Chapter 4: Teez
"Uh, where the f**k is she?" Kyoya groaned impatiently as looking at the left and the right, like searching for something. His horse was some yards away from him, quietly wresting from the light green grass with its teeth and eating. "F**k, she's so nuts! She should have been back!"
"Yeah, yeah, don't tell me..." Hikaru agreed with boredom, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed. "She has got a problem with me washing in waterfalls... Hm, I was wondering, where does she wash herself?"
"Your Highness, we're late." Kenta interrupted seriously, "We don't have time to wait for her. The merchants will be leaving the town in a short time. We have to catch Gingka Hagane and his associates and be back at the palace as soon as possible. We should go."
"Let's wait a bit more. Maybe she'll be back." the so-called princess replied and also started to look around for her servant. "C'mon, Hong... The forest is not a place for maids..." she willed.
"Your Highness, we don't have time. The merchants—"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it; you don't have to tell me twice!" Hikaru yelled at him, making her way towards her horse, "Let's leave this f*****g place. I'll employ Kyoya as my personal servant after we catch all those pieces of s**t and return to the palace."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." the swordsman muttered with boredom as straddling on his own horse. After they all were ready, they left, letting Hikaru's maid behind, in the depths of the forest.
"So, Kenta," Hikaru resumed the discussion, "Where is that town you're talking about?"
"It is at the point where those two rivers I told you about tear asunder." the youngest boy answered, "Not far from here; we just have to cross this forest and we'll be there in the shortest time."
"Oh, f**k, and you tell me we've let Hong behind just for one forest? How is she supposed to come back? She doesn't know the way to the palace, neither how to survive in the forest... She's just a maid! I thought it was a big distance what you were talking about!"
"Yeah, Your Highness, but Gingka Hagane and the gang are leaving today, with the illegal ginseng they have stolen. We have to recover the ginseng and arrest them."
She groaned in exasperation. "Whatever! We'll search for Hong afterwards!"
~Later~
"Okay, Your Highness, that's the town I was talking about." Kenta announced as everyone curbed their horses. "Gingka Hagane and the gang are going to walk along the right river, then are going to cross it at some point and go abroad to Korea with the stolen illegal ginseng amounting at least 10,000 nyang. Some of his accomplices are Masamune Kadoya and the prince Yu."
"Prince Yu?" Hikaru asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yeah, the son of the king of Korea, Your Highness." the young male explained. In that time, Kyoya had been attentively listening to the conversation, without saying a word. Hikaru, on the other part, meditated just a little bit about Kenta's statement. "Is he the son of the queen?" she viciously questioned, like suspecting something.
"No, Your Highness. He's the son of the first concubine of the king, which the queen hates the most. That's because the queen cannot have heirs, so the king had to use a concubine to assure one."
Hikaru's lips let a light chuckle escape. "Hm... Interesting. So, this prince is king's descendant? Or does the king have any other concubines besides her to put in danger Yu's position?"
"Yeah, he's king's descendant, but hasn't been declared as the crown prince yet. No, Your Highness, the king doesn't have any other concubines."
"Good." Hikaru announced as her legs found the touch of the ground, "This guy seems interesting... Find more information about him. The social status of his mother, the date of birth, how old he is, who he is going to marry to, everything. He must be promised to someone since he's the prince. Find out if the girl is noble or not."
"Why, Your Highness? Your Highness isn't promised to anyone even if you are the princess and have reached the age at which you can marry." Kyoya commented, slyly insinuating something Hikaru understood.
"Just for you to know, my dear, women are inferior to men after marriage. But not in the case of princesses. If dad wants me to marry anyone, I can simply run away. And you'll have to follow me anywhere I'll go, 'cause you have sworn you'll be loyal to me 'til the day you die. Remember?"
Kyoya sighed heavily. Yeah, right... He's the one responsible with her safety, and if anything happens to her, he'll probably lose his head for not protecting her. Literally. Just like Hikaru's maid, Hong, he has sworn loyalty to the princess. If the princess would be exiled one day, he and Hong have to be exiled with her, as well, and continue serving her until death. If she dies, well, Hong will be killed and her body will be placed next to Hikaru's at the funeral. However, nothing will happen to Kyoya if Hikaru dies. Yeah, he's lucky.
Kenta slyly cleared his throat, trying to interrupt the dispute between those two. "My dears, we have to find the inn Gingka Hagane and his merchants are staying at. We'll follow the guild's people when the night sets, when it's most probably them to leave."
"Oh, whatever..." Hikaru bitterly muttered as beginning to walk. The two boys loyally followed her, sitting by each other's side, with Hikaru leading the group. That's a formal way of walking, which shows who is superior to who. The superior person walks the first, in any circumstances. Kyoya is like Hikaru's body guard, and Kenta... well, Kenta's situation is complicated. He knows martial arts, but in the same time he has knowledge in history, geography, and medicine. He's a part of the middle class, born in a family of intellectuals who occupied different functions at the palace. Kenta doesn't really have a special talent, but he's more like a bookman combined with a soldier. He hasn't sworn loyalty to Hikaru, but they are good friends and go together in adventures or missions, even if he's a lot younger than her. He's a nice person, but can be very serious when it comes to his 'job'.
They let the horses at a peasant, paying for him to take care of them until they're back. Afterwards, they started to wander through the busy town.
"So, what information do we have?" Hikaru started, not looking at the two boys. Kenta respectfully made some steps next to her, and showed her a map as they were walking.
"That's the inn." he said, pointing at a point on the map. "Next to the fish sh—"
"You mean next to us." Kyoya interrupted, and all three looked to see that they were next to a stall with fish. And there was an inn opposing the stall. "Hah." the same swordsman mumbled in disgust, "What a hiding place they found... It took us like, what?, 15 minutes to find it? Including the time we've spent at that peasant."
"Oh, you should say thank you..." Hikaru sighed in disbelief as they entered the yard of the inn, which was like a terrace, where people were eating especially cheap food like rice or soup.
A woman walked over them. "How can I help you?" she asked.
"We would like a room, please." Kenta said, and the woman, who seemed like was the innkeeper, bowed her head in respect and immediately leaded them to a room. She probably saw that the clothes of those three were best quality, so she deduced that they're noble people, consequently, she has to be respectful to them because she's just the wife of a simple peasant.
The room was very simple. It had papered sliding doors, and some small wardrobes. The ceiling was really low, and you couldn't stand on your feet without at least touching it.
~At night~
"They are gone. That's good. Okay, so you know the plan, right?" Hikaru tried to assure herself that everything is ready for the operation. Kenta nodded his head.
"Yeah." he answered, "Take care of yourself, Your Highness."
"Yeah, that's what I'll do. What about you, Kyoya?"
"Everything is ready. You just have to order and I'll attack at your signal."
"Fine."
Then they broke asunder, in three different places, each one with a horse. Hikaru was going to attack the merchants through the back, while Kyoya will do it on the opposite part. Since merchants aren't really skilled when it comes to martial arts and don't use to employ body guards, Hikaru and Kyoya will be like a diversion until Kenta comes with more soldiers. The plan is simple – Hikaru and Kyoya have to survive until Kenta comes to arrest the merchants. Also, these two have to be sure Gingka Hagane doesn't escape.
Hikaru vigilantly rode her horse through that darkness combined with shapeless dim moonlight. She kept riding with moderate speed until she saw the group of merchants like 100 meters away. There were like 50 people transporting diverse goods which didn't seem illegal or stolen at all, but she knew the ginseng was hidden a little deeper.
She studied them. They were walking in a slow pace, some of them on horses, others by feet. Gingka Hagane was in the front of the group, riding a horse. She couldn't see his figure because she was behind them, but she neither knew who he was. She never met him before.
Whatever, it was time. She carefully took her bow and an arrow which she lighted up. The light of the fire wasn't really dazzling, which means that Kyoya wasn't going to notice it. She closed her right eye, trying to set the target with her left dominant eye. So she shot it towards one of the horses, darting it in the leg, making it fall, together with the rider. And that was the signal. She felt a small pain in the place of the arm where the bowstring slapped her. That zone of her body was sensitive already, because of how much she uses the bow.
Her amethyst eyes studied the situation attentively. The merchants began to panic at seeing the poor horse taking fire, and, soon, Kyoya and other 10 men, who were skilled swordsmen they employed, got out from the 'hideout'.
She was alone, however. She didn't need anyone with her since Kyoya had 10 men. The soldiers they got from the police were going to come soon anyway.
"And the fun begins..." she whispered, leaving her hideout.
The battle had started. She let her horse somewhere in a quiet place and joined the others. The only merchants that seemed to know martial arts well were three young men who were fighting with Kyoya's group of men.
One had reddish hair, but she couldn't see his figure well due to the darkness. The second was the one who came to fight her. It was a huge, a fat guy, and that's all she could see. However, he was a very good swordsman, and seems like he liked to attack. Hikaru had to continuously parry his sword with hers, without having the chance to attack. Seems like he didn't notice that she was a girl, because he continued to brutally attack.
One time she tried to take her neck, but she managed to avoid his sword.
F**k, this idiot!, Hikaru thought annoyed.
As she tried to penetrate his arm with her sword, she yelled to him: "Give up, you bastard!", using the toughest tone her voice ever experienced, so he wouldn't notice she's a woman.
"Never!" he yelled, then...
His sword went through the right part of her chest, crossing it through an oblique cut, lifting up some blood up to her mouth. Fortunately, Kyoya saw that she had been injured; otherwise, that guy would have probably killed her with another cut.
"YOUR HIGHNESS!"
He killed a guy standing in his road, and quickly made his way through that crowd of people battling. With the speed of light, he managed to hurt that guy battling Hikaru, in his back. "Your Highness, are you alright?" Kyoya asked after that guy ran away because of the pain.
She nodded her head, trying not to collapse, then she hooked her arm around Kyoya's, his weight almost supporting hers. "That bastard..." she muttered between her ragged breaths, grimacing from the pain in her chest.
"Kenta is coming, Your Highness. We should hide somewhere and let him arrest them. Your Highness's doesn't look alright. Let's go."
"Yeah, right."
He placed his sword back in his sheath, and, with limp, small steps, those two walked away from the bloody conflict and reached the place where Hikaru let her horse. Because she was injured, Kyoya had to ride the horse, and she just stayed behind him on the horse, with the arms wrapped around his slim waist.
A/N: Oh, yeah, I'm back! I've decided to update since school starts on 17th September, a week later than originally!
Thanks to anyone who is still reading this XD
