Disguise

It only took a few moments for Aito's eyelids to flutter shut, as he fell limp on the bed where he lay.

"What did you do?" Kai demanded, rushing over to Aito's side.

He quickly checked his pulse, putting slight pressure on the side of the servant boy's neck.

He was alive.

"Relax, kid. It's just a tranquilizer. The same one we used on him last night, actually." Glen replied airily, not bothering to check if Aito was alright.

Noticing Kai's cold stare, Glen chuckled and added, "Let's just say that it was a necessary precaution. If we left him here by himself while the two of us went shopping for clothes..." He paused as if he expected Kai to finish his sentence. When he didn't, Glen continued, "An escape would've seemed quite appealing, don't you think?"

Kai turned away. Of course, he had considered the thought of Aito escaping, however, he did not think that it was very likely for Aito to return to the Hidekai family and inform them of their mission.

Well, that's what he thought, at least.

Glen opened the room door and beckoned to him, "C'mon kid, we've got some shopping to do."

As much as Kai despised the idea of going shopping with Glen, he obeyed and followed him out the door. If they wanted to get the upper hand on Naoki, they would need to be prepared.

The two of them left the inn and made their way towards Akemi-ten, the shop that Aito had recommended to them.

"A couple of blocks away, huh?" Glen whispered, looking down both sides of the street. "If only we knew which direction a 'couple of blocks' was."

"I think it's that way," Kai said, leading Glen down the wider, busier side of the street. "I remember seeing a bunch of retail stores and flashy businesses this way, when we had passed through the village."

Glen shrugged, and followed Kai - after all, that was their only lead.

They walked in silence for the majority of the walk, following nothing but Kai's vague memory of the village layout from the day before. Yet, as unlikely as it seemed, they spotted Akemi-ten from a distance. A bright sign was placed out front, written in bold, bubble letters: "AKEMI." In smaller print, was "ten" at the corner of the sign.

"Hey, look!" Glen grinned, pointing at the sign. "Let's go, no time to waste!"

Without another word, Glen ran ahead, eager to get to the store. To Kai, however, it just seemed like his partner was interested in trying out female clothing. It only took a few minutes to walk to the store, but only until he saw the building close up, had he realized how much of an eye-sore it truly was.

The store itself was a pastel pink color, with a sea of blues and greens painted onto it. The doorframe was coated in a neon blue color, outlined with a lighter shade of baby blue along the rim. However, despite the ocean of colors in which the store was painted, the doors themselves were - thankfully - colorless glass doors.

Kai stepped inside and was immediately greeted by the sound of Glen's cackling laughter.

"Hey, kid! What'cha think?"

Kai walked towards the direction of Glen's voice and saw him half-hiding behind a dark, velvet-colored curtain. That was probably where the fitting rooms were, Kai noted. Glen stepped out from behind the curtain and spun around.

To Kai's horror, his older partner was wearing a tight, strapless dress. It was in a brilliant orange color, which clashed horribly against Glen's pale, shabby look.

"That is absolutely disgusting, change back." Kai recoiled - he knew that he'd never be able to get that image of Glen out of his head.

Glen huffed and disappeared back behind the curtain.

"Pardon me, sir," A polite voice spoke behind Kai, "Are you in need of any assistance?"

Kai turned towards the woman who had spoken to him. She was young, maybe in her twenties? There was a small white nametag pinned onto her shirt, indicating that she worked at the store. The tag read, "Natsumi."

"Yes, I'm looking for beautiful clothing, preferably in darker shades," Kai replied.

"Beautiful clothing... my, that's rather vague." Natsumi teased. "Well, you've come to the right place."

She led him into the store. The place was filled with all sorts of dresses and frilly outfits. Kai spotted strange pieces of clothing that did not look like clothing at all, costumes of all sorts, and even a dress that seemed to be made of live flowers - somehow.

"Alright, so first off, are you thinking of buying this as a gift for someone, and if so, what size are you thinking of buying? Or... is this piece of clothing for yourself?"

A part of Kai seemed to die internally. He was hoping to be able to keep that to himself, but alas, if he wanted the best fitting, best-looking clothing to sway Naoki, he'd need the help of this simple woman.

"It's for me," Kai replied, trying to keep his voice steady as he told her.

Natsumi simply nodded and continued. "In that case... perhaps you'd like something more loosely fitting, and more comfortable."

She led him into another section of the store with dimmer, more elegant lighting. Kai could instantly see the difference not only in the environment but also in the quality of clothing. The material looked silky and smooth, designed to portray elegance and grace, compared to the lesser quality sheen from the section they had previously passed.

"This is the section for kimonos and flowy, more delicate dresses." Natsumi said, brushing her hand across the rows of dresses that lined the walls. "As you can see, these pieces have a rather bigger variety of colours than the previous section."

Kai nodded. He could see some pale, lighter colored garments, however, there were just as many darker, more somber colors hidden within the mix.

"Shall I leave you to explore these pieces then?" Natsumi asked, resting one hand behind her back politely.

Kai gave her a curt nod, "Yes, thank you."

With that, the employee left, leaving Kai to browse through the vast collection by himself.

He brushed his hand through the dresses, looking for something both comfortable - as well as easy to move around in. The long dresses that covered his feet certainly would not do... neither would the thigh-length dresses. With a dress too short, it would be obvious that it was simply a disguise, yet with a dress too long, it would be too difficult to move around in.

Then in the corner of his eye, something caught his eye. It was a two-piece outfit, not too long, and not too short. He took it off the clothing rack, inspecting it.

The top piece was a long, wide-sleeved robe in faded beige color. It had dark red camellias blooming across it, accompanied by dark, sacramento-green leaves along the roses. The faint yellow tint of the camellia stigma gave a beautiful, poised kind of look to it, with a single lacy red ribbon tying the robe together.

The second part of the set was the bottom piece. It was rather simple, being a long black skirt that reached just up to his knees. A long black sash was tied around the waist, fastening the skirt securely.

It would do.

He took the elegant garment in his arms and walked over to the velvet-curtain-covered fitting rooms. Glen was still shuffling through the dressing racks with a frown on his face. He was clearly having a hard time finding something that looked nice on him. Of course, if Natsumi had offered him a hand, he would've been able to find something fairly quickly, just as he had - but it seems as though she did not bother asking him, to his amusement.

Kai slipped past his partner, into the fitting rooms. Thankfully, Glen had not noticed.

It did not take him long to slip the two-piece outfit on. He found that the shirt was actually perfectly sized for him, and fit comfortably without any issues. The skirt, on the other hand, was a little bigger than his own waist size, however, a simple adjustment with the black sash around his waist easily fixed the problem.

Yet, the perfect sizing was not the only thing that had surprised him when he put the garments on. The material itself was infinitely soft, with an inner silk lining providing the utmost cooling effects and smooth texture. The black skirt was stiffer and firmer than the silk robe, however, the contrast in the material only improved the look of the outfit.

Kai stepped out from behind the curtain to face the mirror across from him. It looked... perfect.

Glen noticed Kai's outfit change and walked up to him with a teasing look on his face. "My, that really does look nice on you." He paused, looking Kai up and down. "The only thing you're missing now, is a wig, makeup, and some proper shoes."

Glen made a clicking sound with his tongue and winked. "But to your luck, I've got just what you need."

He slid his hand into his bag and pulled out simple black sandals. Handing them to Kai, he tried them on.

"Too small," Kai replied, handing the sandals back.

"Hmm... well, I can just get you bigger shoes later. But as of right now, try this one." Glen smiled, reaching into his bag once more and pulling out a bright blonde wig.

Kai made a disgusted look, and said "No thanks." He paused. "On another note, are you shoplif-"

Glen held a finger to Kai's mouth and hissed, "shh! That's not important. Let me go find you bigger shoes." He said, hurrying away.

Glen disappeared into the store, leaving Kai to stare at his reflection in the mirror.

Never, in his entire lifetime, would he have thought that he'd one day be dressing up as a woman for an assassination mission.

"What have I gotten myself into?"