Asuka prayed the arrow did not leave the crossbow.
The bolt flew free, beyond the grasp of the frantic maiden whose hands failed to reach the projectile in time.
Asuka prayed the arrow did not fly true, for it to miss its mark and plant itself harmlessly against the far wall away from her sister.
The bolt cut through the air like a homing hornet, burying itself between the shackled white doll between her breasts.
A silent gasp escaped the little girl's lips before the room was deluged in a sea of horrified murmurs, coming from the Councilmen and the dressed guards who lined against the walls.
Asuka wished the girl before her was not Mariko. But how could her eyes lied to her when the girl, pinned with a bolt through her heart and a red bib forming down her snow-white dress... Was that of the very person she had returned to see.
"MARIKO!!"
No- No! This isn't happening!
Asuka stumbled onto her knees as she pried her hands from the death-giver crossbow, the other girl standing silent with a grimace on her face. The maiden wanted to run... Run to her sister to make sure she was alright, but her legs held no strength of their own. Not even her arms moved to her will, sprawled uselessly against the cold black floor.
...No...
A flood of memories returned to her mind, of the day she decided to leave the Yamihara Estate on the 150th year anniversary. The day where the servants, maids and her sister came to give her one last good-bye. The promise she made to her young dark-eyed baby sister... That fateful day.
"Be strong, Mariko. I will return some day."
Those words pierced the maiden deep inside, tearing at her very beating heart as if to sunder the life out of her being. Hot tears welled and overflowed down her cheeks, yet she could feel no sensation within her mind.
The promise she made... All but gone in a single second of life.
"<There, I have done what is required to prove my identitiy.>" The flame-hair girl threw down the cursed crossbow, turning to make her final statement to the Council. "<I am Yamihara Asuka, eldest daughter of the late Duke Yamihara Hiroi. I have come to reclaim what is rightfully mine.>"
The members of the High Court, discussing amongst themselves, whispered their verdict of approval. Their eyes turned to the Mistress, who promptly rose to announce her decision.
"<Your wish shall be granted, Asuka. Guards, arrest the imposter and throw her into the deepest of dungeouns. Let it be an example of what happens to those who try to usurp the title of a Caretaker of Akashima.>"
The guards, forming two columns of two, marched from their positions to the contestants in the center of the room. One column lifted the feeble girl onto her feet, lending their support in place of her own, while the other took hold of her arms in tight vice-like grips.
"<WHA- Hey, what is the meaning of this!?>" The arrested maiden protested amidst her struggling, upsetting the column of soldiers with kicks and curses. "<I'm the real Asuka, have you forgotten, woman?! Now let me go!>"
...what's going on...?
Asuka slowly raised her head as the commotion began to escalate, finding the other maiden being restrained by two more guards who abandoned their halberds to arrest her flailing legs. Her eyes turned to meet the cold, doll-like visage.
"<The true Asuka would never injure her younger sister willingly, imposter. Mariko's life is as valuable to her as the Yamihara name. Should you be the real Asuka, you would have known.>"
...So... Does that mean...
"...Heheheh... So is that it, old woman...?"
The flame-hair maiden, still restrained by the soldiers and surrounded by halberds, chuckled as of having come to a realization. The Council members stopped their low muttering and stared at the young maiden, unease washing over their faces. Suddenly, clouds of smoke erupted from the ground where the imposter stood. Halberdiers were thrown from their feet, crashing onto their backs in all directions even before the others had time to react. Asuka stepped back, strength having partially regained from the shock of urgency brought on by the surprised cries of pain coming from within the smoke as an unarmed guard collapsed on the floor, holding a growing red spot on his side.
"...So if I can't take this House by guile, I'll take it by force!"
The Imposter sneered as she stood, clad from head to toe in dark skin-tight garb, with a circle of hooded fighters brandishing their knives and claws in the middle of the room.
-Ninja!
The urgency of the situation snapped the flame-hair maiden from shock, just in time to avoid an airborne shuriken as it grazed her ear. The halberdiers rushed in to engage the clandestine fighters, the meeting hall turning into one frenzied battlefield within the span of only a few seconds.
Darnit-! What's going on here?!
Asuka ducked and dodged the assailing blades, returning a few punches at straying faces and bodies as they came into reach. Her eyes sought the Mistress, but a quick glance up towards the elusive woman's throne revealed that the members of the High Court had already been escorted out the room.
Oh, that's just great!
One of the ninja launched a clawed fist at her face, attempting to blindside the lass and cut her life short. Asuka leaned away from the deadly hooks just in time, delivering a cross punch clean across the assassin's face. Seeing him fall limp onto the floor, Asuka spun around to find out where her sister's body remained.
"Don't turn your back on the enemy, Asuka!"
A punch rocked the maiden's head, sending Asuka reeling along the black granite hall in a spinning world of flashing blades and darkened figures. Shaking her head, pristine blue eyes shot at the aggressor who stood mocking with hands on hips.
"I thought you could do better than that, Asuka of the Yamihara House. After all, you were a survivor in the Serenti those many months before."
The flame-hair ninja sneered, cracking her knuckles as if preparing herself for a fight. The woman had a very similar face to Asuka's own, but the twisted grin turned the ninja's face into one of haughty arrogance. A face Asuka abhorred.
"Why are you doing this, Imposter." The Yamihara maiden snarled, drawing up her guards with gauntlet-encased fists. "Why target the Yamihara House."
"My, my. I really can't tell you that, can I?"
The two stared at each other as the battle raged on all around them, perhaps oblivious to the fact that a single wrong step outside of their arena would be met with a half dozen blades through their backs. As if a leaf, blown in through the windows high above on the balcony, had lighted on the floor between them, the two fighters rushed in with fists cocked and eyes locked on their targets.
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