Complete summary : Princess Naoko knows her father is a horrible ruler, but no one suspected his selfish ways would end in her being kidnapped. Now traveling through her Kingdom Aralon, across wilderness into the enemy country Honrako, Naoko and her servant friend Suki soon learn that their kidnappers, the four bandits of Quentia, might not be so bad after all.
A/N: Hello one and all, it's Rayko here, back for another story…though not Harry Potter this time! There's no disclaimer, because the characters and plot is all mine, mwahahaha. But it is a Fairy Tale, er, I promise. So…on with the story.
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Arigatou
Chapter One
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"Princess, really think about this."
"Kana please, if you or Akiko or even Suki wish to take part in the waltz, it would be of no consequence, but please do not try and persuade me to do the same anymore, you know how I feel about balls."
"Yes Princess, I know." Kana sighed, glaring wearily at her tallish, raven-haired and stunning mistress, "but as one of your ladies-in-waiting, I must fill my occupation and so do as your father wishes. And the King wishes to see his daughter dancing with the young noble gentlemen."
"Kana is right, Naoko. Your father never likes it when you and Prince Hiromi lounge about when a ball is taking place. You don't wish to disobey your father, do you?"
"I take no pleasure in dancing with strangers." The Princess crossed her arms in a resolute manner. "I do not take pleasure in balls in general."
"You talk like an old maid. You are only seventeen, and was it not only last year that you came into society and began attending balls? And already you tire from them?"
"Please, Kana. Why don't you desist encouraging something I am determined to hate doing, and turn your attention to Akiko? For as we speak, she is making a fool of herself again, blemishing about Icitaku, my brother's servant."
Kana and Suki turned their gazes to Akiko, Princess Naoko's third lady-in-waiting.
"You will dance before the night is over." Kana told Naoko, before heading off to stop Akiko.
"She can be so commanding." The Princess laughed good-naturedly.
"Yes, well we both know our dear Kana, and though she does respect you greatly as her mistress," Suki made sure to tread carefully, "we are still much younger then her, so she can't help but act like an aunt to you." She finished with a sigh, looking back to Kana in the distance.
"Yes, that is true. But tell me Suki, you are my dearest friend, and much more to me then a servant, so I value your opinion. What do you think about this war?"
"Oh, I perceive now." Her servant friend grinned knowingly, "You are not dancing because you wish to protest against your father about this war."
Princess Naoko smiled. "You know me too well. Yes I generally hate balls, but I am disobeying my father for different reasons tonight. He is settled on the idea of war. Hiromi and I try and talk him out of it, but he is stubborn and refuses to believe that the war going on between the Honrako Kingdom and ours is anything but good."
"So both you and your brother have had no luck in dissuading him? The King must have his reasons then."
"Oh Suki!" the Princess cried passionately, "you speak like a commoner, blinded from the truth and so following your ruler over a cliff of definite disaster. Do you not think that maybe my father has his own selfish reasons for a war that benefits no one else? The war is not because Honrako imposes any threat to our country, the Aralon Kingdom. Oh no, the war is about gaining land and power. The King of Honrako was on friendly terms with my father, but they're both greedy and want this war as to decided who gets both kingdoms. As my father sits comfortably in his palace, the people of the land are dying each day in vain battles. Can you tell me what reasons my father have to justify this?"
"No Naoko, once you put it in that light, I cannot." Suki answered after a moment of reflection.
"Yes, I sound like someone of knowledge and understanding don't I?" The princess laughed at herself. "But the truth is, when the war first started, I blindly followed my father just as you. It was my dear brother Hiromi, after having his first of many arguments with my father over the war, who then told me about the situation and explained it in a way so I could see how ludicrous the whole thing was. And to think most of Aralon's people are still kept in the dark, and ignorant of the war's true cause."
"And all this is keeping you from dancing tonight?"
"Yes Suki, I will not dance with noblemen who support my father's decisions. You can be sure most of these rich counts, barons, and nobles all know just what my father's designs are. You will notice Prince Hiromi is nowhere in site. He told me he would sooner drink poison before daring to attend tonight's ball and discuss the war with others."
"I believe your brother will make a wise and sensible King someday."
"No doubt about it. That is, unless he runs away, or renounces his crown, which he has threatened my father he will do, during one of their many disputes."
"Speaking of disputes, do you believe your father is still livid about the one you had with him yesterday?"
"Ah, that I do not know." Naoko smiled sadly. "I have not spoken to him since then. But Suki, dear friend, you do not know how good it felt for the first time, to argue with my father, instead of being the diligent daughter I am. It's just that I cannot stand and watch him turn his country to ruin, and so I had to speak my mind. Now I know why my brother always does so, it feels so refreshing. But like I told you this morning, we did agree on one thing in the end."
"Oh yes, that you should spend the rest of the summer at the summer palace, Renalia."
"Both me and my father believe that at Renalia I will be in the countryside, and so at peace and away from all this war talk. When he mentioned spending the rest of the summer at Renalia, I told him I agreed. Normally you know we would all go there for the summer, but this war business calls my father to remain at the palace. So in a couple of days—enough time for the servants at Renalia to make the summer palace ready to receive us—we shall all take a two day travel in a carriage to Renalia."
"Ooh! I just love the summer palace! Renalia has such lovely wilderness around it, and the air is much fresher, the lakes are more abundant. Not to mention that since only you will be staying there, us ladies-in-waiting get to have the nicest chambers to sleep in."
"Tell you what Suki, if you can somehow manage to sneak me out of this ball without my father noticing, then I will let you chose any room to sleep in, even mine, even my brother's, even my father's, which is the grandest. You choose whichever you want, and we'll make sure the servants there hold their tongues about it."
"That is a deal I intend to accept, Naoko." Suki smirked.
"I am glad, because though I already told about a dozen or more gentlemen I attend not to dance, it looks like another one is heading our way, yet again."
"Naoko, you should not complain. As a servant to the royal family, no noble will ask me to dance. It's a good thing your father allowed other servants to attend though, because from them will be the only offers I can possibly receive."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Are we to stand here till the noble comes closer?" Princess Naoko whispered.
"Follow me." Suki replied, and started walking towards one of the walls.
"Where are we going, the doors of the ballroom are in the opposite direction."
"Yes but if you notice your father is near them, so we must go another way."
"Oh, you mean, one of the secret servant ways?" Naoko got excited now.
"Yes. It helps to know that the King doesn't even know the secret passage ways of his own palace, but the servants all do." Suki laughed, reaching a wall with drapery. Looking around to make sure no one was staring at them, she quickly ducked behind the drapery. The Princess soon followed.
"You have to walk sideways and slowly, so no one notices the drapes moving oddly." Suki whispered.
They slowly slipped through the drapes along the wall until they came to a tiny door. Suki unlatched it, and then got down and crawled through. Naoko followed. They closed the door and now stood in a dark passageway.
"Where you wish to go? To your room?"
"Yes that would be good. I haven't used this passage in a while though, so I forget how to get there. The only passageway I've got memorized is the one from my chamber to the outside." Naoko noted.
"This way then." Suki said leading her through the passageway.
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End of ch.01
A/N: All right, so this is a first for me; posting something in Fairy Tales. I actually wrote this story roughly two years ago, in the summer before grade ten, so updates will be frequent because it's all already written (and even has a sequel), though if I get no reviews, than I don't know why I should bother updating at all. It all depends, really.
And yes, I'm using the cheap English spelling way of "Arigatou" which of course means "Thank You" in Japanese…it'll come into the story later, you'll see if you stick around. Anyway, happy readings.
-rayko.