"What?!" Shion clenched her teacup. She had just received word from her spy about Neji and what she found out certainly displeased her. "So that is why that wench had the guts to talk back to me! So this is why that foolish prince rejected my hand in marriage!! Those lowly creatures!" Shion raged and smashed her teacup against the floor.
"Shion-sama please calm down!" Her personal guard placated. Shion did with her breaths short and heavy with rage and envy. She fisted her hands so hard that her nails dug into her palms and it bled as the ugly emotions swirled through her head, that was until a nasty idea entered her head and she grinned like a thief who was successful in his haul.
"So te[1] I shall withdraw from this marriage proposal with a parting gift for them both, no?" Shion chuckled and went into her chambers to fix herself up for a meeting with the king.
King Hiashi was seated in the meeting room with Shion few feet away from the screen that separated them both. The screen was raised so that they could see each other and the meeting commenced.
Shion bowed herself to the floor in respect. "Hiashi-sama, may your reign in the kingdom last long."
"Lady Shion, what brings you to meet with me?" Hiashi asked.
"I have come regarding the matter of his Highness the crown prince, your Majesty." Shion appealed.
"Speak." Hiashi commanded.
"The prince has rejected my hand in marriage, Hiashi-sama." Shion announced.
"That impudent boy!" Hiashi growled angrily. He clearly told Neji that there was no backing out in this marriage proposal but he still had the nerve to reject it?!
"It seems to me that there is a distraction keeping him from assuming his royal duties as soon to be king." Shion spoke, barely hiding a grin.
"Distraction?"
"Hai. A palace maid whom goes by the name Tenten."
"Tenten? Who is out there?" He called and a guard opened the paper door, bowing in the presence of his superiors. "Is there a servant in this palace who is named Tenten?" Hiashi asked the guard.
"Yes your Majesty. She is Neji-sama's personal maid and right hand." The guard answered and was dismissed.
"She has seduced the Prince into forgetting his duties. Hiashi-sama, this could be dangerous to the kingdom for she is a spy in disguise for a group planning a coup d'etat to overthrow. I have had a guard follow her movement because I did not trust her and lo, she left the palace last week for reasons we do not understand. After all, you are not aware of her employment. It is best you lock her up and make an example off her." Shion lied through her teeth and Hiashi being oblivious to her ill contempt believed her words.
The king sent guards to arrest the assailant while Shion grinned maniacally, hiding the evil smile behind her fan.
~ x ~
Tenten handed the farm tools to the farmer with a smile on her face, waving as the man left with his tools. The smile on her face broke as her bracelet suddenly slipped from her wrist and fell.
"Hmm, that is a sign of bad luck. Perhaps something ominous would happen to your lover?" Anko commented upon seeing the loose bracelet on the floor. Tenten picked it up with a frown. It was firm on her hand just seconds before, how come it came loose?
"The palace guards are in the village!" Lee suddenly burst in, announcing the big news.
"What? Is there an offender?" Gai asked above the iron he was beating but was not given the chance to speak more as two palace guards and a man Tenten recognized as Shion's guard barged into the smithery.
"There she is." Shion's guard pointed at the shocked woman. The guards wasted no time in running over to her and apprehending her.
"Eh?! Eh?! What?!" Tenten yelled as she struggled in their grasp.
"Release her! She has done nothing wrong!" Lee hollered.
"His majesty the king has ordered for Tenten to be arrested for alleged planning of a coup d'etat. She has been reported as a spy for a treason to to the throne." A guard announced loudly enough for the crowd that had gathered outside the smithery to hear.
"Hold on there, Tenten would never do such a thing!" Anko defended.
"Right she is! There must be a misunderstanding." Gai defended but it was pointless against the palace guards. They dragged Tenten away from there to the palace in the carriage for criminals but Tenten kept struggling.
"I did no such thing!" She argued but it was futile. The crowd stared and whispered while her friends tried to defend her but it was pointless. Honestly, Tenten was afraid of what was to come. She was innocent but the fate that met the arrested people was cruel. Spy for a coup d'etat? She did no such thing!
However, nobody seemed to hear or listen to her cry. As they entered the palace drew closer and Tenten saw Shion, she put two and two together and suddenly it clicked. "You're really a snake, Shion!" Tenten yelled from the carriage and was immediately slapped shut.
Neji wondered what the commotion was in the palace. His servants were bustling with talk and whispering while glancing ever so subtly at him while they did so. Did something happen? He was about to question a servant when Moegi barged into his chambers, panting heavily.
"Neji-sama! It's Tenten... Tenten is...she has been captured by the King's guards!" Moegi screeched.
"Nani?!" Neji stood up fast only to be hit by a dizzy spell. He swallowed his nausea and walked outside his chambers in big strides. 'Tenten!' He kept repeating her name in his head as he walked. Moegi tried to keep up the pace but was lost to the fast and big strides he was taking. 'Tenten!'
"Neji-sama!" The sound of that voice made him halt a bit. It was true, Tenten was captured. He didn't need to put much thought to it before realizing that Shion was the one behind this. Angry, he walked to the carriage which stopped upon seeing the prince.
"What is the meaning of this? How dare you lay a hand on my right hand?!" He demanded.
"My prince, it was the orders of the King. This woman is a spy for a traitorous group." One of the guards steering the carriage replied.
"How preposterous! I demand you unhand her at once!" Neji yelled. Anger coursed through his bones and ate at his flesh but he didn't act upon it. Doing something rash would only endanger Tenten.
"I am afraid it is the King's orders. She is to be thrown into the dungeon and tortured until she confesses." With that the carriage took off. Tenten's scream for his name echoed in Neji's head till she disappeared into the distance. That was it for Neji. The veins around his head and eyes popped in infuriation and his white pupils became more pronounced. His gaze was locked on Shion who trembled at his angry state slightly.
Neji was about to act when a hand on his sho
ulder stopped him. Looking back, he saw Hinata looking at him with worry and a fear and that was his awakening call. "Neji-nii-sama please calm down for Tenten's sake." Hinata placated. Hanabi was on his other side, also with a look of worry and fear on her face. Neji didn't want to harm his cousin-sisters so he forced himself calm by taking deep breaths.
"I will appeal to Oujiwe." He spoke after a few breaths and walked to the throne room but not before casting Shion a spiteful hate filled glare. The woman had the decency to hide her smirk until he left her sight.
Tenten was the only thing in Neji's mind as he walked to the throne room where he was sure Hiashi was. He didn't want to imagine the horrors that would happen to his lover in that horrible dungeon but he did because he knew. Criminals were tortured to the utmost breaking point after which they were sold as slaves to another land or nobles willing to buy them. Some women got sold off as prostitutes instead of tortuous punishment while others rot away in the dungeon and were used as the jailers' playthings.
'Tenten I am so sorry. Please wait for me, I would not let you be harmed in any way. Please wait for me!'
Oh no! What would Neji do? What would Tenten do?!
[1] So te - well then
[2] Oujiwe- fatherHmm, Naruto is not mine but this story's mine I guess.
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