ROSE TYLER, NINJA ASSASSIN

Chapter Sixteen

After they emerged from the forest, Akira took the lead when they turned right on a dirt path that led towards Osaka. While they rode, Hattori rode in between the Doctor and Akira and told them about the castle and what they would expect to find. Donna and Rose rode behind them, listening to him while he talked loudly. He was telling them about the castle being on a small island in the middle of the city and how there was a high stone wall under the actual castle.

"The Shogun's quarters is on the top floor," Hattori said. "You will have to cross the water, scale the wall and find a way to get inside the castle. Also the floors are nightingale floors so you have to find a way to get past that."

"Sorry, what'd ya mean by nightingale floors?" Donna said.

"Nightingale floors are designed to creak when you step on them. That way you know someone is walking on them," Rose said to her.

"Great, how do we get across them then?" Donna said.

Rose smirked.

"We have ways," she said.

When they neared a small wooden bridge over a stream, Akira pointed to the left and everyone followed him while he went off the trail. He led them to a small outcrop of rocks deep in the woods and they stopped their horses. He and Rose got down from the horses and moved one of the large rocks aside. Inside were weapons, packs and dogis.

"We put this here in case we need them," Akira said. "I'm hoping that Hattori-san is truly on our side so he won't tell anyone this is here"

"I just told you about the castle defenses and where Ieyasu stays inside it. Isn't that proof that I'm on your side?" Hattori said angrily.

"I'm just warning you," Akira said.

Hattori let out an angry gust of air from his mouth. He looked at the Doctor and asked him to get down off his horse. The Doctor complied and was taken aback when Hattori took his tanto from its scabbard and handed it to him.

"I'm endangering all of you by doing this since most samurai will know my face," he said to everyone while they watched. "However, there is one thing a samurai is never without and that's his top knot. Doctor-sama," he said, grabbing his ponytail, "please cut off my top knot."

The Doctor grabbed the ponytail under his hand and sawed through his hair under the topknot. When he finished, his hair fell limply around his head and Hattori pointed to the lock of hair in the Doctor's hand.

"There! I have now disgraced myself further by cutting off my topknot. I can't be a samurai without it so I hope this proves once and for all that I'm not going to betray you."

Akira bowed his head in respect as the Doctor handed the tanto and lock of hair back to Hattori. Hattori stared at the hair in his hand before he tossed it into the stream. He put his tanto back in the scabbard and got back on his horse. He smoothed his hair back away from his face with his hand while Akira and Rose shared a look and Akira quickly took his topknot out and let his hair hang down like Hattori's. Akira then grabbed three packs and several weapons from the cave. He put the packs on the Doctor, Hattori and Rose's horses and handed the Doctor and Donna tantos. He thought for a moment and crawled into the cave. He came three out several large sacks with something bulky inside and crawled back out.

"If there is water, we have special floatation devices to cross it," he said to the others.

He tied one sack to the side of each saddle so it hung off the horse. Then he put the rock back over the opening and inspected it. Satisfied the cache of weapons and tools was hidden; he walked back over to his pack and untied it. He pulled out several folded pieces of paper and handed them to the Doctor.

"This is a forged pass for you," he said to the Doctor. "It gives you permission to travel. There may be inspectors on the road to Osaka. They keep an eye out for thieves or runaway slaves or women fleeing abusive homes. Also, eta can't travel," he added, looking at Hattori. "The pass is for you. As the man, you are allowed to travel with women and servants. All they care about is if you have permission, not us."

The Doctor nodded. He opened up the papers and looked at them. He smiled when he saw the alias on the front page.

"Doctor John Smith?" he said to Akira.

"It's the only English name I know," he said with a shrug. "Is that alright?"

"Yes, it's fine," the Doctor said, amused that he had indirectly guessed his own alias.

He folded the papers back up and stuck them in his inside pocket. Akira got back on his horse and they rode back to the road. They rode past the woods in about a half hour and Hattori and Akira dropped back behind Rose and Donna so it wouldn't look suspicious. They saw a few men traveling on foot along the road. They gave the Doctor and the two women shocked looks but said nothing as they rode by. But when they went over a small hill, they noticed two samurai stopping a couple of men about a mile away.

"Inspectors?" Donna said to Akira.

"Yes. Just keep calm and don't say anything. Let the Doctor-sama speak," Akira said.

The Doctor quickly came up with a reason for traveling the rode as they drew nearer the checkpoint. The samurai waved the two men on when they were nearly there and both of them turned to face the Doctor. The samurai on the right held up his hand to stop them and everyone slowed their horses. Both men were dressed in full armor, the black lacquer gleaming in the sun. There heads were covered with helmets that had no adornment on them. The Doctor stopped and reached in to get the papers while the samurai walked up to him and held out his hand. The other samurai gave the others a hard inspection while the Doctor waited for the samurai to check his papers. The samurai who was inspecting the others stopped and Donna blushed when he gave her an odd look She knew he was looking at her billowed dress and wondering why she wasn't riding sidesaddle like Rose was. He shook his head and walked back to his companion while he muttered under his breath about gaijin and their odd ways.

"Where are you headed?" the samurai said to the Doctor as he handed him the papers.

"We're going to Osaka. We're hoping to do a bit of sightseeing there," the Doctor said. "This is my wife, sister and two servants," he added, pointing behind him. "We recently arrived in Nagoya and we're traveling across the country. We hope to see Kyoto and Edo eventually but Osaka is our next stop. We're doing a bit of camping. That's the reason for all the luggage on our horses," he said, patting the pack behind him.

"You speak excellent Japanese for a gaijin," the samurai said.

"Thank you. I made it a point to learn the language before leaving England. Helps to communicate in a foreign land," the Doctor said.

The samurai nodded. He cautioned the Doctor about the shogun's presence in Osaka and the Doctor promised to behave himself and look after his companions. Then, to everyone's relief, the samurai waved them on and they rode off.

"Excellent work," Akira said.

"Thank you, I've often had to lie to people. It comes easily to me," the Doctor said.

"I'm just thankful they didn't search us," Donna said. "I don't think they would believe we were simple travelers if they found all the weaspons."

"I was planning to say we heard there were bandits and armed ourselves accordingly but perhaps they were too trusting when it comes to searching us…or too lazy," the Doctor said. "They probably see many people in a day and they wave them through as fast as they can so they won't have to do much work. Human nature never changes."

"That may be true," Akira said. "But when we near the city gates, I better take most of the equipment and find a way to go over the walls with them. The guards at the gates won't be lazy, not with the shogun in the city. And the last thing you need is to be thrown in a dungeon and tortured to death."

"Yes," Hattori said. "They'll show you no mercy if they think you're here to assassinate Ieyasu. Better to hide the packs and retrieve them later."

"Let us go a few more miles then and we'll stop to rest the horses. Akira can take the packs and separate from us and meet us later inside the city."

"I'll go with him," Hattori said.

"No, you need to stay with the Doctor and help him," Donna said. "I'll go with Akira and take the rest of the packs with me."

"You sure?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah. I haven't helped out much, that needs to change. I'll be alright."

The Doctor nodded and the five of them picked up speed and galloped down the road.

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