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Disclaimer: I do not own the Ronin warriors or characters. The golden rule: Sue others only if you like to be sued.
Dynamite
Part 5
It was Mia’s first day as a Princess and so far she was miserable. First she had to learn what the daily schedule of a Princess was. She was to take classes in the morning with Cye. Next she had to hear at least four hours worth of complaining from nobles who had come to visit her. After that she was to hang around a group of high society girls called the ‘Daughters of Class’ who would tell her all the great ‘sinful gossip’ of the place. And then she would eat with several nobles and ladies for dinner. Finally she would mingle a little with the guests after dinner. Then retire to bed.
She had done none of those things today. She made up an excuse of having the flu. She actually was being taught how to act like a Princess by the guys. She had to memorize the names of several important figures. Learn to be more formal and show the proper manners of a Princess. Which Mia found hardest to do. She was still having trouble calling Yullie, ‘Page Yullie’. Mia had caught on fast though.
I think I just might be ready. Just act like everyone’s superior and if you don’t know what their talking about, give them a confused look that says, ‘I’m just an air head princess who likes to pet rabbits’. I wish Ryo would say something to me. I can’t believe he hasn’t said a word to me all day.
Ever since the incident this morning, Ryo had not said a single word unless asked a question. Right now Mia was walking down the hallway to her room. The day was nearly over and she was tired. After all that studying of being a Princess, Mia just wanted to sleep.
I still can’t believe he had cut himself like that. Imagine what he will do once he finds out the real Princess is dead...
Mia stops walking with that thought. She feels Ryo accidentally bump into her from behind. She turned slowly.
"My apologizes Princess."
"Ryo, I need to ask you something and I want you to promise to me that you’ll answer as truthfully as possible."
"Princess I would never lie to you!"
"I know Ryo. But just promise me anyway."
"Very well... I promise to answer any question you ask me as truthfully as possible."
"Ryo let’s say that poison had killed me. What would you have done?"
Mia knew she was risking letting her secret be revealed by asking this, but she had to know the answer.
"Avenge you." said Ryo, the second after Mia had asked.
"And after you had avenged me... What would you have done then?"
"Well I would have failed to protect you. So I would take the punishment which was proper for that failure."
"And what punishment would that be?"
"I would initiate the Ceremony of Tearing Soul. Which would remove my armor from me."
"I don’t understand. Why couldn’t you just give your armor away? Why do you need some ceremony to remove your armor?"
"We are deeply connected to our armor. The armor is connected to are body, mind, and spirit. Only the Tearing Soul could actually cause the armor to be removed."
"This Tearing Soul sounds painful. Is it safe."
Ryo didn’t answer, but simply started staring at the floor.
"Ryo I asked you a question. And remember your promise."
"It is very painful and not many survive. One out of ten warriors survive the process. And the survivors are usually half insane." muttered Ryo while still looking at the floor.
"Ryo don’t you dare do something that foolish."
"If I had failed to protect you Princess, then I don’t deserve to carry the Armor of Wildfire." said Ryo, as if it was a simple fact.
"Look Ryo, if I died then that means I know my death would have caused your death. Do you know how guilty that would make me feel in my afterlife." Mia was trying her best to make it sound like a joke. The truth was, Ryo could hear her last words almost come out as a sob. Ryo finally looked up from the floor and guilt came upon him. Mia’s eyes were red and it was obvious she was fighting back tears. He slowly took his hand and placed it on her cheek.
Mia was startled for a second. This was the first time Ryo had ever offered any physical contact. His hand felt cool on her cheek as she began to blush.
"I will promise you this. If I believe that your death was beyond my control to stop, then I won’t initiate the ceremony. That is all I can promise." said Ryo carefully.
Mia slowly nod. Ryo drew his hand back.
I’ll just have to make sure I can convince him that their was no way he could have stop the killer. First I have to find the killer...
"Well I guess I’ll go to bed now." said Mia as she entered her room. Ryo quickly followed in. Mia once again slowly turned around.
"Um what are you doing? Your not planning to watch me while I sleep are you?"
To answer Mia’s question, Ryo took the desk chair and sat in it while giving Mia a grin.
"You’ve got to be kidding me! Can’t you just guard me from right outside the room? I can’t go asleep knowing someone’s watching me."
"Your safety comes first Princess. I’ll be so quite that you won’t notice I’m here. Now why don’t you get changed in the other room?"
"Yeah right." muttered Mia as she went into the dressing room. This room had more closets, filled with all kinds of dresses and clothing. It was obvious that the real Princess had a strong sense of fashion. Mia picked out the most simple night gown she could find. She quickly got into bed without looking at Ryo and turned her back to him. Then closed her eyes and tried to pretend he wasn’t there.
A few hours later...
Mia was now deep asleep. She unconsciously had turned her face to Ryo giving him a full view of it. It was a face filled with peace and innocence. Ryo had seen Princess Mia’s face before when she was asleep and this time her sleeping face seemed different somehow...
Ryo still couldn’t get over how strange the Princess had been acting. Ryo didn’t know how to respond when the Princess had shouted at him this morning. Never before has Ryo seen the Princess shout. When she was angry, she simply gave a stern stare and spoke without emotion. After that Ryo decided it was best just to keep quite. The amnesia seemed to cause the Princess to act more emotional and also a bit more carefree. Before the poison had taken her, the Princess always controlled her emotions and responses to people. What surprised Ryo the most though was the time she was about to cry.
She looked so vulnerable. The Princess has never looked that vulnerable to me before. Not even when we were making love...
With that last thought Ryo silently sat in the chair until his watch was over.
Morning...
As sunlight poured in from the window, Mia stretched out her whole body and gave a huge yawn. Ryo had kept his promise and kept quite all night. Mia had thought it would be harder to get to sleep. Mia opened her eyes and turned to greet Ryo.
"Good mor-Aaaggghhh!"
Someone sat in the desk chair, but it wasn’t Ryo. Kento sat in the chair, wearing his Hardrock armor. He gave Mia a grin.
"But but how? you? he?"
"We switched places at midnight. I’m to watch you today."
"How did you two do that without waking me up?"
"If you master your armor well enough, you can move as silently as a cat in it." said Kento, while trying to sound extremely wise.
"Oooohh impressive. Well lets see how I do on my first day as a Princess. I’ll go get dressed."
"Great! Let’s get breakfast first. Er if that’s ok with you Princess?"
"Sure Kento. Yullie should be here any minute to ask what we want. But remember his only a kid. So don’t order more than Yullie can carry." says Mia while imagining Yullie moving a mountain of pancakes down the hallway.
"Princess you wound me!" says Kento in mock horror.
Noon...
Mia was now dressed in a light green dress that went well with her hair. Mia found herself enjoying Kento’s company more and more. He had just as much trouble with formalities and proper manners as she did. Just an hour ago he was bragging to her of how he won a drinking contest with the Warlord Kale. Sometimes Kento would get extremely embarrassed when he realized he said something improper and would begin to apologizing. Mia would quickly reassure him that he had nothing to apologize about and then he would go into detail about another goofy story. It felt good to talk to someone who didn’t seem to treat her differently from a normal person. The other Royal Guards always seemed careful of what they said to her.
Mia had just finished listening to nobles tell her their problems and ask for solutions. She listened to these problems in the Throne Room. The throne itself was a large chair made of gold. With a symbol of a sun on it. She sat in her throne as two nobles complained about how the other was trespassing on his territory, how they stole his merchant’s business, or how their son got his daughter pregnant. Mia would listen to all these problems carefully then she would ask for a moment to talk to her advisors. She would then whisper with Nanko and Rowen who stood beside after hearing the complaints. It seemed these two were her official advisors. They told her exactly what she was suppose to say. She couldn’t help, but feel like a puppet though.
Now she was free to walk around the palace a little before meeting the ‘Daughters of Class’ who sounded like they were the source for girl talk.
"So Cye dares me to eat the whole banana whole with one bite. So I carefully-"
"Your Highness! I’m so glad I found you."
Mia and Kento turned around to see a chubby man dressed in a expensive cape and clothing approach them. Mia recognized him as Baron Driller, one of the nobles who had come send her a complaint.
"My apologizes your Highness. But I just got word that my bastard son was sighted in Baron Date’s land. Do I have your permission to retrieve him from there? I intend no malice towards Date, but must get my son before he disappears again. He stole some jewels from me which I must retrieve. All I wish is to send a dozen soldiers there to get him."
"Well Baron Driller, this sounds serious." said Mia as she glanced at Kento. Kento shrugged his shoulders.
Damn it! What do I do? Kento doesn’t know a thing about politics and if I make the wrong decision I could start a war. And did he say Date?! Is Sage’s family nobility in this world?
"Baron Driller I believe I will have to discuss this with my advisors." said Mia as she tried to keep her voice from sounding nervous.
"I would really appreciate it if you could make a decision now, your Highness. Every second counts if I’m to find my son." said Baron Driller smoothly.
Maybe I should....no. If this involves Sage’s family then I definitly can’t make this decision on intuition. Rowen and Nanko would know what to do, but how do I get to them. Ugh! I can’t believe all this started when I tried one spell and end up seeing- that’s it!
Mia closed her eyes. Mia held her head as if she had a headache and then let her legs buckle and give way under her. Mia had taken a acting class in college and now it seemed to pay off. She felt Kento arms catch her only a few seconds before she was going to hit the ground. She kept her eyes close, but felt Kento lift her in his arms.
"Oh dear." said Baron Driller as he approached Mia.
"Back off. Your badgering has caused this. I’m taking the Princess to the physician. Your going to have to wait for an answer to your question." said Kento as he nearly growled the last words. Baron Driller slowly drew back and left. Kento turned around and went in the opposite direction. He began shaking Mia a little.
"Princess are you ok? Is it the poison? Just hang on, please Princess." said Kento with a voice that actually had fear in it.
Mia gave a giggle before she could stop herself. Kento stopped and gave a mischief grin.
"Hmm Princess, maybe a little tickling will revive you." said Kento as he used one hand to tickle her without mercy.
"NO, hehe stop that Kento! I give! I give!" said Mia as she opened her eyes.
"Why did you scare me like that?" said Kento sounding hurt.
"Well I had to do something to get away from that Driller. Now I have time to go find Nanko or Rowen." said Mia. She then realized just how close Kento was. Even with his armor on, Mia could still feel his heartbeat.
"Um Kento, you can let me down now."
"Oh um sure." said Kento awkwardly as he carefully placed Mia on the ground.
"Now do you know where Nanko or Rowen are?"
"I have no idea how you would find Nanko. I’ve never been to his room even. But if I know Rowen, his in the library studying something boring right now."
"Ok, lead the way."
Kento walked down the hallway. After several turns and going down a few different hallways they finally reached the library.
The library seemed to be made up of three very large rooms with five tables. Rowen sat at one of the tables, reading a book with a black cover. He looked up as he heard Kento and Mia enter.
"Rowen I need your help. Baron Driller came to me with a problem while I was walking down the hall. He says his bastard son in Baron Date’s land and wishes to retrieve him."
"You didn’t say yes did you?"
"No, but I came close. I was lucky to be able to get away from him to look for you. He said he just wanted to send a dozen soldiers there."
"Baron Driller has been looking for any excuse to scout out Baron Date’s land. He has failed horribly at sending scout parties to check out Baron Date’s defenses. His simply using this as an excuse to send soldiers in to check out the land. If he had permission from you, Baron Date could do nothing to stop his soldiers."
"I didn’t know that." said Mia as she began feeling like an idiot.
How gullible can I get!? I almost allowed myself to be completely duped. I need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Mia turned to Kento.
"Kento do you mind if I have Rowen guard me today? That way if any more nobles catch me like that I can turn to him for help."
Kento became stone faced.
"Are you sure Princess?" asked Rowen while giving Kento an uneasy glance.
"Yes, very sure." said Mia, trying to be more commanding as a Princess should be.
"If...you wish that Princess. I apologize. I’m sorry that I’m not worthy to guard you." said Kento with his head down.
Before Mia could say another word Kento quickly walked out of the library. Mia turned back and looked at Rowen. He had a strange expression.
"Ok, did I just do something stupid?" asked Mia, as she felt like she made a mistake.
"During the Everwatch, the Princess is suppose to be guarded by a different warrior everyday. If the Princess ask a warrior to be replaced who is guarding her, it is considered one of the greatest dishonors that could be place on the warrior." said Rowen.
"I didn’t know that! Shit!" said Mia while looking out the hallway. Kento appeared to be long gone.
"Do you know where Kento’s room is?" asked Mia.
Rowen gave her detailed instructions on how to find Kento’s room. After almost getting lost a few times, Mia finally finds it. Mia stood in front of the closed door of the room wondering what she should say.
Well here goes nothing...
*Knock knock*
"Come in." shouted Kento in a voice that made it sound like he didn’t want company. Mia slowly opened the door. The floor of the room was covered with clothes, food, and weapons. It looked like a tornado had come in and splattered everything against the floor and walls. Kento wasn’t wearing his armor, but a simple orange tunic. Kento was laying in his bed and slowly turned his head to see who entered.
He jumped off the bed and stared at his guest.
"PRINCESS! Please don’t come in! Give me a few seconds here! This goes in the closet, this goes in the desk, and this.. this.." stuttered Kento as he began picking stuff off the floor.
Mia laughed hysterically and began to sit down trying to control her breathing.
It figures! Kento’s messed up room transcends worlds. No matter what world I go to I find Kento’s room like this.
Kento gave up picking up his stuff and sat on his bed. His hands were beginning to shake. Mia stopped laughing and looked at Kento in alarm, slowly she walked over and held Kento’s hands. They stopped shaking, but felt sweaty and clammy.
"I guess this is the final proof that I don’t deserve to be part of the Royal Guard." mutters Kento as he tries not to look at Mia.
"Kento stop it please! I’m sorry! I messed up ok. I didn’t know I was dishonoring you by having Rowen replace you today. I was just trying to be more commanding. More of a leader because I feel like such a damn idiot. I can’t make any decisions because I don’t know- I mean I don’t remember anything about this place. I’m sorry I’m such a screw up at being a Princess. Your the only one here who has actually treated me like a real friend. I need your help Kento because I don’t know what to do!" said Mia while having trouble staying calm. She was becoming scared. She could have just caused Kento to end his Royal Guard career and she didn’t know what to do.
Kento looked up and was surprised at what he saw. The Princess looked frightened. She was literally shaking with fear. Kento quickly drew Mia in a bear hug. The fear seemed to drain from Mia as she felt Kento’s warm arms hold her.
"I’ll help you in anyway I can Princess. And so far I think you’ve acted like a great Princess." said Kento softly in her ear.
Mia turned her head slightly and rested it on Kento’s chest. She noticed the desk to her left. He had half eaten food all over it, but on the center was an object of interest. It was a clay statue of Mia wearing a dress. She was looking towards the sky and holding a rose in her hand. Mia slowly pushed herself away from Kento and walked towards the desk.
"Is this suppose to be me?"
"I.. yes Princess. I like to make things out of clay."
As Mia looked around, she noticed other clay statues as well. In the corner of the room was a clay statue of Cye and Kento shaking hands. In another corner was a statue of Kento wrestling a lion. Mia realized that in a way it made sense that Kento liked molding clay. The element that Hardrock armor drew power from was earth. It wasn’t surprising that Kento developed a knack for molding earth itself.
Maybe I should get the Kento in my world interested in molding clay. If I ever get back to my world...
"Kento would I be insulting your honor if I asked Rowen to join us during the day?" ask Mia.
"Not at all Princess." said Kento gently.
"Great!" said Mia, thankful that she finally made a decision without it ending in disaster.
Whatcha think?
Dynamite