<div class="floatleft">(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-33k0HTMhZvI/VoZtz9mE7eI/AAAAAAAAOaM/A8WSrWw05H0/w500-h753/j.jpg)</div>The monastery was a welcome respite from the unexpected pains of life.  Solitude from wayward glances and polite rejection afforded to her by those that once believed in her future.  Peace from the paranoid blades and thoughts of even her own mind.  Already there were whispers among her peers and elders that she might consider such retirement permanent.  Bend her youthful mind and body toward the next life as this one already faced such horrible disfigurement.  Reputation in shambles, honor torn asunder by choices not her own there was certainly reason to do so.  Yet the spirit of the Hare would not be denied and Ujina Amaya knew there was more for her to accomplish before the walls of a monastery became her home.<br/><br/>Even now, waiting for a mission she knew only vague details regarding, she could not remain still.  Surrounded by peace and solitude, she had found that promised respite for only a day.  By the following morning she was out running and exploring the landscape.  Exercises designed to keep her body honed and in fighting form were performed on odd objects around the monastery.  Comically a sack was filled with straw and stones to give weight so that she could also practice the art of jujitsu.  Watching her rolling around on the floor with the sack was enough to make some question her sanity.  Still she persisted until the raven came to call on them all.<br/><br/>Despite the physical exercise and conditioning, Ujina Amaya remained a slender woman.  Washed up and placed inside her proper attire of a kimono there was no mistaking a particular beauty to her appearance.  A something that was hard to place which lingered at the corner of the eye or on the edges of the mind embraced her body.  Hair of an inky fullness was pulled up atop her head.  Rudimentary decorations dangled those strands which could seem cheap in other women but for her seemed quaint and youthful.  Her neck was long and unblemished, shyly peeking out from a kimono that seemed at once too large for her slender form and also too small to hide the delicate collarbone.  While the clothing was simply made with earthen tones, Amaya could not resist a slash of red and white in her obi and along the edges.  She would still be Hare in her soul and heart.<br/><br/>At one time people had remarked she looked like her mother.  At one time that would have made her smile as a compliment.  Now her look was sour at the thought and even more sour at the Scorpion’s mask.  Full lips, seemingly designed to be touched and kissed, turned down into a frown which resembled more of a pout.  Eyes darkened but only became what could be called bedroom eyes.  Even being angry the sexual energy of her bloodline remained.<br/><br/>“While I appreciate the chance to serve and to eliminate such a threat to our Emperor, wouldn’t others be better suited to such deception?  I do not know those present, but I do not think any among us were raised anywhere near a geisha house.  Is there a motive to having newly minted geisha there?  Some attraction of these monsters to the idea?”