Assasination
"Hey kid" called Greed as he stopped pacing the never-ending tunnel that circled Central
"What" answered the young Xinganese man from within his own mind?
"I'm bored, there's nothing to do here." He said as he stared at the bare ceiling, in the distance a chimera growled in its sleep. Usually Ling would have approached the noise in interest but the thrill a seeing a half-lion half-lizard had worn off months ago.
"What do you want to know about" asked Ling in an annoyed voice why you don't just do your job"
"Eh, nothing ever comes down to these tunnels, where's the fun, hey your from Xing, what's it like there" asked Greed with mild interest.
"Why are you asking me, you have access to my memories, just look there?"
"Nah, it too much like reading, besides it gets boring if you don't talk everyone in awhile."
"What do you want to know about Xing then?"
"I dunno, hey you're a prince or something aren't you, so what did you live in a palace with a moat and towers or something?"
Ling actually snorted in a pathetic attempt to cover up is his laughter.
"Hey what's funny?"
"Nothing, nothing, it just to think of someone like me living in a palace. No I didn't live in one of the palaces, only the Emperors first five or so children live in palaces or home like palaces, I'm his twelfth child."
"So, you're pretty low on the food chain then?"
"It pretty much depends on how you look at it. The emperors' first couple of children live the stereotypical royalty. You know palace, servant and anything they want with a simple finger snap. Below that to about the thirty-fifth clan live pretty well off decent houses and body guards, now the clans after thirty-six have it bad, most of the people live in shacks and the heirs usually don't have bodyguards, but then again it doesn't really matter, their so behind in power there are never any assassination attacks on them."
"Assassination attacks?"
"Yeah with over forty possible heirs it not really that unlikely that some would try to eliminate the completion, is it?" asked Ling in a nonchalant voice.
"I guess not, anybody ever try to do you in kid"
"A couple of times, yes."
"You don't make it sound like it was a big deal, I guess never of those attack ever really got to you huh?"
"There was one"
"Really kid, tell me what happened"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Hey Ran Fan" Called a thirteen-year old Ling to his bodyguard, who was sitting in a tree out of sight. In a streak of block she dropped from the tree with grace that came from years of training.
"Yes, young prince"
"Let's go into town"
"But young master" Ran Fan began "Grandfather has instructed for you to stay in the Manor."
"Oh come on, I've been here for days a quick trip into town isn't going to hurt."
After several minutes with Ran-Fan trying to convince Ling to follow her Grandfathers order, they found themselves climbing over the wall separating the manor and the rest of the town.
Ran-Fan could jump directly from the ground to the top of the wall, meanwhile Ling had to climb a nearby tree and them jump from a branch, almost fall and them be caught by Ran-Fan who had been half-expecting it.
Once over the wall Ling reached over and plucked Ran Fans mask off her face.
"Young master?"
"It's too much of a giveaway if I walk around with a bodyguard in full armor, come on leave your mask and weapons here, we'll pick them up on our way back, okay"
With a heavy sigh Ran-Fan left her belt laden with explosives, a half dozen shuriken and the armor and arm guards she had, somehow Ling new she had at least one kunai left with her.
"Where do we go now" asked Ran Fan
"I dunno, I haven't been outside the manor in a long time have you.
"No sir"
Of course she hadn't, as a bodyguard she had to keep watch over him 24/7 meaning she never saw anything he didn't.
"If I remember correctly there should be a store in the marketplace that sells jewelry and such things. Come on I'll treat you, I imagine the closest thing to jewelry you have are those spikes you wear on your knuckles."
And so despite Ran Fans protests, she was led into a shop of classical Xinganese jewelry. She avoided earrings and necklace because they got in the way of fighting. Her arms where usually covered with bits of metal armor and even now her ankles had two kunai strapped to them. Taking all that into effect Ran Fan tried to think of a kind way to tell prince Ling that she couldn't where jewelry, when she felt her hair ripple down her shoulders. Behind her the prince grinned as he held up the crude an simple metal clip that had held her hair in a tight bun, in his other hand he held a beautiful white band made of a type of bamboo and silver, around the edges was a design of minute diamonds forming a type of complex wave that wove it way around the intricate carvings that look like it had been carved into it with the thinnest of needles.
"Here" he said gathering her hair at the neck and securing it with the extravagant (and probably very expensive) clip.
"Young prince, I cannot accept such a thing"
"Too late, it's already been paid for, and there's a no return policy."
After many flustered "thank you'" they made their way to the center of the market place led by memory and Lings sense of smell to a small shop said to have( in Lings opinion) the best food in Xing. They spent a large portion of the day in the shop as Ran Fan quietly sipped at her soup while Ling devoured plate after plate of oncoming dishes.
When they finally left Ran Fan had the strangest feeling that they were being watched, a feeling which was discarded by Ling who said she was just being paranoid.
They started back to the manor, hoping to sneak in without their absence being noticed, however when they got back to the wall they faced a problem. Ran Fan could scale up the wall in less than twenty seconds, Ling however couldn't seem to climb the thirty feet without a tree or something to give him a boost. After several running attempts all including Ling hitting the wall with his face and landing on his back, they finally decided that Ran Fan would go in and then bring back a rope to pull him up with. Ran Fan started up the wall with ease and was half-way up when…
All hell broke loose.
Two loud noises penetrated the calm air; one was metal on wood as a kunai hit the hair band bought only hours earlier, the other was a sickening sound, the sound that can only be made as metal penetrates the fragile skin tissue, skin that was unprotected by the armor that had been left at the foot of the wall.
Behind him he heard a quiet rustling and out of the corner of his eye he saw two shadows move as Ran Fan fell into a pair of numbs arms. Ling began to panic as he caught her, careful not to touch the kunai that stuck out her side or the wound from her neck where the first weapon had somehow struck. Forgetting about everything he rushed back into town carrying Ran Fan to a clinic known for its use of Rendanshu.
"Please help" cried Ling at a book keeper who was obviously surprised to see the prince run in with a bloody body in his arms.
Silently she quickly led them to small room that had circles drawn in every available space. A second later a Rendanshu medic came in took one look at Ran Fan covered in blood and promptly kicked both the bookkeeper and Ling out of the circle filled room.
Ling watched from a crack in the door and the medic extracted a handful of darts from her bag and threw them at a half dozen of the surrounding circles, laying Ran Fan in the center of the single circle that took most of the floor. The effect of the Rendanshu transmutation where immediate, the flesh wound on Ran Fans neck closed immediately, however the kunai stuck to her side and Ling watched in horror as the medic had to give several strong tugs to removes it and then as it bled freely before being closed by another transmutation.
"Is she going to be okay?" he asked the bookkeeper who stood behind him as he watched Ran Fan.
"I don't know, from the looks of it the kunai hit a major chi area it may affect her reflexes, but she'll live. Young prince what happened?"
"It was my fault, if I hadn't convinced her to sneak out, if I hadn't told her to leave her armor, if I had followed Fuu's orders if, if if…"
"Calm down, I just need to know what happened."
"We snuck out to the town and when we came back she climbed the wall and all of a sudden there's a kunai sticking out of her back and…" Ling stopped as he realized something "it should have been me; those guys must have thought I would go first."
The bookkeeper looked at the guilt-racked boy for a second and then quietly excused herself to get him a glass of water, she didn't come back. Ling stayed outside the room jumping a little every time a blue glow was lit; he sat there for about an hour when someone called:
"Young prince" yelled Fu running to Ling "Ran Fan, what happened to her?"
Ling repeated the story he had told the bookkeeper, always keeping his eyes on the floor, when he did look up he thought Fuu was going to give him the slap he deserved, and instead he gave him a cold look worse than a thousand beatings.
"I'm going to speak with the medic" said Fuu after several minutes of horrible silence. He knocked on the door and heard a faint "come in". The medic kneeled over Ran Fan pressing a wet cloth to her forehead at her side lay a bloody kunai and the hair band.
Most of the tiny diamonds had fallen out by the force administrated when the kunai hit, the meticulous carvings had been destroyed by the impression left by the weapon. The beautiful gift now was nothing more than a piece of metal coved by mangled bamboo.
The medic noticed Ling staring at the misformed hair ornament and said
"It saved her life you know"
"Huh"
" The clip, if it hadn't been there the kunai would have hit her neck and killed her instantly instead it knocked it off course and grazed the side of her throat, be glad it missed its target."
"No" Ling thought "it missed its target altogether, it should have been me."
"Ran Fan woke with a start, and regretted it immediately as pain rippled down her side. A cool hand pushed her back, placing a pillow underneath her head.
"Ran Fan!" a voiced called.
"Ran Fan are you all right? Another voice called.
"Where-where am I?' she asked
"You're in the Rendanshu specialty room in the clinic."
"What happened is the prince unharmed??"
Here she was, a girl who had just spent two hours with a doctor who had been trying to keep her alive after being stabbed in the back and a heavy blow to the neck and she was worried about a boy who hadn't even received a scratch
"Everything's fine Ran Fan, everything's fine."
"Whoa" commented Greed.
"Yeah I don't know how Ran Fan could continue to follow me after that, and I can even begin to imagine how Fuu let her."
"Did you ever find the guys who did it?"
"No, they found me" said Ling "After they discovered that they had only hit a "pawn" they went for a second attempt"
"So what happened?"
"They got a tip that the prince would be alone on the grounds and decided that was the opportunity to strike, they were wrong."
"What did you do?"
"I had the kunai they had used on Ran Fan, what do you think I did?"
"… Who gave them the tip?"
"Ling said nothing."