Author's Note:
Hello all and welcome to another, shorter chapter. This one has a little bit of villain stupidity, worried Oboro and Saizo being awesome. Thank you those who are following this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
I own nothing.
Festival Fiasco
Hinata sat quietly, watching the men around him carefully.
As he watched them, he was aware of two of them watching him, and he impudently grinned at them. They glowered, and one spoke, "I don't see what you have to be happy about brat." He then addressed his companion, "Seriously, why did we take this kid anyway?"
The other one shrugged, "For ransom I think. Boss says that he must be some rich guy's child, we're just waiting to find out which noble is going to pay up to get him back."
Hinata, nearly snorted out loud, it seemed that these guys didn't quite realise what they'd done. He got the feeling it had been a bit of a hasty kidnapping, he'd just wandered away from Oboro for a bit during a festival in the capital, when he'd found himself roughly grabbed and whisked away before he knew what was going on. He guessed that the men had probably been loitering around looking for an easy target and had thought him a golden opportunity to get a serious ransom, but it appeared they thought he was the son of a noble, not someone with close ties to the royal family.
Unfortunately, even Hoshido had its fair share of crooks and bandits. While Queen Mikoto's barrier prevented Nohr from invading, it did not stop those already inside from going the path of evil.
Besides the two watching him, the boy could see seven others scattered about the room, located in the lower part of the city, in an out of the way place. They were largely involved in their own business, either tending to crude weapons, gambling, or taking the chance to sleep. He assumed that the 'Boss' was out in the city, trying to find out who to contact about his expected ransom, leaving the rest to guard him.
Suddenly, another man burst in the door, panting heavily, "Men, we've seriously screwed up!"
The others gathered round him urgently.
"What do you mean Boss!?"
"Yeah, what's up with you!?"
He pushed through them and sat heavily in a chair, "The kid isn't just some noble brat, he's protected by the bloody royal family!"
The others blanched in fright and one stepped forward, his voice audibly quivering, "What do we do Boss? We'll be executed for sure!"
The boss snapped out orders, "Not if we get out of here quick. Grab the boy, we can use him as a hostage to make our getaway."
Fuelled by fear, the kidnappers swiftly set to work. One hoisted Hinata up by the scruff of his neck, his blade drawn ready, "No funny business boy!"
The others grabbed what belongings they had, and the boss took hold of Hinata, "Right, I'll take the lead. They won't be eager to attack if we've got a sword near the boy's throat."
Keeping a tight grip on his upper arm, the man pushed the Hinata ahead, blade held ready. Normally, a child in his position would be terrified, but Hinata had confidence that everyone had noticed his disappearance and were on their way already. Strangely enough, the ones who looked terrified were his kidnappers, they all glanced around nervously as they stole through the city's back streets, clearly expecting a horde of royal soldiers to descend upon them at any moment.
Though it was very unlikely to go that way.
Hinata caught a quick flash of movement in the shadows, indicating the presence of a Hoshidan ninja, and a grin crossed his face. While he certainly hadn't spotted the ninja, the man holding him definitely saw his captive grin and was instantly on guard. He locked his arm around the boy's torso, lifting him up and pinning him to his chest, he brought the sword edge right to Hinata's throat and spoke commandingly to his surroundings.
"Show yourself, or this brat is done for."
As if from nowhere, Kagero materialised before them, "I've shown myself, now release him."
The boss growled, "Not likely, I'll let this kid go when we're well away from the city. Make one move to stop us and I'll bleed him dry."
Hinata's only warning was a swishing noise, a split-second before the other, unnoticed ninja struck. Within moments, the boy found himself out of his captor's grip and shoved into Kagero's waiting arms. He snapped his head around to see the boss unconscious at the feet of Saizo, with the other crooks gaping in fearful awe.
With no boss and no hostage, the group immediately turned tail and ran, but there was no escape, for Oboro was coming up behind them, the fury on her face causing most of them to surrender right there and then. The few that did try to fight past her, were soon rendered unconscious by her naginata pole, or Saizo's attack from behind.
All in all, the whole scuffle took roughly three minutes, with the retainers coming out victorious.
Silence reigned, as Hinata blinked in surprise at how quickly things had gone, until Saizo spoke bluntly, "You need to control your facial tells more, your grin upon glimpsing Kagero alerted the enemy to her presence, it would've ruined our ambush had we not swiftly altered the plan."
If he was planning to say any more, he never got the chance, as Oboro shoved her way past him, "Hinata! Are you alright, are you hurt?"
"No, not really."
He had a bit of bruising from when they'd grabbed him initially and where the boss had gripped his arm, but that was it really, nothing he couldn't handle or hadn't done to himself by accident at some point.
Not satisfied with his answer, the spear fighter did a swift check to make sure he wasn't bleeding or anything and sighed when she found nothing of concern. She then glared, "What were you thinking, wandering off in the middle of a busy festival like that!? Do you realise how worried we were, only to find out that you'd been kidnapped!?" She sighed, "We're just lucky Saizo located you so quickly, I don't want to think about what might've happened if he didn't."
She then pulled him into a tight hug, "Thank the gods you're okay!"
PS-Very short one really. Please let me know what you thought and I'm still happy to take chapter requests if people have any.