When morning came Shoji woke to a knock on the door leading to Chicho's room, he called out a sleepy "c'min" and he heard the door open as he sat up letting the blankets fall to his waist exposing his bare chest. Blinking the sleep from his eyes he looked at his friend with a tiered smile, " Morning, how was your night?" Chicho shrugged,
" I'm sure it wasn't as good as yours, I heard you come in last night, you should be more careful with how much you drink, we're not on vacation you know." He scolded as Shoji's expression became stony.
" I was not drunk." He stated flatly,
" It sure sounded like it." Was the curt reply.
" If you must know, I was sick because of the mission. Not because of an access amount of alcohol. The Emperor's wine was poisoned, so I switched glasses with him."
" Oh." Was all Chicho could say, and then, " why did you drink it then? It could have killed you!" Shoji chuckled at his reaction.
" That's the reason I've spent years building up an immunity to most poisons Chicho. For situations just like that."
" For situations like that, when you know the type of poison." He said pointedly,
" Yes, and I did. So I went through with it. And by doing so I saved the Emperor's life, so shut up and stop ragging on me. Why did you come in the first place?"
At this Chicho laughed, " Because it's time for breakfast and you're still in bed, in your shorts." Was his matter-of-fact reply.
Shoji cursed as he jumped out of the bed and went to the dresser, where he pulled out a casual outfit for the day. Chicho laughed and left the room.
Once properly dressed Shoji made his way to the dinning hall, where he found every one from the night before sitting in the same seats, most of them looked the way he felt.
Sitting in his seat he sighed and poured himself some orange juice from the pitcher in front of him and took a long drought. During the meal there was some idle chat, but not a lot.
After breakfast Shoji decided to get a feel for the palace, so he walked around the large building familiarizing him self with the different rooms and corridors. After a quick lunch he decided to see what the outside fortifications were like, so he went out into the court yard and from there he explored behind the palace where the stables were, then the gardens. While walking through one of the magnificent gardens someone ran right into his chest. Startled he looked down at the person, whom had fallen to the ground, for a moment before kneeling down and offering a hand to her. The young woman tentatively extended her arm and took his hand allowing him to pull her to her feet. Until that moment her rusty red hair had been covering her face, but when she stood she brushed her hair away from her eyes and Shoji nearly gasped at what he saw. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but that's not saying much because he hadn't seen many girls, she had bright green eyes, full red lips, and her long hair fell to her hips, except for her bangs, which went only to her chin.
" I'm sorry sir I wasn't watching where I was going." She apologized, her cheeks slightly red.
" No apology needed miss, are you alright?" he asked wondering how hard she fell, but she nodded with a smile,
" I'm fine, thank-you."
" Why are you in such a hurry?" To this question her cheeks gained colour and her smile fell,
" One of the men my father has summoned entered the gardens over there, and I do not wish to be courted, as my father would like." At first this statement didn't make much sense to Shoji but then realization dawned on him,
" Well princess, I will help you, if you wish, to escape from the garden without attracting his notice." At this her smile returned and grew in brightness, reaching her eyes and lighting them with her appreciation,
" That would be wonderful." And with that he swept her away, out of the gardens without anyone noticing either of them. Before they knew it they were walking through the courtyard talking about their lives Shoji told her stories of his child hood, and she told him what it was like as a child growing up in the palace.
Sitting on the side of the fountain Shoji stretched his limbs with a yawn. They sat together on the side of the fountain discussing the architecture of the fountain, and the palace, until finally a young woman came over to them and bowed to the princess, Who's name was Tara, before informing her that she had to go and prepare for dinner. Sighing Tara turned to Shoji and said, " I'm sorry out time must be cut short, but my father would not be happy if I missed another dinner." He smiled at her,
" No worries, it is time I went too." And with that they departed.
Shoji headed to his room to change into something appropriate for dinner, to night he dressed in a loose white button up shirt, with a dark blue haiori with slightly lighter blue trimmings, his pants were a deep aqua green, that went with the rest quite nicely, for a obi he wore the same one he had donned the night before.
With a last look in the mirror and a heavy sigh Shoji headed for the dinning hall. When he arrived The Emperor was sitting in his seat at the head of the table looking directly across from him, at the occupant of the chair on the other end of the table, who Shoji knew to be his daughter, Tara-samma. Bowing to the lord he made his way to his seat, which was on the immediate right of the princess, Shoji sat down and smiled to Tara, " Good evening Miss Tara-samma." He said quietly. Tara's face became hard when she saw him,
" Shoji-san?" she asked disbelievingly, " You're the last suitor my father summoned?"
" Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I enjoyed speaking with you and I didn't want you to write me off without at least speaking with me." Was his sincere response. She sighed and shook her head.
" I suppose you're right." Was all she said before the other men started to appear in the doorways.
Soon everyone was seated and waiting to be served. Shoji could tell that most of the men were jealous that he got to sit beside the princess, and also he seemed to already be getting on with her better then any of them, although Shoji would have liked it better if he was sitting beside the Emperor, who insisted they addressed as Kiro-samma, it would make his mission a little easier if he was close to him, but he wasn't complaining. Throughout the meal he had a pleasant conversation with Tara, and the man who sat across from him, whose name was Tuchin-samma, but insisted that they called him Suske, all the while Shoji kept a close watch on Kiro-samma. Again, after the meal wine, and glasses were brought out, and the same man that had poured it the night before was pouring it once again, and once again Shoji watched him closely. Though he didn't put anything in Kiro's glass something did not feel right, so Shoji held his glass to his nose and sniffed the red liquid. The smell was familiar; it was a potent bitter smell. With a start Shoji threw the glass across the room where it shattered into a million shards, everyone stared at him with their mouths open and their glasses halfway to their mouths.
" What is the meaning of this?" Kiro demanded pounding his fist on the table as he lurched to his feet, he was a tall man, and very muscular, so he looked somewhat intimidating.
" Kiro-samma, I'm sorry to inform you, but that wine we were all about to drink has been poisoned." There was an echo of gasps around the table then,
" And how, prey tell do you know this?" he asked slowly lowering back into his chair.
" Because sir I know the smell of this particular poison, you see I was trained to be able to identify different poisons when I was young in case of an assassination attempt." Satisfied with the answer Shoji also reseated himself. He could see everyone in the room was astonished and a little unsettled by the fact that he had just saved their lives.
Clapping his hands twice he summoned two guards, who he sent to find the man who had poured the wine. In the meantime, Kiro sent for more wine, and before anybody drank he had the poured test it, when he did not die, and Shoji assured him that he did not detect anything harmful they drank, but before they drank Kiro toasted to Shoji " for being our great protector" were his words and Shoji smiled and raised his glass thinking,
You don't know the half of it. After a few hours the guards returned with bad news,
" I'm sorry your majesty, but he escaped." One said with a bow. Kiro nodded his head with a sigh,
" I'm not surprised, he probably fled when he heard the glass smash on the wall." Soon after that everyone was heading to bed. As he was leaving he was aware of Kiro approaching him, so Shoji turned towards him with a smile,
" Shoji-chan, I must thank-you for saving my life, as well as my daughter's."
" I just as much save my own, Kiro-samma." He commented modestly
" I don't think so. Something tells me you would have survived the poison, while the rest of us would not have."
" What makes you think this sir?" he wondered, a slight crease forming on his brow.
" You seem stronger then most is all."
" Well I thank-you for the compliment, sir, and I wish you a safe sleep tonight."
" Aye, and I you." And with that they went their own ways.
As Shoji approached the door to his room he felt as though something was wrong, stopping outside the door he felt the presence of someone who shouldn't be there. Slipping his shurikun from his sleeve he slowly entered the room, cautiously stepping to the side he shut the door throwing the room into compete darkness. Before he could react however, someone leapt on him from his right, making him fall on his side. The person who jumped on him held a knife to Shoji's throat and growled,
"I knew you'd blow it ninja. Now once you're out of the way I can take out the Emperor and get my reward." The knife pressed harder against his throat and Shoji felt the skin on his neck tear and swung his arm out from under him hitting his assailant in the temple and forcing him to bang his head on the wall separating his room from the corridor. Rolling out from under the man he jumped to his feet and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him up, with a grunt of effort Shoji pressed him against the wall and held his arms tightly, pinning him there,
" Who sent you?" Shoji demanded, when he got no response he tightened his grip earning a wince from the man, but he still refused to speak, until he laughed,
" You're going to have to kill me. If you let me go, I'll keep coming after you, and the Emperor, and I'll tell others of you. I'm not telling you anything of my mission, so you mine as well kill me" at this Shoji stiffened, he had never killed anyone before, and didn't really want to start, " What's the matter kid? Don't have the stomach for it?" he asked mockingly. Growling Shoji pushed him up against the wall harder.
" I don't need to kill you. There's something else I can do, and you won't be a threat to anyone ever again." Shoji could feel the man's confusion as he took in a few deep breaths. Concentrating on the man Shoji projected his thoughts, his consciousness from his mind to the other man's. Once there he sorted through the memories, erasing several, and closely examining others, gathering information on the man's mission, then erasing those memories too, the last thing he did was replace the memories with false ones. When Shoji was done the man believed him self to be a traveling nomad, who was visiting the palace for the night and would be on his way in the morning.
Sighing as the man left the room Shoji sat on his bed, he had never erased so many memories at one time before, and to replace them all, it was exhausting. Two good things came from the evening though, the Emperor trusted him, and he now knew a few things about his enemy, one of which is they were instructed to complete the task by any means necessary. With another exhausted sigh Shoji laid down and fell asleep, without even bothering to change.