COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: The characters here only belong to CLAMP, well probably for some of those that I created myself. Other than that, they are strictly the property of the CLAMP manga team of four women and they rock!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this is it. The real part of this story. The first three chapters were just some background part to illustrate what would come later in this more 'major' part. So…sit back and enjoy what I'm writing, okay?
ASSUMPTIONS MADE: 1. Kurogane is…well….in character of course; 2. Tomoyo has magical powers (hmmm….duh?); 3. Inspirations from PeachPonta's story Shattered Wings & Inuyasha for this arc.
CHRONICLE FIVE: THE PRINCESS AND THE NINJA
"You're sure you don't want to come with me?" The young princess sat in the interior of the carriage, facing a boy about the same age as her. He shook his head as a response.
"I've already found my destiny."
"Ojousama, we have to leave," the carriage man informed the princess. She nodded and looked back at the boy with red eyes standing on the stone floor.
"When will I meet you again?"
"Fate," he replied back as the horse carriage began to pull away from the area. She waved a hand at the boy who was just standing there on the ground, with his figure becoming smaller and smaller as the carriage gained speed.
Tomoyo opened her eyes to find that it was already daybreak. The adolescent princess got up from her mattress on the floor to hear chambermaids already working at their best even before dawn had arrived. Her mind was filled with images of the boy with red eyes and black hair from the dream she just had.
"What a weird dream," she commented to herself. From what she knew, a bad fever had plagued her a few years back which resulted in the almost complete loss of her memories. Perhaps the dream was just a reoccurrence about her past before she had the devastating illness. But the princess did not ever recall being outside the palace. For some weird reason, she was forbidden to leave the imperial residence.
"Tomoyo-himesama," one of the chambermaids opened the sliding doors of the royal room and knelt before her superior. "Tomoko-himesama would like to see you for a while."
"Tell her I'll be there in a short while," she answered back to the chambermaid. "And thank you for informing." The chambermaid gave a bow and got up from her kneeling to return back to the elder princess' quarters.
A few other chambermaids dressed in white came into the room with the intention of changing the princess' robes into a formal one as she had only worn her inner garments for the sake of sleeping comfortably.
Tomoyo's mind was constantly pre-occupied with images of the boy with red eyes. After all, he did look a little scary if he gave a stare. "Just who he is," she spoke to herself.
"Tomoyo-himesan!" Her elder sister shouted at her younger sibling as she continued to look unfocused at what the former was saying. "Did you hear what I was saying?"
"Sorry oneesama," she bowed before her elder sibling, while showing a calm look that was required of the imperial family members to show all the time. "I was just pre-occupied with something else."
"You're pardoned," came the short answer to Tomoyo's words. "Listen. I'm going to give you a good chance."
"What good chance may you have, oneesama?"
"Do you want to leave the palace?"
"That is breaching of father's orders," Tomoyo replied back with a slight frown.
"Father is away from the palace," Tomoko interrupted her younger sister. "This is a good chance for you to regain some memories."
"I don't recall being out of the palace before."
"You'll when you do," came the sharp response. "I believe you may have some hidden memories still not regained."
"What if…."
"What if father comes back?" Tomoko could guess what Tomoyo was going to say. "I'll take full responsibility, and he can't humiliate me in front of the nobles since I am going to be married to one of the noble families soon."
"But…"
"No buts," Tomoko snapped at her sister's hesitance, and constant desire to abide by the rules of the palace. "You'll go with your chambermaid, Hanako. And I'll require of you to do an errand for me too." The elder princess lowered down her head with a sudden frown suddenly, before raising it again to show a happy face.
"Go to the Takahashi inn, and pass a message to the owner of the inn," she spoke as she took out a folded piece of white paper with words on it, and handling it to Tomoyo. "I may be unable to exit the palace for good," she continued her words with a sad tone.
Tomoyo could only do nothing but nod, knowing that her sister had been betrothed to one of the noble families in the imperial court. After all, her sister was quite old to be a bride already. (Well…as we all know, people in the past married quite early.)
Tomoyo was still worried about her sister even when she was getting off from the horse carriage. Hanako and her had arrived at the palace gate, in which it was start of the commoner district of the capital. Dressed in commoner clothing of plain cotton kimonos, Tomoyo knew that it was most important to perform her sister's errands.
"Ojousama," Hanako the chambermaid questioned her superior. "Where shall we go from here?"
"Hanako-san," Tomoyo suddenly spoke back to her subordinate. "From here, call me Chise. And we should first go to the Takahashi inn, as what Tomoko-hime had mentioned." She began to walk into the street which was, as usual, crowded with people selling their wares to earn a living.
"This is beautiful," Tomoyo exclaimed as she held a unique porcelain bowl from the stall. The stall owner, wearing a small straw hat under the heat of the summer sun, stood opposite the princess.
"Shojo-chan," he pointed to the porcelain bowl decorated with blue carvings of a dragon. "You do have good taste. It's made in China." Suddenly, he was met with the cold stare of the girl beside Tomoyo.
"Who gave you the right to address her as shojo-chan?" Hanako was aggressive in her tone at the stall holder's insolence.
"Hanako, please stop."
"But ojousama!"
"It is okay," Tomoyo smiled back at the stall holder, assuring him that he was not being insolent in calling her a mere young girl. Placing down the China ware, she gave another kindly smile again. "You do have a good taste too."
Little did the princess know that she was being watched carefully.
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"Hey boy, watch where you are going!" There was a certain commotion in the street as Tomoyo noticed the crowd which was gathering. Pushing herself through it to see what was going on; there was a confrontation of a samurai with a boy with black hair and red eyes, no more than fifteen years of age. Apparently, he had accidentally knocked the samurai by the shoulder which offended him to a great extent.
The boy remained silent. He was indeed provocative by refusing to extend an apology to the samurai warrior who was still demanding an apology as compensation for the rudeness of the adolescent boy.
"YOU IDIOT! DIDN'T YOUR PARENTS TEACH YOU PROPER WAYS OF SAYING SORRY?" The samurai shouted back when the boy was preparing to leave.
"I have no upbringing," he answered coldly. "I have a teacher, but not parents. So I won't say sorry, warrior slave."
"Omae…!" The samurai suddenly drew out his long sword from its sheath and charged at the boy. He was just plainly calm at the samurai suddenly rushing forward at him with a long curved sword.
"Please stop," came the gentle voice of Tomoyo. Bringing herself forward to mediate, she stood in front of the samurai. "I'm sure there is a peaceful resolution to this."
And it is unfair for him to pick on a young boy…
"With all to your respect, young lady," the samurai placed his sword back in its sheath. "This person doesn't know a thing or two about respect, let alone apologizing. He is probably an example of a moral failure."
"I don't believe in failure."
These few words that came out of Tomoyo's mouth made the boy's eyes widen with surprise. After all, he had always heard these words ring in his head many times and had never forgotten them.
"Well, suit yourself," the samurai sneered back as he began to turn around and walk away. "Then it is better for you to go teach him a lesson!" It was not long before the samurai had walked away, together with the crowd dispersing since there was nothing to see anymore.
The boy of less than fifteen, was still there standing. He simply wore black to fit his black short hair, and a black sword sheath hanging from his waist through a string to complete his image.
"Your name," he suddenly spoke out loudly. "Is…?"
"Chise," Tomoyo replied back, giving her fake name. Turning to face his back, she gave another small smile. "What is yours then?"
"Never you mind," he replied back rudely. "I couldn't care less about giving my name to a person who solves situation by peace. You're an idiotic busybody for breaking my fight with that samurai. I could have easily defeated him, but you had to come in and end with a peaceful resolution…"
"Hey, watch your words!" Hanako argued back at the ungrateful boy. "She ended your problem without much trouble taken!"
"I'll handle my own problems!" He snapped back sharply. "Both of you are stupid wretches who like to use methods that are mainly inefficient."
"You!" Hanako argued back at the boy who was becoming ruder by the second. She stopped speaking when Tomoyo gave a signal to keep quiet.
"What's your name again?" She asked again with much patience and calmness.
Impossible! How can she be so calm and patient at this rate?
"A busybody like you should care about your own problems!" He shouted back abruptly and began to walk away quickly to avoid them.
"What an idiotic jerk!" Her chambermaid commented on the boy who had walked away briskly. "He doesn't appreciate anything that is supposedly good. No wonder that samurai person was right!"
"There is no need to comment, Hanako-san," Tomoyo answered back to her chambermaid's words, and gave another assuring smile."I'll meet him someday again."
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The boy walked away quickly from the scene. He was definitely humiliated by the fact that a girl had actually stepped in to help his situation. After all, his teacher had taught him that pride was important to any man.
That girl…she reminds me of her…
His trail of thoughts whirled in his mind. The girl who had just 'embarrassed' him looked similar and had an attitude similar to a certain someone who he had met many years ago. It was uncanny, but they could still be different. It was not long before a certain someone blocked his path again.
"So…little Kuro-chan reappeared after several years of disappearing?" He looked up to see a big sized man towering over him, who had fists which seemed like they could crush anything. "And where is his dear woman?" He spoke among his group of friends, in which all of them laughed in unison.
"My name is not Kuro-chan," he answered back fiercely and giving them a hard stare, with his fiery red eyes. "Kurogane's the name," he pointed to himself with his thumb. "And if you don't get lost, I'll have to use force to drive you away." He took out his black sword sheath and began drawing out the thin double-edged sword.
END OF CHRONICLE FIVE
CHRONICLE SIX: COINCIDENCE
CONCLUSION: Did Kurogane managed to defeat the group of boys who once terrorized him? And did Tomoyo managed to find the inn to complete the errand for her sister, and what is her sister's secret links with the owner of the inn? Catch this far-more-better-than-chronicle-five chapter next week!
GLOSSARY: shojo-chan : young girl;
EXTRA NOTE: Notice that the name Tomoyo is actually Chise when pronouncing the kanji of her name in a Sino-Japanese manner.
Once again, many thanks for your review. This portion is a little dull because it is only the beginning anyway. Please look forward to the next story, thank you!