Mirror Image

Chapter 21: The Master and The Rebel Army

Len sat in his throne room alone, feeling contempt with himself. He let the feeling of his return home sink in. He was glad to be back. It had been so long since he sat in his beautiful golden carved chair, or heard the words 'your highness' uttered through a servant's lips. He had missed the weight of his decorated crown that now rested aloft his head. He'd worn peasants' clothing for so long that his gorgeous red silk robes felt uncomfortable on his lean body, and the pull of his ruby earring which he had barely noticed before now brought him with nothing but headaches.

It would take some time to adjust to his regular lifestyle. Since his chase after Mikuo, Len focused less on his duties and leaned more towards his desire to cradle his enemy's decapitated head in his arms. As a result, work began to pile up. There were documents that needed to be read, meetings that needed to be held, and parties that requested his mandatory attendance, especially with the Winter Solstice and New year drawing near. It was quite the monotonous routine. Len had quickly grown tired of it.

He sighed. If only being a King requested him to look handsome and live in luxury for the remainder of his life. He could only dream. Still, Len held on to the thought, deciding to forget about his duties as King for the day and relax. Perhaps he could take a nap. The idea appealed to him. He closed his eyes, leaning back in his throne as the dizzying relief of sleep overcame him, and just when he thought he'd enter his barren world of dreams, someone had hurriedly crashed through the door, and he jolted awake.

"Your highness, urgent news!" yelled Yumi, an annoying yet tactful spy of his. He once considered courting the dazzling coral haired girl, but later discovered the girl was more useful for his political needs than his romantic ones.

Len squeezed the space in between his eyes, and in a tired voice said, "What is it?"

"My mission," she said in a calmer tone. "It's complete."

Len sat straighter in his chair. "And?"

She shook her head. "It's just as you said."

Len bit on the inside of his cheek, frustrated. Before heading out in his country-wide tour, Len had given Yumi a task that required the utmost precaution. It had all began the day Mikuo had betrayed him, no, even before then. Len sensed something wasn't right with his Kingdom. It was this instinct of his that saved his mortal life many times before, and so he wasn't about to pass this feeling off as his imagination.

As his feelings of uncertainty grew, the harsher his rule became. It wasn't until he took Yumi under his wing did Len finally do something about it. He sent her out to investigate, informing her about his suspicions, and now she reported to him. While Len did enjoy being right, and his suspicions had been affirmed, Len wasn't all that thrilled in being correct. Not this time.

"It's a very secret army, but I've managed to infiltrate it and become a member. They've gathered within the Capitol, not outside it. I've attended a few of their meetings and..."

Len was cross. "And?" he asked already knowing what she'd say.

"They speak of revolution."

Yumi was silent, Len, dangerously silent. He gnawed on his thumbnail as he conjured a plan. He needed to come up with a strategy that would completely wipe out every existing member of that rebellion army. "Yumi, are there any recognizable members among them?" he asked as his finished gathering his final thoughts.

Her gaze lowered to the ground, confirming yet another one of Len's suspicions. He silently cursed as she spoke. "Um, well yes. There was soldier 096 you banished along with his wife, and Hatsune Mikuo that entered the Capitol through somewhat humouring means..." she forced a laugh in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Len had stopped listening the moment he heard Mikuo's name uttered. He found a way through the Capitol? Len heaved a heavy sigh. Of course, he had. Mikuo was always one step ahead of him.

"Yumi," he said interrupting her.

"Y―Y es?"

"How many rebels are there in total?"

She swallowed her clamped up throat. "I―It's hard to say. The number continues to grow, and they have yet to gather all their members, I'd say the number falls to about one hundred thousand soldiers."

"I see." He paused, thoughtfully tapping his fingers against his armrest. "Call five hundred thousand soldiers to Capitol."

"Five hundred thousand soldiers!? With all due respect―"

"I don't care for your opinion, Yumi," he snapped. "Close the Capitol gates. The city will be placed under temporary lockdown until the soldiers arrive. When they show, I'll be the one to lead them to the mass arrest of the rebel army." he ordered. He glanced at Yumi who bit on her lower lip to stop herself from speaking out. She took a breath, wearing a calm face as she presented her King with a deep bow.

"Of course, your majesty."

Rin fidgeted in her seat. She was still very unused to her new surrounding. She stood in a large dimly lit cave, that rested right under Meito's basement. She had been surprised at first, well actually, she was still in shock. The idea of secret entrances was only known to her in the movies and in fictional stories. Rin could hardly contain her excitement.

The cave held almost fifty thousand other beings. Rin could hardly believe it. These people had gathered from every corner of Yamis, and the number continued to grow. She learned every member of the rebel army had been trained by Mikuo. Mikuo had come to the Capitol every few months to train new recruits. It really was quite admirable, though it had made Rin feel less special. Still, she was happy to have a sense of community with the other members.

Rin scanned the large space, searching for the coral haired girl, Yumi as she was called. Rin had glanced at her for only a second, and it was at that moment did she figure out that Yumi was the mirror image of her annoying delinquent-like classmate, Yuuma. At this point, Rin had learned to mask her surprise when crossing paths with mirror images she was familiar with.

Just like Rin concluded Miku and Mikuo to be total opposites, she found that Yuuma and Yumi didn't share that many similar characteristics either. While Yuuma was vulgar and rude, Yumi was kind and a bit of klutz with a happy-go-lucky attitude, though there were times when Yumi thought no one was looking, Rin stared at her and saw―for just a moment―she had a calculative gaze.

Rin frowned realizing it was impossible to find anyone in this crowd. Oh well. She figured she should pay attention to the meeting. The underground meetings were held daily, once every week. Captains would speak of their plans for revolution, and often motivate the rebel army. Other times, members of the rebel army would speak of their everyday lives while under the rule of the current King. There were mummers and nods of agreement that came from the listens. They had all gone through similar experiences, and the deep rooted anger for the King was apparent in their expressions throughout each of their tales. In the end, this was the strongest motivation of all.

"...we escaped before the soldiers came." Rin's ears perked at the sound of the soft voice. "They destroyed everything, and it was because he ordered it."

This voice...Rin had heard it before, but she wasn't sure where. Her eyes searched for the source, but she couldn't find a body that matched the sweet honey like voice. It wasn't until Rin caught a glimpse of the familiar shade of bright sliver hair, did she freeze in place. "It's you!' Rin said, getting up from her seat. All eyes had made their way over to her, but she hadn't noticed. She was too overwhelmed with shock and relief.

The small girl looked around, confused as Rin made her way over to her. "D―Do I know you?"

"My name is Rin. My friends and I travelled through Rojin village before...um...oh." Her enthusiastic tone dropped the instant she realized that this wasn't the time nor place for a reunion. Even worse, Rin was about to say 'before Rojin's destruction'. How stupid could she be?

"Oh, yes. I remember you." Her eyes lit, but they were dim. "You were one of our last customers before Rojin's massacre."

"I― I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoke."

She shook her head. "No. I'm glad to see you're safe. You left in such a hurry. I wondered what got you and your friends so riled up." Her eyes darkened. "Of course, I soon understood why. Just like your friend Mikuo, my husband and I were never in good terms with The Dark Lord."

"What was your affiliation with the King?"

"My husband and I were part of the King's personal guard, but we didn't even last a year. That wretched man's thoughts and ideals of ruling a Kingdom were too morbid. Though it wasn't our place, we often spoke against his action which later led to our banishment of the Capitol."

"Oh." Rin attempted to smile. "Well. It's good to have you back."

She laughed.

Once the meeting had finished, members of the rebel army had either remained in the cave, as it was their only shelter, or had slowly trickled out of Meito's clinic, as though they were patients that had just completed their monthly check ups. Rin, who was one of the last to leave, was in a hurry to exit the clinic. She had been successful in avoiding Meito for the past three days. She didn't want to break that streak.

She was only millimetres away from pushing through the door when she heard Meito call out to her. "Rin."

She froze. She had been so close...

"Rin, come here for a moment."

It was late. Kaiko, Mikuo, and Luki were all fast asleep in Meito's guest room. As usual, Rin was the only one wide awake. It wasn't as though Rin had her troubles weighing down on her, which prevented her from sleep as in her previous travels. Rin had kept herself awake. She had yet to speak to Meito and his offer of an alternate means of pay. She sat on the the chair across from Meito's, folding her arms on the small table between them. "You said you were willing to forget about the cost. What exactly am I supposed to do for you?"

He sighed. "You know, I love Kaiko, don't you?"

She raised her brow. Was he trying to change the topic? "Yes," she said slowly. "And Kaiko feels the same for you."

He breathed another exasperated sigh. "That's the problem." Huh? She didn't understand. They loved each other, but that was the problem? And they said it was impossible to understand women.

"I love Kaiko, but not in the way she loves me."

She gasped. "You don't mean..."

"I'm afraid I do."

"W―Why are you telling me this."

He lowered his eyes. "I want you to tell her it's over."

She banged her fist on the table. "I won't. How―how dare you even ask me such a thing? Kaiko's my friend." She was enraged. "She always spoke so well of you. How can you bare to throw her away so easily? Have you no shame?"

He clenched his fists. "I loved Kaiko. I thought I could marry her, I really did. It was because she had no one left that I proposed to her. If you could only see her back then, you'd understand. I couldn't sit back and not do nothing. I knew she loved me than more of a friend, so I proposed. It was one of the few things I knew would make her happy, but it was soon after she left that I met this woman. She's everything I ever wanted. I couldn't marry Kaiko knowing another man would eventually get a hold of her." He bowed. "I know I'm being a coward, but please. I beg of you."

She stood up. "You're the worst."

Rin didn't think her situation could get any worse, but it had. She had later found out that the mystery woman Meito loved was no other than the mirror image of her teacher, Hiyama Kiyoteru, or in this case Hiyami Kiyoteru. She was also a teacher like her counterpart. Sweet and kind, not at all bitter like Rin's teacher had been. She had come from an extremely small village, its population hadn't even reached one hundred before the village and everyone in it had been destroyed, and it was all because one boy, one boy who was barely eleven years old had declared that he was going to join the rebel army. She and her student, Kai Yuki had been the survivors.

"It's still no, Meito!" she snapped before slamming the door behind her.

Rin stormed off into the Capitol's market place, hunger seizing her stomach. Anger usually increased her appetite. She didn't really understand it herself, but she didn't care, as long as she was distracted by the nerve of that doctor!

Rin bought an orange from a fruit stand, and angrily bit into it. It was tangy and delicious. The fruit slowly began to ease her hunger and her anger.

"Rin?"

She turned around. It was Mikuo. He held onto a basket of apples, and much to her amusement, was still dressed in female clothing. "Hello," she said maintaining a neutral tone. "You weren't at the meeting today?'

He shook his head. "I still have something to do."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"I'm meeting my master today. Do you want to come?"

"Can I?"

He nodded.

She walked along side Mikuo. "So," she said trying to strike a conversation in their seemingly silent walk. "What's your master's name anyway?" She had grown curious of the Master Mikuo so greatly looked up to. He'd had also been Rin's beacon of hope during the early stages of her blindness, when Rin was sure her life bore no purpose. She figured the least she could do was learn the name of this great man.

"Hm? Oh, his name is Gakupo. Kamui Gakupo." She stopped in her tracks. Had she heard wrong? Maybe it was another Kamui Gakupo. She couldn't be sure. It was impossible otherwise.

Mikuo had slowly come to a stop. It had taken him a moment to realize Rin had stopped walking. "Rin? Are you alright?" he asked. Her face had gone deathly pale, her whole body trembled. Mikuo had never seen her in such a state.

"T―That's my father's name," she stuttered. He's been dead for over ten years.