Chapter 8

The men on the training grounds whoop and holler at the king and kuro as they duel. Shiro watches searching for weaknesses in the king's form, but he exhibits the strong defense of his daughter and the strong offense of his son. Shiro can't see how they would be able to defeat him without some semblance of weakness. His speed, his stamina, his mind we're all much sharper than Shiro's well maintained blade. And kuro was surely taking note. Much like his daughter the king hardly needed his sword to battle kuro, he moves about the grounds merely toying with kuro.

"Oh father",Misa says embarrassed "he doesn't have any sense of decorum at the moment " she says covering her face.

Shiro was curious about something, he knows the king cares deeply for his family. But how quickly would he be distracted? Testing this Shiro reached for misas face, pushing her hair behind her ear he says "there's something in your hair." Glancing at the king he sees that he's been distracted

"Oh thank you!" She responds with a smile

And with that distraction kuro had enough to knock the king on his feet. Breathing visibly in the cold air, Kuro smiles at the king, "looks like win this round" he says before striding over to Misa "water?" He asks.

"Oh right!" Misa ladles some water out into a cup he snatches her wrist impatiently bringing her hand and cup to his mouth. He gulps down the water snatching her waist with the other hand.

Shiro approaches the king offering him a hand up. He hesitates before taking it, "thank you" he says. Shiro nods but the king doesn't release his hand. He glances between the two men with suspicion. "You… did that on purpose didn't you?" The king asks.

Shiro does his best not to react and merely respond with "did what?"

Misa frees herself from Kuro and approaches them "water, father?"

He shakes his head, "I'm okay thank you" he looks at Shiro "what about you? Do you want to spar?"

"With you?" Shiro asks.

The king laughs "no I thought you might wanna spar with Misa" he says patting her head

"Oh yes, please spar with me!" She pleads "it's been such a long time. Since I had a good match!"

"Alright then," Shiro says

Misa hops "alright let me change!" She runs out of sight and Shiro removes his outer robe exposing his fair skin to the icy air

The king whistles "you're built stronger than you look, what weapon do you prefer?"

"Sword" Shiro replies

Misa enters the yard dressed in more suitable attire, her father tosses her a training sword. "After you she says bowing"

"Oh no you start I insist" Shiro replies.

"Alright," she says running to him. He readies himself, determining she is going to attack with an overhand strike. At the last second, however, she drops to the ground. As she slides between his legs she trips him onto his face. Without a moment of hesitation she flips around and onto his back. He reaches up behind her grasping her hair he tugs her away enough to flip her off his back. Shiro stands facing her again.

"Hah, you actually pulled my hair!" Misa laughs

"If you don't want your opponent to use it against you, then cut it"

She rushes him again this time attacking in a straightforward manner. He is surprised at the force behind her strike. Even though he had seen her in action twice before, it wasn't the sort of thing you could understand without experiencing it firsthand. He kicks her away counter striking with a jab, she deflects his sword up. If not for his strong grip on the hilt, she surely would have knocked it right from his hand.

They both smile eagerly jumping into a barrage of attacks and defense. It had been a long time since either of them had been able to spar with a worthy opponent. Princess Misa is used to her brother and father holding back, to fight someone who fights her as an equal, was nothing less than exhilarating. And Shiro had only found such a strong opponent in Kuro. A thought that should have concerned him but only exited him.

"Misa!" Prince Souma shouts, tossing another practice sword to her. Misa catches it changing her stands to fit duel style.

Shiro scoffs "you've just been toying with me, having you?" He asks?

"Not true!" She says confidently "I'm trying my best"

She attacks again, this time her strength doubled with her weapons. Shiro feels a strain in his arms just blocking each attack. He overwhelmed drops his practice sword , she levels both against his neck.

"I think you won" He says with a smile

She extends her hand to him, he takes it shaking gratefully. From the edge of the courtyard Kuro watches the scene, eyes full of daggers. He can see in Shiro's smile that he has formed an attachment. Shiro was Kuros biggest asset, no doubt. There wasn't any mind nor sword as sharp. But a great asset could easily become a liability should his priorities change. Shiro wasn't one to make rash decisions so Kuro decided to wait and watch. After all, there was only one way out of the black and white legion…

Practice continues and each of the men who spar against the king or his children, lose with little exertion from the royal family. Shiro and Kuro both search for flaws in the form of the three. They had difficulty finding one in the prince Souma, but after a few rounds, Shiro noticed that whenever a maid took note of his match he would become distracted momentarily. Perhaps women we're his weakness, but was it enough to distract him in a life or death battle? For moment shiro even considered dressing one of his soldiers as a woman but quickly shook the ridiculous thought from his mind

The princess was a strong fighter no doubt but watching her Shiro could tell that her strength drew from her passion rather than flawless technique. There was certainly room for error, but she wouldn't be easy to defeat.

Then there was the king, much like his son he was distracted by women, but only one girl in particular. The princess seemed to be his only distraction and as for his strength on it's own, there weren't any discernible weaknesses. no old wounds. never did he hesitate. never was he off guard. This was a battle that could easily be won by either party.

Shiro sighed in frustration. What would give them an edge over this kingdom? His eyes land on the princess who is surrounded by soldiers, she shows them tips to strengthen their form. The biggest weakness in the kingdom was definitely… Misa looks at him staring and waves in a friendly way. Shiro turns his head looking away. "I couldn't possibly use her!" He thinks. But why not? He couldn't give himself a good reason that he shouldn't use her for his plot. If he could take her captive he was sure the king and prince would all but give him the kingdom. Yet the thought just didn't sit right with him.

After a day of training the skies are dark.

"Alright everyone, good work today, get some rest" the king shouts

King jouchi approaches shiro and kuro slinging and arm over each of their shoulders "how about a hot bath gentlemen,the springs are perfect this time of night!"

"I'll take you up on that," Kuro says.

"I'm in!" Soumas voice echos from behind

They look at Shiro. He waves his hand "sorry, I actually want to get back to feed my bird" he excuses himself

Upon returning to his room he can see that Tsuki has just woken up, he tosses the grand bird a leg of chicken left over from lunch and sits at the desk. As he dips his brush in ink he watches it drip back into the container. Shiro spreads out a piece of parchment and begins drawing out plans for attack. He writes his observations down blowing on the ink to dry. Once he's finished writing he stows away the plans, heading for the baths, Tsuki on his back. Just as shiro reaches the hall where the baths are ,the prince, kuro and the king are on their way out.

"Oh NOW you come!" Souma says "well you're just going to have to baithe alone now" he finishes

"Pity" Shiro says, trying to contain his sarcasm.

He walks past the group of men. Upon reaching the baths he can see the princess reaching the women's bath at the same time "ah, shiro!" She says "I thought you had already gone in. With my father"

Shiro shakes his head "n-no. I had to feed tsuki…" he says

Tsukis head pops up when hearing his name. As soon as he sees misa he flies to her nibbling and grooming around her face, she giggles "hehe, shall we go in together then?" He nods as she disappears into the women's bath "I'll just take Tsuki with me." She says.

Shiro enters his side of the bath house, misas voice comes through the wall muddled. Giggling each time tsuki touches her. It is the exact opposite of relaxing for him. Even though it wasn't possible for her to see him, he still felt uneasy undressing knowing she was just a wall away.

"Shiro"

"Y-yes!?' He responds jumping

"It's cold out so make sure you bring a robe"

"Got it" he responds.

Once the princesses voice disappears into the bath he feels comfortable enough to disrobe. As he steps into the open air bath he is amazed at the view it comes with . The water is dammed by a man made wall of stone to create the spring fed pool. But the wall holding the water in overflows over a stop cliff creating a steamy waterfall. A large bamboo wall separates the men and women's bath. Shiro looks over the edge of the cliff, he can barely make out the ground from his spot on the cliff.

On the other side of the fence shiro hears misa slip into the water, a moment later tsuki lands on the top of the fence

"Do you bathe birds?"Misa asks.

"Sometimes, although tsuki prefers to decide when to bathe himself" Shiro replies, slipping into the water.

"Be careful it's hot!" She says

They sit together in silence. Opposite sides of the same pool. Divided only by the fence. Every move makes shiro can't help but note with his ears. Sparking his imagination he splashes his face with the hot water, but it doesn't help much. The sound alone gives him a perfect picture of what is happening on the other side. He dives under the water to block out the sound opening his eyes under the water, the hot liquid presses against his exposed iris, after a moment to adjust, he looks up at the moon through the water. it's delicate beams streaming through the soft pool. He holds his breath as long as he can before resurfacing.

"Shiro?!" Misas voice calls

"Yeah?" He answers

She sighs "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Tsuki was panicking, and you weren't responding"

"I just went underwater is all"

"Sorry, you're probably trying to relax and I keep making noise. Sorry, I'll be quiet now" she says

"Uh no… you're not bothering me." Shiro responds.

He himself was driven mad by the silence, because in it every tiny sound was amplified.

"The palace is very beautiful" he says " can you tell me about the architecture?"

"Oh sure!" He can practically hear her hopping. "My great great great grandparents settled these grounds. the emperor of the shima empire at the time wanted to settle this country, but it was so far from the capital and there were no sort of structures. Instead of coming himself, he sent a hard working talented craftsmen to build a palace for him. That was my great great grandfather"

"So you're not even descended from noble blood?" Shiro asks before quickly regretting it "sorry i didn't mean-"

To his surprise, She laughs "haha, it's okay, yes my origins are humbly common and I readily admit. My grandfather and his team didn't have much in the way of funds so everything you see in the palace we're locally sourced materials. As you're experiencing now, the baths are sourced from a hot spring, there are actually many intrastate tunnels under the palace that move the water throughout the palace. And much of the palace was made from carving it into the cliff side."

"How did your family become royalty?" Shiro inquires

"Well, the emperor was so pleased by my great great great grandfather's work and use of funds that he appointed him governor over the area. And that's the way my. Family stayed until the shinku war, my father was younger than me when he fought in it. The shinku emperor tried to invade this territory but my father fought valiantly protecting his territory. For his loyalty and bravery the emperor gifted him the entire territory as a king…" she sighs "I was raised a princess… but my father wasn't. I suppose that's one reason our sense of duty is so different."

"Your father loves you more than anything." He says "not everyone has someone like that"

"I'm sure you have someone like that." She says empathetically

"No i don't"

"Sure you do!" She responds "you have tsuki!"

He glances at the bird watching over the two of them carefully

"Heh, I think even he likes you better" shiro laughs

"Then…" the water swishes around her hips as she moves closer to the fence "i'll be that person."

His eyes Dart to the source of her voice and his face blushes, or maybe it's just the hot water "what?!' He says

"You can be my brother, I'm getting tired of mine anyway" she laughs.

"Oh that's what you meant…" he sighs in relief

"What do you say? Be my brother?"her voice says, sounding hopeful.

"Alright…"

Just as he responds fluffy flakes fall from the sky.

"Shiro look, it's snowing. Don't you think it's a sign?"

He looked to the side and saw a blossom blooming

"Perhaps…."