Chapter One

With a little too much vigour, Akane drove her sword through the mannequin's chest. She had absolutely no reason to, but she did it anyway after each practice as a sort of tradition to signify that yes, the fight was over and she had emerged victorious. She knew that her secret practices (which only she and a few friends even knew about) drove her companion and handmaiden absolutely wild, yet this didn't stop Akane from enjoying it, regardless of Mika's pretend scoldings.

"Princess? Are you finished yet?" She shuddered at her official title. Even though she had gotten used to everybody calling her it over the years, it didn't necessarily mean she liked it. It made her feel… sort of strange, and a little bit lonely. Still, the person who had called out to her was a stickler for rules and regulations.

"Ginoza-san," she called over with a smile in her voice. It always appeared whenever Ginoza did- he had become an elder brother and friend over the years. "Just in time as usual. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Princess?"

"And how many times do I have to tell you that calling you 'Akane' is the height of bad manners?" he replied quickly without so much as batting an eyelid. As usual, he'd brought a cool drink and a towel for her. She placed her weapon down and took the items off the older man, expressing her gratitude. For a samurai and one of the few assigned to protect her, he didn't seem like the nurturing type, nor did he look like it. She always thought he was much too gentle for a fighter, but she figured he must have a lot of talents if he was the leader of the group that made up her personal bodyguard. "Have you given what your father said much thought, Princess?"

"Ginoza-san, please stop calling me that," she corrected him, before answering his question. "Not really. I just got so angry at what he said that I just…"

"Came in here and started beating up a poor, innocent, defenceless mannequin." This earned him a jab in the ribs and a pout. "In all honesty, I don't understand why you want to fight. You have me, Kagari-san, Kunizuka-san, Karanomori-san, Masaoka-san and Hinakawa-san to do that for you. And that vanishing samurai you've taken a shining to." His eyes glinted as he glanced over to the young woman. Akane thought she'd hidden her affections for him rather well, but… "You don't get anything past me, you know," he reminded her.

However, she ignored him. "I don't like the idea of being completely defenceless. I refuse to be the damsel-in-distress- I want to be able to help myself too!"

"Well, if that's how you feel, it's not my place to tell you to change," he sighed. "Are you going to drink that? I made sure I chilled it before I came, so if you let it go lukewarm it'll be a huge waste!" Cheekily, Akane gulped it down. "You were meant to savour the taste…" he sighed and placed his hand over his eyes. "Whatever am I to do with you, huh?" However, he was smiling when he looked at her. "I doubt you'll ever get in danger. That's what we're here for."

"You guys really do have my back, don't you?" Akane handed the now empty glass back to Ginoza.

"We're your friends. Of course we do, Akane," her named slipped out, but it was too late. He looked furiously down at the floor, ashamed he wasn't following protocol. Akane could have laughed- did he think her father was watching, even now? "Um! Princess! Anyway… so… you should go and get cleaned up, or Shimotsuki-san will get angry at you again."

"It's alright, she doesn't mean it. She's just worried my father may find out!" she gave him one of her winning smiles, which had no effect on Ginoza, who stared passively at her.

With an almost inaudible sigh, he pried the towel off her and began to leave the room. Before he exited, he looked behind him at the flushed princess. "You will think about what your father said, won't you?" She nodded morosely in response. "And no more stabbing innocent mannequins when you do!" he joked as he left, leaving her alone. She laid down on the cool floor, and began to mentally brace herself for thinking about 'it', but before she had the chance to actually think in depth about 'it', she was interrupted by:

"Akane-sama!"

Ah. Mika. She sat up. "Hi, Mika…" she grinned sheepishly.

"Honestly, what are you doing? Did you have to practice today, of all days? You have quite the busY schedule tonight!"

"I do?"

"You do."

"Why, what's been planned for me?" If she was dealing with the people of the land (she vehemently hated calling them 'her people' or 'her subjects', since she was always of the opinion that each and every person had free will and belonged to nobody), then she would enjoy herself immensely (though she would never, ever admit that to Mika and especially not to her father). But if it was anything to do with 'that', then she was going to absolutely hate it.

"You're meeting several of your suitors, that's what, and you can't very well do that stinking of sweat!" Mika scowled. "And please keep in mind to not be as familiar with them as you are with me. You'd shame your father." She breathed heavily through her nose. "Fortunately for you, you have the best, kindest handmaiden in the land, who's already run you a bath. And she's put your favourite scent in."

"She is very wonderful, and I'm grateful for her." Mika turned her head away and blushed slightly at the praise, before snapping back to her usual self.

"She's also picked out several dresses for you and is actually letting you pick the one you want to wear today, since she's feeling generous."

"Well, it certainly makes a change," Akane replied breezily.

"Hey!" Mika snapped, before 'gently' escorted Akane out and dragging her to the bathing chamber.

The scent of a thousand flowers drifted from the surface of the water, and she noted Mika had even thrown some petals in. Akane knew why she was putting the extra effort it- it was likely she had overheard Akane and Yayoi's conversation earlier, which was Akane crying about a conversation with her father, and how unfair she'd found it. She cringed at the memory- she must have sounded like a real spoilt brat! She should apologise to Yayoi, who hadn't seemed to mind at the time. She had rubbed her head rather affectionately and told her that 'even princesses have the right to cry'. Mika jogged off with her slightly sweaty clothes in a bundle in her arms as Akane slid in the bath, the warm water soothing the anxiety growing in her chest. She finally got around to thinking about 'it'- the thing Ginoza had told her to think about; the thing that had made her cry to Yayoi; the thing that was making Mika put extra effort in today.

Recently, Akane Tsunemori, the daughter and sole heir of Emperor Tsunemori, had turned eighteen. And once the initial celebrations had died down (all Akane wanted was a quiet birthday with all her closest friends and one wandering samurai), her father had sat her down and started talking about marriage and how it was expected of her now. And how she'd be expected to find a husband quickly out of a set of chosen suitors, to continue the Tsunemori line and also merge two kingdoms together and make a large powerful nation. Marriage, according to her father, she'd noted with disain, was nothing but a way of gaining power, and never love. She was just a pawn to be carted around, a thing she'd hated all her life. She had never met any of her suitors before, and had been told very little about them, other than they were the son of such a fancy lord. And her father expected her to swear lifelong commitment to a stranger and even go so far as 'continue the Tsunemori line' with them? She felt like retching at the thought.

And besides, the closest she had to a 'suitor' at this point wasn't the son of a wealthy lord from an exotic land, but a rather shoddily-dressed, wandering samurai who worked as a freelancer for her father, a man around Ginoza's age. A man named Shinya Kogami

She had first met Kogami when she was twelve, and he was fifteen. He'd been travelling around with an older man at the time who had been showing him the arts of fighting, and it was at that point her father had forced him to swear fealty to him and his kingdom. He'd accidentally walked in on Kagari and Akane sparring, albeit very badly. He'd apologised, but then Akane had piped up, "You're a fighter too, aren't you?" Kagari had bonked her on the head and reminded her to be polite and formal around strangers. Kogami had nodded, saying he travelled around with his 'old man'. From then on, he began to show Akane and Kagari some moves, and they'd greatly improved. He hadn't quite realised just who she was, until later that day when his master had thrown him in the bath and scrubbed the dirt rather roughly and made him wear his best clothes, and then impatiently pulled him along to a meal with the king. He'd been sat down rather heavily next to his new friend, Akane, and waved hello to her and called her Akane-chan. It was only when she had been informally introduced as Princess Akane Tsunemori that he realised. Even now, his master joked about it- for such a wary and observant warrior, when it came to outside the battlefield, he was as useless as the rest of them. Akane had winked at him and told him it was alright to be her friend, and he had to come and visit her and practice with her and tell her tales from his travels. Soon, the two built up a solid friendship—he would be gone for a long time, but he always returned and stayed as long as he could. Every time, he'd bring back a plethora of presents, and almost endless stories. And then they would train together, and he'd always win, or 'let her win'. Akane respected him deeply, since he was the only one who treated her as an equal, not calling her Princess or sama, and he made her feel not-so-lonely. In recent years, he'd even bent his knee when he saw her and kissed her hand, telling her that was the custom in faraway lands, and she'd giggle, but accept with good grace.

He was the only person she had genuine affection before, and she wouldn't mind saying a too-cheery farewell to the Princess life and becoming a wandering samurai alongside him. But he would never allow her to come with her, and if she did, her father would probably punish Kogami, and she couldn't stand to see him hurt. She was snapped out of her reverie by Mika tipping water all over hear head. "Hello? Akane-sama?" she called out brattishly. "What shampoo do you want to use today?"

"I'd say seaweed, but-"

"I won't have you meeting your suitors smelling like algae! It'll reflect badly on me, y'know!" she reminded her, jabbing her in the back of the head.

"Okay, what about a flower one?" Akane shrugged, and Mika rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, what about, uh…" she spotted it out of the corner of her eye. "Rose?"

"The one that dog gave you?" Mika had a great scorn of Kogami, and Akane never understood why. But she nodded all the same. Begrudgingly, Mika poured it on her palms and rubbed it into Akane's scalp. "At this rate, we'll be late. Which is rather awkward, isn't it? It certainly wouldn't bode well."

"We'll say we were fashionably late- wouldn't want to seem too eager!" Akane joked.

"I'm glad you're smiling about it, but since when have you been the cool and sophisticated ice queen?" The two continued their chatter, about all sorts of things Mika had seen while she was away from Akane that day (when she was having the chat with her father about her future). Soon, she was pulled out the bath and energetically towelled off. She'd selected a pink kimono with hand-sewn flowers up the side, and watched Mika's deft hands quickly get her ready, as well as applying make-up, that made her eyes stand out even more. Quietly, she brushed Akane's long hair, as if focusing, before piling it all on her head in a style befitting of her station, before sliding an ornament in her hair, which was from Kogami himself. It must have cost him a lot, she thought to herself, and he still got it for me. I'll thank him again when he next visits. She waited as Mika dressed herself in formal wear before hurrying her out the room.

"Alright, you," Mika said as they headed to where she was meant to meet her suitors. "Remember, you're a lady- that means manners, formality and calling everyone by the correct honorific. Sama or dono is usually a good one to use with these fancy types. Another thing, no abbreviations or street chatter- it's always 'I am' not 'I'm'. And you don't 'want' things, you 'would like' them,"

"But hey, no pressure," Akane smiled bitterly, earning a glower from Mika.

"Walk straight and don't bite your fingernails- or your lip!" Mika warned. "And it's not that bad, you get to sit down all evening, and I have to stand up. And if it's any consolation, Ginoza-san and Kagari-san will be there for you to roll your eyes at, as well as the rest of your personal bodyguards. And I've heard whispers that a stray dog is coming for a visit in the next week or so."

"Shin- I mean Kogami-san is coming?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Mika rolled her eyes. "Anyways, here we are. Stand up straight now."

The doors were opened hastily for her and Mika's arrival, and Akane tamped down the nerves that threatened to choke her. She stood up straight, and smiled.