The Perfect Bodyguard - Chapter 12[/b]
Jurina leaned herself against the cold cell wall, waiting for Sakiko to satisfy her curiosity. Seeing Jurina had gotten into a more comfortable position, Sakiko, pushing away the chains on her arm off her legs, sat up and started to fiddle with the photo Jurina had given her. Jurina watched as Sakiko traced each person’s face with her thumb, not talking. Knowing she doesn’t have a lot of time down here, Jurina started the conversation. “Is that my-“
“Yes,” Sakiko cuts in, “that is your father.” Jurina clamped her lips shut, waiting for Sakiko to continue, not wanting to disturb the girl. “Your father felt more like a father to me than my actual father, you know,” Sakiko said, looking up at the girl with a sad smile that looked forced. Seeing the confusion on Jurina’s face, as much as the girl was trying to hide it, Sakiko continued, “It goes all the way back to when Togasaki started becoming obsessed with violence. It was around 10 years ago, if I remembered right.” Sakiko looked away, into empty air, as if recalling her memories, “Everything started with the death of my father.”
***
>>Sakae – Sakiko at 14 years old<<
“You’re getting better, Kuumin,” Sakiko smiled at the girl as their wooden swords clashed together again.
“It’s all thanks to you being bothered to train together with me everytime,” Kumi smiled back as she drew back her sword and wiped the sweat off her brows.
Sakiko and Kumi, daughter of the two fearless generals of Sakae, had grown up together. With their father always with each other, the two girls are always with each other. Both being the daughter of two capable generals, the two were put into a position of needing to know how to fight before they were even tall enough to hold a katana. As training is required for both of them from both their fathers, the two girls chose to train with each other instead of dummies because for them, that was more fun and before the two knew it, they became close friends and are always together, especially when their father are away together, like today.
However, it had been around a year since either of their father has came home, and the girls were starting to get worried. They had brought their worries to their mothers, but both had told them that their father were still out on an investigation. Trusting their mother, the two let the matter drop. After a few more years went by, Kumi finally decided to confront her mother about this again, knowing that it seemed too impossible for both of their father to be out for this long.
“Mother, where is father?” Kumi asked as she barged into her mother’s room with Sakiko standing outside, not even bothering to knock.
“Kumi! Where are you manners!?” Kumi’s mother frowned at her child.
Kumi shook her head, not bothering to answer her mother. “Where is father? How can father be away for so long!?”
Kumi’s mother ignored the question and waved Kumi away while looking away, “I’m busy right now, Kumi. Now is not the best time to talk about this.”
For many other girls, they would’ve been scared to see their own mother shooing them off, not even looking at them. But Kumi was smart. She knew her mother was hiding something from her, something she had never done. “I will find out what our mothers are hiding from us,” Kumi said with pure determination as the two girls walked back to the training field.
Sakiko, a calmer version of Kumi, shook her head, “They must be hiding something for a reason. It’s probably for our own good.”
“I don’t care!” Kumi screamed as she kicked at the wooden dummy, making it shake, “My father was the closest thing to me!”
“I wish I could say the same for mine...” Sakiko mumbled as she sat down near the shade, her eyes looking at the ground.
“What do you mean?” Kumi asked, noticing Sakiko’s sudden downcast expression, as she took a seat next to the girl.
“My father is always out. Even before this investigation. He never had time for me. I can barely remember his face. Unlike yours, Kuumin, your father would always spare some time for you, even if he is really busy, he would at least go back home for a visit right?” Sakiko said quietly. Kumi nodded. Sakiko continued, “Well, mine isn’t like that. He is always busy. But even rarely, when he have free time, he would never bother to come home. And when he does, he just comes back for something and then goes back. He doesn’t even bother to say hi to me or my mum. But that’s not the same with yours. Your father always tell you war stories, was something you told me before. And that he would teach you what he knew of war and what you needed to know in life. But mine doesn’t. I don’t know any of those stuff. I have to learn them by myself, the hard way.”
“I’m... sorry,” Kumi looked down, not knowing what else she could say.
“That is why,” Sakiko started again, “I don’t feel any different when father hasn’t’ come home for years until you mentioned it again.”
“But we still need to go look for them, no?” Kumi asked, “They are still our father after all.”
***
It was around the third week, almost a month, since Sakiko and Kumi started going out, just the two of them, around the palace and the city, gathering information about this investigation that their fathers were conducting. It was when they ended up asking one of the patrolling guards that had just came back into the city from a job, that told the two girls that their father were investigating about an emperor called Togasaki. After looking around for more information, the two girls also found out from an inn keeper, that the so-call Emperor Togasaki has a hunting camp set up nearby right now.
Walking out of the inn and closing the door quietly behind her, Sakiko said, “Maybe that’s where they are?”
“Let’s go look for them,” Kumi said with a nod.
***
The camp was easier to find than Kumi and Sakiko had expected. It was so big that they could see it the moment they walked out of the city, but then could still walk half a day before they reached it. Sneaking into the camp was no problem at all as the camp was almost empty except for one or two patrolling troops around.
Hiding behind some barrels, Kumi whispered to Sakiko after the patrolling troops had past, “I feel my father is somewhere around here.”
’Feel...?’ Sakiko tried to ”feel” where her father is, but she felt nothing. Perhaps it was because she didn’t get what Kumi meant by “feel”. After all, how can you feel something that you cannot see or touch?
“Hey, Sakiko,” Kumi nudged the girl and then pointed to one of the camp in the distance, “you hear that?”
Sakiko focused her hearing and for a while, there was nothing. But then, Sakiko noticed. Her ear twitched slightly when she heard some kind of grunting from the camp that Kumi pointed to.
The two girls exchanged a nod and sneaked closer and hid behind some boxes. The two girls poked their head up just high enough to see as they heard the sound of a katana being drawn. Then they ducked down slightly and watched through the gaps between the boxes when a man walked out of the tent just as another man with the katana brought the blade down on the throat of the person who was kneeling on the floor. Sakiko watched as the head of the person rolled onto the floor and stopped with its face facing her. Sakiko’s eyes widened and an uncontrollable gasp escaped her lips when she realized that the head that was looking at her, was the head of her father.
Kumi too watched as Sakiko’s father was executed. Deep inside, Kumi knew that her father would probably meet the same fate unless the two of them do something. However, before Kumi could think of anything, she heard Sakiko gasp. Kumi cursed herself for not thinking about the fact that Sakiko just saw her own father getting executed in front of her. She tried to reach forward and clap her hands over Sakiko’s mouth to muffle to sound, but she was too late.
“WHO’S THERE!?”
The sound of another katana sliding out send a shiver down the back of Kumi’s neck. Before she could move, she heard another man spoke.
“Get rid of the other one as well.”
Knowing the chance to be able to rescue her father now was slimmed to nothing, Kumi grabbed Sakiko’s hand and pulled her up and shouted, “RUN!”
The two girls ran from their hiding spot as the man who had stepped out of the tent chased after them with his katana in one hand while others starts to come out of the tent and join the chase.
“Sakiko! Over here!” Kumi called the girl as she quickly untied two of the horses that were strapped onto a pole nearby. “Come on! Hurry!” Kumi said as she pulled herself up onto the horse and threw to Sakiko, the reins of the other horse when the girl was on the horse and kicked her own horse into an immediate run.
On the trip back, both Kumi and Sakiko had never felt so scared before. Having arrows whizzing past them every minutes and hearing the galloping of horses behind them while not being able to increase the speed of their own horse any further, made the two girls thought as if they were going to die. But once they reached close enough to the city gate to see the gate guards, the two girls could hear the people chasing them pulling their horses to a halt.
The gate guards helped pulled Kumi and Sakiko into the city as the two girls were already too tired to do anything else. “Who were those people that were chasing you two?” One of the guards asked them. Kumi just shook her head, too tired to even answer that question. The guards left the two be and led the two horses into the stable.
When Sakiko got home, before her mother could even ask when she had been after seeing her tattered clothes, the girl had broken down into tears. Knowing her daughter could never answer her in such a state, Sakiko’s mother turned to Kumi, who was standing by the door watching her friend in pain, “What happened, Kumi?”
After explaining everything to Sakiko’s mother, she too, burst out in tears as Kumi’s words had confirmed the fear that she had had all these year, the fear of the death of her husband. Kumi tried to hide her tears as well, even though she didn’t see her father, she heard it when the man shouted words to disposed of the other one. If the one who was kneeling on the floor was Sakiko’s father, Kumi know that chances are that the “other one” was her own father. Kumi clenched her fists to control in her emotions as she kneeled down next to Sakiko and hugged the girl, comforting her.
“Don’t worry, Sakiko,” Kumi whispered in Sakiko’s ears as she soothed the girl by stroking her back, “Whoever it is, we’ll find out who it is and we will avenge our fathers’ deaths.”
***
>>>Few months later
“Nee, Kuumin,” Sakiko finally spoke after walking side by side with Kumi around the palace.
“Hmm?” Kumi hummed without looking at her.
“I need to tell you something,” Sakiko said.
Kumi nodded and sat down next to a tree, “Me too.”
“You... want to go first?” Sakiko asked as she sat down next to Kumi.
Kumi nodded again and took a deep breath before speaking, “I’m going to join the army. I’m going to follow my father’s footstep because this is one of the ways to find out who had killed our fathers.”
Sakiko nodded, “I thought you had already forgotten about that... But... I’m going off too.”
“I would never forget,” Kumi chuckled, “Where are you going?”
“I need to find out who it was that killed my father too,” Sakiko answered.
“But you don’t know who killed him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Sakiko shook her head, “Because I know it is someone close to Togasaki. So all I need to do is get close to Togasaki and I will eventually find out who it was and take revenge.”
“You could die,” Kumi whispered.
Sakiko nodded but gave a small smile, “But it’s worth it.”
“Like a spy huh?” Kumi forced a small smile out, knowing that spy usually don’t end up good, whether their goal has been succeeded or not. Sakiko nodded. After thinking for a while, Kumi asked, “Is there anyone in the palace who you can trust?”
“Why?” Sakiko asked, confused at the sudden increase in the seriousness of Kumi’s voice, as if it wasn’t serious enough already.
“I was thinking,” Kumi said, “You would probably need something to keep in contact with from this side right? It can’t be me though, Sakiko, I move around too much. If your message have to chase me around, chances of the messages being lost and your identity being exposed will increase dramatically. So I thought, you should find someone who, unlike me, would be able to contact you constantly.”
“Rena is a good choice,” Sakiko said, “The girl had always wanted to help out with her father’s work.
Kumi nodded in agreement to Sakiko’s words, “Rena is a good choice.” The princess was one of the rare princesses which possess not just the charm of a princess, but also the brain and strength of a ruler.
“So please, Kuumin,” Sakiko begged, “Protect Rena for me.”
“With all my strength,” Kumi promised.
Sakiko smiled and added, “And the future princesses as well.” Seeing Kumi’s confused face, Sakiko explained further, “Rena is going to get a baby sister soon.”
“Eh! Majide!?” Kumi jumped up. Sakiko nodded and couldn’t help but laugh at Kumi’s excitement. “Sucks you won’t be here to see them then...” Kumi mumbled when she came down back from the excitement.
“I know right,” Sakiko mumbled back.
***
It surprised Sakiko at first when she finally realized that she had made it to the Akihabara faction. Before doing anything else, Sakiko decided to start wondering around the street. Firstly, it was because she haven’t really quite figured out what to do yet to get close to Togasaki, and second, it was the first time she had been in this part of the land and was quite curious at how different it was to the Sakae faction. From the building structure to the way people act. The citizens of Akihabara seems so much more, closed off to strangers, compared to the people of Sakae, where everyone was everyone’s friends and the word “stranger” had no meaning.
For a while, Sakiko was lost in her own little world as she took in the setting around her. Suddenly, a bump snapped her back into reality.
“Sorry.”
Sakiko turned around just in time to see someone apologizing to her after bumping into her and the quickly scurrying away. Sakiko was going to turn back around and keep walking when she strangely felt a sudden loss of weight on her belt. Looking down at where her money bag was supposed to be, Sakiko was surprised to find nothing there but empty air. She quickly looked up at the person who bumped into her and called out, “Hey!”
The person turned around and then, realizing they had been caught, ran. Sakiko quickly chased after the thief.
“Oi! Stop! Thief!”
Sakiko expected it to be like Sakae, where when rare cases of thievery occurs, everyone helps out. However, to Sakiko’s horror, it was the exact opposite in Akihabara. People don’t just not help stop the thief, they just stop what they’re doing and watches. Some even go as far as to blocking Sakiko, whether intentionally or not, Sakiko didn’t know. She didn’t have the time to find out.
After a while of running, chasing and dodging, Sakiko skidded to a stop in front of an alleyway. Instinct told her to turn back because there were danger in the alleyway, and Sakiko knew that too, but she couldn’t turn away. The money stolen were the only money she had on her that was supposed to last her at least a week while she look for a job to earn money while looking for a way to get closer to Togasaki. Bracing herself for attackers, Sakiko stepped into the alleyway.
The moment Sakiko stepped out of the last area of light from the streets, she sensed a presence behind her. Quickly turning around, Sakiko swung her leg above her head and brought it right down on the head of the attacker, successfully knocking the person out in one blow. Then quickly bending down to pick up the iron pole that the knocked out person was holding, Sakiko spun around on her toes without standing back up and hit the next attacker right in the knees and again hit that person on the back of their head as they fell, knocking yet another person out.
All Sakiko focused on, was knocking out the shadow she saw. Sometimes she would hit empty air though, mistaking garbage as a person, and she would end up being hit instead. Knowing she couldn’t go on like this, Sakiko jumped onto a barrel and landed behind all her attackers. Normal girls would be scared, when their attackers stands between them and their only exit to safety. But not Sakiko. Because Sakiko was not just any normal girl. Sakiko heard her attackers laughing, thinking that they had Sakiko cornered. But little did they know that Sakiko was stronger than she looked. Her attackers slowly advanced on her, while Sakiko, surprising them, closed in the distance between them. Using the confusion her attackers had of her actions, Sakiko started attacking them back and pushing them out onto the streets.
Once onto the street, Sakiko’s speed doubled. Now that she could see everything, she didn’t have to worry about getting her weapon, the iron pole, stuck in garbage. Aiming for all the weak joints of her attacker’s bones where their knees and elbows joined, Sakiko hit without mercy. Now facing the last attacker, the very person that had bumped into her and taken her money bag, Sakiko’s grip on the iron pole tightened. Her eyes focused only on the money bag around her attacker’s waist. Her attacker smirked at Sakiko’s gaze and jingled the money bag slightly, teasing the Sakiko into making the first move. However Sakiko knew better than to give in. She just stayed where she stood and observed.
Being an impatient person, her attacker could wait no longer. Sakiko allowed a grin creep onto her face before she moved in to take down her attacker. Quickly hitting the back of the attacker’s knees, Sakiko twirled around and gave the person a nice kick in the back, sending them flying forward. As the person scrambled to turn back around, Sakiko jumped and kept the person on the floor with her knees on their chest. Seeing her attacker had relaxed, as if in defeat, Sakiko hunted around for her money bag but was confused as to why it wasn’t on the attacker’s belt anymore.
’Maybe it dropped while we were fighting...?’
Sakiko looked around, without getting off, and found her money bag behind her. Sakiko stabbed the iron pole into the ground next to the attacker’s face, making them flinch, and then got off them and turned around to pick up her money bag. However, without her knowing, the attacker quickly pulled out a small knife that Sakiko had not noticed before and lunged forward. Sakiko, hearing a sudden movement, turned around to see a knife being stabbed towards her. Fear crept into her mind and her body was send into a state of paralyzation and all Sakiko could do was hold out her arm in front of her face, as a useless self-protection against the incoming knife. Sakiko’s eyes shut as she prepared herself for the death thrust. However, a sudden gust of wind flew past her and the expected pain never came.
When Sakiko opened her eyes, all she found was a few mounted horses in front of her and her attacker somewhere on the other side of the street. Sakiko looked up and saw a man with his katana out with blood on his blade. Without the man saying anything, Sakiko knew it was him that saved her.
“Thank you,” Sakiko said with a small bow and then turned around to retrieve her money bag.
The man sheathed his katana and tapped his horse forward to go to where Sakiko was. “Where are you from?”
Sakiko tied the bag back onto her belt tightly and then turned around to the man and was about to answer with Sakae, but stopped because she knew she shouldn’t. After thinking for a while, Sakiko looked up again and answered, “Around.”
The man nodded and asked it no further but instead surprised Sakiko. “I admire your fighting skills, I have never seen someone being able to fight like that before,” the man said, “I could use someone like you by my side. Are you interested in working for me?”
“But I don’t know you,” Sakiko said. She needed a job, yes, but she wasn’t about to take on any job for a stranger that she has never seen before. However, looking at the way the man is dressed and the way his men are dressed, in strong armor, each with a katana, Sakiko knew these men are not that simple.
The man laughed, “You don’t know? You must be from the edge of the boarder then. Allow me to introduce myself,” the man dismounted his horse and held out his hand, “I’m Matsui Yuusuke, known by others as General Matsui, the right hand man of Togasaki.”
Sakiko’s eyes sparked at the mention of Togasaki’s name, but luckily, it went unnoticed by the general. Knowing this was going to be an easy chance to get close to Togasaki, Sakiko shook the general’s hand, “Nice to be able to meet such a powerful being such as yourself, General Matsui. I’m Matsui Sakiko, no relation to you whatsoever.”
“I would be quite surprised if you were related to me,” Yuusuke chuckled at the girl’s words, “So, what do you think of my offer? Do you take it?”
Sakiko smiled and nodded, “It would be my greatest pleasure to be able to work under someone such as yourself, General.”
The man quickly mounted his horse and held out his hand again, “Shall we go then, Matsui-san?” Sakiko nodded and grabbed the general’s hand. Yuusuke pulled Sakiko onto his horse and made their way back to the castle.
***
“Come, my child,” Yuusuke held out his hand, “It’s time for dinner. Let’s take you to see the emperor.”
Sakiko followed Yuusuke into a room where she had expected to have a lot of people but only guards, themselves, and a man who Sakiko assumed was Togasaki, were present. Yuusuke greeted the emperor with a bow and mentioned for Sakiko to do the same and then the two took a seat near the emperor.
After a brief introduction and description of how the general had found Sakiko, Yuusuke threw in his request, “The girl is really talented. We could really use someone like her.”
“All Matsui’s, it seems, are talented,” Togasaki said as he tapped his chin with one hand and his other hand tapping a random rhythm on the table, “Where is she from?”
“Around,” Yuusuke repeated Sakiko’s word with a small smile.
“Well then, I trust your choice in people,” Togasaki said, “Your decisions are always for the best of Akihabara.” The emperor snapped his fingers at the guards, “Go get someone to get her dressed.” Looking at right at Sakiko, Togasaki said, “from now on, you will work under Matsui. You will be given your own team to command. You will only need to answer to me and Matsui only, others are not of your concern.”
Gathering up her courage, Sakiko made a request that surprised both the emperor and the general, “Maybe I please request to start as a basic soldier like all recruits?” Seeing both men staring at her in surprise, Sakiko explained further, “I don’t want other people to think that I cling onto powerful people in order to get my position. I want to prove it to others that I am capable of gaining the position that I gain by myself.”
The general smiled at the girl proudly while the emperor looked at her, amused, “Strange child. So be it. If you want to start as a recruit, I shall not stop you.”
Within the first year of being a recruit, Sakiko was quickly promoted to a captain position. Not because of her relation with the general, but because of how hard she actually worked. Starting from grooming horses to hitting dummies to sparing with other soldiers to winning tournaments to carrying out various tasks send by Yuusuke as well as other generals and sometimes even Togasaki himself, Sakiko quickly won over respect from almost the entire army and words of the possible future hand of the emperor quickly spread.
With the new promotion, Sakiko was finally given her own team to command. Going back into her own room, thanking people who congratulated her on her promotion on her way, Sakiko quickly wrote a letter, wanting to tell Rena how she had already progressed into being a captain and that she is finally in a position where finding out her father’s murder was only a matter of time. Sakiko was about to sent it out, but then realized that her pigeon was being fed downstairs somewhere. The girl ran as fast as she could downstairs to retrieve her pigeon, her speed increasing with her excitement to share the wonderful news with her cousin.
However, her excitement quickly died out when she opened her room door only to see the letter she had been writing, in the hands of a figure leaning against the wall. Sakiko gulped as she stared at Yuusuke who was only staring at the letter in his hand.
“Close the door.”
Sakiko heard the command coming from the man and quickly clicked the door shut behind her, while mentally preparing herself to be killed for making such a stupid mistake of leaving such letters lying around without locking her room. Finally, the general looked up at Sakiko.
“Have a seat,” Yuusuke said and mentioned for the girl to sit. Sakiko did as she was told. The general held up the letter, “What is this?” Seeing Sakiko staying silent, he asked again calmly, no anger in his voice whatsoever, “What is this, Captain Matsui.”
“You know what it is,” Sakiko mumbled.
“I do,” the general said, slight disappointment in his voice, and placed the letter down onto the table in front of Sakiko, “Who are you?”
“I am who I am,” Sakiko answered plainly, “Captain Matsui Sakiko.”
“Was you coming here all part of your plan to find out who killed your father all along?” Yuusuke asked.
“Yes,” Sakiko answered without even a second hesitation.
After thinking for awhile, Yuusuke asked again, “Who is your father?” Sakiko stayed silent. “I can help you look for him,” Yuusuke explained himself.
Sakiko stayed quiet, not answering anything, as she didn’t know whether or not she should trust the man. The man had been kind and had looked after her, and if anyone could kill her father, it definitely could not have been him.
After waiting for a while for the answer, Yuusuke sighed as he made his way towards the door, “It’s hard to find someone on your own, even with a position like yours.”
“Matsui,” Sakiko answered.
The general frozed.
“My father had the same last name as me, Matsui,” Sakiko said, looking at the floor as she recalled the memories of her father’s death, “the man who killed him had a black and red dagger on him. I saw it on his waist when he killed my father with his katana.”
The general nodded and said before he shut the door, “I will look around.” Once the door was closed, Yuusuke cursed, ’I told you, Togasaki. I told you this would happen. I told you we shouldn’t have killed the two generals.’ As the general walked away from Sakiko’s room, he started debating in his mind as to whether or not he should go tell Togasaki about Sakiko’s true identity and intention.
After that awkward meeting with the general and having her real identity revealed, Sakiko had expected someone to come up to her and arrest her and drag her off to be tortured. However, even till it was almost time to sleep, no one had came for her. That night, for the first time since she had arrived in Akihabara, Sakiko went to sleep without a dagger under her pillow because for once, she no longer feared death. Knowing that she was probably going to die soon, Sakiko fell asleep thinking of different ways that she could actually die.
It was almost a miracle how Sakiko had managed to sleep a peaceful sleep, without any nightmares.
***
Sakiko’s eyes snapped open at the sound of knocking on her door. Sakiko squinted her eyes at the bright sunlight shining into her eyes through the window that she had forgotten to close the curtains for. Unusual for Sakiko, though, since she hated being woken up by the sunlight. But then Sakiko remembered the reason she had not closed the curtains last night. She had not expected to be able to wake up to see another day.
After greeting the general briefly, Sakiko quickly got dressed and followed Yuusuke, who had asked her to follow him. The general brought led Sakiko out of the castle and into a restaurant where they two was brought up into one of the more private rooms reserved for higher customers, such as the ones with money, or fame, or power, or all three.
“Sit,” Yuusuke pulled out a chair for Sakiko before poking his head outside the door to check for people, and then closing the door again. Once the door was shut, Yuusuke turned around and looked at Sakiko and whispered a name, “Togasaki.”
Sakiko stared at Yuusuke, completely confused, “Eh?”
Yuusuke pulled out the chair opposite of Sakiko and sat himself down before he continued, “Togasaki was the one that killed your father and Yagami.” Sakiko’s eyes widened, unable to believe what she was hearing that was coming from the general.
“Togasaki is a very paranoid man,” Yuusuke started again, “He barely trusts anyone around him, myself included. The day when we caught your father and the other general snooping around the camp, Togasaki already wanted to kill them. But I managed to hold off their deaths for a year by telling him what could potentially happen if the Sakae faction found out that we had killed two of their generals.”
The general paused when someone knocked on the door and a young boy came into the room, holding in his arms, a tray with tea. Sakiko sat in silent, absorbing what the general had just told her as the young boy poured both customers a cup of tea and then with a bow, left the room once again.
When Yuusuke was sure the boy had left, he continued, “But in that year that the two generals were held captive, Togasaki’s name grew as he became more and more feared by other people from other factions as well as some people from his very own faction. As his name grew, so did his arrogance.” The general stopped to take a sip of tea and then mentioned to Sakiko, “Have some tea.” Sakiko nodded but kept her eyes on the general as she held the cup to her lips.
“Thinking that everyone was scared of him and that no one would dare to do anything against him,” Yuusuke frowned, “Togasaki didn’t care anymore. Even after not just me, but also some other generals, tried to convince him to stop, we could only end up standing on the side and watch as Togasaki killed both general. And ever since then, Togasaki has been killing anyone without a blink of an eye, who he suspects of being unloyal to him. Generals or servants or just brave young souls joining the army, many had already died under Togasaki’s own blade after being suspected of being a traitor even though many and most of them, if not all, were innocent.
Sakiko nodded as she lifted her cup to her lip to take another drink and was surprised to find her cup already emptied. Yuusuke chuckled and leaned forward and poured some tea back into her cup. Sakiko quickly took a small sip and digested Yuusuke’s words in her mind. She knew, that this was a warning to her, telling her to back off because she knew that the general knew she was determined to take revenge, regardless of who the person might be.
“If I really am a traitor,” Sakiko said after finishing another cup of tea, as Yuusuke refilled her cup, “then why are you tell me this?”
“Because,” Yuusuke placed the pot down and leaned back on his chair, “I trust you not to do anything stupid that would cost you your life. You are one of my own men. You are someone who I have trained to fight side by side with, not against. However, my loyalty lies with Togasaki to the very day of my dismissal, and as long as I am his vessel, protecting Togasaki would be my utmost priority.”
Sakiko nodded at the general’s words, knowing that this was the general’s way of saying that he would fight against her if the need arises.
“Togasaki might not be doing things in the best way possible,” Yuusuke said, staring right at Sakiko’s eyes, as if trying to convince her of something, “But he is only trying to do what is best for his faction.”
To that, Sakiko just nodded, unable to think of anything else to say.
***
Years had passed while Sakiko waited patiently, for the day to come when she could finally take her revenge. However, while waiting for that day to come, Sakiko also found that her bond with her own team and with the general were growing closer with each passing day. Sakiko had wondered sometimes, if that was one of the reason that Yuusuke still had not exposed her real identity to anyone else, but she never asked.
However, her bond with them had grown so close that there was a time where she had truly believed that this was where she was supposed to be. Messages sent back to Sakae were starting to decrease and everyday for Sakiko would be spent with her entire team, along with Yuusuke, like one big family. Some days, when her team was split up to do their own things, Sakiko would always find herself with the general who was always at the training ground, training other soldiers to no end, despite of who they serve under. In those days, Sakiko would spend the entire day training with Yuusuke, but most of the time, the two would end up just generally talking. Yuusuke taught Sakiko all that he knew, and told the girl many war stores, some were his own, some of others.
Sakiko almost felt as if they were father and daughter, but deep down, Sakiko knew that was impossible. The two might share the same last name, but they do not share the same blood. Everytime when Sakiko’s relationship with Yuusuke becomes so close, her mind would always tell her how the two of them were like father and daughter and then, the image of her dead father’s head rolling down would always come back and haunt her, as if reminding her of her intention to avenge his death.
***
Sakiko couldn’t help but giggle at the way Jurina stared at her so intensely as she talked. “You know, Jurina, all you need to do is listen to my words, not smell them, leaning in so close won’t do you any good,” Sakiko laughed.
Hearing the girl’s word, Jurina cleared her throat and leaned backward, slightly surprised that she had leaned so close as she listened to the story.
“Anyway,” Sakiko continued, “So as I said, I was always curious as to why you father treated me so nicely and so much different to everyone else, but I never had the chance to ask. Togasaki was advancing fast and he was hungry for more land domination. He held some kind of meeting, to discuss the next target, I think, I don’t know. I never knew who Togasaki was planning to take next, but all I knew was that your father strongly disagreed with it.
“I can’t remember what I was doing at that time, but I was passing outside the emperor’s room where the meeting was held, and I heard Togasaki shouting something and then two guards dragged your father out of the meeting room and threw him on the ground. Luckily I caught him in time...”
***
The two sat on the training field in silence as they watched Sakiko’s team train. Finally breaking the silence, Sakiko asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” Yuusuke answered, his gaze focusing on the training field, “Just a typical argument with the emperor.”
“Typical arguments doesn’t usually end with you being thrown out,” Sakiko pointed out.
The general frowned, “Togasaki is just in a bad mood, that’s all. I just didn’t read him well enough before I disagreed with his ideas.”
“Being in a bad mood isn’t an excuse to throw someone out of a meeting just because they disagreed with an idea,” sakiko said, “And wasn’t it you that told me that don’t bother holding a meeting if one didn’t plan on having another speaking up against their idea?”
“There are always exception to everything, Sakiko,” Yuusuke quietly said.
“Exception of him being an emperor?”
“Yes.”
“Emperor isn’t almighty,” Sakiko frowned.
“A normal emperor isn’t an almighty, no, but Togasaki is, and has been from the very day he learned to use a katana,” Yuusuke said.
After a short moment of silence, Sakiko turned to the general, “What are you going to do now?”
“Nothing,” he answered simply, “Once Togasaki calms down, he will call me back and then everything will go back to normal.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Yuusuke chuckled at Sakiko’s word, surprising her, “You think too much my child.” Standing up, the general held out a hand to the captain, “Let’s go help your team.” Sakiko took his hand and allowed the strong grip to pull her up from the ground.
The two went around the entire training field, helping team members that needed help, and teaching the ones that were good enough, new skills. After a while, the two ended up sparing with each other, clearing all worries from their mind. It was almost sunset when the two finally stopped, deciding that they had had enough for the day. However, before Sakiko could dismiss her team to enjoy the rest of their afternoon, a marching sound gained her attention. Turning her head, Sakiko noticed a troop marching in the distance.
Normally, seeing a troop around Togasaki’s castle would be no big deal, and that it would not be significant enough to make everyone stop what they were doing and look. However, these troops were no normal troops either. It was the obvious point that the troop was dressed in red, a color preserved only for the emperor himself and those that serves closely under him, such as his own personal royal guard. Sakiko’s team dropped what they were doing and joined Sakiko, all mumbling to themselves, wondering what the reason for the royal guard’s full appearance was as everyone knew the royal guards do not come out in an entire troop unless it was for something really important.
Seeing the royal guards suddenly stopping in front of the team, everyone, Sakiko included, unconsciously held their breath as they felt their heart pumping faster than ever. Why are they here? Are they here on behalf of the emperor? Who are they here for? The three questions were the only things that spun around in everyone’s head as they watched the royal guard captain, dressed with a large crimson red strap across his chest, walked forward with a scroll in his hand.
“On behalf of his highness, Emperor Togasaki, I hereby, dismiss Matsui Yuusuke, of all his duties,” the captain read from the scroll, “For all the past good deed that Matsui has done for his highness, he will be spared death. In return, Matsui’s title will be stripped from him as a consequence of going against his highness.”
A loud gasp echoed within the team, all surprised at the decision the emperor was making. Dismissing one of his own right hand man, a man who had been there from the very beginning of the building of the faction of Akihabara, which had started out as only a village that specializes in smithing. Unable to control her anger, Sakiko grabbed the royal guard captain’s collar and shook him roughly on the spot, “How can Togasaki dismiss the general just because he disag-“
Sakiko’s words were stopped by a hand from Yuusuke, who shook his head at her silently, not saying anything else. Sakiko slowly released her hold on the guard.
The captain stepped backward, straightening his armor and clearing his throat, pretending nothing had happened while trying to hide the surprise he felt when the female captain suddenly became violent. The captain snapped his finger at the guards behind him, “Take him.” On the captain’s order, one guard stepped forward and snatched the general’s katana from his hand while two others stepped forward and took the non-resisting man by his arm and escorted the man away.
Sakiko’s team stood in silence as they watched their most trusted and respected general were taken away by the emperor’s own men. None of them could help but feel a chill up their spine as they tried to imagine how the emperor would treat their mistakes if the emperor could treat his own right hand man like that. Sakiko on the other hand, had her fists clenched together so tight that any tighter will cause her nails to break her skin.
“Togasaki...” the captain hissed as she watched the red troops disappeared into the distance.
***
>>Back to present – Togasaki’s secret cell<<[/b]
“What happened to my father?” Jurina asked.
“I don’t know,” Sakiko looked down at the floor and picked up one of the pieces of hay that were scattered all around the cold stone floor, “When I met him again, it was by the city gate, where I heard from the other guards that he had been exiled from the city. Which I also heard,” Sakiko scoffed, “was supposed to be mercy from Togasaki’s because he had first decided to exile your father from all his land.”
“What happened afterward, after my father was exiled?”
Sakiko shook her head, “Again, I don’t’ know. I hadn’t heard of any news from him then, until I overheard one of the mercenaries while on patrol, saying ‘that Matsui really is amazing, can’t believe he took down half the people we brought there. It was a pity that Togasaki gave us the order to take everyone down. Would’ve loved to invite him to join us.’”
Jurina stared at Sakiko, unable to control the surprise in her tone, “And you remember exactly everything that person said!?”
Sakiko let out a sad chuckle, “It’s kind of hard to forget something that made me realized that your father had died.”
“And what about your team?” Jurina asked, curious that she had not mentioned anything about her team afterwards. Sakiko’s sudden silent made Jurina wonder if she had even heard her question. But seeing the reaction of her clenching the photo tighter, and judging from the obvious anger on Sakiko’s face, Jurina knew she heard her question, and that something obviously had happened to Sakiko’s team.
“It was only supposed to be a normal patrol around the city,” Sakiko spoke in a really small voice as she stared at the piece of hay in her hand, twirling the object around her fingers, “but we got hold of news of an army of bandits camping outside the city that were planning to storm the city. We informed Togasaki, who just told us to go check it out. I requested for back up, because obviously, one team would never be able to survive against an entire army. But that damn man ignored me, pretending he didn’t get my request. So we had no choice but to split up and snoop around for more information on them. We told each other, that we would meet back that inn that we always go to before midnight. But, only half of them returned, because the other half had apparently disappeared.”
Jurina could see the candle light reflecting off Sakiko’s eyes, which were starting to water. “What... um...” Jurina thought over as to how to ask the question without bringing back Sakiko’s painful memories, “what.... uh... happened... to the other half...?”
“We didn’t realize that the city was crawling with people who were siding with the bandits until it was too late. Apparently many of the people who the other half of my team searched for information from, ratted them out to the bandits and well... the ending for them, I guess, you can probably guess,” Sakiko said looking at Jurina. Seeing the girl nodded at her, Sakiko gave a small smile and continued, “But that didn’t stop us. In fact, seeing the death of our own comrades, just fired us up. It wasn’t just because it was an order, that made us want to continue this search, it was because they had killed our own men. So we requested for reinforcement again, but being the jerk that Togasaki is, we were ignored again. But then you know,” Sakiko said with a sudden happiness in her eyes, “You father, had always told me, to do my best at everything, with or without help from others. So we went ahead with the remaining near the camp so we could at least report back the estimate amount of bandits there were. But we were found before we even got near the camp. My team were killed, in front of my eyes, while trying to protect me.”
“They died, protecting me,” Sakiko cried as she punched the ground, her heart throbbing with pain at the memories, “They told me to run! They told me to avenge them! Togasaki never cared for the death of them! The man- no, not man, that MONSTER , is heartless! To him, the death of any team is nothing because small numbers could be replaced quickly!”
“So you kept staying by Togasaki’s side,” Jurina again, chose her words carefully, “despite the way he treated my father and your team?” Sakiko nodded, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Jurina decided to drop the topic on Sakiko’s team, seeing how it was hurting the girl just to remember about them. Then remembering the main reason she came down here for, Jurina spoke again, “What else could you tell me about my father? My memories of him are... blurry. I barely remember anything anymore.”
“Your father was the best general I’ve ever met,” Sakiko said, looking back up at her with a small smile, “He was strong, smart and caring. But he was stupidly loyal.”
Jurina looked at her, quoting her, “Stupidly loyal?”
Sakiko nodded, “Before he was sent away from the city, he told me ‘It will past. Everything will return normal once his mood calms down.’ And he also said something like ‘Even though his way of action is not always good, he is a good emperor and is only doing what was best for Akihabara.’”
Jurina became quiet. Unable to even imagine how her father would even say such thing, things that... puts him in such a low position. As if Togasaki was a god. “What about my mother?” Jurina suddenly asked, “have you met my mother?”
“Yes,” Sakiko answered, “During your first mission, that night, I went for a private visit to your mother. I just wanted to protect her you know, in case Togasaki does anything to her. I was also planning to introduce myself to her for the first time, but then apparently, your father talked about me a lot so she already knew me when I told her my name.”
“How come father never told me about you...” Jurina said, her head hanging low. Although she knew her parents don’t tell her things for a reason, she still couldn’t help but feel hurt that her father never told her about something this important.
Sakiko reached over to Jurina and patted the girl’s knee, “Your father never wanted to you be involved in anything that was related to Togasaki. Your mother said that your father never wanted you to follow in his footstep in the path of war.”
“Yeah, well, too late for that now,” Jurina stated.
Sakiko nodded solemnly, “Yeah... Too late now...”
“So,” Jurina started again, filling up her own curiosity because she didn’t want to leave yet, “What’s your relationship with the Sakae royal family?”
“Like I said before, my father is the brother of Emperor Yuasa, making him my uncle and the current princesses, my cousins.”
“Cousins huh...” Jurina mumbled.
“Did you say something?” Sakiko asked, thinking that she heard Jurina mumble something.
“Oh, nothing,” Jurina quickly said, “And what about your cousins? What are they like?”
“I thought you already met them?”
“Yeah, well,” Jurina scratched the back of her head and gave a cheeky smile, “We didn’t exactly meet in the right situation for self-introduction.”
Sakiko chuckled, “They are just like what they look like on the outside. Rena is the oldest and she is a legend in archery. Akane, or as she liked to be called, Churi, she’s the second oldest and to be honest, she have the best brain I have ever met. Like Togasaki said before, she is usually the one that comes up with the battle strategy plans.”
“What about the third one?” Jurina asked, recalling the smallest girl that she saw before.
“I don’t know much about Kanako,” Sakiko shook her head sadly, “I’ve never seen the girl myself. But since I don’t hear much about her, I assume she’s probably just a typical normal princess I guess.”
Jurina was about to ask more about Sakiko’s family, her sudden interest in Sakae growing, when suddenly, a large bell rang continuously and voices were starting to yell around.
“TO ARMS! TO ARMS!”
Knowing that she must go now, Jurina quickly stood up and looked at Sakiko, “I have more I want to ask, but there isn’t much time anymore.”
Sakiko smiled nodded. “I ain’t going anywhere anytime soon,” she said, holding up the chains that bounded her arms, emphasizing her point. Jurina was just about to leave when Sakiko suddenly called out to her, “Jurina!” The girl turned around. “Be careful of everything that Togasaki gives you!” Sakiko said, remembering something she had wanted to tell the girl everyday since she took on Togasaki’s job.
“What do you mean?”
“The potion that he have been giving your mother-“ Sakiko was suddenly cut off by the sound of boots running around everywhere.
Jurina heard the serious tone in Sakiko’s voice and knew the girl is being dead serious. After thinking for awhile, Jurina ran towards Sakiko and kneeled next to the girl, taking out the keys, “I’m getting you out of here.”
“Wait!” Sakiko pulled back her arms, “Don’t! He’ll kill you!”
Jurina shook her head and unlocked the chains with the keys and helped the girl up, glad that the girl could run around freely, “I can’t leave you alone here to stand all those torture again.” Pulling the freed girl out of the cell, Jurina called out to the jail guard, “Takashi!”
The guard turned around and was surprised to see Jurina pulling with her a prisoner, “His highness will kill you, Matsui-san!”
“Not if I get Sakiko out of here before he finds out,” Jurina grinned and threw the keys back to him. The guard catches the key and just as Jurina was about to thank him, something she doesn’t do often, a blade suddenly sticks out of the guard’s chest, completely covered in blood. Jurina recognizes the katana and quickly took out her own daggers.
The blade was swiftly pulled out of the guard’s chest and the body was thrown aside as a deep voice spoke,
“You were saying?”
Hope I didn't bore my lovely readers with this update....
Sorry!