CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Soga no Iname stood at the balcony as he stared at the backyard of his manor.

It was already quite lovely and he couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty that had been attached to it.

He closed his eyes for a while as he took a very deep breath in and out.

"Your Excellency." Someone called him and opening his eye to have a glimpse of who it was and it turned out to be one of his servants.

"What is it?" He asked as he closed his eyes again.

"Her Imperial Highness the Empress is here to see you." The servant replied.

"Let her in." Iname ordered and at once the servant withdrew as he returned a while later leading the Empress to the very balcony.

"Leave us." Iname ordered and the Empress looking at Sakae and the rest of her maids nodded as they all withdrew leaving the two alone.

"Your Highness." Iname said.

"There is no need for you to bow down to me." The Empress halted him. "You and I both know that not everyone who bows down to you actually means the respect that they have for you." The Empress said.

"Does it matter Your Highness?" Iname asked.

"It does very much as you must have noticed it that I am a straightforward person so you are either with me or against me." The Empress replied.

"You are right Your Highness." Iname said. "I'm starting to think that the both of us are very much alike." he added.

"Come to think of it, my days wouldn't have been as interesting if I did not have a contender as smart as yourself." The Empress said.

"Your Highness, I am but a man that is trying to survive in this chaotic world and I only wish for the same to happen to my children." Iname said.

"Like the law of the jungle is, you are either the prey or the predator." The Empress said.

"It's why some of us by law we must be cunning." Iname replied.

"And it took me nearly sixteen years to notice who the primary foe you were preparing for me was." The Empress said.

"There was never a man in this world whose charm had transcended yours and there was never a man whose power was as great as yours.

No man had a clique in the Imperial court and to make matters even worse there never would be a man to rule the Inner court." Iname said.

"And your sole hopes for your own survival had to be at the whims of a genetic lottery whose veins are filled with your own blood." The Empress said.

"And you must have noticed for yourself your Highness that I have succeeded in forging Your own contender." Iname said.

"We are both old but one of us shall lead the other into the grave, I nurtured and raised her all these years and she carefully watched and learnt closely my every move and step.

It was like looking in a mirror that I finally noticed that for the conniving and smart woman that both you and I trained, I am awed and I have never seen anyone lovelier." The Empress said.

"Yet is he someone that you can bear to look in the eyes?" Iname asked.

"She is like the water for me, very delicate and graceful in it's flow that it bends according to the meadow and all that I have to do is follow." The Empress said.

"She could be a river with currents that are very much so turbulent and cutting rocks at the bottom that are very sharp to withstand the waves and wreck any ship." Iname said.

"Do you fear that I underestimate her?" The Empress asked.

"No, not at all Your Highness." Iname replied.

"With most contenders even yourself we planned differently with one another behind our own curtains.

All that followed a short while later was the curtains falling and everyone putting on display their very best stratagems.

At various points we both conceded defeat and at others we embraced victory that was sole, and yet for her, even when the both of us are at daggers drawn we seat at a table and have a normal conversation while exchanging our deepest thoughts." The Empress said.

"It might be very favourable for you that you had no Enemy in your life to share a cup of tea with." Iname said.

"Yet nevertheless, we were both the very people that added purpose to each other's lives." The Empress said.

"Yes." Iname agreed.

"Now tell me, what did you really see in this Princess that you couldn't in your own son?" The Empress asked.

"You might have noticed that she is not like any ordinary woman, she is smart and intelligent and most of all I trust your talents so well having been brought up under your care she must have mastered at least a thing or two." Iname said.

"Her charisma is incomparable to that of any other man and her scope is wide, she learns much more from you as her enemy and on top of that she is the one person that can strike a balance between her grace and her resilience.

Without flaw I can look into her eyes and see courage, peace, war and your downfall it makes her the perfect candidate to contend with Milady's might." Iname replied.

"I'm pleased." The Empress said. "This is a very beautiful evening and the view of your garden is one that I find to be so exquisite. Many colourful flowers yet in the end when the winter is at its worst, they'll soon start to wither one by one.

The roses that are so big you notice that the brighter and the fatter they are then the longer their thorns must be that if you lift without care as you bring into your view, you might be hurt and later bleed excessively." The Empress said.

"Grace, power, might, dignity are things going that you can never own Milady." Iname said. "You only possess it once and then the moment after that if you are not careful, someone takes them all for themselves." He added.

"Looking back at the old days, I realize that in deed life couldn't be any better than it is now." The Empress said.

"Except that we live in a time of uncertainty that as you are three feet from heaven, you might end up falling from grace and landing six feet deep under the ground." Iname said.

"You have said it for yourself, we live in a time of uncertainty." The Empress said as she looked at Iname.

"Cheating death is impossible because no matter how much you try to outrun it it'll follow you until eventually one day, it's on your door knocking." She added.

"I'll bear that in mind your Highness but I won't go until my time has come." Iname said.

"Let's hope so." The Empress said.

"I'll live to see the Imperial Princess Toyomike nurture her prowess." Iname said.

"I am surprised that all these years as I ruled the inner court I had never been faced with such an ordurous cause." The Empress said.

"I implore you Your Highness, Men to crumble the sun is wishful thinking just like the mountains can never bow down to the sea." Iname said.

"Is the Imperial Princess really that awful in my sight that I must shake with fear?" The Empress asked.

"I would have seen for myself all these years what it means to rise up against another and to fall to the same.

The signs that revolve around the Princess are far beyond the ordinary and something that we are not in the position to comprehend.

I for one look at her and I quake inwardly with fear because it is evident that in her own stratagems and thoughts she is unique even I could not predict that she'd start to hamper the Chrysanthemum throne in such a way." Iname replied.

"I thought as a man you feared nothing." The Empress said.

"We all have fears your Highness, some embrace them, some surrender to them, some ignore them, some learn to control them and the others simply are very good at hiding them." Iname replied.

"And which of these people is the Princess?" The Empress asked.

"I've noticed that she is a combination of all." Iname replied. "That's what makes her very fatal." He added as he seemingly appeared to warn the Empress.

"Your concern is less of a burden to me." The Empress said. "If only I could grant you the liberty of living longer you would have witnessed how slowly and painfully I was going to crush the Princess.

I was going to take her within this right palm of mine and strip every one of her little honours, confine her to the awful fate much worse than that of her mother, I would live at peace knowing that hers is a life full of misery until she'd eventually choose to take from her own self the breath that the heavens granted her." The Empress said.

"Then you better strike while the iron is still hot Your Highness." Iname said. "Should you fail even slightly then I assure you that the very Princess herself will seal your name.

If there is no heaven or redemption for us both, we'd perhaps as spirits sink into deep retribution or burn together in the flames of hell." Iname said.

"Watch and see then Iname, in this life or the next I'll never be seated next to you." The Empress said as she bowed her head and walked away.

Iname closing his eyes he took a deep breath before he sighed.

"Watch your step milady." He whispered to himself. "The ground on which you walk shall sustain you no more.

Consort Katashishime walked into her daughter's Chambers and noticing the presence of her mother she stood up and bowed her head.

"Mother." She said.

"My daughter, I wish that you'd be very frank with me." Consort Katashishime said.

"Don't worry, I won't lie to you mother." Princess Toyomike said as the two walked over to the table that was stationed right inside her own room and sat down.

"You have become quite the talk in Nara and I heard that you caused the third star in the Eastern skies to fall.

Rumours are already circulating around the palace that the Imperial Princess Toyomike's might is surpassing that if the High Priestess and as I have come to learn you have been taking a keen interest in politics lately and I heard you visited your grandfather." Consort Katashishime said.

"All that has true mother." Princess Toyomike replied. "In fact, I want to create a class of privileged aristocrats that can back me up and I wish to possess immense power mother." Princess Toyomike replied.

"What for?" Consort Katashishime asked. "You have been raised in a very comfortable life, you've known not what it means to survive a night without a meal.

You are beautiful and smart that very many suitors would admire you with just a glance, could you tell me whose features make the world gasp in admiration?" Consort Katashishime asked.

"You prove a point mother but I wasn't born to be an ordinary Royal housewife." Princess Toyomike said.

"You weren't born to be a politician, you weren't born to speak up to the world, to reserve your anger and to keep your peace, to listen and be of a few words, very kind and also very neat are the primary reasons you live as a Princess." Consort Katashishime replied.

"But I'm no ordinary Princess, I am the Princess of Nara." Princess Toyomike defended herself.

"And what, because you are your father's favorite you think that the courtiers would simply sit by, watch and tolerate you?

Who shall you be up against, the whole world, earth and heaven even the netherworld too?

Where is your honour when as a woman the fundamentals of your study are to bend and submit if you do not wish for everyone else to break you?" Consort Katashishime asked.

"Certainly not in silence, certainly not in just spectating as the very people I cherish suffer when I am in every position to protect them

You have spent so much of your time listening to what other people want you to do, fulfilling the favours of others and deserting the passions of your own.

I might sound out of line and perhaps I could have disappointed you but mother, because you are the woman you chose to be, you are not the kind of woman that I your daughter desire to become as well." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Whatever Your Grand father is telling you, abstain from this foolishness and stupidity." Consort Katashishime said.

"Grandfather tells me nothing and I react on my own accord, I have watched over the years the tears that you have shed and disgrace that you have worn all over your face.

Everyone will always forget a woman with grace but no one will ever forget a woman with so much strength.

My determination is boundless and I have laid everything that I have in my possession on the line including this borrowed life that I own and the little charm there is that is attached to the face this world sees.

I can not pretend that I can not see and unlike you I want to fight for every last thing that I desire to be mine.

I want to reign and take for myself every last bit of power that I can and to do that I have decided to contend with the Empress' might." Princess Toyomike replied.

"No." Consort Katashishime said.

"Yes mother." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Why would you let yourself be swayed by wishful thinking my dear, to contend with the Empress, to rule the Inner court are nothing more than impossibilities.

Let alone that my dear, you shall never become an Empress as there is no Emperor for you to marry." Consort Katashishime said.

"Mother, you have your own reasons and I have mine." Princess Toyomike.

"My dear, you can bear all things but I can not bear the single thought of losing you, you have no idea what the fate of her defiers has been, you have no idea how many bodies she has buried.

We in the inner court understand that the Empress is only three feet from heaven, she says and it is done, to rise up against her in opposition you can not last and the certain fate for you is to live as one with the earth.

What you wish to do could have you branded as a National traitor." Consort Katashishime said

"I can also not live with the fact that no matter how hard I tried, I did nothing, I can not stand the chance of looking at the man that I love from only a distance because she wants me.

I can not marry a man of her will as I fear deep down in my heart it could only destroy me and yet as these magnificent walls that stand so tall have kept me from the world of suffering outside, they are no different from the cruelty that he'll has to give to it's inhabitants.

The jewels that adorn me give me no interest, having what to it on my table doesn't give me all the satisfaction, what haunts me more than death is having to see the people suffer and dying, going through all those tribulations when I can change a thing or two and not just sit and watch while doing nothing." Princess Toyomike said.

"I'm not really asking you." Consort Katashishime changed her tone.

"Nor was I mother." Princess Toyomike replied. "All I am giving you is your own protection." she added.

"But I never asked for it because you were my dear daughter." Consort Katashishime said.

"Come what may mother, whether you choose to stand with me or against me I don't mind.

There is nothing high in the heavens, and nothing on this Earth below it that is going to separate me from the will of my people because no matter what all the others have to say to stop me, I'm determined and I won't change my mind, I'll certainly challenge the might of the Empress." Princess Toyomike said.

Consort Katashishime walked out of her daughter's quarters as she was being supported by her maids Sara and the others.

"Your Highness." Sara called.

"What did I ever do that I must be punished by Heaven for my daughter to turn this way?" Consort Katashishime asked.

"Please calm down Your Highness." Sara said.

"How can I?" Consort Katashishime asked as they continued to walk, "My daughter has chosen to declare war on the most powerful men and woman in the political circle." Consort Katashishime added.

"She must have a reason Your Highness." Sara said.

"We all have reasons Sara." Consort Katashishime said. "If we let them govern the people that we became then I certainly wouldn't have been alive this day and my dearest daughter would have been orphaned at a very tender age." Consort Katashishime said.

"You can not dictate the life of the Inner court Your Highness unless you become it's Mistress, parents and children, siblings and friends, enemies and allies, we all have different ways of survival in this cruel world." Sara said.

"And hers is to contend with the Empress?" Consort Katashishime asked. "She could survive marrying a General who could protect her, she'd survive living from this palace and going as far as possible.

She'd be so far out of the Empress' grip and her control she'd not have to dance to her tunes and attach herself to her apron strings for her entire life." She added.

"The beauty of the path Your Highness is not in the freedoms that it has to offer." Sara said.

"Then what's the beauty in it?" Consort Katashishime asked.

"The beauty in it is that you chose that path for yourself Milady." Sara replied.

"You take her side." Consort Katashishime said.

"I don't your Highness." Sara replied.

"Every mother wants only the best for her child." Consort Katashishime said.

"Perhaps not Your Highness, I think that rather than that, every mother wishes to see her children happy." Sara said.

"Will this make her happy?" Consort Katashishime asked.

"Let's wait your Highness." Sara said. "Hope is humane and once in every lifetime people realize their mistakes, it's possible that the Princess might turn around and it's possible that she might further tread the path of no return.

I do not wish to order you Milady and I am only suggesting, either way because she is your daughter and she has chosen this ordurous cause, devote everything that you possibly can and protect her.

None of us will mean the world to her even once like you do, if you can stand and support her, you'd give her reason to fight harder and perhaps in the end, even as it might seem quite unfeasible, you'll both be happy when she is victorious." She added.

"This child of mine knows how to go against me." Consort Katashishime said.

"Then please be her aid when she goes against the world." Sara replied.

Consort Katashishime nodded her head.

Empress Ishi Hime sat in her room with the Crown Princess and the High Priestess as she recalled the words that Iname had told her.

"Mother." The Crown Princess said.

"The Imperial Princess has declared war." The Empress said.

"She even has the audacity." The High Priestess added as she smacked the table.

"She means to start a resistance within the inner court." The Empress said.

"We might have overestimated her." The High Priestess said.

"No, we have underestimated her." The Crown Princess said as she turned to the Empress.

"Something's wrong." The Empress concluded.

"I had spies put around the Crown Prince and I was reliably informed that the Crown Prince wishes for Princess Toyomike to become his Empress upon his Ascension as Emperor." The Crown Princess replied.

"Impossible." The High Priestess said.

"Nothing is Impossible." The Empress replied.

"I am his most legal wife." The Crown Princess said.

"And the only way that the Imperial Princess can ascend to such an honour is if she marries my son first and you also died." The Empress said. "That's something that I'll never allow to happen in this life or the next." She added.

"We could rule the Inner court but I am afraid a number of people in it are willing to support us because they have no option, should the Imperial Princess challenges us then they're likely to crossover and swear their allegiance to her." The Crown Princess said.

"All we'll have to do is to ensure that they still fear us, the Imperial Princess unlike us doesn't have a solid foundation on which she can possibly convince them to stand with her.

When the fate is not decided then they can not take the risk so for a time being they are the very least of our worries." The Empress said.

"I'm reliably informed that she is now constructing a political faction of allies." The High Priestess said.

"She does need them to amount up to the power and influence that I possess within the Imperial court.

When such powerful supporters back her up then it'll Foster her ascension into ruling the inner court." The Empress replied.

"How can we prevent that from happening?" The Crown Princess asked. "I fear that she is putting my position as the Crown Princess in absolute jeopardy." She added.

"We need to first and foremost isolate her from the Crown Prince as nothing is more hurtful to a man than the woman that loves another behind his back." The Empress replied.

"The Princess has won herself a very big fish, how could she possibly abandon it for another with lesser standards?" The High Priestess asked.

"She doesn't have to." The Empress replied. "We only have to make sure that the Crown Prince sees for himself and thinks otherwise." She added as she smiled ghastly.

"And who is the perfect candidate for the job?" The Crown Princess asked.

"Who better to ignite the spark of rivalry like a blood brother?" The Empress replied.

Dusk lingered over the Palace and Sina walked out of the Imperial Princess Toyomike's Palace.

She was dressed like an ordinary young woman and she covered herself with a cloak as she stepped out of the palace premises.

Walking down the streets, she noticed that they appeared to be abandoned and were empty yet that did not stop her from going further.

She had treaded a similar path some time before and as she continued, a group of people followed her while running on a roof.

She approached an empty square and as she went ahead, she heard a group of people that were descending down upon her.

She turned around and looked up as she noticed a group of men dressed in black.

She moved backwards and they landed on the ground ahead of her that she turned around to run away and noticed that another group of others had blocked her behind.

They unsheathed their swords as they walked in on her.

While still veiling her face, she pulled out her Katana from beneath her clothes and then she threw herself towards them.

Their swords clashing with hers she pushed them away as she cut through them as though they amateurs.

When she was done, the eight men landed on the ground dead and then looking up at one of the nearby roofs, she saw a couple of more that had been spectating.

Sina started to run in the opposite direction as they followed her in pursuit.

Even in a dress She was still very fast and eventually, she led them into a very dark alley they descended onto the ground from the rooftops and then followed her in.

The moment that they were inside, they noticed a Group of soldiers that were situated at the end and turning around to go away, they had been surrounded by another fairly larger group.

Sina unveiled herself and she looked at her pursuers and it was at that moment that they noticed she wasn't the Princess.

"You intent to kill an innocent citizen at such a late hour has already been proven, in the presence of all these guards that are here, surrender and give in.

Tell us who sent you?" Sina asked.

"Never." The men replied as they pulled out white handkerchiefs and tied a couple of daggers within their hands.

Brutally, they slew open their abdomen and then fell down on the ground.

The moment that they had fallen, Sina walked up to the dead bodies and she unveiled one of their faces.

"They're clearly after the Princess." She said. "Find out their identities and the whereabouts of their families and friends." She added.

Princess Toyomike walked through the streets in an attire that was similar to that of Sina and she walked up to the doors of General Fujiyaro's manor.

"Reveal yourself." The guards at the manor said but she didn't say a word when the gates of the Manor were opened and General Fujiyaro stepped out.

"It's alright." He told his guards. "I was expecting her." He replied as he led the Princess in to his study and there she unveiled herself as she sat down right next to him.

"Your Highness." General Fujiyaro said.

"You can drop the formalities." Princess Toyomike said.

"Regardless of our relationship we aren't Peers." General Fujiyaro said.

"But we are allies." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Of course we are." Fujiyaro said. "I must say that I am quite impressed by your prowess Milady." Fujiyaro said.

"Don't flatter me that much, I trust that I have given you a glimpse of my capabilities." Princess Toyomike said.

"Challenging the High Priestess and now contending with the Empress' might at last." Fujiyaro said.

"You must have quite the attentive ear." Princess Toyomike said.

"Just because I keep quiet most of the time doesn't mean that I can't see some things either." Fujiyaro said.

"You are a very smart man but you chose not to show it, you like reaping where you have not sworn and you prefer to go unnoticed to safeguard your wealth and everything there is that you hold in your possession." Princess Toyomike said.

"But you've made it quite difficult for me now." Fujiyaro said.

"Pardon me but even you were very much aware that of you did not hold hands with me then your demise was bound to come soon enough." Princess Toyomike said.

"Of course the Empress keeps a watch out for heroes and since our first meeting she has always been on my tail to know what I have always been up to." Fujiyaro said.

"The same goes for me but as usual, I try to find a way around it." The Princess said.

"We are all smart after all Your Highness and I bet your concern is not want brings you here today." Fujiyaro said.

"You do see it quite clearly and right now I wish that you'd at least help me identify a few capable scholars within the Imperial academy and the various good but underprivileged officials at the lower administrative levels." Princess Toyomike replied.

"You do not cease to amaze me Your Highness." Fujiyaro said.

"The reason that the Empress rules the inner court is because she has men of her own that reside within the Imperial court.

People are loyal to you when they know that as long as you can stand , there's is the assurance of prosperity and should it be that you fall, they'll fall along with you." Princess Toyomike replied.

"And you wish to form your own aristocracy?" Fujiyaro said.

"I can't entirely lean on the support of my own clan as I fear in their demand, there could be so much more that I can never give." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Yet if you nurtured people of your own they'd accept whatever you had to offer without question." Fujiyaro said.

"It's easier to tame a cub than a grown lion." Princess Toyomike replied. "How else would the Empress have made it this far despite facing the threatening opposition from my mother's clan?" She asked.

"The Empress' dogs shall forever remain loyal to her service so the only way to entirely see to it that if she falls she doesn't revive, then they must be extinguished." Fujiyaro said.

"Exactly." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Oh, you are very much like that old woman." Fujiyaro said.

"I learn that she uses fear to govern her own I do not intend to use it as a shield to guard against their aggression but as a sword to vanquish her." Princess Toyomike replied.

"There aren't that many positions for you to award the young scholars and the lesser officials." Fujiyaro said.

"Everyone falls from grace and the Emperor's generation is quite old, not many can retain their privileges for eternity and as some retire, I must see to it that the country is graced with the advent of youthful and capable talents that shall nurture it's great future." Princess Toyomike replied.

"Aren't you afraid?" Fujiyaro asked.

"Afraid of what?" Princess Toyomike asked.

"That I'd betray you." Fujiyaro replied.

"The immense knowledge and wisdom that you hold so dear is already a threat in the eyes of the Empress, I have a lot more to offer to you than she'll ever have, if you'd turn your back against me and side with her, she'd never trust you like I do cause it shall have shown her that there is a possibility of you doing the very same to her.

In this bet of fostering your alliance with me, I have nothing to lose as always I can recruit more and more people in my service and when my influence has gone, a number of men and women shall start to jockey for my favour.

Abandoning me on the other side you have had a glimpse of what glory, honour and respect feels like, you have so much more to lose, so much of it your descendants would have even lived off comfortably and peacefully." Princess Toyomike replied.

"You let me walk in knowing that I would have no choice to forcefully feign an alliance that is permanent with you." Fujiyaro said.

"I trust you considered everything in the first place so you must have known exactly why you took my arm in the first place." Princess Toyomike said.

"Why?" Fujiyaro asked.

"Because unlike the Empress, you'd guarantee my good grace and rather than keeping you at a distance, being a cornerstone of my plan I would reward you in abundance." Princess Toyomike replied with a smile on her face.