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[IamanElfCollaborator]

Daisuke and Madoka end up at a side door leading to an outdoor, fenced area to the side of the eatery. Though there are tables and charis outside, the place is open enough for a duel.

Todoroki leans on a pillar holding up the roof's overhang, arms crossed.
"This should be interesting."
Kazuki and Setsurou's eyes on the hooded figure, of course, distract them from a beggar approaching Rin. They look to be a young girl no older than Rin herself, slightly younger, even.

"Miss, do you have money to spare?"
"Oh, um....I'm sorry, but-"

A flicker of metal is the only warning Rin gets, as a knife surges towards her gut, Kazuki being just too slow to intervene-
"The hell you will!"

Setsurou feels Yusuke pounce from his arms, his little paws swiping across the beggar's face. The beggar drops their knife, screaming and covering their wounded face as Yusuke places himself between Rin and them, hissing.

Rin, for her part, stands back shocked, not quite having processed what happened, until she notices the knife having clattered on the cobbles, and "Yuya" having leapt to her defense.
"Is....that's...did your cat just talk?"
"Shit."

[RedMageCole]

Kazuki hesitated too much— had the beggar been anyone but a young girl, he might have been able to step in and save Rin quicker. Even though he tried to dart out as fast as he could, it wasn't enough... however, thankfully enough, his suspicions were confirmed about the cat that Setsurou heard. Kazuki was immediately in on the follow-up as he kicked the dropped knife away from the beggar and towards the group and darted behind the beggar's back. They left themselves open from the attack— a perfect moment for Kazuki to attempt to grab both of the supposed 'beggar's' hands and restrain them behind her.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

The shock of having a talking cat slash them across the face leaves the would-be assassin open to being tackled by Kazuki and restrained. In the process of doing so, Kazuki picks up on a few things.

Firstly, the "beggar" looks a lot cleaner than a normal beggar, something that Rin likely would have picked up on had they given her the time. Secondly, that knife on the ground is no rusty two-bit piece of ironworks; it looks to be quality metalwork, as if specially commissioned. Thirdly, something was knocked to the ground in the struggle, appearing to be the personal seal of someone. If it's a noble clan, it's not one Kazuki has ever seen before, and it definitely has nothing to do with the easily-recognisable Imperial Seal.

Rin picks up "Yuya", eyeing him up and down.
"You can talk."
"I guess I can't lie anymore, huh? Yes, yes I can."
"Does your owner know?"
"Yes he does."
"Well....this isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to me ever, so....I guess...thanks for saving me, little Yuya. You're a cute little-"
"I am not cute. Please, do not call me cute."

[RedMageCole]

Kazuki looks over all of these details, noting them. Firstly, he didn't have to feel bad about restraining this woman— being a beggar was just a facade, it seemed. And the knife was certainly not something a beggar could get. However, the personal seal was... interesting. He couldn't pick it up, unfortunately— he tried to kick it to the group, but couldn't get it far. He looked over to the group, trying to eye someone to get the seal. He particularly picked out Traxesa with his eyes to get the seal— probably the one he trusted most to pick up the seal in the moment. After all, Rin was... distracted.

Sheesh, you nearly get murdered and your first instinct isn't to take vengeance or berate your bodyguard for failing, it's to play with the Cursed? This girl... Kazuki shook his head, then leaned in to the beggar. "You know, nothin' pisses me off more than a half-assed job. If I fail, at least I can work on moving on. But some slime very nearly kills my boss and I'm not even the one to get to save her? Shows that I'm gettin' sloppy. And I hate sloppy. Now that I've vented my emotions to you and you know I'm not playing around," Kazuki tightened his grip on the supposed beggar woman's arms even further, almost twisting them. "You can start by telling me who you are, why you tried to kill one of the few perfectly decent people in this world, and who the hell you answer to. Now."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Setsurou sighed.

"I suppose, to use an appropriate phrase, the cat is out of the bag. Or more specifically, The Cat."

The shinobi decided to leave the attacker to Ohara and turned to Rin.

"This was a rescue mission; Traxesa, Tanigawa, and I were attempting to get Yusuke away from the Empress, and right now Tanigawa is trying to hold off his guard escort on her own. I must to go help her and then escape with him. We cannot let the Empress get her corrupt hands on him again."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

The asssasin simply spits on the ground with a hiss.
"Go to hell. I won't talk. The Hiruma Clan are not traitors."

That rings a bell. The Hiruma Clan are considered only second in the land to the shinobi of the Yugen Clan, and have a reputation for being used to assassinate nobles and the like. For a clan like that to be involved with Rin means something deeper afoot is going on. Of course, they have a reputation for discretion, so not even torture is going to get that information out of them. The best solution is likely to knock her out and leave her for the authorities to arrest.

Rin stares at Setsurou.
"Wait. The Cat....the Empress...."
Her eyes widen.
"Y-you're...you're one of the....Juunishi, right? I thought that was just a bed-time story!"
"Wanna do the honors of explaining, Setsurou? Since I'm pretty sure she'll take the serious-looking ninja seriously over the cat currently dangling a few feet off the ground."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Allow me to introduce myself then. I am the nukenin Tsubouchi Setsurou, son of Tsubouchi Shinsuke, the head of the Yugen clan. For seven years I watched over the Juunishi the Empress gathered to her palace, which included Yusuke, Tanigawa, and Traxesa."

"She was very... jealous, to the point of cruelty - especially towards Yusuke. I couldn't bear to see the abuse any longer, so I helped him organize an escape. I don't know how many of the Juunishi made it out, but Yusuke was captured and I abandoned my position to save him. Traxesa and Tanigawa agreed to help me stage this operation. We managed to distract the guards enough for him to transform and run away, which is where we met you in the cafe."

"And now we must get Tanigawa and escape Kamihara. We have an ally waiting for us to return with him."

Although Traxesa trusted Ohara, Setsurou wasn't quite comfortable with dropping Tokiwa's name just yet. Especially around a Hiruma.

[IcyTea31]

There was a commotion of some sort on the street outside the alley. Yusuke and Traxesa had moved, but the Sheep stayed in place. Past the tension and the quiet staring contest Miyako was having with the guards, she thought she heard someone mention her surname.

That's either very good, or very bad. If it's Setsurou and Traxesa talking about me, we're on the home stretch. But I do want to meet the Sheep...

[RedMageCole]

"Well, aren't you just the most cooperative prisoner? I'm not gonna bother torturing you in front of my boss, but thanks for telling me who you belong to. Have a nice nap, enjoy prison, all that." Kazuki didn't have much time to react, so he acted quickly: first, he brought his fist around the Hiruma agent and gave her a punch to the solar plexus. Not as hard as he'd like with the poor angle, but it was enough for him to bring her around, grab her by the head, and then slam his knee as hard as he could into her face to fully render her unconscious.

As Kazuki put a boot on the back of the assassin, Kazuki listened in on the explanation— it didn't surprise him that Traxesa was one of the Juunishi, considering what he had been told. He didn't say a word; he couldn't lie to Traxesa's face, but wasn't exactly jumping to say what was on his mind either.

"Well, that's certainly a story and a half!" Kazuki spoke up— his casual nature was back, but there was evident frustration in it. At the very least, it provided him with a free excuse to not talk about the Juunishi. "So sorry to interrupt it, but I got bodyguard duties to be doing before we get going. Does anyone in the general vicinity here have any reason that the Hiruma Clan might want anyone in this general vicinity dead? Because I'll tell you, that assassin was not just any assassin."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"If she had gone after me, I would have assumed clan rivalry. I don't know why she went after your employer. Regardless, we can't keep standing around talking."

[kj1225]

Daisuke and Madoka end up at a side door leading to an outdoor, fenced area to the side of the eatery. Though there are tables and charis outside, the place is open enough for a duel.

Todoroki leans on a pillar holding up the roof's overhang, arms crossed.
"This should be interesting."

Daisuke takes his place across from the other swordsman, his hand resting on the sheath of his less decorated sword. He looks to Madoka, letting her take up her stance first both as a small small bout of politeness and also to get an idea of what she might try and how to respond.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Rin stares at Setsurou again, trying to process what he just said.
"So the legend is real....the Juunishi really are...."
She stares at Yusuke for a moment, as if recognising him. Then she stares back at Setsurou determinedly.
".....yes. I'll help you."
"What? Are you crazy? No, don't get involved. You don't need to-"
"I want to. I...when we get out of here, I'll explain."

[RedMageCole]

Kazuki did not look happy about Setsurou's response— not unhappy with Setsurou himself, just unhappy with the response. Why the hell would anyone be out to get Rin? The thought annoyed him to no end...

...He wanted to be more annoyed when Rin made her decision to help out, but all he could really do was just shrug and sigh.

"Boss, an assassin just tried to kill y-... alright. Yeah, we'll help. Was plannin' on it anyway," Kazuki tried to maintain a smirk when he looked at Traxesa, but it didn't last too long. "...Just make sure you stay within a few feet of me as long as there are people or possible ambush points around, Rengoku. Otherwise, I'd have to beg Kubo to kill me." He doesn't sound like he's completely joking with that last part.

[SeriousConcentrate]

"...If Yusuke wants her to come with us, I suppose I'll allow it. You had other allies, right? Go grab them and come on, then. I don't think they would be very happy if their employer suddenly vanished on them."

[Praefectus Screptum]

"My, my. We didn't expect things to get this...lively. We must admit, this outcome was truly unexpected-and extremely amusing too."
"Should we bother to interrupt or just keep watching from afar?