Stolen Property

(Chi)

I step aside as Misaki's maid comes shuffling down the hall to dress her as she does each morning. One of the many things I've learned. The girl had grown accustomed to smiling through her thick lashes up at me before she knelt at the foot of the door and slid it back to enter the princesses rooms. She performed that same routine this morning, pulling back the doors.

"Hime? Hime?" She asked skeptically before glancing at me. I stepped outward at the tone of Osa's voice to peek into the room.

She was not there. Why the hell wasn't she there?

I turned my head to find the light of the sky, my stomach dropping. She usually didn't emerge until she was dressed for the morning. The sun was not high enough in the sky yet.

Something was wrong.

Within the end of the first week of guarding Misaki I came to learn her routine for the mornings. She would wait for the maid, dress, and then I would escort her to the dining hall for breakfast with her father. I entered her room and stepped carefully around as not to disturb anything. Her satin blanket lay stretched back and her small pillow haphazard. The air in the room still smelled faintly of her hair. She could not have been gone long. I moved hastily around the quiet maid and back out into the hall. I walked briskly down to the next corner and found a guard posted, with an always stoic expression. "Has the princess traveled this way in the recent hour?"

I fought to keep my voice steady and under control. Our emotions often had a way of projecting themselves into our tones. The tall man, his helmet too small for his head sharply before turning and walking down the hall, probably on his way to tell the general that I misplaced the next monarch.

I began walking back in the direction of Misaki's room but continued past them. This was not unlike Misaki to trudge off on her own. I spent hours looking for her at times. But this was different. She had grown accustomed to telling me, or even dragging me along on her random expeditions. I heard voices yelling faintly, and quick steps of armored foot on marble floors. The guards were aware now, I would have to move quickly. Picking up my pace I moved hastily down to the kitchens.

Nothing; void of life.

Jogging back down the stairs I continued down the open pillared hallways, fighting the panic taking root in my chest. I could hear doors being abruptly pulled back and the guards shouting curses at maids.

"Excuse me?"

The lilting voice was one of the cooks hands and she sported a small frown and neatly tucked hair.

"I saw Hime."

I waited impatiently for her to continue. She turned and pointed down the adjacent hallway. "She was headed towards Amaterasu's shrine for prayer."

Of course! She'd been so off in the past few days, especially after she had looked so distraught over the dream, she'd still vied to tell me nothing about. I took off running in the direction of the royal prayer room.

The doors were shut tight and I hesitated on whether I should knock first or just enter. The wood was too thick for me to try to hear her through, so I pushed hard as the door creaked open. My chest only tightened more when I took in the dimly lit room, devoid of her. But as I walked up to the golden statue of the goddess, I stopped short and stared down at a jade bead. It was cool to the touch and lingered in that spot a breath before glancing up at the golden eternal. Even her plated statue eyes bore into my soul and my stomach lurched. Clenching my fist, I looked about the room for any signs of Misaki. There were no traces of her here. There was only this bead among the prayer mats in the narrow rectangular space.

There was only one way in and one way out of the prayer room. If someone entered behind her she would have heard them… There were no signs of struggle or an impending scuffle. I was sure that if Misaki had seen someone enter, she would have fought as hard as possible.

"Kitsune…"

Where the hell was, she? Why had she not told me where she was going?! Why did she have to be so damn stubborn, and impulsive.

The guardsmen were now running down this hall still barking orders to search every room and alleyway, even in the towns.

"I WANT ALL ROADS BLOCKED OFF! STOP ANYONE TRYING TO LEAVE HIROSHIMA. IKU!"

"HAI GENERAL!"

My eyes closed as I waited for the general to push past the door. He and the king would surely have my head for this. I quickly tucked the bead inside of my robes and turned to face the emotionless soldier. His eyes held anger and his face was a deep crimson. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the sword at his hip.

He spoke fiercely and with a furious tone turning his Japanese into daggers he thrust at me in vehemence.

"I told you boy, that if any harm befell our princess, I would have your head for it. Where have you taken her?!"

My brows drew together, and a fire took root in the pit of my stomach. He assumed I took her! My hand itched for my blade, anxious to cut him down where he stood but I restrained myself in the last moment. Drawing the generals blood would do no good for me now.

"No matter your personal disdain for me I have not taken Misaki. But someone else has and it is much more important to find her than to be standing here listening to your accusations."

I moved promptly past him, my hand still resting on the Wakizashi.

"The king has been informed! I don't suspect that your head will be attached to your shoulders much longer," he shouted after me.

I am sure he was right, but that notion did not stop me from running back in the direction I'd come from and back to Misaki's room. I milled about worriedly, moving everything aside.

"C'mon princess…leave me something to og off of here…" I murmured to myself frustratingly as I searched her possessions. I almost lost it when I finally came across a leather-bound small journal with a carved swan on the front. I turned quickly and slid Misaki's door closed before opening the cover to small parchment pages covered in calligraphy. Her handwriting was impeccable; she'd been practicing. Many pages were decorated in writing and I would have no time to read all of it before I had to appear before the king. I flipped through the pages and paused on the entry from last week. It had been her last before the pages returned to blank canvas.

I do not know what to make of this dream that haunts me, even as my eyes are open and my mind awake; It was utter darkness. Cold

consuming emptiness that I could not escape. My tatami mat was

beneath my feet, but I had no control over my own body. My feet

moved as if strings were attached to them, like a puppets. I screamed for anyone to help me before I fell into the void surrounding me, but no one came. I shiver now as I relive my encounter. Whatever controlled me stopped my feet purposely at the edge of that mat, seeping bad luck into my core.

As I move through my days all I can do is think, am I to lose my father? Am I to be married to a cruel man? Impending war within my country?

My head Is constantly spinning with the many things that this could mean but I know that it is nothing good.

I'm scared. I try to hide the shaking of my hands from Chi, but he knows that something isn't right. I want to tell him, but what if he thinks I am just a crazy delusional princess kept in the palace gates too long?

I pray that I am wrong and that it is only a dream, one brought on by too much Sake late into the night.

The entry ends there, and I curse inwardly. I knew something had been wrong, but this still told me nothing about the person who took her. I flipped through the rest of the book, trying to see if she had scribbled anything on one of the random pages but there was nothing. Until I reached the end, almost dropping the book on the floor. The last page was scribbled completely black aside from the white space in the middle that spelled out only one word.

Yami.