CHAPTER TEN

"Does the Crown Prince have any idea what he has done?" The Emperor asked.

"I am afraid Your Majesty." Sato said. " His actions are bound to bring him more enemies in the Imperial court." He added.

"I too understand that very well but the damage can't be undone at this point in time." The Emperor said.

"He is perhaps like you Your Majesty." Sato said.

"No, he isn't." The Emperor replied.

Sato looked surprised.

"Unlike me he is provoking the situation." The Emperor added.

"Perhaps he has a reason." Sato said.

"All these years you gave served me, all these years that you have stood by me, all this time that you have known me, you've known better than anyone else.

The Crown and the Chrysanthemum throne, these two aren't havens for sentimentality, He has isolated himself like an island and he has chosen not to live up to anyone." The Emperor replied.

"Your Majesty, His Highness needs you then." Sato said.

"What for?" The Emperor asked.

Sato was speechless.

"He won't have me around for long, besides, it was he who asked for this responsibility from me, I'll consider it that he is learning whom to trust and whom not to, this turn of events is now up to him.

He has dug his own grave for himself and from it he must either be willing to avoid it for life or he must be ready to have all those enemies up against him." The Emperor added.

"Father." Umako said as he sat down right next to his father.

"I've heard it all." Iname replied.

"The Crown Prince has taken full charge of the Nara Prefecture." Umako said.

"I am quite surprised that he has already succeeded in setting the standard this soon but this is something that won't be easy for him as well." Iname said.

"Why is that Father?" Umako asked.

"He has tried to prove how capable he is as his father's successor and it serves him well in the eyes of the people, on the other hand, he has aggressed all those officials that could be involved in the process." Iname replied.

"Wasn't this your plan Father?" Umako asked.

"Hahahaha." Iname laughed as he turned and looked at his son.

"My plan?" He asked.

"Yes Father." Umako replied.

"Since when do you know my plans?" Iname asked.

"I thought that it was." Umako replied.

"Your thoughts are far beneath mine, the reason against the Empress and against all those mononobes I prevail is because no one shall ever know my plans." Iname said.

"Enlighten me father." Umako said.

"And I'll enlighten you after all because you are my son." Iname replied as he stood up from his seat and then walked over to the window.

"It is natural now that by force the Crown Prince has created more enemies than allies for himself to survive I'm the political sphere.

Like it or not, by force now he must certainly trust and join forces with us if he is to succeed in surviving long enough." Iname replied.

"So by force the Crown Prince shall bend to our demands and then side with us?" Umako asked.

"This has shown him how sly all the people in the Imperial court are and on top of that, it has become an indicator to him while in the meantime I have succeeded in turning him against them all.

Now that antagonism has ensued it is time for us to sit down and give the Crown Prince the extra support and the reward for his alliance with us all." Iname replied.

He smiled ghastly as Umako looked at him.

"Whatever it is father?" Umako replied.

"Beware my son and be very careful." Iname said as he turned around and tapped his son on his right shoulder.

"I will father." Umako replied as he turned around and left the room.

Iname who was left alone inside started to cough so vigorously he stumbled but before he could fall, he supported himself on the very table he had been seated before.

He took the white handkerchief that was in his possession and veiled his mouth as he coughed more and more before he pulled it from his mouth.

He looked at the white fabric in his hands and it had been stained by his own blood.

He smiled.

"Foster my successor." He whispered to himself. " For even as my time is limited in this world, I can not go yet unless I have left everything in order and my inheritance in the hands of a successor that is capable of defending it." He added as he tightened his grip on his handkerchief.

Princess Toyomike was freely walking through the streets when she caught sight of a number of people being clustered just outside the Office of Finances.

Being driven by her curiosity, disguised as Abe she made her way towards the masses and craning her neck she tried to read what they had been reading.

"The Crown Prince is the new Nara Prefect." She heard people whispering amongst themselves that she forced herself to the front where a notice had been pinned.

"THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT BECAUSE OF SOME IRREGULARITIES IN THE SERVICES OF THE STATE OFFICE OF FINANCE, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE CROWN PRINCE NUNAKAKURA HAS ASSUMED FULL DUTIES AS THE HEAD OF THE NARA PREFECTURE AND THE CROWN ASSUMES CHARGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO ALL NATIONAL FUNDS."

"What?" Toyomike asked herself as she turned around and walked away from the crowd, herself lost in thoughts she was short of any words.

"What happened to the old Nara Prefect." She asked herself.

"How is it the Crown Prince?" She went ahead to wonder.

"The Crown assumes direct control of the National Finances?" She asked herself the more and Everytime she got back to the same strange answer.

"Something is not right." Toyomike concluded as she continued to walk further and further away from the place.

She had known better than anyone else that the Imperial family never really cared about the National Finances, it was alarmingly new to her ears that it had decided to take action and interest in them, surprisingly the day that she'd complained and shown the noble son a portrait of the appalling living standards within the depths of Nara.

The Crown Prince Nunakakura had also disguised himself as a noble scholar and happened to be travelling in a nearby alley.

He was holding his sword and proudly walking with it when he was surrounded by a group of eight men who had veiled their faces and we're dressed in plain black clothes.

"Are you going somewhere young Master?" One of the assassins asked.

Toyomike who happened to be passing by stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of a stranger being surrounded by a group of assassins.

She could barely hear anything from a distance but she decided to maintain her closest possible proximity to see what would happen.

The Crown Prince unsheathed his sword.

"You unruly barbarians, have you any idea what it is that you are doing right now?" The Crown Prince asked.

"You are fine and Nobel, upright and look so diligent, perhaps we are certain that the court in Sui and the officials there shall make very good use of your talents." The head assassin replied.

"Over my dead body." The Crown Prince said as he readied himself while his attackers launched their first attack on him.

He launched himself towards them in return and the nine men clashed.

Toyomike stood still and watched at a distance as the Crown Prince swang his sword back and forth.

Two of the assassins attacked him from behind with both their swords attached to one another.

The Crown Prince saw them from the corner of his eye and he summersaulted and let them go ahead of him.

Upon realising that they had missed him, the assassins turned around at that point in time in a heptagonal formation and they made their attack.

The Crown Prince stummered backwards as he let the edges of their blades to narrowly miss him.

When he was at a safe enough distance, he flew towards the assassins swinging his sword side to side as they in a bid to guard themselves were thrust to the sides by the resultant force their clash had produced.

The path was as good as clear for the Crown Prince but not enough to keep the assassins down.

The assassins attacked in a spinning single file formation until they had conjured for themselves a semi circle.

They brought their katanas upon the Crown Prince who guarded himself with his own as they forced him to his knees.

"Surrender Young Master." The head assassin said. " Come with us and we shall spare your life." He added.

"Never." The Crown Prince said as he gathered all the strength that he could find and he thrust his assailants away that they stumbled backwards.

One of the assassins must have realized at that moment that taking the Crown Prince was going to be very difficult as long as he was sober so he pushed his hand into his clothes.

Toyomike knew that sign so well and no one better than her was well aware that the assassin was pulling something else from his clothes.

Toyomike screamed as she decided to make her own appearance and drawing all the attention to herself, she swiftly grabbed one of the assassin's katanas and then stopped to grab the Crown Prince by his right hand.

The Crown Prince was startled when he beheld the all too familiar boy, courageously gripping at his arm and then dragging him away.

"Run." Toyomike shouted as the Crown Prince's legs replied instantly while he followed.

"Get them." The two heard the assassins yelling behind them when all of a sudden, a very big net descended upon the two.

Toyomike would have outrun the trap but it was so sad that the Crown Prince halted in his tracks which made the two slow enough to fall right where the assassins needed them.

"You." Abe yelled at the Crown Prince very angry at his stupid mistake.

"Shut up." The assassins said all their blades drawn up and pointed towards the two who had been caught up in the net.

"Who are you?" The head assassin asked Abe as he came closer.

"What purpose shall it serve you to know who I really am, after all, won't I make a very valuable treasure in the hands of the Sui?" Abe replied.

"You imbecile." Another of the assassins shouted.

"Save it." Abe said. " I might be an imbecile but I am not too foolish." He added.

"And could you stand to justify that?" The Head assassin asked.

"Beyond these very alleys there is a marketplace that is filled with people, you can't drag us out alone even if you wanted." Abe replied.

"You are very smart little boy." The Head assassin said.

"But who said we are taking you awake?" The Head assassin asked.

"What?" The Crown Prince yelled.

"It is time." The Head assassin said when two of his colleagues stepped forward with small bamboo stems placed at their lips.

They blew air through them and in small but sharp needles flew towards Abe and the Crown Prince who were caught off guard and couldn't evade them in their condition.

At once, having fallen victims the two were tranquilized as their eyelids grew heavy.

"What have you done to us?" The Crown Prince asked weakly.

"Sssh." The Head assassin said. " Do not make a single sound." he added as the two finally closed their eyes and everything suddenly went black.

The Crown Prince while their unconscious felt someone knocking him.

"You." He heard an all familiar voice that he started to open his eyes slowly while feeling a violent shaking overwhelming him from his back.

Opening his eyes widely he started to study the room around him as he was able to spell out their location bad a small desolate and cramped up room.

"Young Master." He heard the voice from before calling him and that was when he noticed that he had been bound by a series of nylon ropes to someone else.

"What is this?" The Crown Prince asked as he started to violently shake the both of them.

"Don't waste your time expounding your energy on such a useless endeavor." Abe said.

"What do you know?" The Crown Prince asked.

"Shaking yourself shall not serve useful in helping the ropes loosen around us." Abe replied.

The Crown Prince suddenly stopped.

Abe laughed lightly that the Crown Prince felt it.

"What seems to be funny here?" The Crown Prince asked.

"My good day was entirely well planned, fate is so cruel and in deed very funny that I'd have to spend it right here being tied to you of all people." Abe replied.

"Huh, you think it is that much of a previlege being tied to you?" The Crown Prince asked.

"And why wouldn't it?" Abe asked.

"Perhaps it would be yours to be tied to someone like me." The Crown Prince replied.

"When you've known no suffering what else could you know about it the very moment you end up in a similar situation. It is supposed to be amusing and adventurous for someone like you and me, I'd never thought captives were this vital in the hands of their captors." Abe said.

"And yet unlike you, this country demands too much from me." The Crown Prince said.

"Why?" Abe asked. " Because you are noble, a scholar, an aristocrat?" Abe asked.

"When you for an individual are a talent that could save countless lives it makes me wish that you'd for at least having entered my service." The Crown Prince said.

"What for?" Abe asked.

"Money, game, power?" He added.

"From the last time that I had a conversation with you, those few days ago when we met. I had never in my entire life come across someone as passionate towards Nara, caring and loving towards Nippon." The Crown Prince replied.

"And what more could a scholar like you and someone like me do?" Abe asked. " When we are here lying as captives awaiting an awful fate as long as I'm still coming up with a way of saving us both." He added.

"Even now you'd question my ability?" The Crown Prince asked.

"What have you done since we've departed before?" Abe asked.

The Crown Prince kept quiet for a while.

"Perhaps not much but I can certainly do so much more, perhaps if I had you for an ally and a humble friend together we could reach unmatched greatness." The Crown Prince replied.

"Greatness?" Abe asked.

"Yes." The Crown Prince replied.

"Why?" Abe asked. " Why do you think greatness is what I'd want?" He added.

"It couldn't be what you want, but is it not greatness that inspires cause?" The Crown Prince replied.

"What makes you say that?" Abe asked.

"When you become great people shall want to be like you, your descendants and those that shall come on after you shall herald your same dream and after them others in their footsteps shall follow.

I am not wrong hence when I tell you, those who are never great and survive in the shadow of the oppressed die with their dreams and unlike the great spend their entire life living for nothing." The Crown Prince replied.

"And when allying with you means that men such as these in whose custody we reside shall come forth against me, isn't it good enough for someone as humble as me to live without fear and freedom?" Abe asked.

"When you'd die without cause and like that be a man forgotten and never remembered?" The Crown Prince asked.

"Lest if you wish for an alliance from me, I can not sow where I do not find the land to be fertile." Abe replied.

"Then it'd do me no harm to let you know who I really am and what I am very capable of." The Crown Prince replied.

"You do not even know my name." Abe said.

"ABE." The Crown Prince replied.

"I do not know yours." Abe said.

"JINSUKE." The Crown Prince replied.

"Anything you say is good enough the truth, you can not prove the authenticity of your own words." Abe said.

"It is a bet of your life." The Crown Prince replied.

"In whose hands?" Abe asked. " Yours?" He added.

"It's up to you to believe and make the decision for yourself." The Crown Prince replied.

"You haven't even set foot out of here, how certain shall you be that you shall live beyond this moment?" Abe asked.

"Because I have faith in you." The Crown Prince replied. "After all was it not you who just said you were working on a way of getting us out of here?" He added.

"Why me?" Abe asked.

"The first step in alliance, sustaining one another, it's faith, trust and belief in one another, the same I must say I hold entirely pure towards you Abe." The Crown Prince replied.

Toyomike was so deeply moved by what the Crown Prince had said that she looked away.

She looked around the entire room that she certainly got the Crown Prince's attention.

"What are you doing?" The Crown Prince asked.

"Looking for a way to get us both out of here." Abe replied as she caught sight of a bowl that was stationed at the top of a shelf right next to them.

"Help me." Abe said as she lifted her right leg and then kicked the bottom leg of the shelf.

The Crown Prince looked at the bowl.

"That's not safe." He said.

"You are trusting me Right?" Abe asked.

"There has to be another way." The Crown Prince replied.

"I am sorry but everyone who trusts me knows one thing very well." Abe said.

"What is it?" The Crown Prince asked.

"I am stubborn and when I want something, I am devoted to do anything it takes to make it work out even if the risk is worth the lives of every Man and woman in the whole of Nara be it Nippon." Abe replied.

She kicked the shelf once again and the bowl toppled and landed down on the ground with a mighty thud that it shattered and broke into pieces.

The Crown Prince looked away as Toyomike smiled while she looked at the fallen pieces on their side and she smiled.

The doors to their room were opened at once and a group of guards walked in immediately.

Toyomike sneaked her hand and there she grabbed one of the shattered pieces of the bowl and then firmly hid it between themselves as the guards came closer.

"Goodness." One of them who was a man who appeared to be in his mid thirties said. " It is already bad enough that you have been captured, you are now breaking things aimlessly." He added.

"Who said that it was aimlessly?" Abe asked.

"Sssh." The Crown Prince tried silencing him.

"You have proven your point so it is now time that I proved mine, after all you are soon shipping us away, it isn't that big an issue if we rewarded you with some unkindness." He said.

"You naughty thing." The man said as he raised his hand up to hit Abe.

"Go ahead and hit me if you wish to, as far as I know even for a slave no one is willing to buy someone that is in a bad condition, kill me then it would have been a waste for you to capture me in the first place and the both of us know neither of these is a good enough option for you." Abe said provokingly.

"You." The man said as he tightened his fist.

"Are nothing but a coward who can do nothing." Abe added.

The assassin bent over until his face was in very close proximity with that of Abe.

Toyomike stared back straight at him her eyes burning with so much courage and anger as no one had dared challenged the old captor's power.

The assassin held Abe by her chin.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Why should I tell you, what good will it do you to know more about me?" Abe asked.

"You are a boy who is struggling unlike this well off imbecile and who would care what you are when you are shipped to Sui. I can give you a negotiation and train you into one of my most elite men and assassins and as people might grieve his absentia, how many shall care to grieve that of an insignificant young man?" The Assassin said.

"Could you for one give my life and death cause?" Abe asked.

"If not money, survival, respect and fear from men, for someone like you, is there any cause for living?" The Assassin asked.

"Yes." Abe replied.

"What is it?" The Assassin asked

"To protect my people from people like you." Abe replied as she spat at the man's face.

The man was annoyed as the Crown Prince sat there speechless and very much surprised by Toyomike's actions.

"Then I certainly hope to see you off to Sui in person and I hope that my generosity is something that you shall always remember." The assassin said as he stood up and looked at the last fragments of the shattered bowl.

"Such fine China ware, it's a pity that in this room it hardly met any use." The assassin added.

"Clean that up." He ordered as he made his departure with another of his colleagues tidying up the place and leaving the two captives in the room.

"Can you at least not aggress our captors in this situation?" The Crown Prince asked.

"For someone keen enough like him I had to create a diversion." Abe replied.

"What for?" The Crown Prince asked.

"He'd be Keen enough to realize that a piece of the bowl is missing but I did not give him the opportunity of doing so." Abe replied.

"He really was right though." The Crown Prince said.

"He was wrong about everything." Abe said. " especially the bowl." he added as he succeeded in cutting the ropes that had once bound him as she showed the Crown Prince the sharp fragment from the broken China ware bowl.

"Since when have you been cutting the rope?" The Crown Prince asked.

"Since the very moment that the bowl shattered." Abe replied as she smiled at the Crown Prince.

She hurriedly untied him and the two of them stood up.

"Where are we going to go now, there are certainly people outside that are watching the room." The Crown Prince whispered.

" We are going to sneak and fight our way out." Abe replied.

"Are you out of your mind?" The Crown Prince asked.

"What for?" Abe replied.

"You are a fifteen year old boy and these are skilled and barbaric men." The Crown Prince said.

"You are too judgemental and before you speak you should consider that it was this fifteen year old boy that saved your life." Abe said as she climbed the window while the Crown Prince watched on.

"What are you doing?" The Crown Prince asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing Young Master?" Abe asked.

The Crown Prince cursed under his breath.

"Are you coming or not?" Abe asked.

"Fine." The Crown Prince replied as he climbed after Abe and the two sneaked behind the hedges.

They crawled for a while as Abe led the way while the Crown Prince followed closely behind Abe.

As the pair continued, The Crown Prince looking at the side noticed that someone was headed their way and with Abe continuing and not minding was dead for if they were both discovered.

The Crown Prince hurriedly grabbed Abe by his shoulders and then turned him around as he pinned him onto the ground while he stationed himself right above him.

As though that wasn't enough, a window above them was opened and a large mass of water was poured on the Crown Prince as Abe in his position laughed under his breath while pulling apart from the him.

"What's funny?" The Crown Prince cursed under his breath.

"Nothing, let's keep going." Abe replied as they finally managed to make it at a safe distance away from the watchful eyes of the assassins.

"What do we do now?" The Crown Prince asked Abe.

"Run." Abe replied as he dashed off into the large crowds of by standers.

The doors of the room were opened and the assassins who had been watching the two walked in led by another.

"It's time for you to...." The Assassin was still saying when he noticed that the ropes that had been binding their two captives were lying empty on the ground.

"Someone, the captives are missing." The Assassin shouted and his fellow captors walked into the room being led by the head assassin from before.

"Where are they?" He asked.

"They're missing my Lord." One of the Captors replied as their head knelt down on his right knee and took in his possession the rope that had been cut.

The first thing that appeared in his mind was the picture of the young boy Abe.

"That little bastard." The Captor said.

"We'll find them." His subordinate spoke.

"No need." The Head halted them all.

"What?" They all said in unison.

"The two have already served their use." The head replied.

"But." One was still saying.

"Speak no more of this." the head said, " after all by now, hasn't the young woman already proven her capability?" He added with a ghastly smile on his face.

The Crown Prince looked around but he had lost sight of the little boy in the Crowd.

"Abe." He kept on calling but his sounds were drowned by the bustle that came from the merchants and the ordinary people who filled the market place.

Looking all over the place, it was as though everyone there were dressed in the very same way as Abe had been.

"Where are you?" The Crown Prince asked as he eventually fell down on his knees while the sky above his head was darkened by a series of clouds.

Looking up above his head, the sun was finally veiled from his view and all that followed that very instant was heavy downpour.

Sina who was dressed as the Imperial Princess was pacing around after she had noticed much of the day had gone but she hadn't heard so much from her Mistress.

Suddenly, the doors of the Princess's quarters were flung open and from the heavy downpour Princess Toyomike rushed in.

"Your Highness." Sina said as she hurriedly rushed over to the Princess who was soaking wet and covered her up with a group of blankets.

"I'm fine." Toyomike said but her constant shivering betrayed her.

"Your Highness, you can not keep on doing this." Sina said.

"Doing what?" Toyomike asked.

"Escaping out of the palace and putting your life in danger and I am afraid that you make protecting you more difficult." Sina said as she sat Toyomike down.

"How difficult, you only fill in for my absentia." Toyomike said.

"And I have to lie constantly each and every time you are away and should anything outside happen to you then only I know that I am dead meat." Sina said.

"What are you trying to say?" Toyomike asked as Sina fell down on her knees in front of the Imperial Princess who looked by far too surprised.

"Forgive me Your Highness." Sina said as she started to shed tears.

"What is it?" Princess Toyomike asked.

"This was the only way that I could protect you." Sina replied as the bedroom doors were opened and right through them, Consort Katashishime walked in all of a sudden, her face entirely overwhelmed by so much rage as she walked up to her daughter who stood up along with Sina.

"Your Highness." Sina said.

"Mother." Princess Toyomike said.

"Quiet." Katashishime said. "and tell me if you still value me as Your mother, set no foot outside the Royal premises forever." she added.