2026-10-23: Line Them Up Before Me
- Cutscene: Line Them Up Before Me
- Cast: Shiryuu Ryouhara, Hitoshi Ryouhara
- Where: Gengetsu Point, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
- OOC Date: 2026-10-23
- IC Date: Tuesday, January 29th 2013
- Summary: A cursed occurrence brings madness and darkness to the doorstep of the Ryouhara.
The underground room was dark, almost as dark as that cell, not too far away from here. The young man rested on the mats of the old room in seiza, knees folded and legs underneath him. Like many places where he claimed sanctum these days, the room was depressingly spartan, emblazoned only with the Ryouhara clan markings.
He could already feel the air chewing at his skin, that eye of his beginning to ache.
"Never forget. In this world, there are people who exist to be tools, and there are people who exist to use those tools. It doesn't matter who you are... only what use you are to the clan."
"Well... he would say that, wouldn't he? But, I don't know about all that. Poor boy. You don't have anyone that's important to you yet, so I suppose you won't understand."
The shihaisha's eyelids slivered open as the paper screen pistoned open, hard enough to shake the walls through the frame. On the other side was Hitoshi, one of the trackers from the expeditionary group. A younger boy, wearing the midnight blue shozoku of Ryouhara. He had an impressive understanding for one of the few younger Ryouhara in the clan, but his face was a mask of fear today.
"Shihaisha-sama! News from the overwatch! Multiple youkai have descended over Gengetsu!"
What use are you, if you can't protect even one person?
Are you not strong enough?
Impossible. You are the hundred hands of the night.
"....Kouzou," the grey-haired man asked without inflection, tilting his head only very slightly to acknowledge Hitoshi's presence. The boy nodded numbly. "Inconsolable... his behavior is erratic.. Rikuto-san is sedating him now!"
The young man didn't shift, his gaze returning to the tatami. "The seals and barriers have held?"
"Yes, but the anomaly is directly overhead... Shinzo-san believes it's only a matter of time before they breach our preparations and find the entrance!"
Do you not know enough?
Impossible. Your eyes are everywhere.
Then... it must be that you are ...
... not determined enough.
"...a red ribbon."
The grey-haired man's murmur left the boy with a confused, distressed look roaming across his face. "....shihaisha-sama?"
"If there is a single small youkai wearing a red ribbon on its leg among them... Bring it to me alive. Slay the rest."
The shihaisha's words left little room for misinterpretation, andthe idea of it terrified the boy. "But -- Shirogarasu-sama," Hitoshi objected, "they're not the same as men...! If even one is a true Shadow, not even a hundred ninja will ..!"
The man in the grey haori was unmoved, his expression dimming. "Since the time of Ikou," he began slowly. "And even in the darkest name of Shinmei, our eldest histories are writ in the blood of the oni. Did I raise up our clan only to find ninkougakusha that shy away from the sword...?"
The shihaisha's voice was calm, provocative, on the barest edge of derision.
"Contact Nahara. Summon O-Shinkun from the railyards. Rouse Shuuhei from the brothers' quarters. Summon Kiria from Aoba General. Summon Kurou from Kasugayama, and Kouhei from Shujin. Contact Korozen at his residence to prepare the execution corps' slaying ninkou, and have Rikuto coordinate with Kiyoyasu, to prepare for injuries."
With slow intention, he gathered the silk sleeve of his grey haori to the elbow, that he might lower his hand to the mats. "If a single beast crosses into our sacred space, I will take it as a personal affront to the name 'Ryouhara.'" The grey-haired man rested a finger on the tatami. "So." Illustratively, he drew an imaginary line in front of him.
"Bring me the bravest blades of Ryouhara ... and have them line up the heads of every youkai before me, that I may ask trash what they'll dream of in the afterlife."