Touch of Ice

[author's notes: I attempted to write this story from the point of view of others in the legion, to give an impression of how Yasuko is percieved by others. To write something from her point of view would have given too much insight into her mind that I felt out of place for a fiction like this.]

The ashigaru Oha, or Aho as he was sometimes called by his superiors when they were in a bad mood, shuddered as some of the samurai gathered outside the tent where he stood guard. The tent he had been given strict orders of not admitting anyone, and the throng (it was not even a handful samurai, but when three men carry three-feet long razorblades, it feels like a throng) grew impatient with a heimin blocking their way.

"Behave yourselves, men." It was not the order of a commander, but Kitsuki Yasuko's chilly and levelled tone was enough to bring order to the upset masses.
The unarmored and barely armed Kitsuki woman walked with the confident stride of a cat in its own territory as the soldiers stepped to the side to make way for her. Oha was relieved to see her.

"This area is off-limits," she reminded them. Her voice was as cold as the frosty wind around them, even when she smiled politely to them, "there is an investigation, and as some of you may know because you cannot keep your noses out of this, there has been a theft from the storages of the Legion. As you can guess, the Quartermaster and our superiors are not pleased." Icicles could have formed around those last words.

"To steal from the Legion is to steal from the Empress herself. If you know who is responsible, I will offer to speak with them in private."
It was a generous offer, Oha thought, to give the thief the chance to come clean in behind closed doors rather than risk a public shame over this.

The Kitsuki woman gave the order to spread the word, and soon the men were gone, leaving him alone with her. She turned and gave him a slight nod of approval. "Oha, remain here until Shoko comes to relieve you. We are not having any more rats in there. After that, I have a job for you." Oha saluted, and acknowledged the order, then he watched her walk away, the woman who seemed sheathed in ice.

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Daigotsu Gin left his tent not long before the dawn, when Yomi still held sway over the ones asleep, and the ones still awake were weakest to its siren call.
He hadn't thought that anyone would notice that anything was missing from the supplies, and he hadn't taken that much, but the quartermaster had noticed, and the Kitsuki wench had set herself to find the thief.
To find him.
He would find her first.

He navigated through the camp to the side of the Company of the Black Tortoise, filled with cushion-warming courtiers, pampered wind-bags and perfumed non-combatants. There had been nothing like these idiots in the previous army he was, Gin thought with a sneer as he stealthily avoided the sleepy guards still on the night shift. He knew where the Kitsuki woman had her tent, and like a shadow amongst the whirling snowflakes he slipped inside.
These spoiled psychophants had it good, he noticed. The tent was not particularly big, but it was not lacking in comfort. Several lamps were spread out in the room, but none of them were lit. Even the futon was luxurious compared to his, and he could see the form of the lithe woman amongst the bundles of thick blankets and silk.
Gin nearly laughed when he approached and noticed that the Kitsuki didn't even sleep with her blade next to her. This would be too easy.
He knelt beside her and his large hand cupped over her mouth, and the other hand grabbed a fistful of black hair which he jerked violently upwards, giving her a rather crude wake-up call. She screamed into his hand.

"Good morning, Kitsuki-san. Surprised to see me?" he leered at her in a whisper. "You got alot of nerve snooping around like a dog, you know. Oh, you probably had it all figured out soon anyway, and I wasn't going to be caught by surprise. Oh no."

He gave her hair another pulled as he made her look at him. In the twilight illumination of her tent, he could barely make out that a tear rolled down her cheek. She was scared, he was sure of it.

"You're going to forget this whole thing. It was just a few bottles of sake, a little extra, some coin, nothing much... I needed it." Gin thought it all made perfect sense as he explained it. "You'll forget it, or else... I will make you want to forget it."

The hand close tighter around her mouth.

"I have you at my power after all, and there's been a while since I had a woman."

Yasuko glared at him with such contempt that she might have withered flowers, and suddenly, Gin cried out in pain as he felt her teeth sink into the flesh of his palm. It was enough to keep him distracted from where her hands were, as they produced a flash of steel from underneath her bed-covers that cut deeply into his shoulder.
He let her go and drew his own weapon. "You bitch!"
Gin's anger clouded his aim, and his arm throbbed with pain as he tried to slice her with his katana, but he missed and she quickly stabbed through his hip with her wakizashi.

Before Gin could attempt another retaliation, the tent flap flinged open and a Seppun along with two other armed bushi stormed in.

"Drop your weapon and on your knees now!" The old Seppun barked.

The Spider knew he was outnumbered, and at this point, he probably could not manage to take the Dragon wench in time before they took him. The reinforcements had arrived early, he noticed. They hadn't been on the night-shift as far as he knew, and they couldn't have gotten here in such a short moment's notice.

"I see... you planned this all, didn't you. An elaborate trap to set me up," Gin started to say in an attempt to perhaps turn this around.

"Quiet," Yasuko spat at him and wiped some of his blood from her lips with the sleeve of her nightrobe. "Your words have already condemned you, and lies will take you no further. The Commander heard all you said to me, thus by your own words, you are now found guilty of theft from the Imperial Legions, assault on a member of the Imperial Legion, as well as threats of sexual assault on a Legionaire. There is nothing more for you to say."

The Daigotsu fell silent and was restrained by the bushi.

"Pray you are lucky enough to be executed for this. I hear the distant lands are not a hospitable place," a faint hint of triumph creeped into her voice as she coldly reminded him of the only options there was for him as a Spider.

Her voice felt colder than the winter outside. And he knew she hadn't cried earlier. He had only melted a drop by angering her, for how could one make a woman of winter like her weep in fear?