Sero had progressed back into the manor. The front door left open as dead leaves and twigs would blow across the entry. After the initial hall was a grand open space with stairs spiraling up on either side. However in the center of them was another door. Straight ahead as with everything else. If he progressed through the door as soon as he was clear it would creak closed behind him plunging him into a dim light. Grey and empty within by appearance but he would know better. He would be able to feel others about the manor and grounds. If he concentrated he might even be able to tell the majority of them were stronger than himself. However the source was straight ahead. Through the next open doorway beckoning him forth. If he crossed that gate as well he would enter into the throne room. Lit by painted windows from the outside. Dancing colors across the stone floors and walls from windows depicting war. A large empty floor with seats along either side and at the head of it a throne. The mark of the osada on the cloth draped over it. The mark of the Unmei recently added into the front of the arm rest on the right.

It was there that Sero sat quietly. He had already sent out a pulse beckoning Chigetsu to his side when he entered the manor ahead of them. It was a simple thing. A sensation along the connection they shared bidding him come. Easily discernible that it was from the source of that connection. Now his attention was fully on the boy. Giving Chigetsu time to come to them. He would study the young Kaguya as he entered and with a shift of his hand the door would close behind him. So he had remained to train. He had intentions in mind for him involving another teacher for now but he had time to meddle with. He would wait for the boy to look to him before he would nod to the center of the room. If there had been more upkeep to this place it would have been a house fit for any lord. Still Sero would rise from his throne before approaching the center as well. Speaking as he seemed to glide rather than walk. Even missing an arm he carried himself with grace and power. It radiated from him even as he spoke in emotionless tones.

"I have a starting place in mind for you Kaguya, But for now surely you have begun to feel it. That thirst to punish another."

He would stop moving with space between them by about three meters. Quietly he would raise his right hand as a seal would seem to glow in the floor between them. Old marks of a language not taught in the academy. The glow would raise up in flickering blue flames before suddenly there would be a form tossed out of the floor itself from the center of the seal. A man in torn and blood stained pants and a one time white shirt now mostly red would collapse on the floor directly between the two. Coughing as he curled up into a ball and shivered. His eyes were sunken in and there was very little life in them. Hope had been ripped from him time and time again and now he was more husk than man. He didn't dare make any eye contact anymore. A tattoo on his neck suggested he had once been a part of a wealthy merchant family. Reduced to little more than a worm now.

"This thing here before you, decided to beat a man to death for little more than slandering his name in town. The punishment I chose at the time was suffering. He after all did leave a mother and new born without a father. However we must sate your hunger for now. How will you punish this man? A murderer for his own vanity. His fate is in your hands."

672

He had been called. Even from what he called his home in Kirigakure propper he would have been able to feel the twinge of chakra. It was in his soul now. As with part of his soul calling out to him, who was he to refuse? Of course, he was hardly comfortable with this. Having that beast infiltrate and corrupt into his body like that wasn’t something he truly wanted to acknowledge. It wasn’t that he was coming because Lord Osada called upon him, but because he himself wanted to come of his own free will. As he was currently staying in the mansion why not go and see it’s inhabitants? Give thanks for allowing him to stay there and rest. It was of his own free will. He wouldn’t admit to himself this was a farce, even though he could clearly say it. With the fear he felt for Lord Osada he wouldn’t normally even think to go and thank him for something so mundane. It was entirely a lie.

The already thin justification evaporated away as he arrived. The throne room would be entered bravely, without a second thought, and Chigetsu would sweep in clad fully in his armor and cloak. Regal silver decorated his body, serving just as much as an aesthetically pleasing addition to his form as it did protection. Aesthetics were important, and so Chigetsu did not allow the armor that he wore to sacrifice what he considered to be his feminine charm. An armored skirt was donned, along with stockings. His crossdressing had become much more habitual since his time in Sunagakure. Whether Sero would even recognize him now, appearing as a woman, was questionable. Perhaps just by his chakra signature the beast would know. Or the smell of his sweat. Red eyes swept forth from beneath his pink bangs, which would be quickly and uselessly swept away from his face with a gauntlet-clad hand, and the first thing those inquisitive pupils would catch on would begin a train of disgust. Already he had forgotten his originally excuse for being here. The scene of the murder instead took the forefront of his mind. It was a grisly image. To say that he was shocked was a lie, as he had long grown used to this sort of scenery on Spider Island. At the same time Chigetsu couldn’t help but raise his brows at it all. The blood that was now seeping into the floor in a puddle from what appeared to be the remnants of a man’s face would surely leave a stain. Doing something so messy here in this luxurious mansion seemed to go against the blue-blooded atmosphere that these beasts seemed to attempt to maintain, but perhaps he should have expected them here to not be concerned with mundanities of that nature. It was likely much too banal for them to consider. Some servant would be sent to clean the remains, and then anything stained would be replaced. Wealth likely wasn’t an object to this mansion’s owner. It was a completely different state of mind that Chigetsu could hardly understand.  

The boy and the man came next. Lord Osada and an unknown. The boy with a head full of hair unstained by the blood that now stuck slick to his hands. Sticky. He was dull. Perhaps unfairly Chigetsu would judge him from a single glance. Dull and unassuming, with the way his eyes looked out from within away at something else in the far distance. He assumed something of a boring personality. Then was the man, who he had met before. The last time face to face was him a predator, cornering two young children. Chigetsu could still remember the taste of the apple. He didn’t want to think about it.

“Lord Osada.” He would address him with respect, even if there was a tinge of prickliness in his voice. “It's a pleasure to see you again.” His eyes went back down again to the corpse, and there would be a slight twitch in his facial expression. "I'll assume you haven't called me here to clean up this mess."

---

[702]

Sero would simply sit back and watch. Speeches or no he would remain silent without expression. Merely a witness for this judgement. The boy would be his own person without inside influence for this moment. It was with the judgement that this Kaguya made that he would know the man. How he approached another with his actions not his words. Sero killed little for the reason of a thing, simply the result. Laws he would follow and enforce because it was an action that resulted in order. Order was the medicine for an affliction of greed and monstrosity within all of the children of eve. As the young man would crush the mans face repeatedly Sero would not flinch even as the hem of his robes would be splattered with blood. This was nothing new to him. Blood and punishment were the creed of this house. Still as the mans head was crushed under boot Sero would allow his attention to be drawn to the door just before it opened. So the boy would come when called for. It was good that Chigetsu would come to him. He had wondered if perhaps that boy would be less inclined to serve him as the others did.

As soon as Chigetsu would enter if they tried they would immediately begin to sense each other even with Sero present. A connection between the two that weighed at the moment heavily in Chigetsu's favor. Even though Chigetsu was far less likely to give into the nature of the beast he was inherently more powerful. That much would be clear just by being near each other. However Chigetsu would greet him with a touch or rather a hint of something less than loving in his voice. Sero would miss it entirely though as it mattered little to him. Love and adoration mattered little in the service of the law between its executioners. Still the question of if he had been called to clean the mess would be met with a raised eye brow of Sero's own. "Certainly not. The Manor will provide." Sero would step passed Koryu like a wraith sliding around him. Even as he did the corpse would begin to sink into the stone floor like it were some sort of thick liquid. Consuming the body and the blood. Even the blood on the boys boot would be drained away. Once it was done the floor would look normal and not a hint of a stain remained. Still Sero would settle before Chigetsu. Standing a mere meter away as he let those grey eyes stare into the boys own. Not even glancing at the clothing.

"A new member has joined our fold. He is proud and arrogant even. Yet he has accepted my gift in a quest for power. However first must come the lesson to control it before real power can be obtained. As such, you are most suited to train this one. The closest to human within the fold." Sero would turn and look to Koryu. Studying him again before nodding slowly. Considering his next words before speaking again. "Koryu, this being here is not your equal but currently your superior. Should he accept you as his student you would do well to serve him. If you doubt this be it your pride or simply that you feel anything that bleeds can die, I will tell you this. You as you currently are young Kaguya have no prayer of defeating Chigetsu. He nullifies anything your clan would normally be capable of doing. If either of you have thoughts on this process of mine, speak."