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Kasumi
Chapter Four: "Once a
Thief, Always a Thief"
Location: Radat
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Once
upon a time, in a not-so-far-off land called the Toran Republic, there lived
this thief. Actually, he didn't *live* in Toran; "*lived off* the
good people of Toran" might be a better description, and he was the
best when it came to such a livelihood. Unfortunately, he wasn't like some
fairy-tale hero, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor; he stole
from the rich AND the poor, then gave it all to himself. He didn't
even look like a hero. He was short for one; he had this dirty, stringy
brown hair and a face not even a blind mother could learn to love; he was
stooped over so most of the time, that he had the beginnings of a grossly
extended hump on his back; and he giggled. By the gods, men should never
have learned to giggle, especially if they had a squeaky voice pitched too
high for normal ears. And in the course of my many encounters -
unfortunately - with him, I realized something not many people (and
sensible people they were, for keeping distance from him; I had never been
known to be a sensible sort of woman) knew at first glance: I swear that
at times when he was especially nervous, his eyes veered off - in
different directions.
Just
thinking about it gives me the shivers.
Yes, I
don't really like him. I don't usually show it - Article 24, Section 8; A
friend as your ally is a step closer to victory - but I do. He *is* an
exceptionary thief and a talented sneak; I give credit where credit is
due. But his personality leaves a lot to be desired. I can still remember
his jeers and fool antics as if it were yesterday, even after three
years gone by:
Offering me spiked tea, so he could steal some of my bits while I slept; a
ploy I saw through. "Hee hee hee. Have some of my special brew,
Kasumi. It's good, honest, hee hee!"
Insulting me and disgracing my honor in front of my leaders. "Hee hee.
How ladylike you try to act around Master McDohl. It's hopeless on
you."
Running
around the Toran Castle after looting my undergarments drawer, waving for
the whole world to see my pan--
Perhaps
some things are better off left unsaid.
And
unfortunately as well, for reasons of his occupation and mine, I was
forced to work alongside him during my sojourn in the days where the
Scarlet Moon Empire was weakening under the Toran Liberation Army.
Scouting together. Reporting attacks and subterfuges of the enemy.
Cooperating to help in a six-man party to rescue Sir Viktor and Sir Warren
from Sir Kasim Hazil's castle.
It
nearly drove me crazy.
Oh, but
maybe I'm just chewing on some old beef (was that how the saying goes?),
dredging up past unpleasantries. That war, after all, was over, right?
But, oh
no. As the war drew to a close, that little runt had to pull off what he
probably thought was the coup de grace of his entire career.
Late
one evening, the runt made a flimsy excuse to allow the guards to let
him into the throne room, then five minutes later disappeared, making
off with all the money and treasures accumulated in the Toran safe. The
guards swore that they never left their posts, and the only other
outer means of escape was one large window, but it was almost a
thirty foot solid drop down into hard, solid earth. He hadn't been
carrying anything when he had entered the room; the guards had seen to
that.
Needless to say, Kage, Fuma and I turned the palace upside down,
metaphorically speaking, searching for him and, more importantly, the
palace gold, to no avail. I blame myself a bit for that one. I was
technically a part of security; allowing the valuables to be stolen
brought me more hidden shame than anyone knew. Had I known how he had
managed to get away, I would have been able to track him and recover them
back. I still didn't see how he had managed to escape without killing
himself, but after much logic and assessment of that specific palace
window as well as the outer walls and grounds surrounding that area, and
with much discussion with Kamandohl the alchemist, I have finally come
down to one solid and satisfactory conclusion.
Krin
can fly.
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Her back hurt. That was the
first thing she had noticed as she slowly came awake; things were
swimming around to take much notice of anything else. But as vision
slowly cleared, another fact, slow in penetrating through her head as
she waited for full awareness to return, came into light.
The back of her head hurt as
well.
With a loud grunt, Kasumi
rolled over and managed to assume a sitting position. A tiny voice in
her head screamed that it was impossible for such a feat, but as of the
moment, she chose to ignore it. With pain came awareness, and with
awaresness came remembrance. A dream. She had been dreaming. It hadn't
been a pleasant one. Frowning, she tried to remember, but it slowly
slipped away from her, leaving only bits and pieces of dream, like a
jigsaw puzzle whose picture she could hardly discern, tickling only at
the edges of her mind; far from complete.
Someone or something had been
chasing her. A lot of someones. Some of them, she knew, were even close
friends with. Others were enemies long defeated or killed, but others
were faceless, and they all converged on her like predators on a hunt.
Gods, now she knew how a mouse felt in the eyes of an eagle. Why she was
being chased, she could find no reason. All she remembered that it was
dark and cold and lonely in that dream.....
Uneasily, she shifted. Her back
responded by giving out on her. With a soft oomph, Kasumi fell
backwards, spread-eagled against the ground and looking up the clear
blue sky. A perfect blue, with tufts of white spirals of clouds marring
the blueness. It promised to be a beautiful day.
That was the other thing that
was wrong. She couldn't be spread-eagled like this looking up at the
sky. The last thing she remembered, she was on a low tree branch. She
casted a quick glance about her and found her answer. She wasn't on the
tree anymore. The impact against the ground must have jolted her awake.
A blessing in disguise, or something to complicate matters more, she
wasn't sure, rubbing her back sourly. A good thing no one seemed to have
seen her fall out.
It was at most five
minutes before she could assume a standing position this time. The pain
in her back had lessened; Kasumi had taken heavier blows in the past,
and she was pleased to note that she isn't as soft as she originally
thought she was. A few years behind a desk could do that to a person.
She counted her money with some misgivings. Most were still in bits, and
she hasn't seen any sort of money-changer in this town as of yet.
Perhaps in another?
South Window. From what the
young girl back in Banner Village had said - Kasumi berated herself for
not even knowing the girl's name, for all the help she had given her -
South Window was a busy place, merchants and merchandise alike. Perhaps
she would find a money changer there.
But first, a look at the town.
As she had thought before, it
seemed a nice place to stay for awhile. It wasn't really a busy town,
but it was busy enough; sailors and fishermen chose to monopolize the
right side of Radat that led to the small port; Kasumi supposed that,
from what she knew of her former allies Tai Ho and Yam Koo, fishing and
boats would take up most if not all their days and perhaps a goodly part
of their nights. Children frolicked near the town square, playing
intricate games of tag and hide-and-seek. There was a house that seemed
to stand by itself on one corner of the town, looking impressive enough
to be the domain of some rich merchant; the house right next to the tree
she had sought shelter in. Kasumi debated on asking if the owner would
be willing to change some bits into potch, but there was a hulking brute
of a man lounging by the main door, with a look that clearly provoked
people into staying away, and at a far distance at that. Shops sprinkled
the area, item, weapons, runes. Maybe she could buy herself a new
rune in South Window.
And then she stopped and
stared. Gods, pray that it's a hallucination. On a slight chance that
she was asleep and this indeed, would be another dream, she pinched
herself. Nothing happened. She pinched harder. A passer-by, a young boy
dragging a small kite behind him, gave her an incredulous stare for even
thinking of self-afflicted torture, but she didn't care.
What the hell is HE doing
here???
The HE in question, misfortune
smiling on him at that apt moment, hasn't noticed her. He was trying to
filch the wallet of a fat rich-looking man haggling for his groceries,
while trying to look innocent at the same time, which was a hard thing
to do when it came to him. Perhaps some things never change at all. It
was about a full ten seconds later before he finally realized that
Kasumi was bearing down at him in full speed, eyes angry enough to bore
a hole at the back of his head. Eyes widening in stunned amazement, then
stark terror, he frantically freed his hand from the fat man's
wallet and pocket, then made to flee in the opposite direction. But for
all his boasts about his vaunted speed, Kasumi was far, far faster than
he had ever was, and still is.
His high-pitched scream of
fright began even before Kasumi actually took hold of his olive green
smock, rumpled from wear and use. That was another strange thing about
him; though he loved money, Kasumi had never seen him actually spend any
on himself. "L-l-let me go!"
Kasumi bristled. "Of all
the people I've ever expected to see!.... Krin! What are you doing
here?? How DARE you even show your face in this side of the world, not
after your little escapade with Master McDohl's money!" To
emphasize her point, she shook Krin, hard. The people milling about them
chose to extend their distance at this point. "And to think that
Master McDohl actually trusted you! How could you think of betraying
him, betraying the Toran Republic? They needed that money!"
Another hard shake, for good measure. She could actually hear Krin's
teeth rattling about in his head. "How DARE you??" Shake.
Desperately, Krin struggled to
free himself with little success. "Hee hee hee. Er, Kasumi, old
buddy! I didn't expect you around these parts. I see you've still got a
thing for McDohl, even after all this time, eh? Hee hee." He always
started with that attack; reminding me of the good old times together as
comrades. Unfortunately, it didn't work; there had been old times
together, but none of them had been good. "Don't you start that on
me, Krin!" Kasumi growled, wringing him again. It felt good to
wring his neck; that was another thing that hadn't changed. "Where did
you hide Master McDohl's money?!"
Krin's voice went up another
octave; yet he still continued to hedge. "Urk!....hee hee. Come,
come, it happened so long ago, y'know?" His head was starting to
bob. "Three years! Whaddaya say, let bygones be bygones, heh?"
"WHERE IS MASTER MCDOHL'S
MONEY, YOU RUNT???!!"
Kasumi felt a small blush
stoling onto her cheeks; she suppose it hadn't been smart to shout the
name of a man whose country outsmarted the leaders of the place you were
in at the moment. She moderated her tone. "Tell me now, or so help
me, I'll dump you in that harbor over there!" Her right hand, the
hand where the Shrike Rune was imbedded in, was starting to twitch.
Oddly, she sensed rather than felt her nose twitching as well.
"I d-d-on't kn-kn-kn-know
what you're t-t-t-alking about!" Krin blubbered.
Kasumi took to drastic
measures. After all, she stood almost a head taller than he did, and
Krin was lighter than he looked. In the next minute, Krin had a good
view of the world flailing upside down, as Kasumi firmly took hold of
each pants leg and began to shake the truth - among other things - out
of him. Coins, watches, rings, necklaces spewed out of his pockets; gods
but the man was a walking jewelry store. Best that the local folk were
trying to ignore the ruckus they were making.
"S-s-s-top!" Krin's
teeth was really rattling, now. "S-stop! I'll tell you! I don't
h-h-h-have it! I-I-I spent it all!!"
Amazed, Kasumi let go. With a
mighty squeal, Krin landed facefirst on concrete. "You spent it
all??" Kasumi asked disbelievingly. "Almost a year's worth of
bits from treasure chests, monsters and hard-earned cash from gambling,
enough for a lifetime, and you spent it all in THREE YEARS???" It
was Kasumi's turn to raise her voice.
Krin quickly scrambled up, but
wasn't quick enough to prevent Kasumi from taking a firm hold of a coat
sleeve. "I'm sorry!" He squeaked.
Kasumi would have done more
than make him squeak - much, much more - but a crowd was soon
quickly gathering around them, seeing that ignoring them wasn't
working. Coat sleeves tear easily; so Kasumi reached over and caught
hold of his ear instead. "I'm not going to allow myself - or you,
for that matter - to be caught by the authorities in these parts for
breaking the peace, or whatever law we're sure to have broken
today." She said through gritted teeth, as Krin's eyes brightened
with sudden hope. "You deserve far worse than that. I'm afraid I
won't have the pleasure of staying long enough to watch you rot in jail.
On the other hand, you seem to know the place pretty well." She
smiled; on another occasion and for another reason altogether, it would
have made her look pretty. "So you are going to be my guide. You go
where I choose to go, and like it. Don't even think of trying to escape
me, because I'm a far, far better hunter than you could possibly think I
am. You evaded me once; I don't make the same mistake again,
Understand?" Kasumi couldn't see her eyes, but from the look on
Krin's face, she must have been convincing, because he began blubbering
fealties and prayers. "Good. And guess what? I'm not letting you go
until we've earned back each and every bit that you've
stolen."
Krin's voice, mounting on
the outer edges of the higher musical scale was lost in Kasumi's ears,
even as she marched away with Krin's ear in tow, the crowd melting
around her to give way. Had she seen the expression on her face at that
very instant, she would have done the same.
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