The Ninja and the Valentine’s Gift

     Akihiko the Stealthy Xweetok gazes at the shoji doors in front of him, discerning his master’s form in the misshapen shadow hovering over the writing desk in the corner of the room. The Stealthy Gelert has never been terribly sociable, but ever since the incident with the self-styled Pirate King Laurence of Kingsgrange, he has become especially reclusive.

     Akihiko sighs and kneels before the doors. “Master, I’ve brought your dinner,” he calls through them.

     Silence prevails for several seconds, and then: “Leave it there.”

     It’s the same answer Akihiko has heard for weeks now. So he lowers the tray in his hands to the tatami mat, bows his head, and departs.

     Eiji—or Leon, as Akihiko recently learned to be his true name, though he will always be Master Eiji to him—has shut himself away ever since that fateful encounter with his brother Laurence. It had been the shock of a lifetime for Akihiko to learn that his master was not of Shenkuu’s venerated nobility but rather the well-disguised younger prince of the tiny city-state of Kingsgrange in the foothills of Meridell. Just weeks prior, Akihiko had found himself unwittingly caught up in Eiji’s scheme to usurp the Kingsgrange throne only for things to rapidly go awry. Laurence, for one, had never desired to rule, but an heirloom ring pawned off for quick cash early in his flight from his kingdom had turned out to be a necessary artefact in the ceremony of ascending the throne. Without it, Eiji—Leon—could never hope to succeed his brother as ruler of Kingsgrange, a fact which the scatterbrained Laurence had failed to take into account.

     Sent into a rage upon realizing that the ring was long gone, Eiji then attacked his brother. But Akihiko had parried the blow and begged him not to destroy himself by slaying his own kin. That had stopped Eiji at the time, but ever since then, he has rarely spoken to Akihiko and even more rarely left his room. And while most of the servants of the household are clueless as to why the change took place, they are nevertheless uneasily aware that Master Eiji isn’t well.

     With his full of thoughts of Eiji and how his condition might be improved, Akihiko traipses down the manor’s main corridor and back to the kitchen. When he arrives, he’s surprised to find Iseul, the head chef, stirring a pot on the stove rather than cleaning it.

     “I’ve just brought Master his dinner,” Akihiko says quizzically as he steps inside. “Why are you still cooking?”

     Iseul huffs and casts him a withering look over her shoulder. “And?” she demands. “I hardly see how that’s any of your concern, Aki.”

     Iseul is a young Pink Aisha with more attitude than her small body should reasonably be able to hold. She has served their master for even longer than Akihiko, and despite her irreverence toward other servants, she adores Eiji beyond compare. Right now, she has her ears folded back against her head as she moves a wooden spoon round and round in the pot. The only hint as to what she’s making can be found in the fresh brown stain on her apron.

     “I was only curious,” Akihiko says as he goes to wash his hands at the sink. “Usually, you’re cleaning up by now, so I was surprised.”

     “Hmph.” Iseul taps her spoon against the rim of the pot and gestures for Akihiko to come to take a look. “Don’t you have any sense of urgency?”

     Akihiko peers into the pot, but the smell hits him before he even sees the familiar molten liquid inside. “You’re making chocolate?”

     Iseul resumes her stirring. “Naturally. After all, Valentine’s Day is only a week away. And I suspect Master will become even gloomier if he receives nothing at all for it!”

     “Valentine’s Day?” Akihiko repeats. “You think Master wants something for Valentine’s Day?”

     Iseul rolls her eyes. “Of course, you dummy. Wouldn’t you be sad if nobody around you considered your feelings on such a momentous occasion?”

     Truthfully, Akihiko can hardly consider Valentine’s Day a “momentous occasion,” but he suspects Iseul doesn’t want to hear that. “I think Master is preoccupied by other things right now,” he says instead.

     Like the other servants, Iseul doesn’t know why Eiji has suddenly confined himself to his room, and Akihiko has no intentions of disclosing his master’s personal affairs even to his most trusted servants. To his relief, she doesn’t press the issue of the source of Eiji’s perturbation.

     “Does that really matter? In fact, it makes it all the more pressing that he feel loved on such a special day.” She turns off the stovetop and reaches for a pink mold divided into little heart shapes. “I hope you don’t leave him hanging, Aki.”

     She lifts the pot and begins to pour the liquid chocolate into the mold. Akihiko frowns slightly as he watches her.

     “But in Shenkuu, we have White Day,” he reminds her at length. “Valentine’s Day is when girls give their gifts, and White Day is when boys reciprocate. Wouldn’t it be strange if I gave Master a gift on Valentine’s Day instead of White Day?”

     Iseul clicks her tongue. “Such fusty traditionalism. Does doing things the ‘right’ way mean more to you than making Master happy on Valentine’s Day?”

     She fills her last mold and uses a cloth to clean around the edges.

     “Of course not,” Akihiko sighs. He supposed Iseul is right. It won’t solve any of his problems, but perhaps receiving a gift out of love will show Master Eiji just how vital he is to all of the servants’ lives.

     “Then hop to it, little Xweetok,” Iseul says, shooing him away. Akihiko doesn’t bother to point out that she’s smaller than he is. “Let’s show Master how much we care for him.”

     But despite his intentions, Akihiko can’t think of an appropriate gift for Eiji. That afternoon when he’s finished his tasks for the day, he enters the market district with an empty head and only a vague idea as to what he should buy.

     The market district is festively decorated, pink and white lights strung up between stalls selling candy and flowers and paper hearts adorning every awning. Small children weave between the crowd, laughing as they chase each other down in pursuit of gifts and snacks. Vendors hawk their wares and haggle their prices in increasingly desperate tones, but Akihiko can find nothing that strikes him as something Eiji would enjoy. Iseul is already making him sweets, so those would be redundant, and Akihiko can’t say his master has ever shown any particular fondness for flowers.

     He’s about to give up and return to the manor for the day to give it more consideration when a stall off to the side of the main road catches his eye. Rather than the usual array of red and pink, this stall is inundated with a myriad of colours. Akihiko approaches, curious, and realizes that the colours belong to freshly cut gemstones.

     “Caught your eye, have they?” says the vendor, an older Green Bruce with a pair of half-moon spectacles perched on the end of his beak. “These are high-quality rocks, I assure you. They’re precut and can be incorporated into all kinds of jewellery—necklaces, earrings, rings.”

     “Rings,” Akihiko echoes.

     “Oh, yes!” The Bruce grins. “I even know a jewelsmith who’ll give you a pretty fair discount if you buy your gems from me!” He chuckles.

     Akihiko scans the table, his eyes finally landing on a deep blue sapphire. It matches both his and Eiji’s eye colour as well as the boundless sea.

     “How much?” he asks.

     *

     The jewelsmith works quickly. By the end of the week, Akihiko has in his possession a beautiful golden ring embedded with the sea-blue sapphire. He doesn’t know what the Kingsgrange heirloom ring looks like. He only hopes that it isn’t a one-to-one match with his own ring. His intention is to honour Eiji as the pillar of their household, not to remind him of what was lost.

     When Valentine’s Day comes at last, Akihiko wraps his gift in white paper and heads to Eiji’s room. He isn’t surprised to find Iseul already loitering there.

     “Hmph. So you came through after all, eh?”

     She’s cradling an elaborately ornamented box closed with a pale yellow ribbon. Her eyes fall at once to the item clasped in Akihiko’s hand. “It better be something good.”

     The two approach the shoji doors and kneel on either side of them. Eiji’s shadow is in its usual place, nearly indistinguishable from its surroundings. Iseul clears her throat.

     “Master,” she calls. “I have something for you.”

     The shadow doesn’t stir. “Leave it at the door. I’ll get to it later.”

     Akihiko looks to Iseul helplessly. But she shakes her head.

     “Master, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Akihiko and I have gifts for you! We hoped to deliver them to you in person on this special day!”

     There’s a pause that lasts an uncomfortably long time. Then: “Very well. But make it quick.”

     The shadow rises and splits apart. A few moments later, the doors slide open, and Eiji is standing before them.

     He looks far worse for wear than Akihiko has ever seen him. His eyes are reddish with sleeplessness, and his usually immaculate hair is disarrayed. His kimono looks as if it has been slept it at least once, crinkled and folded in all the wrong ways. He gazes at Akihiko and Iseul warily as if anticipating some kind of trick from them. But they only hold out their gifts and wait with bated breath.

     Eiji opens Iseul’s chocolates first. His face softens when he sees the heart-shaped treats piled neatly inside the box. “Did you make these yourself?”

     Iseul beams. “Of course, Master! Handmade from start to finish, just for you!”

     Gingerly, Eiji replaces the cover on the box. “Thank you,” he says. “If your cooking is as exceptional as it always is, then I am certain I will enjoy them.”

     He places the box atop a side table, then zeroes in on Akihiko’s gift. He removes the paper carefully as if afraid of ripping it. The ring tumbles into his palm.

     For a long while, he gazes at it. Akihiko shifts from foot to foot, wondering if perhaps he’s committed a faux pas in gifting Eiji the very thing that so unravelled him. But after a few tense moments, Eiji gives a small smile—the first Akihiko has seen in weeks.

     “This is beautiful,” he says, fingers scraping around the embedded sapphire. “But the craftsmanship is so fine that I fear this is a gift that’s far too expensive for me to accept.”

     With some manoeuvring, he manages to pop the sapphire out of the ring, to Akihiko’s astonishment. “As much as I adore this, I can’t accept something so expensive from my own servant,” he says gently, pressing the gemstone into Akihiko’s palm. “Please, sell this and recoup your losses. This golden band is already precious enough for me.”

     He slips the ring over his finger and admires it. Awkwardly, Akihiko folds the sapphire into his hand.

     “Thank you both,” Eiji says at last. “Your gifts are lovely and heartfelt. And they’ve improved my mood considerably. I will be sure to return the favour to both of you on White Day.”

     Iseul is practically glowing. “Thank you, Master!” she cries, bowing her head. “Thank you for always taking care of us!”

     Eiji retreats to his room without further ceremony, leaving Akihiko and Iseul alone in the hallway.

     “Do you think he liked my gift?” Akihiko asks after a moment, squeezing the sapphire.

     “Of course he did!” Iseul says exasperatedly. “You spent so much money that as your employer, he felt guilty accepting the entirety of your gift! But you showed him that you care, and it got through to him—that’s what matters.”

     Humming cheerfully to herself, Iseul prances off. Akihiko wanders off in the opposite direction, lost in thought. If Master could feel his heartfelt affection and gratitude, then that certainly is enough for him.

     Tomorrow, he’ll head back to the market district to pawn off the sapphire. It’s already served its purpose, after all.

     The End.