"Minakaze-dono, the Ubume woman is gone. We cannot find her at all…"
A young boy, clad in the simple robes of a low-ranking shinobi, knelt trembling before Minakaze no Mai. Mai sat lazily atop the tilted roof of a weathered temple at the village outskirts, a white-bound book held loosely in his hand.
Without even turning to face the boy, Mai clicked his tongue. The sound was sharp, like a snapping twig.
"Tch… how useless."
He spat the words, dropping his book to glare down at the boy. "Are all the people of Naikii as pathetic as you?"
At these words, the young man kneeling clenched his fist as vines bulged.
….
"Oh, come now, Mai-dono. Why don't you cut them some slack?"
Mifune no Miyazaki appeared from the shadows, suddenly sitting atop the boy's back while he remained kneeling. "They are the dregs of Iga. It was your mistake to believe we could rely on them in the first place. We should have gone with Akutagawa as I suggested."
"Hhhhpt…" Mai sighed and raised his book up again.
"Maybe you are right!!!"
'Tch… they act so high and mighty for no reason,' the young boy muttered, his anger finally bubbling past his fear. 'If it weren't for the Elders, I would teach them a lesson right now for disrespecting our cla—"
Splat!
"Ah?!"
A heavy silence followed, broken only by the rhythmic dripping of blood hitting the wooden shingles.
"Mifune! What was that for?!" Mai's head tilted at an unnatural, predatory angle, his eyes narrowing into snake-like slits.
"Oh, about that…" Mifune didn't even look at Mai. Instead, he reached down and slowly twisted a jagged piece of wood he had driven through the boy's shoulder. The boy remained frozen, gasping in agony but not daring to move an inch while Mifune used him as a seat.
"You see, I felt a flicker of murderous intent from him just now," Mifune spoke, casually standing up and leaving the boy bleeding on the temple roof.
"How dare he leak bloodlust with me standing right here? I should have killed him myself, you know, for showing such a pathetic sight to our young master." Mifune plucked the wooden splinter from the boy's flesh and tossed it away with a bored flick of his wrist.
"Tch. You have grown even bolder, it seems," Mai scoffed.
"Why are you even here? Do you not have your own mission within the Academy walls?!" Mai asked, glancing down from the temple roof. Below, in the gathering dusk, he could see the other warriors setting up their campsite for the night, the small fires flickering like dying stars.
"Mmmmm, how can you be so cold to your number one retainer?"
A wide, unsettling grin split Mifune's face. His eyes were blown wide, gleaming with a frantic light as he continued to stab the young Shinobi boy over and over again with a concealed needle. He was practically drooling, his composure dissolving into a feverish trance.
"Mifune!!" Mai's voice rose, sharp and commanding.
"Ahhhhhh… mmmmh… I almost lost myself there," Mifune whispered. He wiped the spittle from his chin and turned back to Mai, his movements suddenly fluid and sane once more.
"Minamoto no Yorimitsu is not dead. You must be careful, he is heading this way even now."
"Ha?! How is that possible? I thought you said a Great Kotobuki was sent his way..."
"Mmmmm, yes, it is true. But that was merely a test, not the true calamity. It is only natural that such a thing would die if they all risked their lives together. I am certain he had to sacrifice many of his men to escape the slaughter…" Mifune spoke, his tone casual as he handed Mai a folded slip of paper.
"You must catch the Ubume before he does. If we secure her, the Gai clan will be forced to join our cause, and your reputation will grow tenfold." Mifune smirked, his eyes also drifting to the men below.
"Mmmm. I hear you. It is a drag that I cannot simply kill the thing, though..." Mai replied, his voice dripping with boredom.
"Yeah... I hear you. But the Gai spent too many resources cultivating that creature; they will not let such a precious asset go to waste." Mifune walked across the roof toward the very edge, his silhouette sharp against the moon.
"Young Master, I do hope to see you soon." Mifune stepped off the roof and dropped. Instead of hitting the ground with a thud, he vanished into the air before he even reached the shadows below.
"Tch. Miyazaki no Mifune... he has grown stronger than before." Mai watched the empty space where his retainer had been. "I must increase my own strength, or sooner or later, I will lose my grip on him as well."
Mai glanced back at the young Shinobi boy, who was still kneeling in a pool of his own blood.
"I will give you one last chance. The next time you do something so stupid, it will be your head. Now go and mend yourself."
The young boy didn't wait for a second command. He melted into the shadows of the temple eaves and vanished. Left alone, Mai finally opened the letter Mifune had given him.
"Ohhh... a tracking scroll from Father?"
Mai raised the paper. It looked like a map of the province, but in the centre, a thick, bloody dot pulsed and shifted positions across the parchment, twitching as if it were a living heart trapped in the ink.
"Tch... this is so frustrating. All the tools that should have been mine to play with are slowly shrinking, and it is all because of those damned Minamoto."
Mai's thoughts simmered with a cold, quiet rage. 'As soon as Father heard that Yorimitsu was going to attend the Academy, his whole demeanour shifted. He forced me to come to this subpar place, surrounded by those wretched commoners.'
He leapt from the temple roof, hitting the ground with a heavy, deliberate thud that sent dust swirling around his sandals. With a bored expression, he began making his way toward the campsite.
"Taisho… Taisho!"
Voices rose from every direction the moment he stepped into the light of the campfires. Warriors and servants scrambled toward him, each offering something: a silk cloth, a tray of food, or a freshly sharpened blade. They swarmed him like insects until a young woman with a bold, striking presence pushed through the crowd.
She reached out and pulled firmly on his arm, her eyes fixed on his.
"I have prepared a bath for you, Minakaze-dono. Why don't you come and wash away the dust of the road?"