She walked up to Ii – who by now, had stood up, but was still wearing a rather despondent expression – judging him to be the weakest. She grabbed him by the shoulders, as he visibly flinched. Having such a beautiful woman so close would pose a problem in itself, but his fear was more to do with the look on her face, and he judged pain to be near.
"Tell. Me. What. They. Mean."
She said slowly, enunciating each word perfectly, and clearly, so that he would have no excuses for giving her an answer other than the one she required.
He looked away, seeking support from the others. But no one came to his rescue. They left him to his fate. The irony was, if he squealed, he would receive their scorn, even though now they acted as though whatever happened did not concern him.
"We…"
He began, gulping deepily, struggling to look away from her piercing eyes. Having paused for too long, he received a prodding.
"'We'? Continue, or get hurt."
She threatened, grabbing his ear, as she slowly began to twist it.
"Owow… We… uhm… are very few."
He settled on, only to be kicked in the shin.
"Even I can see that. Answer the damn question."
She began to shake him by the shoulders, her anger flaring up.
"Ah… Rin, perhaps we should leave them to their secrets? It's probably to do with Tadakata, right? If they tell us, they'll get in trouble."
Akiko attempted to reason with her, disliking the sight of Ii being tortured.
"Hm… That's right isn't it…"
She loosened her grip on his shoulders, as though she was having second thoughts.
"Then they'll just have to decide whether they want to die now, or die later!"
With her hands returned to their previous position, she gripped him with vengeance, working her fingers into the nerves around the muscle, stabbing at the precious points, and sending him collapsing to his knees.
"Owww! Please stop..."
He pleaded, feeling rather depressed at all negative attention he was receiving.
"Shut up and answer the questions."
Even his friends did not step in to relieve him from Rin's cruel grasp, and he began to feel rather betrayed. She had picked her target expertly, and without knowing it, she was well into working her way under his skin – both mentally, and with her fingers nails that were gripping his shoulder rather tightly.
"Okay, I'll tell you. Screw you guys, alright!? This hurts too bad. I'd rather just have the boss look at me funny for a bit."
He decided. It hurt even more when the rest weren't even in the least bit surprised. But they did not protest. He would take the blame – they were merely spectators.
"Talk."
Rin released her grip slightly, but still affixed him with her piercing gaze.
"We robbed a guy, alright? Boss is done with the law, I guess. They're Imagawa's laws, anyway, so what do we care?"
She looked toward Rokkaku and Aritada.
"Is this what you meant? Is this what you thought we couldn't do?"
On her face was not the slightest bit of displeasure. She was neither shocked nor displeased with the sudden information, informing her that the brother she so respected and revered was the architect of a robbery.
Nor was that the case with Akiko.
"Aye… It is. Whoever steps in our way, we will tear them down. Innocent people will get hurt."
Rokkaku began.
"That's right. We are not angels of good, who seek only what is right. We seek revenge. Whatever happens along the way we will deal with as we please."
Aritada added.
"We do what we want."
Kitajo concluded.
The two women shared a glance. That was what they were so afraid to share? It seemed stupid to them. All they had cared about from the start was their friends, and their family. Masaatsu had fallen because of a man, and that man still drew breath. So had Nakatane. It was simply their goal to ensure revenge for their loved ones, and to support Gengyo to the end, so that they would not have to suffer the pain of not knowing what was happening on the battlefield, whilst they sat at home.
The women surprised them with what they had to say in response.
"So? You think we wouldn't be able to rob a man?"
"…It's not that, little Rin. We killed him in his sleep. And ya know what? Don't think any of us feel remorse. You ready to fight alongside people like?"
Morohira said, truly stabbing at the heart of the matter, unafraid of what anyone might think of him.
"I am ready to fight alongside my dad, and alongside my brother. I don't want to have to see one of you come home dead, without me being able to do something."
"And if you have to kill the innocent in order to do that?"
Sasaki prodded.
Akiko's face darkened at those words.
"There is no such thing as innocent. There is the weak, and there is the powerful. If someone does not have the means to protect themselves, they will be annihilated. That is simply how it is."
It was quite the harsh thing to come out of such an amiable young woman's mouth. But it was a consequence of the life she had lived. For years they had been tormented by Toda. And had it not been for Gengyo, then she likely would have become his toy. There would have been no one to rescue her.
People – at least, righteous people – chase power so that they can protect what is dear to them. She understood Gengyo's motives better than most, and had long suspected he was doing something underhanded because of his secrecy. As his lover, she had seen that darkness within him, and she accepted it wholeheartedly. He would work himself into the grave to protect the people he cared for, and to her, that was the mark of a strong, good man. Anything more polarised then that is either pure evil, or nothing more than a feeble rabbit, who does good simply because he is not capable of being bad.
"If you truly believe that, then I can't see why the boss wouldn't let you join. You're his family and all, but you're strong, and if you train with us you'll get stronger."
Togashi decided.
"It must be nice for you guys, because you get to know Tadakata's plans beforehand."
Rin mused, glad to have won their approval, but still a little worried about seeing her brothers reaction, as she went behind his back to do all this.
"Ah… Uhm…"
Rokkaku had opened his mouth to agree, but after thinking about the recent events, he wasn't so sure. The robbery, they had known something was going to happen, but had never actually known what it was until the moment they were setting out.
"Hm? Surely he doesn't keep it from you as well..?"
She pressed, slightly confused. They must have known, right? They carried out the missions with him after all.
"Ahaha…"
He laughed awkwardly, finding it hard to affirm what she said.
"Really..?"
"Yeah… Thinking about it now, I think he enjoys surprising us, rather than actually sharing the plans. Like the thing with the ship, and the robbery…"
Sasaki mused, thinking back.
"…I can't believe him. I thought it was only us he was keeping out of the picture. We need to go and tell him off, Akiko!"
"Haha… Calm down, Rin. I'm sure he has a reason…"
Even she was struggling to defend him at this point. Keeping the information from her was understandable – he had not wanted to burden her with the details. But not informing his trusted subordinates of his plans was going a little too far. Perhaps he actually enjoyed keeping them in the dark?
"Wait, what was that thing you said about a ship?"
Rin asked the big man, only just catching on to that bit of information.
"Ah, we went to Toyokawa with the money from the robbery, and he only told us that we were buying a ship the moment before he bought it."
He had no reservations about sharing that piece of information. They would be able to blame it all on Ii later anyway should any problems occur. Besides, he sort of agreed with what the girls were saying. It would be nice if the boss trusted them a little more, and didn't keep them so much in the dark about things.
"He bought a ship?"
She repeated, furrowing her brow. His thinking, as always, was impossible to keep up with. What on earth would he need with a ship?
"Yup. We're going to do us some piracy."
Morohira affirmed, grinning, appearing to be looking forward to it.
Rin massaged her temples. This was too much. They were kept in the dark about far too much, and her anger was beginning to boil.
"Where's Tadakata now?"
"Mmm… Where is he..?"
Rokkaku mused, looking around to see if there was anyone else who knew.
"He went to work on the ship with some men Jikouji brought back."
Togashi informed them, speaking for the first time in a while. He too agreed with the direction this conversation was proceeding in. He felt, if Gengyo learned to trust them a little more, then his plans might proceed faster than he expected, and he wouldn't need to do so many things himself.
"Okay! We're all going there, right now! He's got off the hook too long – he needs to be told off good and proper."
She announced, as she looked from person to person, daring them to protest.
"Ahaha! I love it when my kids fight."
Morohira giggled, nudging Rokkaku's side. He attempted to shook him a look of disgust, but at the last second his face crumbled, and he too burst out laughing. Morohira was such a ridiculous man, it was hard to keep a straight face around him.
"Rin… I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Won't he get angry if we interrupt his work?"
Akiko said meekly.
"Akiko! Stop being so worried about upsetting him. It's normal for couples to argue, isn't it? You have to tell him what you think, otherwise, you're going to be depressed for the rest of your life."
She opened her mouth to reply, but quickly closed it. There was nothing she could say in response to that, for her words were true. Though she dreaded voicing her discontent, for she knew how hard he was working, she still knew it to be necessary.
"Do you mean we're coming too?"
Ii asked, struggling to keep up with everything that was going on, as he chewed on a rather stubborn fingernail.
Rin palmed her face, exasperated.
"Obviously, dummy! And we're going straight away. Where's that smelly old man, Jikouji? I'm sure he wants to be coming to."
"He's back at the mansion. He said he's working through some things. Dunno if he'd want to come along for this."
Rokkaku explained, unsure whether he really wanted to come along himself. Even if they were being kept in the dark about plans and the like, he was still happy with Gengyo's leadership, and didn't want to risk upsetting him.
"We'll tell him to leave it. It can wait a day or two."
"Rin."
Akiko interrupted.
"Don't you have guard duty to attend to? Will it be okay leaving like this? And your mother too, will she be okay?"
Rin quickly waved her concerns aside.
"It'll be fine, I can just tell your maid, Shibata, to look after things whilst I'm gone. And mum's fine. She told me so today. She's getting stronger every day. She told me to pursue what I want to do, and don't worry about anything else, so that's what I'm doing."
"As long as you're sure…"
"I'm really sure! Surer than I've ever been. Now let's hurry up and set off. And you guys too! You need to show me where that brother of mine is hiding!"