Within the grandeur of Nijo Castle, Namida's eyes fluttered open, vision swimming as she struggled to focus. A searing pain throbbed at her temple, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. She gingerly touched the wound, hissing as her fingers came away slick with blood.
"Damn it," she muttered through gritted teeth, "it hurts like hell."
Slowly, agonizingly, she dragged herself to her feet, groping blindly until her hand closed around the familiar weight of her chain-sickle. She leaned heavily on the weapon, blinking against the swimming shadows that threatened to drag her back into unconsciousness.
A soft groan caught her attention, and she turned to see Misuki sprawled limply across the floor. Fresh blood matted the other girl's hair, pooling beneath her head in a grisly halo.
"Misuki!" Namida stumbled to her friend's side, panic rising in her chest. She fell to her knees and grasped Misuki's shoulders, giving her a desperate shake. "Wake up! Please wake up!"
Misuki's head lolled limply, eyes remaining closed. Namida's breath came in ragged gasps as she shook harder, pleading, "Come on, please!" She clasped Misuki's face between trembling hands, tapping her cheeks in a fruitless effort to rouse her.
Namida took a deep, shuddering breath as she tried to collect herself. There would be time to grieve later - right now, she needed to focus.
Her mind raced, thoughts connecting rapidly. Tan Lun's ambush hadn't surprised her, but the method of the assault did. Could it have been planned with...? She hesitated, the thought almost too dangerous to form.
Tightening her grip on the chain-sickle, she whispered, "Emperor Jimmu!!" If Tan Lun was working with that fat bastard, it changes everything. The future of the Minamoto clan - no, the future of Kyoto itself - hung perilously
in the balance.
Namida gently squeezed Misuki's limp hand, steeling her resolve. She had to find Lord Kuroyama and warn him. For Misuki's sake, for her clan's sake, she could not fail.
Rising slowly, she rested the chain-sickle by her side, its weight grounding her. She spared one last anguished look at her fallen friend. "I'll come back for you," she promised softly. "Just hold on a little longer."
Then, with her jaw set and eyes hard, Namida turned and sprinted from the hall. She had to reach Lord Kuroyama, no matter the cost. The fate of the Minamoto clan depended on it.
Namida raced through the dark corridors, her footsteps echoing off the walls. Up ahead, the sounds of a furious battle rang out - the sharp crack of staff against staff, grunts of exertion, taunts and threats echoing through the air.
She slowed as she approached a gaping pit that had been torn open in the floor of the main hall. Peering over the edge, she could just make out two figures locked in combat far below.
Squinting in the dim light, she caught flashes of movement - a sweeping staff strike parried at the last moment, a spinning kick aimed for the head, the glint of blades in the shadows. Though the details remained obscured, her instincts screamed that it could only be Kaze and Tan Lun battling in the pit.
Adjusting her long hair and straightening her red kunoichi attire. Namida watched the furious clash unfolding below, but a sudden chilling thought halted her. In the chaos of Tan Lun's ambush, the Shogun - whom Kaze was sworn to protect - had been abducted.
If Kaze failed in his duty, the consequences would be severe. Seppuku would surely be demanded for such a disgrace by Lord Kuroyama. And below, trapped somewhere in the depths, were also the innocent children that Kuroyama had imprisoned. Their lives are Kaze responsibility too.
A slow, sinister grin spread across Namida's face as she realized the implications.
With the Shogun taken, Kaze's reputation tarnished from his mission's failure, and the Minamoto clan's future generations at risk, Kuroyama's attention would surely turn to her alone.