Ah, yet another one of these:

1883:

 The cigarette butt glowed briefly in the dark before
it was crushed by a shiny boot.

 Saitoh Hajime, properly known to the world as Inspector
Fujita Goro, smirked as he looked up the lighted front of the
Aoiya. Golden eyes glowed as he put a hand on the hilt of his
sword and entered the establishment.

 "Irrashai- oh, it's just you."

Heh. Better than running off in fear, I suppose.

 They were waiting for him.

 "A good night for a little business, eh, weasel girl?"

 "Saitoh, I'm twenty years old. You really think that
teasing me like we were children is going to do anything?"

Prolly, knowing Misao.

 He flicked his eyes to Aoshi. Observant as ever, it
seems.

Aoshi was one of the dangerous ones.

 "That is correct, Shinomori." The stunned looks from
Okina and Misao saiid it

said

all>  Okina frowned. Saitoh wasn't surprised. His opening

made him sound like a revolutionary idiot recruiting them
into some conspiracy against the government. The
recruitment and conspiracy were correct, the idiot part
maybe even a bit on the mark considering what he did for
the Kasumi Gundan, but revolutionary and against the
government were totally wrong.

 "Do not worry, Okina. I'm not asking you to join
something that would go up against the government.
Actually, some of the individuals I mentioned are placed
in the higher echelons of the current administration.

Actually that wouldn't mean much if it was rebellion. Ever hear of a coup?
:)

 Another arched eyebrow from Okina and a decidedly
unpleasant look on Misao's face appeared as he
reflexively pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit up.
He never could tell this story anymore without the
artificial warmth of tobacco in his lungs.

Nice touch.

 Saitoh had followed the trail of slaughter this man
had left all over the country. Entire families butchered
and defiled in ways that made his stomach churn just
thinking about it. Considering that Saitoh wasn't exactly
a newcomer to slaughter and death this was saying something.

Got that right

 With a burst of strength, he disengaged from the mad
man, stumbling backwards a few steps. The blizzard
intensified, but it didn't seem to worry his opponent, a
fact the savage demonstrated by attacking mercilessly. The
Mibu's Wolf gritted his teeth as he mentally kicked himself.
His quarry was obviously used to fighting in snow. From the
past months of trailing the damned man, he had noticed that
a snowstorm had always seemed to be a signal for the man's
rampages.

You think that would make him suspicious then.

 Dressed in an expensive white kimono tied with a red
obi, the little girl before him was like an apparition. Her
ghostly alabaster akin was set off by her long black hair
that reached the snow-covered ground. A white marten was
perched on her shoulder.

Hmm. Interesting.

 He never reached her.

 For suddenly the world had stopped, turning a dark
gray as the girl narrowed her eyes. Her albino marten's
bloodred

blood red

 Ice froze him centimeters away from his goal. The human
shaped icicle fell to the snow before the girl's feet.

Suspected as much.

 An unnatural screech howled out of the maelstrom. It
was the sound of a wounded beast, but not of any beast that
Saitoh knew. It was like the howl of wolf at bay, mixed
with a trapped bear's roar along with an undefinable
something that made his spine shiver once again.

Nice description.

 Saitoh smiled. Hook, line and sinker.

 "We are the warriors who fight in the mist. We come and
we go silently in protection of country and our people."

 "We are the Kasumi Gundan."

Nice work, and more background to the world you are creating. Hope to see
more of it before too long.

D.B. Sommer

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