I raced across the courtyard, looking out for any guards on patrol. Not all of them would willingly give up their post for a young girl who claimed to be a captain of the royal guards.
"Over here!" Hiro's whisper beckoned me and I raced agilely past the last remaining bushes. I knelt down next to him, he was wearing a simple black blouse and jeans, and his shoes were that of a commoner's. He could fit in pretty well.
I shook my head. "You're going to be spotted and recognised immediately with your eyes."
Hiro grimaced and pulled out a cloak. His face was hidden decently enough. I nodded and pointed behind him. "I know that there's a backdoor round the side, we can use that as our exit and entrance."
He nodded and ducked as another guard walked past. I made a gesture to get moving and he did so, we crawled around the gardens for a few minutes before I found the small gate. We crawled through and snuck our way past the lights on the path leading us to the town downhill.
"Oh God," Hiro murmured as we walked past streets full of people who'd been kicked out of their homes for carrying the disease. Their solemn stares and agonising coughs were hard to ignore.
I led Hiro down the familiar back paths and soon the familiar rusty red washing line with the little porcelain figure to ward off bad spirits greeted us and welcomed me back down memory lane. I pushed the backdoor open and was greeted with the stale stench of human waste and urine. Clearly, my family had gotten even worse.
"Mamma, Pappa?" I called out, but all I got in response was a faint groan and I walked into the living room, both of them occupied the couches and floor. Their faces were pale and their arms and legs were skinny.
I didn't run to them like I last did, but when Hiro entered behind me, I slowly made my way as close as I knew I could go. I placed my hand out in front of Hiro as he went to step closer.
I shook my head and looked away from my dying parents. "They're too far gone, if they had been treated the last time I'd seen them…maybe you would've had a chance."
Hiro sent me an agonised look and pulled me into the kitchen. He pulled off his hood and shook his head to get his hair from his face. "Jae, I don't need to be next to them to heal them—I just need a thing of theirs and to be able to see them." He said.
I blinked and nodded, he really wanted to save them. For me? I frowned as I raced into their room upstairs and grabbed a ring Mamma used to wear before she was sick a few weeks ago. I grabbed one of Pappa's small stone figures that his father gave him.
I raced back downstairs and handed them to the waiting Hiro, not only was I worried about my parents and if drawing back their deaths would anger the spirits, but I was worried about Hiro. He could overexert his energy and possibly damage his lungs even more.
I would stop him, even if my parents died. I winced and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I had to keep it together. I swore fealty to the crown, I had to prioritise.
Hiro knelt down around three metres away from my parents, he was almost in the way of the backdoor path. I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and readied myself for anything.
Hiro closed his eyes and didn't move, the objects still in his hands. His body began to tremble and Mist rose from the ground, his hair began to lift up and around as he focused on controlling his power.
The ground started to crack and Hiro opened his eyes, he muttered something under his breath and the Mist slunk over to my parents. Hiro's mouth didn't stop moving, and when I strained my head to listen, he was repeating one word over and over.
Heal.
I leant forward, my elbows resting on my knees as the Mist curled around my parent's necks and waists. Then, without hesitation it poured into their mouths, an endless stream of gushed down their oesophagus and into their lungs. Their upper body began to jerk as the Mist sought out the problem inside of them.
Then I heard it, something I might've heard earlier if I wasn't so fascinated with the Mist attempting to heal. Hiro's wheezing as muttered the words over again.
"Healhealhealhealheal."
I raced over to him, the Mist lashed out and suddenly I was enveloped inside it. Hiro's wheezing turned to a painful cough and I cried out.
"Hiro, stop it—you don't need to kill yourself to do this!" This Mist parted and I raced forward to Hiro's figure sitting on the ground. He had one hand on the two objects on the ground and the other over his mouth. Blood dripped from the cracks between his fingers as he tried to cover up the obvious.
I tried to walk forward, to help him, to console him. To tell him that his life would always be more important, but in his eyes, his life has never been important—not even to him. I sighed as the Mist blew me back, pushing me away. Warning me with whispers in a foreign language. I wondered who would make him realise how important he was.
"Hiro, you're just as important to me as they are…!" I shouted, falling to my knees in defeat. If I couldn't have one thing, I couldn't have anything.
"Just one…Just one." I murmured, falling into a position where I was bent over and my forearms were a rest for my head as tears slipped down my face. Good God, what a fragile mess I was. Life knew that exact crack in your armour to make you fall.
The Mist cleared and Hiro fell to his side, I saw someone sit up through the slowly dying cloud. I peered up at them as they walked up to me.
"Jae?"
I sobbed and wrapped my arms around my father's waist. I hugged and hugged him until I opened my eyes and saw the Mist had cleared.
I looked up and saw Hiro lying on his side, unconscious. His breathing was audible, his cheeks were sallow and he was still curled in the same sort of position as when he wasn't lying down. His hand was still partially covering his mouth. I cried out in shock, I had completely forgotten about him. What kind of bodyguard was I?
I pulled myself gently out of my father's grasp and crawled over to him. I removed the hair from his eyes and watched his eyelashes stroke his cheekbones, his fringe was black in this light.
"Is that who I think it is?" Pappa knelt next to me and put a hand to check Hiro's pulse.
I nodded and removed Hiro's hand. I sucked in a breath and moved his waist so that he was in the recovery position. My fingertips and palms were covered in all the blood that had managed to escape from his mouth.
I blinked rapidly and grabbed Pappa's hand. I looked at him and it took only a moment before I buried my face into his chest. Wanting all this stupidness to go away, why did it come with a price? I felt tears slip out of my eyes and I sniffed loudly.
Pappa rubbed my back as I let out so much of the emotion I'd held in. "It's okay, it's okay." He said in my ear, hugging me hard like when I was little.
I shook my head and pulled back to look at him. "But it's not okay Pappa, I made him do this. I told him that you and Mamma had caught the new form of the disease and he wanted to help. He said that he could use his Mist to heal you…" I looked back at Hiro, he coughed and more blood dripped out of his mouth. He curled in on himself and his face took on the same as a small child experiencing a nightmare and didn't know how to wake up from it.
I reached for him and grasped his hand, and then I heard the sounds of guards shouting and people screaming. The sounds sent shivers down my spine. Pappa stood up and I reached for his hand. "Don't go!" I blurted.
Pappa smiled and kissed my hand. "I won't get into trouble, I'm going to see what all the fuss is about." I kept his gaze long enough for me to make my mind up and nod once.
He left and I looked down at Hiro. He reached out blindly and found my numb, dead fingers. I jumped and looked at him more properly. His dark eyebrows curled over his eyes as his lashes fluttered madly. His blood-stained lips moved as he muttered something.
I leaned in close to hear what he was murmuring. I frowned in confusion as I made out what it was he was saying.
"Therivertherivertherivertheriver."
I pulled back and his breath was hot on my face and he rolled over, out of his recovery position. I yelped in concern, but instead of placing him back in the position, I pulled his head into my lap and stroked his head, hoping that would help ease his mind.
I sighed and smiled when I met Hiro—properly—I realised how much of a girl he really was. Too considerate, dainty, compassionate. He looked like a girl. It was kind of scary to know he actually did have balls.
The sound of the door smashing had me looking up from the floor in a daze. Pappa was leading a group of people into the house. And I looked at him confused, why did he do it? Pappa knelt by my side and gently took Hiro's hand out of mine and moved his head to the floor. "They're guards in disguise, they told me that you ordered them to do so and watch out for you and the Prince."
I blinked up at the people and my gaze widened in surprise. "Oh, right!" I exclaimed. "You're all my squad…" I muttered, realising how much I'd achieved in only three short years.
I stood up and swung my arms aimlessly. "We need to move Prince Hirokazu as confidentially as possible, the hard part about this is that the Prince is in critical condition so we must—"
"Why is the Prince like this?" One of the guards asked. His gaze was wary as he looked at me and then at Hiro.
I sighed and ran a tired hand through my hair. "He tried to use his Mist to save this man and his wife," I looked pointedly at Pappa to make sure he understood what I was implying. "But he drained himself too much and only managed to save one."
Another guard piped up. "Why did he choose to try and heal only these two?"
I sighed and stared at Hiro lying at my feet. So much for keeping secrets now. "They're my parents—Hiro thought it was a good idea to risk his life to save them because he saw through me and I…" I looked back up at them. "I couldn't lie to him."
They all looked at me blankly and I frowned, we needed to stop talking and instead move our prince to a safer place. "Do you have a blanket or something we could carry him in?" I asked Pappa.
He nodded and turned around, facing—and ignoring—his dead wife and picked up the thin, decorated cotton fabric. He chucked it over to me and I ordered three people to pick Hiro up, one at his head, one at his middle, and one at his feet. I wrapped the blanket around him and they lowered him to the ground. I picked up the cape and chucked it to Pappa.
"Take care of yourself," I said to him.