Author's Note: I revised this story for personal reasons. I was unhappy with most of the original. I'm sorry if I have ticked off any of you who enjoyed the original. Perhaps you'll grow to love this version as well.
The Bandit and the Lady
Chapter I: Legendary
"Milady please we must turn around," the attendant whispered, as if she believed her voice would rouse the dead, "we've gone too far already." The maiden she addressed paid her no heed. She stood by her stallion, Sadow, looking up at the mountain she longed to scale.
"Milady?" The maid said, this time, earning a reaction from the woman, though not one she desired.
"Oh Nou Nou!" She scoffed, "You worry far too much for your own good." She changed the subject as she looked up at the mountain again.
"Is it true what they say?"
"Is what true?" Nou Nou's voice was full of anxiety. The lady, hands planted firmly on her flare of hips in scrutiny, considered answering her guardian but seemed none too eager to do so. She longed to go into the forests. Curiousity was strong in her elven blood. Finally, she replied,
"Is it true that the most fearsome bandits in Konan reside there?" She pointed one deftly manicured finger towards the mountain's peak. Nou Nou's petite body shuddered.
"Yes. Now may we please leave?" Her voice was strained, even her horse seemed to shift uneasily at the base of the mighty mountain. The maiden smiled, revealing small white teeth and shallow dimples.
"Oh alright. The sun's setting anyway," her smile turned devious, "besides, we wouldn't want those so-called fearsome bandits coming out to greet us." And she laughed, mounting her stallion while Nou Nou turned her small mare towards home. They galloped off, completely unaware of the figure watching them from the safety of the trees.
"You shoulda seen 'er Genrou! She was a genuine elf! I mean she was a knock out! She had this hair, and her eyes, gods bless those eyes they were so damn green"
"Koji will ya shut up! She bein' an elf should tell ya she's rich, highbred, and way outta yer league." Genrou retorted with a disgusted snort. His hatred of females was still potent despite all his outrageous adventures with the Priestess of Suzaku and a chance encounter with a fiery little woman the other day.
"She wasn't just some rich, stuck-up-in-the-ass elf," Koji continued, "she was an angel. I mean, Suzaku 'imself musta sent 'er…"
"Koji. You drink way too much. Now yer babbling about angels? Go to bed." Genrou said irritably. Koji was ina daze. He had to meet her somehow, or at least, see her again. He knew her strong curiosity of his mountain home would bring her back. It was, at least, a ray of hope.
Diluted light filtered its way through the blue curtains of a sedan, concealing the beautiful maiden inside. She sat with her hands folded in her lap, her knees and ankles drawn tightly together. Across from her sat her intended. The man she was forcefully engaged to. The maiden regarded him with a cool stare. When she had asked her uncle why she was matched with such a man, he had smiled and replied that she was too naïve to understand.
Politics, she thought bitterly, no matter what it will always boil down to politics. She shifted uncomfortably, the heavy silence pierced by the rustling of silks on her body and the dangling of golden jewelry and the elaborate brocade on her head. She kept her eyes off the lecherous man before her.
"Sakura, what ails you so much as to not look at me?" He asked, his voice mocking. The woman's eyes darted frantically beneath thick lashes for something to focus on. She decided that the golden embroidery on her silken robe was more intriguing than a conversation with that man.
"Sakura?" His voice interrupted her vision's tenth course over the embroidered grape vine on her dress. She cringed inwardly at his voice. How his own household tolerated the sound of crackling leaves was a mystery to her.
"I am feeling quite ill," she said politely, "I did not see it fit to trouble you with my ailments." At this, the man's beady black eyes narrowed to slits. Sakura focused on one of the many rings on her fingers.
"Sakura, we are going to the Imperial City to have our engagement blessed by the legendary Priestess of Suzaku herself. You are a terrible liar." He smirked at her, revealing far too much gum and not enough of his yellowed teeth. Before Sakura could reply with something quite caustic the sedan shuddered, rocked forward, and was jerked to the side. Sakura flew forward onto her hands and knees. Before she could find a grip and gain her balance she was thrown from the safety of the sedan and into the glare of the sun. The sound of horses panicking, the soldiers that made up their escort were shouting. Her head spun as she worked to get up. A barracks-yard oath tumbled from her sanguine mouth as she tried to stand, tried to get away from the putrid smell of battle. Something snagged her many layered dress.
"Damn it to hellfire!" She hissed but it was drowned out in the sound of steel on steel, men's shouts, and horse's whinnies. She removed the many robes she wore until she wore only one. Securing the sash where her bejeweled dagger was well placed, she made her way away from the vicinity. Obsidian hair escaped the confines of its immaculately placed hairstyle and the brocade joined the trail of robes on the ground, as did her jewelry. An unceremonious symbol of an undesired role in life despite her upbringing. She tripped on something and was greeted by the ground and a stone as they both rushed up to meet her face.
Hours later…
Deep emeralds fluttered. Hazy dots swam in her clouded vision. The sky, or was this Purgatory? She blinked. When her vision finally adjusted she became aware of the booming in her head and that it was night. She looked around. So she had been abandoned to the vultures hm? She stood, shakily, then stumbled, groping for something to support herself. Smooth palms hit the rough bark of a tree. She cursed again and again.
Rain.
"As if my day could get no worse!" She cried into the unforgiving night. Soaked to the bone and simply irritated beyond the gods' help, she marched up the mountain, looking for shelter. It was too dark to behave normally and the rainy season was brutal this year. Sakura found herself occasionally slipping in the mud and once she hit her knee on something hard. She tripped over an old log and fell forward, landing hard on her hands and knees. She let out a foul barracks yard oath. When she reached forward in case there was something else, her palm connected with smooth wood.
A door.
As she had guessed, she had reached the object of her curiosity in a most unsavory fashion. The fortress of Mt. Reikaku must have been enormous! Maybe they could give her shelter for the night but at what cost? She shuddered. She certainly could not travel home on foot for fear something or someone worse than a few mountain bandits would catch hold of her. So, body aching with fatigue and shivering from the rain, she pounded on the large wooden gates.
"Is anyone there!" She cried, pounding simultaneously with her calls for assistance. At first, only the sound of the roaring rains greeted her but then, something more. The elvish woman listened closely and smiled. The wooden gates groaned form the pressure as they were being opened. She stepped back, slouching from her exhaustion while the rain continuously saturated her.
"What the hell…?" Silhouetted in the dark was a tall figure, the voice accented from the slang, and a flash of lightening allowed her a glimpse of sleek blue hair from the rain and pair of hazel eyes wide with shock. She frowned.
"Please, I need shelter. I am Lady Sakura of the Weng Xei Elf Clan. I will repay you if only you let me stay the night."
"Wait a minute…" The man's voice was deep, "Who are you again?"
She repeated herself, slightly impatient from his incompetence. The man rubbed his face, though it did him no good in the pouring rain. She licked her lips, also a useless thing to do.
"Please…just one night, then I shall return to my home in the morning and be out of your life." The man laughed.
"Is that so? Well come inside so we don't have to yell at each other over the rain." Sakura followed, and the blue haired bandit noted that she favored one leg and cradled one arm. Either she was crippled or had been injured wandering about the mountain at this ungodly hour in this weather. Once inside the main hall of the now quiet fortress, she saw him. His olive green shirt was soaked through, revealing his bared chest, his blue hair was made darker and clung to his face like a leech. When he face her she noticed the scar that ran along his left cheek. He wore a smirk that belied a playfulness known only to his closest comrades.
"Can't you speak?" She asked him irritably. He chuckled, causing his wide shoulders to shake.
"You're a "lady" huh? Well, I normally don't allow trespassers but"
"I am not trespassing."
"Yer not where yer supposed to be at such an hour. That makes ya a trespasser." He grinned.
"Well you sir are a thief and should be hanged for it. What drove you to ambush my caravan?" The bandit's eyebrows quirked in surprise at her bold behavior.
"Oh? That was your caravan? I guess under all that finery you blue bloods really are just a bunch of dunces after all. Didn't anyone ever tell ya what we bandits do fer a livin'?" Sakura's brow furrowed and a look of puzzlement lingered in her mint green eyes. The bandit laughed sardonically.
"Ho ho! Well, lemme tell ya. We ambush, we raid, we come in yer house and we take liberties with yer shit, and sometimes, if necessary, we kill. So if ya wanna be a smart ass noble here, just remember, yer free game cause yer on our territory now." Sakura was stunned into a brief silence before her eyes seemed to be alit with green flames and her cheeks flushed.
"How dare you!" She hissed, "You should be grateful the authorities can not find you in the first place otherwise you'd be flogged and disemboweled in the royal square! To address me, a lady of noblility, in such a coarse manner is grounds for a hanging!" She stamped her foot in fury and the bandit could not help but smile at the petite woman. Sakura glared from beneath a curtain of soaked onyx.
"What's so damn amusing Bandit?" She snapped and the bandit went into a fit of hearty laughter. Sakura blinked, now so curious she could burst.
"Well? Out with it!" She snapped impatiently. The bandit held out his hand.
"I think it's adorable when you blue bloods try and threaten us with the law. I've been living here almost all my life. If the authorities didn't scare me then, what the hell makes you think they'd scare me now?" Sakura was flustered. He was so arrogant and smug, it infuriated her! He kept his hand held out for her.
"I'm Koji. See, I do have manners." He smirked. Sakura refused to take his hand, instead, she turned up her nose. Koji laughed.
"Oh c'mon dun tell me yer mad cause a simpleton like me outwitted ya with common sense!" He laughed at his own wit and Sakura glared as hard as she could, seething with rage and embarrassment despite the two of them being alone. He waved his hand.
"Well, you can borrow some of my clothes and my room until those bruises and cuts are mended." He indicated her injured leg and wrist. Sakura looked down, already the bruises were turning a nasty purple color. She bit that lush lower lip, looking at Koji.
"I'll be fine." She muttered and Koji's brows shot up.
"Are ya kiddin' me? It could be worse than it looks. C'mon." He took her and led her to the bed where he sat her down. Then, he went into an adjoining room where he retrieved a wash basin, clean clothes and bandages. Sakura decided she'd at least let him help before she left. Not that she was in a hurry to return to Qiu Ying's whorehouse of a compound. Koji, the blue haired bandit, was at a loss for words. He had glimpsed this woman only once and that was a few days ago. Now here she was, like a wounded bird, in his care, needing help. Genrou had been wrong, she was easily attainable, convincing her to stay here with him was another thing. He shook his head as the water was heated by the hot coals beneath the basin. He came back to the bedroom.
"Yer bath water's ready. I'll be here if ya need anything." Sakura nodded, a slight blush coming to her cheeks as Koji smiled at her. She noted his looks, even the scar, which made him devastatingly handsome. She suspected the women he had conquered were legion…well, about that bath.
No one spoke in the large receiving room. Two guards standing before their employer, unable to explain their failure to protect their charge. Their employer sipped red wine from a golden jewel-encrusted goblet. In an elaborate ash tray was a smoking pipe. The heady scent of opium was present in the air. Another sip.
"Where is Sakura?" The question was simple but belied all the terror the guards needed to feel about losing the woman in question. The captain shifted uncomfortably.
"Milord, when the two of you were attacked by bandits the Lady Sakura was lost in the fray. We believe she is being held captive by the bandits of Mt. Reikaku." He explained even though he himself was uncertain. Confidence was fleeting. Knarled pale fingers tightened their grip around the goblet, knuckles going white as the overdressed noble assessed the information.
"Captive?" He repeated, as if the word were foreign to him. "And you are shirking your duties to find her…why?" The guards babbled a reply but were cut off when the bejeweled goblet sailed across the room towards them. A fracture of movement and the silken tapestry behind them took the fall for the captain's supposed folly. Qiu Ying glared at them both.
"Find her. Find her now or you'll both wish you never lost her." The two kowtowed, groveled, and backed out of the room, red faced with embarrassment and anger.
"You'd think the old bat would've choked on that silver spoon he was born with by now." The younger guard said and earned an amused chuckled from the captain.