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Shigenobu glanced over as the very tiny person in the slightly frayed finery approached the stall and was almost slapped by the merchant's stick. He even had the audacity to not apologize to the small man, who was quite clearly affluent enough to purchase the entire stall, awning and everything. The actual surprise came when the stranger offered to purchase not only a fine-looking haori and the hitatare that Shige had eyed himself. Sir, you do not have to do that. I am perfectly cap--.

If I sell my clothing to a beggar like him, then my reputation is ruined as a tailor! I would lose far more m--

He probably had more disparaging things to say about Shigenobu and his mismatched gifted clothing, but he was cut short (and coincidentally probably had his life saved) by a shrill scream coming from a few stalls further along. Shige's eyes followed where an incredibly sensually dressed woman was pointing, catching sight of a man running crossways through the market, clutching something to his chest. Yes, that would probably be the thief, then.

Shige sighed, a knife from his bandolier appearing in his hand almost as if by magic. As he moved to throw it (the man was only about twenty feet away but the distance was widening), his eyes were for some reason drawn back in the direction of that woman. There was just something about her. Something round, and firm, and just wanting to be slapped. Man, that was a nice ass. Before he even realized it, Shige's knife had taken flight, although his distraction had caused irreperable harm to his aim. It sailed just a touch low and to the right, catching the miscreant just above the right knee instead of just underneath the right arm as intended. Stupid, Shige, stupid stupid.

In theory the man could have gotten up and continued running, since the hit was far less than mortal, but he must not have been used to pain, as he was writhing in pain on the ground, the purse forgotten momentarily. A smirk crossed Shigenobu's bearded face as he began walking over to the injured man.

Fujishima Shigenobu walked slowly through the districts of the city, rubbing his poorly dressed shoulders with the shoulders of those who looked far above him in station. Shige smiled beneath his downturned hat. Nobody seemed to take note of him whatsoever, and (at least for the moment), he liked it that way. Perhaps he could haggle for lower prices.

Making his way to the market district, Shigenobu perused the stalls of the merchants, careful not to show too much interest in any one item as he walked. But one particular hitatare caught his eye and even Shigenobu could not hide his interest in it. The fabric was not of any very high quality, but the colors were magnificent, deep green with azure trim. The pattern was that of concentric diamonds, which wasn't too far from Shigenobu's own family mon of three concentric pyramids. All in all, it was nice enough, and certainly better than the dusty rags that he was currently wearing.

How much? The man running the stall ignored his query, bouncing a long stick against his foot and watching the other people of the city go about their own business.

I asked, how... much... The man eyed him but made a shooing motion with the stick and his free hand. Go, go! I don't sell these wonders to freaky-looking beggars!

Fre-freaky?! Beggar?! Shigenobu loosened his sash ever so slightly to allow him free access to the knives in his bandolier. Traffic or not, things might be about to get pretty bad for this merchant. If anyone was going to be arrogant in this situation, it was going to be Shigenobu.

Ooooh, a fight club. Now that, Fujishima could get behind. A bunch of suckers putting money on the table to see how badly they would fail at knocking him out. The wooden-slat walls of the pit were old but sturdy, with many a dark patch adorning them. Clearly quite a few "someones" had failed to keep all of their fluids inside. He stripped down to just a pair of hakama, his lithe physique actually rather small compared to his first challenger, a big man with a bald head who towered over Shige by a good six inches and probably outweighed him by 50 pounds. The big man rolled his head around to stretch his neck, grinning behind parted lips that displayed his several missing teeth. Even his nose looked to have been broken a few times. Arrogant bastard probably even thought he'd win.

Shige sighed and shook his head slightly as the big man lumbered forward to start the bout, some rousing cheers coming from the onlookers. Nimbly circling, unsurprisingly light on his feet, Shige just watched the big man move. Lumbering really was the best adjective, as he seemed hell-bent on simply overpowering his much smaller opponent. Big keg-shaped fists opened and closed, and that silly grin hadn't left the man's face yet. Shige had seen more than enough of this lout. Time to wipe the smile off his face. Shige backed himself closer to one of the walls, drawing the cue ball closer to him. And then the time was right; turning and taking a few quick steps, Shigenobu launched himself toward the wall, planted his foot, and used it to propel himself further up and back toward the big man. Spinning nimbly in the air, Shige brought his bare heel around to collide with the man's nose. A sickening crunch was heard even by the onlookers, and blood sprayed as the man's nose was broken yet again. He howled in pain and grabbed at his face, and Shigenobu landed and immediately took advantage, using the remnants of his momentum to sweep the leg. The big man went down hard and a hard palm swiftly followed, slamming into the already ruined nose. A crunch, a shriek, and the man stopped struggling, his breathing labored. Shige was sure he'd be fine as a couple burly guys came into the ring to retrieve the man. Or he might not be. Whatever. Round one was a rousing success and the onlookers had quieted slightly.

The next man to step out into the ring was much closer to Shige's own size, and given his obnoxiously long pre-fight routine of kicking and spinning and saying "hi-ya" a bunch, might actually have been on Shigenobu's level. Shige simply stretched out his shoulders while he waited, bored of it almost before it started. A high-pitched "heeeeeEEEEE" sounded the beginning of this round as Shige's opponent practically flew toward him at a dead sprint, and then actually flew toward him in a leaping kick. This time is was Shige's turn to grin, as leaving one's feet against an equally speedy opponent was in general a pretty terrible idea. The fighter may as well have been jumping in slow motion as Shige rolled forward under the kick. Both men regained their feet at the same time, each facing away from the other. Shigenobu aimed a low mule kick straight for the base of the man's spine at the same time he directed a high spinning roundhouse kick toward Shige's head. Sadly, a straight line usually beats a circle, and the same heel that had destroyed the bald man's nose snuck in under the outstretched leg of his opponent. The entire audience collectively gasped at the force of the blow. Even Shigenobu cringed at the damage, not having meant to hit the man there at all. There were some things a man just didn't do to another man, but at least that was two down now.

A thin sheen of sweat was forming on Shigenobu's body now, glistening dully in the bright candlelight of the club. The next man to enter had apparently been paying attention and instead of charging straight in, circled warily on light feet. This might just be trouble, not that Shige would have said as much out loud. The crows was also back into things now. Apparently this man was a local favorite. A good fifteen seconds of wary circling went on before Shigenobu's own arrogance got the better of him and he moved forward to strike. His opponent's gleeful grin matched Shige's own and the two exchanged blow after blow, parrying and countering, striking and dodging. Hits were landed by both men with fists and feet and shins until finally Shige brought his opponent low with a well-executed heel hook. He hopped backwards, knowing his opponent was not quite done yet, and true to form the man used his legs to spin back to his feet like a dancer. Both men now were breathing heavily, sweat pouring from wherever the dust of the arena wasn't already caked on. It was the man's turn to rush Shige this time, but Shigenobu was prepared. A quick crouch to coil his springs and then he pushed off hard and threw his head backwards, his leaping momentum bringing his feet up and over his body in a flash kick. The opponent had clearly underestimated how much gas Shigenobu had left in the tank, and the maneuver caught him completely by surprise, and both foot strikes caught him right beneath the chin. The force of the hits even hurt Shigenobu, and the man was out before he hit the floor. Three down and the crowd began booing and hurling things into the ring.

Shigenobu turned to them, arms wide in victory despite the ragged breathing. He yelled in triumph. Were these cretins not entertained? Were they upset that they were losing so much money to the small-framed challenger? Shigenobu laughed in their faces and spat at the nearest to show his contempt. He could take anybody these fools could throw at him! He was Shigenobu, and he was simply the best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever would be. He turned to face his newest opponent, a wide smile on his face. He was met only with the hardest fist he had ever felt. Shigenobu didn't even feel himself hitting the floor, and didn't wake up for nearly five minutes despite the use of smelling salts. By then, the crowd had already forgotten him and he was forced to gather his things and leave the arena in search of a shower. Three. He really needed to work on that.

Outwardly, Fujishima Shigenobu's reaction to the rather impressive displays was for his face to grow slack, lips parting slightly, and his eyes to widen into roughly saucer shapes, and he stopped in his tracks to watch the events unfold. Inwardly, he wanted nothing more than to control power such as this, and was furiously thinking about where it could be found. And then the strange boy with the white hair repeated his ritual before Shige himself. The blast from the flames was like a hammer blow, throwing sand in every direction and buffeting Shige's clothing. Thankfully, he at least had the foresight to close his mouth and lower his head so that the brim of the hat deflected most of it. 

When he heard the boy's voice, he raised his head and three blue eyes met. Whoa, that's weird. Shige could only imagine how this kid would've been treated in his home village. Even better than he had been, that would be for certain. Shige was the first to move, nodding in what would probably be interpreted as respect toward the elementalist. 

So it would seem. You have my.... thanks. Who are you, to command such awesome power? 

Well, that was forward. Shige brought some water up from the well and tasted it while the other spoke. Now that was refreshing.

Freya!! Plotz wif meeeez! 


Also, interested in setting up a Numa Castle run. I'll do it myself if I really have to, but I'd rather not, as I am squishy.

Egads! That's a man! Shigenobu was not about to apologize for the mistake, and the man did not seem particularly hard-pressed for one, so the matter was pushed aside as instructions were laid out. Barricades, eh? Simple, perhaps marginally effective, but as Shigenobu looked around at layout of the village and the number and skill of the defenders, well, they left much to be desired. Even the addition of the freakishly-named monster of a man and his cohort didn't seem like they would match up against anything more well-coordinated that horse rustlers. Sure, this guy seemed to have a mind for military matters, but from Shige's perspective, it didn't make sense not to at least provide an opposing viewpoint. After all, getting killed wouldn't help his reputation much at all.

Why battle openly? Use the city layout to offset the numbers. Traps.

Preference: Both :-P Barring that, Stalker ftw

Holy handgrenades, dude, these are legit. PM incoming :-D

Ugh, it was taking entirely too long to get to Shimotsuke village, even on this stupid horse. Shigenobu didn't mind the wind in his gorgeous locks or anything like that, but he certainly minded the stench of the giant animal. Just off the main roadway, however, there seemed to be a tiny village. Maybe he could stop and stretch his legs a bit there. He trotted over and dismounted with one (fairly) fluid motion, immediately feeling alllllll of the hurts that had been building up in his buttocks. An old crone, almost lost beneath a massive shawl, eyed him cautiously from the stoop of a nearby hut. Eyeing her right back, Shige walked over. Hello, old woman. I and my horse need some water. Where can we get it? The old woman's lips parted into a freakish approximation of a smile, though missing all but three teeth, and she pointed between a pair of huts behind Shigenobu to a well. Really? Shigenobu sighed. 

I have to get it myself? The old woman nodded. Well, why? Nobody else. Her S sounds whistled. Ugh. Well, why? Busy. With what? Not being here.

Shigenobu actually paid attention this time when he looked around the village. All around was silence and emptiness. It appeared very much as if every person had up and left, which given the reason he was passing through in the first place was a very likely story. The woman must have been left behind because.... well, any number of reasons that were slightly depressing to even think about, so Shigenobu wasn't about to start. Shaking his head and sighing dramatically, he went over to the well and looked down into it. Well, at least the water level wasn't too low. They had a fairly sturdy looking winch and bucket, so in went the bucket, and to the winch went Shigenobu. After about three turns on the handle, he was already starting to sweat. Nope, not the exertion, just the heat. Yes, that was it. He was Fujishima Shigenobu, and there was no way in hell that a bucket full of water was causing him issue. 

Fujishima or not, it still took nearly a minute to wheel the bucket up to where he could reach it to pull it over the lip of the well. There were a couple other buckets nearby, so he brought over a handful of them and poured the water into one. He repeated the process enough times to fill all the buckets, sweating more and more profusely and straining more and more with each one. Talk about noodle arms. When he had finally done all he cared to do, he set one bucket in front of his beast, another set aside for himself, and took the rest to the old woman. She simply smiled up at him, nodded, and closed her eyes. 

And didn't move. 

Oh gods, c'mon. Shigenobu just stared for almost a full minute before he slowly leaned in to poke the old woman, hoping against hope the one altruistic deed he had allotted himself for the month hadn't killed the old wench. His finger was within an inch of her weathered cheek when a mighty snore tore loose from her diminutive body, scaring Shige half to death himself. Wait, no. He wasn't scared at all. He had merely slipped on something... behind him... He left the old woman to her nappy time, drank half of the water in his bucket, poured the rest over his head and shoulders, and remounted the horse, trying all the while to ignore the snores coming from the woman. As soon as he was finished, he mounted up and tore off like a bat out of hell. Whatever that meant.

The old woman watched him through heavily lidded eyes, her raucous snores incredibly faked. Once he was out of the village once more, she smiled again. Well, that was certainly nice of that young man, she thought to herself. Although she laughed herself half to tears when she thought of how he had struggled with the well's winch. Getting to her feet and tossing her shawl lightly aside, she picked up the four buckets with surprising ease, two to a hand, and moved them into her hut. She might as well enjoy her third bath for the day.....

Shigenobu reflected on the circumstances that had led to his current predicament. Entirely too much sake at the tea house. An arrogant little gnat's prick of a noble. An apparent grudge against the Azai clan. An offer of a whole lot of money. Badda bing, badda boom, Shigenobu now crouched at the base of the outer bulwarks of Odani. Maybe if things went well, he might gain a little notoriety, boost the prestige a bit. Then again, maybe not. Time to focus on the task at hand.



He set a foot to the rough-hewn stone of the wall and began climbing. Hand over claw, foot after foot, the wall succumbed to his amorous advances, yielding itself to his prowess. More than the slowly fading influence of sake, this was intoxicating. He was finally getting to truly test the skills he had been training for years! The thrill of it gave Shigenobu chills. He continued picking his way carefully up the wall until he reached the nearest viewport he could reach. Sure, he could have climbed higher, perhaps gotten a better vantage point, but dammit, he was Fujishima! He didn't need to participate in any of that childish nonsense like "reconnoitering" or "having a plan". Babies had plans. They were called poop sacks and they were wrapped around their butts. Filthy children.



He shook his head once to clear it and reached up with his claw gauntlet to find purchase in the wooden frame of the viewport. Feeling the ends of the claws bite, Shige used the leverage to heave himself up and through the viewport, landing on his feet in some sort of storeroom. That noble had mumbled something about storerooms, he thought, but what it was he honestly could not say, having been far more interested in the sake. Couldn't have been terribly important. Shige's close-cut garb, mostly black with some rather avant-garde splashes of grey strewn through, made him feel almost invisible in the dappled shadows of night, but the storeroom was almost completely dark anyways so it was wasted here.



He could just make out the doorway and so moved towards it quietly, about to pull a throwing knife from his bandolier before recalling that he wasn't technically supposed to kill anybody. He sniffed indignantly. Of all the things for him not to do. There were a pair of muffled voices on the other side of the door, but they were receding rather quickly, so Shige carefully slid the door open far enough to peek out. In one direction, he could see a trio of guards walking away from him, in the other direction, nothing but an empty hallway. He didn't really know where he was going, but by the gods that wasn't going to stop him.



Making a quick decision, he turned away from the retreating guards and crept quickly and quietly down to the other end of the long hall. Along the wall to his left at fairly regular spacing, there were decorated fans hung, and Shige couldn't resist the urge to pause momentarily and shift one of the fans ever so slightly down and to the left. He laughed quietly and moved to glance around the corner. Further down the next corridor, he saw a pair of guards standing post outside of a doorway. Guttering candles flickered and cast indistinct light against the walls, and Shige could see that he was already at the room he was supposed to enter. That was almost too easy, he thought to himself. But then again, he couldn't kill these two chumps so that didn't leave a whole lot of easy options. He glanced around quickly and settled on up.



The ceiling of the hall was typical of the few castles he had visited ("fact finding missions" he had called them), wooden panels set into wooden slats. He hadn't really practiced exactly how to get them, but he had a pretty good idea that he could move about unseen if he did so. Now was a good time to learn. He took a quick two-step run-up to the wall, jumped and kicked off of it to gain some more height to the leap. At the same time, both hands shot up toward one of the panels. The claws impacted the panel with a dull thud, pushing it up from its seat just enough for his other hand to get a bit of a grip on the slats. He quickly brought the claws back to the wood and felt them bite, securing him a little better. Success! he thought to himself, elated. Of course, now he was hanging from a ceiling tile in the middle of a patrolled hallway just outside the bedroom of a very important man, but those were all just minor details, really.



Using the gauntlet to let himself hang, he reached up with his free hand and pushed the tile fully aside and heaved himself up into the ceiling. It was a maze of rafters and rice paper divisions up here, what a mess. But.... yes, it seemed to follow the layout of the floor below him, as far as he could tell. May the gods bless the laziness of castle designers. Shigenobu picked his way oh so carefully around the corner of the "hallway" and made his way as quietly as possible to where he thought he remembered the guards standing. He couldn't hear a damned thing up here, but he was fairly certain he was correct. It felt right. Pulling one of his knives from the bandolier, he expertly sliced a nice X in the rice paper and climbed through to the other side.

Choosing a panel a little further in, he moved it quietly aside and peered down into a..... closet, filled with boxes and clothing. Damn. Well, while he was here...... Hanging from the rafters by his claw gauntlet once more, he used his feet to shift some of the boxes around, and grabbed a rather elegant-looking folded kimono with his free hand, hauling it back up into the ceiling with him. With a couple quick movements from his knife, one of the sleeves was now about nine inches shorter than it had been. CHAOS! Refolding it, he tossed it back down to roughly the same place he had gotten it from and replaced the ceiling tile. 

Shige decided to try a little further down now, and cut his way through another bit of rice paper to the next section. He chose another panel and removed it. Looking down into this new area, success! Or close enough that he really didn't care. There was a man asleep in this room, and he vaguely fit the description Shige had received. And over against the near wall, there was even a rather ornate looking tanto in a display rack. Shige shrugged. Good enough. A cursory glance around revealed no other occupants, and against the far wall he could see the shadows of those two guards he had seen earlier, outlined by the candlelight against the thin walls. Suckers. 

Shigenobu dropped to the floor, a ghost amongst the living, a whisper in the darkness, a gentle night breeze in the...... night. He'd have to work on those. Slinking over to the display rack, Shige snatched up the tanto and secured it beneath his bandolier. Man, was he ever happy to have that thing. Now.... what else could he mess with? There wasn't really a whole lot here; it was a rather spartan room, all told. How dull. So instead, he decided to shift the man's slippers to the other side of his bed. Better than nothing. Gods, it would so simple to just run the blade across his throat..... This was just not a fun assignment at all. 

Oh well, it could always be worse. A sound to his right. The door to the room was sliding open, and there was a third shadow against the wall. Well, this wasn't good. Shige froze, knowing the gig was up. But instead, the door only opened halfway, and the third man was framed in the opening, back to Shige and apparently having a hushed argument with one of the door guards. No help for it now, thought Shige. Swift feet flew up the display rack and he soared up to the open ceiling panel, using the extra momentum to swing himself up into the ceiling right as the display rack crashed to the floor, spilling the rest of its contents as it did so. Half a dozen swords clattered across the room, and the man in bed sat bolt upright, staring with wide eyes directly at Shigenobu and the wide-open ceiling panel. 

But no, even that wasn't quite as it seemed, as the man pulled a sleep mask from his real, for more bleary and sleepy, eyes, and stared at the mess on the floor, then immediately looked at the open door, where all three guards were now staring into the room, jaws agape. Shigenobu hurriedly replaced the ceiling tile before he could actually be spotted and listened breathlessly, an almost manic grin on his face, as the formerly sleeping man berated the guards for being just soooooo clumsy and disturbing his restful sleep and don't they know how busy he is and they were going to replace anything that was broken and they had better clean up this mess right now and if they make another noise tonight he was going to hang them from the ramparts by their big toes. 

Smirking, Shigenobu retraced his steps as best he could back to the original hallway and cautiously lifted a ceiling tile to surreptitiously check if the coast was clear. Two more guards were having a discussion of some sort right in the center of the hall. Of course. How annoying. Shige moved through the rafters to get further down the hall. He wouldn't mind being closer to the storeroom anyways. He chose a likely panel and started to lift it for a better look when he immediately put it back down. Were those two stalking him?! They had chosen to stop directly below this panel too! And this panel was perfect. Right outside the storeroom door. And of course now the castle's designer had decided that he really wanted to put timbers up instead of rice paper. Shige grumbled some more to himself until those two stupid guards started walking again. As he heard their muffled conversation retreat further down the hall, Shige again shifted the tile and stuck his head down to get a better look...... only to immediately retreat and again move the panel back to its normal spot as the third guard in that patrol (how had he not remembered that?) came running down the hallway to rejoin his comrades from whatever he had just been doing. Shigenobu sat back on his heels and just waited, shaking his head. 

Soon enough, the hallway had cleared and Shigenobu dropped slowly and quietly back down to the floor, replacing the tile one last time. Finally he might be able to get out of this annoying castle and get his payment. Entering the storeroom and sliding the door closed behind him, Shige moved over to the window he had entered from and looked out. Oh hell. Going up had been no problem but damn did that look like a long way down from here. He looked out to the east as the blackness of the sky had begun to lighten almost imperceptibly. Oh goodie, he would have to hurry as well. The things Shigenobu was willing to do....

~~~

The climb down had been at least 20% more annoying than the climb up, but he was down now and hurrying from the castle before anything else bad happened. Of course, when he told his employer the story, he would leave out all of the annoyances. It wouldn't do to have anybody think things had gone off other than completely perfectly to plan. 

Once to the treeline below the castle, Shigenobu slowed to a light jog and headed toward the rendezvous point with his benefactor. It was nearly dawn by the time he got there, and the noble stirred from his sleep when gently nudged by what Shigenobu assumed was some sort of butler or something. Whatever, he was old. The noble stood and looked at Shige in irritation. About time, you miscreant. How long does it take you to retrieve a simple blade? Ugh, I knew I should have hired someone else to do this j-- 

The tirade was cut short as the hilt of the ornate tanto suddenly sprouted from the man's neck. If anyone was going to be arrogant and disdainful, it was going to be Fujishima Shigenobu, not this prick. The old man next to him just stared at his master, his jaw working open and shut but no sounds coming out. Well, no sense in leaving witnesses. A sharp movement of the arm sent the knife edge of Shigenobu's hand slamming into the old man's wrinkled throat. Now both men's eyes were wide as saucers as they each fell to the ground, dead before they hit. 

Shige searched both bodies, coming up completely empty. Bastard hadn't even intended to pay. Typical. One final swift kick to the former noble's hindquarters was the only further attention Shigenobu spared either of them before he turned to walk away. He needed better bosses.