Izumi stepped over the threshold and pulled the door shut behind her. The hinge sounded unusually loud in the silent room, followed by a click as the latch slipped into place.
She walked up to Yongye but did not sit. She stood with her toes together, her heels slightly raised, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Lord Yongye."
Her voice was tight, squeezed from her throat as though she had to chew each word before she could speak it.
"If I do what Ayame does..."
"You'll help me rescue Itachi, right?"
Leaning against the wall, Yongye looked from her face to her clenched fingers, then back again. He answered with a question.
"Do you know what Ayame... does?"
Izumi's face reddened further. Kurenai spread from her cheekbones to her nose, then down her neck, as if someone had poured boiling water over her head.
Her lips trembled twice. She bit her lower lip so hard it turned white.
"I..."
"I gathered information."
"Back then, I wanted to take you down to get even for Itachi."
"I know about all those things you... do."
Her voice dwindled until the last few words were almost inaudible.
But the next moment, she raised her voice, and her embarrassment turned to Rage.
"You lied to me!"
"All that talk about justice above and Love below!"
"And I actually... damn it, I believed you!"
Her clenched fists shook harder and harder.
"I even admired you for a while!"
"You bastard!"
She forced the last two words through her teeth, her voice trembling with something between Rage and shame.
Yongye watched her, a smile slowly spreading across his face. It reached his eyes, openly wicked.
"That's right."
"Justice above, Love below."
He reached out and patted the tatami beside him, speaking at an