Life in the Palace

[Guest]

With a frustrated slam does the pen meet the desk under the crushing power of Kumero's palm. With her terrible handwriting, it was impossible to get this paperwork done. First, there's the homefront side of the war, the border skirmishes with the other countries, and high profile domestic criminal cases, along with outrageous reports on Yakuza activity. These reports really should be under the commisioner's jurisdiction. First day on the job, and I've been buried in paper, white-out, and worst of all, PAPERCUTS!

She raged on and on about it, mulled it around in her head like an annoyingly catchy song, until finally she pushed back her chair with a thrust and marched from her office, the tails of her kimono catching the eyes of passers-by, which was immediatly followed by cascading droplets of blood from their noses. Her pefectly contoured and tan skinned gleamed in sunbeams from the windows, whiched passed like a blur as she sprinted down the halls to find solace in the bath-house.

She removed her kimono with careful stability and placed it near the steaming water as she smoothed herself into its mirrored pool, her muscles in every inch of her body unwound at once. She soaked her pale blonde in herbal shampoos and scrubbed it vigorously to release her frustration. She then let her body become weightless and float like a water lily among the steam.

This job, however, has some excellent advantages...

[Shula Brighton]

{BUMP}

[Guest]

Osamu was in the imperial palace. It wasn't the first time she had been there, but it was the first time she was there during the day. The man let her by, even though her documents were fake. She had been acquiring several documents that now made up her identity. It was easier for her due to the fact that she had no identity to begin with. So even if they thought she had a fake one, they wouldn't be able to find any other identity in the system. She walked down the hall, her white kimono making her walk slower than usual, a blue lily in her hair and blue accents of snowflakes and a bow obi making her look even more surreal. She had heard that the Head of defense was quite traditional and she assumed this would soften her up. She saw some men who where cleaning up the floor. It looked like someone was stabbed on the floor or something to cause such a blood smear.

As they scrubbed she walked by and bent down. " Excuse me, but where is the esteemed Head of Defense Kumero Ayashizu?" The men pointed down the hall after they spurted out blood and fell in the pool of already existing liquids. She frowned. So that's how it got there. And the hem of her white kimono was splattered with blood! Oh well, she could clean it later. She walked down and saw the first door was a bathhouse. Maybe that's what he was pointing at. She walked in, her body nearly melding with the steam. She looked around until she saw a naked woman. Maybe that was her. She grabbed a towel and sat next to the woman until she realized she was sitting there. Once she realized that there was another person there, she would give her a towel, smile and say. " Hello, Miss Ayashizu. I'm your new Assistant, Osamu Aoki." Her red and purple eyes gleaming through the steam.

[Guest]

"Well, thank y-...wait. I remember you! From the bar, the shotgun barkeep with the nice ass! I knew you'd take the offer! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

She took no time leaving the bath and ignoring the towel and giveing her a bear hug, yet the towel and Osamu's kimono were the only things in the way. Not only did she have a a new friend and assistant, she was drop dead gorgeous. Her mismatched eyes, her alabaster skin, her knockout body, and...the beautiful lily and kimono she was wearing! Gah, this was pefect! But outside in the hallway, movement caught her eye and she saw several men stopping their scrubbing and peering inside. She clenched her teeth and boiled up the rage in her voice.

"GET BACK TO WORK OR I WILL HANG YOU BY YOUR ENTRAILS!

And they went to work with lightning fast speed, clearing the doorway in no time flat. She stood regally, wrapping the offered towel around the and holding it up in the front, it was a bit small, but it would do. She smiled at her new charge and placed her free hand on her shoulder, staring into her eyes.

"Now just a few rules
Rule 1: I pick out your clothes you wear on duty.
Rule 2: We'll be sharing a room.
Rule 3: Never leave my side until ordered to do so.
Rule 4: Orders must be followed unless absolutly nessecary to not do so.
Rule 5: Refer to me as Mistress on duty, and Kumero or Kume off duty.
Other than that, not much other than that. Any questions?"

[Guest]

Kumero hugged her, not taking the towel that she had offered and was now slowly growing more wet between the squishing of the two. Maybe from the steam or maybe from the tanned woman wrapped around Osamu. She wasn't used to such affection so it surprised her a bit, but she relaxed and smiled like a good Aerugese woman. Hardly showing a true emotion. " Well, it was an offer I couldn't refuse. Assistant to the Head of Defense pays the bills more than a bartender in the boonies." She chuckled quietly, but her eyes grew round as a yen when Kumero started screaming at the men trying to look in. Lovely.

She was then pulled out of the bathhouse and into the hallway, the bottom part of her blood-stained wet kimono coming undone, showing her legs and part of her underwear. She sighed inwardly. That was going to be a hassle to reassemble. As she was worrying about her clothes, Kumero was rattling off rulesl Sharing a room? Well, that was going to be hard to leave the palace and have a few drinks with her friends. Who was she kidding? Her friends were either thieves or the only good cop in Aerugo. Not exactly the best bunch to be around in. " Yes Mistress...What clothes do you have available?"

[Guest]

Kumero stopped abruptly outside the massive doors to her room and turned around to see her new charge's wardrobe problem. Kumero couldn't help but looking at those toned, alabaster legs.

So she wears underwear...not suprised
"I have quite the selection that you'll be using. The hard part isn't making them, but figuring out which one to use everyday. I'll take your measurements later, but for now, I have a spare kimono like mine in the closet. You'll be wearing that today.

God, she was indulging so many fantasies today. Kumero now had an assistant, someone to torture, and a homie. Her only homie....This is a first.

She retreats to the walk in closet and pulls out a matching kimono, from the color and fabric design to size and skirt size. She hands her the kimono and directs her to the changing pane at the corner of the room, made of rice paper and bamboo, the sunlight from the nearby window shining through. She also produced matching leggings just like Kumero's, close to a skirt that starts from the knee and sandals.

"Now just put that on and let me see. Tell me how you like it, and I can get one made. While you do that, I have paperwork to do."

She turned and walked over to her desk, swishing her hips as she went. She sat down and produced a pen from the nearby cup in one fluid motion and began scratching down notes on border reports and putting down her signature.

[Guest]

Everything was going quite fast, her mist matched eyes following the woman from the hallway to her bedroom, and then to her desk. Indeed her clothing was now dirty and not to her own fault, at least nothing she could help. After undressing behind the thin paper wall, she looked down. She wore simple black panties and a black sports bra. Nothing fancy and nothing that could get dirty easily. She held the black kimono. It was accented with silver and red. Not her choice colors, but it would match what Kumero Ayashizu was wearing currently. She put on the Kimono, the leggings and the shoes that she was wearing too. Osa pulled off the blue flower and let her hair sweep to the side. Every time it slipped in front of her eyes, she was glad she had short hair instead of flowing long tendrils. Made it much easier on her.

She walked from behind the paper wall and stood beside Kumero as she did her work. She knew the ways of a personal assistant. Basically organize their life to make it easier for them. Cook their food, clean their house. Do everything possible for them to get their work done. For the Head of Defense, she knew this wasn't the only outfit she would pick out for her. "Not exactly my style. Something more conservative is a bit more on my road." She turned around for her to see. Her toned legs of pure white moved up and delved into the black short kimono. The black outfit making her skin even more pale than ever.

[Guest]

"Well, you'll get used to-" She paused mid-sentence as she turned around, looking at this beautiful girl before her. She scanned her up her legs to her eyes, then back down again. She connected eyes with Osamu, and turned away quickly, hoping she hadn't seen he blush as she tried to get back to work, pushing her face closer and closer to the paper, trying to block Osamu from her peripheral vision, but she couldn't help looking back every so often. She reached under he desk for her emergency bottle of sake and grasp the bottle neck firmly, taking a good size swig from the clay bottle in an attempt to calm her nerves. She hadn't had a girl around in a good 5 years, now she had one at her beck and call?! This was insane, but she felt a certain wall of akwardness between her and her new charge. She suddenly slammed the pen down on the desk, bolted up, and flicked out her tessen, razor sharp but closed. She then laid them on the table.

"If you have any weapons on you, lay 'em out on the table. The dojo's at the end of the hall, the big, rice paper double doors. Meet me there in ten. If you're to be my assistant, you should know how to assist me in combat." She marched out before any objections could've been made, smiling as she went. She hadn't had a good fight in ages, so she hoped this'd be good. She cracked her neck and knuckles on the way there and walked barefoot to the end of the hall, then opened the door to the tournament sized dojo, complete with training dummies and shinai stands, and an assortment of classic Aerugese weapons from centuries past. She then sat cross legged at the center of the mat, and began her pre-combat meditation.

[Guest]

She watched as her now new boss became more agitated than when she was in her kimono. Her eyes following to where her pen was going until she slammed it down, took a swig and pulled out a weapon. Her eyes flicked up at Kumero's face and saw...no intent. It wasn't a fight with weapons anyhow. If you have any weapons on you, lay 'em out on the
table. The dojo's at the end of the hall, the big, rice paper double
doors. Meet me there in ten. If you're to be my assistant, you should
know how to assist me in combat." The color drained out of her face, though her expression remained the same. Lay them on the table? She would need to sanitize it first with all of the things ins- that was it. On her. Well, at least that was clarified for her.

Osa pulled out three guns, two clips, 5 ball chains, several packages of poison and needles along with eight different knives that were lining her panties. She them pulled out a matchbox, two powder bombs, and six flash cans from her sports bra. Making her C cup chest into a solid A. After that long list she thought of the places that were inside of her. 3 knives in her yoohoo hole, several other knives on the inside of her calves, a flash bomb in the pit of her neck and a gun next to her spleen. She even had a small bag of antidote and a nail file in a little plastic wrap with dental floss knotted to it and tied to one of her molars. The whole contents in her stomach. After that list she had a kunai in her upper right arm, a small needle in her left wrist and a retractable blade on the pads of both feet. She didn't dare reveal those to her own boss. Those were for protecting her and herself. She would honor her agreement and fight barehanded. Though even that wasn't fair.

The white haired personal assistant walked into the Colosseum-like dojo.She never knew one could be as big as it was and not collapse. She would have to look into it. She spotted Kumero in a stance and inclined her head to her. "Yes Mistress."

[Guest]

Kumero opens one eye to observe her now opponent standing in the door. She reeled ideas through her head, what Osamu's style would be, which of the two she herself would use, and how to go about it. She stood up and smiled, walking up to Osamu and shaking her hand. Her grip tightened on Osamu's hand as she flipped her over-shoulder, slamming her to the matt. Oldest. Trick. In the book. She jumped over her, taking her cat stance on landing. She rushed her from the front but ducked to the left and assaulted her left arm with crane strikes in her forearm, shoulder and elbow, her hands almost a blur. Her hand came back and hit Osamu's kidney with a tiger palm. She jumped back, then taking horse stance. She examined her body, seeing bruises disappear? Didn't she see something about her having abilities like that? Oh, this would be intresting. She wouldn't have to worry about breaking her new toy....

"You're good at taking hits, you absorb the shock quite well...but can you dish it out?

[Guest]

She was taking hits left and right, her body repairing itself as it went. As she was being thrown about like a wet rag, not even getting in a stance she was wondering how to go about fighting her. Was this a regular thing? To hit her boss? Would she be penalized by doing such an act? Not to mention she'd rather keep her abilities a secret. Usually even if a person had good regenerative abilities, they would be careful of their bones. Though she remembered how her family solved that problem.

The taste of metal and tears welled into her mouth as the sound of cracking bones and the smell of crusted blood filled her nose. Her swollen eyes covered by a soft cloth where the only thing she could think of was the pain in her arms, legs...and spine. She heard her father's voice. A voice she had never the privilege to feel any positive feelings about. Not his voice, his face or the feeling of his touch. Which his fingers were currently on her shin, breaking it cleanly for the 5th time that month. Her throat coated in mucus and scarred tissue. Too exhausted to cry out for her 7 year old life.

It may not have been the best 6 months of her life to go through that pain and anguish...but it had made her bones strong as any iron and her spine as sturdy as any steel. She stood up as her Mistress began to talk.You're good at taking hits, you absorb the shock quite well...but can you dish it out? Since she would probably spend several years with her, she might as well speed up to the absolute human limit. Where her entire body will go into a blur and she might miss a few yards by just blinking. 27 mph is the fastest a human can go. The absolute limit.

Osamu took no stance, but just ran. Her body a flash of white and black. Suddenly she would appear in front of Kumero Ayashizu with her hand firmly on her throat. She would never snap her neck, but she knew she had won. For going through all of that anguish...she could go 40 miles per hour. Not even perceivable to human sight.

"I can, Mistress Ayashizu."

[Guest]

Well......shit.

She was screwed either way: if she fought back, she could easily snap her own neck in this position or she could out right lose. This frail looking had a damn vice grip, close to crushing Kumero's windpipe. Kumero clawed at the hand and gasped for air until she freed herself. She fell to her knees and gasped for air, filling her burning lungs. The pain was nessesary for the evaluation and in all aspect she'd passed. She'd never seen such speed...how fast could she get her coffee. Ah well, now's not the time. What would be good now is a nice drink. It was about noon, but Kumero had no drink boundries. She beckoned with her hand for Osamu to follow, walking down the hallway back to the room. She felt her neck and felt claw marks. She'll put on a scarf to hide them later. She opened the large, ornate doors and opened the fridge on the fall side of the room, displaying several bottles of the finest alcohol. She went into the closet to change into some new clothes, something different for a change of pace. Through the wood of the door came a cheerful voice, ordering,

"Take your pick of whatever you want, we drink to your first day. Hope you're hungry, afterwards we'll go to your favorite restaraunt, I'll buy. How's that sound?"

[Guest]

Food? Drinking? Well this was a turn of events that she didn't see before. Besides that, she was a bit ashamed that she went that speed on such a trivial sparring match, now that she had a moment to think about it. She followed the slightly harrowed Kumero into her office and revealed her stash of....alcohol. Osamu stood beside the shelf of glistening bottles, several which she knew of. Not many she had served though. None of them she had drank herself. Since she was...

Osamu turned away from the shelf and sat down. Well at least she would be able to go to her favorite restaurant. Not so much in the drinking department. She remembered the last time she took a drink to her mouth and nearly shuddered. She had lost her cover by getting plastered on the first sip and then having her cloaking skin go haywire. Not only that but she gave the man that was supposed to take over her target's business...a seizure. Lovely.

She inspected her skin just in case none of the areas had healed correctly. When a person is hit, they don't bruise right away. It takes an instant for the capillaries of the human body to break, but a long while for them to be brought to the surface. It takes five minutes for the damaged area to turn pink, then in a few hours it turns purple, then black purple over a matter of days, after a week it will turn green and then after that there would just be a yellow splotch on the body. The reason why it takes so long for the body to heal itself is due to how slow the white blood cells work in the human body.

In Osamu's body, the white blood cells work so well that she was able to stop that process altogether. Though that doesn't mean she can't feel pain. Quite the opposite. It just means she can avoid most of the pain. Though when someone heals more quickly, they tend to get into more and more serious incidents. Before her eyes she saw her skin turn slightly pink. By ten minutes they would disappear due to how well her white blood cells worked. Though it caused more of a problem than just getting bruised. That means that her blending ability wont work in those areas that were damaged. Her white blood cells had to work on that too. That meant she won't be able to blend completely for 2 days.

" I'd like to go anywhere you would. I don't particularly have a favorite." And that was true.

[Guest]

"Well then, if that's what you really want..." Kumero was at a loss here. All of Kume's favorite hangouts were the local bars and such, but this girl didn't look much of a drinker. She swore that she read an article saying women with big breasts could handle alcohol better and even though she didn't usually believe in that tabloid nonsense, she wouldn't risk it. She pondered for a moment, a perfectly manicured nail between her supple lips, staring at the ground in thought...C'mon Kume, think....a good restaurant with good food and good booze...hmm...A lightbulb went off in her mind, lighting up the best answer. There was a teashop not too far from here, and she'd seen some of their ads on TV, yapping on about how their food is as great as their sake, and that was a boast Kumero just couldn't refuse.

She swished herself around the closet, keeping it open as she slid off the smoke black kimono and stood there in the buff, looking at all the options she had. In the end, she chose a classic: a small, red tank top with tight, black denim jeans and sandals that crossed the top of her feet in intricate patterns of thin, brown leather. Her hair was completely au natural, flowing down her back like a waterfall of wheat. She wore no make up for she needed none and smiled at her snowy white new charge. She hadn't even touched any bottles. She went to it and grabbed a bottle of red Chardonnay and uncorked and sniffed the top of the neck, letting it breath. She motioned with her free hand for Osamu to go into the closet to change, take whatever she liked, as she took a ginger sip from the dark green bottle. She didn't bother to tell Osamu; be nice to let her think it out on her own, she thought as she smiled, a drop of wine rolling down her lip.

[Guest]

She stared at the woman for a while. She had guessed that she loved to drink, with all of the find liquors everywhere but in the middle of the day? Not many people would be able to stomach that much while working such an important job. Was she always so buzzed or is it that she was so good at doing her job that she could be sloshed and still work at full capacity? In whatever the case she walked into the closet.

Is it always going to be like this? Food? Drinks that she couldn't stomach and outfits that she hardly cared for? No. There would be times where they could do a great deal of good. Where in times of peace they could get rid of dirty cops, promote the good ones and clean up scum whether it was in this line of business or in her own little way.

All she knew was that her boss now knew that she had great speed and strength. Nothing else should be revealed to her eyes just yet. She didn't want to make any waves in this line of expertise, she just wanted to do her job thoroughly. After a certain amount of time, she would need to take a few cautious steps in grounding her work to fit her needs. What were her needs? To promote Kaede Soshi to Captain of the Police force and Develop a group of people specializing in the protection of Aerugo. Outside of the law but abiding by it in many aspects.

She scanned the wardrobes in which was in the massive closet. She spotted a set of clothing that suited her just fine. Osamu walked out with a black blouse, a light blue tie, a black vest and black slacks with dress shoes. Even though her boss had a lovely wardrobe, she was lacking men's shoes that she liked to wear. No matter. Osamu could always go barefoot in times of crisis.

" Where to?" She asked her boss. Looking like the butler that she would evidently be to this woman. Maybe that was best.

[Shula Brighton]

{BUMP}

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