<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/P7bMJyq.jpg) </div>Putting together the fragments of history was not an easy thing to do.  And yet, here she was.<br/><br/>With agile step, Reiko moved easily along the uneven steps, worn by elements and time alike.  Her long, shapely legs did not stumble, the balance of her shapely form did not falter, not once, nor slow from fatigue.  As a kunoichi of Sukoku, her body had been honed as a weapon, trained for years to complete any physical challenge while retaining a lovely appearance, the better to blend in with the populate.  This had once allowed those like her to act as spies and assassins for the Shogunate, their charming manner and attractive form allowing them all manner of access, until their training and a sharp knife let them enact their lord's will.<br/><br/>Now, of course, the Shogunate was no more.  The last of the royal family was firmly under the control of Elysia.  And kunoichi like her were trained in even deeper secret, the methods that previously allowed them to perform their duty now enabling them to survive, as enemies of the state.<br/><br/>Reiko paused a moment, brushing a strand of her black hair back from her lovely features.  Although she could wear disguises, she was dressed at the moment in the closest thing she had to a uniform: a sporty kimono, cut to please the eye.  High on the legs to expose the pale golden flesh of her athletic legs, and low in the neck to show the sloping curve of her generous cleavage.  Lastly, a mask, a thin covering over her full lips and little else, translucent.  A suggestion of concealment, nothing more.  After all, if you saw her, she wasn't trying to hide.<br/><br/>The Shogunate had been gone since before she was born.  Since before her parents were born.  Reiko's body was trained, but so was her mind, else she wouldn't have been able to unravel even this much of a puzzle.  Did it make sense to devote herself to restoring an order that she never knew?  Gently shaking her head, Reiko declined to answer once more.  She had sworn herself to this task, and a kunoichi did not break her word easily.  Not to herself.<br/><br/>Lips pressed gently together, Reiko strode onward.  She would face her destiny, whatever that would be.