A/N: I own nothing of the Maid-Sama series. Enjoy!
Misaki walked along a dirt road, her pack slung over her shoulders. Like most Roses, she wore clothes fashioned from dark green or brown leather and cloth, nothing particularly fancy but practical for work purposes. Today, she chose a dark forest green robe, the color matching the leaves of the forest she was passing through. From a person's point of view, her clothes could easily pass as that of a traveler's. However, the clothing had been magicked to be sword and arrow repellent as well as fireproofed. Perhaps that was why she was quite unconcerned when she sensed that she was being followed.
She had felt eyes on her for quite some time now. The forest that she was walking in was called Thieves' Woods and with good reason. Unfortunately, it was the fastest route to her destination. If her assignment hadn't been so drastically urgent, she would have much rather taken the safer but longer route by the river that wrapped around the forest.
To be honest, Misaki thought she would have been attacked much sooner by now. But she suspected that because she was a lone traveler, the thieves were much more wary. After all, who in the right mind would choose to walk alone in the woods so aptly named Thieves' Woods? One would think with such a name no traveler would ever dare tread into the woods, and the thieves would eventually give up and move to another place to harass the unfortunate. Only the desperate, the crazy, and the dangerous would travel alone. Which Misaki supposed she qualified into at least one of those categories.
Misaki sighed, suddenly pausing in her tracks. A whiz of sound came from a tall tree nearby, the noise barely perceptible. Misaki flung her hand out, easily catching the arrow by the wood stalk before the arrow embedded itself into her shoulder.
Not even bothering to peer into the tree to see who had shot her, Misaki snapped the arrow into two and walked on as though nothing had happened. She had been travelling for two days now and was really far too tired and grumpy to deal with a pack of thieves. Taking a walk through a forest sounded fun at first, but not when one was being followed for the majority of the walk.
Though Roses were expected to keep the order of the Empire, Misaki reasoned that she didn't have to deal with the thieves since she wasn't specifically asked to do so. Besides, few travelers came this way, and the Empire would eventually send soldiers in to clear out the thieves.
But her inner morals still nagged at her. What if someone did have to go through the woods? What if they had a desperate reason like she did? And what if they got hurt all because she didn't deal with a simple gang of thieves?
"Oh screw this," Misaki said out loud to no one in particular.
The thieves must have thought she was talking about them and before she knew it, a whole volley of arrows came speedily flying out of the trees. Misaki sent a casual gust of wind around her, making a protective wind barrier. But before the arrows had even reached her, the arrows turned ninety degrees to the right as though someone easily batted them out of the sky.
Misaki frowned, but she had more harrowing worries on her plate. Concentrating, her conscious sought out the spirit of the trees around her.
This was the special power of the Roses. People had always believed that fire magic was the most powerful, when in fact it was the earth. True, you could try burning an entire kingdom down. But with the power of the earth and plants, one could completely destroy the kingdom. Examples would be preventing any food crops from growing or poisoning the whole water supply by growing a few poisonous plants by the water source. One could even cause plants to emit less oxygen and slowly deprive someone of much needed oxygen or spread poisonous pollen through the air. It was no wonder that Roses were so feared.
Within a mere five seconds, she was able to locate where each and every thief was hiding on a tree. She took a pinch of seeds from a pocket inside her robe, summoned a strong gust of wind and scattered the seeds. Shouts erupted around her as vines suddenly sprouted from the ground of each tree that a thief was in. Another ten seconds and the trees nearby Misaki each dangled a thief hanging upside down and bound up in vines. Golden yellow flowers erupted around the vines. As soon as each thief got a whiff of the flowers' smell, the thieves fell asleep from the main symptom of the flowers' poison.
Misaki was satisfied. Not being sadistic, she preferred subduing her enemies with temporary paralyzing or sleeping poisons as opposed to shedding blood.
"Well, that's some impressive power."
Misaki whirled and lunged at the newcomer's shoulder with her dagger. She had meant to just nick the thief's shoulder as her graduation gift was a dagger drenched in paralyzing potion. Even the tiniest cut no deeper than a paper cut could temporarily paralyze a man for five minutes. However, the blonde thief was not paralyzed at all. In fact, he slowly stepped back and raised his arms to show that he was not armed.
Misaki narrowed her eyes at the thief. To be honest, she was quite irked that he had somehow gotten so close to her without her knowing it. She now realized he must have had some wind powers to lightly deflect her dagger attack just like her ability to make a wind shield around her.
"You're the one who knocked aside the arrows."
She took the time to inspect him carefully now. He was wearing the garb of a traveler much like she was, the brown with green trimming able to provide camouflage among the trees. Though his face held a blank expression, his green eyes stared back at her warily. And although the path was quite muddy, no footsteps appeared behind him. In fact, he appeared to be floating just a centimeter above the ground. His clean boots in contrast to her muddy ones were proof. She herself hadn't used her wind powers to float above the mud because it would have been a waste of her powers. Although if he had been floating above the ground, it made sense why she didn't sense him using her earth power.
But Misaki still didn't lower her guard down. The thieves dangling from the trees smelled like heap of rubbish. Her nose had long detected them even before they had attacked her. But the man in front of her? He smelled clean. No cologne or flowery perfume like some of the nobles wore, but there wasn't a hint of aromas that gave away this man's identity. If he had been a baker, he would smell of fresh bread or pastry smells. If he was a farmer, he would smell of the earth or the animals he worked with.
No, this man smelled of clean soap and that was it. His aristocratic features were out of place in the forest, and his clothing was too clean to be that of a traveler's. Perhaps the clothing was magicked like hers? Whoever this man was, and he could still be a thief for all she knew, this man wasn't ordinary.
He was powerful and dangerous.
Misaki lowered her dagger slowly. With a sigh of relief, the mysterious stranger started lowering his arms. Quick as a flash and aided by her own wind powers, Misaki darted forward, broke through his wind barrier, and nicked a small cut on the man's arm.
"Ow! What-" The man promptly fell on his back, paralyzed from the dagger's poison.
Takumi groaned. Laying flat on his back on a dirt path littered with leaves and twigs wasn't comfortable in the first place. It was made more uncomfortable as underneath his back was his traveler's pack, digging harshly into his shoulder blades.
At least the view from the ground was oddly pleasant enough. The woman who had stabbed him stood over his prone form, obviously analyzing who he could be. She seemed to be around his age, her smooth and lightly tanned skin free from any wrinkles. Although, Takumi decided, if the scowl on her face was permanent, she might easily create wrinkles in a year or two. Still she was rather pretty, with raven black hair tied up in a ponytail and her bright amber orbs matching the jewels inlaid on her very sharp dagger. Unfortunately, she still hadn't put away her dagger with that paralyzing powder or potion on it. He really shouldn't have lowered his guard then.
"This is a new way of saying thank you for knocking away the arrows," Takumi said dryly.
The woman's eyes flashed in annoyance. "My apologies, but I simply don't trust anyone in Thieves' Woods. Thanks for moving the arrows, but I could have handled it."
"I can certainly see that." He remembered how the vines had suddenly come up from the ground and wrapped themselves around the thieves. "So, um, is this paralysis thing permanent? Because I really do need to get moving." Takumi tried to move a toe or a finger. He was slowly recovering, thankful that as least the paralysis was just temporary.
"The same with me. Goodbye." The woman turned around and walked off in the direction Takumi had been running off.
"Wait!" Takumi said, alarmed. The group of men that had been chasing him were precisely in the direction the woman had chosen. "The people chasing after me are that way."
"Aha! So you are some kind of trouble!" The woman's eyes glinted fiercely.
"No, I'm in trouble, not trouble! And those people are not the type of people you'd want to meet. Hide or go the opposite direction or something. They weren't that far behind me."
The woman snorted. "As if. My job at the Raven Castle is in that direction."
Upon hearing this, Takumi's eyes darkened. Who was this woman anyways? What was her business at the castle? "Unfortunately, the occupants of Raven Castle are indisposed."
The woman cocked her head as she seemed to take a deeper look at him. The flash of silver gleaned once more in the afternoon sun, and Takumi found the dagger pointed at him once again. "I'd received word that Raven Castle had cut off all communication with the Imperial Government. Tell me everything you know about Raven Castle being 'indisposed' as you call it."
More feeling was coming back into his body, but he had to pretend that he was still paralyzed. The dangerous dagger was still pointing at him after all. Should he tell the truth? She did say the Imperial Government after all, and she didn't appear to be lying. He took a deep breath and made his choice. "I lived at the castle. We were attacked by a large group of intruders in the middle of the night a week ago. Somehow they got through all the castle's magical and physical defenses. I managed to escape, but I don't know if anyone else has. The intruders have been chasing me ever since. I haven't asked anyone for help because they're not afraid to slaughter the innocent. So please, just leave as fast as you can."
"Huh." The woman scanned his face for signs of lying with the eyes of a woman was skilled in the judgement of character. "You're actually telling the truth."
Takumi closed his eyes as the memories of the bodies of the castle staff littered on the castle floor flooded through his mind. It had been what, eight days? Eight days of running and not daring to sleep much in case the murderers caught up to him. The first night he had fled far away to reach a kind farmer who offered him shelter and food. That night the murderers swamped the small farmhouse and set it and the fields ablaze. Takumi just managed to save the farmer and his family's lives out of the burning house and gave whatever gold coins he had to the farmer to help cover the immense losses. He never sought help again after that.
"Hurry. Hide or run or whatever. They'll be coming soon." A look of indignation crossed the woman's face. Before she could argue back, Takumi cut in. "It's not that I think you're not strong enough, but you shouldn't have to be involved in this. This is my problem. I don't want you to be hurt." He could just see in his imagination the woman lying in the forest, her eyes empty of life after fighting with the murders. No more, he thought. No more deaths on my account. Please.
"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you involved yourself in the fight between the thieves and me." She retorted.
"My apologies, but I didn't know there were thieves hiding in the trees. I was just hiding in the forest, and suddenly a volley of arrows comes crashing down upon another traveler. What am I to do, leave you to become traveler shish kebab?" Takumi's sarcasm was barely kept on lid. The woman was extremely stubborn. He was trying to save her, damn it!
To her credit, the scowl on her face melted into a look of shame with a red blush blooming on her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I've been on edge all day. This is called Thieves' Woods for a reason, and anyone in their right mind would be cautious of any stranger in the woods." The mysterious woman suddenly straightened her back as if she sensed something. "Tell you what. I am going to involve myself in this." She ignored his protests and continued on. "To repay your kindness, I'll help you out with the people chasing you. My assignment also involves going to the castle, and I'll need someone like you who has information I need."
For the first time, the woman smiled. Takumi blinked. Despite the worries running through his head, somewhere in the back of his mind, pretty turned into beautiful.
She held her free hand out to him. "I'm Ayuzawa Misaki. Now get up. I know the paralysis wore off and you're just pretending to still be paralyzed. The people after you are here."
A/N: Whew! What did ya'll think about that? As promised, I'll be updating Bloody Rose now that To Find the Perfect Fit is complete. Hope to see ya'll soon!