I think I'm losing my touch with this fanfiction business…Or maybe it's just me writing fanfic plots that I'm not really interested in…

Anyway, I think I prefer writing about royalty and castle feuds, stuff like that…I hope you'll like this one and I hope this will be as good as Who Are You?.

Enjoy!

Ten years ago…

It was the midsummer festival and a 7-year-old Heiji and Princess Kazuha of the Touyama Kingdom were playing out in the fields one night, the sky lit up with floating lanterns that mingled with the stars. The gentle breeze rustled through the fields as laughter filled the air in the distance.

SNAP!

Suddenly, a man cloaked in darkness reached out and snatched the girl from the ground, her green ribbon coming loose from her hair. Heiji jumped up and grabbed her feet.

"Let go of me! Heiji, help! Don't let him take me away!" Kazuha cried out as she squirmed.

"Release her!" Heiji said, leaping and biting the man's arm. He howled in pain and smacked Heiji off and ran.

"Heiji!" She screamed.

"Kazuha!" He cried out as he staggered up, blood bleeding freely from a cut behind his ear. He pulled out a whistle and blew on it, a high pitch sound coming out. The men far away heard it and instantly, several mercenaries were dispatched to hunt for the missing princess.

Heiji tried to follow, but his father stopped him. He protested, "I have to save her! She's my best friend! What if something went wrong! It's my entire fault."

"Calm down Heiji." His father said. "They will find her. You're too young to set off on your own. Besides, we have to have that wound checked."

The dark boy clenched his fists, resisting the urge to join the search as he worried about the fate of the young princess.

Several hours later, the soldiers brought back princess Kazuha, cold and tired. But as she spotted Heiji, she grinned and made a peace sign. Heiji grew mad.

"Ahou! What are you smiling for! We were all worried about you! Things could've gotten worse! You could've died!" He shouted at her. Now it was her turn to get angry.

"I'm not that stupid, ahou! He would've been gone right now if it weren't for me slowing him down! And besides, why are you being mad at me anyway? You weren't the one being kidnapped!" She retorted back.

Heiji clenched his teeth, trying to keep his jumble of emotions inside. After a long pause, he said, "Ahou!"

"Who's the ahou, ahou!?"

"I'm the ahou! If only I've sensed him, then you wouldn't have to have these bad experiences. I wasn't strong enough."

Kazuha's eyes widened and she grinned. She clapped her hand on his shoulder. "Well then, you'd have to get stronger!"

His green eyes burned with fierce intensity. "Just you wait and see, Kazuha. I'll be so strong, everyone will remember my name!"

Kazuha rolled her eyes. "Such a petty goal."

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing!"

She stuck out her tongue at him. With the incident forgotten at the moment, the two children bickered like they always did.

=.=

"Ahh~ I wish mother would lay off me sometimes!"

"Why? What did she do this time?"

"She told me to 'go out a bear a child or two.'"

"Pfft!"

"Heiji!"

Princess Kazuha glared at her childhood friend as he tried, failingly, to keep his laughter inside. Not able to bear it any longer, he threw his head back and laughed. Kazuha was red from head to toe.

The two of them were walking down the garden, talking and an occasional argument here and there.

"Ahou! Stop it! It's not funny!" Kazuha protested. He doubled over, his sides heaving. After a long time, he calmed down.

"Ohh man, that's hilarious!" Heiji chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets, his sword thumping behind him. He nodded his head at a passing soldier who bowed to him. "I mean, who'd survive after marrying you?"

"What did you say, ahou?!" Kazuha was about to deliver a kick when a messenger in blue and white robes just arrived before her foot landed inches from Heiji's face.

He trembled, saying in a quavering voice, "Princess Kazuha, you have a guest waiting for you in front of the palace steps."

Kazuha lowered her foot and exchanged glances with Heiji. She said to the messenger, "Tell them that they can wait in the parlor. I shall come and greet them right away."

With a bow, he ran off to deliver the message, glad to be out of the way of the famous fights between the two.

"Well, what do you think?" She asked him. Heiji frowned.

"I'm not so sure. That was a royal page, right? Then it might mean that the person requesting to see you must be a pretty important person." With a grin, he added, "He's probably the person you're going to marry."

"Ha! Like that's ever going to happen!" Kazuha said defiantly as they headed to the palace parlor, her long green skirt fluttering around her ankles.

"You're already seventeen and well fit to marry." He said. Kazuha glared at him.

"Ya wanna get rid of me that quickly, huh?" She said in irritation. Heiji shrugged.

"Just saying."

"Well, guess what, ahou! You're my knight so don't think you can get rid of me that easily!"

He did a mocking bow. "As you wish, Kazuha-sama."

Kazuha rolled her eyes as she went inside the parlor room. Heiji smirked as he followed right behind her.

=.=

"Good day to you, Princess Kazuha." A guy around Heiji and Kazuha's age stood up and bowed gracefully at her, his black hair shining in the sunlight, his blue eyes piercing.

Heiji became suspicious. Kazuha curtsied back at him. "Nice to meet your acquaintance. Who might you be and what is your business here?"

"I am Kudo Shinichi, heir to the throne of the Kudo Kingdom and I have come here to-"

The door opened and Kazuha's mother entered, her crown glittering, as it was so with her eyes. She smiled mischievously.

I have a bad feeling about this, Kazuha thought.

"Oh my, so you two have already met. Well then, I shall leave you two alone. Heiji-san, please come with me. We shall leave these two lovebirds for a while."

Heiji's mind grounded into a halt. "L-lovebirds?"

The queen's eyebrows rose. "I never did tell you, did I? Prince Kudo is going to be your fiancé, Kazuha."

You could hear a pin drop in the silence.

"WHAT?!"

Well, what d'you think? XD I hope you liked it! I know, you hate cliffhangers, but it'll get much more interesting…ehehehe…

Please review after reading this! See you in the next chapter!

Ja ne!

*crowd claps, leaves stage*