Kasumi
Chapter Five: "Close
Encounters of the Bug Kind"
Location: South Window
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I
abso-tively, posi-lutely, detest roaches. I have a pathological fear of
them. Especially when they fly. They're disgusting to look at. I can't
even bring myself to step on one for fear that it might choose to
spontaneously combust over my sandals. Just talking about them gives me
the creepiest feeling, and feeling creepy is one of the worst feelings one
can experience, ever.
Especially when they're afraid of bugs.
So?
What does being a ninja have to do with it? Ninjas are trained in stealth,
accuracy and fast attacks. Just because I am one doesn't necessarily
mean I'm invincible, or invulnerable. I never recalled having any lessons
under "bug control" when I was in training.
Now
that I think about it, I don't recall having any lessons under mind
psychology either.
I could
probably fight one, if it was about ten feet tall and there was no other
way around it. And if there was no one else nearby who could take care of
it for me. My life'd be at stake after all, and there is no worse way to
go than being killed and eaten by an antennaed invertebrae. It's not like
I've had any traumatic experiences or anything regarding the bug.
I just
hate them is all.
But I
digress.
I
probably have a lot more fears I can't face at the moment, but those types
of bugs rank up there as one of the worst. I see no reason for them to
exist, anyway. All they do is go about and scavenge on stuff no one really
needs anyway. Truly a sorry excuse of an animal in the history of the
sorriest excuses of stinking animals in the world. The only reason they're
here in the first place is to give people like me nightmares.
I'm
nearly getting out of topic again. I know, I don't have much of an
attention span. Even if it's me who's doing the talking.
Oddly
enough, I might even be the only one who was scared of roaches back at
Rokkaku. I was teased a lot about that; sermons from my teachers about me
being too big to be scared of such a small thing; a lot of heckling from
my playmates because the "big bad Kasumi turns soooo chicken at
the sight of little bugs". The former I resented, the latter I only
heard a couple of times in my youth, probably because I beat up the first
few who made the mistake of taunting me with that.
Told
you I was a bully.
What's
more odd still, was that some of my childhood companions were scared of
things I didn't really pay much notice to. Suki was scared of beetles;
Kisawa stayed clear of snakes; and Maji had claustrophobia.
To each
his own, I guess.
Lately
though, what with finding Krin and dragging him all the way from Radat to
South Window, roaches were the last thing on my mind.
Okay.
So maybe it was the second thing on my mind.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From what
Kasumi had heard of South Window, it was a fast-paced but pretty city,
more so than Radat and even more then Banner Village. Kasumi didn't have
much experiences with bustling towns, so she imagined South Window to be
something like Gregminster; elaborately structured architecture, high
class shops and restaurants, a small scattering of nobles perhaps, mixed
in with the common folk slightly on the polished side. She'd find a
money changer there, have her bits changed and finally have a rest an a
decent inn. Maybe after she'd tied Krin back up; she still didn't quite
trust the thief. The runt had babbled all the way on the road
leading to South Window, promising not to run away. Kasumi had been
lenient; relinquishing her hold on Krin's ear, she settled for keeping a
watchful eye out for him at every turn. So far, he actually seemed to be
on his best behavior, though his knife skills were a tad rusty, as seen
by an unexpected encounter with a group of squirrels. Kasumi supposed
that he was still good enough to pick pockets, as long as it wasn't her
own. He better be showing her the right direction to South Window, too.
It did seemed like a good place to visit.
Kasumi's
illusions regarding South Window promptly shattered the moment she
stepped through its gates.
A
spectacled old man rushed up to them, wringing his hands in dismay and
looking as if he was caught in an explosion beforehand. "My
beautiful house!" He wailed, stumbling and latching onto a
surprised Krin.
"What the--? Hey, leggo!" Krin wailed, turning beet red and
trying in vain to peel the sobbing man off his shoulder, as Kasumi
unobtrusively moved off to one side and chewed her fingernails, viewing
the carnage around her. Guards marched back and forth, some digging into
the huge piles of wood and sawdust, while a commander stood off to one
side, barking orders no one really listened to because that's all those
kinds of commanders were really good for, in Kasumi's opinion. There
were rubble lying all around, as if some cataclysmic eruption had taken
place somewhere in the area.
Had South
Window been taken under siege? Kasumi had heard reports back at home
that the possibility of a war breaking out in Jowston was highly
probable. A huge lump formed at her throat. War in South
Window? If so, could it mean that....?
No. The
other houses seemed to be intact, and from the location of most of the
rubble, it appeared that only one or two houses seemed to have blown up.
Why, Kasumi had no idea, swallowing the lump.
"Excuse me sir....what happened here?"
"Oh,
didn't you know? That kooky inventor Adlai's house blew itself up.
Always knew that old man was dangerous, what with him mucking about with
all those explosive chemicals of his and all."
"Ah.
I didn't know being an inventor was dangerous work."
"Fah.
Hey, rumors even have it that this fugitive from Toran sneaked in the
old man's house fleeing from Lord Granmeyer's guards, and HE blew the
house up. Better than being caught alive, know what I'm saying?" A
sly wink, as if he knew everything there was to know about politics and
espionage.
"REA-lly?"
"Yeah, really. Still say the old man got what's coming to him. Got
guards posted all about, cause they're still trying to comb the area for
the fugitive's body."
Toran
fugitive? Kasumi could count on one finger the people she knew who were
officially missing from Toran at the very moment. Something bubbled
up inside her, but she quickly squelched it. She was supposed to be
angry after all.
Turning,
Kasumi managed to drag Krin away from the weepy old man --Adlai, she
supposed. "Now let's see if you're good for anything after
all." She said evenly. "We're going to go get some money
changed, but after that we're gonna be tailing after those guards. Since
this Lord Granmeyer person seemes to be in charge here, I might
get away with paying him a visit -- official overtures from
Toran for peace or something ambassador-like. I want you to
scout around and keep your eyes peeled for trouble."
Krin
managed a small grin. "I guessed you've risen really high in
life, huh? Still....this is kinda like old times, wot? I promise I
won't run away again." He added quickly, when Kasumi opened her
mouth. "Honest."
Kasumi
sighed, quickly leaving Adlai and his former domicile behind.
"We'll just see if you're better at your word now than before. But
first, the money changer." She turned.
And
brushed something that scuttled.
A popular
librarian from the Toran Republic named Hugo onced published a Standard
Desk Dictionary, used by many nobles and a huge assorted number of
people in the Republic, a heavily compiled list of common words, slangs
and phrases, and their subsequent meanings in fluent prose. Among these
words, there is such a term known as "adrenaline rush". In
Hugo's dictionary, it was defined as "a sudden burst of speed
propelled by the nervous system in cases where the person is
experiencing a life or death situation or other related events." It
was an apt description.
Many of
the cityfolk who were roaming the streets were treated to a great view
of Kasumi streaking towards them, pumping eyes wide, her arms hard and
an indelibly long scream in high soprano emanating from within the deep
recesses of her throat and vocal chords. Ruled by an able mayor for a
long time now and taught the more basic aspects of common sense, they
did what any sensible person would do, which was to get out of her way,
fast.
"AAuuuuugh!
Get them away from me!!!" Kasumi tried to crane her neck to look
behind her, no small feat with the speed she was going, and was rewarded
with the sight if a long line of small, and considerably abundant bands
of roaches streaming out of the junk and moving in her general
direction. "Aaaaaauuuughhhh!" With one last superhuman effort,
Kasumi resorted to less ladylike tactics and scampered up a nearby open
window. The old man doing his daily toiletries inside stared at her with
consternation, but Kasumi was too busy to notice.
"Get
them away!"
It took
Krin and several good Samaritans bringing out several cans of bug sprays
and driving the insects away to convince Kasumi to climb out of the
frightened man's window, and even more to calm her down.
This was
going to be one hell of a trip.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Some
hours later......
"I
didn't know bits could cost this much!" Kasumi marveled, as they
left the store. "And I thought a thousand bits wouldn't be
enough!"
"They say war's fast approaching." Krin said, eyeing the
money mournfully until Kasumi shoved it back into her pack. "And
Toran's stable at the moment, so the rate's higher now than it usually
is."
Kasumi
shot him a warning look - she had seen where his eyes had wandered -
as they passed the rubble that had once been known as Adlai's house.
Or at least, Krin passed the rubble, while Kasumi doublechecked the
ground before nervously edging her way around it. This time, its
former owner was nowhere to be seen. "Alright then, next. Where's
this Lord Granmeyer staying in? I take it there's a mayoral residence
or something of that sort around here?"
Krin
pointed. "Left at that corner, then straight ahead. You can't
miss it, it's the fanciest building in this city, and the largest to
boot."
Kasumi sighed. "If we can't know what's going on, I can always
use a formal visit as an excuse anyway." She took a step
forward.
And
stopped. Krin, not expecting the ninja to halt so suddenly, bumped
into her from behind.
Kasumi
was a ninja, and ninjas were a useful lot. Not only were they trained
to become good stealth fighters, they were also known to possess acute
powers of observation. There were two things wrong with the part of
South Window that she was looking at, and Kasumi's eyes picked them
out with unerring accuracy.
First
observation. There were no longer any guards haunting the rubbles of
the inventor's destroyed house.
Second
observation. There was a crude drawing of McDohl on a wanted poster on
a tree right next to her. Crude was the nicest description she could
give. Ivanov, the former Toran Liberation Army painter, would have had
a heart attack had he seen the portrait.
Now, in
lieu of a conclusion for the first observation, there was
probably a logical reason as to why the guards had given up their
search for their "missing fugitive".
They
could have been ordered to search somewhere else, having exhausted all
possibilities of the afforementioned area.
Or they
could be questioning witnesses in hopes of discerning the fugitive's
current location.
Or they
could be on their lunch break.
Or they
might have already found who they were looking for.
Conclusion for the second observation?
That
was another matter entirely.
"It's not roaches again, is it?" Krin spoke up plaintively
from behind her.
In a
flash and in the space of about two seconds, Kasumi was off to
the mayor's house, with a floundering Krin barely at her heels. And
for once, Kasumi didn't care if the hunchbacked thief was escaping or
not.
Behind
them, something scuttled once more.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Back to
Kasumi |