[Benihime x Youko Gaiden] The Crimson Kunoichi & The White Ronin

Apparently this samurai found something of interest in the life of a Shinobi. It made her wonder what his life was like that he would even show interest in such a thing. Beyond this, it seemed that he had a greater understanding of what she was doing with her self-summoning seals than most of the people she'd ever explained it to. The redhead's eyes widened and then for just a second a smirk appeared on her face. "Yeah, something like that..." the young woman said as she continued her work right until the reached the Daimyou himself, with her last seal being placed in the doorway of his office. The way this young samurai chose to address the man in charge was something a bit stunning. And given the Daimyou's own reaction it wasn't something he appreciated. 'Oh... I really hope I don't have to try killing that one...' she thought as the man took his cue and aimed to leave. "Arigatou Gozaimasu," she mentioned the young man as he left, there was no need to be rude and she wasn't usually.

As the Daimyou himself addressed her finally she bowed before him before standing. "They sent me, it isn't really my place to judge where I fall on the respectfulness scale, Daimyou-sama," she mentioned. She spoke to him this way, not out of some great respect for his title, but because she'd only read his name a couple of times and didn't have a face to place it to, and had thus forgotten it completely. "That as an aside, I was only briefed that you'd need a personal guard. If I may ask, what kind of threats do you face?" she asked, it was a strange thing, but the girl wanted to know what would make this man believe he needed someone of a greater caliber than the average ninja to protect him.

"Hai hai. Remember to cover up the goods next time; old guy's a creeper!" he said in passing to the redhead. With that said and done, he made his exit at last. He supposed he would be encountering this woman a second time this day, given the outrageous expectancies of the Daimyou toward him. All prior experiences told him he would eventually be showing the kunoichi to the guests' quarters, in which he also resided. For now, though, he was content to wander around until locating the one he was contracted to.

In the meantime, the Daimyou himself was scoffing at the younger male's fleeting statements. "Then leave the judging to me. At least you know how to address others, unlike that brat," he stated. There was a certain amount of information he'd expected his new guard to be given, but it seems the full message was not delivered. Luckily, she questioned things here and now. "A group of assassins threatens my life. I've been led to believe my own people have turned against me, and I will not stand for treason! It is your job to see to my safety until this issue has been resolved. Any further questions?"

The parting words from the samurai who'd brought her to the Daimyou had Benihime suppressing a chuckle. In fact, she'd had to turn her head with a great amount of swiftness to avoid the sound of laughter falling from her mouth, and doing so caused the bells on her top to chime for the first time since she'd arrived. She calmed down immediately after and managed to stifle cough her way into a normal conversation. It seemed within the Daimyou's office he was content to discuss the matters she'd been acquired to deal with. "Treason, huh? Sou ka, that is fine. I've taken the liberty of making it so I can move about the palace with relative ease," she said very calmly. "The only question I have to ask is, if I should come across an assassin, would you like them assassinated on the spot or do you want me to capture them for interrogation?" she asked. It seemed the man didn't know who was out to get him, and since his safety was her primary concern she'd have no problem killing any targets she came across. But if he needed to know what group was actually after him, a capture or two for interrogations might be necessary as well.

With Benihime offering an additional question, the Daimyou looked over a file containing the listed skill set of this kunoichi. "Investigation isn't listed here. The Kazekage must not have updated this in some time. Whatever the case, I'd rather they be killed. You seem to be very adept at that, so do avoid anything that could be a little more troublesome. Besides... they seem to have a habit of getting into people's brains and making them disappear. You're dismissed now. Have Youko show you to where you'll be staying for the time being." With that said, the older male of the residence opened a book and began perusing its pages.

It seemed the listing that had been given to this particular man didn't include all of the kunoichi's skills. It made her wonder what exactly Machi was planning or thought was happening here that he thought this man didn't need that much information. She would have sighed had she been alone in any place, but instead she simply held her tongue and nodded. "Hai hai, killed on sight. Ja ne, Daimyou-sama," she said it seemed this man intended for her to speak with someone named Youko to find out where she'd be staying while she was here. That name didn't even sound remotely familiar to the young woman but she figured she could find out with relative ease in the near future. With this out of the way and the Daimyou seeming to go on to reading, the young woman bowed and excused herself moving back out into the hall with the same impassive look on her face. 'Yare yare, what have you gotten me into Machi?' the woman thought as she began wandering about the house. She mentally decided to look for the young man she'd previously spoken to as he was most likely to know where to find this Youko person she was looking for.

Within the halls of the mansion, the white-haired samurai seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He could have easily located the Daimyou's daughter, but doing so required a particular skill set he was not keen on using until it was an absolute necessity. At the end of a thought process regarding where he would be going, he merely found himself slipping into the Daimyou's personal bar, which he'd previously been led to by the very girl he was sworn to protect in this household. If she wasn't going to reveal herself, he'd occupy himself with a glass or five of something that'd let him relax a bit. "Yare yare. Maybe now I can stop hanging out in front of doorways."

The Daimyou's daughter had indeed left the side of the samurai to go to the rest room, but she'd also ended up taking something of a detour before returning to find him. Whatever she was busying herself with, the white haired man was now in the private bar of the Daimyou apparently having a drink. In the meantime the red haired kunoichi was running about the house shifting seals in various places as she did so. Bedrooms, bathrooms, the kitchens and the like. The final places the crimson haired young woman found herself was a room off of one of the studies which appeared to be a bar of some sort. "Sugei!~" she chimed looking over the place only to have the white haired man she'd been looking for come into her vision in this place. "That's coincidental. Uh... do you know who Youko is? I was supposed to have that person show me where I should actually be," the red head mentioned as she took a moment to scope through the liquor that was being hidden here by the Daimyou.

Midway through his third glass of whiskey, the samurai was fated to receive a visitor. He had expected none other than the Daimyou's daughter, the girl responsible for his frequenting of this place, but alas... it was instead someone entirely new to the estate. Her approach was direct in asking who one known as Youko might be, but a single glance in her direction alerted the male to the wandering eyes she had for the bar scene. Putting down his own glass, he reached for a secondary drinking apparatus, as well as the bottle he originally poured from. One glass was filled anew after he topped himself off, and this new glass was slid down the counter. "Here. Toku-jii will miss a few ounces before he misses a whole bottle. May as well dust it off in that case, yeah?" he asked in rhetoric. Not expecting to be turned down, considering the look on the redhead's face after seeing the bar, he held his own glass up in her direction to formulate a toast of some sort. "To what? Indentured servitude?"

Benihime soon enough had the samurai she'd met earlier speaking to her, but he didn't answer her question. Instead, upon taking note of her interest in this place began moving things around so much so that he eventually pushed a newly filled glass towards the red haired young woman. She stopped it with her right hand and looked at it for only a second. The speech which came from this young man about how the ounces would be missed before the bottle made her laugh. "You're probably right about that," she said examining the glass with wide eyes. It had been quite a while since she'd had a nice drink and now she was going to be having a drink with this man, which didn't seem like it would be too bad. "Indentured servitude? That sounds dreary~" the young woman said as she lifted her glass. "But I'll still drink to it~" she said as she drained this glass of at least half of its contents after said toast was made. Still there was a bit more, he hadn't answered her question, so she made an assumption here and now, especially given how the Daimyou had referred to this young man's attitude. "I take it you're Youko... nice to meet you~" she said, thinking there were way worse ways to have met someone than having a drink in the middle of the day.

"Probably? I've been here just long enough to know for sure." Whatever the terms of this toast were taken as, he tilted his glass upward until its contents poured into his mouth. Benihime took it upon herself to assume his identity as the Youko she sought, and when this happened, he lowered his glass and sighed. Just as he thought, the Daimyou had nonchalantly pushed another task off onto him. "Hai. Katsuhara Youko, at the service of you and everyone else on the planet, apparently. Well... I'll take you over Toku-jii. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Suzukou." Once again, Youko raised his glass to drain the rest of the whiskey from it. Upon lowering it, there was the lightest flush to his visage. This made about three and a half drinks for him since leaving the office, and he'd yet to eat this day. Whatever the case, he thought it worth celebrating that his workload had officially been lightened. "Guess I've got a housemate now. I'll show you to the way. Though... I should be looking for Kazumi right now..."