The Dragonblade [On Hold]

Chapter 6: Departure

For the next few days, life was normal for the trio. Well, as normal as you can get when hiding a piece of the dragonblade in your trunk and knowing a secret that would overturn the current royal family. They spent all of their spare time preparing for the moment that Hanzo started towards the academy.

Five days after Shigeru found the dragonblade and four days after he had told the other two about it, Hitoshi barged into the abandoned classroom they had been using as their base of operations. Shigeru and Kameko were sitting next to a pile of supplies that they had "liberated" for their journey.

"Guys," he said, out of breath, "the news just came in: Hanzo is on his way here. He'll be here next week on an "inspection" of the academy."

Shigeru sighed. "I saw this coming a mile away."

"How did you know that Hanzo would be coming so soon?"

"Well, Kameko," Shigeru replied, for it was Kameko who had asked, "I wouldn't be surprised if the pieces of the dragonblade were magically linked together. If one was found, it would make sense that it would notify the others."

"That makes sense," Kameko replied, a knowing look appearing on her face.

This was followed by silence. Finally, after a few minutes, Hitoshi phrased the question that was on all of their minds: "When do we leave?"

Shigeru opened his mouth but was forestalled by Kameko. "For the last time Shigeru, we are coming with you, whether you like it or not."

"Okay then," Shigeru said, "We leave in two days. That should give us about three days before Hanzo gets here. That should be a decent enough head start.

"Yeah, but the moment that the school figures out that we're gone, they're gonna send out search parties for us," Hitoshi said, sitting down in front of the pile of dried food they had pilfered from the school kitchens. "We'll be outnumbered ten to one."

"Yeah, and that's why we're going to be sneaky," replied Shigeru, emphasizing the last word. "We're not going to get into any fights."

Hitoshi thought for a second, then nodded. "Sounds about right. I didn't want to have to shoot someone that I knew anyway."

"Okay," said Kameko, "here's the plan. In two days, during breakfast, you two are going to sneak into the armory and grabs some weapons. While you're doing that, I'm going to go down to breakfast, so that no one thinks anything is going on. You following so far?"

The two boys nodded. Then, a thought occurred to Shigeru. "While we're in the armory, do you want us to grab anything for you, Kameko?"

Kameko grinned at him. "You know what I like. Just grab a couple of knives or something."

"What happens when someone asks where we are?" Hitoshi asked, "It's not like we miss breakfast a lot."

"I'll tell them that you two are studying, so we don't have a repeat of the history test. Coincidentally, we have a tactics test in two days, so it's a perfect excuse," she said, smiling sweetly at them.

"Will you please stop bringing that up?" Whined Shigeru.

"Nope," Kameko said. "Anyway, I'll grab some food, then I'll meet you guys at our exit point, behind the stables. It should take everyone a few hours to notice that we're missing since tactics class doesn't start until the afternoon. All clear?"

The two boys nodded. "Crystal," Hitoshi said, grinning at her.

"Simple plan," said Shigeru. "I like it. Less can go wrong. Just make sure you're not followed when you head over to the exit point."