Maiko

Maiko wasn’t sure if it was relief or frustration that filled her heart as they left the little nameless village she called home. Given that her ostensible responsibility was to watch over Himari, the fact that she was now walking the opposite direction from her was concerning. But on the other hand… Well, she couldn’t blame Himari for not wanting to be anywhere near her. Instead she was stuck with a silent, stuffy older woman that she barely knew and didn’t have half the reason to trust. It made the first day of the journey maddening.

Complicating matters was that they couldn’t take the main roads. While Shizuku was willing to swap to clothes that weren’t quite as ostentatious as her ceremonial Chosen attire, she still was likely known by sight to any guard that was specifically looking for her. And with the critical dearth of information that they had regarding the world outside Maiko’s village right now, they couldn’t take anything to chance. So instead of the comfort of familiar roads, they led their horses through back trails and small wooded hills.

As night started to fall, they made camp in the small space between two jagged hills that concealed them from view. The two ate small meals of dried fish, but even with the breeze of the wind chilling their bones they would not start a fire. Maiko always hated being out in the wilderness, especially under duress as they were at the moment. If only she wasn’t traveling with someone who had nationwide renown.

Her thoughts were finally interrupted as Shizuku spoke her first words since the two started west. “I will stay up the night. You go ahead and get some sleep.”

Maiko tilted her head in confusion. “Shizuku-sama, you aren’t any good to anyone if you are so exhausted that you cannot stand and fight.”

“I’ll be fine,” the Chosen insisted. “I’ve gone longer than just a single night without sleep before. You are young, and your skills are going to be more valuable fresh in any case. Especially if we are beset by attackers in the night.”

It was a lie, of course. And Maiko doubted that she was trying particularly hard to tell the truth. “You mean if I attack you in the night.”

Her words clearly made Shizuku pause briefly. But she recovered quickly and shook her head. “I do not know if that is something you would do,” she answered calmly. “But if you are not lying to us about your true history as you lied to Himari-san in the past, then to put blind faith in you would be a grave miscalculation. It is nothing personal, of course. Indicating that you’ve no love for the Imperial Advisor is… encouraging, but it is hardly something that we can simply rely on.”

“And,” Maiko summarized, “It is a better risk for you to keep watch and know that I am not coming at you with a dagger to the back.”

“It is regrettable that these are our options. But the only other safe choice right now would be to kill you, and at the moment you are more valuable alive than dead.” Shizuku took her waterskin from her pack and took a long sip. “So, we choose the bad option that is least bad for the situation we find ourselves in. And right now, that means that I must forgo sleep.”

Maiko chuckled. She couldn’t argue the reasoning, even if she thought it was a touch overly paranoid. “If you don’t trust me, why did you agree for me to accompany you?”

“Oh, that’s simple. Misao-san is far more charming than I, and you and Himari-san needed to be separated.” She slowly replaced the topper of the waterskin, giving her a look like that was obvious.

“Worried that we wouldn’t be able to get along?” She considered. “I suppose after this morning, that only makes sense.”

“Oh no, entirely the opposite. Her judgment is already clouded enough without leaving you alone with her. I don’t know if she would try to kill you or try to love you, but that girl needs a stabilizing influence right now and you are not that.”

Maiko nodded her head. It hurt that she was seen that way, but she understood. She expected that Himari hated her right now, and she wouldn't blame her for it. “So Misao-san gets to help her navigate everything that has happened to her, and you get to assess whether or not I am a threat to your goals.”

“You catch on quick. I like that in a person.” Shizuku gave a smile that somehow felt threatening despite outwardly carrying no venom.

“It sounds like two very painful brands of babysitting,” she chuckled briefly.

“Well, for me it’s only as painful as you make it, “Shizuku’s smile became sickly sweet. Maiko shuddered at the look. “And since I don’t give a damn if you live or how you develop, I don’t have to feel bad if you get killed.”

“You make traveling with you sound so appealing,” Maiko shook her head. “But regardless, since it seems I can at least trust you not to actively kill me, I am going to try to sleep. If you decide that, just maybe, you can try trusting me enough to get a bit of sleep, please let me know.” Despite the annoyance in her voice, she was sincere about that. She worried that Shizuku forgoing sleep entirely would slow her down as they prepared for the next proper leg of their journey.

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Of course, first she would have to get to sleep first. And that was proving difficult. She couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that they were being watched, and she clutched her dagger tight as she listened.

Strangely, it wasn’t a rustling leaves or a snapping twig that warned her of the danger. It was a slight reverberation in the earth, coming from just up the hill north of them. Her eyes twitched in that direction, and she just noticed the glint of steel in time to roll away from it. A flash struck the bedroll where she just had been, and a single shuriken sprouted in the spot that would have been her neck. A mild grey paste oozed off the edge. She instantly recognized the substance.

“Be careful!” She shouted as she leapt to her feet and threw her dagger in the same swift motion. The shadowed figure in the far distance seemed surprised as the dagger caught them in the chest and they fell to the ground. “They’re using poison. Don’t let their blades touch you!”

But as she looked over, Shizuku was already furiously pressing the attack against two of these assassins. Maiko rolled her eyes and began searching for threats. She wasn’t kidding when she said that she didn’t care if Maiko lived or died. But there wasn’t time to focus on that. Her eyes scanned the hills, searching for further threats as she slipped a second knife from her obi. That strange vibration she felt was gone as fast as it came. The assassins coming after them? She wasn’t nearly so lucky there.

A flash of movement caught her eye, and she looked to her left to meet it at the top of the hill. A figure was dashing between the trees peppering the hillside. Maiko’s eyes made note of where she last saw him and dashed up the hill, her sandaled feet absolutely sure on the jagged rocks under them. As the man stepped out, another shuriken in his hand, he was surprised to find her already upon him. Her knife slashed deep into his throat, her eyes darting for more targets to remove from the board.

As it happened, the only one she could perceive was the single remaining assailant fighting Shizuku. To Maiko’s reluctant relief she didn’t see any cuts or bleeding from her less than willing partner, but she certainly expected that such would change quickly if she didn’t act. Just because she was able to kill one without wounds doesn’t mean that she’d be so lucky with the second assailant.

So she took a breath and aimed the knife. The assailant was moving faster than Maiko cared to admit, and Maiko decided quickly that it was too risky to directly hit the assassin for fear of hitting Shizuku instead. So as the blade released from her hand, her motion guided it towards the ground just past him to the right. The sudden glint of metal whirred past him and caught his attention. The bare second used to look was too long. His head fell from his shoulders, and Shizuku’s attention moved on to find a new opponent to fight. No attackers brought themselves forward in the moments after.

Maiko… didn’t relax exactly. But she did take a moment to approach the attackers she’d killed. One of them had her favorite dagger, and she was rather bound and determined to retrieve it. As she approached, she spied something peeking out of the would-be killer's kimono. A piece of paper, folded several times but haphazardly placed. She claimed her dagger first, using the dead man’s sleeve to clear it of blood before collecting the piece of paper. It was remarkably clean for something that close to the wound site. Suspiciously so. So she opened it, and the words contained within almost pushed her to rage.

“Maiko-chan,

I hope you are doing well. I apologize that I could not deliver my letter to you in person, but as you might imagine the current situation in the capital does not lend itself to traipsing in the woods. You did well to keep Sato Himari out of danger, though you let her closer to it than I might have liked. Do consider being more careful in the future.

Your orders are still in effect, of course. I did not wish for you to think that Himari’s value lasted only through this coup. She is still valuable to me, and her survival is paramount. Failure to comply may have unexpected consequences on Daisuke-san’s future harvests.

Lest you think I am merely attempting to remind you of things you already know, I do have some information that may be of value to you: the Second and the Third Chosen are still alive, and have decided to throw their lot in with this fledgling Takahashi Empire. I have heard rumblings that a new Test of the Chosen will be held to fill the eight remaining ranks.

Best Regards, Darling.”

Even unsigned, Masashi’s particular brand of smug satisfaction was unmissable. Maiko shoved the piece of paper angrily into a small pouch as she stalked back to the bottom of the hill where Shizuku resided. The older woman held out the knife she threw, a smile on her face even as she said, “I had him, you know.”

“I’m sure you did, but I haven’t lived as long as I have by taking things to chance,” she stated. “At the least, we should be grateful. These assassins were a warning, not an actual kill squad.”

“How do you know?” A suspicious eyebrow raised towards Maiko.

She let out a sigh. “Because if they were a kill squad, the one who threw the shuriken at me wouldn’t have missed.” Stated bluntly like that, she expected a sarcastic answer from Shizuku.

But Shizuku only began packing up camp. “Then we can’t stay here,” she stated. Did any of them survive to say anything?”

Maiko considered that question. She could mention the letter. Mention that Masashi sent these assassins knowing they would be killed so that he could send her a message. That he still expected her to act in his employ even after all this.

Ultimately, she erred in the same way she always did. If Shizuku wasn’t going to trust her, then she would not extend any similar courtesy. “No. I killed both of mine, and I didn’t find anything worth mentioning on them.”

“Ah, well,” Shizuku simply nodded. “Let’s finish packing up. If neither of us are going to sleep, we may as well get as far as we can.”