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In the middle of the hot summer night blooms a beautiful flower, the petals white as the snow and deep red on the outside. A scent sweet as almond and roses is coming from the dark garden where a beautiful white shining figure in a dark red Susohiki is standing in the moonlight. In the light of the day the flower is closed and so is the creature, closed behind the walls of the residence.
If there was a season Shin liked it was the summer. No snow, less rain and the nights aren’t cold. Yeah, of course, it was hot in the sun and the time of darkness was short, real darkness even more. But the heat wasn’t his problem while he was laying in the shadows on a roof taking a light nap.
Soon his freedom ended with some loud shouting from the building under him. It was a tailors shop and on such a busy day people were getting in and out a lot. The ninja sneaked inside the construction of the roof to find the reason of the shouting. It wasn’t like he really cared, just, he woke up anyway, so why not finding out what’s the matter of all this. Down in the shop was an old man wearing a simple Kimono with the shelfs tied up, obviously the tailor. Then there was a little guy, frightening in the claws of another guy, taller, simple but well dressed. Shin recognized the taller one as a doctor he sometimes visited for Ryuma. Taro was his name, he helped the police with examining the corpse if necessary. The little one in his grip seemed to be an attendant in someone’s service. He was holding a paper with numbers and some words in his hands. “I don’t know anything about this person!” He tried to speak up. “My master only gave me this paper with the measures and told me to order a Susohiki!” “So you know there is someone with him but never saw this person? Tell me where your master is staying while being in this city!” Taro didn’t scream anymore but his deep voice seemed to frighten the other one even more. “I..in the inn at the hill. But only for a few days, if the Susohiki is finished we will boarding a ship.” While the tailor watched the short guy hitting the ground butt first Taro was already leaving the store. “Ah, I think someone will get himself in trouble now.” Shin whispered to himself while leaving through the roof like he entered the store. The ninja then went to the small building Ryuma was living in. After making sure Ami was gone he appeared behind his friend and spoke calmly. “ This doctor of yours is doing something stupid at the moment.”
~~~~~
It was Ryumas free day, the first in a while, but after listening to Shins short story he was now on his way to the police station. He arrived just in time to witness a whole troop trying to get Taro into the building. “Guys, guys calm down a bit, what’s the matter here?” “He caused a hug ruckus at the inn up the hill! We had to drag him down here and wanted to lock him up now till he calms down.” “Let me speak with him, alone.” Ryuma said while waving his hand in the air. He cut though the bunch of policemen and took Tora softly by the arm. “Come with me my friend. We’ll use the room at the far end of the second floor.” The last part was loud enough to been heard from everyone. With Taro following him silently Ryuma entered the building and got to a room with a large window front to the backyard. He closed the door and opened the window wide. „Do you want me to escape through this window?” Taro asked sarcastic. Ryuma turned back to the doctor. “No, I opened it for someone else.” And like he was calling him Shin entered silently behind the policeman. Taros face froze in shock seeing the black dressed ninja behind his friend. “Taro, don’t be afraid, he's a good friend of mine and we want to help you! Tell us what happened at the tailor and what you were looking for at the inn.” With a huge sigh the tall man sat down at the table and began to tell his story.
"Doctor, doctor!" A young girl came running up to me calling even from afar. "Advisor Iwakura is looking for you again!" "This person again…" I got called to him quite often these days. But never for himself. Every time i was brought to a sparely light room with a child living in. I never saw much of them. Only the injured parts of the small body. "Hey little white flower, how did you get such injuries every time?" It never answered me or spoke a word in general. Not even a whimper got over their lips. "Poor child, you can talk to me, i want to help you!" It has bruises and scratches on a snow white skin, the limps mostly but at the end also on the torso and the neck, in sharp of fingers like it got choked.
Because the child was very young and i never saw their face or privates i can't even say if it was a girl or a boy. I cared for the injuries and also tried to speak with the advisor Iwakura about it but in the end they chased me away. I was young and the war also started. So i got lost between injured soldiers and Iwakura fled from the city.
Taro sigh heavily and took his head in his hands. He looked at Ryuma. "I never had him let getting away with it. I regret it till now. So as i heard the servant at the tailor talking about a Susohiki for a small person in Iwakuras household i immediately thought of this child. So i went to see for myself if this bastard still keeps it around."
The inn on the hill is the best place to stay in this town, if you have enough money for it. Surely that's not Iwakuras problem. So i wasn't surprised to find out he rented the whole place. I got through to him easily and asked straight after the child from back then. "Oh, you're the doctor i called for them every time i got too excited, i remember." he snickered. "Yes, it's finally old enough to start the real fun, so i thought of dressing it up a bit. You wouldn't think how nice such a dark colored Susohiki looks on this white skin!"
"I snapped and that's the reason I'm here now." The tall guy was now almost lying on the table and looked up at Ryuma. "So this Iwakura kept this child imprisoned for all this years and it's to fear his behavior towards it only got worse with the peak coming soon." Ryuma summarized it. "On top of that he'll leaving the country soon." Shin added. Taro looked up in surprise. "Yeah, i almost forgot about that, the servant said so at the tailor!" Ryuma got up. "So we need to act fast! Taro can you tell Shin everything you know about this inn and the people staying there? I'll go and talk to the commander."
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