<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/68/Red_Samurai.png)</div>Midori was able to assist the samurai to the small medical bay that also doubled as the shrine's laundry. On the way, they passed the wooden daisho stand that was kept empty for visitors, and he placed his katana and wakizashi in its slots, though not without difficulty. He placed his jingasa on a chair, leaving his wet hair plastered against his neck.<br/><br/>Saiyako could easily assure herself that nobody was lurking out in the rain, and she came into the laundry to find the samurai sitting on the edge of the bed, clad in what appeared to be a very cheap grey kimono, possibly of a soy-based material dispensed from a vending machine. It didn't cling to his skin the way Saiyako expected it to, though. She could remove the kimono easily, and discovered that he had a suit of Second Skin armour underneath it, just like hers and her sister's, although theirs did not have so many holes in them.<br/><br/>He looked up at Saiyako and smiled through the pain. "Thank you, miko-san, for seeing me. It has been... a trying day." He brushed his fingertips over his leg, touching his armour in a secret sequence that caused its seams to separate. The armour peeled away from his skin and changed to a bright orange colour, so that it wouldn't be lost as it slipped to the floor of the laundry. The samurai, now fully naked, turned onto his stomach and lay on the bed, allowing Saiyako to examine him.<br/><br/>His greatest injury was the knife wound in his back. The wound must have been made by a small knife with a triangular blade, possibly similar in size and shape to a primitive flint knife. The edges of the wound were inflamed as though by infection, even though the wound was clearly too fresh to have suffered much infection. Examining the wound in astral space showed Saiyako what Midori had seen, that the knife was definitely magical, and of a nature that was far from friendly.<br/><br/>Someone, possibly the samurai himself, had applied a medical spray to the wound to keep it from bleeding, but otherwise it had not been treated at all. The first thing Saiyako could do was to wash out the wound with a disinfectant, and then probe it for any blade fragments. Indeed, it didn't take long for Saiyako's medical tweezers to come up with a tiny shard of obsidian lodged in the wound.<br/><br/>Removing the obsidian shard seemed to alleviate the magical stress on the wound. Saiyako was able to clean out the wound - with surprisingly little protest from her patient - and could then stitch it closed with little difficulty. Examining the rest of his body, it was clear that he had been in a serious fight, with bullet impacts across his torso, arms and legs. The Second Skin armour had prevented any of the bullets from penetrating, and it seemed clear that he must have been wearing more substantial armour over it during the fight as well. She performed a little bit of work tending to these lesser wounds, then cast her healing spell.<br/><br/>The samurai's quiet grunts of pain turned into a gentle murmur of satisfaction as the magic worked over him. In less than a minute, the work was done, and all of his injuries had faded from his body. The biomonitors showed that his body was heavily taxed by his ordeal, though, so he clearly needed time to rest.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, he rolled onto his back and looked up at Saiyako with a grateful smile. "Thank you, miko-san. I am deeply in your debt." His gaze briefly lingered over her form before looking down again, and he reached for a sheet to cover his lower body.<br/><br/>Now that the immediate medical emergency was over, Grandfather came to the other side of the bed. "Welcome to Alderwood Shrine, samurai-san," he said softly, bowing deeply to their guest. You are most welcome to any aid we can offer you." He waved his hand, and a gentle whisper of white noise sprang up throughout the shrine, accompanied by a pattern of interference in the Matrix, attuned to the girls' commlinks. "You may speak freely here. My granddaughters will keep any confidence you share."<br/><br/>The samurai bowed his head to his three hosts. "Thank you, Sony-sensei, for your hospitality and your granddaughters' aid. I came to you because I do not know who I can trust within my own clan. The knife in my back was figurative as well as literal. I could not go to a clinic of my clan, or the other clans, because any number of eyes could be watching them. Your reputation precedes you, Sony-sensei - all know that you are a man of honour and virtue, and many speak of the cleverness and beauty of your grandchildren."<br/><br/>He slowly rose into a sitting position, resting his hands on his legs. "My name is Nakatomi Daisuke. I am a Red Samurai in service to my uncle Nakatomi-dono, and I need your help."