Passion

Quickly and Quietly

The three men silently approached the capital boundaries, lingering out of view of the massive amount of soldiers parading around. Miyuki and Chris fought their way through a small squad of them when they arrived at the stables. Jorge agreed to stay behind and help the stable manager protect the grounds.

Miyuki took note of the absence of a certain loudmouthed brunet. He quickly refocused on the more important task of finding out why Royal Soldiers were attacking their new General. In all honesty, it didn't seem as though the soldiers recognized him; but, it still irked him. Were they being threatened? Blackmailed? Drugged? One thing's for sure: he has to get back to the King's side.

The General and his friend sprinted through the capital's back alleys. They both knew well where they were going, as they had often played games in these very lanes. Chase was the one game at which Miyuki had managed to best Chris-- albeit, once out of what must have been a thousand games.

They got to the castle's underground entrance and wound their way through the tunnels. They worked swiftly, but carefully. They avoided the main tunnels in favor of the unused or maintenanced ones. It would have been harder, had the King not given him a Kingdom Key, one that accesses most of the doors in the castle.

The two found themselves huddled behind the latched shutters that would allow them to exit into the Council chamber room. Miyuki had stopped Chris from opening the shutters when he had heard hushed voices speaking fervently in the room. The Council wasn't supposed to meet today, so Miyuki was obviously puzzled. He strained to hear them but managed to catch the gist of the conversation.

"...king really dead?.... could have been.... perpetrator.... Ochiai..... Crown King now..."

Miyuki had no way to understand the full grasp of events for the moment, but if he just heard what he think he just heard, then the king is dead and Lord Ochiai, the top Councilman, is now occupying the throne. Ochiai was the King's Uncle, by Law. Technically, only members of the Royal family could become Crown King, but it's not out of the question for those who marry in to make a claim to the throne. He had seen it happen when he first became a soldier at seventeen, during the War of Four Kingdoms. The battles he fought during that war were gruesome, and undoubtedly forged him into the hardened man he is today. He briefly wondered whether or not he'd have to go back to war again.

The general motioned outwards, signaling Chris to start their movement again. This time, they found themselves near the guest rooms of the castle. There were hundreds of them and chances were, Miyuki and Chris could hide and confer there without being found. The unfortunate part of that was that they would have to walk down a main corridor to get there, as there were no tunnels connected to that area.

After taking some clothes from a nearby room, the two dressed as commoners began a casual pace down the corridor, careful not to alert anyone. The corridor passed through a guest hall that was filled with lavish lounging amenities. To their misfortune, yet again, the hall was filled with people. Miyuki couldn't put a finger on the reason, as King Kataoka was not hosting many guests before his departure. He'd discover the source of the commotion with just a few more steps.

There was skin and music; laughter and perfume; talking and moaning. The room was filled with scantily clad men and women. There were prostitutes and common ladies and many poor workers of the slums- all engaged in what looked like sexual servitude. They were lured around with money and promised wealth in exchange for their services. The men in the hall we're ranked officers and an unnerving amount of councilmen. That's when his eyes landed upon Lord Ochiai, feeling up a familiar stable boy.

Sawamura was dressed in a matching cropped satin halter and adorned high-low satin skirt with a slit that rose high up his legs. His stomach and slim waist were being caressed by the Lord as Sawamura looked down and away with a strained look of discomfort on his face. The Lord slipped gold coins into the satin pieces he was wearing while groping the stable boys backside. Sawamura did his best to not anger the Lords and went about serving drinks and fruit to them. His body language screamed violation and pure helplessness. He seemed almost entirely mentally checked out.