The Emperor's Last Consort

Chapter 1

Rukia grinned as she leapt over the wall, landing on all fours with ease. She slowly rose from the ground and looked around warily at the lighted compound of the huge estate.

Piece of cake.

Today, Rukia had decided that she was going to steal some high-quality cloth to sell and get a small supply of money for a month. The shopkeepers in town had taken extra caution the last few days to ward off thieves such as herself, and Rukia found herself going without food for three days.

So she had decided to target the prestigious textile shop in town, a shop many petty robbers had feared to even intrude upon. It was the textile shop of Madam Shiba Kukaku, who was the boldest and most infamous woman in the district. Rukia had never come face-to-face with the proprietress before, but she had heard infamous tales about the woman. Madam Kukaku was known to use live dogs as foot cushions and whipped disobedient servants on a daily basis. That, and she was also rumoured to have a bosom resembling double watermelons.

Rukia wasn't too sure of how true the tales were, but she was here for the textile and not all too eager to stay and see the owner for herself. The petite girl hurriedly ducked down one of the many walkways to the main stores. She had taken time to familiarize herself with the geography of Madam Kukaku's huge estate, and knew that there were three main storerooms where they housed the textile. Locating the correct side door, Rukia opened the door silently and slipped into the room.

This was it.

Rukia stared around the storeroom in awe, where countless rolls of expensive textile lined every bit of wall. There was a bounty of silk, brocade and every type of cloth available in the whole district. Rukia walked over to the rolls of cloth and hurriedly took three small rolls of silk and tucked them under her arm. She wasn't going for an extreme robbery, these three precious rolls would keep her stomach full for a month.

Rukia allowed a small smile of victory to curve her lips. 'And they say no one ever managed to steal from Madam-'

"HALT!"

Rukia's eyes widened as she heard the gruff voices of two men, and hurriedly turned around. They were huge and gruff, standing at the entrance with their muscled arms folded. Both men wore a red hat with a white tassel on top and a blue scarf tied at the front by a red fastener.

Rukia narrowed her eyes. They must be Madam Kukaku's guards.

"We are Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko! What's your name? Be prepared to die, THIEF!" The two men bellowed again, before starting to advance forward.

Without answering, Rukia ducked to the right of the storeroom, where there were more pillars. The men followed her and Rukia immediately started throwing the rolls of textile at their feet, trying to make them lose their balance. Whatever their reaction, Rukia definitely did not expect what happened in the following second.

"N-NO! What are you doing... STUPID?" The men bellowed in frightful desperation. "Those are the Madam's most precious collection!" Forgetting about her, they scrambled to retrieve the textile. Rukia only stared at them in disbelief.

Are they really... guards?

"Serve you both right!" Rukia chuckled and decided to press her advantage, tossing more rolls of textile at them. While both men were bent trying to catch all the unraveling cloth, Rukia lifted a heavy roll of brocade and promptly sent it swinging to the backs of their head, and watched as both men slumped to the floor unconscious.

Rukia grinned. "Ha! Stupid guards! How does it feel to be overpowered by a small woman?" She grabbed her three precious rolls of silk and walked toward the door.