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Black Knight Chapter 3

-X-

Hei and Misaki were on their way out through the back door early the next morning, crossing the path of the neighbor's backyard. The curtains of the neighboring house once again was open a sliver. It was dark in the house and nothing was able to be seen, but when the two walked passed, the curtains shut immediately, and was still once again.

Gohan neighed loudly when Misaki handed him two large apples and some oats Mrs. Jo had insisted she take for the starving horse. "Alright Li, get on."

"I can't. I'll walk beside you." It was daylight and there were people already out and about doing the days work. How would it look if she was riding around with a man? If word got out to her teacher about her etiquette, she'd be in trouble.

"I understand."

Back inside of the castle, they were assailed with clerks and other people of the castle. "Where have you been Misaki," said the king walking down the steps to greet his daughter. He saw what she was wearing and flipped. "You went out like that? I know you snuck out last night, where were you, and who is this?"

"My name is L…Li sir…" said Hei in a stuttery manner.

"I'm sorry your highness, I forgot to mention it to you. This here is Li, Misaki's new escort."

"Forgot to mention it! Quentin this isn't the first time you forgot to tell me something important. If this happens again, so help me…"

Hei eyed the advisor; he didn't like him all that much.

"I'll be sure that it doesn't happen again," bowed Quentin.

Over the day, Li did as he was supposed to. He followed the princess to where she had to go. In the mornings were piano classes, and then French classes, immediately following that were cooking and etiquette classes; it was really a lot for one girl to take in. Once or twice Misaki tried to sneak away, and once or twice Hei had to pull her back to the classroom. In one of her classes, Hei wasn't allowed in. The teacher had only allowed females members of the castle to enter the room (she would be teaching Misaki the proper ways of a princess), but Hei was not complaining, he still had another job to do.

Taking this as a chance the man exited the hallway, searching for the right thing to get the king off the throne. He walked through the halls, sneaking here and there before entering many a room. He found nothing… how was he to get the throne from the king anyways?

Behind him one of the regular soldiers walked passed after doing their rounds. Hei was still snooping, looking really suspicious. "Hey," the soldier called out. Hei kept still having his hands free in case he needed a quick escape. The soldier came closer to him. "Why are you snooping around here Li?"

Li turned around. "I kind of got lost…"

"Don't lie to me!" The soldier's face was serious. "That teacher locked you out didn't she. Yeah I hate it when she's here, but luckily its only once a week right?" Li smiled as his back got slapped. "Well I've got to go. See you later Li." The soldier walked around the corner, but stopped short. "Oh one more thing. Keigo is pissed at you just so you know. I'd be careful of him if I were you. I heard he was one of the king's special army."

"Special army?"

"Yeah, you know, powers."

"Thanks for the warning."

The elderly man walked out of his house with a cloak after he was sure that no one saw him. The night was silent and still as he made his way to the castle. It was already closing time; the king had allowed his villagers to file complaints to Quentin, but the time for that closed relatively early—early enough that by the time the villagers had finished their work, they would be too late to file anything.

"Hey you, come back tomorrow, you know that complaining is closed."

"I'm sorry," replied the old man to the soldier, "I forgot to tell you my name." The soldier looked both ways and then nodded, letting the man go around back.

Quentin was notified that the man was waiting in back for him. The man looked to Quentin exactly as he had that day his image changed... His once thick gray hair had just become thinner and his eyes deeper. "What do you have for me Hubert?" Since the first day Hubert had come to the village, he was immediately disliked by the villagers. He would watch them and then go to the advisor to tattle on them; he was a poor man and had nothing better to do with his time, always hoping to cash in on the meager rewards that were posted. The first couple of times the whole castle had pushed him aside. One day he had gotten in trouble and Quentin knew of his spying ways; he wanted to make the man "the watcher", to watch all the going-ons in the village and then go and tell them about it. They faked his punishment, and with a change of his image, they sent him back to his house. None of the villagers were wise to this partnership, and that included the king.

"That dreadful woman had two people sneaking from her house early this morning…"

"Did you find out who they were?"

"No, but the man… I could tell it was a man and a woman—the man seemed familiar somehow..."

Quentin followed after Hubert, making sure he left the castle. Keigo was leaning on the stone wall when he returned. "Quentin."

"Keigo."

"I hope that our plans are under way?"

"Let us see first; we cannot have any mistakes. We will be killed should we make any."

"I can't wait until the king is dead," said Keigo.

Hei walked to the lunch hall and sat across from a soldier who slept above him on the bunk. "Hey there," waved the soldier.

"Hi," said Hei getting back into his Li persona. "I have a question to ask you."

"Shoot."

"Well, you see Princess Misaki was complaining about how her dad never does anything. How would one who, I don't know, wanted to get the king off the throne do so?"

"Oh that's easy. The princess gets married."

"The princess gets married? Is that it?"

"Yeah. Her dad has a thing about her being next in line for the throne, he talks about it all the time. He doesn't like how nice she is to the people, thinks they are going to walk all over her."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, why yes it is." Hei got up, leaving his food untouched. He was glad he had decided to skip dinner with Misaki; he felt she was truly starting to like him. He would catch her stealing glances at him, and looking away quickly when he turned in that direction. His plan was to find a way to dethrone the king and because he too at least liked the woman, he wouldn't put her through the pain of losing another parent.

Naoyasu paced about the room, cursing loudly under his breath. "Where the hell did she go?" Misaki's room was untouched, as if she hadn't been in her bed all night. It was already two in the morning; the king had only come in there to check up on her, but she wasn't there. "Where is this Li person… isn't he supposed to be with her?"

Quentin was beside him. "No, sir, he stays in his own quarters until the morning." King Naoyasu coughed up a fit. "Are you okay sir? You should rest… you aren't getting any better."

"No, get that man and tell him to find my daughter."

Hei climbed the makeshift sheet rope and touched the window. Inside he saw the men gathering around a red-faced king. He jumped down and went back to Misaki. "You better find a reason as to why you were out so late."

"Why?"

"Your dad, he's in your room and I think he's looking for you."

"Umm I'll think of it on the way up." They entered the castle and went up to Misaki's room. The door was filled to the max with men in armor. Both of them recognized Keigo in the bunch; his words were heard among the rest.

"We can't find him King Naoyasu… he must be with her."

"Oh man," squealed the king, "I can't lose her too." He sat on the bed, breathing hard. His face went a deeper shade of red, and his hand clutched his chest.

"King, are you okay?"

"Someone get a doctor!" Misaki heard the cries and ran to her father; no one had wondered where she was as she went to him. Hei stepped up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"There you are you scumbag. When this is all over, you are going to wish you hadn't come back from wherever you came," said Keigo with a fierce voice.

Hei sat in the corner of the room. King Naoyasu was in bed and sleeping soundly. Princess Misaki sat next to Hei crying her little heart out. "If it wasn't for me," she began, "I made him worry too much. I should have known after what happened to my mom."

"What happened to your mom?" When Misaki looked up at him, Hei could see the hurt in her eyes.

"My mom, she died when I was little. I almost never knew her, but I remember faint moments…" she laughed a rueful laugh. "It was one day when she had gone into the village. She used to make runs, you know, to make sure that none of her people were too bad off. Well, you know you can never truly do everything. It's inevitable that there will be poor people, and the only thing we can do is help those we can help. A man from the village, he attacked my mom out of nowhere. He organized the hit," She cried fresh tears now, making it almost difficult to hear her words, "got a whole group some of the poorer villagers to help him kill her." She looked at Hei again. "They killed her, the only one who actually cared for them," Misaki yelled as she stood up and walked to the side of her dad's bed.

"I understood exactly why my father had always resented me going out to the village, but it's not like he did anything when she was alive right? I felt I had to take over for her, and I truly did feel that the villagers deserved better than how they were living, especially since not all of them are that terrible." She walked back to Hei and he stood up to hug her. He felt bad for her and he felt worse for Naoyasu, but he had to get the king off the throne. He for sure had no idea what was going on. He was only the puppet, and Hei believed that the puppet master would be worse if he got his way.

Quentin and Keigo stood in an isolated hallway far from any prying ears. "We were so close, who would've known that this man would be this bad?"

"I knew for a while that he was getting sicker, but I never knew it was this bad. He might die naturally, but who knows how long that'll take."

"Quentin, I have an idea on how this could go about faster, and be beneficial for both of us."

The king's advisor looked at his partner. "What do you propose?"

"I hate this Li character, for some reason… he reminds me too much of that one man…"

"Keigo, your point..."

"Oh yes, what if we kill the king, and make it look like Li did it. But before that, you get him to agree that Misaki should be wedded to you." Quentin was quiet so Keigo went on. "Afterwards, you can do whatever you want."

"Even if the princess should dislike the idea I am still in control am I not?"

"Exactly."

"Then how would we stage the death Keigo?"

"I have just the idea too. Just leave that to me. I'll have Princess Misaki feeling sorry that she let that man go with her instead of me."

Hei looked at sleeping princess sighing a heavy sigh. He had finally convinced her to get some rest. Almost every hour since the day had begun, the villagers had been bringing food and get-well gifts to the king. They stepped into the room, gave their sympathy to the princess and laid their gifts on the floor next to the bed.

Hei was especially surprised that they had actually wanted to send him gifts; but he recalled what Misaki had said: "They weren't all bad people." Most of them only brought things because of what Misaki had done for them in the past.

Misaki had started to yawn, and look like she was trying to fight the sleep that was slowly creeping upon her like darkness right after the sun had set. Hei told her to lie down a bit, but she felt she had to watch over everything and thank the villagers. Finally, after she had fallen asleep while standing (and almost fell to the floor had Hei not caught her), she agreed to get some rest.

There was a knock on the door after Hei had covered the princess up with a blanket. Mrs. Jo opened the door a smidge and peeked into the room. "How are you doing Li? What about the princess?" Hei motioned to the woman, her tear-streaked face looking troubled. "The poor thing. I hope that she feels better." The elder woman took out a small bag from her handbag and handed it to the man. "When she gets up, have her eat this. She'll feel much better. You need to eat something too okay, you're looking a bit under the weather as well." She gave a sorrowful look back to the both of them and went on her way.

In the hallway, Mrs. Jo walked to the stairwell, but not before passing the hallway where Quentin and Keigo had been talking. The woman moved her eyes over to the darkened hall. She saw two figures. One was the king's advisor, but the other was the soldier that was at her house those days ago. She looked ahead suspecting something to be going on. Why would they be meeting so secretively? Mrs. Jo walked out of the hospital as fast as possible, hoping to God that what she saw was just a coincidence that the feeling she felt ensuing from those in the hall was not at all ill will.

-X-

A/N: Ohh Hei and Misaki are getting closer… and Quentin and Keigo are making up a plan… things getting interesting enough for you…?