The Perfect Bodyguard - Chapter 10
Rena rolled her shoulder a few times as she walked out of her room, her bow in one hand and her arrows in a quiver in another. Today was another training day for the new archers and Rena was eager to help teach them, seeing it was still going to be a while before she would be able to set foot outside the palace. However, there was still some time before it starts so Rena decided to go visit someone who she haven’t been seeing often in the last few days.
“Churi!” Rena called out to the girl in the hallway as she walked towards her.
Akane’s hand stopped just in front of the door, about to slide it open. She turned her head and a smile immediately grew on her tired face as she waved back at her sister with her free hand that wasn’t holding onto the small bowl of water and towel, “Rena!”
“How are you?” Rena asked as she patted her little sister’s head and fixed the girl’s fringe that have been brushed back possibly by the wind when the girl went out of the palace.
Akane’s smile faltered slightly, “Tired.”
Rena looked at the bowl of water in Akane’s hand and then she looked at her face and her eyes focused onto the faint but visible bags under Akane’s eyes. Rena frowned, “I told you to leave that to the healers, why are you doing it by yourself?”
Churi gave a small weak smile, “The healers are already busy enough fixing the wounded soldiers, Rena. If you tell them to help, they would only check on her every once in a while. That is how those healers always work. She really needs someone to look after her right now, Rena, not someone to check on her.”
Rena sighed and decided to drop the persuasion, her sister had a point. “Is she asleep?” Rena asked as she looked at the closed door. There was no sound coming from the room, which was uncommon, considering the state that Airi had been in the last few days ever since Jurina left.
Akane glanced at the door, as if she could see through it, and nodded her head. “She finally stopped crying and slept. That’s why I went out to get some water. But still... she wouldn’t talk or eat anything yet. It’s almost been a week, Rena. If she doesn’t eat soon...” Akane shook her head, refusing to think of what could happen, “I don’t think Airi can start on her job anytime soon.”
“I understand,” Rena nodded, “she has probably been through a lot.” Suddenly, seeing the concern in Akane’s eyes as the girl’s gaze kept returning to the door, a thought popped into Rena’s head. “Say, Churi,” Rena called the girl’s name, gaining her attention, “Do you want Airi as your bodyguard?”
“E-Eh?” Akane looked at her sister in surprise.
Rena smiled at her sister’s reaction, “Jurina and Airi was after both you and me and not just me. So while we’re at it, why don’t we get someone to protect you as well? I’m sure Jurina and Airi won’t be the last person others send. And I know you’re thinking about Kanakana as well, you don’t need to worry about that. Kanakana usually hang around you so if Airi becomes your bodyguard, then she can protect both of you two.” After pausing for awhile to allow Akane to think over her offer, Rena added, “And plus, from the way you’re acting, if we were to find you a bodyguard, you would probably want Airi anyway.”
Akane’s eyes widened at her sister’s words. “W-What!? T-T-That’s not true!” Akane looked away from her sister as she felt her face suddenly becoming hotter. “B-But what about Rena?” Akane asked, still not looking at Rena.
Rena laughed at the pink tint growing on Akane’s face, “I’ve been waiting for awhile already, I can wait for awhile longer. And you are more important right now because you are already playing a big part in the battle planning and father needs you.”
Akane was about to say that Yuasa needed Rena too but before she could, a girl appeared behind her sister. “Rena-chan?” the girl called out. Rena turned around and smiled when she saw her servant standing behind her. “The archers are about to begin their training, Rena-chan. You should get going.”
Rena nodded at Imade and then gave a small smile and another pat on Akane’s head, “We will talk about it later when I finish training them okay?” Without waiting for a reply, Rena quickly jogged towards the archer training area with Imade following closely behind.
Akane watched her sister leave and the turned back to what she was doing before. As quietly as she could, Akane slid the door open and slipped into the room. Setting the tray of water on the table, Akane sat down next to the bed and picked up the towel inside the bowl and squeezed the water out of it. Gently, Akane wiped the glistening drops on the sleeping figure’s forehead without disturbing the girl’s sleep.
Seeing that the muscles around Airi’s face was too tensed up, Akane picked up Papi who was standing on Airi’s shoulder and stroked the bird’s still wounded but almost healed wings. Akane brought Papi up and gave the small bird a small peck on its small head before saying in a small whisper, “I know Airi’s friend will come back. Airi will need to get better before her friend, Jurina comes back right? Jurina probably wouldn’t want to see her like this right now.”
Akane smiled when she saw that Airi’s face had slightly relaxed. Her assumption was right. All the troubles and thoughts in Airi’s mind was too much for the girl to fall asleep deeply. Her mind was still half aware of what was happening around her, hence the girl could hear Akane’s words. Akane stood up quietly and pulled the blankets up to cover Airi’s shoulder. Then just as quietly as she came in, Akane left the room and made her way to the next door on the left where her own room was.
***
Jurina closed her eyes and stopped for a few seconds as she gathered her remaining strength. Then using all her strength to ignore the pain in her leg rather than to move, Jurina limped towards the city gate of the Akihabara city. The gate was already closed but luckily, Jurina still had Togasaki’s night pass with her. Showing the pass to the guards on duty, the guards nodded and reopened the gate just enough to allow Jurina to slip through. Without bothering to thank them, Jurina went inside the city and breathed out a sigh of relief as the familiar smell of the city reached her senses again.
Making her way slowly back to where her home was, Jurina was glad to see none of Togasaki’s guards outside her house, as they usually would when she is out on a job. There were supposed to be guards that were send by Togasaki to protect her mother. Normally, Jurina would be concern as to why there weren’t any guards outside, but right now, Jurina was just glad. Because now she was sure no one would question her about her whereabouts. However, after thinking for awhile, Jurina made her way painfully up to the roof instead of going inside to her house and greeting her mother, mainly because she didin’t want to have to explain to her mother why Airi wasn’t with her and what happened to her leg and make her mother worry about her too much.
Jurina sat down on her usual spot in the middle of the roof and finally took a look at her leg. She didn’t even look closer and she could tell, under the silver moon light, that her leg was swollen all over again. It looked even worse than before the princess’s servant girl that Jurina remembered as Imade, treated it. ’Must’ve been because I walked all the way back instead of finding a horse...’ Jurina thought to herself as she recalled her long and painful journey home, alone. But then, she couldn’t have gotten her hands on a ride anyway, even if she wanted. Unless she decided to steal one because all their spare silver and loot was with Airi.
Her thoughts suddenly brought her mind back to the girl. ’Airin would probably growl at me right now for being up on the roof at this time of the night without a blanket...’ Jurina thought to herself with a smile as she remembered the way Airi would poke her bottom from inside the house with a long pole through the ceiling of the house and shout at her with that concerned voice of hers,
”Get back down here, Jurina! You’re gonna catch a cold you idiot! The herbs at home are for the patients, not you! Hurry and get back down or else you’re going out to find your own herbs if you get sick!”
Ignoring the pain from her leg, Jurina laid on her back on the roof and looked at the moon. “Why are you so lonely tonight, Lady of the Moon? Where are all your little starry servants tonight?” Jurina asked the moon as her eyes searched the sky to look for the stars. It was a strange sight to see, a clear sky with a bright moon, but no stars. The sky was almost a match with her own situation right now. Where instead of the moon, there was Jurina herself and instead of the stars, there would have been Airi. “Tell me what I should do now, O’ Lady of the Moon...” Jurina asked again out loud in a voice that her mother couldn’t hear. However, before Jurina knew it, while waiting for a reply that would never come, she was fast asleep.
Jurina frowned and squeezed her eyes tighter and turned her face to the side, trying to avoid being constantly hit by small wet drops on her face. When she couldn’t fall back asleep, Jurina sat up and growled at the annoying rain that was keeping her awake. Pulling her hood over her head, she laid back down and tried to go back to sleep again. Suddenly, remembering that Airi said if she ever caught her sleeping on the roof when its raining again, then the older girl wouldn’t let her touch any meat for a whole week, Jurina sat back up and prepared to get back down. But just as Jurina was about to climb back down when something finally clicked in Jurina’s mind.
Airi wasn’t here anymore.
However, although remembering that fact, instead of staying on the roof, Jurina still climbed back down anyway. It was about time to go back and check in with the emperor since it has been over a month since she had left Akihabara on her job. It had taken her longer to come back than it was expected of her.
***
Jurina nodded her head slightly, instead of bowing as others do, as she walked inside the room and stood in front of the emperor. Togasaki looked at Jurina in surprise, but the surprise look on his face quickly disappeared and was replaced with a slightly angry face. “You were expected to be back more than a week ago,” was Togasaki’s greetings to Jurina after the girl had disappeared for so long.
Ignoring the annoyance at the lack of concern in the emperor’s words, Jurina said, “We ran into some trouble.”
“Has the job been done then?” Togasaki asked, not caring about anything else. As long as Jurina and Airi got the job down, to be honest, Togasaki wouldn’t care how late the girls were. He just wanted the war to hurry up and end. The war had been continuing for longer than he had expected. He had underestimated the Sakae faction and now his own grand army was paying the price for it. Togasaki hadn’t even expected to have to take his grand army into the field. Sakae was supposed to be wiped out by the time the forth army was sent out.
Jurina stayed silent at the emperor’s words, not knowing how to reply and at the same time, not wanting to reply.
Not liking it when people don’t answer him, Togasaki asked again, impatient, “Has the job been completed?”
“No,” Jurina said finally. Simply one word. She didn’t want to have to explain anything else.
“NO!?” Togasaki slammed his two fists on his table as he stared at Jurina, fuming, “Then what are you doing back here!?”
’Even I myself don’t know why I am back here...’ Jurina thought to herself as she waited for Togasaki to sit back down. Seeing that the emperor was on the verge of exploding, Jurina calmly lied to him, “Airin has been captured. I have been injured. I need to fix my leg before I will be even fit to get back into the field.”
Togasaki frowned as he stared at Jurina’s leg. He didn’t need to look anymore than a few seconds to know that the girl wasn’t lying. Her leg was so swollen that it was visible even from where Togasaki was. Fixing his robe, Togasaki slowly sat back down and said, “I’ll get one of the healers to check your leg.”
“No need, the captain can fix it,” Jurina said.
“Matsui won’t be helping you anymore,” Togasaki said as he felt his anger returning at the thought of that traitor.
Confused, Jurina blurted out, “Why?”
Togasaki felt his boiling point reaching the maximum and his fists clenched even tighter as he hissed, “Since when did you start questioning like your friend!?”
Overwhelmed by her concern for the only other person that cared about her, Jurina ignored the emperor’s mention of Airi and asked again, “Why won’t Sakiko help me out anymore?”
Togasaki smirked at the way Jurina was speaking. It was the first time he has seen the girl filled with concern. “If you really want to know,” Togasaki said as he pushed himself up from the mat and made a gesture as he walked out of the room. “Come if you wish to know what I mean,” Togasaki said as he disappeared from the door with his entire royal guard following him. Curious and confused, Jurina followed.
’What is this place...?’ Jurina thought to herself as she widened her eyes at the dark hall that has suddenly appeared in front of her. ’How come I never knew this place existed...?’ Just a few minutes ago, she had followed the emperor into a long abandoned room of the palace, where nothing was in sight but books and dust, layers and layers of dust. Then all of a sudden, she heard a click from where the emperor was standing with his back to her, and then the bookshelves shook and disappeared behind the wall and revealed the hallway that now stood in front of Jurina. At the same time, Jurina felt a cold blast of eerie air hit her face, sending chills up the back of her spine, making her shiver.
Togasaki walked into the hallway, mentioning for Jurina to follow which she did without questioning. The rest of the guards stayed outside, following behind Jurina was only the two personal bodyguards of the emperor. Jurina winkled her nose at the stinging air that was reaching her senses. Air that was filled with the smell that was all too familiar to Jurina’s brain. Air that was filled with the smell of blood. As Jurina got closer, she started hearing painful moaning coming from deep within the dark chamber.
Once they reached the end of the hallway where there was another dungeon-like area, lit dimly by candles, just like the prison that Jurina was in back at Sakae. However, looking around the area, Jurina could almost say that she would rather spend her entire life living in Sakae’s prison than to stay down here even just for one night.
Togasaki waved the key guard over and the guard quickly fumbled for the right key and unlocked one of the prison cells that had metal plates nailed onto the outside that prevented anyone from seeing what was inside the room. Togasaki stood outside the door and pointed to the door, “There’s the person that was supposed to help you with your leg. Now you can either let my healer look at your leg, or you can let Matsui fix it for you.”
Jurina looked at the door, confused at what the emperor meant with his words, slowly made her way forward and pushed the door opened. A small gasp escaped the girl’s usual quiet lips as she stared at the sight in front of her.
Standing, or more like, lying in front of Jurina, was a shattered looking body. There were blood, bruises and cuts everywhere. Jurina wouldn’t have been able to recognize the body that was in front of her was the female captain, chained, if it was not for her long black hair which Jurina knew no one else who worked for Togasaki would have. Jurina dashed forward and dropped down next to the female captain and whispered the captain’s name as she held the captian’s fragile body, “Sakiko...”
Sakiko could barely open her swollen, bruised eyes to see what was happening. But from the small gap that she managed to force open, she could see Jurina staring down at her with concern. A weird emotion not seen often from a girl like Jurina. Sakiko wanted to speak to Jurina, there was so many things she wanted to ask. What happened? Where was her friend? What happened to her targets? Did she manage to kill them? What was she doing here? However, no words could be produced. It was just too much strength for Sakiko to spare. She knew that if she pushed herself too hard now before the guards come in with the healing potion later tonight before she sleeps, she might actually slip into the underworld
Jurina didn’t know if Sakiko was awake, she could see no reaction from the captain when she called her name. Her eyes trailed down as she took a quick look at the state of the girl in front of her. Her gaze froze on something on Sakiko’s leg. Jurina reached out slowly towards that dark ugly scar on Sakiko’s thigh but stopped just before her finger tips touched the blood covered wound, knowing that it would only bring the girl more pain. Instead, Jurina took Sakiko’s cold and unharmed hands into her’s and held onto it, wishing in the back of her mind that there was something she could do to help Sakiko after all that the girl has done for her. Sakiko, still unable to speak, did her best to give a small squeeze back to Jurina’s hand just to let the girl know that she was still in this world and haven’t slipped yet.
“What is the meaning of this?” Jurina asked, finally gathering her strength to look away from Sakiko and at the emperor that was still standing outside the cell, staring at Jurina with an amused look.
Togasaki gave off a cold laugh and said, “Your little friend, Matsui, is a spy, a traitor, a useless being that thought she could stand against my rule. Does that answer your question, my dear Jurina?”
Jurina looked back at the female captain and whispered outloud unconsciously, “Impossible...” Looking back at the emperor, Jurina shouted, “You must’ve gotten the wrong person! Sakiko have been so loyal to you, there is no way she could ever do something like this!”
The emperor laughed again, “Oh, we have the right person, alright? Even Matsui admitted to it herself!”
Jurina once again, looked back at Sakiko, wanting the girl to say something to talk back to Togasaki, but to her disappointment, Sakiko made no movement to talk at all. Jurina didn’t know whether the captain was too hurt to talk, or she just didn’t need to talk back because Togasaki spoke the truth. She really didn’t know. Jurina frowned as she thought over a question in her mind over and over again, ’Why is everyone going against Togasaki?’
“Come now, my child,” Togasaki held out an arm, gesturing for Jurina to join him, “I will go get your leg fixed so that you can go back and finish your job.”
Jurina stood up silently and obediently walked back to the emperor’s side and stepped out of the cell. Sakiko tried to hold onto Jurina’s hand, but found no strength in her grip and felt her mental will to stay attached to this world shattered as her hand slipped from that of Jurina.
EDIT: Put Rena's paragraph back in the right position at the front of the chapter instead of the end~