Within A Grey Twilight

Even as he was a little heavy, but it was nothing he could not stand. He had worse, but those were rare occasions rather than always. It happened whenever something like this did; which was not often in his life. Something that pushed for him to choose between two difficult choices. Although he preferred drinking it with wine, preferably at least a decade old.

But all he could settle for was sake. But he was still able to find a way out of this, even if to some it seemed foolish to trust in a total stranger who sent you a letter for help. But since the man went to such trouble, he might as well look into how and why it was done.

He looked to the end of the street he mentioned, looking for a man with paper. True it was, he sat at the end with paper and no one to talk to. Few will have a need to send letters, mostly they were occasional but long. The moment he took the chance to look at the man, he knew that he had reached.

"Quite an apt name you chose, Mamoru." The man was familiar after all, and hence they knew the other quite well.

"Well, we do know each other for several years." It wasn"t long, but to many it was a friendship that has lasted. He sat down on the table. "What will you like to have me write today?"

"A letter back, to my family. I have not managed to find whom I seek." Even if he did look like him, he thought it was better to play it safe for the time being.

"Is that all?" He stared straight into his eyes, which he returned with a glance before looking away.

"Yes." Having the feeling that he was testing him on his words.

"So, all you really need is leads on someone." He gave a grin, the man before him returned it. A sign that they knew each other, even when he merely changed the word to not finding and not asking for someone to help him.

"She"s quite hard to find." If anything, he was right given that he had no ability to do anything even at this point. His hands were tied by another, even if it was not he made little progress. She had removed all trace of herself, not that there was much to begin with.

"What"s her name?"

"Rin, of the Koybayashi family. But right now that isn"t my main concern." He could take his time, if there was no news of her than she must have found a safe spot to hide in. Even if she was dead— which to him was highly unlikely given that Ayakazu had said she stepped out alive— he will simply return her body back to her family.

"What is?"

"I lost two of my traveling companions, their names are Masami and Yuki in which both happen to be last seen with Junri of Houya inn." It was easy enough, since Junri was rather obvious from the sight. Mamoru noted it down, clear that he was serious about making the deal.

He gave a smirk, clear that he will be able to track them down easily. And this was where he will name his price, his friend of old will do that. For their friendship did not begin through liking, but rather necessity and seeing the use of the other. They enjoyed the company of each other but with this well in mind.

"Will you help me in the rebellion?"

"I won"t a.s.sume the name Kouya but I do have valuable information, and I can plan strategies but only in secret. At this point, I will prefer not to let people know who I am." He was clear about that. Even if he was not doing much, but Mamoru trusted him because he was a good strategist even as a child. Now that he has more years of experience, things could not be better.

"You"re trying to lay low?" Mamoru looked at him, in which Kazuho could guess that he was trying to understand how good could this go. But this was years, and no one did ever get a chance to look at Kouya.

"I have enemies and one of them has already found me, so I am fairly certain that I need to be more careful. Besides, it"s simply finding two girls for me and I will deal with the Sasaki on my own."

"The Sasaki clan is after you?"

"I just learned it, although I"m not surprised. And I think another clan might just be out for my blood too." The main target that won him his infamy, the Satou clan. Even as he knew that it did not succeed due to his strategy alone, as he had little control in who was picked out, sent out or anything of the sort. He merely came up with the plan to take out the Satou.

"I see. Then how about we get rid of the Satou and Sasaki clan?" It was an easy enough proposition. It will make sense, although he knew that these two clans were better allies than gone. They were easy to win over after all.

"We don"t need to finish them, but merely turn them over. They are hungry for a new order too, their duty has been nothing but a curse on their family. A reason why so few actually bear the name of either clans. And even when they failed, they are not angry. If they were, they will have begged the Shogun for another chance to hunt me down."

"That makes sense. As always, you are much better at this."

"I"m not, I just have to keep my mind sharp or I simply lose. It was the same there too except that my head was not on the line."

"Do you need a drink?"

"I drank half a bottle last night." Even if he was not fully drunk, and not drunk enough that he will be hungover this morning. He simply drank enough to try to get himself to think and forget, but not enough that all he could think of was sleeping in bed. It was far too late for that.

"I"ll take that as a no."

"What are their names and descriptions?"

"Masami, she has black hair, and is with Yuki who has red." It didn"t really need to go beyond this. "And they may come with a blue haired boy."

He put down the brush to raise his eyebrow. Since those colors will have been obvious unless they tried hide it. And he could see why it was enough. They were rare, hence easy to find. He jotted it all down.

"If you see them, bring them to me at once." He gave a nod to his request. Which was perfectly reasonable before he left. He had given the messenger another letter, and he left by the night. Hopefully, he might be able to do more later on. His first priority was to find Masami and Yuki.

He had made that choice, hence he will need to abide by it. Even if he let go of a good chance to know more about Rin. But he figured it will be for the better too, since Rin was from a time before he was Kouya. And hence, he will need to explain their relationship to him. Which was as confusing as it was simple. It was simply a close friendship between pen pals.

Masami had managed to find Kisuke, where they were frantic in finding a place to hide in the city. A good thing was that Junri was not native to f.u.kusei, hence as much as she did not know how to find them, they were in the same boat as well. Hence, it depended on how well they could cover ground and hide.

Yuki had her parasol opened, until Masami bought a scarf for her and tied her hair with it. Now only the way that anyone could figure was if they noticed. And they still had Kisuke to throw him off, who found this incredibly unsettling but went along with it. He knew them better than Junri after all. And so far he had nothing really against him.

They were wandering around, mostly in the direction of the Saitou clan. Which was as good as it was, given that it was the only place where she could go and certain that it will not bring her back. It was a foolish plan at a whole shot, but she did not have much options in the first place. Thus she needed to merely capitalize on what she could and have.

It didn"t seem as though it could be going anywhere. She knew that as well.

"We meet again." He gave a wave to them. Which she came over, hoping that he might know somewhere to go to if he could.

"Do you know a place to hide in?" She asked. While prepared to handover what little she had, which was quite little.

"Don"t worry, I don"t charge." Before he took them to the end of the road, hoping to find somewhere away from Junri. She didn"t really think anywhere could be worse; if anything at least anywhere else gave her a chance to negotiate. While Junri was not, hence she could take her chances anywhere else.

She was certain that she could find something. Although knowing that it was important for her to find Kazuho, he needed to know what Junri had in mind. And she could guess that Hajime was likely with Kazuho, which made matters worse. Hajime was better at masking his intentions, given how he was better at tricking people than just acting stoic. Although Kazuho will be better than her at this, but Hajime was more devious too.

She knew that she had to tell him and prepare for it. Even as she did not know what clan did she come from. The boy had brought her to many many places, through many many streets. Kisuke simply looked around, but knew better than to gaze. No questions were asked between them, just blind trust and obedience that this will have turned out fine.

Even Mutsu did not say anything, understanding that Masami was either in deep trouble or in need of help. A lot of help. She was going to be indebted to him, but at this point it didn"t seem nearly as bad as compared to the other options. This gave her the chance of remaining free, and she will do well to take advantage of it.

When he did stop, it was to a man. A letter writer on the street, he had normal black hair cut short. He did not even look at her, as he continued writing "Just who is she?"

"Masami." He put down his brush. "And this is Yuki and Kisuke." He turned to look, mostly focusing on her red hair. As though it told him something. This worried her, was it due to him working for Junri. She took a step back.

Before he gave a smile. "Are you looking for Kazuho?"

"Why yes, I am."

At last, she was not stepping into danger. But somewhere where she could truly be safe. And so could they. Yuki took off her scarf, showing off her red hair since yesterday. It was not a long time, but to her she found it confining and strange. Before looking at Kisuke for more, since he was noticeable too with his blue hair.

"Good, Mutsu, take them and walk to the inn run by Takara."

"Yes, Mamoru-sama." He lead them through the streets, and she knew they weren"t far.