My Soul Will Find Yours 107 They're My Everything

The parade ended and its partic.i.p.ants dispersed to either enjoy eating at the food stalls outside the gates or roaming parts of the castle grounds they were allowed to see. As this opportunity only came a once year, many of them did the latter. Of course, there was only a very small portion of the estate that they could explore as the shogun's home was a place even the highest ranking officials had very little access to.

When the crowd started to thin and all the officials have paid their respects to him, Kaname decided that it was time for us to return to the palace. He was helping me down the pavilion when a very sweaty subordinate of his came running towards us.

"Mugi, what is it?" Taneyuki-san asked the panting man. "Is something wrong?"

"Kaname-sama, it's Lady Ayaka!" Mugi said, still out of breath. "We received news from the ooku that she's currently on labor!"

"How is that possible?" I heard Ryuko-san whisper to someone behind us. "It isn't her due date yet…"

"Go," I told Kaname. "She needs you beside her right now. The maids and the guards can bring us back."

Kaname looked at me then at the panting adolescent. He was about to speak when Mugi spoke again.

"The note said she's having a difficult labor, my lord, and she's asking for you."

"Anata, go," I gave his arm a gentle push. "Ayaka and your son need you."

"She's right, Kaname-sama. Some women need their husbands beside them to be able to push the baby out. Ayaka is probably one of them. We'll see you at the ooku," Mami a.s.sured him.

"Alright," Kaname said after a while. "Escort them back to the ooku," he instructed the female guards before hurrying towards the omote with his own guards and Taneyuki-san.

~~~

We were about to reach the gates that led to the ooku grounds when out of nowhere, six samurai warriors stopped our group. Their faces were all covered by masks, making it impossible to recognize them.

"Which one is the third wife?" the man in a kitsune[1] mask asked the one with the oni disguise.

"It's obviously the pregnant one!" the oni-masked man said. "Did you even pay attention to what master said earlier?"

Kitsune-man scratched his head before saying, "I was too busy eating!"

"Who are you and what do you want?" Mami spoke while positioning me behind her protectively.

"We were instructed to take the third wife with us," the man in a kappa[2] mask said. "We will not hurt anyone if you just hand her to us."

"Are you idiots?" Mami sneered. "You're actually attempting to kidnap Lady Hinata in the shogun's estate? You lot are asking for death!"

"We were able to come to this part of his estate without attracting any attention, do you still think we're just ordinary men?" kappman laughed. "Hand her over to us or everyone here dies!"

"As if we'd let you!" Mami grabbed one of the female guards' swords and launched an attack at the man. "Maids, secure Lady Hinata! Guards, don't let these suicidal men come near them!"

"Hai!" everyone but me answered her.

The female guards followed her orders and attacked the other five masked men. There were ten female guards escorting us and all of them had impeccable sword and hand-to-hand combat skills. Their strikes were sure and strong but they were still women and these bandits were not inexperienced men.

I was so worried about Mami that I didn't notice that both her maids and mine have encircled me protectively. I was surprised to see that each one of them were wielding their own kaikens[3].

"Lady Hinata, we must go now! These men must have killed the patrolling guards so our best course of action is to hurry towards the gate to ask for backup!" Ryuko-san grabbed my wrist and pulled me away.

"But Lady Mami—" I protested but she shook her head. When I tried to check on the only real friend I have in the palace, she covered my eyes and forcibly dragged me away.

I heard both male and female voices screaming in agony, I wanted to go back and make sure Mami was not hurt but I was helpless against the maids. They were all focused on ensuring my safety; for them, the official wife's orders were absolute. I was crying and scared and worried, I didn't want to leave her alone…

"Where do you think you're going?" it was kappman! His mask was torn, affording us a look of the nasty gash on his cheek. He had a few other wounds but none of them seemed to be enough to stop him.

"Where is Lady Mami?" I asked him tersely. "What did you do to the shogun's official wife!?"

The man laughed and made a slitting gesture on his neck with his thumb. I stared at him in horror! No, this can't be!

"You're lying!" I screamed and tried to rush towards him but the maids stopped me.

"My lady, think of the children in your womb!" my head maid admonished me although there was a hint of sorrow in her voice.

"She's having twins?" kappman asked, surprised at this piece of information. "This will be fun. Looks like I'll be getting rid of three more precious lives today! My master will be very pleased!"

"You'd have to kill all of us first!" Yoko produced three shurikens from her obi and threw them in lightning-fast speed at the man.

The man tried to dodge them but was still grazed by the third one on the arm, causing him to drop his sword. Ayaka then moved swiftly, reminding me of the shin.o.bi that she is, and appeared beside the man. She then removed her kaiken from its mount and buried it on the man's left jugular with a fierceness I have never seen her show before. It all happened so fast , the man wasn't able to react. Blood immediately spurted out like a fountain as soon as she removed the sharp knife from his neck.

Seeing the scene before me made my knees give out and my skin clammy. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out! At the back of my mind, I saw and heard the maids panicking around me but I was too shocked to care. The man is dead and it looks like I'm saved… But… Where is Mami?

"Mami," I whispered. "Save her… Please, she can't die… My dear friend can't die…"

I felt myself being pulled up but my body felt like it has turned into jello. Several pairs of hands attempted to carry me but...

"Ahh, she's bleeding!" I heard someone scream.

"Lady Hinata is having a miscarriage!" a familiar sweet voice cried. "Quick, someone send word to the gates! Please!"

Miscarriage? Me? I felt something warm trickling down my legs. My eyes slowly lowered to look at my exposed skin and sure enough, streams of blood were flowing down from my inner thighs.

"No," my voice shook. I hugged my belly in a futile attempt to stop the pain. "No, not my babies! NOOOOOOOO!"

The world spun and my vision started to go black, the pain intensified as I slowly lost consciousness.

"G.o.d, please… Anything but my babies," I wept. "They're my everything..."

"Lady Hinata!" I heard the maids scream before eventually pa.s.sing out.

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[1] Fox

[2] River imp.

[3] j.a.panese daggers.