Edo was a place, and like most places, it had people coming and going. Because of this strange phenomena, it developed a queere attribute to assist in the comings and goings of the people. We call this attribute...

The Streets.

*tucking the dagger away she forced herself up off the floor and brushed back the hair in her eyes. Grumbling, she stepped out onto the streets. Eyeing the teahouse in the distance she made her way there quickly and pushed the door open*

*Aki moved quickly away from the fortress, keeping to the shadows whenever possible. Once far enough away, he walked through the streets like he normally would. Had to make sure no one would know that he was able to walk into the fortress and walk out just as easily.*
*Now, he just needed to find Hayate. He started heading to the tea house, hoping to find him there.*

A woman that looks remarkibly like Ame runs from the teahouse, nearly kicking down the doorway on her way. The only major differences? No sword, first of all. Second was the large musketeer hat with teh hard yellow feather plooming from it.

She runs out, runs past Aki, and if he doesn't stop her, runs down the street quite a ways.

*Sees a woman with a large hat with a large feather in it run by.*
~Was that... Ame?~
*He did a bit of a double take and varified that it was in fact, Ame running down the street and wearing a strange hat.*
~I shouldn't bother, I need to find Haya first... then again, she might have seen him recently.~
Hey, Ame, wait up! *He ran after the woman.*

Ame stopped for a moment, stumbled, and caught a wall nearby.. glancing down at her hands to see them bleed slightly... What a fancy thing to set her off in complete and utter paranoia.

Finally, the woman glanced over her shoulder berserkedly at Aki.. shouting back, "****** off, I'm busy bleeding!"

*He caught the look in her eyes and kept his distance, he didn't want get slashed to bits by a berserk Ame. That's when he noticed that she was without her sword, the sword she'd always clung to.*
What happened to you? Where's your sword?

Ame suddenly realized out of nowhere that Aki was still there... Stopped suddenly, still away from the bastard. "if you wanna jam your axe up that bastards ass, do it on your own..."... she shivered a bit... "And I'm gunna go make the headaches go away..." Turned towards him with far more uncontrollible wild eyes.. "Do You Have A ******ing Problem with that!?" Her hands tensed and - if you're observant enough - you can see one of the old scars on her hand pretty much pop open without her knowledge.

Ame put a hand over her eyes.. pretty much exposing the small opened cuts on the hand... Hyperventilating for a moment in some horrible attempt to calm down..

For a moment, she didn't know what to tell Aki. Ame was use to just getting truth over with.. but the woman had no idea why all her efforts to get under control suddenly blew up in her face over a mere night...

Seriously must've been the sake.. she remembered something fatal about Sake.. But couldn't quite take in that Muga was the one that ******ed her over...

The sword, well, she could answer... "I let the bard borrow Shin'i... so I don't kill the bandits..."

~That almost sounded... intellegent. She's probably afraid of going berserk on them so she gave the sword to Okesa, though that doesn't sound like her. She's never let go of her sword.~
*He looked at her cut and bleeding hands.*
Are you alright? Giving up your sword doesn't sound like you. And what are those cuts on your hands from?

Ame glared dangeriously at Aki, pressing herself against the wall now as if he were some approaching rabid pack of wolves.. the ugly thoughts about how she had to kill him, everyone on the street, and then the people in teh building she was leaning against pulsated through her mind uncontrollibly...

But still in control, the woman roared out a "P.. Piss Off, you PurpleHaired, Axe Weilding, Pain in the Ass! I'm gunna get the damn sword back, and I know that idiot wont use it!"

She glared down at her hands to see that they were indeed covered with blood... wondering who the ****** she killed without really realizing that it was her own hands... bit lip, cursed, and continued yelling at Aki, "And How The Buddah Should I Know Why There's Blood!? I Didn't Kill Anyone!"

It's not safe for you to be wandering the streets without a weapon. *shaking his head slightly. She didn't look to be very stable at the moment, not that she usually did, but she looked a little worse than usuall. Better to get information from her sooner than later.*
So you managed to find some bandits? And they'll help us fight Mori, right?

Her stubborness on the conversation was getting pretty irritated... why wouldn't this asshole stay to one converstion? She HATED being questioned over shit the person should already know.. "How the ****** should I know, they're bandits.. But I'll make them.. I have to.. that asshole needs to be killed off.. And his little ******ers.. " She shivered uncontrollibly for a moment til some memory shortly locked away came crashing back.. "That Muga asshole.." couldn't remember the most important stuff, though..

The woman turned from teh wall and faced it - her hand grasping for a sword she didn't have as if the wall was going to attack her.... calms down - slightly since she was reminded she didnt'; have a sword... Glowers at Aki soon afterwards "he did something bad.. Bad with Sake.." Sake, bad stuff, uncontrollability, this all brough back that small erge in Ame to find Sasha to get fixed again.. She turned and went back on her walk without another word to the short theif.

~Something with sake? I'll have to ask Mugatou about that...~
We do need to kill that bastard Mori and Mugatou, too. -.- How many bandits did you get? Enough to fight him, I hope.
*Trying to find out how many bandits there were so he could tell Mori.*

Ame, by then, wasn't answering.. she was walking away as fast as she could to where that lab was that the crazy Russian stayed at was. Of course, under extreme stress and all, she completely forgot where it was.

Her walking and cursing about a vodka drinking russian continued.

*Grumbled under his breath about her not answering, then followed her.*
Where are you going? Why won't you tell me what's going on against Mori? I'd like to see that bastard dead as much as you would.

*He glared back at her, then noticed her hand had even more blood on it.*
Ame, what did you do to your hands? That's your own blood on them, isn't it?

Ame glared to see her hand was dripping.. Once again bit her lip, pulling her hand out of his view and trying to clean the blood on her once hard cleaned robes. It didn't work.. She honestly had no idea why she was bleeding out of nowhere, so was damn determined it wasn't her.. "****** no, dammit! It's probably from someone I don't remember killing! Yeah.. that's it.." Why did her hands hurt then? That, Ame concluded, had to be cause she used so much force in killing the imaginary person..

Became scared for some reason and that pissed her off, if not fed to her anger, more.. started to walk away again..

*He sighed, knowing she was lying, since it was pretty obvious. He held his hand out open, so she could tell there was nothing in it.*
Let me see your hand, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to look at it, alright?

After all this time with teh knowledge that he was a halfsibling, Amethyst still wouldn't let herself trust him fully.. Still, moments like these where inevitable...

She slowly, almost like a child, turned back towards him.. Though it was clear that her eyes were clearly that of a killer and, more than naught, her present emotions weren't quite clean and kempt. Even so, Ame slowly extended one of her hands (the one with the least blood). Muttering to him like that of a snake stretching out a tail to a rat, "I might hurt you.... Even without Shin'i......."

I know... *He lightly touched her hand and brought it closer so he could see what happened. The wounds looked, odd, as if they were old wounds that had opened up.*
~Is this something Mugatou did to her? I am going to have a talk with him later.~
*He then let go of her hand.*

As the theif relieved her hand of his grasp, As If To Unleash his axe on her right after, the woman pulled back sharply, and took a step back.. raising arm in a defensive action to protect herself form him if he did so something..

And if Aki was unaware then of how confused and ******ed up she was, the look she gave now was clear of it.. it was almost as if the woman was overly paranoid, panting, sweating considerably, and not on the right line of thought on this conversation between them...

*He noticed her paniced look and gave a slightly worried look in return. There was a time where he'd hated Ame and wouldn't have cared if she was suffering. However, he'd ended up almost being friends with her and had become a bit more protective of her since he found out that she was his half sister.*
You said you know someone who can help you? Do you need help getting to them, or can I leave you to do that on your own?

Was very Extremely unsure what he was getting at with asking this.. Unlike Aki, Ame held great distrust to anyone that hurt them in the past.. Fact, she held a great distrust for anyone that was male as well...

Maybe he was going to take her to the sakeshop, then blow the place up on her with that asshole, Pyro.. Ame reminded herself to kill off Pyro later for being such an asshole..

Though that was only one of hte many betrayel thoughts that crossed her plagued mind...

However, even so, she was able to control herself from taking action and doing something upsetting like, well, attack Aki.. She took a few steps back.. Confused, horribly alone.. "He's a crazy Russian bastard.. I can get there myself, dammit!..... Just.. forgot where his damn place is......" She put a hand to her forehead again, smearing it slightly with blood (though the boofy hat covers this up)

Hmm... I haven't seen any Russian people around. You're sure you'll be alright?
*For some reason feeling a small amount of guilt for wanting to leave and find Haya, since Ame was in no condition to remember if she'd seen him or not.*

It was time to give one of those ultimate lies that everyone can see through.. just in a frantic way to escape the conversation and get on her way...

"I'm always alright!" Amethyst fumed, turning away. A few people (that kept distance from only Aki, actually. Blame the Hat) looked in the way of both of htem.. but decided it was a minor dispute.. Ame turned away sharply, winced slightly as if doing so cut open some new unseen scar.. and began to walk off towards.. what she believed to be the... well, alright.. the woman was just walkingin any direction and hoping she comes across the building and finds it familliar..

*Still looking at her, a bit worried.*
~I really should go find Haya, though I don't really want to leave Ame walking around in this condition... Well... I suppose I could follow her and look for Haya at the same time.~
*He walked after her.*

Hayate, mentally, winced. He had known Aki for quite some time....and the ronin knew it was extremely rare for the thief to apologize. Hayate also knew that the boy did and said stupid things while drunk....

Still, Hayate was one cold individual, and it was extremely hard for the ronin to forgive. But in Aki's case....he decided to. After all, it was extremely important to have any allies.

Hayate nodded.

"very well...."

Hayate slowly walked down through the streets. The ronin was deep in thought on what to do....he was once again alone. Back to the old ways of life. Hayate was going to become use to it. He should've figured this would happen. The man was just the type that seemed to be destined to be alone....

None of it was his concern. The only thing Hayate had to worry about was killing Moritsune. To do that, he needed an army. So Hayate scanned the streets for possible recruits.

*Aki was still following after Ame when he spotted Haya walking down the street.*
~perfect, now I can start the plan, heh heh.~
*He walked over to the ronin* Hey Haya... *talking a bit quietly, like someone who knew that the other was angry at them. All part of his act, of course.*

Hayate continued to walk through the streets. Lurking, wandering, alone. Scanning more and more for recruits. Then he heard the familiar voice call to him. Hayate picked up the tone, and remembered who the voice belonged to.

"Hello...." Hayate responed coldly. The ronin had a simple mind, and classified people into 3 charts. Enemy, Neutral, Ally. Aki was classified as 'neutral'. Therefore, Hayate wasnt going to act friendly or mean to the man....for now.

*Avoiding eye contact with Haya.* I... I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day... *He tried make it sound like he was really sorry, though hard for him to say he was, since he was rarely one to apologize in the first place.*
I think I had a little too much sake... and, well... that plan wouldn't have worked anyway...

*Aki looked back up at Haya and gave a slight smile, for more than one reason. His plan was working so far, now to hope the man he picked to pretend to be one of the warriors would know how to act.*
How about I get you some sake, you look like you could use it.

Hayate nodded slowly again. Sake invitation was something the man could not, and would not, refuse. Hayate knew he could trust Aki, after all. The ronin nodded again.

"sure...."

*Aki seemed to be in a better mood now, which he was. Revenge was always so much fun to do, especially when it involved completely betraying and crushing the one who it was being taken out on.*
Ok, let's go to the tea house, Oniichan.
*He started to head towards the teahouse.*

With that being said, Hayate gave yet another nod. Tipping his hat down, the ronin began to follow Aki to the teahouse.

Ame by now has long lost Aki... She was in the midst of imagining how she could kill everyone she passed.. and eventually, somewhere in the inner panic, someone dumb enough walks up to her.

"Hey Bard" the asshole says, not knowing it's Ame, of course, due to the hat... "Gimme all your Yen and run away quietly.."

Amethyst glanced at him with all these images of punching his his face. reaching up, she grabbed the jerk around the neck, with a tight thrust - tossed him against a wall, and ramed a hard fist into his forehead... The guy gave a surprised look at the murderious woman before loosing a few teeth and all proper use of his nasal cavity. One of the scars on Ame's arm (the one she used to slam the guy's face in with) ripped over like an old rag.

In turn the woman is ripped back to reality, grasps her arm tightly, and glares at everyone around that wants to help.. "PISS OFF!" They take a step back..

Ame runs. Very far. a few minor scars opening on her trip... Was almost like she was falling apart.. Until finally, thankfully, she comes across the lab finally and throws herself in.

La la lalala lala la *whistle* la la *whistle* *whistle* *Tenji was making out one of the dumbass tunes he had made up during the past few days as he walked along the street.*
Sure is quiet around here...Well, probably because I've been ignorant... *he quietly told himself as he remembered how he was before; always getting into other people's business just to find a stupid master that never existed in Edo.*
I wonder where all the people I knew are...I haven't seen much of them lately..in fact, I haven't seen any of them at all since I came back! *he let out a sigh*
Again, that's mostly likely my fault... *he told himself, trying not to revert back to his original stupid, wanna-be mysterious self.*

*Aki had made it to the edge of the woods with Ame and Hayate in his arms, both near death.*
~Now how to do this quickly without being seen by any of Mori's men? Or anyone else for that matter...~
*He spotted a clothing store not too far from the woods. Setting Ame and Hayate down, he quickly made his way over there. After 'borrowing' some clothes and a cloak, the quickly returned back, wearing some plain clothing and his face shrowded in the hood of the cloak. He then picked Ame and Hayate back up and made his way to the clinic. Once there, he knocked on the door, which brought a nurse, and handed the two to her. They quickly took Ame and Hayate. Aki then left, not giving them a chance to talk to him. He went back to the woods and grabbed his normal clothes.*
~blood stains... I'm going to have to get these out before returning to the fortress.~
*He then left to wash the blood from his clothes.*

"As if having Amethyst agreeable on anything will help at all? She was stilla loose cannon last I talked to her, and I'm sure Moritsune still has a ton of men." Then waiting a bit, Uma spoke again. "So where's Gerad?"