At War With Me

[Kage]

The grey clouds loomed overhead, preventing even a drop of sunshine from falling upon the humble village. The small village, only a few days from Ueno, was enclosed in by a plaster and wooden nine foot wall. The houses were mostly made from wood and straw, however the largest building, was made out of a similar plaster and wood. In the middle of the village was a small bazaar where families often sold their goods. However, right now, the village was oddly quiet and undisturbed. Near the gate the sounds of shouts and cries were muffled by the pattering of rain against the straw and wood rooftops.

"Please!" A woman screamed. She was on her knees, her hands, arms and legs were soiled by the mud. Her black hair was stuck to her pale face as her dark brown eyes stared at her enemy. Her husband was on the ground, under the shoe of a particularly scraggly bandit. His blade was pressed against the man's throat and his eyes flickered with disgust. "Shut her up." He barked at one of his lackeys before shoving the blade into the man's throat. The life slipped from the older man's almond colored eyes and he made a few choking sounds. His wife broke into sobs, her entire body trembling.

The rest of the village's citizens sat in the mud, quietly awaiting their fate. There was a pile of four or five dead men only 15 feet or so from the people who were left. The bandit leader's men were gathered around the group, blades out ready to attack anyone who tried to run. "Anyone else?" The man bellowed at the group of people who huddled fearfully on the ground. "Anyone else want to join this man?" He growled, glancing around at the people of the small village. The man on the ground was still choking, struggling to hang onto his life.

"He's dying!" Some finally shouted. The person who had spoken out got up, moving towards the man. Her figure was indistinguishable under her black outer cloak and hood. As she moved towards the dying man, the leader threw his fist into her face, knocking her hood off. The woman stumbled backwards, her bare feet digging into the cold mud. She held her cheek, looking up at the bandit leader. Her sharp crimson eyes pierced him and the man faltered a bit, taken aback by her appearance. "Demon scum!" He spat at her.

The other bandits gasped and whispered, as well as a couple of the villagers. The woman stared at the bandit leader, before glancing down at the dying man. She started to move toward him again, slowly this time and the bandit leader scooted back. "Please, just let me help him," The woman asked. "I will not interfere with your business."

"As if I could trust a lying piece of trash like you, yōkai." The man retorted icily. "Kill her!" He barked at his men, but none of them moved. The woman ignored him, kneeling next to the dying man. She placed her hands on the bloody wound, staining her own white porcelain hands. Her hands glowed a dark blue color and the man's throat wound seemed to magically begin to heal. The skin stitched itself back together, as if the wound had never even been there. The man stared up at the yōkai fearfully as her hands returned his life to him.

"Fine I'll do it myself," The leader spat, before kicking the yōkai down into the mud. "What's your name demon bitch? I want to know what scum I'm ridding from our great lands." He said over the rain, as his boot weighed heavily on her neck.

"Kage." She breathed, staring up at him patiently.

[Uesugi Norimasa]

'Something isn't right here...' Kazuki was standing on the road just outside of the village. Having finished some odd-jobs in a neighboring village, had set out on the road again earlier this morning. But now he peered ahead of him from under his sedge hat, rain droplets falling from the brim. It seemed logical that most people would be indoors because of the weather, but something about the stillness felt off. But just then a woman's scream broke the silence.
Dropping his rucksack onto the muddy road, Kazuki darted forward. With a hand on the hilt of his sword, he quietly crept as quickly as he could without betraying his movements, toward where he thought the scream had came from. Glancing around as he passed, several of the doors on the houses seemed to have been forced, with at the least the entryways ransacked. As he drew closer to the center of the village, he began to hear voices, but their words were muffled by the rain. He entered the space between two of the buildings and stopped just short of the exit on the other side. Remaining in the shadow, he looked out and saw the huddled villagers, and the bandits around them. Then his eyes fell to the head of the group, where a woman was kneeling over a man on the ground. Her back was to him, so he was not able to see her face. But all the same, he could sense that she was working some kind of magic on the fallen man, and her voice was strangely familiar.
'Hmm...,' Glancing around, he noted the position of each bandit, then withdrew back into the alley. Circling around, he snuck up a different alleyway. One of the bandit's backs was directly facing its exit, and was easily within reach. On the outer edge of the market, Kazuki hoped this one was meant to be a lookout. With all the stealth he could muster, he extend his arms and slid a hand over the bandit's mouth, pulling him into the alley. Quickly he struck a nerve point on the other man's neck. The bandit gave a muffled grunt and his body went limp as he fell unconscious.
"My apologies," Kazuki muttered as he laid the man down on the ground. He crouched down, examining the man's appearance for a moment. "Disguise self...," Kazuki whispered, and his form wavered for a few seconds, taking on the grungy likeness of the bandit before him as it stabilized. His head snapped up as he heard a commotion from beyond the alleyway. Surreptitiously he stepped out and took the place the bandit was occupying. The woman was now on the ground, and he could see her face. He knew her, he realized with surprise. It was Kage.
"Uh!" He started to call out in his normal voice, but then faked a coughed. The spell was only an illusion, after all, and did not alter his perceived audible properties. Not knowing what the bandit sounded like, he took a guess and attempted to speak gruffly. "Boss! Boss!" He dashed forward, waving his arms as if in a panic, "I hear someone comin'! We should get out of here!" He was unsure where exactly he was going with this particular plan, simply making it up as he went. Pretending to stumble, he threw out his arms as if to catch himself and 'accidentally' shoved the lead bandit, in the hopes of pushing him back a bit, and away from Kage.

[Kage]

The bandit leader had just moved his blade towards Kage's neck, before the sound of someone shouting at him. The group of bandits, civilians and the leader all looked over almost in unison as the man shouted towards them. As the man stumbled towards the leader, he tried to sidestep out of the way, but Kazuki slammed into him before he could.

"Augh! Watch it!" The leader spat dangerously, as he stumbled sideways. "You need to get out of my way, I'm busy." He growled, pointing his blade at Kazuki. By that time, Kage had sat up, wiping mud off her face. The other bandits wearily watched, weapons trembling in their hands as the yōkai had sat up. The man she healed scrambled through the mud, moving next to his wife. Kage slowly got to her feet, staring at the bandit leader, who faltered slightly as her crimson eyes pierced him.

The yōkai slipped her hands in the sleeves over her kimono, watching the man patiently. "I told you, I don't want to interfere with your business. I won't fight you. You'll have to kill an unarmed woman," She explained gently, her voice soft. She glanced sideways at Kazuki, briefly looking him in the eyes. His aura seemed...familiar. But his face was not. Kage returned her attention to the bandit leader. His blade was pointed in her general direction now and his face had scrunched up in disgust.

The man glanced around at his crew, unaware of the misfit who didn't belong. "This village is mine now. For my first order of business as ruler, I shall slay this disgusting piece of trash!" He bellowed, before swinging his blade towards Kage.

[Uesugi Norimasa]

Kazuki jumped back, away from the sword, and bowed his hear with feigned obsequiousness. "A thousand pardons, boss. But I heard someone." He looked around, noticing that the other bandits were nervous. Maybe he could use that against them. He turned back as Kage began to speak, and met her brief gaze. Did she recognize him? No, not quite, or so he thought from the look in her eyes.

When the bandit leader raised his sword to strike her down, Kazuki leapt forward again, and latched on to the other man's sword arm in the blink of an eye, dragging it back down with his weight before it reached her. Getting this close, there was a chance the man might feel his way through the illusion, but so be it. He wasn't going to stand and watch Kage be slain.

"Baka! What are you doing?!" The leader shouted angrily, trying to extricate his arm from Kazuki's grasp, and nearly slipping in the mud. "Boooss, we gotta get out of here!" Kazuki cried, holding on for the ride, "We'll be cursed if you kill her! Look, look!" He nodded toward the buildings. From between them floated four ghostly orbs of light. Several of the bandits, and villagers, were taken aback by this. Even the bandit leader momentarily stopped pulling his arm from Kazuki and stared at the lights. They were another one of Kazuki's spells, of course, one that he hoped would frighten the bandits away.

[Kage]

Kage flinched when the bandit jumped in front of her, weighing down on the bandit leader's blade. She watched, mildly surprised that he had interrupted. Something about this man just didn't seem right, but she couldn't quite get it to roll off the tongue. Her red eyes gazed as the leader tried to rid himself of the menace who had interrupted him. The two nearly slipped in mud, stumbling away from her.

Just as the man defending her spoke, gesturing towards the lights that had suddenly appeared over the village. "But..I'm not.." Kage started to mumble, nearly inaudibly. Her eyes widened a fraction, as she stared at the orbs. Was this man doing this? To save her? Or was another spirit or yōkai lurking nearby? She couldn't feel anyone nearby. And she certainly wasn't doing this.

The leader glanced over at Kage. "Stupid bitch must be doing this!" He shouted, finally freeing his arm from Kazuki. "You're just a little rat gettin' in my way! Men get rid of this one! Can't be havin' an insubordinate." He spat at Kazuki, his own blade pointing at who he thought was one of his men. The few bandits still sided with their leader, were about to attack Kazuki however, suddenly a voice interrupted.

"HEY!" A man shouted as he ran out from the gate. He looked...just like the man who had stopped the leader. "THAT'S NOT ME! It's some sort of monster!" The bandit shouted, waving his hands around vigorously, trying to gather the attention of the bandits. "Quick stop him!"

Kage's red eyes snapped in the direction of the man shouting. This was beginning to be troublesome. There were too many innocents around. She held her position, but looking to the villagers. "Go! Leave here!" She said quickly, hoping they'd run while the bandits were distracted.

[Uesugi Norimasa]

It was not long before the orbs winked out, and the bandits had not fled. Unfortunately, the spell's duration was not very long. "Eep!" Kazuki hopped back again when the sword was pointed at him once more, feigning timidity. He glanced around at the nearby bandits as they drew closer. Just then a shout rang out. "Damn...," He sighed in his real voice, slowly turning his head to look, even though he already knew it was the man he was impersonating. The bandits halted, looking between the duplicates confusedly. Kazuki glanced at the villagers as Kage urged them to flee, hoping they would. "Argh, just kill them both then! I don't care!" The leader shouted suddenly, getting frustrated with the repeated interruptions.

"U-Uhh... No. No, wait a..." That real bandit took a step backward, looking rather apprehensive as a couple of his former comrades turned their blades toward him. It would seem that the bonds of loyalty were not very strong in this group. Kazuki sighed again. This wasn't going at all the way he had intended. "Hey! Over here!" He called loudly, his form wavering, revealing his true self as he dispelled the illusion. "I'm the imposter. So, come get me!" The real bandit turned and fled. His aggressors hesitated for a moment, then decided to let him go, turning their weapons back on Kazuki. Kazuki himself flashed a quick grin at Kage, then dashed toward the far end of the market before the bandits had him fully encircled. They moved to follow, as he had desired, putting more distance between them and the villagers.

"C'mon. Why can't we all get along here? If you leave this village peacefully right now, I'll let you." Kazuki implored the bandits. He did not relish violence if it could be avoided. "Shut up, fiend!" One of the men spat in response, and rushed the half-yōkai. Kazuki sighed once more and moved his hand to the hilt of his sword, as if to draw. He nimbly ducked under the man's blade, and darted in closer, partially pulling his sword from its scabbard to drive the butt of the hilt into the other man's gut. The wind knocked out of him, the bandit coughed and wheezed, momentarily stunned. Kazuki gave him a shove, and then narrowly sidestepped a spear thrust from another bandit. Swiftly grabbing the shaft before it was pulled back, he gave it a tug, and the already outstretched bandit toppled forward relatively easily. His face met with Kazuki's knee. Kicking up the dropped spear, Kazuki caught it and swung the shaft in a wide arc, forcing the remaining bandits to back up. "One last chance," He said calmly, "Get out of here now."