Disclaimer: Yes yes, I own nothing. NOTHING. Bahahaha.
Author's Notes: Wheee, finally the Chinese! No time for A/N, so yeah wheeee!~
"Alright, do you understand the plan Tatara?" Kira asked. She was adjusting her new costume in front of a rather poor and dirtied mirror that was attached to the back of a wagon in front of them.
"Uh huh." Tatara nodded, he didn't have to wear a costume because none of the 'bad-guys' knew what he looked like. "All except the part about the things."
"The part about the things?" Kira looked down at the little boy. "Which things?"
"Why do we have to break up? Why are we with these people? Why are you dressed funny?" Tatara counted the reasons on his fingers, and though Kira was downtrodden that Tatara had not listened to a word she said Tatara couldn't be blamed.
"Okay, I'll start again." Kira took a deep breath and decided to answer the questions in order.
"First, we broke up the group because the guards and army people will be looking for a group with an older man, a ninja, a woman in black and so forth. If we go separately then we should all get into the Palace." Kira looked down and Tatara nodded signifying that he understood.
"Second of all, these people are traveling entertainers. They will all be admitted without any questions into the outer area of the Palace."
"Outer area?" Tatara interrupted with his question.
"Well, it's sort of like a small town inside the palace walls. Then there's another wall that goes around the palace building itself." Kira answered the boy's question before she went back to explaining.
"If we go with them then we'll get in easily. Understand?" Tatara nodded and Kira continued with the final question.
"I'm dressed like this because they'd recognize me if I dressed up like normal." Kira motioned to her rather filmy light outfit. "Besides, don't I look pretty?"
"Yup Prince." Tatara nodded and Kira shook her head. Apparently Tatara didn't have a grasp on gender significance in titles, but it didn't really matter that much.
The sun rose over the straight road that led through the desert to the palace. The road wasn't paved though in the place of cement the sands had been cleared away and the road had been carved into the sandstone. Because of the storms that occurred rather frequently in this part of China the sands were secured by a system of knotted ropes, on the plus side though the stability of the sands allowed a thin and small ribbons of grass to grow beside the roads and obscured the ropes.
Kira and Tatara traveled along near the middle of a caravan of performers. It felt rather strange for the two to be separate from the group, but the plan demanded that they go in pairs rather than in large numbers. Yuki would be traveling with Kage and a group of messengers later in the day. The others wouldn't arrive until the end of the plan a few hours after sunset.
Kira was worried about the plan though, even though her new costume hid her well. She was clad in something akin to a belly dancer's costume though it had been given some form of encircling jewelry that wrapped around her stomach. Tokaki had been careful in choosing the costume, making sure it had no items that would hinder stealth. Kira couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all though, everyone save Yuki, Kagasuki, and Tatara thought she was a man. When Tokaki gave her the costume, Kira had a sneaking suspicion she knew until she made an interesting comment. 'Put it on later, I don't want to see any skinny men in dresses today.'
Kira walked along in her rather ironic costume her Samshir fastened to a belt around her waist, that was the one piece of Kurare that Kira insisted on having around at all times.
The landscape and architecture slowly changed as they walked down the road towards the palace. It seemed the strange land they'd been wandering through had been rather more influenced by the Arab and Middle-eastern countries up until now. The deeper into the country they got the more Chinese everything became. Houses changed style, clothing, signs; everything became more and more oriental though that was to be expected while in the Orient.
When the group reached the outer gates of the Palace City, the culture of the country seemed to contrast like night and day. The Palace City was as classically Chinese as one could get, the roofs were all covered in red shingles, the ends curved upward to help direct the rain. The streets were paves with cut stone bricks, the buildings a brilliant white with green and gold; in fact the city was painted a myriad of colors and covered in depictions of tigers and cranes. The most striking of anything in the city was the inner walls that surrounded the Palace on one end and the Temple of Byakko on the other.
The walls were nearly fifteen feet high, the first five feet made of normal stone painted over in a deep blue. The next five were of carved marble, sculpted by the hands of hundreds of artisans to depict powerful tigers, graceful cats, delicate goldfish, and swans surrounded by lotus blossoms. The final five feet were made from bamboo that had been grown into a box woven shape. The gates that broke the wall only twice were massive, carved from cherry wood it seemed, and lacquered a deep brilliant red.
"Wow." Tatara stopped on the side of the street and stared at the walls.
"Yeah." Kira stood beside him and stared up at the defensive artwork that was the inner walls.
"What do they look like on the other side?"
"I'd like to know that Tatara, I really would." Kira nodded and noticed that the caravan had nearly passed them by completely. "We'd better catch up!" Kira took Tatara's hand and they walked away from the walls after the caravan.
It was still rather early in the morning and the majority of the city was covered in a light cool mist that normally came with morning. Everyone seemed to wake up rather briskly and just as the caravan reached the area set aside for them by the emperor the streets sprung to life with merchants, pedestrians and a few people driving horse drawn carts. Everyone in the city was happy but they all kept off the street that led in front of the inner wall.
Kira noticed this and thought it quite odd, but then so did another person not too far away.
"Hmmm." Chichiri looked out of one of the wooden framed palace windows and noticed the locals' avoidance of the street next to the wall.
"What's up?" Tasuki stopped next to Chichiri as he walked down the palace hall.
"That road, no da." Chichiri looked over at Tasuki who raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and?" Tasuki said and blinked.
"Nobody's walking on it."
"Hey yeah, maybe they just repaved it?" Tasuki suggested and looked out at the road.
"It's paved with stones, no da." Chichiri replied and Tasuki shrugged.
"Well then, beats me." Tasuki sighed and went back to walking around the palace.
Chichiri looked out the window for a few more minutes and saw a rather odd sight. A pair of kids were playing some sort of game that involved kicking a ball back and forth. One of them kicked the ball a tad too hard and it rolled out onto the empty street. They both ran after it but stopped abruptly as they came to the edge of the empty street. One of them was about to step out onto the street to get the ball and subsequently set Chichiri's mind at ease but just before the little boy managed a step out onto the road a woman that had been walking by dropped her groceries and grabbed the boy by the arm. Chichiri watched in mild awe and with growing curiosity as the woman, who surely was in no way related to the boy, scolded him and gave him some money to buy a new ball.
"Very strange." Chichiri said quietly to himself and walked down the hall towards the stairs. He was quite compelled to investigate this strange occurrence.
Chichiri chose to exit the palace using the servants' entrance, which faced towards the festival grounds rather than the main gate that the main road through town met. He looked around at the Caravan of performers as they unloaded and prepared for the festivities that were soon to happen. Chichiri wandered through the seemingly endless maze of wagons, tents and boxes until he finally bumped into (or more like was bumped into by) a small boy.
"Huh?" Tatara looked up at the tall monk he'd run into while carrying some boxes for one of the ladies.
Author's Notes: Wheee, finally the Chinese! No time for A/N, so yeah wheeee!~
"Alright, do you understand the plan Tatara?" Kira asked. She was adjusting her new costume in front of a rather poor and dirtied mirror that was attached to the back of a wagon in front of them.
"Uh huh." Tatara nodded, he didn't have to wear a costume because none of the 'bad-guys' knew what he looked like. "All except the part about the things."
"The part about the things?" Kira looked down at the little boy. "Which things?"
"Why do we have to break up? Why are we with these people? Why are you dressed funny?" Tatara counted the reasons on his fingers, and though Kira was downtrodden that Tatara had not listened to a word she said Tatara couldn't be blamed.
"Okay, I'll start again." Kira took a deep breath and decided to answer the questions in order.
"First, we broke up the group because the guards and army people will be looking for a group with an older man, a ninja, a woman in black and so forth. If we go separately then we should all get into the Palace." Kira looked down and Tatara nodded signifying that he understood.
"Second of all, these people are traveling entertainers. They will all be admitted without any questions into the outer area of the Palace."
"Outer area?" Tatara interrupted with his question.
"Well, it's sort of like a small town inside the palace walls. Then there's another wall that goes around the palace building itself." Kira answered the boy's question before she went back to explaining.
"If we go with them then we'll get in easily. Understand?" Tatara nodded and Kira continued with the final question.
"I'm dressed like this because they'd recognize me if I dressed up like normal." Kira motioned to her rather filmy light outfit. "Besides, don't I look pretty?"
"Yup Prince." Tatara nodded and Kira shook her head. Apparently Tatara didn't have a grasp on gender significance in titles, but it didn't really matter that much.
The sun rose over the straight road that led through the desert to the palace. The road wasn't paved though in the place of cement the sands had been cleared away and the road had been carved into the sandstone. Because of the storms that occurred rather frequently in this part of China the sands were secured by a system of knotted ropes, on the plus side though the stability of the sands allowed a thin and small ribbons of grass to grow beside the roads and obscured the ropes.
Kira and Tatara traveled along near the middle of a caravan of performers. It felt rather strange for the two to be separate from the group, but the plan demanded that they go in pairs rather than in large numbers. Yuki would be traveling with Kage and a group of messengers later in the day. The others wouldn't arrive until the end of the plan a few hours after sunset.
Kira was worried about the plan though, even though her new costume hid her well. She was clad in something akin to a belly dancer's costume though it had been given some form of encircling jewelry that wrapped around her stomach. Tokaki had been careful in choosing the costume, making sure it had no items that would hinder stealth. Kira couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all though, everyone save Yuki, Kagasuki, and Tatara thought she was a man. When Tokaki gave her the costume, Kira had a sneaking suspicion she knew until she made an interesting comment. 'Put it on later, I don't want to see any skinny men in dresses today.'
Kira walked along in her rather ironic costume her Samshir fastened to a belt around her waist, that was the one piece of Kurare that Kira insisted on having around at all times.
The landscape and architecture slowly changed as they walked down the road towards the palace. It seemed the strange land they'd been wandering through had been rather more influenced by the Arab and Middle-eastern countries up until now. The deeper into the country they got the more Chinese everything became. Houses changed style, clothing, signs; everything became more and more oriental though that was to be expected while in the Orient.
When the group reached the outer gates of the Palace City, the culture of the country seemed to contrast like night and day. The Palace City was as classically Chinese as one could get, the roofs were all covered in red shingles, the ends curved upward to help direct the rain. The streets were paves with cut stone bricks, the buildings a brilliant white with green and gold; in fact the city was painted a myriad of colors and covered in depictions of tigers and cranes. The most striking of anything in the city was the inner walls that surrounded the Palace on one end and the Temple of Byakko on the other.
The walls were nearly fifteen feet high, the first five feet made of normal stone painted over in a deep blue. The next five were of carved marble, sculpted by the hands of hundreds of artisans to depict powerful tigers, graceful cats, delicate goldfish, and swans surrounded by lotus blossoms. The final five feet were made from bamboo that had been grown into a box woven shape. The gates that broke the wall only twice were massive, carved from cherry wood it seemed, and lacquered a deep brilliant red.
"Wow." Tatara stopped on the side of the street and stared at the walls.
"Yeah." Kira stood beside him and stared up at the defensive artwork that was the inner walls.
"What do they look like on the other side?"
"I'd like to know that Tatara, I really would." Kira nodded and noticed that the caravan had nearly passed them by completely. "We'd better catch up!" Kira took Tatara's hand and they walked away from the walls after the caravan.
It was still rather early in the morning and the majority of the city was covered in a light cool mist that normally came with morning. Everyone seemed to wake up rather briskly and just as the caravan reached the area set aside for them by the emperor the streets sprung to life with merchants, pedestrians and a few people driving horse drawn carts. Everyone in the city was happy but they all kept off the street that led in front of the inner wall.
Kira noticed this and thought it quite odd, but then so did another person not too far away.
"Hmmm." Chichiri looked out of one of the wooden framed palace windows and noticed the locals' avoidance of the street next to the wall.
"What's up?" Tasuki stopped next to Chichiri as he walked down the palace hall.
"That road, no da." Chichiri looked over at Tasuki who raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and?" Tasuki said and blinked.
"Nobody's walking on it."
"Hey yeah, maybe they just repaved it?" Tasuki suggested and looked out at the road.
"It's paved with stones, no da." Chichiri replied and Tasuki shrugged.
"Well then, beats me." Tasuki sighed and went back to walking around the palace.
Chichiri looked out the window for a few more minutes and saw a rather odd sight. A pair of kids were playing some sort of game that involved kicking a ball back and forth. One of them kicked the ball a tad too hard and it rolled out onto the empty street. They both ran after it but stopped abruptly as they came to the edge of the empty street. One of them was about to step out onto the street to get the ball and subsequently set Chichiri's mind at ease but just before the little boy managed a step out onto the road a woman that had been walking by dropped her groceries and grabbed the boy by the arm. Chichiri watched in mild awe and with growing curiosity as the woman, who surely was in no way related to the boy, scolded him and gave him some money to buy a new ball.
"Very strange." Chichiri said quietly to himself and walked down the hall towards the stairs. He was quite compelled to investigate this strange occurrence.
Chichiri chose to exit the palace using the servants' entrance, which faced towards the festival grounds rather than the main gate that the main road through town met. He looked around at the Caravan of performers as they unloaded and prepared for the festivities that were soon to happen. Chichiri wandered through the seemingly endless maze of wagons, tents and boxes until he finally bumped into (or more like was bumped into by) a small boy.
"Huh?" Tatara looked up at the tall monk he'd run into while carrying some boxes for one of the ladies.