I MUST DO THIS, FOR HIM

"You're the Manji?"

She hated to hear her name spoken in such a manner. It made her feel like a thief, a murderer. She was anything but that, but perhaps in time even she would begin to taint her own reputation. Whatever the matter was, she hired for one thing. And that;s what she was going to do.

"Do you want my help or not?"

The man shrugged at the thought that she was who they hired. He thought nothing of her, just another street rat who fell into a pot of gold and dressed her self to play rich men fools. But even he couldn't deny her aura.

"There's much of this world I can still pull strings for. In order for us to get where he is, we need to find both sides of the coin." Her god spoke to her, as she always did. Though this day was much different for the both of them. They had tried something new, and they would learn what they would do to them both.

The woman would follow the suit and tie, only to be met with other men, though these one were masked. It was to be expected when someone wants to keep a secret, or were doing something they knew they weren't supposed to.

"Put this on." one would tell her, handing her a balaclava. it amused her, and she would nod and obey. It wasn't how she wanted to do it, but it was her duty for this night.

They would open the door and the frail woman would appear. Laughter would follow the sight of her.

"You're behind this?" he laughed, "I'm not telling you a damn word. Now if you undressed-"

With a single bound, she leaped up at the man. Her left leg bent, knee faced forward. Her arms behind her and her right leg extended. Without another thought or word, her knee would meet the man's face, breaking his nose at contact.

The man would fall backwards in his chair, landing onto the ground. The woman in black stood there, without even looking at his face.

"What the hell lady!" he would yell out, blood pouring down his face. "I'll kill you!"

As his words left his mouth, her body would twist and she knelt to the floor. Her right fist descended upon the ground to land directly in the center of his chest. She aimed for nothing more than the heart and lung of the man. Enough to knock the wind out of him. But following her strike, cracking sounds could be heard, and it wasn't from her hand.

The man would gasp for air. "I don't know nothing!" he would say, and it only made her want to kill him.

She would lift her foot to place it over the man's neck. With her hands she would pull the man's tie, up to her heel. His jaw would press against her foot and soon he would find himself with trouble breathing.

". . . Yes, just as I would do it." Nameless spoke, enjoying her show. But Chi knew why she was really here.

"O-o-o-okay!" the man would say, his face turning blue. Chi would lessen her grip, only enough to let him breathe, but not enough to ease the pain of the tie-burn. "They're gonna move the money next week! I swear! They're gonna use mail trucks for it. They're gonna hide it in the boxes I swear!"

Chi would release the tie, only to place her foot on the man's head. She would lean in, without speaking a single word.

"They're gonna use the backroads, that's all I know!"

Chi would lean in, closer, putting in all of her weight, but careful to not crush the man's skull. "You're been helpful." She would say to the man. She would move off of him, close to whisper to his face. Her warm breath would be felt against his cold  skin. "The Nameless thanks you."

She would push off from the man, leaving the room. She would rip off her mask and drop it on the floor.

The men would face her, wondering how she was able to do it all so silently and without remorse. They had heard all of the strikes and hits. They almost wondered how or why she came to help them. Blood even seemed to drip from her hands, and she had not showed a single sign of caring.

"Well, what did he say?" the man would ask of her, "And I hope he's still alive, or else our cover will be blown."

But Chi would stand there, absorbing what she had done. But even so, she knew it wasn't really her who did all of that. The relic, the preserved skin of a supposed god, a deity. The more she considered her true power, the more she begun to understand all of her clan's rituals and why they were the way they were. Death was meaningless to them, and people often saw their relatives rise from the grave and protect their home. Was this the power of her god?

"He's alive." Chi would answer. "They'll be in mail trucks in the back roads of the town. Said the money will be in packages, boxes, most likely disguised as mail."

" . . . Good. "

They had received information about what they wanted, and Chi begun to understand what she needed.

Her god was not immortal. She could die like anyone else, but what she could do was rise from the dead, but within the lives of others. That was how she learned so much about her family, her past, her life.

The Manji House had offered her the most bodies, and as such she had used more of her family than any of the other houses. With the bodies, their power was taken. But with her power sealed... How could she continue to protect?

Of course, that was how they were able to enter her village.

"I need their name." Chi would ask herself.

"You help me get my power back, and I will help you avenge your entire family."

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