The quick run towards the exterior of the palace was usually felt like a short distance, but now as she was running, she couldn't help but feel something odd and eerie coming from her. Almost as if the decision to follow her Lord's wishes was a horrible idea.<em>He's too kind and it blinds him sometimes</em>, she thought to herself in her head. As the wind blew through her long white locks of hair. Slightly furious that she had been put to do work that was ranks below her, although she knew her father would have done the same without a blink of his eye. Hoishi tried to be more and more like him everyday, so she held her head high and followed the orders of her true ruler.<em>Whatever Lord Tenshin says,</em>she kept reminding herself. Her body continued to quickly run through the radius of the palace, before she came to a sudden stop. Seeing a small light off in the distance near the guard tower. "I thought Adviser Gorou said there wasn't anyone sufficient enough around to check," she said as she spoke to herself. Her eyebrows pushing themselves together in thought. Instantly she dashed towards the guard station.<br/><br/>Finally, in what was probably just a few years that felt like years to her, Hoishi reached the guard station. Quickly and frantically swinging the door open to find a few sitting there around a table. Instantly they rose from their seats when they saw someone of Hoishi's rank walk into the station. Curiously, she noticed that they were all there accounted for and also higher ranked guards. She tilted her head to the side a bit, as her mind swarmed with thoughts as she began to think in her brain and leave her mouth in the form of questions towards the guards. "How long has it been since the last time you patrolled the grounds?" she quickly asked of them, narrowing her eyes as she waited for an answer. Her hands dropped to her side and hung tensely in fists as she waited for the answer.<br/><br/>The men responded to her stumbling a bit over their words, wondering what Hoishi was doing at the guard tower along with her temperamental attitude. Some of the feared that they were possibly going to be stripped of their rank, because it looked like they were gambling rather than standing near the gates like they were supposed to. Hoishi would bring that up with their boss at some other time, but she was more focused on the answer to her current question.<br/><br/>“<em>We did the normal patrol earlier today, and have just gotten back to relax for a few minutes. We will get right back to our second patrol in just a bit, Hoishi. Is there something amiss</em>?” The main guard finally asked, as he stood from his seat and grabbed his katana which had been resting up against the table. "<em>Are there threats of criminals coming into our palace?</em>" The guard seemed worried, as the men around him went to grab their weapons too. All of their movements were done in an almost in a comedic synchronization. Hoishi curiously wondered if these men were really the smartest and the most skilled to protect the palace and the Lord from threats from the outside.<br/><br/>The words hit Hoishi like a brick wall. How could she have been so naive and stupid thinking that the guards had slacked off? And how could she have been so stupid to leave her duties as a bodyguard? Hoishi could hope that this wasn't a devious scheme and that it was just the adviser being rather stupid. But, that seemed so unlike the man that she had randomly encountered around the palace. Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong. And Hoishi's face displayed how lost in thought she was, as her hand tightly gripped her katana at her side. Her ice blue eyes looking down towards the ground, as she realized her next course of action was rather obvious.<br/><br/>Quickly she snapped back to reality, realizing that there was something amiss and she had to protect the Lord, but she didn't want to stir panic. "No reason," she began to say to the guards with a calm tone, noticing their weapons lower as she said. "There was just a misunderstanding, carry on with...whatever it is that you're doing. And make sure you're not late for the later patrol, I'm afraid that something may be amiss. " That was all that she was going to share with the guards, but they seemed to take her words as more of a direction than a warning. Hoishi nodded and calmly walked out of the guard tower, before she was in reasonable distance away from their eyesight. Hoishi looked behind her, at the dark skies and the little light she could see radiating from the candles in the tower. Instantly, her body moved and dashed towards the palace. Her slender body running through the grassy gardens as fast as her body could take her. Some branches and other foliage began to get into her way, but her quick reflexes pushed them aside. No matter how fast she was, she felt as if she couldn't have gotten there fast enough.<br/><br/>A stone in her stomach made her very uneasy, knowing that she had just made a horrible mistake leaving the Lord's side. All she had to do was make it to his quarters, and she could see that he was perfectly fine and standing. And all this worry would disappear from her mind and body. She just had to confirm that he was alright, and that this was all a misunderstanding. Not a horrible and devious plot to murder the Lord. Hoishi found herself at the palace, dashing through the confusing corridors and hallways, until she found herself at room she knew well. Hoishi looked a the paper thin material stretched between the wooden blocks. Her hands hesitated as she grasped on to the latch, and pulled the door to the side. Letting it slide so she could enter his room, "Forgive me Lord Tenshin, but..."<br/><br/>There was no reason for her to continue the sentence, as she saw an unconscious and pale looking man laying on the floor in front of her in a pool of dark crimson blood. An emotion came over her that she hadn't felt since they brought the news of her father's death to her. It was pure panic, and she instantly rushed towards the motionless Lord that symbolized the only family that she had left in this world. "No," she rushed to him, as her wooden shoes stepped in the pool of red blood that formed around him. Hoishi dropped to her knees, as the blood splattered against them. Not caring that she was completely destroying her clothing and staining her skin. Her hand went to look to his stomach, as she saw a very odd looking dagger placed deep inside of him. It was the death of him.<br/><br/>"It's my fault, I should have never felt," she started to whimper to herself, as tears started to form in her eyes. Rolling from her sky blue eyes down her cheeks, dripping down into the pool of blood that was wrapped around her hold. Her hands went to his neck, as she raised his head. Feeling his cold and lifeless skin, and her palms lacked the feeling of the vibration of his pulse. Hoishi had killed many men before, and she knew what a dead body felt like in her arms. Again, Hoishi cried over the dead Lord, before she moved her hand to the dagger. Knowing that it was the only clue of knowing the murderer of Lord Tension.<br/><br/>Sadness was replaced by anger, as her hands grasped on the hilt of the intricate dagger. As she pulled up from his body, still feeling the stain of his body sucking the blade in. It was a good thing Hoishi was strong, because she would have had trouble pulling the dagger out of his body. Her face strained, but she finally was able to pull the blade out of his body. Holding it up to the light as she looked at the blood of her ruler and idol glisten in the light of the candle. "Whoever did this is going to die," she muttered to herself.