the true Ikkyū had hired to be his patsy. Or, perhaps, as his words suggested, a monk in great debt to the Ikkyū-ikki. Regardless, he seemed intent on accepting Ikkyū's punishment and would not be swayed from asserting that he was the genuine article.   Aotsuki felt an unusual rage within himself. After what had just happened today, a patsy was not what he wanted to deal with. As he watched the pitiful man bow and scrape within the cell, and felt Kanbei's eyes upon the same, Aotsuki wondered just how he should proceed.