Memory of Sand Ch. 2

Waiting for the evening to end while keeping her cover was one of the hardest things Yukimitsu had ever done.  Three members of the Eru Wadi clan competed for her attention as she played songs on her shamisen; one of whom, a man with a dagger-shaped nose, continued to ask for the same song over and over.  Her gaze drifted over to Sanae more than once, who after adding her signature to the official documents as witness spent her time adding clever comments to the dirty stories the men were telling each other.

The meeting room had a balcony that looked out over the town, which was now fully cloaked in night.  Only the man with the moon tattoos went out there to smoke his long pipe.  Yukimitsu rose and excused herself as she went to shut the balcony door, taking a moment to memorize the scent of the smoke.  She suppressed a fake cough, which drew the attention of those she was entertaining, giving the appearance that she was weak against the smoke she added, "I'm sorry, one of the reasons I came out here was for the clean desert air.  Too much industry in Asa."  As consolation came from her admirers, she thanked her knowledge of the cities in the Land of Wind and her convenient cover story.

With the official business ended, some of the patrons went downstairs to enjoy the services of the full bar and hostesses.  An aged gentleman jokingly tapped his neighbor on his knee and jokingly said, "She's lovely Katsu.  Why she'd be perfect for my son, what do you say?"  Katsu, with a laugh that hinted of familiarity said what must have been a rote response, "No, more like your grandson."  The two men genuine laughter spread to other members of their clan, apparently an old joke they all shared.

After a fan dance, Sanae motioned that the evening was wrapping up and their contract had ended.  They knelt, in gratitude for their customers, and were excused for the rest of the night.  On their way back to Sanae's House the only people on the streets were footpads, dice gamblers in the alleys, and the occasional night watchman.

Before arriving at the front door to the Okiya, Yukimitsu had already run through the route she would take to the headquarters of the Mining Guild.  It was near the town's southern gate and would have guards, but the moon was hidden by clouds this night which would work to her advantage.

"You performed quite well tonight." Sanae's tone did not betray anything other than her statement.  Removing her obi and outer robe, she grabbed a wash cloth and began wiping the makeup from her face.  "But you'll never be great, as a Geisha that is."  Yuki turned after putting her robe on a small rack.  "Kunoichi always seem to lack that certain flair with the customers."

"And what do you mean by that?"  Yuki asked.

"Well, you never go far enough.  Kunoichi are interested in one thing, their mission.  You do what is necessary to learn what you were sent to discover.  But a true Geisha, in top form, can open a man in ways even your interrogators would be baffled by."  As they both finished, Sanae was changed into her house clothes and Yukimitsu into her uniform, Sanae walked over and adjusted Yuki's robes before turning away and leaving the room.

Blowing out the room's candles, Yuki joined the dark night and set out.  The rooftops of Kôze became the ground under her feet and the wind in the air her companion.  Below the quiet play of the city's nightscape played out much differently than it had seemed from the ground.  Rather than each alley seeming a different small world, they were rather the lifeblood of a city asleep.

Infiltrating the compound was a simple matter.  Timing her jump over the wall for when the moon passed behind the thick clouds gave her all the darkness she needed to avoid detection.  Landing in the rock gardens gave her more pause for caution as the moon passing in and out of cloud cover acted as a sort of spotlight as its light fell upon the carefully shaped sand.

Carefully moving around the edge of the enclosure meant avoiding guards, but that proved to be a simple matter.  The front door required a more delicate touch from lock picks she had hidden among her senbon hairpins.  Once inside, finding the lone office with lights on was easy.

Inside were two men, one the accountant from the party (whose tobacco smell she recognized) and a guard.  "Henge." She breathed the word as silently as she could.  No longer did she appear to wear her stealth robes, but a sheer nagajuban robe and outer cloak.

The next trick was to disguise her voice for a proper introduction, to sound like a guard.  She firmly knocked on the door before saying "Compliments of Lady Sanae and Musuke-San." in a deceitfully deep voice.  "Send her in, came a voice from the other side"

Opening the door, Yuki saw the man with the crescent moon tattoos and knew she had found the right room.  After making eye contact with him, she moved her gaze to the guard and pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she managed a nervous look.  Crescent-Moons picked up on the subtlety and ordered the guard out into the hall.

Yuki made sure to pay close attention to his reaction when she opened her cloak to rest on her shoulders.  His cold, intense, stare meant that he was interested but would hold back.  Taking him by the hand, she led him to sit in a chair along the office wall.  The next step required his undivided attention, so she turned away from him and dropped her cloak to the floor.  She marked the slight increase in his breathing and knew she had him.

Pulling two fans from her robe, each marked with dots and special seals, she began a fan dance which was also a mid-level hypnosis jutsu.  She traced her fingers along the tattoo on his forehead and pinched his cheek, which confirmed that he was trapped in an illusion where he would only see her dancing.

As she was about to release her henge, she heard a thud come from outside.  She was unsure whether it was a knock or something else.  A rustle came from below the door and she pressed herself against the wall next to the door, standing out of the way in case anyone came in.  There was something about this situation which set her instinct on edge.  She turned her attention to the high window on the wall and saw something move in the darkness.

Her instinct reacted quickly as she threw a senbon directly at the movement.  A soft grunt came, not from the window, but the other side of the door.  Releasing her Henge, Yuki pulled out her kunai quickly opened the door, grabbed the man standing on the other side, and flipped him down to the ground.  Closing the door behind her with her foot she pinned the intruder face-down with the point of her kunai against the back of his neck.

"Turn your face to your right, slowly."  The man complied and Yuki saw that it was the bearded town notary from the party.  She pressed her Kunai tighter against his skin, knowing she would break the surface.  "What are you doing here?"

"I am changing your mission Yukimitsu."  He began to jerk in her grip.  As she started to protest, she lost control of her kunai and felt it stab further into his neck.  Jumping back with a start, Yuki saw him calmly stand up with the kunai in his neck.  Quizzically turning his head to either side, he reached back and removed the blade from his neck before handing it to her.

"Just who are you?"

"Suna no yoroi: henge - release."  Every feature on his face began to sink in; he even shrunk by several centimeters.  Hair receded, his beard disappeared into his chin, and his clothing changed to a dark red robe.  But it was his eyes, dark circles formed around clear green eyes.

"Kazekage Gaara." Yuki felt a sudden shock as she nervously fingered the point of her kunai.  "I did not expect to see you on my mission."

"I am not here to interfere with your mission.  But I fear that the details of the mission have changed from what you were originally ordered to do."  Gaara walked over to the man still sitting in the chair.  Gaara passed his hand in front of his face a few times before satisfied with the state of things.  "The mining company you are investigating is doing a lot more than stealing money from the Lord of the Wind Country."  Moving over to the desk, Gaara began shuffling through papers before pulling out a map.  The map had several areas marked with circles with an "X" drawn through them, all save one.  "They are grave robbers.  And they just found the tomb of the first Kazekage."