Kougyoku had to take a shower, like she had sauce all over her bangs and wine was drenching her clothes.
She let the water wash away the food and wine on her face. As the water did the job, she stood there, thinking about the dream she had in her sleep.
"Why now? Why now?" She repeatedly thought, desperately not wanting to think about it.
She wanted to forget about it, she tried so badly. After all, she wanted to live her life with peace, not fear.
She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed the towel and started to dry herself.
She then put her nightgown on and prepared herself to go to sleep. As she lied there, distressed, she felt so empty, like nothing was inside her.
Or in other words, she couldn't sleep.
So, she picked herself up and walked towards her window, and looked outside to see the beautiful view.
After the civil war had ended, she fell into despair and blamed herself for the cause of the fall of her nation. Almost everyday she would look outside the window and watch the once prosperous nation burn into poverty, and the worst thing was that she couldn't do anything because she was busy trying to lift herself up.
But now she can see the nation that once fell, stand on its 2 feet again.
She kept looking outside, soaking in the beautiful view.
She had longed to see her people's face, but alas, she couldn't leave the palace unless she had some outside business to do.
Looking at the window, she suddenly had a brilliant idea......
"Maybe I can sneak out the window, just for a couple minutes or so. No one is going to see me..." she thought.
So, executing her plan, she got exchanged her nightgown for some lighter clothes and got rid of her jewelry and put her hair in a simple braid.
She opened her window and sighed as the air brushed against her bare skin. She lifted her foot to stand on the window's rim and jumped silently into the forbidden area. There at least 5 ft of space between her window and the ground, but she could easily cross the space, after all, she was trained warrior
She knew where the guards were and were not, so she simply found a path where there were no guards, she chuckled silently as she reminded herself to get some guards there.
When she finally crossed the palace territory, she raced to the marketplace as she put on her hood she had carried with her.
Once arriving, she peeked out of her hood and looked at the people.
Some people were celebrating, drinking alcohol until the passed out, and wearing a variety of clothes, as the social classes did not restrict them anymore.
But what Kougyoku only cared about was that everyone was smiling, some had frowns but then later, they turned upside down, and started enjoying the fun.
"Everyone is so happy" Kougokyu teared up at the sight.
Enjoying herself a little too much, she sat at one of the restaurants and ordered some tea.
She drank some tea, which soothed her, thinking "Is this really what I did?", and looked at all her happy people
Paying for tea, she left the shop, satisfied of what she saw, she turned to walk back to the castle.
"Please, STOP, PLEASE!!!"
Kougyoku turned to the direction she heard the voice, and raced towards the source.
She rounded a corner, only to see her worst nightmare
Two man were holding down a woman and a little girl, possibly the woman's daughter.
"SHUT UP, you bitch, or we'll kill you. So stay quiet if you want your precious girl to live" one man said as he lifted the poor little girl by her hair and put a knife at her throat as she whimpered
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, please I'll stay quiet, just let my daughter go."
"Good girl" he said as he started rubbing the woman's cheek and started tracing his hands down her neck and starting rubbing her ......yeah, you figure it out.
The woman gasped and squirmed, but the man held her down, and then took his knife to her throat, "You said you want your girl to live, so no resistance, got it, filthy livestock"
The other man grabbed a hold of the little girl and said "Ebisu, she's too young."
"Who cares, we'll take now, and then she'll grow up and fulfill what we have for her."
"Wha...What...do..yo.. you me..mean" the woman frighteningly asked.
"We going to sell you into slavery obviously, but you are an exception" as he again stroked her cheeks, "You can come with me, we can be a family"
The woman suddenly shouted out "NO, never, not with the likes of you!!"
"WHY YOU!!!" as the man prepared to hit her again.
His hand was stopped. The man looked at the hand only to see that someone was holding his hand
Kougyoku held his hand tightly. She had listened to the whole conversation. However, her mind had stopped working when she had heard the word slavery.
"It's not possible, I had stopped slavery, so why is there traces of it still left" she thought frantically, but then she saw the man was going to hit the woman, and she moved swiftly and caught his hand before he could hit her.
"Who the hell are you?" the man had said, trying to pull his arm away, but failed to do so.
Kougyoku said nothing.
"ANSWER ME!" as he used his other hand to grab the knife to stab her.
Kougyoku easily dodged, and then she twisted his hand, put her foot on his back, pushed him to the ground hardly, knocking him out, and grabbed his knife and pointed the knife at his back, only done in a matter of seconds.
The other man stepped back, astonished at what she had done.
"If you want you partner to live, I suggest you surrender."
The other man looked down at his passed out partner and when he looked up, and to be honest, she was not expecting the answer he had said
"Kill him as you please"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, kill him, but that's if you want this little girl to die." he said as he lifted the little girl up in the air, who was crying and saying " Help me, please, Help me".
"Damn it" Kougyoku had forgot the man was holding her.
So instead she said "Here, let's make a deal, I won't kill him and you won't kill her, and then, we can all go home happily like nothing ever happened."
The other man looked at her, but couldn't make out of an expression , since her face was covered. The other man had looked like he was going to consider it, but then he brought the knife closer to the girl' neck
"NOOOOO!" the woman screamed.
"I changed my mind" as he prepared to hit the knife on the girl's neck.
Kougyoku was angry, but she had to move fast. She threw the knife that she had used to point at his partner's back, at him and it pierced his arm in which he used to hold the girl.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
His grip on the girl loosened and the girl ran back to her mother, who held her tightly, crying.
Kougyoku walked up to the fallen man and pulled the knife out his arm sharply, as he cried out in pain once more, and then used it to point it at his heart
"No movement, or next, it's your life"
The man weakly nodded
"So talk, why are you here, harnessing the woman and her child"
The man opened his mouth but then closed it.
Kougyoku grew irritated and punctured his skin with the knife.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk, I really don't mind killing you"
The man cringed and opened his mouth
"We.... We were here.. because our master ordered... us to ...collect some woman since the... slavery trade is ........losing some" he said in pain
"Slavery? I thought the empress of Kou ordered to abolish slavery" she carefully said, not wanting to reveal her identity
"The master...said ... not .. to listen... to that .. bitch..she is a.. little.. girl.. after all"
Kougyoku would've felt offended but now was not the time to bring out her temper.
"Who is your master?"
The man smiled "That...is something... I can't..." Kougyoku grabbed his injured arm and squeezed, blood spilling out.
The man cried out in pain and tears started spilling out as Kougyoku hand was soon covered in his blood
"Okay...I'll ..tell you...., his.. name .is..." all of sudden, a knife came out of nowhere and stabbed the man in the neck, which instantly killed him.
Blood splattered everywhere, mostly on Kougyoku, as she quickly stood up and got into a fighting position, and turned to the direction that the knife had come out of , but it was pitch black so she couldn't see anything, so she gave up.
She turned to the lady and her child. "Are you okay, miss"
"Yes, thanks to you, how can I ever repay you"
"It's my duty to protect citizens" she smiled
The little girl approached her and reached her hand out her, apparently something was in her hand.
Kougyoku bent down to her level and saw what was in her hands.
There were a pair of beautiful handcrafted earrings, no jewels on it, but they were made out of flower stems and had tiny pricks on them, and they were hooped shaped.
"Did you make this"
The little girl nodded her head
"They are very beautiful, can you teach me how to make them"
The little girl happily nodded and reached in her pockets, and pulled out small flower stems.
As the little girl taught her, Kougyoku checked on the passed out man, making sure it was still knocked out.
"At least this guy is still left." she thought.
When the little girl was finished, Kougyoku said "Thank you so much, you know, my friend taught me how to make flower crowns.
The little girl smiled at her and said "Thank you"
All of sudden, Kougyoku pushed the little girl, who was startled, and a knife came out of nowhere and hit Kougyoku left upper arm, who winced in pain.
Kougyoku instantly knew the danger was still here. She looked around quickly only to see a bomb in the corner, at least 6 feet away from her.
"LOOK OUT" and Kougyoku pushed the little girl and woman out of the alleyway and into the open, as the bomb was set off
"BOOOOOOM!
Kougyoku was in pain, no less to say, but she was worried about the current situation, she dug into her pockets to try to find the Eight trigrams talisman water storage she had brought in case she needed water.
She found it and then threw it at the fire, which was wild and spreading everywhere. As soon as the magic tool touched the fire, it released huge amounts of water, extinguishing the fire.
She collapsed afterwards, the little girl and woman raced to her
" Oh my god, we need to get you to a doctor" the woman said.
Kougyoku was burned badly on her left lower arm, not too mention, that she still had a knife stuck in her upper arm, which was bleeding a lot.
She grabbed the knife that was stuck in her arm and pulled out quickly, and blood rushed out like a stream.
The woman pulled her up and then ripped her dress to clean up the blood and then ripped another part to wrap it around her wound.
People started arriving at the scene, and the woman yelled out, " I need water"
Somebody came up and handed her water, which the woman used to spill on her burned lower arm.
"I'm sorry if I am causing too much trouble." Kougyoku said to the woman, who just shook her head
"No, I am the one who should be sorry. I should've been more aware of where I was going so we didn't have to end up in this mess.
"No it's okay, it was only an accident, it was ..not.. your.. fault." Kougyoku said while feeling the effects of the pain.
The woman teared up and nodded her head and the little girl grabbed her cape and said "you have pretty hair
Kougyoku was confused, how did she know how her hair looked like. Kougyoku reached up to her head, only to find that the hood had fallen down.
"Oh crap, I need to go, or everyone will find out who I am!" Kougyoku thought as she tried to walk, but she collapsed once more. The woman caught her before she fell face flat.
"No, No, No, No" she thought, "This can't happening"
"You need to rest, miss" the woman said.
By then, everyone was surrounding her, asking if she was okay.
"What happened here?" a voice had shouted so that the crowd could hear.
Kougyoku tensed. She knew that voice and if she didn't get out of here, she would be in big trouble.
Then, everyone started moving so they could make a path for the newcomers.
"Where is she?" the voice had said again, Kougyoku tried to get up, but the woman was pushing her down, saying it's too risky for her to walk
When the newcomers arrived, Kougyoku had looked up to see Aladdin, Alibaba, Morgiana, Hakuryuu, and Judar looking down at her
Silence had befallen over them, until Kougyoku decided to interrupt it.
"Let me guess, I'm good as dead, right"
Aladdin smiled sadly and said "Oh, you have no idea."
Hey guys,
Hope you really like this chapter because this where the fun starts to happen.
If any of you guys think this is the incident that changed her life, it actually isn't
Sincerely, sister1012