Beauty And The Beast

Step 6: The Oath

Five days has passed since the incident at the secret annex. Kanzaki had inflicted minor injuries after being dropped off the cliff by Raidou but was saved by Sai when he almost got his skull crashed. He was taken into custody in a special prison under the strict surveillance of Konoha ninja. The same goes to Madam Shijimi who was accused of attempting murder of the Fire Daimyō, her very own husband as well as her step daughter, Tsuru.

The secret armies led by Kanzaki was ambushed and detained for further investigation. After the villagers of the surrounding areas learned the truth that an actual war was about to break out and the attempt of murder in the Daimyō's House had caused an endless wind of rumors within the Fire Country and the neighboring lands. With the Daimyō's illness got worsen, the Country was left unprotected to various kind of vulnerability especially in the threat of ownership.

It was nearly past noon when she woke up. Her whole body felt groggy and heavy for staying up late checking the paperwork left by her Father and Kanzaki. Sunlight seeped through the paper door blinding her eyes. She get up from her bed, careful of the wound on her back to sit on her rear. Then, she saw her maids were already lining up in her room.

She rubbed the sleepiness off her eyes, "Why are you all here?"

"Lady Tsuru." Yuu's voice came from behind her door. He then entered, offering her a bow.

"How's your right hand? I take it you've had enough rest this morning."

She flexed her right hand, and found it was only worsened than yesterday. The injuries she was inflicted on her back five days ago had hit one of the vital nerve connecting to her right hand. Though she had no plan of telling them less her works only keep piling up. "I feel better today. We are going to Konoha to visit my Father this evening. Prepare the arrangement."

"We've already had everything prepared for your visit but apparently, we already have a few guests this morning. We need you to get ready."

"What? Again?"

For the past five days, she have been flooded by guests coming from the neighboring villages as well as from other lands to offer them condolences about what befall upon the Fire Daimyō.

Yuu, although he had served as her personal guard for five years, he had never before saw her display of anger through any obvious means except that one time when she threw the inkstone on to the floor so hard that it broke into two.

"They knew all along about Kanzaki and Shijimi's motives to take control of the House. God, they were even one of those people who joined the accomplice! Now that they both are arrested, they came to me to say they sorry for what had happened?? And how dare they speak about alliances?!"

Even Yuu couldn't contain his anger when one of the maid explained that Tsuru was pushed into corner and threatened indirectly by the heads of the clan that were once sided with Kanzaki. He could only blamed himself for not being there because he was still recovering from his injuries.

In his honest opinion, the lady he was serving is an intelligent individual. The incident five days ago was the only plan that came to effective among her other plans she had had previously. Honestly, he could never understand what she was thinking and what she would do for that matter. For instance, like last time, after he broke free from the underground prison when he was arrested by Kanzaki's ninja, he immediately went to her room and he took about an hour before he finally understand her plan of eliminating Kanzaki and her stepmother as displayed in the shogi board.

There's also a time when he was looking for her all over the residence and only found her few hours later disguised as one of the Council member. She was voicing her disapproval daringly during the meeting that undoubtedly could blow her cover. Fortunately, Yuu quickly shouted there was a fire in the residence, and everyone rushed out. In the end, she managed to keep her disguise.