The Birth of Madness

Chapter 2 - Visit

Ashi looked over the mess of papers, sprawling off the bed and onto the floor, and decided it could be dealt with later. However, she took the letter and put it into her jacket pocket. Then, closing the door to her father's room behind her, she made her way back towards the front of the house.

Opening the door, she saw a woman, looking to be in her late 30s, dressed in a gray suit. "Ms. Kuki?"

"That's me," Ashi responded, looking over this mystery woman. She was dressed very formally, except for her black boots, which looked like something a soldier would wear on a muddy field.

"Sorry to bother you," she returned with an easy smile, "but I'm a friend of your father's. Is he home?"

"He's dead," she returned bluntly, and the woman's smile faltered somewhat.

"I see," the woman seemed uncertain, before coming to a resolution. "May I come inside anyway? Unless you had plans."

"No, no plans," Ashi stepped to the side, and the mystery woman walked in, looking around at the décor. "Dining room is right there, through the kitchen," Ashi points.

The woman makes it halfway down the hall, before pausing a moment, looking at the rapier lying on the hallway table. "You have a lovely home," she complemented, moving on. Ashi closed the door, rubbing her eyes. This was the longest stretch of time she hadn't napped in years, and the energy boost from the fight was wearing off. Hopefully this woman wouldn't stay long.

The dining room wasn't especially impressive, but it was clean - though that was mostly because Ashi never used it, instead opting to just eat the food in the kitchen, if she was eating at home at all. The two sat on opposite sides of the table, the slowly rising sun throwing creeping sunbeams across the tablecloth.

"So," the woman started first, "how have you been?"

"Fine," Ashi tapped her fingers on the table. "Bored."

"Do you... have any friends you can go out with?"

"No." The fingers kept tapping.

"Sorry," the woman murmured, almost to herself.

Ashi watched the woman fidgeting, before standing up. "Do you want anything? Water? Tea?"

The woman seemed caught off guard for a second, before smiling. "Sure, I'd like some tea."

Ashi rose and made her way into the dimly lit kitchen. She didn't make tea often, but she did the know where everything was. As the pot slowly works towards boiling, she finds herself hoping again that this woman wouldn't linger long, so she could go to bed.

There was someone behind her.

Ashi quickly turned around and batted away a pair of outstreched hands. The woman stared into her eyes, seeming surprised at having been noticed. For a moment, neither of them moved. Ashi's eyes followed her arms down to her hands, seeing a small strip of curved leather with a clasp on either end.

The woman's face suddenly shifted into determination, and she lunged forward. Ashi sidestepped as she heard breaking glass somewhere in her house. Her ears twitched. Someone else had entered the building. She was under attack.

Resolve suddenly filled her, and she made to run for the hallway, dodging around the woman's attempt at getting in the way. However, she had barely caught sight of the table she was headed for when the glass behind her shattered, and there was barely time to turn and recognize someone else was in her house - and on top of her, their knee pressing into her stomach. It was a rather burly man with graying hair, she noted as she tried desperately to find a way out of this situation.