~Chapter 1-2 - The Hideout~

Taiyō sighed as he landed outside the city. He wasn't expecting someone that was supposed to become one of his royal guards to be a traitor. Maybe someone can help him prove that he was innocent.

"Hm, what's Princy doing here outside his castle walls?" a familiar voice asked. He turned to see the Silver Hood was behind him, perching up on a pole that held a dimly lit lantern. Taiyō sighed as Silver Hood smirked under her mask.

"What do you want, Hood?" Taiyō asked in an annoyed tone.

"My name is Mizuki, Mizuki Sutāraito," the female said to the prince. Taiyō glared as he repeated, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I heard what happened and saw you run. Figured you could use somewhere to be sheltered," Mizuki explained as she jumped down and landed on her feet with ease. Taiyō's eyebrow raised as he stared at her in bewilderment. "I know, blindly trusting you in showing you one of my many safehouses is not exactly smart. Which is why I have many of them scattered around the kingdom that is inconspicuous."

"Incons- what now?" Taiyō asked. Mizuki looked at him in surprise before bursting into laughter.

"You've never heard of that word. "Inconspicuous" as in not visible or attracting attention; not conspicuous. "Conspicuous" as in standing out to be visible and attracting notice or attention," Mizuki explained. Taiyō glared at her and she just grinned under her mask. "So you've never taken writing and reading classes before? Wow, no wonder I seem to outwit you all the time. Hell, you haven't noticed that thief is just now trying to steal your sword."

Taiyō looked behind and back to see Mizuki holding his sword now. She laughed lightly as she spoke, "My my, it is a pretty sword. Might be worth a lot if it were to be sold. Damn though, it's very light. What is it made of? You have to tell me. Please~"

"It's made of magnesium," Taiyō said. Mizuki stuck into the ground with a pout. "I don't like it anymore. Using magnesium for a sword is stupid. It would be better if it was made of iron or sunmetal."

Taiyō took his sword out of the ground and put it back in its sheath hanging from his belt. He caught up to her as they continued to walk along the empty market. Sneaking past guards and hiding from them so they weren't caught.

"Sunmetal? What is that?" Taiyō asked. Mizuki looked at him and said, "You never heard of sunmetal. Have you been living under a rock? Sunmetal and nightmetal are not only the rarest metals to find but they are both the lightest and strongest metals to use in a weapon. The Sun Kingdom was built on a, now abandoned, mine that is still rumored to be filled with sunmetal. The mines were abandoned due to their instability of it, if those mines were to collapse, so would the entire capital city. Nightmetal can only be found in the fabled Moon Kingdom and their mines."

"Fabled Moon Kingdom?" Taiyō raised an eyebrow. Mizuki sighed. She hopped over a small stone wall in front of Taiyō causing him to stop. She continued as she pulled Taiyō by his wrist as she spotted some guards. She ducked down behind some crates and pulled him down with her. A guard passed by and Mizuki led Taiyō towards the abandoned docks carefully. The scent of the salty sea filled the air as they got closer to Mizuki's hideout, they both got by the guards without being spotted.

"The fabled Moon Kingdom got lost to time due to a war long ago. No one knows what happened as the land was shrouded in fog, only those trapped in the kingdom know what happened. The goddess Ruina had to lock the kingdom away by a wall of thorns too high to fly over and too deep to dig under to keep the fog from spreading to the other lands. Only the mystical guardians can get in there as they can pull apart the thorny brambles. I don't personally believe in the legend myself unless I were to see it for myself, but I do believe its metal does exist since I've found some in the vault before." Mizuki stopped in front of a giant crate that was covering a hole barely able to be seen. "Would you look at that? We're already at my current home base. The other ones were raided by the knights while I wasn't there, but fear not, I always have a backup plan."

"It's just a hole covered by crates," Taiyō said. Mizuki glared at him and said, "Remember the word "inconspicuous". Come on. I'll show you around. I also happen to have some spare clothes for you to make you not look all princy. The guards are idiots, so just hiding your horn and wings will do the trick."

"Really? Mother needs to educate them more," Taiyō said. Mizuki giggled as she removed the crate holder to the side and pushed Taiyō into the hole.

"She should've educated you more about not trusting strangers," Mizuki laughed. She climbed down the ladder and pulled the crate back over the top of the hole. "There we go. Covered and secure."

"Why did you throw me down the hole?" Taiyō asked. Mizuki climbed down the ladder and said, "Guards were coming this way. Luckily, they weren't looking this way."

"Ass, I'm a next-in-line King and is to be treated like one," Taiyō demanded. Mizuki sighed and said, "Then I would be the lost royal of the fallen Moon Kingdom. Life isn't fair, Taiyō. It never was. You might've been raised in a castle all your life but now you're a wanted fugitive like me, dumbass."

"Hey, I'm smarter than you think. You're just a scrawny little guy that wouldn't be able to take me on," Taiyō ranted. Mizuki rose an eyebrow and said, "I'm not a male, Princy."

"Wait, you're a girl!? I thought you were a guy. You do look like one after all," Taiyō said. Mizuki removed her mask and hood to reveal her silver hair and blindfolded eyes. Taiyō waved his face in front of her. Gripping his wrist, Mizuki spoke, "I can still see normally, moron. The blindfold is see-through on my side, just not on yours. Also, my name is a feminine name, dumbass."

"Sheesh, sorry. It's not like I've seen you without your mask before or have actually been able to see your figure in the light," Taiyō said as he chuckled about Mizuki's non-existent chest. Mizuki took one of the pillows from an extra cot in her hideout and wacked Taiyō straight in the face with it.

"Shut up. It's not like I asked to be flat-chested. Besides, it's helpful since the guards are looking for a guy and not a female, so I'm able to hide in plain sight from them," Mizuki spoke as she threw the pillow back onto the cot.

"Ow, that hurt actually," Taiyō said. Mizuki burst into laughter, "Oh my seven. Ptttt, hahaha!!! You're such a wimp. Hahaha."

"Tch, I don't need to deal with this, I'm leaving," Taiyō said. Mizuki looked over at him and said, "You can't. That's a one-way entrance with the crate on it and the place above us will be crawling with guards soon."

"Won't they see the hole?" Taiyō asked. Mizuki shook her head. She looked toward the covered entrance as she spoke, "I covered the hole from our side. They'll just think that it was a mine entrance that gets covered up with a new covering each time a crate needs to go on it, but that's if they see it."

Mizuki patted Taiyō's shoulder and said in a cheerful tone, "We should get to bed. I most certainly have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, though if you wake up early enough, you may be able to catch me when I leave and won't be left to fend for yourself."

"Probably more stealing to do..." Taiyō muttered as Mizuki walked away. Mizuki left the room and came back in some different clothing. She wore a slightly oversized off-white button-up shirt and some loose black pants underneath. Her long silver hair was tied back in a low loose ponytail.

"Here, I brought you some clothes to change into." Mizuki handed him his night clothing which he took and went into the other room to change into. After he was changed, he came back out to see Mizuki was fast asleep.

"Already asleep, I could easily kill her here and now, but yet, she went to sleep," Taiyō muttered. He sighed and just laid down on a, now his, cot across the room after setting his things down at the end of it. "Hopefully tomorrow is going to be interesting."