Chapter Five: Kunoichi

Aeneas continued to talk with the various people in Castle Aquila. But as he walked around, he quickly realized that he was being followed. Aeneas walked faster, but whoever following him seemed to be able to keep pace. Aeneas then went outside to the backyard where he was sure that there would be no people around.

“Show yourself!” Aeneas commanded. The young Inquisitor held his hand to a pistol that he had holstered.

A petite woman stepped down from window of Castle Aquila that would have been out of reach but for the most agile people. The woman had a pair of cat ears on her head, a felinid. The dark color of her ears and hair led Aeneas to point his gun tensely at the woman in front of him. But he quickly put it away as he realized that it was not necessary. He knew who she was.

“Kunoichi?” Aeneas asked in shock. He did not expect the daughter of the Zaibatsu’s CEO to be the one following him.

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The girl in front of him nodded. But she said nothing.

“Why are you following me?” Aeneas demanded. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Kunoichi stepped forward and handed Aeneas a flower.

“I don’t understand,” Aeneas said in confusion.

“Thank you,” Kunoichi said. Aeneas perked up as he heard those words. That was the first time she had spoken. “For being my friend.”

Aeneas then remembered his time in Tokio. He had been sent as the guard to the Papal Nuncio to the Zaibatsu. Aeneas had said a few words to her, and nothing more. He thought little of it but clearly his counterpart saw it differently.

“You’re welcome,” Aeneas said warmly. After taking the flower, he hung it on his shirt as a lapel.

“There you are!” an unfamiliar voice rang out. It was a feminine voice.

Aeneas saw an old woman with a jet-black hair running towards them. But unlike Kunoichi, she was no felinid.

“Your father had been looking for you, Kunoichi,” she scolded.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Kunoichi apologized softly.

The woman then turned to Aeneas and bowed in respect.

“Pleased to meet you, Lord Aeneas Aquilanus,” the woman said politely. “My name is Honda Suzuki, sister to the Zaibatsu’s CEO. And I hope my niece here didn’t trouble you at all.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Aeneas responded warmly. “Really.”