A Samurai's Pledge

A/N: And the next chapter is here! This is one of the shorter chapters, but a necessary one. You'll see why soon enough. ;)

I've tried to keep everyone as close as possible to their characters in the anime though I'm sure there will be a few OOC moments.

For those of you who left unsigned reviews, see my replies below:

trumm12345 – Thanks for your review and your kind words. ^^ Things are somewhat back to normal with the family and will only get better from here. :)

Love thus story – Thanks for your review. ^^ Very nice poetry you got there. :) The part with Shamal actually happens the morning after the incident between Signum and Cypha. Hehe, sneaky Cypha. :P

Guest – Thanks for the review. ^^ This story updates on a monthly basis right now, but hopefully in the near future I can speed that up a bit when I have more time. :)

Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.

*** ~ Chapter 7: Ying and Yang ~ ***

"Ne, Rein."

The said silver haired sprite looked at the Empress. "Hayate-sama?" Rein currently sat on the railing of the Empress' bedroom balcony, watching people mill about the capital city, going about their daily tasks.

The Empress frowned, her chin resting against her palm, her elbow propped up against her desk near the foot of her bed. She stared blankly in Rein's direction, deep in thought. "Have you noticed something... different... lately?"

It was a calm day in the capital city of Japan, the Empress resigning herself to a dull day of paperwork. Since the JS incident, things had been relatively calm in the country, aside from the regular thugs and hooligans trying to stir up trouble. But of course, that was of no concern, for Signum and her samurai made sure nothing bad came of that. All in all, things were boring. And Hayate hated being bored.

"Different?" Rein looked back at the Middle District, thinking about the past few days. "Are you talking about Signum-san and Shamal-san?"

A pair of cool blue eyes rose to meet Rein's gaze. The Empress chuckled flatly, sighing. "Ping pong!"

Something had happened a couple of days ago, something Hayate couldn't quite put her finger on yet. First off there was Signum, her trusted bodyguard and the head of her personal knights and guardians. Unlike her usual self, the pinkette had become distracted, irritable and just plain illusive.

The first time Hayate noticed this was when Signum submitted her latest report from midnight patrol route. According to the report, the samurai captain had crossed paths with a lingering Numbers assassin, mostly likely a stray left over from the JS incident. Knowing Jail Scaglietti, it wouldn't have been surprising if they missed one or two of them. When questioned about it, Signum assured the Empress the matter was well under control, and that she would report again when more progress was made. Since then, the swordswoman rarely hung around the Imperial Palace anymore, and when she did, Signum was always in the most foul of moods.

Then there was Shamal.

Hayate had never seen Shamal happier than in these past few days. At first, the brunette thought that she and Signum had finally hooked up, both of them proclaiming their undying love for one another. While disappointed that did not happen, the Empress was very happy to learn of her Head Attendant's reunion with a long lost family member just days prior. Hayate knew was it was like to lose family, people you cherished dearly. So to learn one had survived after all this time, the Empress was ecstatic for the blonde.

"Have you asked Agito-chan about Signum-san?"

The Empress flinched when she caught herself daydreaming again. She turned to Rein once more. "Have you?"

Rein smiled. "Ile," the tiny sprite said. "It would be intruding of me."

Hayate's eyebrows went straight up. "Oh?" she said, clearly surprised. "Since when?"

Rein wasn't known for respecting other people's privacy. Much. Especially if they were family.

The little guardian blushed. "Since forever!" she said, indignant.

"Uh huh." Hayate grinned.

A pout.

"What?" Rein demanded, not liking the look on her Mistress' face.

"Oh nothing," was the Empress' reply. Her grin went even wider.

"Hayate!"

The brunette giggled. Rein was so much fun to tease.

"I was just thinking," the Empress began. She sighed dreamily, staring off into space. "My Rein is growing up so fast."

A sniffle.

Hayate wiped away an imaginary tear from her cheek for added effect.

"Hey!" Rein exclaimed, jumping up from her spot to float over to the Empress. "I was already grown up!" This was not fair. Hayate could be such a meanie sometimes!

"Oh sure you were," the Empress said with a smirk. She then proceeded to go back to reading the scrolls on her desk.

"Haaaaaayaaaaateeeee!" Rein whined. Ohhhhh! Rein really hated when Hayate did this!

"Ano..."

Both the Empress and Rein paused in their movements to look at the door.

"My apologies Hayate-sama," Shamal said, bowing respectively. She stood at the threshold to the Empress' room. "I didn't mean to interrupt..."

"Shamal!" Hayate exclaimed exuberantly. She rose from her chair, swiftly crossing the distance between them and hugged her Head Attendant. "Just the person I was looking for!"

"Eh?" Shamal was clearly not expecting such a reaction from the Empress. She hugged the brunette back after a moment. "Hayate-sama?"

"I needed a break from paperwork," the Empress said. She winked at the healer.

Shamal giggled. "I'm glad to be of service, Empress."

Hayate smiled. "So what brings you to my humble abode?" The Empress led the green robed attendant to her balcony, both of them instantly enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze as they overlooked the capital city.

"Well, you see..."

The younger of the two quirked an eyebrow. In all her life, the Empress had never known her Head Attendant to be this... shy. That is, not unless she was around a certain pink haired samurai captain.

"What is it Shamal? By the gods! Are you pregnant!?"

"W-What?" Shamal squawked, flushing immediately. "Who told you that?!"

Hayate's teasing expression dropped. "You mean you are?" Blue eyes went wide.

"Ile!" Shamal exclaimed. "Ile Hayate-sama!" An exasperated breath. "Ah mou! Stop spreading rumors like that! Some of the other attendants still don't believe me when I tell them I wasn't born of your tome like previous Emperors' guardians."

The Empress chuckled heartily, remembering that particular tidbit of gossip. The brunette may or may not have joked about her guardians and knights being born of her Tome of the Night Sky many moons ago, as was her predecessors' guardians in previous times. Coincidentally, at that time, a young and relatively new attendant was in her room, tidying up.

Upon hearing the Empress' words and not realizing she was just playing around, gossip soon spread through the Imperial Palace like wildfire, Hayate's knights on the receiving end of some mighty funny looks. To this day, that particular rumor still circulated among the ranks of lower attendants, even after the Empress herself had cleared up that misunderstanding.

The Empress took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. "Like that's a really bad thing," she said. "Here I thought you were going to tell me you were bearing the child of someone aside from Si-Ack!"

The Empress grimaced, holding the back of her head where a fresh bump was now swelling. She turned to glare at the little one hovering nearby.

"Bad Hayate!" Rein chided, looking at her Mistress frowning.

A sharp reprimand was ready to roll off of the Empress' tongue for that insubordination, Hayate only pausing when she caught sight of Rein motioning to Shamal. The little guardian made a shushing motion with her hand. Realizing what she had been about to say, Hayate silently berated herself for what would have slipped out had the sprite not intervened. By some miracle of the gods, thankfully, Shamal seemed oblivious to that slip up.

"Rein-chan!" Shamal scolded. "That was uncalled for! Apologize!"

For her part, the silver haired guardian acted like an unrepentant child, crossing her arms over her chest and turning her gaze away, pouting. The blonde could only shake her head, knowing of the little one's erratic tantrums at times, turning her attention to the more level headed one between the fighting pair.

"Are you okay Hayate-sama?" The healer put a hand on the Empress' head, a cool sensation running through the brunette as Shamal's healing magics flowed through her.

"Ah hai," Hayate said, giving the blonde an appreciative smile. "Much better thanks."

"That's what I'm here for," Shamal said, smiling back.

"Surely that's not all you came here for?" The Empress gave her Head Attendant a look.

At that reminder, the Shamal's expression went back to serious again. "Oh right," she said, looking away nervously. "Well, you see, the thing is..."

Both Rein and the Empress shared a glance.

"My cousin," Shamal said after much delay. "She wanted to meet with you, you being the closest thing I have to family left. And, well-"

"Of course!" Hayate exclaimed, startling the anxious healer. "I'd love too! That would be wonderful."

Shamal breathed in relief. "Thank you so much, Hayate-sama."

The Empress' opinion mattered greatly to Shamal. Despite growing up with the girl now turned amazing woman and ruler of all Japan, Shamal still felt nervous when asking for things like this.

"Are you going to invite Signum-san too?" Rein was the one to ask that question.

Shamal blushed at the name of her secret crush, soon after frowning. "I don't know if I should," she said sadly.

The look on the blonde's face was heart breaking. Hayate couldn't stand it.

"She's been in such an awful mood lately. I'm worried that I may just aggravate her more," Shamal continued.

"Nonsense," the Empress said. While she too shared Shamal's concern about the distracted samurai, Hayate wasn't about to let the swordswoman ruin such a precious moment of Shamal's.

"Tell your cousin we'd all be happy to meet with her."

"But Signum-san-"

"I'll take care of her," Hayate said putting a hand on Shamal's shoulder. She gave the healer a gentle squeeze. "Leave that to me. Just let me know when and where the meeting will be, and we'll be there."

"Thank you again, Hayate-sama." Shamal hugged the brunette tightly.

"Anything for you Shamal," Hayate said.

And she meant it.

A/N: For those of you unfamiliar with the non-English words, I have translated them below.

Hai = Yes

Ile = No

Ano = Umm

Ne = A word, when used in certain contexts, gets the attention of someone.

For an explanation of Japanese honorifics (eg. [name]-sama), please check out: wiki/Japanese_honorifics