Dark Arrow
By Marie Darkholme
4. Oita's Port
Daisuke and his men continued their way through the path he had chosen as the best to follow the young rebel girl. He stared at the ceiling watching a few clouds crossing the sky and blocking the shy sun. Sighing inwardly he allowed his eyes to rest for a while in the sky, turning them then to his men that followed unmotivated for their quest and therefore bored to death over their horses. He could even hear some conversations between some of the members.
"I really don't understand why we have to go on pursue of a girl." One of them said in his hard voice. The other nodded promptly. "You are right. This is even more boring than watching the castle's walls in the winter." The other replied as he hit his boots on his horse that with a neigh accelerated his pass to catch up with the other guy.
What am I suppose to do? Even my stupid half brained men think this is stupid, besides pointless. The captain thought to himself. As he was distracted with his own thoughts, he didn't notice they had arrived to the village they were looking for so long. The small village seemed much more pleasant at daylight. Awaking suddenly from his thoughts, the captain immediately put his efforts I trying to find the inn. The village shouldn't have more than thirty or forty habitants, but being the only one around there it gave her a fair amount of strangers that crossed its path several times. For that reason it had its own inn. Though it was small with only two floors and appeared to be old, for tired riders it was the best thing they could get. It wasn't expensive either so anyone could stay there. The captain distrusted that that had been the inn where Lady Sora had spend the night.
Entering the old building, the first thing he noticed was the mess that was there. Some girls were now beginning to clean up the place. There was blood on the floor, the tables of the common room were turned upside down and the chairs that had survived intact from what it seemed a war camp were being pilled into a corner so the girls could easily clean the place. He searched around for who had the looks of being the owner of the inn, but he could only see girls. One of them was in especial bad state. She had long black hair that fell over her shoulders and some of her bruises. For moments he just stared at her apparently fragile figure as she struggled to pick one of the square tables and dragged it over to the corner as well.
Feeling his eyes over her, the black haired looked up from her work, to see three well built and armoured man on the inn's entrance. Believing they were customers she rushed herself to their way. The girl looked thoughtfully to the red haired man in front of her, he was a fairly inches taller than her, and had an intimidating figure.
"Welcome to Okayama!" she said with a bruised smile. Her lip had a large cut, preventing her from smiling widely, but it still looked like the one of the most beautiful smiles, the captain had ever seen. Retributing the welcome smile, the captain pointed to the mess as he talked. "What happened here?"
The girl followed with her eyes the captain's movements and a small blush crossed her face. "A fight last night." She replied sadly. Captain Motomiya thought for brief moments before talking again. "We are looking for a girl with auburn hair and crimson eyes." He replied to the girl, as he watched her expression. "Has she been here?" he was surprised by the quickness of the girl's reply. "Yes, her and her friend were here last night but they left after the fight." The girl said with a small smile. Seeing the confused smile over the captain's face she tried her best to explain the situation, detailing the situation she had lived the night before and how the red haired man had saved her life. At the mention of the red haired, the captain made a shocked face. The girl continued to describe what had happened.
"Okay, thank you very much, young lady." Daisuke replied as he exited the inn leaving an embarrassed girl behind him. he climbed on his horse but before he could begin his ride once more, one of the soldiers interrupted his thoughts.
"Captain, what is happening here?" the man asked with an inquiring eye over his superior. He might be only a soldier but he deserved to know what was happening. "We don't know why we are following the girl or why she ran away. We are wondering clueless. Only with luck we were able to find the village where she was." The man continued. The captain owned an explanation to his men as the queen owned him an explanation as well, but the fact was that he didn't know much more than they did.
"Well, your majesty did not inform me of her niece's escape reason, but she was furious because of it. As for Lady Sora's objective, if she is actually riding this way it can only be Oita's port. What happened here I am not sure, but I am positive that the man the lady was talking about was Izumi Koushiro." He tried to explain. The men's face went from puzzled to surprise. "The professor?!" one of them replied. "Yes, the professor. Lady Sora and he developed a friendship and he might have gone after her."
Galloping at a quick but steady pace, so the horses wouldn't be too tired, Koushiro and Sora moved in direction of the well known Oita's port. Oita was an ancient village of fisherman. It was known through the entire kingdom for the amazing boats that stopped there to renew their provisions while out in the sea. It was also one of the only two ports on the entire kingdom. It was basically a safe land where the merchants could stop. Nevertheless they were still half way through the path.
As he looked over to his protected, his student, he couldn't help to stare. She was amazing. She had the strength, intelligence and skills of a samurai. Even so, she had the appearance of any other lady, fragile, smooth, breakable and beautiful. Thinking of beautiful things, made his mind travel through the path he had taken, back to the castle where the love of his life rested, possibly not even knowing he was gone. He sighed inwardly as he thought of the first time he saw her. Her long hair resting over her shoulder, swinging back and forth on her favourite toy, made of wood, hanging in a tree. He could spend hours just watching her. As the swing moved forward, her hair flew behind her and she smiled. That beautiful, perfect smile. At the sun light, her brown locks had sun reflexes and the green around her made her look so delicate, what she was in fact.
He looked around to be sure no one was watching him. As not a soul could be seen, he creped into the old garden, now full of harmful herbs. There it was, the swing, still hanging in perfect harmony from the tree. The ivies had covered the ropes that tied the swing to the tree's branch. It had become a part of the forest that took over the once beautiful garden. He sat there and waited silently, feeling the gentle spring breeze caress his face. There was nothing besides trees of permanent leaves and the ivies climbing here and falling there, creating a beautiful hidden place, a refuge.
Suddenly he heard the sound of the dry branches exploding under someone's feet as the person made its way towards him. He remained alert, even though, he thought of that secret place, a very good one, with low probabilities of being found. And indeed it wasn't this time that the two lovers were discovered. A bunch of falling ivies in flower stepped out of the way, to reveal a pale hand, and then a young woman. Rising from his spot over the death leaves, Koushiro bowed before her amazingly beautiful figure. "My Lady." He replied taking her hand in his and kissing it. She giggled throwing herself on his arms. "We should do this more often, gentle sir." She replied giggling as he picked her in his arms and carried her towards the swing, their passion symbol. The princess watched his every move with love flooding from her eyes. Their every move was a passionate one. Every touch was like the first one and at the same time, felt like the last one.
Putting her down over the swing, the red haired man moved behind her and started pushing the swing, so it began to swing back and forward gently. Then, he just stepped over to the front as it kept swinging, watching her features, her giggles and her smile. Her long dress floating inches from the ground as the swing reached its maximum.
That was his vision of passion. Their moments together were spend mostly like that. Nothing for him could be better than being with her. That had probably been the last time he had been secretly with her. Somehow the queen had discovered the place and sent men to burn it, planting new trees, destroying the swing. Without a secret place to be with each other and the queen's even more restricting orders, tightening her grip around her precious daughter, they were obligated to break apart. A sad sigh escaped his lips, revealing two syllables. "Mimi…"
Not far ahead, the wild auburn haired woman had heard the love confession towards her cousin and she too sighed. She sighed for not being able to feel the same flame burning inside her. The flame of love. Slowing Thunder's pace with a whistle, she allowed her red haired friend to catch up with her, so she could easily talk to him. Though she had never been in love, always with her fights, conspiracies and dreams, she had never found the time to search for the person for whom she would giver her life for. It made her sad thinking that she would never fall in love, but at the same time she couldn't help but being afraid. She knew how her cousin and Koushiro suffered because of their forbidden love. She knew Takeru had run away from his kingdom, heartbroken. But there were also so many good things about it.
"Hey partner." She replied patting Koushiro in the back. He raised his head from Autumn Leaf's ears to face her with a smile on his face. "Thinking about cousin again, huh?" he nodded with a sigh. Sora couldn't help to feel bad inside her. How could she comfort him, not knowing what he was going through? Nevertheless she tried. She had to. He was her friend, more than anything else, she own him that. "C'mon, don't be sad. You will see that my aunt will come to her senses and see what a great king you will give, and then you and cousin can be together." She replied. Though her voice was a confident one, her spirit and mind were aware that her words would not become truth, unless a real change took place over her aunt's head.
If I was in charge, there would no such thing as arranged marry. That really stinks. She thought as she fastened Thunder's pace again, Koushiro following her immediately. Her mind travelled to her parents. Did they had an arranged marry as well or they just fell madly in love? Those were questions that she could never ask them. For so long she had been in darkness about what had happened to them and now, Jyou had to come up with a letter. She had thought they had died from a disease and aunt had taken her over, but now she knew they hadn't left her like that, they had been stolen from her, leaving her alone with so many questions. And then Jyou did the same thing. When she first saw the letter, she had hated him for never telling her, but after crying her sorrows she had thought clearly, maybe more clearly than she had ever thought. Jyou was also murdered, another pain for her to live with. The man that she had for so long thought as a father. There was nothing that he had kept from her. Nothing that he had denied her. Except for the truth about her parents. He too was stolen from her and she wanted to know why.
In the training room, Lady Sora ordered the guards to leave her. Without a question, the men left her to her entrainment, knowing perfectly not to disturb her. In fact, they wouldn't want to interrupt her training anyway. They admired her courage and her way with the blade and fighting skills. Never had a woman been courageous enough to defy the queen. She had strictly forbidden the lady from learning any fighting skills, always trying to confine her in her room or with the maids. But Sora was just too wild and she always managed a way out.
Picking one of the several katana over the room, posted in the walls or in baskets along with other several weapons such as bows, other types of swords as wakizashi, tanto and dao, and also ninja tools such as shuriken, shaken, manriki-gusan, kusari-kama and nunchaku. She could use every each of them but she preferred the blades, especially the long blade sword, katana.
She began with the sword in front of her eyes, holding the handle with both hands, her eyes closed, concentrating on the blade. With one hand, she touched the cutting blade from the top to bottom. A quick move to the left, she poisoned her feet in the right position for the way she was holding her sword: the left foot a little ahead of the right in two parallel lines, the sword at her waist level. She breathed out. Another quick move to the other side, and she switched her feet position. Her eyes still closed, she breathed out. Swinging her blade over her head, she turned to her initial position and stepped forward, the sword at her waist level. Pushing the handle towards her, the back of her hands touched her belly, and then they swung in a higher level, like she was decapitating someone, stopping again at her waist level on her left side. A step forward and she invested with the blade in the direction of her feet. Then another push and her hands touched her once more, reversing the last position of the blade, swinging it again and resting it near her right side, the blade pointing forward.
A sudden move from a watcher, she opened her eyes turning her blade to the sound's way. There stood a blue haired man, in his forties. She immediately guarded her katana, bowing respectfully to the man. He smiled to his disciple. She raised her head to meet his dark eyes.
"Jyou-sama, I did not know you we were free today." She stated. "If I had been informed I would have kidnapped you so you could come and train with me." Jyou smiled as he patted her back with an ancient tired smile over his face. He wore a simple pair of pants and a long shirt that reached way under his waist. Putting a hand over her shoulder, he led the young auburn haired to the gardens, motioning her to leave the sword on the training room. Sora followed him, distrusted of what he was going to do next. They walked in a slow silent pace that Jyou had taught her to develop. He called it the mice walk, since it was almost imperceptible. They arrived to a small bench in the enormous garden. Around the bench there was nothing else besides a beautiful stonemason covered with the most beautiful red roses in the shadows of a huge and ancient sequoia tree. Over the bench was a long dark blue box with a ribbon around it.
The girl looked surprised to her teacher. "This is for you, Sora-san." The blue haired man replied motioning to the box. He could see the twinkle on her eyes as she proceeded to open the box very carefully. She removed the blue ribbon putting it aside, then, taking a final glance to Jyou, she took a deep breath and opened the box. A smile appeared on her lips and a few tears rolled down her cheeks as she took her present from the box. It was a brand new katana. The blade shined like she had never seen. The handle was dark blue and had incrusted in it a simple draw of an orchid. It was light and as she raised and began to test her, she could feel a connection between her and the blade. For her, it was the best present anyone could have given to her.
"Do you like it?" Jyou asked watching as she made some movements with her sword. "If I like it, I love it. It is the best present ever, Jyou-sama. The girl replied enthusiastically, throwing herself on the man's arms. "Thank you so much, daddy." Jyou could barely contain the tears that were beginning to roll down his face. She had called him daddy and now he felt so guilty about it. Wiping the tears with the back of his hand, he grabbed her by her shoulders and leaned slightly so he could stare at her eyes. "I am much pleased that you like it. Enjoy it. But there is one thing more I have for you." He replied. Sora looked at him astonished. Another thing for her? What could it be? She hadn't the sliest clue over it. Reaching to his pocket, Jyou retrieved a neck scarf and handed it to her. It was a black silk scarf with a small draw of a crest in it in red. She looked puzzled at Jyou. The scarf was beautiful but somehow she doubted that it was a simple scarf.
"Do not ask questions because I cannot answer them to you, but both these items belonged to your mother." He replied. Sora looked once more to the scarf and then to the katana that was still in her hand. So many questions in her head. So many things she wanted to know, but before she could even ask any of them, Jyou was gone, leaving the young woman to think alone and make her connection. Sitting on the bench and protected by the shadows of the huge tree, the girl cried to herself, mourning her pain for never having met her parents.
Reaching inside her cloak, Sora retrieved the scarf that she always carried around and brought it to her cheek, feeling his softness and somehow the smell that she knew was her mother's. It is said that once a child smells the odour of her mother, no matter how young, even baby, she cannot forget it. She began to feel her tears approaching and immediately put back the scarf on its original place.
Standing in front of the queen's office, Princess Mimi hesitated whether to knock or wait for her mother to leave. But after some reflex seconds she opted for knocking. The sound of her fingers' knots touching slightly in the door, seemed an insignificant noise to her majesty that continued signing some papers about some orders that her ministers wanted her to sign. She mostly didn't bother to read them, since in fact there were such an huge amount of them, that if she read each one of them she would never finish it. Being a medium ruler like she was, she simply read the top of the papers and then signed on the bottom, that way she avoided being hours and hours closed in her office with the servants.
Not hearing voices or anything besides the soft scratching of the pencil over the paper, Mimi knocked on the door once more this time harder, annoyed for having to hurt her fingers like that. This time, the queen raised her head from the papers and with a movement of her hand, one of the servants that always accompanied the rooms hurried to go and open the door. Mimi didn't bother to thanks the servant or even to bow before her queen. After all, even being the princess, she had the duty to bow before whom it was, besides her mother, her queen.
Alarmed by her daughter's attitude, the queen put down the pencil to stare at her. Mimi's face was red from the accelerated pace in which she had walked to there, forgetting for instants that that was not appropriated for a Lady, as much for a Princess.
"I cannot believe you, mother." She complained in an angered tone. The queen looked scolding at her. The servants were also out of speech. "Please, leave." She ordered to the servants with a soft gesture of her hand. Then she returned her attention to her daughter. As much as it hurt her to say it, her daughter was undoubtedly a spoiled brat. Thinking back at the past, the queen reflected over her life before that incident. Maybe she hadn't survived. Maybe she had continued… Shaking her head, she forced herself to forget and got back to reality.
"Mimi, you know you cannot speak to me like that in front of our servants. Do you not know what this can cause?" she scolded the girl that nevertheless remained unchanged. "Which is the cause of such anger towards your mother and queen?" the elder woman replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look at yourself, Mimi. This is not the way a real princess behaves." She continued, scolding her daughter. "Why have you invited Yamato for a ride without informing me?" the princess asked impertinently. The elder woman stood up. "You know how important our relationship with King Yamato is." She replied. Mimi, though, stubbornly stood her ground looking angrily at her mother. The queen sighed as she walked to her daughter's side. "You shall do as I say if you wish to remain the princess you are." She whispered in Mimi's ear. "What do you mean?" the girl asked looking distrusted to her mother. "I meant what I said. Now go." The queen replied pushing Mimi towards the door. "King Yamato is waiting for you at the stables. I am demanding not asking." She scolded once more.
As the doors closed and the princess was no longer in ear range, the queen drifted to her thoughts again. Thoughts about the decisions she had made. So many questions, such few answers; so many regrets and dreams unaccomplished. The doubts of her past haunted her once more as she slid into her chair once more, drowning with work, trying to believe it had all been for a greater good. "I just wish she would forgive." She murmured between the silence that filled the room, as the person who she was thinking about was right there and could actually hear her apology, that forever would remain in the shadows of the castle's stones.
The auburn haired girl, stopped for the fifth time to watch once more the map that she carried. Confusion began to wonder her mind. She looked around in search for clues that she could use as a signal of her location, now uncertain due to some bad turn on the several that both friends had made during their journey towards Oita's port. Koushiro was right behind her, peeking into her map, trying to help in what he could, but he wasn't getting anything and soon began to realise that he wouldn't be much of help as coming to maps.
A sudden joy scream by Sora, made Koushiro come back to reality forgetting his feelings of self-pit when it came to orientation. Undoubtedly the young auburn haired girl was much more strategic and oriented than he was. Looking over to her he could see her scrabbling something over the map that he could understand. Then, she folded the map back and returned to her journey once more without even a word. For moments she had completely forgotten that there was actually someone ridding with her. she was alerted to that fact when a revolted Koushiro quickened Autumn Leaf's pace so he could reach her.
"Hey, Sora. Wait!" he called as the brown horse approached the side of the great stallion. The girl turned her crimson eyes towards the man, closing them in a quick flash and slapping her forehead. "Oh, so sorry. I completely forgot you were with me. You were so quite." She replied in her defence. Koushiro smirked. "Or you were lost in thoughts that didn't exactly contained the road on them." He added easily with a hint of knowledge in his eyes. The girl sighed as she continued to ride. She didn't bother to reply since her sigh had said everything her friend needed to know.