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Ok, I'm fed up of unable to think up of suitable titles for the chapters so I won't be putting them unless I can think of something or my readers give me suggestions through reviews. Enjoy this chapter!
"They could not have gotten far. Search for them!" Seredy ordered his men to spread out among the area where they had originally spotted Muraku. But he and his companions had managed to escape at the last minute. "But Jin Kaidou and that slave could not be with them or Queen Yuno would not had called for them to run away." He mused with a smirk. "If I can get them, I can lure him out."
"Sir, we have not found Jin Kaidou or the slave, but our men had spotted Muraku and his two companions heading west." One of his men reported to him.
"Good, go after them." He told him. "But send a squadron to continue finding Jin Kaidou and the slave."
"Yes sir!" The soldier saluted and went off to find the others to begin the chase.
"We should be close." Reika murmured on Muraku's shoulder as he and Yuno ran away from Bandit with Reika on his shoulder. "Turn right here."
"Where exactly are we going?" Yuno panted out.
"To find Ban!" Muraku answered back. "He has Queen Renneton's men with him. They can help us fight off Bandit!"
"Good plan. But how can we find them?!"
"Reika knows where they are!"
"Turn again here!" Reika told him. Muraku skidded to a halt and turned right again with Yuno following closely behind. "They're not far. Just keep going straight."
"Alright."
"Stop right there!"
"Go ahead!" Muraku urged Yuno. "Get help."
"Right!" Yuno nodded and ran ahead while Muraku slowed down so that Bandit can purposely catch up to them.
"We got you!" Bandit cried out as they surrounded Muraku and Reika. The leader blinked however when he noticed that Yuno was not with them. "Where's Queen Yuno!?"
"She's not with us." Muraku said nonchalantly.
"No matter. All that matters is that we bring Muraku back and it will spare us the wrath of the queen." One of them said to the leader.
"Fine." The leader begrudgingly nodded and they closed in on them.
"Get away from them!" Ban cried as he and Kazu burst into the area, fighting off the Bandits away.
"Tsk, retreat!" The leader called out, intending to come back with reinforcements. The Bandits soon backed away and ran off. Neither Ban nor Kazu moved until they were sure that they were alone. But once the last of Bandit were far away, they turned to Muraku.
"Muraku, Queen Yuno told us what happened." Ban said as he took Reika off his back, relieving him for the moment. "Come on, they'll be back soon with more reinforcements. We have to get away from here."
Muraku tersely nodded and followed them to the spot where the rest of the soldiers and Arata were waiting with Yuno.
"Muraku." Yuno sighed in relief but she became worried. "Where are Jin and Hana? I know I told them to run, but I'm still worried about them."
"They'll be fine. Knowing Hana, she probably got them to hide in a tree." Ban said with a knowing smile.
Arata silently snorted while Kazu chuckled softly at that. The former turned to Yuno and eyed her critically. "You know, for someone who is part of the Empire, you're not a bad person."
"Arata." Ban groaned, slapping his head, but mindful of Reika as she had fallen unconscious now on his back. Of course, Arata did not notice this and Yuno sweatdropped at his bluntness.
"Not everyone in the Empire is necessarily happy with the current ruling body." Yuno spoke slowly as they started to move on. "I was married to Jin only to seal an alliance agreement between Odela and the Empire. It was the only way my father could think of to prevent Lord Kaidou from invading our land. In fact, I know a lot of staff in the palace who are unhappy with his ruthless ways, and in some ways, Jin too, since he takes after him in his methods of ruling. But at the same time, Jin is changing for the better and does try to help the people in the loopholes his grandfather cannot counter."
"But why didn't he just go against his grandfather completely?" Arata grumbled.
"It's not that simple. The court still favors Lord Yoshimitsu's ideals so if Jin was to rule against him, he'll have the entire court against him and they can call a coup to reinstall Lord Yoshimitsu." Yuno told him sadly. "The only way to have Lord Yoshitmisu off the court entirely is death. Once he dies, the court will have no choice but to obey Jin. That's why the queen wanted to strike now because of his declining health. The last time he collapsed, it was because his heart failed him but from what I gathered about Sir Kamiya's men's appearance, he is probably awake and sent Sir Kamiya after us."
"But if that's so, where is Sir Kamiya?" Ban frowned in confusion.
Yuno tensed up and let out a shaky breathe. "Seredy told Hana and me…he's dead. His own men betrayed him and killed him because they thought that he was going insane. I don't know what made him insane, but his men saw it as a threat enough to want to kill him."
Kazu and Arata had shock looks on their faces while Ban looked grim. "I guess his schemes ended with him being the victim of his own scheme."
"What do you mean by that?" Kazu frowned.
"Sir Kamiya is a loyal follower of Lord Yoshimitsu and I remember that he was once promised that if Jin failed him as king, he will install Sir Kamiya as king instead." Yuno spoke up, slowly understanding what Ban was getting.
"Indeed. After his attempt assault on Vanessa at Machila, I have been doing some digging on him and found out through various sources that he has been plotting to find something that can discredit Jin in Yoshimitsu Kaidou's eyes so that he can become king." Ban said gravely. "I believe that drove him to the brink of insanity since he could not find anything that he can use against Jin yet and Yoshimitsu Kaidou's health is declining rapidly."
"Wow, who would have thought…" Arata trailed off and suddenly looked around. "Wait, where's Muraku!?"
Ban jerked around and realization dawned on his face. "He's gone…he must have gone back to find Jin and Hana!"
"I think we lost them." One of Bandit groaned.
"Well? We have to keep looking or Queen Kinako will have our heads!" The leader said impatiently. "Go on! Search the area again. You two, go on ahead and scout if they slipped past us."
"Sir!" They saluted and ran off.
"The rest of you, follow me!" The leader barked and ran off in another direction. Once the coast was clear, Hana and Jin emerged from their hiding spot from a behind a bush and ran off in the opposite direction which they went.
"Their numbers are too large. We will only be able to avoid them but we can't get away from them." Jin muttered to himself. Hana rolled her eyes but agreed with Jin. Like this, they can only afford to hide from Bandit until they give up. But it would not be very likely, given how terrified all of them were of the queen.
"At this rate, we might have to camp out in trees." Jin scrunched up his nose at that thought. Again, Hana rolled her eyes. That had been her first opinion since she had noted that Bandit never bothers to look at trees when they are looking for something. But given how Jin disliked the idea, she decided not to push for it.
He pulled at Hana's hand and led her over to a large tree with the roots overlapping each other. Hana raised a questioning eyebrow at him. In response, he pushed her down into one of the large holes which was made from the gap in the roots. He soon followed and they huddled closely together.
'We can't keep on running like this. We should find Muraku and Yuno as soon as possible and return to the palace.' Hana signed.
"I don't think that returning to the palace is a good idea." Jin countered it. "If grandfather knows that I'm here, which I doubt that he doesn't, he will know that Queen Kinako had told me everything and who knows what he'll do."
'Good point.' Hana signed with a sigh. 'Then what are we going to do?'
"Simple, we'll bring the fight to him."
Hana gave him a stare that asked him what in the world was he thinking so Jin had to explain. "I'm tired of being my grandfather's puppet. If Queen Kinako, Aidara and Queen Renneton want to have him off the throne, I have no problems with that."
Hana frowned and wondered how he was going to do that. Seeing this, Jin shrugged. "I don't have a plan yet. But I know that this is what I want. In the meantime, we're going to have to hide out. And as much as I hate to, I'm sending Yuno to Wecasta until I know that it'll be safe for her to go back."
'And what about me?'
"Isn't it obvious? You're staying with me." Jin smiled at her as he peaked out of the hole. Once it was clear, he climbed out and extended his hand. "I made a mistake of letting go of you once. I'm not going to make the same mistake again."
Hana stared at him and then at his extended hand. She slowly reached out and took his hand, allowing him to pull her up.
"How sweet."
Jin and Hana jerked around to see the leader of the squad of Bandit approaching them with his sword pointed at them.
"Luckily I thought of this or you would have escaped and I will have my head off." He sneered as he got closer. Jin and Hana slowly backed away, the former cursing as he lost his sword when dueling with Muraku so they were defenseless against Bandit.
"Don't you dare harm them!" Muraku snarled as he came out of nowhere behind the Bandit and killed him with a single blow of his sword.
"Muraku!?" Jin cried in surprise.
Muraku stiffened and slowly turned around. He did not move from where he was but kept a wary gaze at Jin. Hana sighed inwardly and wondered if the friendship between the two brothers will ever be restored. She offered him a smile and stepped forward. 'Where's Yuno and the girl that was with you?'
"They're with Ban." Muraku said with a grateful look. "I figured it would be safer for them to be with him while I looked for you."
Hana let out a sigh of relief and turned to Jin who had not said a word and had a stony gaze at Muraku. She rolled her eyes and tugged his arm. 'Jin, stop it. He saved us and that's what matters. Doesn't this show that he still cares for you?'
Jin begrudgingly nodded and said stiffly. "Thank you."
Hana shifted her gaze from Jin to Muraku. 'They still care a lot for each other under the surface even after Jin had tried to hurt him and his friends many times already. Muraku, you have my deepest admiration. Not many can still care for the person who hurt him even when he had hurt you so many times.'
Muraku cleared his throat and lowered his head. "Jin, I know that you hate me for leaving you and I deserve that. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I don't regret my decision one bit. But I forgive you for everything you did to me and Mikhail and his family."
Jin's head shot up and his eyes glazed over. "Why?" he croaked out weakly. "Why would you forgive me?"
Muraku gave him a sad smile. "Because no matter what happened between us and no matter how big the rift between us is, you are still my brother."
Jin's mouth fell open and he stumbled backwards. Hana quickly caught up and steadied him, tears forming in her eyes. 'This is what Jin needs, someone to forgive him. Jin, just a little more and you can throw away the person you were for the past five years.'
"Jin, listen." Muraku spoke up seriously. "The queen…my…mother, will not stop until she finds you. I'll create a diversion and you and Hana must leave and never come back to this place."
"Then what will happen to you?" Jin frowned.
"Don't worry. She won't hurt me. I'll force her to leave you alone if I have to." Muraku told him determinately.
"I'm not leaving you with that witch." Jin said firmly.
"Jin, our best bet is to buy ourselves some time to get our bearings and planning straight. There's no way you can handle the queen and Yoshimitsu Kaidou at the same time. We have to assess our roles properly or everything will fall into chaos." Muraku said patiently as he turned to go. "Trust me. I know that my own mother will not harm me. We will see each other again. I'm sure of it." He offered him a smile. "Now go!"
Jin clenched his fist and slowly nodded. "Stay safe. And when we see each other again, it'll be as brothers."
Muraku halted in his steps and squeezed his eyes. "Of course."
Hana watched all this with a small smile as tears formed from being touched by Muraku and Jin's restored friendship. Jin grabbed her hand and led her in the opposite direction of where Muraku was going, glancing back every so often.
'Stay safe little brother.' Jin wished.