When morning came Shoji woke and sat up stiffly, and grumbling under his breath he changed into some casual daywear. At breakfast Kiro asked if he would like to join him for a ride in the surrounding forest, of course Shoji accepted, and once they were finished they went down to the stables, where their horses stood waiting for them. Shoji stepped up to his steed and patted him on the shoulder, he was a lean dark chestnut gelding, and he had been Shoji's friend for a long time, after greeting Hogo-okami he turned to Kiro's steed, it was a tall white mare, Shoji was in full admiration of the animal when Kiro patted him on the shoulder,
"Beautiful isn't she?" he asked as he moved to stroke her flowing mane, Shoji nodded, then, regaining his voice asked,
" What's her name?"
" Tenshi." Was the short and proud answer, " and what of your steed, has he a name to fit his beauty?" Shoji nodded and pulled him self into the saddle,
" He is Hogo-okami, but I just call him Hogo for short." Kiro nodded thinking about the name for a moment then smiled as he gently urged his horse forward towards the gate in the palace wall.
Shoji sighed looking over at the large capital city of Karana, it was a beautiful city, with fountains, and groups of trees scattered through out. The buildings varied in sizes, shapes, colours and directions they faced, at first glace it looked almost as though they had just been throw together, but after studying them for a moment you could see there was a pattern to the chaos, as a wise man once said " There is method to my madness" Shoji thought with a small chuckle before they turned and headed west into the forest which he and Chicho had arrived. After a few minuets of riding in silence Kiro cleared his throat with a small cough and began to speak,
" So, Nichuna-san,"
" Please, Shoji," Shoji insisted for the hundredth time,
" Very-well, Shoji. You strike me as a smart young man, which is quite rare among the other young men you see these days." He was quiet for a few minuets then,
" I think there is more to you then meets the eye, and some of it you don't even know, so I will say this: Though both move mostly in the dark of night, wolves run in a pack, while mighty Ninja stand alone, so decide, which are you? A proud wolf, or a mighty ninja?" Shoji thought on it for a while as they rode a well-worn path through the trees,
" I would be some where in between. I rely on my friends, and they on me, but when it comes down to it I'm alone." Silence fell as Kiro thought about his words, and Shoji felt as though something was missing, then he realized the forest went silent also. Suddenly becoming alert to several unwanted presences around them Shoji stiffened, mentally cursing him self.
Hogo-okami snorted uneasily and stopped, with Tenshi at his shoulder. Kiro glanced at Shoji then down at Tenshi, fully understanding that something was not quite right. Shoji sat tall in his saddle and said into the surrounding trees,
" I, Shoji Nichuna, call you out, and am disgraced that you call your selves ninjas of the Shikirro Clan." At his words there was a slight rustle and five men stepped from their hiding places. Shoji studied the man directly in front of them, he was tall, and had black hair, with matching eyes, the rest of his face however was concealed from view.
Cursing silently Shoji prepared himself for battle without the others knowing, he allowed the shurikun knife hidden in his sleeve to slide into his waiting hand,
" Well, well, you are awfully young to be expected to defeat us. We'll be sure to give you a quick death, after we torture some information out of you first of course." Gritting his teeth Shoji knew they were in a bad situation, they were surrounded, and they were a fair distance from the palace, and Shoji had two options, stay and try to defeat them all while keeping them from attacking Kiro, or they could flee and hope to make it to the palace without being hit by flying objects like arrows, throwing stars, or shurikun.
With great effort he came to a decision, reaching out with his thoughts he directed them at Kiro and thought Kiro, I want you to head back to the palace as fast as you can, I'll stop them from following you, but be aware of attacks just incase, go on my signal. He saw Kiro's slight nod as he reached out to the men with his mind, silently gripping them, and willing them not to move, then, making sure he had them all, he said to Kiro
"Go." As soon as the word left his mouth Tenshi wheeled around and took off in the direction of the palace, as Kiro left Shoji felt some of the men struggle to follow, he also felt their surprise when they discovered that they could not move, once Kiro was out of Shoji's earshot he released the men. When he saw the two of them were about to go after Kiro he threw both his shurikun, pinning them to trees, " There's no point in following him, he will be back at the palace any minuet." The man in front of him glared daggers at him a moment before asking,
" How did you restrain my men like that?" Shoji smirked,
" A true ninja never reveals his secrets."
" Very well, just another thing to torture out of you." With that he gave a signal with his hand and the two men who were not pinned to trees attacked. With delicate grace Shoji slid his feet from their stirrups and, swinging his right leg high into the air he flipped out of the way of their knives.
Landing closer then intended to one of the men who just a moment ago was pinned, Shoji received a fierce blow to his lower chest causing him to double over, but before he could be hit again he did a summersault and, returning to his feet beside the man, struck him on the back of the head where his neck and skull met. The sound nearly made him flinch as the man crumpled to the ground, never to move again. One down Shoji thought bitterly as he turned to one of the other men.
Shoji found himself exchanging blows quite rapidly, but soon his opponent slowed, and Shoji found an opening, taking it he kicked the mans left knee forcing it to go backwards, and in turn forcing the man to fall, before Shoji could deal the final blow however, he gasped as something hit his back in a burst of pain, he heard the dull thud of a handle stopping a blade, and knew he was hit with a shurikun, he felt the blood trickle down his back. Fighting the pain he turned to his attacker and engaged in battle with him, but with every block the pain grew in intensity, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.
Falling to the ground with a grunt of pain Shoji tried to breath as his vision swam and his hearing dulled he rolled from his side to his stomach, where he pushed himself up to his feet. He could here the three laughing, and the one that stood out most was the man who seemed to be the leader, his laugh was high and cold. Standing he drew himself to his full height, and set his jaw preparing to go in for his last attack. Getting an idea, Shoji braced him self as one of the men came in for the kill, as they started fighting Shoji reached out with his mind again and gripped his attacker, once firmly under his control he made the man turn on his comrades, killing the injured man. Unfortunately their leader, struck him down quickly leaving only two men standing, the only two who had not yet attacked, and, Shoji reasoned, probably the strongest.
Panting, Shoji felt his strength drain as he fell to one knee. The tall man walked up to him, stopping a foot from him he looked down at Shoji for a moment before kicking him hard enough to send him into a tree, forcing the shurikun, still in his back, to sink further. Falling to the ground with a cry of pain Shoji lay there, unable to move.
He heard the man approach and closed his eyes, waiting for deaths sweet embrace that never came, hearing a snarl and a strangled yell Shoji's eyes shot open and he raised his head just enough to see the black eyed man's feet, and four rust red paws.
Unable to hold his head up any longer Shoji allowed if to fall, but he listened, as the man cursed, and attacked the snarling wolf, he heard the sound of impact when the animal collided with the man, throwing him off balance, Shoji felt the wind from the two falling, and heard the sickening gushing sound as the wolf tore the man's throat from his neck.
Wondering if he was next Shoji waited, and listened, but instead of the feeling of being torn apart he felt a cold nose on the back of his neck, and soon saw four feet in front of him. He was taken by surprise when the wolf lay next to him, resting its head under his chin. Closing his eyes Shoji moved his arm so it draped over the wolf.
When he awoke Shoji was dimly aware people around him. Opening his eyes slowly he blinked a few times before trying to push himself up, and finding he was unable to. A familiar voice sounded somewhere above him, " he's in bad shape, I don't know if he'll make it back sir." I know that voice… Shoji thought trying to place it, but his mind was hazy,
" It's either we move him and risk it or he stays here and dies Jiria, unless you have a better idea?" Another voice said, Jiria…now I remember. Shoji remembered the tall servant who had shown him to his room only a few days ago. The second voice was followed by a short silence, then,
"I agree with my father, he needs to be taken back to the palace, where his wounds can be treated." This voice was female, and Shoji had no trouble placing her, Tara the name floated through his mind like a swan floating lazily across a warm pond.
Shoji felt a small hand gently lay on his right shoulder blade, just above where the Shurikun was embedded, but since his head was facing his left he couldn't see the person who was touching him, but he knew that it was Tara.
With a quiet groan Shoji tried to raise himself again, this time managing to rise to his hands and knees,
" Amazing that he can move." Someone from behind him said
" Shoji, just try to relax, if you move too much you may injure yourself further." Kiro's soothing voice whispered into his ear. Gritting his teeth Shoji allowed himself to fall back to the ground muttering,
" Great protection I am." So low that only Kiro and Tara heard him.
" Captain, if you please." Kiro prompted,
" Yes sir." An unfamiliar voice answered, and soon after Shoji felt himself lifted very gently, just enough so a canvas could slide under his damaged body. Once the canvas was in place he was set back down.
After the men around him decided who would hold the poles the canvas was attached to, he felt the canvas below him rise, baring him with it. It didn't take long for Shoji to figure out there were at least eight men with Kiro, Tara, and Jiria from the sound of their footfalls on the forest floor.
Shoji closed his eyes and fell into a light doze thinking about how much better he could have handled the situation, and how stupid he was to let Kiro go out into the forest. He knew that it was his own fault he was hurt, and that it could have cost a good man his life, and it could have cost Tara her father, whom she loved very much. She would have never forgiven me, and I doubt she would have ever been happy again… Shoji mentally shook himself, where did that thought come from? He wondered, but before he could look into it he felt a warm hand close over his chilled one, opening his eyes he saw her, Tara, smiling down at him, with her beautiful red lips, and bright green eyes, a lock of her rust red hair hung loosely in front of her face. Shoji felt a pressure build up in his chest that had nothing to do with him laying on his stomach, it was something new, something he had never felt before, he tried to tell himself that he didn't know what it was, but something in the back of his mind kept poking at him. Ignoring it Shoji continued to lie to himself.
Shoji smiled grimly back as the procession stopped before the palace gates, it only took a moment for the gates to open however, and they were soon moving once more. It didn't take long before they were in the medical part of the palace, where the lands best healers resided.
" My, my, he is quite banged up, isn't he? Looks like I have my work cut out for me this time." The voice was female, she sounded to be in her mid-late twenties,
" Yes, but I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." He heard Kiro assure her, which made Shoji wonder how bad he looked, because he felt pretty bad.
Shoji was quickly transferred to a soft bed, and he felt his shirt removed by being cut away to reveal his muscular back, it wasn't like, bulging muscles or anything, his muscles were just well defined. Once his shirt was removed her heard the healer whistle a long note that grew lower as it progressed,
" It's amazing this man's alive, let alone conscious." She said with amazement,
" He's a strong one Raja, and I'm sure you'll be able to patch him up just fine in no time." Kiro's words filled Shoji with contentment, blowing away his earlier thoughts of shame.
" I hope so, because it's going to hurt a lot more pulling that thing out, then it did putting it in." Rajas words caused Shoji to cringe, remembering how painful it was when the knife was first plunged into his back, then when it was forced deeper by the tree. Gripping the blanket under him tightly Shoji prepared for the pain. " Take a deep breath." Raja instructed as she wrapped her fingers gently around the black handle, Shoji did as he was told. Sucking in a deep breath shoji gripped the blanket tighter, only to release his breath in a groan of pain when the knife was yanked from his back. After the wave of pain subsided Shoji slowly relaxed, burying his face into the pillow to hide his watering eyes. It's been a while since I was in so much pain, I've gotten soft, he whimpered to him self.
Keeping his face pressed against the pillow he could feel Raja cleaning and bandaging the wound. When she was done she told him he could roll over if he wanted to before leaving the room. Reluctantly Shoji stiffly rolled to his back, and smiled tiredly as Tara, and Kiro, who were the only two in the room aside from him.
" Now that you have been tended to, and are no longer in immediate danger, please, tell us what you know of the plot on my life?" Kiro said in a friendly dignified tone that suggested to Shoji that he already knew the reason why he was there even before he arrived.
" I know many things of it, for I was able to gather information from a man who thought it smart to try to ambush me when I returned to my chambers." Tara laughed quietly at this, but Shoji couldn't see what was so funny about it.
Shoji spent the rest of the afternoon discussing the assassination plot with Kiro and Tara. That evening Chicho came to see him and brought with him a tray of food, and while they ate together, for the first time since they traveled to the palace, Shoji told his friend what happened, and as expected Chicho stopped him every other sentence to scold him.
