14 Conflicts (1/2)

Ai sighed tiredly as she rounded a corner in the alleyway. Thank goodness, she managed to lose that lunatic. She didn't know what he wanted but she also didn't want to wait to find out either.

After telling Hayama that she needed to go to the restroom, Ai made a full sprint and left the restaurant. Hopefully, he had some money on him?

Ai immediately shook away her thoughts. Why was she feeling sorry for that lunatic? Deciding not to dwell on the matter any longer, she made her way back home steadily.

Out of a sudden, a commotion caught her eyes. Many groups of military men were rushing about on the streets as they went around the shops asking for something. They were holding some sort of scroll and asking the shopkeepers if they had seen the person on the scroll.

Ai took a look at their military insignia. It showed a red dragon on a black shield. Wait! Isn't that the emblem of Omaru Defence?! Why are the defence forces in the city?!

In Shinto, there were two types of military services. One was used for internal affairs and acted as police for people of Shinto and they were led by Yamato Magistrate. The other one, which was led by Omaru household, was called Omaru Defence and they were the external defence forces of Shinto.

Gnawing her teeth, Ai wondered. The defence forces rarely appeared in the city and were often assigned to guarding the borders. Yet here they were. Something fishy is going on.

As Ai pondered on that thought, a wind blew and she caught a glimpse of what was on the scroll. Holy smoke, it was a painting of herself!

Being shocked silly, Ai wondered why were they looking for her. Was it because she disappeared last night? Or did she somehow offend the Omaru household? But employing the army to look for a missing girl? That seemed a bit... extravagant. Ai is not a criminal! (Author: But she is a smooth criminal! Annie are you okay?)

Though curious, Ai wanted to find out what was going on before getting caught so she made a move to walk away. Just as she was about to, her eyes collided with a pair of familiar cyan blue eyes.

”Where are you running off again, Ai?” Akiyo asked with slight amusement in his voice. He just found her and the lady was trying to escape once more.

Hearing that, Ai had no choice but to face the reality so she slowly turned around. Akiyo was looking at her with an amused expression while the rest of the soldiers ceased their actions and turned to look at them.

With every eye on her, Ai felt sweats forming on her forehead as she desperately racked her brain on what she had done wrong. Yet she wasn't able to come up with anything so she decided to ask Akiyo helplessly, ”Akiyo, what's going on?”

Akiyo smiled softly at the vexed girl and gently reached out to smoothen her brows. Ai was subconsciously frowning.

”Well, since you disappeared last night, things turned chaotic at the ball so we had been out looking for you. So where did you go?” Akiyo asked as he held Ai's hands in his, while subtly checking out her body if she had sustained any injuries.

Even though Akiyo had said this, the truth was that there was almost a bloodbath last night. A few hours after Ai had left the ballroom, Kit went out to check on her. Yet the boy had come back empty-handed with almost a crazed look on his face. He mumbled continuously that ”Ai is gone” while his eyes frantically looked around the room as if looking for something or someone.

Seeing that, Shion Hozaka immediately walked over to Jin's table, flipped it and grabbed his brother by the throat until the latter was dangling in the air. The scene was downright brutal and even a trained general like him got the chills. Though he and his brothers were especially skilled in martial arts, being generals of an army, they were caught off guard by surprise and Shion Hozaka was a large man with substantial inner strength.

Miko Yamato had screamed and yelled at Shion Hozaka to let Jin go, but the young master of Hozaka ignored her and gritted out four words that made Jin exploded with anger.

”Where. Is. My. Woman?”

Finally snapping out of shock, Jin grabbed hold of Shion Hozaka's arm and twisted it, freeing himself from the vice-like grip of the latter.

”How dare you call her your woman! You are courting death!” Jin yelled. His face red with anger and hatred.

Akiyo had enough of watching them from the sideline so he had redirected their attention by telling them that they should instead try to find Ai now before anything happened. Immediately Shion Hozaka left without saying any words. Looking around the room, Akiyo realised only he, Jin and Miko were present and the rest of the people had left the room.

Seeing his brother in anger, Miko Yamato had stepped in and told Jin that she would ask her father to help assist in the efforts in finding Ai.

Though Jin had agreed and thanked her gratefully, Akiyo didn't trust her words. According to Ai's story, this lady was not someone to place his trust to and hence, he immediately rode a horse to the borders to brought back some of his soldiers. He was still a young master of Omaru household and second-in-charge general to the Omaru Defence. It was pure luck that he found her before others did and he couldn't be happier to find her safe.

Back at present, Ai felt guilty for causing so much trouble and bowed her head apologetically.

”I'm sorry, I had too much drink and needed a rest so I went to the nearby inn.” Ai apologised, leaving the part of Hayama since she didn't want people to misunderstand.

Akiyo shook his head and caressed her hands gently, ”It's fine as long as you are safe, let me escort you back”.

Just as Ai was about to nod, another presence suddenly appeared and grabbed her into a tight hug. Seeing the familiar military insignia on the person's chest, Ai immediately struggled to break free. There were only two people in Shinto who could wear that badge on their chest, one was Akiyo and the other was his brother, Jin.

”Why are you resisting so much? I only embraced you because I was worried about you.” Jin said with a frown on his face as he pulled away to stare at Ai. The lady didn't have any problem with his dumb brother touching her and he only hugged her, she started to wiggle away like a worm on salt. He was not happy!

Ai glared at Jin with hatred in her eyes. He was the cause that made her get drunk, why is he acting all concerned and warm now.

Shrugging away his arms, Ai moved to step away. She didn't want to deal with Jin and her headache from this morning was getting worse. But Jin was hurt by her coldness. Everytime that he tried to get close to her, the lady only had negative reactions: anger, repulse, disgust and indifference.