>>Sara-chan
Ah~ I'm glad you liked my GomaYukko OS,
I personally really liked it too,
even though it wasn't exactly my best work.
>>JuRikki
Riichan.....?
You sound like Riichan.....
Chigau?
>>K-popJ-popAWESOMENESS
Gomen gomen~
Please don't die nyan~
Tako will update right now!!!!!!
Please stay alive!
>>Everyone
Right, um... Hi.
I'm back.... after..... I don't know how long.
Gomen ne~ I'm just REALLY not as free as I used to be anymore,
especially after moving into the boarding house.
And with my REAL final exams + graduation less than like, one and a half year away,
I have a LOT to get through in my IB.....
Anyhoo, I still managed to write (^^)
Fufufu~ I like writing, its fun.
Anyway, IT'S THE LONG WAITED FOR!
AN UPDATE FOR.........
THE PERFECT BODYGUARD!!!!!
Yay! *self applause*
Anyway, I really hope you lovely readers likes it.
But just a warning, it IS a pretty.... long update.
Please be prepared to sitit through around 14 pages of about 9.5k words~
Jya, enjoy~~~
The Perfect Bodyguard - Chapter 13
“You were saying?”
The two girls looked up and were greeted by the sight of the very person they spoke of only seconds ago. Speechless, Jurina could only stand there as she had not expected to be discovered this soon.
Togasaki’s mocking laughter echoed in the dead underground cell, “Did you really think that someone can just walk into my secret chambers and I would not know about it?” Giving a small glance to the girl standing behind Jurina, Togasaki added, “Especially when it’s a chamber that holds the most important people?” The emperor takes a step forward, forcing Jurina to move back a step and puts herself in front of Sakiko, as if afraid that he will do something to her. Togasaki smirked at the fear that he has never seen on the girl’s face before, “This isn’t like you, Jurina. What happened to the fearless girl that obeyed commands without questions?”
Jurina stayed quiet at the emperor’s words and continued to stay between the emperor and Sakiko. Togasaki waved at his men who immediately charged forward to grab Sakiko but stopped when Jurina pointed her daggers at them. The men looked back at the emperor to see if there are any signals for them to continue to carry out the order by all mean, as it would be expected usually of them by the big man.
Togasaki pulled back one of the men and walked forward to the point where the tip of Jurina’s dagger was right against his throat. Looking straight at Jurina in the eyes, Togasaki spoke in a deadly calm voice, “You have two choices. Put down your dagger and let my men take Matsui and then I will pretend tonight never happened and you will come with me out the city to greet Yuasa’s lovely new army. Or, you can kill me now with that dagger in your hand and try get as far as you can out of this place with Matsui in tow and hope that none of my soldiers gets to you and torture you in the most brutal way ever known to mankind.” Togasaki allowed a triumphant grin to show on his face when he saw Jurina slighty flinched at his words but then quickly put back on a serious face, “Well?”
Jurina looked around the prison cell as she considered Togasaki’s words and she knew the chances that she could escape from this place after killing Togasaki is easy, but it’s escaping fully from Togasaki’s castle that is the difficulty. Hearing boots still running outside in a more rhythmic march and Jurina knew that she didn’t have much time to decide as the soldiers were already starting to gather. The thought of giving in now crossed her mind, and she knew that it was actually a possible option, as Togasaki will have no choice but to stick to these words this time because Jurina knew that Togasaki needed her, which is obviously why Togasaki haven’t killed her right after he killed the guard. Jurina tilted her head slightly to see what Sakiko wanted her to do.
Sakiko gave the girl a small reassuring smile, telling her that she will be fine. Sakiko knew that if Yuasa is finally launching an attack on Akihabara, then it must mean that he is finally prepared and is confident that he will win and Sakiko believed in her uncle, knowing that the man will never do anything unless he was one hundred percent sure that the outcome will go as he wishes.
At the reply, Jurina slowly lowered her dagger and stepped aside. Almost straight away, the men moved forward again and pulled Sakiko back into her cell roughly and Jurina could hear the girl having the chains snapped back onto her again.
Togasaki mentioned for Jurina to step closer and unlike her usual self, Jurina hesitated as she stared at the bloody katana in the emperor’s hand nervously. Feeling slight fear of it after seeing the emperor carry out an execution as if it was nothing. Togasaki saw the unease in Jurina’s face and sheathed his katana and mentioned for Jurina to go closer to him again. Jurina stepped forward slowly and felt the hair on her back of her neck raise as the emperor pulled Jurina closer. Lowering his head down until his mouth was right next to Jurina’s ears, Togasaki whispered into the girl’s ear quietly but clearly, “I am disappointed in you, Jurina, but I hope tonight’s event won’t affect your ability to carry out your duty later on.” Jurina was about to ask the emperor which duty he meant but then decided against it and clamped her mouth shut, going back to her old untalkative self and just nodded at the emperor’s words.
The emperor looked at Jurina for a second and the man began to wonder to himself about whether or not the girl can really work as efficiently as she used to as he was starting to see some changes in the girl. Jurina’s eyes no longer held that cold emotionless feeling that Togasaki always saw in her, and he also noticed that for some reason, Jurina never showed the defiant side of her towards him anymore, a side that Togasaki must say, that he quite liked about the girl. Overall, Togasaki noticed that Jurina had started to change slightly somehow ever since she was sent to Sakae and came back. Doubt began to hit Togasaki as her wondered whether or not keeping such a dangerous girl by his side was still a good choice.
Suddenly, a soldier came running in with a small roll of parchment in hand, “M-My lord! Another one of our patrol troops has been captured and a-again, there are no bodies. There were no death at al-“
Without waiting for the soldier to finish reporting, Togasaki clenched his fist and out of anger, unsheathe his katana and slashed it across the soldier’s throat, cutting the innocent soldier from his repot. “That’s not the answer I’m looking for,” Togasaki glared at the reporting soldier. Jurina looked away the moment he saw the man clenched at his throat, trying to stop the bleeding yet the blood kept pouring out at his half sliced open throat.
Togasaki saw Jurina’s expression and knew she was affected by this. Knowing that it will only trouble him later on if Jurina cannot overcome this, Togasaki held out his katana at Jurina and mentioned to the bleeding soldier, “Finish him off.”
Jurina stared at Togasaki’s blood dripping katana and closed her eyes as she imagined many many years ago that this was the very katana that had killed Sakiko’s father.
Growing impatient, Togasaki growled, “Finish him off now and show me you are still of use! I don’t want to have useless people by my side.”
At the emperor’s words, Jurina pushed all thoughts away from her mind and glared at Togasaki as she hated people calling her useless, especially when she was probably of more use to many other people than Togasaki himself.
Togasaki smirked at Jurina’s sudden change of expression, “Show me what you’re worth, Jurina,” lifting his katana for the girl, Togasaki said in a more challenging voice, “Prove yourself to me.”
Jurina snatched the katana off the emperor and took a swift step forward. Spinning behind the bleeding soldier, Jurina pushed the katana right into the center of the soldier’s chest.
Togasaki watched in slight surprise as Jurina took his katana like it was just a normal blade and moved around with it as if she was holding a dagger.
Jurina, annoyed at Togasaki, didn’t bother wiping the blood off. But instead, just spun the katana around her hand like she does with her daggers and held back out the hilt of the katana towards Togasaki. Togasaki narrowed his eyes at Jurina’s slightly disrespectful action, feeling as if he was underestimating Jurina as this was his heaviest and most prized katana, yet Jurina could still spin it around like it was nothing, something that he himself probably couldn’t do. Ignoring the thought, Togasaki cleared his throat and took back his katana, sheathing it after wiping the blade clean on the dry part of the dead soldier’s clothes. After tightening his armor again, which had loosen after he rushed from his chamber to the dungeon, Togasaki looked back at Jurina and almost immediately looked away. He hated those eyes that Jurina was looking at him with. The eyes that he has seen so many times before, the eyes that was telling him to correct something, usually something that he said.
***
By the time Togasaki, Jurina and his royal guards arrived to their destination, Togasaki’s experienced armies had already set up a massive camp ground somewhere far from the city but close enough for the castle and houses to still be in sight in the distance.
Jurina unmounted from her steed, giving it a few strokes and decided to walk into the camp by foot, hoping to give her horse some rest even though it wasn’t a very long ride. When the troops finally stopped in front of the largest tent in the whole area, Jurina knew that was the emperor’s tent. And surprising Jurina, just as she was about to move her horse off to the stable as she had finished escorting the emperor, Togasaki called for Jurina to go into his tent and leave her horse outside. From where she was standing, Jurina peered into the tent suspiciously and after thinking for awhile, knowing that she has nothing to fear, she walked in. But out of second nature and an old habit of Jurina, she still kept her senses on high alert and her hands resting on the small pocket on her belt where her throwing stars were.
Togasaki took his seat and mentioned for Jurina to sit down to which, Jurina ignored, much like her old self as she had always felt like she was defenseless if she was sitting down. The emperor shrugged, “Your choice,” and turned away, ignoring the issue just like he had always done before. The emperor waved a soldier in and requested to have all generals gathered in his tent and then waved another over after dismissing the messenger and grabbed the map that the soldier brought to him and opened it on the table.
Jurina stared at the map on the table and saw that it was a beautifully laid out map of the entire country with every faction’s borderline clearly shown. Looking closer, Jurina realized that the map might actually be hand drawn, seeing the details of everything and there are a few parts on the map when the borderlines looked as if the ink had smudged. However, on the beautifully drawn map, there was something that was sticking out of place and if Jurina must speak honestly, it was annoying somehow, to her eyes, to see the map ruined in such a way. On the map, Jurina noticed that many of the smaller factions that Togasaki had completely annihilated over, had a small cross across their name. And looking at the map as a whole, there were annoying little crosses everywhere across the map. It was then, did Jurina realize for the first time just exactly how large and powerful Togasaki’s empire really was.
As the generals began to arrive, Jurina retreated back into the shadow next to the thick pole that held up the entire tent. Sitting down and leaning against the pole, Jurina took out her throwing stars again and started spinning the weapons around her fingers as she waited for the meeting to be over just so Togasaki can finally explain to her why he kept her in. Suddenly, the emperor called out to Jurina, who looked up at him in surprise, just like the other generals. Jurina held eye contact with the emperor, silently telling her that the man had her attention.
“What is your suggestion, Jurina?” The emperor asked the girl. Jurina, having not paid attention to the generals’ discussion before, looked up at the emperor, confused. “About the treatments of captured soldiers and prisoners, keeping them around will mean we will need to hold back more troops behind to keep them under watch. Many generals, along with me, have agreed to take no prisoners, but I want to know your opinion on this,” Togasaki spoke, his words filled the surrounding with a short uncomfortable silence that was not the type of quietness that Jurina liked.
At first, Jurina didn’t want to answer Togasaki, but when she thought back to the fact that she had sworn an oath of loyalty to the ruthless emperor, she should at least do her best to be as loyal as she could to the emperor. Because of that, Jurina really did thought about the matter closely. Thinking from the country’s point of view temporarily, it would be best not to keep any prisoners. But if Jurina thought further about the future for the country, killing everyone might not be the best option as many will consider Akihabara too cruel and bloodthirsty, as if they are not considered as so already. Also, thinking politically, such action would not be the best choice either.
After considering all the reasons that she could think of for both side of the argument, Jurina looked up at the emperor and gave her answer, “I think, taking no prisoners is not a good idea.”
A loud gasp came from somewhere within the crowd of general and the gasp turned into quiet muttering as the generals began a small discussion amongst themselves. Togasaki looked at Jurina, slightly annoyed at the girl for not agree with his idea. His own so-called “weapon”, as he had heard the people in his armies called Jurina, was disagreeing with his own ideas, how bad that was making him look. However, as usual, finding the girl even more interesting, for having the guts to disagree with him in public, Togasaki pressed on for more explanation, “and why do you think that?”
Jurina answered truthfully, not holding back at all on her opinion, “Killing all prisoners will only cause other factions nearby in the future to feel threatened. And eventually, there will be a point that they reach, where they are so afraid that they have no choice but to join up into one big alliance with each other and go up against you.” Jurina paused and looked at Togasaki right in the eyes, something that she doesn’t do often and no one else dares to do, but it was something that Jurina always do when she was really trying to get a point across. “Then, no matter how strong your empire is, it will fall. No one can stand and survive alone being attacked by everyone else with no support.” A strong silence enveloped the meeting as the generals thought about Jurina’s words. Jurina couldn’t help but allow the corner of her lip to curl slightly upward into a small smile when she saw some of the generals were actually nodding while thinking about it, meaning that they obviously understood the truth and seriousness behind Jurina’s words.
Togasaki ignored the commotions his generals were making and frowned at Jurina’s opinion as it was not what he had expected. From the way Jurina answered him, it almost sounded to him, like Jurina was underestimating his power slightly as he had always believed that no one in any of the surrounding factions would ever dare to rise up against him. However, Togasaki pushed his annoyance away from his mind and cleared his throat and waved the generals’ attentions back onto him as he continued with the meeting, not giving a single reply or comment towards Jurina’s opinion. But as the meeting continued, where battle strategies and tactics were being discussed, or even small things such as the meals of the soldiers, Togasaki noticed that many of the generals kept glancing towards where Jurina was standing, and it was starting to annoy him slightly.
It wasn’t the first time that Togasaki had ignored opinions that Jurina makes, whether with or without him asking for it, so Jurina was used to it. However, Jurina couldn’t help but feel annoyed and impatient at how long the meeting was taking, so she decided to leave the tent, not even bothering to request for dismissal. Togasaki looked up at the glimpse of movement and asked, “Where are you going?”
“For a walk,” Jurina gave a short answer, and walked out, ignoring the stares of the generals. Jurina jumped onto her horse after giving its mane a few stroke, and rode out of the camp, again, ignoring the looks of all the other soldiers that were just sitting around the small fires that they had built a while ago.
Jurina rode up to the nearby hills and slowed her horse down to a small strolling pace as she felt the soft breeze. Leaping off her horse, Jurina laid herself down on the grass field, not even bothering to tie her horse around something. The horse might not be trained by her and wasn’t hers technically, but it was trained by Togasaki’s trainers and Jurina had to admit, they were all professionals. Jurina felt her entire body was starting to relax as she watched and listened to the long grass swaying around her, dancing in the wind. Then the girl looked up at the blue sky and watched the white clouds as they rolled across the sky.
“I haven’t seen a view like this since everything had started...” Jurina mumbled to herself as she admired the beauty of the scenery around her. She used to be able to see such a view every day, back at the small village that she and her mother and her father used to live in as far as she could remember. Although her childhood memory were mainly of blurring images as she had tried really hard since she was small to try and not think about the painful memories, but she could still remember her dad letting her piggy ride on his shoulder as they ran around the grain field. Jurina remembered they would run around the field until nightfall and then the two of them, her and her father, would lie down on the field like Jurina was doing now and then watch the moon together.
Jurina also remembered that after she and her mother moved into Sakae after her father was killed, because her mother’s body was never strong to start with, she would always refuse to go back out to the field with Jurina, no matter how much the small girl would beg her mother to go with her. Airi was the only other person who would fulfill Jurina’s wish back then, but even so, it was never to the fields outside of the city because neither of their parents allowed it as they both thought it was too dangerous. However, Airi still managed to help Jurina satisfy her wish by stacking up the storage boxes as stairs on the side of the house, which allowed Jurina to climb up onto the roof and enjoy the moonlight. Jurina’s heart ached at the enjoyable memories that she once had with Airi, as she thought back to the laughter and happy times that the two of them shared back when they were children.
The horse leaned down and blocked out the sunlight from Jurina’s face. Jurina snapped out of her thought at the sudden darkness but then smiled when she realized what caused the lacking of sunlight. Reaching up with her arms, Jurina touched the horse’s long mane that was hanging over her face. “You stink, buddy,” Jurina wrinkled her nose when the smell of the horse mane hit her nose. The horse, as if offended by Jurina’s statement, neighed at the girl and nudged the girl’s face with its nose. Jurina laughed at the gesture and patted the horse’s nose, “I’ll give you a bath when everything is over okay?” The horse neighed and moved away and started running around the field, enjoying having its mane flying along with the wind.
Jurina spread out her arms and listened to the sound of the wind and the grass as well as the forest in the distant and closed her eyes, enjoying the peacefulness. Being bathed in such peacefulness, Jurina once again began to think back to her old life. ’Airin would probably really love this place...’ Jurina thought to herself as she knew the girl really likes going to a peaceful place sometimes, away from any civilization. Jurina sighed and started wondering what Airi was doing right now.
***
Airi frowned as she tried to tighten the light armor plate provided to her by the Sakae army as a sigh of friendship as they treasured Airi and didn’t want the girl to get hurt. Airi lightly cursed under her breathe to whoever thought of creating chest plate that had to be tightened from the back, as she tried her best to turn her head so she could see the back of her plate. The mirror wasn’t very useful.
“Here, let me help you out.”
Airi’s breath was caught in her throat when she felt another softer and smaller pair of hands covered her own hands and pulled her armor tightly together, tying it firmly together with ease. Airi turned around, hoping to thank the person who helped her and a small smile instantly grew on her face as she stared at the familiar face, “Thanks, Churi.”
Akane smiled even wider that she had when she saw the more recently seen smile on Airi’s face. “You’re welcome~” Akane spoke with her rare singing-like voice which she uses whenever she is really happy. Akane hopped to the front of Airi and straightened up the girl’s plates for her and stepped back.
“How do I look?” Airi held out her arm, hoping for an honest opinion. Airi had never wore any sort of armor in her life, she had always worked with her own clothes which was only a cloak. When she first saw the armor, she thought it looked very magnificent, but when she tried it on, she got a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to look as magnificent in the armor as she thought.
Akane looked at Airi up and down and really did think that no one could fit this armor with such perfection as Airi did. The way the armor tightens and highlighted the way Airi’s athletic body looked, it was really perfect. But when Akane saw the unease on Airi’s face as she dragged on the silence, she decided to tease the girl slightly. Akane pretended to frown slightly, as if unsatisfied.
“Is it that bad...?” Airi asked as she looked down at herself. She thought she looked bad, but looking at Akane’s expression, she didn’t know she looked THAT bad. “I told you these plates don’t suit me! I’m fine with just my cloak! But then General Yagami said the army wanted to give it to me as a sign of friendship and I could really refuse her...”
Akane couldn’t hold in her laughter as she watched and listened to Airi mumbling on and on. Airi looked at the girl, confused with the sudden burst of laughter. “I was just teasing you, Airin!” Akane giggled, “The plate fits you perfectly. I had the armorer made these specifically for you so, of course they would fit you perfectly, you silly!” Akane clamped her hands over her mouth when she realized that the secret slipped from her mouth accidentally.
Airi stared at Akane in surprise. “You... specifically... but... didn’t... General Yagami...” Airi’s words trailed off as she was unable to finish her sentence or even construct a proper sentence, as she tried to make sense out of what Akane just said.
Akane cleared her throat and pretended that nothing happened as she pushed Airi out of her own tent, “Anyway, come on, out you go. Rena said a while ago that she wanted to talk to you before you go off, and she looked like she was in a hurry.”
Airi nodded, although she was still slightly confused. “I’ll be back,” Airi gave the princess a small nod and bounded off to see to the need of the other princess.
Akane sighed in relief and sat down on the chair as she watched Airi’s shape fade off into the distance towards her older sister’s tent, “That was close... I hope Kuumin hasn’t complained to Airi about how I threatened her that I will take Yuria away from her for a week if she didn’t help me out...”
***
“Princess Rena, you wanted to see me?” Airi called as she stood, waiting outside Rena’s tent.
“Come in, Airin!” Rena’s voice spoke from inside the tent.
“Shitsureishimasu...” Airi excused herself and entered the tent, “Did you need me for something, Princess Rena?”
Rena frowned suddenly and turned around from where she looked like she was searching for something and looked at the girl, “You are JUST like Mai-chan! It’s JUST Rena, not Princess Rena. Now say it, R-e-n-a, RENA.”
Airi frowned, “You know that I can’t do that, my lady. It’s against the code.”
“You don’t work in the army, Airin, you definitely don’t work for my father either,” Rena poked Airi’s forehead, “You work for me. Techinically, I hired you. It’s just that your pay comes from my father because that’s where my money comes from as well. Now, say it, or else I’ll tell Churi to cut your pay.”
“E-Eh!? That’s not fair!” Airi complained, as she stared at the princess, wondering if such a girl really was just a princess.
‘I always win,” Rena grinned at the girl, “Now say it again, properly.”
Airi sighed and gave up, “What do you want, Rena-san? I still need to go prepare and practice before we go out again”
Rena smiled, “That’s better! Next time, we will work on the honorifics!” Then Rena’s face turned serious and looked around her room then back at Airi, “Now, I need you to help me find my bow.”
Airi stared at Rena, confused, “Find your bow? Isn’t that Imade-san’s job?”
“Yeah... well...” Rena scratched the back of her head, “I can’t seem to find Mai-chan anyway. The girl probably went away looking around the place again, she’s never been out of Sakae before.”
“That’s not my job though...” Airi mumbled.
“Please...?”
Airi sighed again, in defeat this time, as she could never resist the princesses whenever they gave her those eyes that made her feel guilty if she didn’t comply with their wishes, “Fine...”
“Is it this one?”
“Which one? Oh, no, that’s my back up one.”
“What about this one?”
“Ah... That’s another back up...”
“Which one ARE you looking for?”
“The one with stripes on it!”
“Rena-san, they ALL have stripes on it!”
“Ah! I don’t know!” Rena groaned as she sat herself down on her bed, “I’ll know when I see it...” Suddenly, Rena turned around, her face filled with excitement, “Ah! I know! The bow have a few cut marks on it! Like, dagger cut marks!”
“Dagger cut marks? Why do you have those on your bow...?” Airi stared at Rena.
The princess smiled sheepishly at the girl and quickly ended the topic, “Um... long story, just help me find it okay?” Rena watched as Airi nodded and continued to search around the room. Deep inside, Rena sighed with relief, glad that Airi did not pursue the question further as it took them a long time to keep Airi’s mind away from thinking back to Jurina, her and Akane. It was only for Airi’s good though, to avoid having the girl going into a state of depression again. However, even till now, Airi will still suddenly become really quiet if she suddenly remembers or hears about anything that was related to Jurina. But, once her little sister manages to distract the girl again, Airi would be fine again.
“Is it this one?” Airi held up one of the bow with a few cut marks on the arm that Airi assumed was probably dagger marks. But, strangely, the more Airi stared at the cut marks, the more the marks felt familiar to her, it was as if she had seen such marks many many time before.
Rena snapped out of her thoughts and put her focus onto the weapon in Airi’s hands. Squealing in happiness, the princess grabbed the bow and hugged the girl, “You found it! Thank you, Airin! You’re the best!” With the bow in hand, Rena returned to her bed side and sat down, taking time to make sure her bow looked perfect. It was her favourite bow after all.
Airi stayed standing where she was, still frozen at the sudden close contact with the princess, but quickly recovered and cleared her throat. It was not the first time it has happened after all, Airi had learnt ever since she took up Rena’s offer, that the three princesses are very touchy. Not that Airi mind of course, it gave her a sense of closeness, family, and friendship, a feeling that she had only shared with Jurina alone, but never with anyone else. At the thought of Jurina, Airi bit her lips and tried to hold back her tears as memories of Jurina leaving her resurfaced once again to her mind.
“Nee, Airin?” Rena called the girl over.
Airi shook her head quickly, slightly glad that she could throw away such memories so quickly this time, otherwise she would have a lot of trouble focusing in the upcoming battles. After calming herself, Airi walked over to Rena and kneeled down next to the princess, as it was part of the code that she was never to be talking down to the princesses, even though that rule only applied to the Sakae soldiers and Airi herself was not such. However, it was only fair, in Airi’s book, that she was not given any special treatment, even though she knew that both Akane and Rena hated that about her, always following the code.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Rena asked, looking at the girl right in the eyes, begging for an honest answer, “I mean, you can stay behind and protect Churi instead of being out on the field and protecting me. You’re Churi’s bodyguard you know, my safety is not part of your job. Not to mention you are going to be up against Togasaki’s men......” Rena allowed her sentence to trail off, as she knew that just saying Togasaki’s men should be obvious enough to Airi who she was actually talking about.
Airi was silent for a while, but then gave Rena a firm nod, “I will be fine. I have to face Togasaki one day anyway.”
“That’s not who I m-“
“I know who you mean, Rena-san,” Airi cut Rena off, her emotions starting to get the better of her, “I know she will be there.”
Rena was shocked for a while, at Airi’s sudden snappy attitude, but Rena understood why Airi was like that, so she let it slide off. However, as much as she understood the reason behind Airi’s sudden emotional change, it didn’t mean that Rena still wouldn’t feel sad and annoyed about the fact that she was cut off in the middle of speaking.
Airi saw Rena’s expression change and knew she did something wrong. “Gomen, Rena-san...” Airi quickly apologized, “I shouldn’t have cut you off... It was rude of me... But...” Airi trailed off, not really wanting to say why she acted like that. But instead, Airi gave Rena a smile and changed the topic, “Anyway, even if I stayed behind, Churi would’ve insisted that I bring her along so that the two of us can both protect you. I think, if I went with you, since she know she would have no protection, she would not go out.”
Rena nodded slightly, glad that Airi knew that encountering ALL of Togasaki’s men mean a possibility of also encountering Jurina. But still, Rena still couldn’t help but worry. She knew Airi would be fine facing Jurina, in fact, the girl would probably be more happy than she would sad, however, how would Airi act if facing Jurina meant that she had to hold up her weapon against Jurina? There was no guarantee that Jurina was really just going to go to Airi unarmed, and have a nice talk with the girl afterall.
“Prepare quickly, Rena-san,” Airi urged as she backed away to the entrance of the tent, “I’m sure we will be assembling soon.”
Rena nodded and thanked the girl again, ‘I will come find you before we go off so we can ride together nee?”
Airi smiled and did a small bow, “Your wish, my command.” And exited to go see to Akane before she go off.
***
“Matsui-san! The emperor wants you back now!”
“Matsui-san! The emperor is assembling everyone!”
Jurina opened her eyes and frowned at having her peace disturbed by unfamiliar voices shouting around everywhere. However, the girl sat up anyway, knowing that the sooner this was over, the quicker she would be able to go back and see Sakiko. She looked around for her horse and found the creature munching on some longer grass somewhere in the distance. Jurina let out a loud whistle, calling the horse back, and was glad to see the horse look up at her and galloped back. Jurina jumped onto her ride and allowed the soldier who had finally reached her side, to lead the way back to the camp.
“Why were you out here anyway?” The soldier asked, attempting to start a conversation, just like many other soldiers once tried before but failed, “Togasaki send an entire squadron out to look for you because no one knew where you were.”
Jurina ignored the pointless conversation and sped up her ride, deciding to find her own way back to the camp, making the soldier in return, having trouble catching up with her.
“Where had you been, Jurina?” The emperor hissed the moment Jurina got within five meters to him.
Jurina ignored the question and the stares of the other generals on the opposite side of the emperor, and just took her place behind the emperor, completely blanking out as the emperor cleared his throat and turned to his massive army to give his typical speech to fire them up for killing. Knowing that they were about to move off as she saw the soldiers stomp on the ground and banged their swords and spears against their shields, Jurina tuned back in.
“LET SAKAE KNOW OUR WRAITH AND POWER! LET THEM KNOW WE ARE NOT TO BE MESSED WITH! LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE!” Togasaki’s voice booked across the entire camp. The soldiers cheered at the speech while Jurina frowned impatiently. Slowly, the soldiers parted in the middle, leaving a way for their emperor as Togasaki started riding forward to lead the way.
Silently, Jurina followed behind, tailed by the rest of the royal guards and then the rest of the army. Each step that Jurina took she felt her heart was beating faster by one beat. By the time they existed the camp, Jurina swore her heart was beating so fast that it almost felt like it wasn’t beating at all! But what was troubling Jurina, was the fact that she had never felt like this before. Was it just because that this time, it wasn’t just a small assassination in the dark, but an actual large battle in daylight? Or was she just feeling like this because something in the back of Jurina’s mind was nagging at her, constantly telling her that something wasn’t right and that she shouldn’t be going at all? Jurina didn’t know which one it was, but whichever one it was, it was starting to bug Jurina. For the first time, Jurina was worrying about an upcoming battle.
***
By the time Togasaki had arrived, the Sakae army were already standing in the green hills that Jurina was lying on just moments ago, covering the green hills completely with their golden orange and white armor in contrast to the Akihabara’s red and black armor. Jurina looked over at the size of the Sakae army, and she had to be honest, it was truly nothing compared to Togasaki’s army. And to think that an army this size had caused so much problems for Togasaki, Jurina really was starting to doubt if the emperor really was as strong as everyone said he is, or if he is just simply famous for his ruthless killing and cruelty overall.
Togasaki’s horse stopped just at the top of the hill, his men professionally taking their positions in the usual formation as Jurina moved slightly aside, keeping away from the bloodthirsty aura that the soldiers were giving out. It truly made Jurina sick, that the soldiers would kill for no reason. ’I’m not the same,’ Jurina thought to herself as she moved away just enough to be under a tree, but not enough to feel comfortable, ’I only take the people who deserves it, people who have a reason to have their existence erased from the world. I’m not like them.’
Noticing Jurina moving away, the first thought that flashed across Togasaki’s mind was that she was running away. He turned and glared at Jurina as he reached out and grabbed onto the rein of Jurina’s horse. Without speaking, the two held a short eye contact, before Jurina gave up and moved back to her position, shuffling uncomfortably in her saddle. Togasaki ignored the unease he thought he noticed in Jurina’s features, but dismissed them as if they were nothing and turned around to greet his enemies.
“WHY SUCH A SMALL ARMY, YUASA!?” Togasaki laughed outloud and shouted across the plain in a voice that even the Sakae army could hear, “SCARED THAT I WILL DESTROY ALL OF YOU AND THAT NONE OF YOU WILL REMAIN TO GO BACK TO PROTECT YOUR CITY!?” The Akiba army echoed their emperor’s laughter, mockery in their tone as their laughter boomed across the field.
The Akiba army’s laughter was greeted by silence that had not even the slightest movement. Annoyed at the lack of reaction, Togasaki frowned and held up his arm in the air, “ARCHERS!” Without waiting to see Sakae’s response, Togasaki dropped his arm and shouted, “FIRE!”
Akihabara’s army was well-known only in their physical strength in their closely physical battles, so although their archers were not bad, they were nowhere near the best. Sakae greeted the attack with no more movement then just holding up their shields. No one panicked, no one broke formation. Even from so far away, Jurina could feel the determination that the Sakae army had of taking down Togasaki. Jurina’s eyes shifted to near the back of the Sakae army, where they saw someone holding up their arm, and almost seconds later, that same person’s arm dropped and instantly, the sky was darkened by the storm of arrows.
At the sight of the sudden attack, one of Togasaki’s general gave out a quick command as he hid behind the wall of shield that his surrounding armies were creating for him, “SHIELD!” The royal guards quickly rode forward and held up a wall of shields to protect the emperor as well as Jurina and themselves and as soon as Jurina was hidden by the protection, moans and groans and screams were heard as soldiers who were not quick enough to protect themselves, were already beginning to be shot down.
Jurina heard Togasaki cursed under his breath, but before he could do anything, Jurina was starting to hear again, the sound of men groaning in pain. Already, Sakae had let loose yet another volley, knowing down almost the entire front few rows of Togasaki’s army. Not allowing this to continue on, Togasaki unsheathed his katana and commanded his army to charge forward, not even telling them to get back into formation first. Just like that, the Akiba army charged on, head first, into the danger zone, not even fearing the arrows that were raining down the sky continuously.
Just as Jurina pushed away the shield wall that was keeping her behind to also charge forward on command, as much as she was unwilling to, an arm grabbed her and pulled her back. Jurina looked back and was surprised to see the emperor pulling her back, with a grin on his face as he said coldly, “You always let the opposition get worn down first, and THEN you go. Otherwise, we will get chopped down like grass.”
Jurina turned away and looked at the battlefield, trying to keep her horror contained within herself, the horror of Togasaki pushing his army to go first because he wanted an easier job. Instead of working just as hard as his men at protecting his own faction, Togasaki wanted his men to fight first and wear out the Sakae army before he goes in, making everything easier for him. Jurina’s fist clenched together as the men who only knew loyalty, unaware of the fact that their lord was betraying them in such a way, were being chopped down like the wheat back in the field that Jurina and her father used to be in all the time. It was then did Jurina finally realize something that no one else would ever dare to think about. Togasaki was a coward.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, Jurina saw something flashed against the sunlight, flying in the air. Judging from the instinct that she had, Jurina had a feeling that it could hit Togasaki. Without thinking, Jurina jumped from her horse and tackled Togasaki off his horse, bringing much shock to the royal guards who had no idea how to react. Just as Jurina felt the ground made a hard impact on her left shoulder, the arrow that was initially intended for Togasaki, hit Togasaki’s horse exactly where the emperor was sitting before, making the horse rear backward and collapsed onto the floor, crushing one of the royal guards under its dead body.
Togasaki huffed at the sight of his own steed being shot down, but ignored it. It was just another casualty in the war anyway, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t replace. Pushing Jurina off, Togasaki stood up and brushed the dirt of his armor, annoyed at the new scratch on his shoulder blade where Jurina had pushed him off his horse and banged his armor against the rocks. Ignoring Jurina, Togasaki turned towards the direction at where the arrow came from and under his helmet, a frown was beginning to form.
Jurina hated herself. She really did. She hated herself for always ALWAYS putting loyalty in front of her, before everything else, especially emotions. No matter how much she hated the emperor right now, Jurina had worked under him long enough to feel at least a slight hint of loyalty towards the emperor. Pushing away her annoyance at the emperor’s lack of courtesy, Jurina moved back to climb back up on her horse again.
However, the moment she turned around, Jurina tensed again as she saw another shiny arrow falling from the sky, aiming directly at Togasaki this time. This time though, Togasaki also noticed and instantly, he pulled one of his royal guards in front of him, shielding himself from the attack as the arrow struck the guard right in the head for an instant death.
Jurina, disgusted at the emperor’s way of treating his own men, gestured for the royal guards to take a step back away from Togasaki so they won’t be his next shield. His guards silently nodded and slowly took a step back while Togasaki threw aside the dead guard. His guards might be loyal to their emperor and they wouldn’t hesitate to jump out at their enemies and kill them in order to protect the emperor, even at the possibility of the loss of their own life. However, that did not meant, in anyway, that they were willing to be used as shields like that.
Before Togasaki could even notice that his troops had backed away, the Sakae soldiers roared as they charged up the hill that Togasaki and Jurina were on and started targeting the rest of the army that had been put on hold. Togasaki quickly brought his katana up and sliced at everyone who came close to him. Even Jurina was targeted by the Sakae soldiers, but unlike Togasaki, Jurina didn’t even pull out her dagger. She just knocked the soldiers on the back of their neck, knocking them unconscious, seemingly dead. After all, there was no way Jurina was ever going to break the most important rule that she and Airi made between themselves. The rule that forbid them to kill anyone who are not their targets.
“TOGASAKI!” Another deep voice shouted from under the hill and almost right after, a golden plated horse galloped up into view with a rider who had his sword held up high along with a few other riders at the back. The rider at the front, who Jurina could tell from his armor that the rider who was charging straight for Togasaki, must have been the Sakae emperor, Yuasa, if Jurina remembered right. However, before she could confirm the identity of Togasaki’s attacker, the soldiers that were attacking Togasaki before, turned around to leave the emperor to fight with the newcomer and began to searh for other targets to attack. Jurina jumped back at a blade, but being surrounded by so many soldiers left Jurina no choice but to take out her double daggers for self defense as she started to deflecting the attacks that were aimed at her.
“FINISH WHAT YOU COULD NOT FINISH LAST TIME, JURINA!” Togasaki shouted as he knocked the Sakae emperor off his steed and slashed the ride into half with his blade, “Take her alive back to me and we will have guaranteed victory on our hands!”
Understanding what Togasaki meant, Jurina pushed off her attacked and jumped onto her horse and rode at full speed down the hill and to the other side of the battlefield, avoiding slashes and arrows easily as many soldiers are too occupied by the overwhelming numbers of soldiers from Akihabara’s side to be able to even give chase to Jurina. As she rode, Jurina skimmed across the battlefield and noticed that most of the fallen soldiers were Akiba ones, and not Sakae. Even though Akihabara had the advantages of a much grander army, many of them stood no chance against Sakae’s perfectly trained soldiers, as far as Jurina could tell.
Catching another sudden flash flying towards her out of the corner of her eye, Jurina ducked and felt her heart stopped for a second as the arrow whizzed past her and hit one of the Akiba soldiers behind her. Not wanting to injure her ride in case the next attack doesn’t hit her again, Jurina jumped up just as the horse reached the top of the hill and jumped on the closest guard that was readying himself to protect the royal family. Jurina kicked her knee up at the guard’s chest, knocking the guard down easily as he collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. Jurina jumped backward as two swords simultaneously stabbed at her and jumped forward again onto the two swords and whipped her leg around for a full house kick, knocking the two guards down easy.
Everything was all over in a flash that the other guards hadn’t even had their swords out yet. Taking advantage of this situation, Jurina quickly knocked them out, leaving only the last three with their swords drawn. As Jurina jumped forward and backward, looking for a chance to jump in and knock them unconscious as she tried to avoid injuring herself, she heard a familiar voice called out to her.
“Jurina!?”
Looking up, Jurina felt her body frozen and her eyes widened as she saw a girl in ponytail, dressed in a slightly different orange and white armor that was splattered with blood.
“A-Ai-Airin...”
Taking that moment of pause, the guards slashed forward and managed to get their sword to graze across Jurina’s skin which was protected by nothing but her usual hood as she wore no armor underneath. Jurina bit her lip to avoid any sound of pain from escape as she felt pain on her thigh, waist and her back. Trying her best to ignore the pain, Jurina spun around and slashed her dagger across the soldiers’ hands, wounding it just deep enough so they can no longer hold onto their weapons.
“Jurina, stop!”
Ignoring the voice, Jurina turned towards the princess who Jurina remembered as Rena, her target, dressed in a light armor and armed with a bow that Jurina could tell straight away was the exact same one that the girl had when Jurina first attacked her. She could still see the marks that her daggers had left when the princess held it up as a useless shield. Hoping to get all the pointless killing around her to stop, not bothering to wait, Jurina jumped over some bodies and advanced towards Rena who began to back away, knowing fully well that she cannot fight Jurina at close range. Seeing Rena running away, Jurina quickly took out one of her throwing stars and threw it at the princess, aiming at a spot that was closed to the heart to do much damage, but not close enough to cause any life threatening danger.
Rena yelped when her leg was caught on a tree root, causing her to fall. Silently, she thanked the god for protecting her from the throwing star, but somehow the expected throwing stars did not fly past her head as she had thought it would. In fact, the throwing star didn’t fly past Rena at all. Suddenly hearing a small clink sound, Rena quickly stood up and turned around and saw a person who she could recognize immediately as Airi, standing exactly where she had been before she fell.
“A-Airin!?” Rena rushed to the girl and gasped in horror when she saw fresh crimson drops dripping down her armor. “Why did you do that you baka!” Rena cried as she shook the girl’s shoulder, not realizing how much that action was causing the girl.
Airi ignored Rena and pushed the princess behind her, placing herself in front of the girl, ‘Stop it, Jurina, I won’t let you hurt Rena-san.
Jurina’s grip on her daggers tightened as she listened to the way Airi called the person who they were supposed to kill, “Rena...san?” Jurina felt a small disappointment at the out turn on the event. She had really hoped that when Airi accepted the offer, that she was only doing it because she had some other plans in mind, perhaps some kind of fake loyalty and then kill them in the end. But Jurina really had no idea that Airi would take such an offer so fully as to... even possibly becoming so close to the princesses.
Airi ignored the pain her her chest, where she was beginning to be able to feel the weight of the projectile dripping with her blood, as she stared at Jurina and took a step forward. Looking at the girl in the eyes, Airi begged, “Please, Jurina, stop this, come back with me... W-We can join together again, you know! We can still be together like before! Come on, Jurina, leave Togasaki behind.”
Jurina could see the care in Airi’s eyes and for a second, her emotional inner self created a perfect peaceful future with her best friend in Sakae inside her mind. However, when her mind imagined a small scenarios where her mother would shout at them for always being in the castle, around the princesses, Jurina snapped back into reality because she knew that her mother was still within grasp of Togasaki. It was the very reason that Jurina refused the princess’s offer in the first place. Not letting herself fall down into the path that will cause the death of her own mother, Jurina bit down on her lip and ripped her eyes away from the eyes of Airi that showed so much emotions that Jurina was having trouble keeping up.
Jurina once again tightened her grip on her daggers and slowly lifted it up towards Airi and said in a shaky voice as she tried to keep her emotions bottled up so she can focus back on her task, “Airin, move.” Airi didn’t budge. “Airin, don’t make me hurt you!” Jurina shouted as she tried to hold back her tears at the thought of having to fight against her best friend. When Airi still refused to budge, Jurina closed her eyes and calmed her breathing, attempted to shut out her emotions. After a short moment, Jurina opened her eyes again and looked up, but not at Airi’s eyes this time. Instead, she looked between her eyes, just like Sakiko had once taught her before.
”Don’t ever look at your targets in the eyes, Jurina. Always look between their eyes if you must look up. Human’s eyes never lie when it comes to emotion. You will only find yourself affected by the emotions in others’ eyes if you look at them. The fear the show in their eyes right before you take the kill, they will haunt you for eternity.”
Airi felt her heart ripped to pieces when she saw Jurina look up at her but wasn’t giving her any eyes contact much unlike how they used to be, when it was always Airi that refused eye contacts because Jurina’s eyes were just so captivating in so many ways. And sometimes, Jurina’s eyes could also be very frightening to look at in a way, because sometimes she felt like as if Jurina could stare right at her soul, not that she would still have one considering what she had been doing for a living the last few years. ’Perhaps our friendship really is beyond repair...’ Airi thought to herself sadly as she looked away for a second. “Jurina...” Jurina’s name unconsciously slipped from Airi’s tongue as she felt tears threatening to fall at the possible outcome if Jurina refused to give up on Rena. That would mean that Airi would have to hurt her, and Jurina is the last person Airi would want to hurt in the entire world. Airi’s hope grew however, when she saw a sudden flash in Jurina’s eyes when she called the girl’s name, but it was gone so quick that Airi wasn’t even sure if it was just her imagination fooling her again.
Jurina once again closed her eyes and calmed her breathing and then slowly took a step forward. Airi took a step backward at the same time and slowly began to find it troubling to focus on Jurina’s figure in front of her as her breathing starting to become a problem. Jurina reopened her eyes and looked at Airi again, without making any eye contact, and jumped at Airi with her daggers.
Airi bit down hard on her lip as she pulled out the throwing star which was stuck on her chest and felt the sudden relief at the lessening of the light weight, only to feel as if her energy was now seeping out at a faster rate along with her blood. “Jurina...” Airi dropped her sword onto the ground, refusing to rise her arm against Jurina.
“A-Airin! W-What are you doing!?” Rena watched in horror at what the girl was doing.
Focusing all her remaining energy back onto Jurina as she kicked away her own sword, showing Jurina that she wasn’t planning to harm her at all, Airi grabbed at Jurina’s dagger and tried to stop Jurina’s advance. Luckily for Airi, she caught the dagger on time, but was pushed back a few feet at the force from Jurina’s jump. Rena quickly scrambled out of the way, but continued to watch as Jurina kept pushing Airi until the girl had her back against one of the trees. Airi could feel the energy in her arm starting to lose against Jurina’s strength and determination as the dagger inches it way closer and closer to the exact same spot where the girl’s throwing star had hit her before.
“R-Run... Rena-san...” Airi managed to hiss out her words while keeping her painful moans away within herself. Airi tried to switch position with Jurina so that the girl had Jurina trapped instead, but found the strength too much and gave up. Looking back up at Jurina one more time, Airi called the girl one last time before her vision blurred, “Jurina...” For a second, Airi swore her mind was not playing any tricks on her and that Jurina’s eyes did look directly at her, but she wasn’t sure as darkness filled her sight and she collapsed.