My pov:
It's been a few weeks since we got to know each other, each week we rotate and stay over in each other's kingdoms.
I hum a happy tune as I stroll over to the area where Shinobu said to meet up. Ever since I met her, I have been having dreams of us..Maybe our past lives?
I chuckle at the children as they run past me, stopping in my tracks when I could hear a shout, more importantly, Shinobu's voice.
"Don't touch me!"
I peek around the housing to see 4 males around her, making me frown as she continues to shout at them.
'Should I intervene?... I know that Shinobu can always kick their butts..'
We both agreed to meet up in a neighbouring kingdom near the Butterfly Kingdom as Shinobu apparently caught wind of a festival going on tonight.
"Oh don't be shy, we can show you a good time here~"One of the males calls out in a sweet tone. I may have snapped a little when he grabbed onto her left wrist.
"OI Shitheads!"I yell, stepping from the corner.
"Pick on someone your own size."I glance at Shinobu, she nods lightly as a signal she was ready.
I grin as I crack my knuckles, "2 Choices here, Leave us alone and you will get off scot-free or..."
"You guys are going to face us." The group looks at each other before bursting into laughter.
"Looks like it's the hard way."I quickly rush up to one man, uppercutting his chin and sending him slightly upwards before landing on the ground knocked out.
Shinobu twists the guy's hand backwards as he was still holding on, making him cry in pain as Shinobu pins him onto the ground with his arm on his back.
The 2 other men were in shock, allowing me to swiftly deliver my elbow to the man's stomach on my left. Shinobu had tied the man that was pinned on the ground with a ribbon before moving on to the last man. The last man tried to land a hit on me with a heavy wooden stick he had found on the ground, my back was facing him as he approaches with the wooden stick.
"Like heck you do!"Shinobu quickly stops him by throwing a small dart, making him fall.
"Wow, just what did you hit him with?"I poke his head as he struggles to move.
"Just a plant that has paralysis properties.No biggie."She shrugs before a group of people comes running towards us.
"Is that law enforcement?..."I whisper as they were shouting.
"Better not stick around to find out. Come on!"She immediately grabs my hand and dashes out of the 'crime scene'.
We chortle as the wind rushes through our hair, making quick turns until we can't hear any more shouting.
"Haha...Now that was some good stress reliever for me."We stop to catch our breaths.
"So are we still going to the festival?"I question as I lean on a brick wall.
"Is that even a question?"Shinobu runs through her hair, smoothing it out.
"Mm, I don't know... Those men didn't seem to be too friendly here."
"I'm sure us 2 can handle them if they ever try again."She finishes retying her hair, turning to face me.
"Now come on! We have tons of events to enjoy!"She drags me out to the kingdom's centre where most activities are held.
We spent most of our money at the games booths, although Shinobu didn't get many prizes. I sweatdrop as she gives me puppy eyes.
"Alright All right, stop giving me that look."I look away as her hopes were too much for me to look at.
"One more time Mr."I pass him a gold coin.
'She's lucky that I am good in archery.'I internally sigh as I pull back the bowstring.
'Mm the wood is flimsy, I won't lie..So let's aim a bit higher..'I let go of the bowstring, letting the arrow fly a little shaky but it still lands right in the middle.
"Heh Bull's eye."I smugly look at the man as he stares at me with his mouth agape.
"Alright! Nice going!"Shinobu happily grins as she chooses a prize.
She settled for 2 hair clips, an orange snowflake and a purple butterfly. She hands me the butterfly and kept the snowflake.
"Shouldn't I have the snowflake and you have the butterfly instead?"I clip it to the side of my hair.
"Nope, this way I can remember you if we were ever separated. The orange reminds me of your kingdom, while the snowflake is the other half."She brightly smiles as we walk.
"And I suppose the purple butterfly is to be a reminder of you?"I chuckle.
"Well...If you want..."She looks away when I glanced at her.
"Sure, I guess I will wear this every day now."I lightheartedly ruffle her hair as we stop at the kingdom's centre which is where the last event was at. The place was crowded as other people were chatting as they wait.
"What's the last activity anyways?"
"Mmm, That's a secret."
"Booo, You're no fun."I pout as I scan the crowd.
A few minutes pass until I heard a 'sizzle' sound, I look around to find the source. The sky then bursts into different rays of colours, from crimson red to royal purple.
.
Shinobu's pov:
The colours were so vibrant, I turn to face Haru to see how she was taking it. Her eyes were wide and her body was trembling.
"Haru? What's wrong?"I grab her shoulder to get her attention.
"I.."
I quickly dragged her out of the crowd to a quicker place. We stop at an alleyway, where she could calm down. She crouches down into a squatting position, her hands blocking her face.
"Better?"I lightly move my hand up and down on her back.
Her breathing starts to return to normal, although I could see some tears slid down her face.
'Just what happened? One minute she was fine and now she's a mess.'
After a few minutes, she quickly wipes her tears and smiles at me, "I'm fine."
"I know it's not my place to question but what happen?"I worriedly look at her as she stood up.
"I am fine! Really!"
"Haru."
"..." She stares at me before looking away.
"I had a bad childhood."She weakly says as she faces me.
"What do you mean?"I think back to the king and queen, surely they didn't abuse her?
"Not by my parents of course! I.."She trails off.
.
My pov:
I trail off when I caught a shadow at the entrance, a person holding a sword. I quickly pull Shinobu out of the swinging range when they attacked.
"Ugh, Just when I thought this couldn't get worse, "I grumble as I turn to Shinobu."Do me a favour, would you? Turn away and cover your ears, this won't take long."
Shinobu worriedly looks at me before agreeing, I turn to the person as Shinobu turns backwards.
"There's no need for words right Mr assassin?"I tilt my head as I walk towards him.
"Let's see if you can take a little heat."I flash a cold smile with my eyes closed.
'Time to do your job Inferno.'The temperature quickly rose to blazing hot, hot enough to melt metal as the person backs up, seeing how his sword was melting.
"Don't say I never gave any mercy when I let the first guy go."A claymore manifest in my palm, the claymore was the length of half of my height, ruby red as the tip was slanted. Although it may seem heavy, it was actually light as I drag it on the floor.
Flames surround the blade as I brought it up onto my shoulder, both hands grip the handle to support it.
I open my eyes to meet his gaze, full of dread and panic as I swing the blade downwards. The flames engulfed him swiftly, burning him to a crisp. I let go of the claymore, letting it disintegrate.
'May you have a better life next time.'I stare at the ground before tapping on Shinobu's shoulder
"Did you kill him?.."Shinobu asks when she couldn't find the person anymore.
"What?! No, just let Inferno absorb his body."I exclaim at her question.
"Absorb?! Also, who's Inferno?"
"Inferno is a being inside me, and by 'absorb' I mean letting him 'eat' the man. Although the flame is gentle to his body, I should be giving him the worst burn in history honestly. Why did you think he never screamed in agony?" I explained as I cross my arms.
"Right then... Who was he anyway?"She questions as we walk back to her Kingdom.
"..."
"Judging the way he was dressed, I would say he's from a group that is targeting me."I sigh as I remember the same person from the castle, wearing a black hooded robe.
"Why are they targeting you though?"
"Remember how I am first in line and I'm a princess? They don't like it that I am going to inherit that much power. Just imagine, a female that is going to lead a kingdom!"I joke.
"Right..I felt some heat from earlier, was that you?"Shinobu questions as the kingdom's gates come into view.
"Uh-huh, That was Inferno's doing."
"Now then I believe you should go and rest in the castle."I stop at the gates.
"You're not coming in? Kanae and Kanao wanted to see you again."
"Unfortunately no, I should head back to my kingdom. Good night Shinobu."I flash a small smile before leaving.
'If those guys won't stop, I am going to destroy them. I'm tired of having to live in the shadows for 19 years when they struck.'
.
.
~Flashback~
"Ugh!"I wince as the older man kicks me in the stomach.
"Stupid brat, can't even take a kick."He kicks me again before leaving.
"Are you okay?"A slightly older boy comes out from the shadows, he crouches down.
"It hurts..."I cry out as the boy pats my back.
"Shh, you did well when you took his beatings."The boy took me to the rest of the group in the corner.
"Is she alright Mako?"
"She should be fine after a bit of rest. I just hope the King and Queen can find us before they do anything horrible to us."Mako puts me down as the others surround me.
I was 4 years old when this happened, a kidnapping when I was asleep. Apparently, the kidnappers were slave traders, kidnapped kids to sell them.
Mako was a 6-year-old boy when this happened, his family had died when they came to harass the family for money. They were in debt so naturally, they couldn't pay up, leaving them to beat up until and leaving Mako in their hands.
Satsuka, 5 years old, daughter of 2 bread maker. She was taken away when the traders came in and destroyed the place and kidnapped her for money.
Kazemi, 5 years old, he's a farm boy. He was kidnapped when he needed to check up on the stables at night.
Then there are the twins, Hoshiko and Kaki, 4 years old. Both are orphans that were rejected by an orphanage due to not enough space. The traders saw this and happily kidnapped them when they were sleeping.
We were stuck in an unknown place with little food and water, the traders just love to beat us up when they were upset.
Every day we just hope that someone would help us until the worst came. A magic-user was taking it out on us. In this world, magic users were rare, only either descendants in the families or a 5% chance.
They were using explosive moves on us, leaving burns on our bodies.
"Please stop! She can't take it anymore!"Mako screams as I get blasted.
"Shut up kid, I didn't get into the army even after saying I was from a noble family."He glares at Mako, releasing more explosive on me.
"Oi, you better not damage the goods too much."A voice calls out from outside of the room.
"Whatever."He rolls his eyes before continuing the assault.
I soon started to blackout from the pain when a voice calls out.
'Such a poor descendant of mine, to suffer from nobodies. But I suppose it's part of my fault that you ended up like this. Very well, Let me end your suffering.'
The next thing I could remember was waking up in a white room with my parents staring at me.
Turns out I wiped out the whole place of the slave traders, leaving only the children unscathed. My parents found me when there were reports of fires that couldn't be put out spreading in an area where we were kept.
Since then I couldn't bear seeing any explosions on a large scale, small ones were fine. Doctors diagnose it as Ptsd and my parents decided to cut us off from the rest of the world until it was safer for me.
From then on, the voice always kept quiet unless I call them out. I was kinda lonely in the castle until my parents let me meet up with the kids that were with me.
They soon became my friend group, then my own secret army for personal tasks.
~End of flashback~
I sigh as I walk towards the gates.
"There you are."
I look up to see my uncle waiting for me with his arms crossed.
"Uncle!"I happily hug him which he returns.
"How's my dear nephew doing?"
I hum against his clothing before letting go, "I am fine."
"Let's get to the castle, shall we?"We slowly walk, him asking me some questions about my day.
"And what happened to that Shinobu girl?"
"Oh, I drop her off at her kingdom before coming back."
He merely hums as we reach the castle, "Good night Uncle."I wave at him as I enter.
"Good night Haru."