The trip to Tsuhara's household had been a lonely and uneventful stroll. The dimly lit roads were sparse of activity at this hour. The moon was hiding behind clouds, leaving only darkness in the air. Alisson had never been to Tsuhara's residence, but he thought that someone in close contact with the Queen would have somewhere near the royal palace, but this seemed to just be an unassuming home. Alisson squinted the building. It looked newly built, and seemed to be for a family or two, but here Tsuhara was living in it alone. For being on civil business, he wore not his tailcoat, but a cloak over his body, hiding the gambeson he wore, and the weapon at his back.
He knocked on the door and moments thereafter was let in by Tsuhara. The inside the building seemed poorly furnished and what furniture was here wasn't anything one couldn't get at the market; That was to say, there were no heirlooms or historical pieces.
"I'm guessing no one tried to pull anything on the walk over here?"
Tsuhara asked as they made their way to a table in her bedroom where she had prepared tea.
"No. It seems no one is brave enough to attack me when there is nothing to hide them."
Tsuhara closed the door behind her, sighing, and sat down across from Alisson.
"Not going to take off the cloak…? Why are you wearing it anyway? It's not that cold."
"I'd prefer to stay my hand in the event of an assault of my person or of this building, you must understand."
She stared into his eyes for a long moment. "I guess there's not a lot of trust you're giving me right of the bat…Alisson." He locked eyes with her. "I need your word that the attack earlier today wasn't orchestrated by one of yours."
Alisson frowned. "Why cast this suspicion on us? We were the targets."
"Just tell me."
"No. I have no knowledge of a group of Nekomata acting without my word. This attack does not come from Sidonian affiliated forces. I suspect them to be of heretical descent."
"Heresy?" Tsuhara squinted. "Why would you use that word?"
"They are to us what separatists are to your Queen. Traitors. Their line of reasoning is deemed heretical by the Inquisitorum, in other words, by our Lady. But that's just a fancy way of saying that they don't believe in the despotism of the Lady Sidonia, among other things."
"Do you have any proof that it was a heretic that brought about this bombing?"
"You have my word that I know of no Nekomata of such a face. I know all whom I brought with me on this expedition; Why continue to suspect us? Is this all you have brought me here for?"
Tsuhara sighed. "I'm sorry, Alisson. But you have to understand…The Kitsune who survived the attack know nothing of the Nekomata activity in the city, all they saw, was a group of strangers throw a bomb into a crowd. The Queen's cabinet are in an uproar, many are saying we should throw you from our lands, or worse…"
Alisson tightened his fist. "We stayed with the victims in the aftermath, gave them succor, and we dispatched the attacker in the immediate aftermath, we were the first to raise the alarm bells and yet you blame this on us?"
"An elaborate show, and a way to silence the sacrificer; they would argue."
Alisson tilted his head with dark eyes at Tsuhara. "One might think there is a plot to put the blame of this incident on us to create tension and further the separatist cause."
Tsuhara's eye twitched. "A man was murdered on streets of our city; people saw this and thought that a hurricane had torn some poor citizen to pieces! Do you know how much of a mess Celis made? A corpse in the downtown district! Just lying there!"
Alisson smirked. "Celis is a fine hunting dog. She would never let prey escape her."
Tsuhara blew a burst of air through her nostrils. "Your dog she may be, but that makes you responsible for her actions all the same…Look…" Tsuhara brought her head down. "I was just told to bring you here and talk. I don't want to think you carried that out…There are many in the cabinet that wouldn't put it past Sidonians to attack their allies in order to make themselves look better…They would take anything to mean that you're hiding something from us." Tsuhara locked her eyes with Alisson. "For the sake of my people I have a duty to heed their concerns and place you under doubt."
She was just told to bring Alisson here and talk. Is that so? Alisson closed his eyes. He felt a feeling building at his back.
"I understand we all have things we must fight for, loyalties we must uphold and commanders we listen to. The Kitsune's reluctance in allowing me an audience with Queen Tsuhagara have given me little reason to trust your government or people; What if that attack was orchestrated by the separatists to make the loyalists look worse in their support of Sidonia?"
"The ones complaining are in themselves separatists, Alisson! It's not like them to plan an attack that they purposely get so heated about; their rage is genuine, they want to help the nation as much as the loyalists, they just think there's a better way to go about it; The Queen thinks as much."
Alisson piqued an eyebrow. "You have separatists in the Queen's close council?"
Tsuhara sighed angrily. "Yes, Alisson! We do things democratically here, unlike in Sidonia! With words and diplomacy and not with blood and inquisition! Knowing Sidonia, you would round up all of the separatists in that cabinet, kill them, and declare victory – That's not how the Queen sees it. She thinks that the movement is of the people's origins, and as such killing the politicians are only going to anger the populace, she wants to reach a compromise or sway their minds…" Tsuhara glared at Alisson from beneath her bangs. "But I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"You're conflating me for a stereotype. You know I'm better than that, Tsuhara – "
Tsuhara shook her head angrily. "I don't know you at all! You think just because I've heard of you in the news and that we've shared a couple baths mean that I owe you or something!? That I trust you!? You're one of the top-dogs in Sidonia; You're responsible for the stigma as much as anyone else is!"
Alisson fell silent for a moment. "…I see."
He looked at Tsuhara with pity. It was a shame to see a close friend be warped by doubt and conspiracy. Alisson mentally prepared himself to face the fact that he might never speak with Tsuhara as a friend again. She must have had a rough day at the Queen's palace. They must have wanted blood.
On the thought of blood, Alisson could feel a certain bloodlust building behind him. Some kind of growing force; it was the kind of gut feeling he'd had before a beast would pounce at him in Freigat.
From what he'd seen of Tsuhara, making a further effort to talk was going to get him nowhere, so he didn't say anything else.
Tsuhara took a small sip of tea. Alisson eyed the door behind him out of the corner of his vision.
"…I'm sorry Alisson. For what it's worth…I didn't want it to come to this."
Alisson stood out of his chair and unhooked the folding blade that had been resting under his cloak. With a swift motion it unfurled, and he held it at his backside, just in time.
A slash of light came from the door behind Alisson, cutting the wall in two, horizontally. The wave of light crashed against his blade, and he buckled. It had been aimed directly at his neck. The force of the attack sent him off his feet and against the wall opposite the door. He crashed through it; either his body breaking through the wall, or the surprise attack having broken through it as well.
He heard Tsuhara briefly call, "Alisson-!"
He landed on the streets before Tsuhara's residence. Or rather, whatever home she had been given to facilitate this meeting; As an Areni girl like herself was only to be useful as a canary, it seemed.
He jumped back raising the chunk of metal that constituted as his self-defense weapon. The moon had emerged in the time that he had spoken with Tsuhara, and illuminated the streets. He saw in his hands how his weapon had an abnormal bend in it – The blade had been one centimeter away from splitting in half and letting that first slash lop off Alisson's head.
Just what had power to cut through two walls and a finely crafted blade like this? It had been a horizontal slash, not a bomb.
He got his answer when a figure leapt from the destroyed building in the seconds thereafter. They stood up, across the road from Alisson, illuminated by the moonlight.
They wore a traditional white mask, made to resemble a fox's head, with flowing red lines across its surface. This obscured the person's face; but not the long red lochs of hair that flowed in the wind behind them; or the similarly colored fox ears atop their head; or the tails at their back. They wore armor befitting a Kitsune swordsman, a long robe and hakama adorned with plates of armor of protection across it. These were not metal like typical armor, but the Kitsune's unique style. Their attire was crimson and white in color.
They laid their hands on the weapon sheathed at their hip, and prepared to draw it, staring down Alisson.
Behind them, expanded nine tails.
Alisson couldn't have found a more conspicuous looking Kitsune if he tried. It was obvious who had struck him; The Crimson Swordsman. The ardent sword of the Queendom. Alisson glanced at their weapon. Or perhaps more aptly, the ardent katana. He didn't know exactly their position in society, whether they were a mercenary or some kind of chivalrous warrior, but that didn't matter.
Alisson sunk deep into his stance, resting his blade over his elbow. Alisson was familiar with Kitsune iajitsu, their quick draw techniques; But he'd never seen them in action before.
Just then Tsuhara leapt down from the building, flourishing between her fingers, wooden talisman. These Alisson knew to be imbued with a variety of deadly spells.
"I'm sorry, Alisson. Your execution was ordered by the Queen herself. If you give up, we'll make sure you don't feel any pain – The Kensei is skilled in decapitation." Tsuhara said, gritting her teeth, not in anger, but in pain.
Alisson's eyes lightened with realization. The Queen had ordered this. He loosened his stance and stood erect. "I understand now." His shoulders fell loosely.
"What!? Alisson, this isn't the time for this! She can cut you in half where you stand!" Tsuhara hissed.
He bobbed his head in understanding. "I'll set everything straight. I'm going to speak with Queen Tsuhagara."
"You think we'd just allow that!?" Tsuhara spat. "You just want to assassinate her!"
Alisson dropped his weapon onto the road. It wasn't very useful anymore anyways.
"I suppose the both of you would try to stop me in the matter." Alisson retorted and raised an arm up.
Luckily for him, another killing intent, another force, another whirlwind of pure power and rage had been building behind him for some time now. One that was fully equipped for combat.
He swiped his hand across the two of them. "Celis!"
Instantly, a flash of blue erupted into the two of them with an earsplitting cry.
Alisson couldn't make out too well what happened next, but he saw Tsuhara lifted by her collar and thrown into a nearby building as if she were a rag. A flurry of attacks left the 'Kensei', that was, the Crimson Swordsman, and Celis, in a cloud of dust, sparks, and magical explosions.
Alisson turned and began to dash away, toward the royal palace.
Keep them busy for me, Celis.
…
THEY DARE ATTACK ALISSON!? THEY DARE BETRAY HIS TRUST!? THESE DAMN FOXES WILL KNOW HELL!
I stared down the Crimson Swordsman at the other end of the road from me. They had been forced to evade my initial barrage. They took their hands off their sheathed blade, making apparent that they were going to try to go after Alisson.
I sheathed my stilettos, which were still simmering from the first magic attack I unleashed with them.
I drew the baselards mounted at my wrists, and charged forward at the Crimson Swordsman, letting out another howl of rage into the air from my lungs.
***