Disease or Monster?

{Not a disease...I saw that one coming} "What is it then?" he asked as the girl tried to calm herself "Something from the other side...an ancient creature either a ghoul or more likely an oni however it's not as bad as it seems, it has a physical form else it could not leave those marks, they appear only after an infected person dies else the healers would have mentioned it" he didn't believe her about the cause of this being something mystical though what troubled him is that since their first meeting she had not once been wrong. New victims of this epidemic were brought in, most were children and it pained Kazuki to see them in such pain though her expression did not change it showed in her eyes once they were settled she beckoned the healer over to her "What is it you need?" Kazuki pulled a small scroll from within her robes and thrust it into his hands "This should help to slow the effects and ease the pain some but I advise you put warding charms at all entrances as well" he rushed off quickly to work on the medicine "Take me to Lord Date now" Kojuro nodded "I will do what I can to hold off his anger but he has been at breaking point for a while now be extremely careful in how you speak to him" she nodded and they quickly made their way back to the castle {It must be a ninja spreading this disease, it's probably not contagious at all, slowly they're working at wiping out the people and soldiers...just who would give the order for something like this?} Kojuro thought silently to himself, he just couldn't fathom any warlord doing this.

Masamune eventually put his sword away and simply began to pace as he waited for his right eye and the mystic girl to return with information on this disease. Was it contagious? Was there a reason it seemed to spread indiscriminately? He needed to know! If there was a way...any way at all to prevent it from affecting his people any further he had to make it happen, no matter what that might mean for him.

Again that strange feeling came over Kojuro as it did when he had first met Kazuki, it wasn't an awful feeling but neither was it good just very uneasy as they approached Masamune once more he again quietly stressed the importance of the girl keeping her cool and to be ready to fight if his lord flew off the handle. Masamune looked up when he heard footsteps, narrowing his eye when he caught sight of the girl "What do you have for me girl?" she did not like being talked to like that but she swallowed her pride for the moment "It's not a disease but rather the effect of something dark coming into contact with a person well somethings, with it being all over the land there's more than one" she could feel her own anger starting to rise but did everything to keep it in check, although she hated skeptics she understood them though Masamune was completely different she had not a clue and that was a first.

Masamune's single grey eye watched her expression carefully, he didn't believe her for a moment although she didn't seem to be lying to him "It's spreading through the village like a plague, there's nothing that makes it certain it's magic or some shit like that. I'm not real inclined to believe it's not just a plague that the healer doesn't know about" this girl was getting on his last nerve, she didn't have any evidence this was anything other than a plague...

"Those that have not been buried or burnt have a bruise or burn in the shape of a three-pronged claw that takes up most of the backof the adults at least, with the children it covers most of their body but what they have in common is that the formation of the marks are identical, what exactly caused them however is not clear though I have given the healer a way to slow the effects to a crawl".

Masamune's expression twisted into a scowl the longer she kept talking. This was all such bullshit! "So you're just going to claim that this is some kind of magical bullshit and then you're going to say there's nothing we can do but slow down the time it takes for my villagers to die?" he snapped at her, tired of holding back his anger. He'd done it for longer than usual... "To hell with that! The only reason I agreed to having people search for you and bring you back here was because they all believed you could actually do something, but obviously you and your so-called magic are just as worthless as I thought!" Damn it! He just wanted to find a way to save his villagers! That was all he was looking for at this point and now he'd hit yet another dead end!

The air grew strange and Kojuro felt all hairs stand on end, he saw her eyes go from light grey almost silver to a grey dark as thunder clouds "The magic of the Hana clan is not useless!" her voice boomed and echoed out to silence "I will search out the truth of things as I always do, I gave you a better chance of your people surviving until I know for sure what is going on..." Kazuki immediately stopped talking when she felt a dark pulse somewhere near them behind Masamune, she moved back and on instinct threw a knife passed him and into the shadows behind him, Masamune moved to block it but she had thrown it passed his blind right side, she was trying to kill them he knew it!

In a blink Kazuki went past him and into the shadows the sound of a blade being drawn was followed by a roar that made even Kojuro get a chill running down his spine, he had moved to behind his lord thinking as well that the girl was working against them but he was surprised when she dragged something with her out of the darkness that was easily twice her size she lifted it's head so they could see it clearly, it was grotesque and dark skinned "This creature is not my doing, it's obviously a master of stealth seeing as you didn't even notice you were being watched if not for me you would also be infected, believe me now?"

"No," he replied with an even tone. "I don't believe you and I'm not going to. I don't believe in that magic shit." She had to have planted that thing, whatever it was. He didn't know how she'd gotten it past him, but that was the only logical explanation. Magic wasn't real.

She stood up and the corpse turned to ash "What's causing this is here in the city somewhere and I will find it and stop this mess. Believe what you wish but know this I would rather die than see this land fall to anything" her eyes were back to normal now and in them Kojuro saw a deep love for Oshuu "You will stay away from the sick and only operate in daylight escorted, once this mess is resolved you will be dealt with for this...if you live. You will be confined to a cell while here as well" Kojuro said hoping to end this quickly "Is that to your liking Masamune-sama?" to him Kazuki didn't seem to mind this at all in fact it was fully expected.

Masamune listened to them both still fuming "Fine," he said. "But make sure she'd under heavy guard at all times. I don't want her slipping out and killing more of our people." When it came to protecting his people, he would be as cold and merciless as he had to be. He didn't care that she was a woman; if she was a threat to his villagers, he would end her life without a second thought.

"Of course" he motioned for Kazuki to follow him which she did silently, once they were far enough away from Masamune he spoke "That was very reckless" she sighed "I know but if he dies then Oshuu is lost, I did what I had to to protect it" he hadn't believed any of what she had said but that was at least true "You're of the Hana clan...they've never done harm to anyone that's why I said what I did" "Then I thank you for that. creatures like that one rarely work alone in fact i believe that creature was simply the minion of much larger creature if I am correct then it knows I'm here and with a minion of it having tried to go after Lord Date I say it's gotten anxious will most likely try for his life again soon"

Kojuro said nothing further as he took her to the cells, she gave up every weapon she had as she was shut inside a cell he asked "How will we know when one is about?" "The crickets will not chirp, the birds will not tweet and even plants wilt suddenly but if it's the master wood will start to rot and normal steel will rust" she sat down her back against a wall "As for how to kill them if you can get behind them is best as they are not armored there at all if you can't get behind them you can slip a blade or loose an arrow between the plates of bone on it's chest" he nodded "There might not be much else I can do for you from now on and more than likely when this is over regardless of how it ends I most likely will not be able to stop Masamune-sama from ending your life" Kazuki was unfazed by this as she leaned against the back wall "The uncertainty of whether I get out alive or end up dead is the price of the life I choose to live" she had been in and out of cells for similar reasons her whole life but this was the first time she was actually somewhat afraid of death...