"This place is so nice that it's sickening…" Cherry muttered as she walked through the streets of the Flower Capital.
Most of the rest of the country, or at least what Cherry had seen of it, was either a polluted hellscape or it was incredibly poor. Even settlements like Bakura town were just comfortable by an ordinary metric. The Flower Capital was resplendent and even the dregs of society here were well off.
"Look at all these smiling faces. They couldn't care less that their luxurious lives come at the cost of their countrymen. Probably think they earned it or some nonsense, too," Cherry spat. The people here reminded her a bit too much of the celestial dragons.
She had expected the people to be under the thumb of the shogun here. That they would show signs of their long years of servitude towards a cruel master, but no. They were happy.
Well, there were a few that she could tell were less than pleased about their circumstances. The few that bore the mark of a crescent moon on their skin someplace or another. They were a mix of determined or resigned, probably the difference between those who had made contact with the brewing rebellion and those who hadn't yet.
Cherry shook those thoughts out of her head. She wasn't here to dwell on these losers, she was here to find a certain beautiful lady!
Cherry wasn't brazenly walking the streets looking like herself, as much fun as she thought that could be. Instead, she looked like a middle aged man with a bushy mustache and a receding hairline. The final touch, somewhat of a last second addition, was the same crescent moon tattoo on her ankle that she had seen on others in the city.
She stopped outside of what looked to be a restaurant with in house entertainment. She stroked her mustache as if making up her mind, garnering interest from one of the establishment's workers.
"Sir, would you like to come inside? We have the finest drinks and geisha in the city, I can assure you!" the little man said. "So long as you have the coin, of course!"
'Geisha? Is that what they call the entertainers here?' Cherry assumed.
Cherry made a show of checking her coin purse, which was filled with stolen silver in the local currency. Her voice came out deep and gruff, "Hmm, I don't know. I still need to pay for lodging."
The little man's eyes lit up at the sight; a big customer! "Lodging in our Flower Capital isn't as expensive as the rumors say, don't you worry! Our quality is as high as our prices are reasonable so you can afford to treat yourself, sir! Why come to our fine city if you aren't going to enjoy what it has to offer?"
"Well… okay, you've convinced me!" Cherry exaggerated, but the little man didn't seem to notice.
"Right this way, sir!" the little man motioned for her to follow.
Just as they made the move to enter, another man and his entourage exited the building. The man had a sinister face and his blue hair was up in an oversized pompadour. More notable was the fact that he was openly armed and that the little man gave a deep bow towards him. "I hope you enjoyed your visit, Kyoshiro-sama!"
Kyoshiro's eyes did not even glance at the little man, instead studying Cherry for a moment before pausing on the moon tattoo. Cherry wondered if he understood the meaning behind the symbol before she was certain that he did when she could almost feel a palpable hostility from him for a tiny moment.
Kyoshiro simply passed them by without another glance, snickering to himself as he swayed slightly from presumed drunkenness.
'This guy might become a problem…' Cherry thought. 'If he knows something, the rebellion might be in deep shit before it really even gets started.'
Cherry made her way inside whilst Kyoshiro was having his own thoughts. 'I don't recognise that man, and he seems far too young to have been one of Oden-sama's men. He must be up to something…'
"Here you are. You will be served promptly!" the little man showed Cherry to a private room. It wasn't her own money, so she might have splurged a bit too much which made the little man very happy.
Soon enough, a waitress came and inquired as to what Cherry wanted in terms of alcohol, food, and entertainment.
"Just bring me whatever you recommend. I'm already here, so I might as well spend a bit," Cherry said after a moment of pretend thoughtfulness. "Oh, and bring a geisha as well! Tall with raven hair, if you have any!"
The waitress bowed and left the room, closing the sliding paper door with a soft clack. Not long after, a few people streamed into the room with her order, followed closely behind by a familiar face.
When the serving staff cleared the room, the geisha bowed and said, "I am proficient in dance, and I know some songs on the shamisen. Which would our dear customer like?"
Cherry looked her in the eyes.
"Really?" Robin's professional mask vanished in an instant.
"What? Is it love at first sight for you as well?" Cherry smiled.
"Your eyes are very pretty, but I'm afraid that the rest of you isn't much to my liking," Robin said.
"The mustache tickles too much anyways, I can shave it off!" Cherry said.
"Knock it off," Robin said with a severe look. "You know, I had all these little fantasies about how we'd reunite, and here you are making a joke…"
Cherry's body instantly returned to it's true shape as she relaxed, letting the fused hair on her lip fall away and leaping into Robin's arms. "Don't be mad at me, I missed you!"
Robin couldn't help but to smile and return the embrace softly. "Alright, alright, I missed you as well. The disguise is a good one, although I half expected you to be running around all but shouting your name from the rooftops."
"You think so little of me!" Cherry said in mock disheartenment.
"I think very highly of you. It would just be nice if you acted your own age on occasion," Robin shot her a half-bemused look.
"Trust me, you don't want that," Cherry spoke honestly. "This whole 'responsible adult' thing you've got going on is a phase that'll pass with time, just like a rebellious teenager. When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
"Hm, that's weird to think about. So I'm not going to," Robin said. "I'd kiss you, but all this makeup is enough of a pain to do once a day, let alone twice. Maybe after my shift is over."
"This get up you're in is pretty neat," Cherry leaned back to admire it. "I am curious how you managed to hide your- Mm!"
Robin stopped that sentence in its tracks with a chaste kiss on Cherry's lips. Cherry was smart enough not to go for more and ruin the make up and Robin's good mood with it.
After all, it didn't seem like Robin knew about the whole fighting Big Mom thing yet, which was great so long as she could keep it that way. Robin would find out eventually, but there was no reason to spoil the atmosphere.
Robin broke the kiss and looked into Cherry's eyes in a way that made Cherry's heart flutter. "I don't know what you're hiding, but I suppose it can wait a little while."
Oh boy.