The Silver Flower

Info

One fine morning, Aamon was indulging himself in his trainings; since he was familiar with political games, he decided to sharpen his magical abilities. While training, he overheard Gusion asking his instructor to teach him in the ways of magic, like his older brother. Aamon's mentor was taken aback for a moment, as long he had known, Gusion was a disobedient and rebellious teen and known as young troublemaker that refuse to learn magic. He would prefer to reject his request, but he remembered that his student was the heir of the Paxley name; if he dared to reject he would obviously demoted to the Paxley's target dummy. With that in thought, he agreed to teach Gusion a few spells, that might be useful

While taking a break, Aamon smiled as he was glad that Gusion agreed to take his advise. For a while, Aamon watched his youngest brother boredly listen to the instructor's teachings. The instructor could only sighed in defeat as it was hard to get the young lord to pay attention to his lectures. He then noticed that Aamon was only watching while drinking some water. "My lord," he asked, "aren't you supposed to continue your training?"

"I was," Aamon replied, "but I do find this more amusing," he smiled innocently.

The instructor sighed once again, as he wished to scold the young man, but he dared not; he did not want to lose his job because of the young masters. By noon, Aamon returned to his room early as he wanted to get started on his packing; as he and his family were going to leave by the tomorrow dawn. But before he could start, he decided to read for a bit, while the maids prepared his bath. Aamon put down the same old book and looked at the varieties of books that his shelf had. He signed as there was nothing instresting for him to read. Deciding to take a quick nap, he took off his sweat stained tunic, while walking to his bed. Before he could lay down, he noticed a book on his nightstand.

He felt a search of deja vu as he could had sworn that he seen it before. He picked up the book and stared at it for some time, and he snapped out of his thoughts when a maid said his bath was ready. He nodded and went straight to bathroom with the book in hand. As he submerged himself into the warm, scented bath water, he opened the book and flipped it page by page. However, it was no ordinary book, but an old photobook; from his first visit to the Scarlet Faction. He smiled at the nostalgia he had when he was a kid, the cute photos of him and Gusion running around the village like some troublemakers having fun

He flipped through more pages of photos, until he stopped at a very interesting picture; of him and a young girl, who he was so familiar with. "Hanabi," he mumbled, "she was cute back then," a smiled slowly formed on his lips. His mind wander off, wanting to know how she looked after such a long time. After the bath, Aamon asked a few of his maids to help him pack.

While packing, a steward came in, announcing that a guest came to see him. Aamon nodded as he was lead to the study room, where guest were commonly greeted. Inside, he saw the famous thief, laying on the sofa while kicking his feet up; as if he was at his own home and it annoyed the castle's maid. "I see you made yourself comfortable Claude," Aamon began as he sat down across from him.

"Oh, don't be like that, your grace," said Claude as he ate a tea cake while still laying down, "think of it as my payment as well. You have no idea, what I had to go through," he said up as he handed Aamon a file, "to get you this".

Aamon read through the information in the file. "Are you sure this everything about her?" he asked the thief in front of, who was fighting over a cake with his monkey.

"Of course that is all about her," said Claude as he shove the pastry into his mouth, "I almost died getting that info; to which I'm gonna add double my payment".

Aamon gestured at his steward and he handed Claude, four bags of gold; which was double the agreed payment, but he knew that Claude would do anything to complete his commissions, that offers the best rewards. Claude smiled happily to the two extra bags, as it was worth the trouble in completing the commission. "So, this is the current Hanabi Scarlet,"Aamon mumbled as he continued on reading.

"Yup, she known by many to be a proud yet discipline ninja; but becomes soft when it comes to her brother, like you, your grace," he added.

"Is it that noticable?" he asked

"Yup, but I think Gusion still just avoid that fact".

Aamon closed the file as he finished reading, "I want you to go on another task for me".

"No way!" Claude refused as he crossed his arms to stand his ground, even Dexter agreed to Claude's decision. "If it's about the Scarlet Faction, you can count me out, your grace," he continued.

"Such ashame," said Aamon, "and I was thinking of tripling from our original offer," he calmly sipped his tea.

"Triple?!" Claude exclaimed, to which Aaron just grin at him. He quickly composed himself and said, "Very well, what you need me to do?"

After the short discussion with the noutrious theif, Aamon continued on packing. Even with the help of his maids, he still fell a bit tired. He sat down on his bed and let out a tired sigh. A maid then asked it he would like a drink to freshen up a bit, to which he decline and asked the maid to give him some time alone. He stood up and walked to the balcony of his room, while picking up the file. He enjoyed the evening breeze as he read the file once more. He stopped at the picture of her and hold the small picture in his hand, as if it was a precious jewel. "Hanabi Scarlet," he whispered her name, "we'll meet again soon," he looked into the evening sky that turned darker and darker.

Meanwhile, a young ninja was destroying her family's practice dummies left and right, as if she had a grudge on them. She stopped for a moment to rest when her father came in. "What is it father?" she asked as she drank some water.

"Remember Hanabi, do not dare get close with the Paxley family," he replied.

"That was years ago father; I haven't seen them for a long time and I intend to defeat the youngest master of the Paxley family".

"Actually Hanabi, I advise you to take the fall"

Hanabi spat out her drink as she was taken aback from her father's words. "You cannot be serious father?" but he was dead serious. "Father! This will ruin our family image"

"No, it will ruin your reputation. There is no need for you to compete to for the tittle Akakage; it is clear that Hayabusa will easily get the tittle".

"I will never let him be Akakage, father! I will show you I alone deserve that tittle".

"Hanabi, I am asking you to purposely lose, so you would not be taken away by the Paxley family for their own personal gain".

"I don't understand father. Why would they want to take me away? They won't gain any political fame from it".

"You're wrong Hanabi, they will gain something from it and it is not good," her father began to explain.