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Blood in the Shadows [Sep. 4th, 2017|04:07 pm]
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[namiashi_raidou]
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[User Picture]From: [info]tousaki_ryouma
2017-09-04 11:19 pm (UTC)

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But Nomiya gave directions with evident relief. "My wife's visiting family. Barely know my way around the kitchen without her." His big hands clenched on his thighs. "Piss-poor timing for all of this."

"How long has she been away?" Genma asked sympathetically. "Does she know about what happened with the sake?"

Inada and Goto traded swift glances. Nomiya's jaw tightened. "Three weeks. She took the children. For the summer."

That might be true. The house certainly showed enough signs of neglect for a three-week absence: mud in the genkan, a crumpled jacket dropped in the corner, dust on the surface of a low chest against the wall. Nomiya wasn't any more used to cleaning up after himself than making tea or helping in the kitchen.

Ryouma wished they'd gotten the name of Suki's friend. They'd want to speak to her, when they were done here.

Raidou leaned forward, his hands loose on his thighs. "What do you think happened?" He watched Nomiya's flinch, and added smoothly, "To the sake."

"It had to be bandits," Goto said, his voice age-rasped but still strong. "They took every cask. Every single one." He shook his head. "My grandmother would have blamed a vengeful ghost."

"We get bandits in the mountains," Nomiya explained. "You ninja don't send enough people here to clean them out." He barely glanced up as Kurenai returned with tea, though she knelt gracefully to pass cups and pour. Nomiya wet his lips and set the cup aside.

"When the bandits come, is it usually the same group every time?" Genma was watching him intently.

Nomiya shrugged. "We don't stop to ask names. We just drive 'em off."

"The Higuma clan might have put them up to it, though," Goto added. His eyes followed Kurenai, almost idly, as she returned to kneel behind Raidou. "They control half the black-market trade in Frost Country." He clenched a fist. "My sake…"

"All of our sake," Inada said harshly, setting her teacup down. "The Fire Daimyou's sake." She looked directly at Raidou. "It disappeared overnight. Every cask in every warehouse."

"In one night?" Raidou sounded like he was trying to hide his disbelief, but not quite managing. "How much was that, exactly?"

"Thirty-five large casks," Goto said promptly, "twenty-three medium, and eighteen small, private reserve. From my brewery."

Inada gave him a dark look. She told Raidou, "Almost two hundred casks altogether. More than sixteen wagons' worth."

Sixteen wagons rumbling unheard through Tanigawa in the dead of night sounded even more unlikely than a vengeful ghost. Ryouma asked, "Do you have guards?"

"Not in the summer." Inada tapped her fingers on her knee. "Even bandits wouldn't bother stealing sake in the summer. It spoils too quickly in the heat. We guard it in the spring before the deliveries go out, and again in the fall, but in the summer there's only the village watch. And he swears he heard nothing all night."

"Fell asleep at his post," Nomiya muttered. "Again."

"What do you think happened?" Raidou asked Inada.

She drew a breath. "I think we're cursed."

Genma sharpened, setting his cup aside. "Why would you be cursed?"

Nomiya snorted. "Because her crazy mother's superstitious and Inada believes it. Ignore her."

Inada snapped, "Better crazy than soulless—"

"Oh, no. Let's not do this again," Goto said hastily, but Genma overrode him without raising his voice.

"What makes your mother think your village is cursed?"

Under his level gaze, Inada's weathered cheeks flushed. She picked up her tea again. "She says we've turned from the local deities. And so they've turned from us. I didn't say I believe it. But something took that sake, and it wasn't bandits."

There was a moment of silence. Raidou drained his tea. "Why don't you show us the breweries."