"Darn, where did he go?" Hira muttered under her breath as she circled the outskirts of Edo, the city closest to Kosennoki and Shirai territory. She was sent to seek out the second shrine priest of the clan - Asahi Keisuke. He was known to disappear for days at a time - prompting vague annoyance from the shogun and Tadayuki. The female mouse sat down with a defeated sigh, but what she sat down on was a set of old stone stairs. They were surrounded by torii gates, tightly upon each other, and rising steeply upwards. Hira was tipped off about the local shrine. She didn't doubt that Keisuke would be there, because if he wasn't, she'd have to go back empty-pawed. This was the problem with Keisuke.

He was an outstanding shrine priest and onmyoji, but he was a terrible recluse. The white mouse hated talking about anything that wasn't in his line of work, which usually complicated communications more than necessary. Natsume didn't like that and usually sent the grey-furred miko to handle him. They did the same things, after all.
Resting for a few minutes, Hira rose to her paws ad began climbing the staircase. The sandals she wore clapped lightly against the cracked rock, overgrown with moss here and there. Small lanterns were set out along the sides, glimmering faintly among the red torii gates. Here, one could feel the threshold between the mortal and spirit worlds. An uncanny feeling, like walking submerged in something immaterial. Hira's sixth sense gave her no peace here, and she swore to always sense either a ghost or some other kind of yokai.



The stairs seemed never-ending, shrouded in red both from gates and maple trees. However, the grey-furred mouse finally reached her destination. A moderately large shrine, somewhat run-down but showing signs of care through the flaking paint and partially rotten wood. The uncanny feeling grew as Hira continued forward. She figured there was no use looking around the shrine - if there was anything behind it she'd just walk straight through. Well inside, a distinct stench filled her sensitive nose. Yeah, this place definitely wasn't tended to all too well. The better question was why, as she had passed a pretty fresh-looking donation box on her way in. This whole place felt shady.

Stopping now wasn't really an option, though. The female mouse was going to find Keisuke, or the shogun would be disappointed. Natsume wasn't terrible when disappointed, but the clan liked her better happy either way. Hira stepped over creaky floorboards and passed various effigies of the Shaman Goddess, in front of which were small offerings of rice and the occasional incense stick placed in a pot.
Beyond the biggest statue was a screen door. Hira's guess was right, there was an area either behind or inside of the actual shrine building. She carefully stepped over, making sure to not knock anything over with her tail. Not that there was awfully much to tip over in the back, but you never knew who the shrine's arbiter could be. She slid open the screen door. It had yellowed parchment inbetween the wood.



What greeted her dark eyes was a pleasant scene consisting of a small zen garden accompanied by a koi pond. It was pretty silent in the inner garden. Bonsai-sized plants dotted it, but a mouse took away Hira's attention. Yes, she'd found him.
Tall, dark hair tied into a small ponytail, and contrasting, pale fur that blended in with his outfit. Twined red rope hung and kept the onmyoji robes together, and Hira swore she saw some exorcism slips rolled up in there. Well, it didn't matter.

"Keisuke!" the grey-furred mouse usually referred to him with the -san honorific. She didn't know the older shrine priest too well. Hira bent down and slapped her paws on her knees, breathing in and out. "I've been all around looking for you!" There wasn't much response from the bright-furred Keisuke, besides a simple eyebrow raise. "Th... The shogun wants you for something." Hira gulped for air inbetween words. Her stamina was less than good.

"What does she want?" the other onmyoji's cool voice rolled across like water. He always kept this tone. Rigid, cool and ridicilously calm. Nobody was quite sure about how he pulled this off.

"I- I don't know, she didn't say. Um, but I guess it's important since she didn't." Hira straightened her back and exhaled, finally catching her breath. "You might wanna head back." She fiddled a little with the red kanzashi in her hair, readjusting it from the sprint up the stone stairs. Keisuke was still quiet about it, before leaving his spot next to the pond. Hira guessed he was maybe feeding the koi. Largely without notice, the white-furred mouse brushed past the miko and began navigating through the vaguely rotting shrine. Hira quickly followed, but struggled to fall into step with her taller clanmate. The cons of being short were many, oh so many. They shuffled down the cracked stone steps, Keisuke first and Hira stumbling after him. The sun was ready to set in its last hours of day and painted the vicinity in orange and red.

---

But no matter how late, briefing had to be done. The two onmyoji mice arrived shortly after the sun disappeared and the night's solid blanket set in over Edo and the surrounding castles. The Kosennoki were still awake and the castle was strangely lively, with the nightingale floors chirping when mice ran over them. A testament to Oki's good work in security. Hira had disconnected herself from Keisuke to visit her ninja friend, while the male onmyoji set for Natsume's study.

Behind the paper screen sat the shogun and her closest advisor, Tadayuki. The old mouse wore all black, save for his mask and belt, which were yellow and red. The mask was very foreign, actually. Some speculated it hailed from China, but nobody was sure where Tadayuki got it from or why he wore it. Without the draconic effigy, he would've blended in with the shadows all too well. Him and Natsume sat across from each other, a tray of tea and mochi between them. Keisuke slid his paws out of his sandals before entering the room. Natsume's ears perked up.

"There you are, finally. What do you even do while you're away for so long?"

"Meditate," was Keisuke's stern answer. Natsume struggled not to roll her eyes while Tadayuki at least felt expressionless.

"Sit down. What we got sounds like a job for you." The albino mouse patted a free spot on the futon as a signal for the pale onmyoji to sit down. "We suspect the Shirai might be attempting to consort with yokai. I want you to dress inconspicuosly and spend as much time in their vicinity as you can. Your sixth sense should pick something up." Natsume finished the briefing by taking a sip from the delicate green cup her paws were clutching.

"With all due respect, shogun, you could've sent Suzumura." Keisuke didn't seem to be particularly amused by the idea of having to hang around the Shirai clan. They were infamous for being... quite vicious
"You've been seen the least. It's unlikely they'll know you're with us." Natsume swatted the onmyoji's complaint away. "Different robes every day, and the risk is even lower." A frail silence settled in over the three mice. Suddenly, the bugeisha cracked a grin. "You can borrow. I'm sure some workman of ours will be willing to let you costume for a day."
"We also recieved reports of a mouse in a bright blue kimono being a part of the Shirai." Tadayuki finally spoke up. His voice was deep, holding decades worth of wisdom and potential traumatic experience. "Kameyama didn't pick up her name, but she wears a butterfly kanzashi." He folded his dark paws in his lap. "Investigate her if you can."

Keisuke left after Natsume muttered 'dismissed' under her breath before biting into a piece of sesame mochi. Why'd he always get these stupid jobs? Recon wasn't particularly his strong point. That was Oki's suite! Though, somewhere deep inside he was fairly convinced it was the dragon-masked mouse coming up with all of these crazy ideas. Tadayuki was a great strategist, but an equally great eccentric. Only the shogun seemed to know what the old mouse was thinking.

---

So his job had begun. But three days in and no results. Keisuke was growing weary of it. Sitting around tea parlors, tagging Shirai members around, all without progress. No trace of yokai. But on the fourth day, it happened.

The mouse in the blue kimono! That's what the onmyoji saw. Tadayuki's brief description of the girl had been spot on. She wore tall geta, lifting the hemline of her midnight blue kimono way above the ground. Purples decorated the inner layers. A bright butterfly kanzashi in what looked like gold and rested in her black hair. For some reason, despite looking nearly like a maiko, the female mouse's hair was braided. But Keisuke didn't dwell on that. There was a strange aura around her. She moved with reservation, surrounded by Shirai grunts. There was definitely something mystifying about the way she kept all the hems and insides of her kimono tucked away. Like she was hiding something.
Keisuke had to mentally thank the tall geta sandals. They had nearly made the girl trip, which further progressed the mission. One of the grunts went to catch her - calling out her name in the process. Himura. Himura? That has to be a surname, the white-furred mouse thought as he got up from his seat and left the scene.

Natsume and Tadayuki had been pleased with today's results. Though, the name Himura didn't sound familiar at all. Natsume said she'd look into it with city authorities and their records. However, Keisuke still couldn't shake off the uncanny aura he felt around the female mouse. It's like she was out of this world. A yokai, perhaps? No, no, you're getting ahead of yourself now, Keisuke. You're definitely getting ahead of yourself.
The Kosennoki shogun and her subordinates went to sleep only somewhat calmly that night, knowing Shirai had some strange contacts and henchmice. The news had been brought by Oki, who fell dead asleep shortly after delivering the word to Natsume.

Tadayuki found traces of strange powder on the dual-colored mouse.

"That's way too many mice named Himura." Natsume crossed her arms in annoyance. "Way too many. There's no way Kameyama and Nakamura can cover them all!" the albino shogun sighed and looked over the pretty extensive list of mice with the surname 'Himura'. Tadayuki was in the room with the white mouse, as usual, staring at the parchment through his mask's glassy eyes.

"We should find out which of the Himuras have ties with Shirai." the elder calmly crossed his paws in his lap. "Only investigate them in detail." Natsume looked a tad puzzled, thinking over the suggestion. Her thinking went on for a weirdly long time. A good three minutes later, she slowly nodded and grabbed a blank parchment. Throwing down some inky lines with an aged brush, the held up the parchment to show Tadayuki.

"Let's copy the list and cross out the ones that don't have anything with Shirai to do as we work through it. I know it's a little unsafe to keep records as they might try to steal this, but I trust you'll keep it locked away?" She glanced at the masked advisor. Tadayuki only nodded and accepted the parchment.
Time to pass it on to the scribes.



Oki and Akira were borderline thrilled to get a new assignment, but their spirits dwindled into an endless abyss as Natsume delivered more investigation. At least, Oki's did at first. Akira was a spy after all, this was her job. The duo was handed the extensive list of mice named Himura, then were told to start planning.

"Start planning, start planning." the ninja scoffed and sat down on a futon with the long parchment. He was sifting through it, mumbling with discontent. Akira's ears spiced up.

"What did you say?"

"Huh? I said why do we need to go through this entire list if we know what the target looks like." Oki looked somewhat confused at the indescribable expression on Akira's fair-furred face. "What about it?"

"We don't have to go through this whole list! Since we know what she looks like, we can simply do enough spying work to find out her name. For all we know, the Himura we're looking for might not even be on the records!" The maiko spy slammed her paws down on the low, wooden table. "Yes. Yes, this is good." She was taking incredible caution to keep her billowing, embroidered sleeves out of an ink pot.

"Nakamura, we'd be disobeying orders then." The ninja looked at his spy companion with caution. Young and reckless, he supposed.

"Not really. We were told to plan by ourselves - so we aren't exactly breaking the rules." Akira retorted with an elegant smile on her face, still fitting into the somewhat fake role of a maiko.

"Alright then, genius. Any idea where to start looking? Circling the Shirai castle would be difficult because they might notice us." The dual-colored mouse was puzzled now, rubbing his chin with his gloved paw. This was a conundrum.

"My parents served the Shirai." Akira suddenly looked up at her elder within the field. "That's why a Kosennoki assassin killed them."

"And then you swapped sides? Well, I don't suppose it matters. You do know the Shirai castle pretty well from what I've seen..." Oki trailed off. "Okay, but assuming you infiltrate the castle and act as an inside spy, wouldn't they figure you out? You've been there before, I doubt they don't recognize you."

"I'll throw together a disguise. What about you?" Akira glanced at the ninja, who was fiddling with his veiled hat.

"I'll circle the perimeter and maybe actually look into some mice one the list. And I will also keep an eye on you to get you out of trouble if that was to be necessary." Oki would've laughed in any other setting, but this time he was genuinely concerned for Akira's safety. She was young and despite growing up with the arts of assassination, only time could bring certain skills.





Akira spent the rest of the week preparing for her infiltration. Her and Oki had debated on whether to relay their plan to the shogun and Tadayuki, but decided against it. They knew Natsume would shoot holes in the plan if they ever spoke of it. Snow fell, trees rustled and winter was approaching faster now. Mice wore geta and carried umbrellas everywhere to keep the snow off of themselves. The pink-furred would-be maiko spent plenty of times in tailor shops, trying on and collecting various kimono for her disguise. They were pink, white, blue, green, embroidered with koi fish, flowers or the occasional depiction of a shaman. The female mouse considered getting a wig, but decided it would hinder her. A borderline excessive amount of powder on Akira's face would hide the tint of her fur, too. Oki told her she would have to get rid of that tail bowknot of hers, but Akira refused. They had a fairly heated argument about it, but in the end the ninja gave up. Bending a woman's will was absolutely impossible.

It seemed that everybody in the Kosennoki clan had eventually gotten wind of this elaborate scheme except Natsume and Tadayuki. How that was possible, no one was sure. Hira marvelled over Akira's masterfully put-together disguises and even the normally cold and stiff Keisuke had something nicer-than-usual to say. The day of Akira's trip was drawing near and the mouse was as excited as she was worried. All that could go wrong would go wrong - but she assured herself nothing would go wrong. Oki had helped her fabricate a believable story of being hired as a performer for the castle. To do this they had to sweep a poor mouse soul out of the way by poisoning the girl into sickness, but morals came second.



Akira was drawing closer to the Shirai castle's gates. It was mostly as she remembered it when she lived on the territory with her parents - albeit with fresh paint. Guards wearing blue haori with a familiar crest patrolled around and seemed to be at constant attention. Had something happened? The female mouse did her best not to trouble herself with unnecessary thoughts. Being cool and collected was important here. As a joke, Akira was sure Keisuke would've pulled it off, but something in the back of her head told her he was too stiff.

The entrance was gallant. The Kosennoki spy slunk inside the castle grounds and was escorted by a group of three guards. Apparently, they told her, due to increasured security all new staff had to be brought straight to the shogun to confirm they were indeed the correct mouse that was being hired. Akira was convinced of her and Oki's plan being waterproof, though. They'd tested the maiko story several times and blocked off any loopholes they could think of. As Akira was sunken into thought, she had passed through the doors to the actual castle building. It was still grand inside, with luscious decoration, tapestries and even goods from foreign lands, all in blue. The two clans' obsession with their respective colors was abnormal and admirable at the same time. The female mouse noted the strange absense of vases.

At the stairs, a new group of guards had taken responsibility for Akira. She'd noted that several of them tried to stare and size her up, but that only meant the disguise was working. Anyhow, the spy had to lift her kimono hem as to not trip on it in the staircase. It was winding and seemed nearly endless, like it led out into oblivion. Oblivion would likely be Akira's destination if she was to mess it up on this mission. The shogun's floor was well-lit this time, with the setting sun filtering through round windows among screen doors. An uncanny feeling of mysticism hovered in the dusty air, thick enough to feel like jelly.
Akira's escorts knocked on an unremarkable door before it slid open to reveal the Shirai shogun's study. Here, the guards stayed outside and gestured for Akira to step in.

Warm light danced faintly around the walls stacked with scrolls. At a low desk, on a futon, sat the shogun. The fair pale mouse seemed to be dressed in his usual attire, consisting of dark blue kimono and a top layer with what looked like a scale pattern. A distinguished kitsune mask cupped the right side of his face, sitting atop raven hair.

"Good evening." Akira bowed and sat down in front of the wooden desk. As much as she despised the sheer concept of this, it had to be done.

"Good evening," the shogun replied, "I take it you're the maiko we sent after?" Though, in this light, the villain didn't look villainous at all. Akira simply nodded as a reply. "Very well, then. Your name?"

"Togawa Ina." That had been the alias the female spy chose. It wasn't a remarkable name, but easy to remember. It seemed like everybody had taken the bait for now.

"A warm welcome then, Ina." the white mouse smiled faintly and gestured to the guards outside. "They'll take you to your quarters to drop off your luggage. Do you mind joining us for dinner right away?"

"No, I do not mind." Akira nodded again and was evidently free to go. She rose from her spot, careful to hide her tail under the billowing kimono. Once again, the spy was escorted out by the guards and was sent a staircase lower. This floor was clearly bustling, more so than the one she just exited. Servants scuttled back and forth, but the guards cut through them like tofu.

Akira's temporary stay was spacious but sparsely decorated. The female mouse would despise having to sleep among Shirai banners and blue décor for as long as she had to, but at least the room had a nice view out over the castle garden. Her packed things were brought in shortly after, and a maid was now waiting outside to once again escort Akira to the dining hall. It would be difficult wandering around with all these stupid escorts, though. However, the would-be maiko is only here to get closer to the mysterious Himura mouse. That is, if she happens to be here. But she was surrounded by Shirai grunts according to Keisuke, so she had to be here. Right?



The pink-haired mouse's suspicions and hopes were confirmed as she was brought into a large dining room. There seemed to be plenty of important Shirai mice there, or at least those that weren't just grunts. There was a spot for Akira next to a grey and white mouse with braided hair. The spy felt good about wearing blue for once. She would be blending in. The female mouse looked fierce as the maiko sat down next to her, then glanced away as someone evidently punched her shoulder.

"Oh come on, Aya! Relax!" The voice that made the female mouse known as Aya cringe belonged to a certain assassin, Masamune. He pissed off a lot of mice and it was a wonder the shogun even kept him around, but he was good at his job.

"Shut it, scar-face." The black-haired mouse snapped at her clanmate. He simply laughed and shrugged.

"Angry as ever, I guess!" Then, Masamune proceeded to turn the other way and attempted a chat with another ninja - Hiroto. Unfortunately, Hiroto wasn't the brightest conversationalist and only nodded in response, that's if the scarred assassin was lucky. The resident archivist sat too far away from Masamune to be effectively bothered, but even so, the commotion in the hall was settling. The shogun had arrived - last, as usual, taking his spot at the head of the table. Right as he started speaking, Akira caught sight of the described kimono mouse. The butterfly in her hair glittered brilliantly in the lantern light, but she looked very quiet. That's our Himura, Akira thought and turned away. She would try this later.

An impression of the Shirai clan from the inside was a polar opposite of what you saw outside. They weren't much different from the Kosennoki in some way, being welcoming to their members with a distinct sense of brotherhood. There was a strange air around the shogun, though. Like a perpetual bloodlust. While it was certainly being drowned out by the general festive atmosphere of this small banquet, it still sipped through and poisoned this building. Some kind of evil presence. You didn't need a sixth sense for this.

Some time into the banquet, a band was brought in. Akira wasn't particularly surprised at where the Shirai spendings went. After all, they had the support of most simple mice citizens unlike her clan. But, posing as an entertainer, it was her job to be up on the stage too. For a moment, she was worrying about having to sing. But fortune smiled upon the pink-haired mouse - they only required a dancer. Shamisen and koto started playing, as a cue for Akira to start. Elegance wasn't something she had to worry about. A twist here, a swish of a sleeve there - and bewitching moves were pretty easy to string together.

The song rolled to an end and among the cheering mice you could hear an 'Encore!'. It was the scarred assassin from before, now with rosy cheeks. The first day had passed gallantly - if Akira continued like this she felt they may not let her leave, she jested to herself. But it was only a speculation. There was nothing desirable at being stuck inside an enemy's base. Tomorrow, she would try to talk to that Himura mouse.