KITSUKI AKANO<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Any spare sword arms would be appreciated, Kitsuki-san. I believe we will have need of it soon."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><strong>"In that case, magistrate, you have mine. I saw three of you enter, though that down there,"</strong>with an inclination of my head I indicated the scene of slaughter below us inside the warehouse door,<strong>"Inclines me to think you may have more numbers? How many are you? And if three <em>samurai</em> are required, how many are your foes?"</strong>As I spoke I ascended the stairs, keeping my blade sheathed, but my hand on it's hilt. I still only had her word to go on, though her demeanor seemed truthful enough.<br/><br/><em>I wonder if I will have time to attend the celebrations with my friends now?</em><br/><br/>At the top of the stairs was yet another body, a peasant again with a bow nearby. By the position of the two archers, the angle of the arrows embedded in wall and floor and the cluster of bodies within the doorway I had begun to form a clearer mental picture of how the fight had gone. However the worry was that the three<em>samurai</em>I had seen run in certainly had not killed the man in the street, nor, in all probability these either. I therefore concluded Shosuro-sama was with more than two others. If four or more swordsmen were needed how big<em>was</em>this problem?