By Monmon
Disclaimers: Read Chapter 1.
General Fujima Kenji woke up early in the morning before dawn. Today he would have to greet the emissaries from the Shoyo kingdom. Shoyo is a kingdom slightly bigger than Shohoku just south of Shohoku's borders. Shohoku is a young kingdom compared to Shoyo. Shohoku was only established about a hundred and fifty years ago by a group of nobles who came from an empire that was across the ocean in the north of their kingdom. Legends talk about a large empire rich beyond their imaginations across the ocean in the northern lands, but it was never proven for no sailor who tried the venture had returned. So people automatically thought that there was nothing on the other side except the endless expansion of ocean water in which all sailors perished through starvation and thirst.
In the last few decades, Shohoku has rapidly increased itself technologically, in population and in status, making them known to the other countries for the very first time. Since Shoyo was so near, King Akagi wanted to make sure that they could live in peace together and cement trade relations with each other. King Akagi had taken the first step in openly inviting the people of Shoyo to come to visit and merchants to trade in their marketplaces. The other kingdom had slowly responded at first, but soon gained confidence in their sincerity and honesty. This would be the first of hopefully many visits from Shoyo. So far, everything was going quite smoothly.
Due to Sendoh's absence, he and Koshino were left separating between them Sendoh's workload. Fujima stretched languidly hearing several bones in his back popping. He covered his mouth as he yawned and then quickly dressed in a light, black tunic and matching riding pants. He left his formal uniform in his room thinking that the earliest that the emissaries would arrive would be early afternoon. He planned to do some work and riding before they appear. He walked out of his room breathing in the fresh morning air.
It was quiet outside due to the fact that most of the people within the palace were still sleeping. He walked swiftly through many twisting corridors towards the back entrance of the kitchen where the trainees for the army usually worked. As he stepped into the kitchen, he saw that Mrs. Potts was already hard at work. He snatched some apples off the counter, attracting her immediate attention. The short, chubby woman turned around quickly to catch the thief who was pilfering food from her kitchen so early in the morning.
"Kenji! You are up so early! Why didn't you sleep longer? I know that Akira is not here but you should take better care of yourself. Are you eating alright?" The woman immediately exclaimed when she noticed who the 'thief' was. Looking at the apples in his hands, she frowned and said, "Those apples will not be able to fill you. Wait here for a minute." She disappeared around the corner, apron trailing after her. A second later, her head popped back around the corner. "If you don't wait, I will hunt you down and shove enough food down your throat that will feed any normal person for a week." She disappeared around the corner again.
Fujima chuckled slightly to himself. Mrs. Potts loved and treated him like her own son. She was always criticizing his eating habits, bordering on obsessing that he eats correctly. She was the closest that he could say that felt like real family here. They had been friends ever since he had started helping out in the kitchen while he was training for the army. All trainees were given palace chores along with homework and classes. When Mrs. Potts first laid her eyes on him, she immediately took a liking to him and took him under her care.
He was born to an aristocratic family that was distantly related to the royal family of Shohoku. He was orphaned during a war when he was very young. He inherited a lot of money and the estate because he was the sole heir of his father. When he was twenty-two, he found himself extremely bored with all the upper-class formalities that he had to uphold. So he left his estate under the care of several loyal servants and joined the army. At first, he kept his connection to the royal family a secret not wanting to be treated with any special consideration over the rest of the trainees. But he soon found that it was unnecessary. Everyone was treated equally and those who felt they should be treated with superior privileges, were soon ousted out of training, and sent back home, disgracing their family name.
His first friends here were two other trainees that entered the army a few weeks after he did, Sendoh Akira and Koshino Hiroaki. He is five years older than both of them. He was surprised to discover that Sendoh was also the sole heir of his family estate and related in some way to the royal family like he was. He thought he was the only one that would be insane enough to give up the easy life for the harsh life of a soldier. Koshino was also noble born, the youngest of seven sons, but was not connected to royal blood.
They had so much fun together as trainees, playing pranks on their teachers and sneaking in and out of the palace when they were not supposed to. Soon after, they met Prince Miyagi. They were coloring the training field neon pink with a substance that was nearly impossible to get out when the prince caught them in the act. They thought that they would be in big trouble for sure and would probably get expelled from the school. Instead, Miyagi grinned at them and asked them if he could help. Fujima grinned at the memory of them gaping at the prince like goldfishes before dumbly nodding their agreement. Their teachers had confounded expressions on their faces when they saw the field the next day, and each teacher knew that they did it but they did not have any evidence to convict them. The teachers had to wait for the grass to grow out of its pink color on its own before they could use the field again without the grass' annoying color distracting them.
The prince of Shohoku surprised him. He expected him to be stuck up and one of those whiny babies similar to almost all the other aristocrats that he had met. Instead, Miyagi turned out to be a good-natured and mischievous fellow who loved to play tricks on people. The prince joined their ragtag group of tricksters almost immediately much to King Akagi's displeasure. He smiled at the memories of King Akagi reprimanding them and them barely skimming out of highly explosive situations.
Koshino was probably the only one in the group that actually felt any guilt for playing these tricks on the people in the school and palace. Both he and Sendoh pressured Koshino into performing these pranks with them and later on by Prince Miyagi. But Koshino could play a mean trick when he wanted to. One time, one of their teachers reprimanded him for not doing his chores correctly without checking if he indeed was responsible. In reality, the teacher scolded the wrong student. Koshino took the lecture stoically, but he got his revenge later. By the time Koshino was done, the teacher had his hair painted three different colors, his nails and toenails polished in bright florescent colors and one of his eyebrows fully plucked. The teacher could not show his face within the palace for months. The school had to hire another instructor to take his place.
Sendoh was promoted to the rank of a general soon after he was. When he got promoted, he was already twenty-six years old. That was already a record for the youngest general. The youngest general in history before him was twenty-eight years old. Sendoh got promoted when he was only 21 years old. This caused a huge uproar in the upper-class society but King Akagi kept to his decision, telling those who objected that Sendoh would prove them all wrong.
Fujima, on the other hand, was sincerely happy for Sendoh. On the battlefield, Sendoh is absolutely brilliant. Sendoh is one of the greatest assets that Shohoku can have. He was not in the least jealous of his younger friend. He did not join the army for fortune or glory or anything like that. He joined it to alleviate some of his boredom.
He suddenly wondered where Sendoh was. He was perfectly confident that Sendoh was still alive and would be soon coming back to the palace to take on his duties once again. Although Sendoh was a prankster, he took his duties very seriously and responsibly. Koshino, on the other hand, was a natural worrywart. This was probably due to the fact that ever since they were young, whenever Sendoh got into trouble, Koshino also got dragged into the mess and then had to find a way to pick up the pieces that Sendoh had left behind. Although they argued a tremendous amount, they were the best of friends and inseparable. They could count on each other no matter what. They were closer than real blood brothers in that fashion.
He snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Mrs. Potts suddenly appear in front of him with several items in her hands. She handed him a large loaf of bread and a cup of cider. After saying thank you, he walked leisurely outside, munching on the soft bread and drinking the cider.
As he headed towards the stables, Fujima noted that it was going to be a beautiful day. It was not too hot and the breeze was cool and relaxing. Reaching the stables, he finished his breakfast and headed towards the first stall. A brown chestnut colored stallion greeted him immediately when he stepped into the stall. Chance began to nuzzle his clothing searching for a treat. Fujima skillfully keep the apples out of the war-horse's sight. After the horse thoroughly searched his clothing, Chance snorted and then turned away. The horse took two steps away from Fujima and then quickly whipped around, closing the distance between them, hanging his head over Fujima's shoulder in clear sight of the apples behind his back. Chance playfully snapped his teeth inches from his ear in reproach. Fujima laughed and surrendered the apples to the horse.
"Should have known that you could smell food miles away." Fujima said affectionately as he rubbed the horse's neck.
Chance snorted and happily munched on the apples. After Chance finished eating the apples, Fujima swung himself up onto the horse's back and let the horse go wherever he wished. Chance started off at a leisurely pace, which quickly turned to a full gallop. Fujima closed his eyes, keeping his grip tight on the horse's mane and enjoyed the ride. The wind on his face and his clothing temporarily made him forget his responsibilities and it gave him the sense that he was soaring like a bird high up in the sky.
Suddenly Chance tensed under him and Fujima was brought back to reality. Snapping his eyes open, he saw a spectacled man on a dark brown horse a few paces in front of him. The man was wearing a dark green cotton tunic and black riding pants. The man was just sitting there watching him with a smile on his face.
Fujima called out, "Good Morning Sir. May I ask who you might be and what is your purpose in being here?" There was no reason to be rude to this stranger… yet.
"Good Morning." The other man bowed slightly in greeting from his horse. "My name is Hanagata Toru. I am one of the emissaries from the Shoyo kingdom. I'm afraid that I am quite lost. Can you direct me to where I am supposed to go?"
Surprise filled him as he scrutinized the man before him once again. He noted the subtle differences in the clothing that the other man wore and the horse that carried the spectacled man. The clothing and the horse were definitely not of this land. Finally satisfied that the other man was who he claimed to be, Fujima gave Hanagata a big, welcoming smile.
"Please allow me to welcome you to the capital of our lovely kingdom, Shohoku. I'm sorry that I am not quite prepared for your visit. I expected you later on today. My name is Fujima Kenji. I will be your escort during your stay here." He returned the bow and then slipped off his horse, landing nimbly on his feet. He leisurely walked up to the mounted man and held out his hand. After a moment of hesitation, the spectacled man dismounted and grasped his hand firmly within his own.
"It's nice to meet you, Fujima Kenji." Hanagata said calmly with a bright smile on his face.
Fujima mounted Chance once again and led Emissary Hanagata back towards the royal stables. The conversation between them was light and polite. Fujima was slightly disappointed that even though he got up so early in the morning, he still didn't have some private time to himself. But he didn't let it show on his face. His objective was to make the emissaries from Shoyo as comfortable as possible to ensure a mutually beneficial alliance between the two countries.
"So how do like our country so far?"
"It is quite beautiful. Your people are really happy and content." Hanagata replied without hesitation and with a smile on his face.
Fujima instinctively liked this man. There was something about him that made his presence really comforting and soothing, like the presence of an old friend.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get here so fast?" Fujima asked curiously. "I estimated at least 100 hours if you ride during the day resting only at noon and at night giving you about 15 hours of riding per day. That makes it at least about a seven-day trip to get here from the capital of Shoyo. And I know that you departed from Shoyo only six days ago. So you're about a half a day of riding early."
"Well, your answer is under me." Hanagata patted and rubbed his chocolate-colored horse on the neck affectionately. The horse tossed its head and snorted.
Fujima looked curiously at the horse. The horse was certainly more muscular than any other horse that he had ever seen. It also had a different look to it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but the difference was definitely there.
"How-"
Hanagata cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Don't bother asking. We never let out our kingdom secrets." His eyes twinkled mysteriously, setting a finger to his lips.
Fujima sighed and then smiled up at the other man. "Well everyone's entitled to their own secrets, right?"
Hanagata laughed out loud. "Of course! If we didn't, life would be so boring. We couldn't possibly want that, right?"
Fujima joined in the laughter. "Yes. Yes, you're right." He agreed wholeheartedly.