Ch. 1
It has been quite the amount of years since I left the Capital (also known as: the Imperial Capital), I wonder how everyone is doing. Even in peaceful times, wars are still being waged between the people and their oppressive rulers. Tch! These lackies think that they're too far from the Capital, so it's okay for them to treat the people however they want. Disgusting scoundrels… Satou Sei mused as she rested her head on a table waiting for the foods she ordered to arrive.
The sound of hooves stomping the ground and people screaming to get out of the way grew louder and louder, Sei let out a groan as she turned her head to face the other way. The horses neighed loudly as they came to a screeching stop, in front of the small inn and men leaped off their rides entering the place like they owned it. Clearing tables for themselves by tossing other customers out, ordering the owner to bring out his finest wine and best meat to serve them.
When her foods came, she ate them hungrily ignoring the group of men who annoyingly trying to get the owner's daughter to serve them drinks. Keen on her senses, Sei noticed something twinkled from the corner of her eyes. The next thing anyone knew was people screaming as one of the men slumped over the table with half an arrow sticking out of his back. Shrugging her shoulders, Sei remained oblivious to the chaos around her as she shoved more foods into her mouth (a few days without eating will do that to you).
"Ahhh… now that's good foods," Sei commented rubbing her stomach lightly after finishing her foods. Suddenly, there were more swords pointing at her than she'd ever seen in her life, not that it bothered her much. "You must be an accomplice to not fright at what happened here," a man with an overgrown beard said, inching the tip of his sword closer to her neck.
Sei quirked a brow at the man, her lips turned into an upturn smirk. "Ah, but my good man, what evidence do you have of my accomplice ness? For all that you know I am simply just a passerby with an empty stomach searching for a good meal." Sei said in a playful tone. "Not to mention, the Thief of Thieves had issued the city a notice that he would come to steal this city's wealth. I'm surprise that you guys haven't take heed from that notice," Sei continued opening one eye and stared at the man. "Now if you don't mind, I need to get a place to sleep now that I'm full. Give the Count my regards," Sei said waving at them as she's already down the street. No one even noticed how she managed the slip away from all the pointy objects pointing at her.
"Great, now someone out there is trying to claim to be me," a shadowy figure murmured sitting on the roof of a building a bit away from the Count's mansion. "Well, those money isn't going to get stolen on its own," the shadow figure said before getting up and leaped for the roof above the gates that led to the mansion, guarded by two guards. Since the notice, the Count had increased security around his mansion, because all of the people's money was locked away in a certain room in his lavish home.
Stealthy and lithe, the cloaked figure emerged from behind a pillar without being noticed by the guards. Pulling the hood down, revealing a lovely face of a young girl with pigtails brown hair, she walked the corridor like she owned the place. She took two fresh leaves that she got earlier when she was outside, using it she played a soothing melody and the guards fell asleep before she even walked by them.
She kept walking until what seemed like the end of the hallway, studying the wall for a moment, the girl reached up and pushed a gray brick causing the wall to slide open. Inside was a set and stairs leading down into hidden valuables, and she's here to claim them. Once she made it there, all the gold monies waiting to be taken, and taken them she did with a small pouch that seemed to never be filled up no matter how much gold she had put in it.
By the time the Count himself was alarm enough to realize that all of his monies had been stolen along with his invaluable jade that he constantly has on him. Panic and chaos ensue in the Count's mansion, but the thief was already long gone by then. Though someone else watched the chaos with a great deal of amusement before leaping off the roof of the Count's home and made her way back to her room before anyone saw her out here.
Before the break of dawn, the marketplace was crowded with people their merchandise ready to make enough money to feed that family before the Count's guards come along to extort money from them. And moving around is a young girl in hunting clothes, her bow and quiver hung on her shoulder, the belts that hung a bit loosely on her hips carried a skinning knife and a cutting knife, one more fragile than the other. It was easy to tell that she's a hunter; her clothes consist of rawhides and leathers.
She went straight to the rice seller, and his eyes lit up at the sight of her as this would be his second times seeing her here over the span of two weeks since she came to this town. The last time he saw her, she had bought all of his rice and had it hauled to the lower part of the town to give it out to the poor people living there. He wished that she was his own daughter, though he wouldn't want misfortune to befall her, his own daughter was taken by the Count a few years ago.
"Agusto-san, the usual please," the girl said with her usual bright smile. "I see that you made some money," he chuckled at her. "Yes, a few bear's gallbladder got me a bag of gold." "You sure are a skilled hunter, Yumi-chan." Agusto nodded knowing full well the price of a bear's gallbladder (the bile can be use for many things in medicine). "My father taught me all I know," Yumi said with a shy smile on her lips as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Eep!" Yumi let out a yelp when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. "Ah, I can't believe how cute you sound," Sei said. "I know who you are, o' Thief of Thieves," she whispered into Yumi's ears causing the girl's eyes to nearly bug out. "Not to worry though, I only want to accompany you on your trip to the lower part of the town." Sei said as she let go of Yumi, and the girl whirled around to look at her. "I am Satou Sei at your service," Sei said bowing slightly at the girl in front of her.
"My good sir, please bring all of your rice down there and we shall meet you there," Sei said nodding at Agusto. "Ah, the money," Yumi jumped remembering her goal and turned to pay Agusto a good fifty golds. "Shall we look at other goods?" Sei asked holding out her hand. "Sure," Yumi said as she walked away with Sei trailing behind her with a raised brow, checking out the girl's backside.
A/N: Okay, not sure how to put this but man I'm having a horrible times working on this piece (whole week), which is strange because I usually don't take that long to write a chapter (just slow on updating). Anywho, so far I got about five suggested titles: The War of the Roses (who is killing who?), The Knight and The Thief (I'm not sure the rest of the casts would be happy with this title), Love Me Not (sounds overly romantic, I'll save this for a more modern/drama MgM story on a rainy day), When They Crossed Swords (don't think either of them will be carrying a sword to cross), and Knights of the Rose (plot hint anyone? :D). They are all very nice titles, yet I'm still unable to find one fitting, so please continue on handing out more titles. Please and thank you~
ps: Many thanks to bobo-q, Midknight Shadowz, and skip83 for all the titles. ~MI
