The Prince and the Samurai

The sun shines above the palace courtyard as a young man in a green and orange sleeveless robe is practicing his swings on a wooden dummy with a large flat wooden kanabō. A young lady in a pink and orange robe stands in a distant walkway watching the sweat on his arms make them glisten in the sunlight.

Shizuka sits there, leaning against the wall as she admires how much his form had approved since they were just kids.

He was barely able to swing a stick correctly and now he's swinging a kanabō with nearly perfect precision. Too bad he still can't beat me in a sparring match.

She giggles a bit at the thought of him admitting defeat and struggling to stay calm.

He's always been so competitive. And with Berryla he now has something else to work hard at other than training. He's been working so hard to make her feel at home and trying to be a big brother to her. It's so cute, reminds me of me and Fred. I hope they're doing alright and not trying to kill each other...Fred can be really stuck up and serious sometimes and she's so happy and full of energy.

She goes from gazing at the sky to watching Sterbk once more. She remembers the time when they were about ten and he scraped his knee because he was running really fast trying to beat her to the town's fountain.

...

"Sterbk, you're knee," Shizuka states as he's sitting on the fountain's edge.

"Hm, oh, must have been from when I tripped, haha,"

...

She can hear his laugh echoing through the air. She had taken him back to the castle and helped him patch it up. Than she starts to daydream.

...

"Hey, nice job out there!" Sterbk says as he runs over to her as she steps out of the arena.

"Man, they were tough," She says as she puts her katana back in its sheath, "But they underestimated me,"

"Everyone does, until you kick their ass," Sterbk notices something, "You're arm,"

"What?" She says raising it and seeing a small cut on it, "Oh, it's nothing,"

"Are you sure, I could go get some gauze and cover it up for you," He says, gently grabbing her hand.

...

"Shizuka? Shizuka?" She hears someone calling out to her. She comes back to reality and sees Sterbk waving at her.

"What?" She calls out.

"Would you mind coming over to check my form? It just feels like something is off,"

"Can you think of anything specific?" She asks as she enters the courtyard.

"I guess my arm, it just seems like my swings aren't quite where I expect them to be,"

"Okay, do a couple swings and I'll see," He nods and she takes some steps back to give him room. She watches him keenly as he swings at the dummy three times.

"Ready another swing but stay still, I think I see the problem,"

"Alright,"

Sterbk winds up like he's going to swing and freezes. Shizuka walks up to him and places her hands on his arms, adjusting them slightly.

"You're starting off a bit too high, and tilting your arms a bit too much," She says as moves them down a bit. She looks at the rest of his posture for anything else.

"Um...Shizuka," Sterbk says in a slightly confused tone.

"Yeah?"

"Are you, feeling my bicep?"

"What?" She realizes she's kept a hand on his arm and had been rubbing it slightly with her fingers, "Oh, no!" She quickly exclaims as she lets go of it, "I was just, caught up in my thoughts trying to figure out what else about your posture needs to be changed. Um, so far I don't see anything else wrong,"

"...Thanks," He says as he stands normally, "Anything wrong with my swing-"

"Shizuka," A soldier on the walkway says, "The new recruits are here!" They call

"Be right there!" She replies, "...See ya," She says and the two of them awkwardly wave goodbye before she takes off to the barracks.

Get those fantasies out of your head girl. He's the prince of Klyfland, you're no royal.

Sterbk watches as she disappears out of view. He heads inside to the bathe room to wash off. As he's washing the top of his back he looks at the arm she had kept her hand on. He stands there for a second staring at it before he places his other hand where her's had been.

I should have kept my mouth shut...Could she really feel that way about me? No, there's now way, she probably just sees me as an older brother. Besides, I doubt mom and dad would approve of me marrying or even dating someone whose not a royal of some sort.

He squeezes his arm a bit as he lets out a sigh before he finishes washing himself. Drying off and getting dressed, he heads off to the training field to watch her train the new recruits.

...

"How did you not realize you scraped your knee?" Shizuka asks as she gently wipes the wound with a wet cloth.

"I was focused on getting to the fountain," Sterbk replies.

"You need to focus on yourself too, or you could get hurt way more than this,"

...

She's told me that so many times. It's so hard to focus though knowing she's also at my side fighting. I know she's my retainer, but...I can't stop myself from jumping in the way when I see someone attack her.