| [Apr. 30th, 2014|05:03 am] |
There was a crib on one side of the nursery, and a small bed set just beneath the window. A little girl was tucked underneath the covers, breathing with the faintest rasp of a recovering cold. Her headboard had cherry blossoms carved into the varnished wood.
That was a thought Raidou really didn’t need.
He swept it aside and stood over the crib, deliberately trying to see Masaaki’s son as a collection of target points. Soft baby skull, fragile baby throat. Six months old. Even a civilian could handle that; all you needed to do was grab and shake. But there were cleaner ways.
From his kunai-holder, Raidou drew the single steel senbon he’d borrowed from Genma.
Before he could set the tip to pale, blue-veined skin, something flickered behind him. Raidou spun, swapping the senbon into his left hand and unsheathing his black sword.
The room was empty, cut across with moon-lit shadows.
The nanny was still slumped in her chair. He glanced at the corners, searching for anything out of the place. The door was half-open, the window still shut. The little girl—Tomoko, his brain helpfully supplied—snuffled and turned over, burrowing down beneath the covers.
Warily, he glanced back at the crib.
Which was empty.
The single blanket was neatly folded down, as if it had never been disturbed. The baby was gone. Raidou’s grip tightened on his sword hilt. He took a step to the left, eyes sweeping over the room again, senses extending. The side of his knee brushed the bedframe. He flicked the sword into his left hand, prepared to stab down and at least take out one target—
The bed was empty, too.
The covers lay flat and tidy, conscientiously pulled down to let the mattress air. There was no trace of the dark-haired little girl.
What the hell…
A hammer-blow between the shoulderblades knocked the breath out of him. He staggered one step forwards, felt something tear inside his chest, and stared down in shock as three feet of steel punched out through his sternum. A sword blade, streaked with blood.
“Hello, Konoha,” said a soft voice in his ear. |
|