"Ah,  Lady Amakusa, thank you for coming." Lord Amoru's speech was uncharacteristically formal, almost unsettlingly so.  It was not the way a lord like Amoru would usually talk to his retainer.<br/><br/>The bottom of his kimono danced around his feet as he paced, his bare feet made barely a whisper against the tatami mats. "I'm sure you've figured it out by now. I was attacked last night in my own bed, by an assassin of no small skill." He stopped and glared at the body on the floor his brown eyes narrowed as he stared. "How he got into the castle, how he evaded the guards and the traps, what his purpose was and who sent him? These are all questions that have been plaguing my mind. Questions I would like you to find the answers for."<br/><br/>He paused, the expression on his face softening as he studied Iroha's lithe body. How could those thin shoulders bear the weight of such a large mission? His eyes snapped back to her face and he stepped closer.<br/><br/>"Lady Amakusa, these are dark times." His voice was barely a whisper and his breath hung in the air. "Times filled with many shadows. Even those of us who walk in the light must fear those shadows and counter them with shadows of our own. I need you to be that shadow. From now on you answer to me, directly to me and only to me. You can use whatever means necessary to carry out your missions and I don't need to know every detail of how you accomplish them, just that they have been successful."<br/><br/>Lord Amoru reached into his kimono and pulled out a small tanto. Its blade was black as was its handle. He handed it to Iroha. The cold blade was heavy in her hand. Shadows reached up to twist themselves around it.<br/><br/>Iroha recognized the magic on the blade that lingered even after the hand that summoned it had passed. It was an old technique mastered by the Eiken clan of ninja called the shadow blade. The Eiken could summon a blade of shadow by their own wll. Iroha could already see the blade fading back into the shadow it was formed from.<br/><br/>The Eiken clan lived to the north and had recently allied themselves with the Kochou family, one of the Amoru clan’s rivals for the domination of the Mikawa province. The Kochou family’s castle sat about a day’s journey to the north at the top of a hill overlooking Shinchou village.<br/><br/>"This is the knife that nearly took my life. It might help you find the one behind this attack. Do what you must to ensure the person behind this will not make another attempt on my life. I must take my leave of you now.” Lord Amoru turned and abruptly left the room leaving Iroha standing in the middle with only the corpse for company.<br/>