Machinations of an Informer

Mariko hadn’t so much as set a foot on Boon Island when she found two young men she remembered vaguely from her first visit to the Leaping Lion waiting to greet her. The blond-haired youth who tried to chat her up offered his hand to her as she walked down the gangplank, though she ignored him instead. She was quite capable of walking down a piece of wood by herself.

‘Hello,’ she greeted the black-haired young man she remembered as being somewhat shy, while ignoring Ranmaru Shibata. Was that his name? She couldn’t remember. ‘I’m Mariko.’

‘I’m Koga Hayashi,’ he replied with a bit of a stutter.

He was a relatively tall and stood at least a head-and-a-half higher than she, with shoulder length brown hair with no particular style. In fact if she where to make a guess she’d say he was partial to bed-hair. He wore a casual V-neck shirt designed with tribal patterns which sported angel wings on the back, along with a simple pendant tied around his neck. Mariko couldn’t see any particular value in the pendant though. Perhaps it was merely sentimental? Upon his left arm he wore a metal bracer. His lower attire was equally as casual. He favoured large pairs of sirwal-style pants with decorated hems, and low-cut sandal-like shoes made from boiled leather. Coupled with his seeming shyness Mariko thought him quite handsome. He was tanned yes but not quite to the degree of other Heisekian’s.

‘What am I!?’ Ranmaru declared loudly. ‘Chopped liver?’

Ranmaru was handsome she had to admit but his attitude annoyed her immensely. He reminded her of her brother, though at least he rarely flirted with girls when she was with him. He wore a torn pair of black overalls with a torn and ragged yellow-hooded shirt with the left sleeve torn completely off. Instead of the sleeve he covered his arm with a dark blue pauldron and a gauntlet, which sported a clawed hand she guessed, was meant to aid his Hakuda skills. He bore the sun-kissed skin common in Heisekai which made her more than a little jealous. She hadn’t really gotten much time to sun herself.

‘Well that might explain the smell. Whew,’ Fujimoto joined Mariko on the dock and made a big show of holding his nose; which of course only pissed Ranmaru off all the more.

‘You wanna say that again!?’ Fujimoto arched an eyebrow at him. ‘That might explain the smell.’ He even said each word slowly just to be annoying. Mariko found herself laughing quietly at the two with Koga.

‘So what are you doing here? The last time I saw you, you where in the Leaping Lion.’ She really was curious.

He took her off to the side for Fujimoto now had Ranmaru in a headlock, and Ranmaru was shouting obscenities at him like it was going out of fashion quick. ‘My Captain sent me to help you out.’ He made sure no one was listening in. ‘I know why you’re here, and so does Ranmaru. We’ve already been here since yesterday, and since then Kenshiro -- another of my friends -- has been keeping his ear to the cobble.’

‘Are you a member of the Shuuten?’ This was rather curious. Shiori, Fujimoto nor Erina had mentioned anything about additional help, nor had Hiei or Shiro when she’d been talking with them before departure.

‘No, no, no.’ He said quickly. ‘I work on a sea faring vessel called the Serenity. My Captain knows Kain Akai, who told my Captain. Captain told me to fin’ them rebels and look efter thon lass… what did Kain call ‘er again? Oh aye! Meriko!’

She took a step back. ‘You work for Kain?’ She didn’t like the idea of him being so many steps ahead of them. It meant they where putting themselves increasingly in his debt.

‘I work for Minamoto,’ Koga corrected. ‘As for Kain, I’d be happy seeing him bleed to death. Sorry. Guess that was a little dark huh?’

She’d heard worse. ‘… Okay, since there are now four of us, we can work in teams of two. I don’t like Ranmaru and I don’t know Kenshiro, so I’ll team up with you.’ She just hoped that she didn’t come to regret this.

How Itazura got into this predicament he couldn’t fathom but he was beginning to develop a hatred for Toshie that went beyond simple loathing. The man was everything Fujimoto, Hiei and Shiro had said and more! He wasn’t an utter tyrant. Tyrant wasn’t a sufficiently strong term to describe what Toshie was. Perverted? Yes, and Itazura was beginning to think he was one of the worst he’d ever seen. He’d goosed Serena again and only agreed to stop should Itazura allow himself to be trained by him once every two days. Shiro advised caution training against him, but Itazura accepted the terms regardless, and held up his end of the bargain simply because of Serena. This was the reason that his left arm was in a sling. Toshie had broken the bone in three different places and in retribution Itazura had brought the training hall down atop their heads with the strongest Rei Furashuu he’d ever produced! Toshie himself emerged with a gash on his forehead and a face that would have soured milk.

‘Hold still,’ Serena whispered fiercely.

She supported his broken arm with one hand while she changed the sling with her other. He hadn’t just broken it. Bringing the ceiling down atop them in a fit of blind anger had left him with countless little cuts, and three more serious ones that had come close to slicing open his veins. Those needed dressing which was anything but pain free. Of course he wouldn’t need to bother if Toshie hadn’t forbid him medical Kidō. Apparently he needed to fight through the pain.

‘I’m trying,’ he said in reply.

Today she wore her black hair combed down so it rested on her shoulders, with a sleeveless navy top, a pair of red shorts and bare feet. Apparently she was trying to get her tan back which was why he was nursing a blackened eye as well. They had been forced to share a room in the Shuuten’s barracks, though they weren’t really in worry. They’d been sharing a room since the celebration was held and he was given his title. The upside was that they had their own bathroom and a balcony open to the sun. He’d walked in after breakfast to find Serena sunning herself without so much as a stitch on! And somehow it was his fault that the door had been unlocked, so she socked him in the eye with her tanning lotion. But she relented when she heard about his agreement with Toshie.

‘Then try harder, Zura.’ and she squeezed his arm gently. She was a stunner but at times he thought she was a bloody sadist.

‘Did you find anything out?’ She did this to take his mind off the pain.

‘Kain’s been digging around. He’s got some leads but nothing concrete yet- ouch! Watch it!’ She giggled as she finished wrapping his bandages. ‘You’d think you’d be gentler with a man in my delicate condition.’ She reached down and kissed him lightly on the lips, but retreated back as if to say “no more for now”. He loved it!

But he had places to be and people to see. So he slid off the bed, put on his jacket with some help from Serena and secured both his bokken and zanpakutō within easy reach of his right hand. Now all he needed was a lead.

‘I’m tellin’ you, Ken, she digs me!’ Ranmaru was beaming from ear-to-ear.

Kenshiro was a young man with teal-coloured hair, basic Shinigami garb coloured black, and violet eyes in addition to sun-kissed skin. Right now he ignored Ranmaru to the best of his ability, which was becoming increasingly more difficult the longer they sought out anything pertaining to the rebel leadership. Ranmaru talked and talked about Mariko endlessly! He had all the focus of a horny teenager… which he was. You’d think him obsessed! Huh, he was probably was, now that he thought about it. Why couldn’t he have been saddled with Koga? At least he was capable of conversation that went beyond Mariko!

‘Ran, do you ever shut up?’

‘I could, but what would be the fun in that?’ He put his hands behind his head and walked along talking about fish of all things! Argh! Hollows take him!

They hadn’t been having much luck. All they ever got were the whisperings of whispers. They had been here a day longer than Mariko and the Captain-Generals, and had raided one base where the rebels where supposedly holed up. Hell roast the holed up where they! There hadn’t been a sinner in sight when they kicked down the door, and he, Koga and Ranmaru had gone over that room with a fine-toothed comb. It suggested to him that the rebels knew what they where about. He couldn’t explain why, but at times lately he always felt like he was being watched…

‘… Ken,’ Ranmaru sounded serious. ‘Don’t look but we’re bein’ followed. There are three men coming up the pathway behind us, two to the left and four to the front.’ Ranmaru had always been sharp about things like that.

‘… It would be best that we weren’t here, Ran.’ A sea-coloured longsword appeared suddenly in Ranmaru’s hand, and bubbles soon floated around them. They transported themselves rapidly using the bubbles, and never stayed in the place they touched down more than a second. They whizzed across Boon Island until they landed in the room Mariko had been forced to share with Koga. She screamed at their sudden appearance and took her zanpakutō in-hand.

‘How did- never mind! What are you doing here!?’

‘We where getting chased so I took us here, pretty thing,’ Ranmaru bowed low.

‘Don’t ever call me that again!’ She was going to be a handful.

‘Well, that means they know what we’re after,’ Koga said from the entranceway to the bathroom. ‘We’ll need to be more careful.’

‘Yes. We can’t afford to lose you, Kenshiro.’

‘Hey! What about me!?’ Ranmaru simply hung his head.

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