Yelling was heard outside the walls of the castle. The hunt was on. They had found one. It didn't take a genius to find out what it was. Demon. That was nothing new. The forest was full of them, not as many as there once was, but they killed at least one demon a week.

The prince sighed as he sat in his room, pale skin glistening in the moonlight from the water that clung to his skin from his previous bath, gray/blue eyes cold, thin eyebrows set in an eternal furrow, pale lips set in a frown, black hair styled oddly with an undercut. Wearing a simple white kimono with his black heko obi around his waist.

"Brother?" A quiet voice asked from the other side of his door. "May I come in?" The voice continued.

"Go nuts." He said, voice low and as cold as his eyes. The door opened to a young girl with hair as black as his, left down and went to her mid back, eyes the same shade of gray/blue, skin just as pale, expression just as cold. "What is it Mikasa?" She came in and sat in seiza.

"Why aren't you out chasing the demon with the other men?" The prince clicked his tongue.

"I just bathed. I don't want to become covered in fucking sweat. It's disgusting." His sister smiled softly, something her brother was unable to do.

"I understand. I prefer you stayed back. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She hugged him, but he didn't return the affection. "Sleep well tonight Brother. You will need to be up early to hear the report of the night's hunt." And she left, closing the door behind her. The prince looked out into his own, private garden.

Spring was coming to a close, the air was getting warmer. Cherry blossoms fell from the trees and landed over the ground while a few fell into the small pond, floating about like small boats on a lake. It looked as if it was raining pink flowers, and the prince would have admired the sight and found the pure beauty of it, if he didn't have to clean them up the next day.

He went over to his bed and settled down to sleep. As he went to sleep, he thought he heard a sound, like an animal whimpering, but dismissed it as he continued to sleep. The hunters would surely get it if it was dangerous. They were capable and never let a demon out of their clutches.

The next morning, the worst news was delivered at the meeting.

"What do you mean you let the demon get away!" The emperor roared, obviously infuriated.

"My Lord, we followed the beast all over the forest and around the castle, but then it seemed as though the trees came to life. I believe this is a demon of great power. And though we may not have captured it, one of my men wounded it. If we may, we would like to return to the hunt as soon as possible. We don't know what the demon is capable of, or if it has healing abilities." The emperor scowled.

"You may go. And when you return, you better have the demon's head!" And the room emptied. "Incompetence. I'm surrounded by incompetence." The prince sighed as he stood.

"There is nothing we can do Father. If the demon is of great strength, wouldn't it be in our favor to find a way to make peace with it, or find a way to control it." His father turned to him.

"Control a demon? That is unheard of."

"Yes Father. But if we were able to control it, and use the demon to our advantage, we'd be able to use it for war. It would increase our land's military power, and would be a weapon that no other land would have." His father was quiet, thinking this over, before smiling.

"I see your point son. You have a great mind and will make an excellent emperor." The prince bowed.

"Of course. I'm not worthy of your praise." And he was dismissed. As soon as the prince was out of earshot he sneered. "Damn fool. Feed his ego and promise war benefits and he'll do anything." His sister was walking towards him.

"How was the meeting?" The prince rolled his eyes.

"Boring. They didn't get the demon." Mikasa sighed.

"Did you talk to father about..." She trailed off. The prince nodded.

"He agreed. We should control demons." Mikasa frowned.

"Brother-" He held up a hand.

"It's the first step. I hate the war against demons as much as you do, but we need to wait until the time is right." Mikasa nodded. The truth was, they were half siblings. Mikasa being from the late empress, who was a demoness that was able to hold human form. The prince was from the first empress, a human through and through, but he loved his sister as if they had the same mother, and in order to protect his sister, the prince was trying to find a way to end this war.

"I trust you." She said, and continued walking down the hallway. The prince headed to his room to sweep up the petals that had fallen the night before. When he went out into his garden to sweep, he noticed small drops of red on the ground. With a closer look, he noticed that is was blood. As he looked, he noticed that the drops started at the wall. The prince followed the trail. The trail went under his small porch. He bent down to peek underneath, which wasn't far considering his small stature. What he saw made his breath hitch.

Underneath was a small, brown, two-tailed, fox.

"Oi, come here." The prince said, stretching his hand out. He could have used his broom, but he knew that it would only make things worse if the animal was hostile. The fox looked up slowly, golden eyes looking terrified. "I'm not going to hurt you. Come here." The fox back away more, and tried to growl, but it came out as more of a whimper. The prince sighed, kneeling on the ground.

"Come here damn it. I'm not going to hurt you." The fox backed up more and bared it's teeth. The prince pulled his hand back and sat down, looking at the animal.

"Brother?" He looked up to see Mikasa. "What are you doing down there?" The prince motioned for her.

"Come here." She got down and he pointed under the porch. "That. I think it's hurt, but it won't come out." Her eyes widened slightly.

"Oh my. I'm going to retrieve some bandages and food then. Stay and watch it, and don't scare it." And she left. The prince sighed as he stared at the fox under his porch.

"I only want to help you damn it. Will you come here?" The fox shook its head. The prince stared. "You can understand me?" The fox's ears twitched. "Well if you can understand me, come here damn it. I won't hurt you." The fox didn't move. The prince sighed. "I'm talking to an animal. Why am I talking to an animal?" He closed his eyes.

"Well, you can understand human language, so I might as well, even if it is one sided." The fox just stared at him and one of its tails twitched this time. "Will you come out?" The fox was about to take a step forward when Mikasa returned, making the fox continue to stay guarded.

"How is it?" She asked as she placed the bandages and food on the floor of the porch. It was clean, her brother had cleaned it yesterday and would clean it again today.

"I think it was about to come out, but you scared it." Mikasa sighed.

"I'll leave then. You know how to treat wounds. But keep it hidden." The prince rolled his eyes.

"I know that. If Father finds it, he'll kill it." The fox flinched and pushed against the wall behind it more. Mikasa stood and left. After a few moments, the prince tried again to get the fox out from under the porch.

"Come on, I won't let anything happen to you." The fox didn't move. 'Why the hell do I care about a stupid animal with two tails?' The prince thought. 'Because it might be dirty and come into your room. And as much as you hate to admit it, you're an animal lover.' The prince sighed, grabbing the food and placing it in front of him for the fox to see. It was a plate of fruits. The fox stared at the food, and finally began to move out from its safety.

"There we go you little pest." The prince said once the fox had gotten to the plate and slowly grabbed a fruit with its jaws. The prince took a good look at the animal and saw that it was indeed bleeding from its side. "May I touch you?" The fox flinched before looking up at him as the prince grabbed the bandages.

"I don't want to hurt you. I only want to help." He held his hand out to the fox, but it didn't move. "How else can I gain your trust?" The prince expected no answer, and he didn't expect the fox to write in the dirt.

Name was now in the dirt.

"If I tell you my name, you'll trust me?" The fox nodded. The prince sighed. "Alright, my name is Levi. What's yours?" The fox used its tails to write a new word.

Eren.

So... what'cha think? It's a slow start I know! And I don't know much about Feudal Japan besides from what I've watched from Inuyasha and read in fanfictions, so this is gonna be rocky. And I wasn't sure how I wanted stuff.