In Wait of Things to Come [complete]

[Rie Chou]

Tempers were running noticeably high - and so was Rie's own. To some extent, they were allies, but it was still impossible to trust each other. Especially seeing how much the prince had kept from them - though, deep down, Rie knew it wasn't really the prince's fault.
Which made it all the more aggravating.

He looked at Naia, knowing but not recognizing that he was one of his own men. Ironic, he thought, that the spy had came looking for information in underhand ways, but was now being openly given the information by the generals themselves.

[Sze Kamlong]

Rather than clear any doubts from the generals' minds, Akihito's reserved manner of speech was only making them warier. It was almost as if the prince was leading them on a leash, giving some information only to reveal that he was withholding more. He could sense, more than actually see, the frowns on Yulin and Rie's faces. He knew Rie Chou hadn't been an advocate of this idea in the first place, but even Yulin's resolve was being tested, and despite all the restraint he had meant to employ, Kamlong was not happy with this either.

"Prince Akihito," he said, taking a breath and closing his eyes. He had made the mistake once, and he would not resort to violence again, but they had given enough of their trust based on claims they had no way of verifying the truth of. It was about time the two foreigners learned to do the same. Compromise only worked if the other party met them half-way, after all. "Please explain everything, so we may decide on the best course of action. We shouldn't have to promise anything for that."

[Kwok Yulin]

Yulin pressed her mouth into a line, but her eyes flared. She was beginning to even doubt the idea of trusting these two with anything at all. They obviously didn't trust the three of them any, even if they weren't given much alternative. "Boy," she muttered, purposely straying away from his title of importance. Here, it did not hold much weight. "We're trying to help you, and we're hoping you can help us do that as well. There's a limit to how much slack we'll cut you for being unlucky and a noble."

[Koyada Akihito]

Akihitio looked thoughtful towards the inquiry, his eyes shifting to the right. "All right," he said, eyes averting back over the three Generals before his stare landed on Sze again. It was never more obvious that he had to explain everything to everyone. Although he could also sense Naia's tension and he let out a sigh. "To put it straight our Shogun is an inner conflict within Japan. Previous to arriving in China - the clan of people I spoke about - well, you see .. we formed anti-shogunate faction. With your main objective to have the Shogun handed over to you, they would be more of assistance," Akihitio stopped, wanting to let the information sink in. He wondered if Naia would be upset that he didn't tell him earlier.

"The leader of this faction will help infiltrate the palace and readily hand over our Shogun. However, to gain their help they will need to know I am alive. You are welcome to write out the letter yourselves but it cannot only contain words, it'll also have something that only he and I share." Obviously he was a little edged, his hands wringed together as his gaze became more intent. "The leader's name is Asai Yuuto, and he's General of Japan's military..." Slowly did his eyes drift towards the ground.

[Shizukiri Naia]

Do as they ask, Naia willed, still looking downwards and trying not to let his concern show. They already have no reason to believe us, so at least be forthcoming and don't give them more cause to withhold their trust...

Once again, he felt relief when Akihito's response was favorable. Truthfully, he had been somewhat eager to know just what was going on in Japan beyond what was spread about to cover the political unrest; he'd heard some about Asai Yuuto. From what he knew, the man was a strong leader with plenty of ties. Now, Naia just hoped that the generals would approve of this.

[Rie Chou]

Rie took an obvious effort in remembering the Japanese name. He doubted whether the situation was really as simple as the prince made it sound. Momentarily, he glanced over to Yulin to see what she thought of it.

"And you can guarantee this?" He turned to Akihito. "That your men will be willing to cooperate with us?"

Rie tried to pronounce "your men" as neutrally as possible, but still had a nagging worry that this prince was not much more than a figurehead of royal blood and did not have much true authority. He did not mean to be questioning the prince like this, but it was neccessary to confirm the possibility of the alliance.

[Sze Kamlong]

Kamlong let this information settle, looking back at his two fellow generals. This decision was not one that he could make alone. "What do you think?" he inquired quietly.

[Kwok Yulin]

Yulin slid her gaze to match her friend's, expression still hard and unreadable. She nodded once, curtly, hands still crossed over her chest. "I have no problem with that," she told him, rolling her shoulders slowly in a somewhat stiff sort of shrug. "Though, if he writes it in Japanese, how can we make sure he's not slipping some...unnecessary information between the lines?" She doubted this newly introduced persona - Asai Yuuto or whatever it was, knew how to speak in their tongue as eloquently as the prince. Few foreigners did, and even then it was still a highly exclusive type of education.

Kamlong seemed to hesitate, taking this into consideration. "Well," he proposed finally, "I guess there are just some things that we, in turn, will have to trust them about, without having confirmation." He lifted his eyes to look, seeking the last remaining opinion. "And you, General Rie?"

[Rie Chou]

Rie looked unconvinced. "Don't we have any translators on these grounds? Or we could put it to some translators to Chang'an - we shall have to put this plan through the emperor first anyway." Yet he sounded unsure himself. "But - if there isn't the time, this decision will have to be ours."

He fell silent for a while, thinking over it.

Finally, he said, "Let's have it then. I don't see many other options. And if we show them that we trust them, perhaps that can earn theirs."

[Koyada Akihito]

Akihito listened to the General's converse about the proposal, his gaze suddenly lifted. "It can be written in Chinese, too," he intervened, knowing Yuuto sat with him through Chinese lessons. "Like I said it can be written by any of you here but there will have to be something indicating that it's from me in there," he made sure to keep his face bland even though he felt eager inside.

[Shizukiri Naia]

Naia's eyes danced quickly over the faces of those present before returning to the ground. The generals had begun to look almost defeated; on one hand, he would rather have been on better terms than this if they were going to be giving their aid, but on the other, it did make him feel grimly satisfied, albeit in a nasty and selfish sort of way. At Rie's words, he allowed himself to start feeling hopeful. He just hoped that his luck would improve, that he wouldn't end up failing them.

Naia turned his eyes briefly on Akihito. He wondered what the prince had in mind to ensure Asai Yuuto knew that the letter was true.

[Sze Kamlong]

That made things slightly less complicated. "The Japanese are very learned, aren't they," he observed quietly. Maybe he should've paid some effort into learning their language - it would've made wartime exchanges all that much easier. "Very well then, we will trust you to write up an appropriate letter. So, now that we have settled on that matter, as we were saying, if we were to return you to Japan, would you turn your efforts into overthrowing this...Akiyama? Your Shogun."

[Kwok Yulin]

Yulin returned from her brief exit, after ducking her head outside to order the nearest guard to retrieve pen and paper. Finally, she thought, we can get down to business. However, seeds of doubt rooted firmly in her mind even before Kamlong had finished asking for confirmation - a hole in her plan. There was a limit to how much they could trust each other. Even now, that was obvious - despite their respective efforts, the way they talked and dealt with each other was still strained.

If it was so difficult to work together right now, how could they possibly expect the Japanese prince to stay true to his word when he was in his own country, instead of on enemy territory and without a metaphorical knife pressed against his throat every moment?

[Koyada Akihito]

Akihito held his breath, waiting for Sze's word. He knew they really had no evidence to knowing everything was true and the task of trusting an enemy wasn't easy. "Yes," he answered quite bluntly before elaborating. "This is something we started beforehand and so it is urgent to complete it as soon as possible." Now he was fighting the urge to break out into a wide grin, perplexed by everything seemingly falling into place.

[Kwok Yulin]

"Can we know that for sure?" Yulin said finally, breaking her bout of silence with a questioning frown. "I know we should be able to trust each other with some things, but to what extent? No ofense," she noted, nodding shortly at the prince, "but there's no way we can confirm that you'll actually be helping us once you're back in your own country. For all we know, you could just turn around and stab us in the back, and there'd be nothing we could do about it."