ROSE TYLER, NINJA ASSASSIN
Chapter Twenty Five Ieyasu's eyes flew open when he heard Yoshi calling to him. He raised up on his futon and asked him to enter. The door slid open, Yoshi came inside and bowed. "Excellency, we captured one of the ninjas. Several of the samurai are interrogating him now." "What about the second one. You said there were two," Ieyasu said. "The ninja claims that the second one was killed. We haven't found the body yet. And…" Yoshi trailed off and took a deep breath when Ieyasu asked him to continue. "The ninja is an Englishman," he said. Ieyasu got to his feet. "So it is true, the gaijin are turning against me and plotting with the ninja to overthrow me! I must speak to this Englishman myself before killing him." "Excellency, might I suggest a bit of restraint? This is an Englishman; perhaps he's a rogue that decided on his own to join the ninja. If you kill him, the other Englishmen may turn against you. And they have guns and cannons," Yoshi added. Ieyasu's jaw tightened and he nodded. "You're right. We must be cautious. However, if I find out that this is the start of an uprising, the gaijin will be forced out ofJapanand there will be no mercy for them. Now…show me where this Englishman is being held." "Yes, Excellency, follow me." XOXOXOXOXO The Doctor grunted when the samurai forced him to his knees in the middle of the room. There was nothing in the room except for tatami mats and a few pillows clumped up in one corner of the room. The Doctor gave the samurai a friendly grin while they gave him looks of death in return. "Evening, lovely night, eh?" the Doctor said. "I thought I might go for a boat ride and view your lovely castle up close and…" "SILENCE!" one of the samurai bellowed at him. "Just explaining myself," the Doctor said, shrugging. "My friend and I, that is…my dead friend and I was having a tour of the castle by moonlight. Lovely castle by the way…" He grunted when the samurai struck him and bellowed once more for him to shut up. The Doctor gave him a warning look. "I don't recommend doing that again," he said in a terse voice. "I might retaliate and you wouldn't want that." "I SAID…SHUT UP!" the samurai bellowed before striking him across the face again. XOXOXOXO While Donna ran with Hattori, she heard the samurai screaming at the Doctor to shut up and heard the sound of someone being hit. She hoped her friend was okay as they ran to the room. While they ran, the squeaks echoed in the narrow corridor but when they reached the room, they turned and were shocked when the door was still closed. They heard more yelling from the samurai. "The yelling must have drowned out the squeaks," Hattori whispered to Donna. "Go inside and tell Akira what's going on. I'm gonna carry on with my plan of acting like I just escaped." "Are you gonna be okay?" Donna said. "Yes. Just worry about not getting caught. I can take care of myself." Donna whispered good luck to Hattori, slid open the door and hurried inside the room. Hattori slid the door shut and waited till there was a lull in the shouting before he ran back towards the room. This time, the door slid open and one of the samurai looked out. Hattori recognized him as Aoki, a man who was only a few years older than he was. "Hattori-san?" Aoki said in disbelief. "I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead." "No, I escaped from the ninjas and came back here. They took my hand and cut off my topknot," he said, holding up his stump. "Those filthy dogs!" Aoki growled. "We'll make them all pay, starting with this one! Come inside, we have one of them!" Hattori walked inside and froze when he saw the Doctor. The Doctor's face was bruised and bloodied and he fought back the rage at seeing his friend in that condition. The Doctor had been a great friend, shown him mercy when no one else did and he felt bad for not being there to help him when he needed it. He cursed the fact that he didn't run to intercept them when they ran to the boat. "Do you recognize him?" Aoki said, pointing to the Doctor. "Yes, he was one of the ones in the village. Can I speak to him alone for a moment?" "Why?" Aoki said. "I want to get a bit of revenge in for what he did to me." Aoki glanced at the other samurai and they nodded. Hattori breathed a sigh of relief when everyone filed out of the room leaving him alone with the Doctor. He waited until the door slid shut and then he stepped in front of the Doctor, fell to his knees and prostrated himself. "Forgive me, Doctor-sama," he said softly. "For what?" the Doctor said softly. Hattori raised himself back up to a kneeling position. "I failed you. I saw you and Rose-san run for the boat but I didn't stop you and now you're a captive." "You've done nothing wrong. I volunteered to do this." "What? Why?" "Because there were too many samurai and Rose and I couldn't get away. I did this to create a distraction so she could escape. But she's trying to find you and Akira and Donna. We saw you go over the wall but we didn't know where you went." "There's a secret tunnel that leads from this castle under the ground to the forest. I knew about it and got Akira and Donna inside. They're down the hall in the armory. Akira's going to dress as a samurai. Donna was going to be our captive." "Can you tell Donna to go back to the tunnel and find Rose?" the Doctor whispered. "Bring her back here so they can look for the TARDIS?" Hattori nodded. "What about you? They might torture you," Hattori said. "And I'm sure they'll execute you when they're finished with that." "Don't worry about me. I can wriggle out of these ropes. I know a few tricks when it comes to escaping. Just make sure that you and Akira and Donna don't get caught." Hattori nodded and the Doctor smiled. "Thank you," the Doctor said. "And thank you for saving me when the other ninja wanted to kill me. You've been a wonderful friend." "And you. Tell me…you don't have anyone here? No family?" "Not really, perhaps some distant relatives but I don't speak to them." "And your career as a samurai is basically over with?" "With the loss of my hand? Yes." "Come with me then. When I leave with Donna and Rose, come with us. I know several places I can take you to where you can get a replacement hand." "A new hand? Grow one like magic?" Hattori said. "Not magic. It's a bit hard to explain but there are people who can make fake hands that will work as well as your own. I can do that for you and give you a new hand. Would you like to do that and come travel with me?" Hattori was stunned into silence for a moment and then he bowed at the waist. "I would be honored," he said. "And I would be honored as well if you came with me, my friend. Now…you better hurry and tell Donna to go find Rose before that lot come back in here." Hattori nodded and stood up. "And Hattori, hit me a couple of times." Hattori froze. "I can't…" "Please, so they'll hear it and not suspect you of treachery. And yell at me as well. I don't want anyone doubting your loyalty. I can take someone hitting me. Just do it." Hattori nodded. He took a deep breath and forced himself to yell at his friend, calling him a dog and accusing him of taking his hand. He then forced himself to hit the Doctor a couple of times, feeling bad about doing it while he struck him. When he was finished, the Doctor nodded his approval and smiled when Hattori bowed to him in respect. The Doctor whispered good luck to him and Hattori walked towards the door so the other samurai would know to come back inside.
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