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The next morning, Hanari was mummbling about this or that," Lumine... you are going to knock me over..."

but it wasn't Lumine. The two pups had invaded their bed, and their squirming had knocked Hanari into the floor soon after she complained. The two rouki were moving around the bed before curling by Lumine.
:..And Hanari sat there watching.

"Auntiiiiieeeee...." The small ear tugged away, flicking and twitching,"My ear.."
"Don't eat Yukiiiii," the brother exclaimed. Once Lumine sat up, they both spilled onto her Lap and exclaimed,"GOOD MORNING." Hanari was standing up and undusting herself, muttering , "Good morning" while the white puppy began to speak:

"Momma sent us to wake you up! The elite meeting is in a few hours, but she sent for a 'few special guests' and I think one of them arrived," She would inform,"So come one! The guests are sure to start arriving soon!" The two pounced off and ran to wait outside.

'Special guests uh? ' Hanari muttered," Ah... Rubuke and Samuro will be here.It has been a long time..."

____
Once the two were ready, the young tengu would lead them about the mansion. Yuki would make passing comments on this or that about the mansion, while Kuro mostly hanged onto the tail of Lumine's shirt. A few minutes in the pseudo maze, and they arrived at the back yard: a garden arranged with classical zen japanese aspects. Under the cherry blossom there was a few figures.

On the side, away from familiar faces were two pinked hair individuals. One a tall male, with a sword sheathed at his hip, a standard katana. His black wings were loosely tucked. He seemed to speak to a much shorter and younger tengu. Her hair was braided in two ponytails, and she had two sheaths: A large katana between her wings and a small wakazashi blade at her hip. "Those are the Mirumoto representatives," Yuki said," The big guy is Beyal. He is the Council and Head of family. The girl is Hidenka, the Elite, she has the two blades of the clan! they are so cool, she has let me hold them before!...They are really heavy. Beyal said that many samurais reject the idea of two swords because of how they believe the sword is a representation of their souls. He says that is baloney!...Well its not what he said, but Hideka hit him for what he did say...."

The three standing in the back was Michiko and two accompanying winged tengu. One was an older tengu, heavily leaned on a cane, despite being sat in one of the adorning benches. He wore a patient expression, and , like the other tengu, a pair of hakamas with a soft koi fish pattern stamped at its heel. His wings were a dominant black, and he was nodding along to what the girls said, his black hair in a bit of a short mess. He had no visible weapon... "Oh ! That is Samuro, he is the council of the Kenkaku. His legs don't work well, so he can't fight and has to use a cane... And that- "

The other was a woman, her back was turned to them, due to how she faced Michiko, but some of their conversation could be heard:

"The incidents have increased. We patch one break , and they find another."
'They are trained by one of the greatest assassins the guards ever had. It is expected they would be handfuls. Is it still only the two?"
"Yes , one with a witch doctor mask, the other with a fox mask. The latter is more quiet about what she does. We almost had her a few weeks back, but she slipped away."
"The exiled ones are getting dangerous."
"And bold."

Hanar tugged at Lumine. The tengu's wings were black, but they had distinct patches of gray over them, not to mention the large, all familiar nodachi was strapped in place between them. "Rubuke..."

At the sound of her name she turned around to face who had called her. The years, as Hakazi said, had served her well. Much taller now, she resembled Maemi. Her hair was still worn short, out of preference. Despite the armor, her much more noticeable curves were visible. She blinked and smiled,"Lumine!"

She went over to hug the shepherd," Here I thought Michiko was yanking my chain! You are back! "

'YES , there is a few morbid assassins... well not recognized by the academy..." Rubuke explained, patting Lumine's shoulders." The Exiles are finding a way to get into the village."
"The exiles?" Hanari walked up," How is it they are getting into the village?" She turned to Lumine,"They are a band of maverick tengu. Anarchist who fight the very structure of the tengu society-"
'Aka, us."

From the side a pair of red haired tengu, a female and a male of average size and built walked up to them. The male went to shake hands with Samuro while the female walked to Lumine with a charismatic smile. "The Exiles are led by a distant relative of mine, Anei Kaninus-"
'You know well we do not say her name." And yet more came, from then opposite side came an old tengu, and one that Lumine had hears of before. Taise, Seijin's competition in school, and her twin sister flanker the eldest member of tengu society.

"Ah, forgive me , Master Yao." The red head bowed her head.
'if you excuse my insubordination, Master Yao, I believe we need to address the problem by its name," Rubuke said. The red headed male sat by Samuro, but they scooted to allow one of the green headed twins to sit by them, with her pleasant smile. The tengu arranged around the bench, all facing the Master Yao. The Mirumoto also came over.

Hanari tugged at Lumine's sleeve. "The red headed ones are the Kaninus clan representative," She whispered. She pointed to the woman, with subtle features and intense eyes. Her outfit consisted of lose pants, held above by th boots she wore. Her sleeves were drawn back by a pair of bracers with the family seal on them. At her hips were knives. 'That is Toomura, she was one of my closes friends, and that is her brother Kyodan." The male had a similar oufit and a sly, charismatic smile. "They are the assassins. Quiet, stealthy, and deadly."

"The green haired ones," She nodded at the one sat between the younger tengu. Her hair was braided and it wen over her shoulder. she wore kimono top as a jacket over a lose shirt and a long skirt. "That is Heida, and the one in the armor-" she wore a heavy armor. A war hammer ln her back... now it was easy to notice why they stood out: their green clothes contrasted their white wings,"Is Taisei. They are from the warhammer clan, the Jurou. if they catch you, you die crushed."

"You know the pink haired ones, the Mirumoto,...the brown tengu," She now gestured to the eldest," Is Yao Dono... she is the oldest tengu and the leader of both the elite and the council. Her granddaughter, the one over there, with the piercing green eyes," said tengu was standing behind the entire crowd. Her high collar covered her yawn and her bangs one of her eyes, "Kamuko. They are the archers from the Yao clan. Their aim is deadly, and rivaled by none..."

Master Yao stretched her wings,"Let us protect our kin-"
'With loyalty and strength." Answered the chorus,
'May our blades never falter-"
'For our duty is clear."
"If we must-"
'We walk to our saintly deaths,"
'With Pride."
'And honor."

"Let the council meeting,..." Her cane hit the ground,"Begin."

"Yes.... she is doing well. I am happy for her," Hanari smiled softly. "But Samuro should not be here. Does that mean father has died?"

___
"We all know why the emergency meeting was called," The eldest tengu announced," The exiles outside the wall have began to barge into our homes. A pair of them, a crow masked and fox masked one, who have come in and out avoiding the sentries that regulate exile visits to the village."

("The Exiles are allowed to visit the village. only a few in a month, as long as they wear a mask and red hood to brand them as outcasts," Hanari said,"Usually, they don't take those visits, they like to think they are independent and do not need the society. As it is, they can speak their own language." )

"We should simply cut all flow of exiles," Beyal crossed his arms looking at Yao," That way they should be easier to spot."
"But the village is the supply to their doctor," Heida sighed," Not all the exiles are criminals."
"Well, do you suppose we need to treat them like a ethnic tribe," Taisei would retort," Or ignore their threat either."

'Its simple, we will double the watch sentries." Yao's cane hit the floor again, "We cannot let them continue to mock our institution. I will ask that one of our elite warriors be overwatching the lower guards in their shifts." She looked among them,"The two which have been causing trouble are trained in the arts of the Kaninus clan. They are stealthy and of the shadows."
'not only that, these are likely trained by Anei Kaninus herself!" Rubuke added," We know the implications of her involvement."

"If the Black Wolf is involved we are in deep---"

Thud.

Kage gasp. An arrow ripped into her arm, almost breaking her bone. The red kaninus were already flanking her and Junichi. Rubuke had darted up, as hade Hide ka and Kamuko, all of them weapons beared.

The Watiso and Jurou had ran out and around the house while Michiko went to the puppies. :...and amidst that Master Yao was lowering her bow.
"The assassins," hanari muttered.

Hanari hurried after Lumine," Yes! the kids!"

michiko had collected them and actually was moving to them , a child in each arm," Go inside, you two, quick."
___

While Junichi grabbed her, Kage reached back and took her shield. As they ran to one of the Kaninus, the woman she braced. the hidden blade stuck at them, she blocked and shoved back, making Toomura fall off the roof. She seemed to not even feel her arm's state as she ran, a shield in her hand, now keeping up with Junichi.

The next one was rubuke, landing right infront of them and swinging the nodachi down, Kage shoved Junichi to the side as she dove to the opposite side so they would run around, at the same tome Rubuke swung fully around.

The puppies clung to their mother as she nodded,"Yes, they have been the ones causing all the ruckus. They have taken down a few high ranking generals and noble men." She petted her children's head lovingly.

"Michiko, I must say.... I had not heard The black wolf's name mentioned in years," Hanari said, watching out a window for any other chaos," Has she truly become a threat again?"
"She is. She is back, and fully poised to attack..."
____

Kage did A similar thing, but given the small seconds behind she was, when she jumped one of the wing tengu, Hidenka, tackled her and rammed her somewhere below. Rubuke took her sword up and darted after Junichi by air...The younger yao was aiming at the fleeing assassin.

"The Black Wolf was the leader of the Kaninus when they over took the Imotou Clan.... he was a ruthless man. The name, however, is not about him, but the black armor he wore. The Black Wolf we speak of is his direct descendant, a woman, by the name of Anei Kaninus."
"She was a friend of MasterKazuko."
"Indeed, one of the top 2% of her class," Michiko nodded," She ...went rogue after her lover married to another high noble woman. She killed the wife, took the armor and escaped. Once outside she stumbled upon the exiles, and after years came to rule them."

Michiko's children were still clung to her," She is mighty but she has no need to soil her hands when she has people who can do it for her."

__

Rubule wedged into the wall Junichi jumped off, and as Kamuko fired , a figured jumped up to run alongside the red tengu. The shield was pierced by the armor, but other than a bruised she would be fine. Kage ran ahead leading them to one of the roofs that could lead to the outside of the wall....

Then the Jurou twins appeared, both came crashing sown wuth their hammers. Even Kage had no bettee plan than to plow through as quick as she could.

"Anei was a lesser one in the bloodline caste. She was a great grear granddaugther of the great wolf, but the power diverged at some point, leaving Toomura's family with the power soon before she was born. And yes, Anei is quite old now... Not sure how she manages to stay so alive. then again... we don't know how Yao dono. does it either."

The thunder of the hammers could be heard. The puppies whimpered but their mother knelt down to hug them," Dear lord, they will have to be careful or else they will wreck the entire village."

___

Given she was ahead, Kage had to do better. One pf the hammers came down and she jumped, landing on its parallel side, before flipping over Hieda, smacking into the council's head and shoving off there. The momentum sent her over into the river, landing by Junichi, and already starting her swim through the wall's break.