The sun slowly slumbers beneath the earth to take a rest. The woman in red yukata sets her string instrument on the floor and hums a poem of death.
The Heaven cries out
When a young maiden spills blood
Continue to wail
Feel her wrath in every cut
She feeds from anger
No one will be spared from hate
Her white kimono
Drenched in the blood becomes red
The door slid angrily to its end when a man hastily opened it to see the woman playing a soft tune at the koto with her ivory pick clutched by her fingers.
"Yamero!!!" Nobuyuki shouted hoarsely.
The woman stopped playing from the swordsman's outburst. She stared at the fierce eyes walking towards her spot.
"How can you be calm when the new chief imprisoned Amara-chan at the castle to sell her???" The swordsman yelled to the air.
For Nobuyuki, the announcement was unthinkable. The chief was willing to sell her sister as a slave to anyone capable of bringing forth a hundred nails within one hundred days of his regime.
Hearing the news, his blood raced fast in anger. He wanted to immediately take a red paper from the tree and unsheathed his katana to behead the despicable half-brother and save Amara from her fate.
But as he looked around the crowd of men gathering around the Sakura tree. The announcement was full of hopeful promise. It was easier to gather the nails of strangers than try to kill the chief with demon blood flowing through his veins.
"The chief is a fool and everyone knows the tradition can only be changed under dire circumstances," Setsuko answered coldly.
She stood from her seat and closed the door politely, walking back to her spot to accommodate the swordsman's inquiry.
"You mean no one will follow the chief's decree???" Nobuyuki calmly questioned the woman's notion.
His eyes followed the servant's every gesture. He wanted to make it certain that the woman was telling the truth.
"On second thought, the men in this village might follow it," Setsuko replied, formally sitting on the floor beside the instrument.
The swordsman set his legs down and slouch on the floor, carefully clutching his katana to not make it slip out of his torso.
"I'm confused, why would they follow an inaccurate tradition." Nobuyuki caressed his fingers on his beard.
"Because Amara-chan is the prize." Setsuko stared blankly with her stern voice.
"Is this because of her ancestry as a Umino heir???" Nobuyuki felt doubtful of the woman's importance.
"You are not from this village, despite staying here for a year before. You can never understand our thirst for power." Setsuko disappointedly sighs
She lifted the koto from the floor and sheltered it with care inside storage.
"Why would Amara-chan be a prized possession??? She's just a girl." Nobuyuki rested his palm on his crossed legs.
"Amara-chan is the daughter of a demon shinobi lord of the Rokkaku clan. Her womb will deliver demon blood children." Setsuko deviously explained.
"Y-You… m-mean???" Nobuyuki widened his eyes and turned.
"As a slave, any man in this village can take rounds at her. Night and day. Bearing a child every year to any man. They will have an army of demon ninja better than Takayori-sama plans to have." Setsuko gradually smiled at the notion.
"That's… that's…"
Setsuko stood up from the floor and politely gave a warning, "Don't interfere. You will only kill yourself fighting with anger."
"And stay here doing nothing like you??? Don't you care for Amara-chan???"
"Do you plan to rescue her???"
"Tell me where they took her at the castle???"
"I'll tell you if you can get out of this room."
"What???"
Setsuko hurled her ivory pick at the lantern to kill the fire and darken the room.
Nobuyuki groped the hilt of his sword and veered his body around to prepare himself from the threat.
Setsuko opened her mouth and spit out a sticky white-colored string on the floor. She threw it to the samurai who evaded the strand passing near his face and attached itself to the wall.
Nobuyuki's sights narrowed, discovering Setsuko's dark ninjutsu. A weaver. A special skill developed only by the Koku Ninja Clan that generates the body to become a weapon.
The woman held the string from her mouth and cut it with her teeth. She attached the other end to the wall near her and stood up from her seat. She conveyed a mischievous smile on her rims before spitting another strand from her lips.
Nobuyuki unsheathed his katana to prepare himself for Setsuko's next attack.
When the woman aimed at his face again, he stepped aside to avoid the line and paced forward to threaten Amara's servant with the sharp blade in his hand.
Setsuko saw the samurai's evasion exactly as the man stepped towards her. She kneeled and rolled her body to the side to trip the swordsman's legs.
The samurai leaped high and turned around to attack, but Setsuko was gone from his view as a thin smoke disappeared from his sight.
He slowly turned around to scan the room. The wind stands still from any movements except him. Reversing his sword to avoid killing the servant hiding from his vision, he shut his eyes and set his katana in the middle to concentrate and heighten his perception.
The silent air moved underneath his neck. Nobuyuki whirled to cut the string but his feet were caught in another twine, pulling him down on the floor to drag him in the woman's direction.
He cut the thread. Whirled his legs around to get up on his knee and set his katana up while the blade pointed down on his feet.
"You are good and fast. Amara-chan helped you a lot with improving your senses." Setsuko smiled. "But you won't be able to get out from here again."
"What???" Nobuyuki tried to move his foot but the sticky strand held him on the floor.
The woman giggled. "Next time, be certain not to be caught. Once it sticks on your body, consider yourself dead."