Post by Sozen Kuchiki on Nov 13, 2014 3:58:23 GMT -5
Hotaru would, a couple of days later, find herself stuck in dense forest. Literally stuck. Because of the specifics of the mission, Sozen had her in a tree outside of another noble's manor. The forest was one which once had belonged to the Shihoin nobility. Of course, nowadays the Kuchikis owned the land upon which the Kasumi'Oji, Shihoin, and Shiba families, and many minor families, now resided upon. Thus, the forest belonged to the Kuchikis, and to Sozen. Sneaking around it had been easy because of this. But, getting into the Shihoin Manor itself would be difficult. It wasn't that they were assassinating a Shihoin, though. Nope, not quite.
Sozen had stuck Hotaru in a tree to keep surveillance on the guard patterns, because Hotaru was going to have to kill one of the specific Shihoin butlers, who doubled as a guard. Why would a butler be so important to kill? Well, Sozen had intel that this butler had caught onto a Shihoin secret, which Hotaru had been made privy to. Headless? Hardly. The Shihoin wasn't headless. In fact, it had a head, Okami Shihoin, whom Sozen supported. But, this butler had discovered that the current substitute head was just a puppet for Okami, and had thought that this would be a good opportunity to begin to blackmail. He hadn't set forth his blackmail yet, though. Sozen's spies caught on first. And now Sozen dispatched an assassin.
Well, why not just tell Okami? Because the Shihoin would move too slowly. The secret would be revealed too soon. Sozen would tell them what was happening later. In the meantime, he would kill this butler. And for this, he dispatched Hotaru. Well, Sozen himself was also part of the mission, actually. He would in fact be meeting with the Shihoin's substitute head, which caused most of the guards to cluster in a very specific shift. One which Hotaru could easily predict, having been given information directly by Sozen on how it worked. Sozen, back in his normal form, and no longer in his younger form, was already entering through the front gates, and was already being greeted lavishly.
Meanwhile, Hotaru, stuck in the tree, would be able to observe all of the guards. There were a lot. Two dozen just in the front courtyard alone, where Sozen was first entering. Six circling on each wall inside and outside the square barriers that held the manor. This meant a total of twenty four on each outside wall and twenty four more on each inside wall, plus that two dozen from before which was in the middle of the courtyard. Because they revolved around, and checked everything, and there were guards covering all walls at once, it was hard to sneak in. Hotaru needed to find a way in, and then had to find which guard she was searching for, and then find him physically and end him.
It should be simple enough in theory. It was difficult in execution, though. It was especially difficult in that she then had to escape unnoticed. It was policy that Kuchiki Assassins were not known about. Their very existences were an anomaly. A mystery. No one knew that they existed at all. That was just how it was. Not even Kuchikis knew of it. Sozen and the assassins alone were aware of the existence of the assassins. Put simply, Hotaru had to be very very careful on this mission. So, here was the situation she found herself in. How could she get herself into that manor and out again? Time for her to make some decisions.
Sozen had stuck Hotaru in a tree to keep surveillance on the guard patterns, because Hotaru was going to have to kill one of the specific Shihoin butlers, who doubled as a guard. Why would a butler be so important to kill? Well, Sozen had intel that this butler had caught onto a Shihoin secret, which Hotaru had been made privy to. Headless? Hardly. The Shihoin wasn't headless. In fact, it had a head, Okami Shihoin, whom Sozen supported. But, this butler had discovered that the current substitute head was just a puppet for Okami, and had thought that this would be a good opportunity to begin to blackmail. He hadn't set forth his blackmail yet, though. Sozen's spies caught on first. And now Sozen dispatched an assassin.
Well, why not just tell Okami? Because the Shihoin would move too slowly. The secret would be revealed too soon. Sozen would tell them what was happening later. In the meantime, he would kill this butler. And for this, he dispatched Hotaru. Well, Sozen himself was also part of the mission, actually. He would in fact be meeting with the Shihoin's substitute head, which caused most of the guards to cluster in a very specific shift. One which Hotaru could easily predict, having been given information directly by Sozen on how it worked. Sozen, back in his normal form, and no longer in his younger form, was already entering through the front gates, and was already being greeted lavishly.
Meanwhile, Hotaru, stuck in the tree, would be able to observe all of the guards. There were a lot. Two dozen just in the front courtyard alone, where Sozen was first entering. Six circling on each wall inside and outside the square barriers that held the manor. This meant a total of twenty four on each outside wall and twenty four more on each inside wall, plus that two dozen from before which was in the middle of the courtyard. Because they revolved around, and checked everything, and there were guards covering all walls at once, it was hard to sneak in. Hotaru needed to find a way in, and then had to find which guard she was searching for, and then find him physically and end him.
It should be simple enough in theory. It was difficult in execution, though. It was especially difficult in that she then had to escape unnoticed. It was policy that Kuchiki Assassins were not known about. Their very existences were an anomaly. A mystery. No one knew that they existed at all. That was just how it was. Not even Kuchikis knew of it. Sozen and the assassins alone were aware of the existence of the assassins. Put simply, Hotaru had to be very very careful on this mission. So, here was the situation she found herself in. How could she get herself into that manor and out again? Time for her to make some decisions.
