Kiroyuki's POV

'I wonder how I'll face Ryu... I'll be sitting right next to him while studying aren't I?... Ahh! My heart won't stop beating faster! Why am I like this!?.... At least I know my way now...but I have to go to my room first...'

Sighing to myself, I had just realized that I was speed walking towards my destination. I slapped my cheeks and tried to walk at a normal pace, but I my legs would still go a bit faster.

"What is wrong with me?... I'm just going to my room... Why am I in a rush?"

I bent down and slapped my knees and walked at a normal pace to my room and entered a dim light room. Hesitating, I turned on the lights and walked over to my bed. Bending down for me to kneel on the ground, I reached under my bed for a case and pulled it out of the dark. Smiling sadly to myself, I opened the decorative blue and white case with precious engravings and revealed a sword of beauty.... My Father's sword.... The sword that shall protect Hyoushou....

"I miss you guys a lot.... I'm sorry for not being strong enough... I'll take action this time.... I won't let our best ally Clarines go downhill.... I'll fix Hyoushou when it's time.... I'll take care of this sword within my hands.... Please watch over me!" Small tears rolled down my face as I clutched onto the sword tighter as the cold metal sheath made contact with my exposed arms. I wiped away my tears and stood up while closing the case and placing it on my desk. I tied the sword to my side carefully and smiled to myself.

"I should have two hours studying with Ryu until I met up with Izana at the guards training field... I wonder what Ryu would think of me..."

I snapped out of my thoughts and bolted out of the door. Once I had turned into a new direction from the hall of my room, I broke into a dash like I would in my castle back in Hyoushou. I ran down the halls as I came across the opened railings of the hall and jumped out and landed on my feet onto the soft green grass. I sprinted out of the outside sun and into the halls that led to the medical wing.

Reaching closer to my destination, I halted to a stop and took a deep breath in before entering the main room for the herbalist. I guess it's kinda basically chief Garak's office....

I knocked onto the door and announced myself for permission.

"Come in!" I opened the door cautiously in case if one of the herbalists were to carry something on their way out. Entering with no one in here besides Garak herself.

"Hello Garak! I haven't seen you in awhile... Oh yeah! Thanks for the suggestions for the food ideas!"

"No problem princess. It was a pleasure." I walked over to her desk where she was seated.

"I'll make sure to save some food and give it to the herbalists here." She chuckled lightly and leaned onto one of her hands and smiled.

"That's very kind of you princess. I assume you're here for Ryu?" I nodded my head as I felt my cheeks burn.

"Y-yes... Oh, you could drop the formalities. Kiroyuki would just be fine! I wanted to study with Ryu before my next appointment on the agenda!"

"Well he's with Shirayuki and Obi in the herb greenhouse." I tilted my head to the side with a confused face.

"Herb greenhouse?..." She nodded her head and answered for me.

"Well Shirayuki's own mini greenhouse to be exact. She got to keep a mini greenhouse in her care that she was in when she took the test. She did quite marvelous!" I gleamed in awe and had sparkles in my eyes.

"Shirayuki is really smart and pretty so I'm pretty sure that she'll ace any medical test! Ryu too! He's young and talented! That's why he's here in Clarines' castle as a court herbalist, right?!" I excitedly shouted as I was in awe and Garak chuckled at my reactions.

"It seems that you admire the two. Especially little Ryu. He is very talented and Clarines wouldn't like to waste talented people like him." I nodded my head and sweat dropped.

"Um... Do you know where's Shirayuki's mini herb greenhouse?..." I chuckled nervously as she nodded her head and gestured for me to follow her.

As we were walking, we made some small talk and I took account of the surroundings so that I could find this place again. Once we stopped, I gazed in awe of the greenhouse. It was surprisingly larger than what I had that the greenhouse would be... Garak knocked onto the cool shade of green doors and slide it open to greet the three. I popped in my head into the view and saw Ryu with a shock face with a tint of red on his cheeks. I too grew a faint blush and waved at them and Ryu.

"Hey Ryu, Shirayuki, and evil cat writer!" Obi and the other three sweat dropped but left it at that and Garak cleared her throat.

"Well I came here to bring Kiroyuki because she wanted to study with Ryu before her next appointment."

"Next appointment?" I nodded my head at Shirayuki and smiled in glee.

"Yep! I'll be introducing myself to the soldiers this evening with Izana!" They were all taken aback with confused and bewildered expressions.

"I don't know if I've already mentioned this or not, but I'll be training them most likely tomorrow morning... I thought you knew Obi?"

"Well yeah but I didn't think you'd be doing it this soon!" He scratched his cheek and his eyes diverted to my sword on my hip. I removed it from my side and held it with two hands.

"If you're wondering, I'll be carrying it with me from now on..." He nodded his head and diverted his attention to the herbs.

"I'll take my leave now. I'll be looking forward to the food Kiroyuki! Make sure to add some wine would ya? Haha, well just have fun for now! See you all later!" Garak cheerfully left with a smile and I tied back my sword to my side and greeted all three of them properly, but I kept the name for Obi. Eheheh... Evil cat writer....

"Ryu if you don't mind... C-can you teach me m-more about herbs?" I stuttered as I poked the tips of my forefingers together.

"S-sure... Since we're here in the greenhouse I can show and tell you about each herb..." I nodded my head in approval as he led me to the top aqueduct to start us off. I saw Obi from the corner of my eye and saw him writing in his weird notebook again....seriously...he really loves writing.... (Loves writing about people's embarrassing moments or ships.... Like Koro-sensei! For example, the episode when Mitsuhide was hypnotized!) I saw Shirayuki sweat dropping at Obi's action and I too was doing the same as Shirayuki.

Ryu told me of majority of the herbs in the greenhouse with lots of details and care while I kinda felt relived that we wouldn't exactly be sitting so close together. But he was still kinda close to me so I felt my cheeks burn majority of the time... Seriously! What is wrong with me! I guess kissing any guy's cheek would make me feel embarrassed!

It was almost evening so I notified Ryu. "Oh it's almost evening! I should go meet Izana! Evil cat writer, can you take me to the guards training field?"

"Sure miss Kiroyuki! Shirayuki, I think I'll watch the little princess' speech!"

"Ok Obi. Good luck Kiroyuki!" I nodded my head and turned to hear Ryu's words of encouragement.

".... G-good luck K-kiroyuki...." I felt my cheeks burn and nodded my head.

"Y-yeah... Let's go Obi! I can't let brother Izana wait!" He chuckled and nodded his head.

"You didn't call me 'evil cat writer'? Wow..." I pushed him out of the door with force and waved to the two herbalists and shut the door and followed the evil cat writer.

Timeskip
"Kiroyuki, you made it just in time. I see you brought an escort to help you with your directions." I pouted and puffed out my cheeks.

"I'm observing my surroundings to new places here in the castle and since then I've been remembering my way better and better! Give me credit for that at least!" He chuckled and nodded his head as he motioned for me and Obi to follow him. Once he had stopped, I saw a crowd of men wearing the royal guard uniforms of Clarines whispering and muttering in curiosity. I was kinda hidden to the side as Izana stepped up to reveal himself first and stood in the center of the front of where he was presented.

"As you may of heard, I've gathered only for now the first half of the royal guards to meet someone very special who shall help you in your training. It'll be like this from now on. You all are the first half of the guards while the second half of the guards will revive the same as what today and tomorrow will have what you guys will have. The same shall go for the soldiers."

I could hear mutters of questions and confusion and theories.
"Someone new is gonna train us!/ I bet it's going to be some buff and scary guy that's gonna train us till we drop!" Obi and I were sharing a small fit of giggles, but stopped when Izana gestured for me to appear.

I smiled lightly and revealed myself from my hiding spot and heard gasps and whispers of shock.
"W-what?! It's a girl!/ It's a kid?!/ Isn't she the young princess of Hyoushou?!/ She looks only to be 12!"

"Please give your attention to princess Kiroyuki. She'll be training you guys from now one with your new given schedule." Everyone silenced as I kept my smile and bowed at a ninety degree angle.

"Greeting young strong souls! As addressed, I'm princess Kiroyuki and I'll be training you first halves of the guards tomorrow. I'll be handing your guys' new schedules tomorrow after the training and the same would go for the second half but with different days along with the soldiers. You'll all be trained by me and I guarantee it that you'll all improve under my wing..." I paused for a moment to only close my eyes and to reopen them with a serious expression of determination.

Izana's POV
'There it is again... I see the fire in her eyes.... She'll do excellent....'

"You may doubt me and my skills since I'm a girl and because I'm only 12..." Gasps of the on point mind reading that Kiroyuki did made them silent after a few scared whispers. I mentally chuckled at these silly men and focused on Kiroyuki's speech.

"Well I can tell you that I excel in swordsmanship and archery. Not only that but in hand combat too. I'm the proud daughter of the country of Hyoushou! It's fallen because I'm weak! But that didn't mean that I couldn't improve to get stronger because I did... I've grown and now it's my turn to help you all shape up to help contribute to protect Clarines! For the people! For your family! For yourself! I'll train you till the end and I promise that I'll stay by your side and too grow strength to protect you guys too! So, do not prevail now and I know you all can too get stronger..."

Kiroyuki unsheathed her sword and pointed it into the air as she gleamed in the sunlight. The guard all shouted and cheered for Kiroyuki as she lowered her sword down.

"Everyone would meet back here at 6 o'clock in the morning sharp. Get rest for now. It'll be a long day. Until then, I wish luck!"
They all left back to their duties or to their dorms for rest as I could still here chatters of wonders of Kiroyuki.

'She's even surprised me with her speech too... I sure do hope to see improvements, but I'm not too worried because I surely know she will...'

"Heh, evil cat writer! How was that?!" I glanced over to Kiroyuki and saw her poking Obi's shoulder as he looked quite speechless.

"T-that was surprisingly really cool...."

I walked over to the two and patted the tops of Kiroyuki's head and she turned to face me with a smile.
"You should rest before tomorrow too Kiroyuki."

"But I have to create their schedules!" She pouted and puffed her cheek again. 'She always make my guard crumple up when she does that....'

"It's okay, I'll make the schedules. You've done enough work planning for the ball and such. You need rest before you can't train the first half tomorrow." She pouted and puffed out her cheeks once more, making my concentration falter and nodded her head in an understanding gesture.

"Fine... I'll be retiring then... See you later Izana and evil cat writer!" Kiroyuki sprinted off into the distance and took a sharp turn to the corner. I chuckled out loud making Obi stare at me in a questioning and shock way.

"I could laugh at times too silly attendee.... She's too adorable... Plus what's with the funny nickname?" He scratched his cheek and shrugged.

"I-I guess it's because I tease her about Ryu and I look like a cat and because I'd always write cute moments of her and Ryu your majesty."

"Oh just drop the formalities Obi. Tell Zen of this news because he'll be responsible of checking on Kiroyuki daily when she trains them."

"Sure thing Izana" Obi too ran off into the distance while jumping up onto ledges of the castle.

'I guess Kiroyuki changed me.... She's a nice member to the family here in Clarines...'