The real Prince

New thoughts

Zen's head was spinning. He felt that his heart would surely have to jump out of his chest if one more commotion happened that day. As if the incident with Mitsuhide earlier had not been enough, now, in the night, Shirayuki had also disappeared from her room, which Prince Raji had obviously neither guarded nor locked. He felt hot and cold in turns when he remembered that only 10 minutes ago he had wished something would happen to resolve the situation in his room and that he was almost relieved when he heard Obi's unusually loud voice from the hallway. His thoughts drifted back to the moment when Mitsuhide, who must have entered the room so quietly that even Zen had not noticed, had put his hand on his shoulder. He, of all people, had not been supposed to see what had been on his desk at that moment... But his clumsy, insanely embarrassing hiding action had hopefully prevented that.
However, his thoughts couldn't really fixate on this moment, he seemed to be preoccupied with something else, but he couldn't really grasp it... His shoulder felt hot where Mitsuhide had put his hand down and his nose was still filed with the scent of his bodyguard standing so close to him...

"Zen? Zen, are you with us?" Obi looked at him with concern. "I know this hits you the most...I can relate..." '...more than you think,' Obi thought. Slowly, the prince's expression visibly cleared and he shook his head. "You're right Obi, we shouldn't waste time standing here worrying or accusing and threatening other people." Ouch. That must have referred to him. "Shirayuki needs us. Raji, you ask the guards if they've noticed anything unusual since we arrived. Mitsuhide, you and I are going to search the entire castle together, please get us reinforcements for that - the more the merrier. Obi" Obi, who had watched with satisfaction and reassurance as Zen regained his composure and radiated his usual calm and competence, now turned his head to him. "I know you've been keeping an eye on everything that has to do with Shirayuki. Is there anything you've noticed? Does she have any enemies here? Has anyone been following her?" Obi shook his head, secretly annoyed at this, even though he knew he had noticed and analyzed every single movement around the court apothecary and couldn't possibly have missed anything. Zen sighed. "Then we will have to search the entire kingdom. We won't sleep a wink until we find Shirayuki."

The light of the bright moon shone through the only window in the small, cold, stone-walled room where Shirayuki had been trapped for almost a whole day now. Her head felt heavy and her eyes flickered. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day and felt weak and dizzy. She did not know who had kidnapped her, the kidnapper had been able to hide his face well from her so far. The fright was still deep in her bones - in the middle of the night she had been awakened by a rough hand that had shaken her rudely by the shoulder, and when she had opened her eyes she had looked directly into the eyes of a masked stranger who stood beside her bed and in the next moment pressed a cloth into her mouth and swung her over his shoulder effortlessly. Her attempts to fight back were unsuccessful, even though she could still very well remember the defence techniques that Obi had taught her and practiced with her. The attacker was simply physically far superior to her and seemed to be very skilled in attack and defence techniques. Other than that, all she knew about him was that he was tall and muscular, yet slimly built. However, that didn't help her much.
Shirayuki sighed. She was a strong, independent woman and had been able to help and free herself from any situation with her own strength so far. Now, however, she felt more powerless and helpless than ever before. The room was in the roof of a high tower, the only window was barred and the door was locked and guarded. She longed for Zen, Mitsuhide and Obi, even Raji. She wondered what they were doing right now. Her heart grew heavy as she thought of the worries she was causing them. Lost in thought, she played with the hair ornament she wore behind her ear as usual. If only someone would rush through the door right now, that special someone who owned her heart... If he would take her by the hand and run with her over the rooftops and home... Home, where she could be with him again... 'Wait a second...' Shirayki thought to herself, 'Zen doesn't run and jump over rooftops... that's not his style at all, what am I thinking? ' She laughed nervously. 'It must be the excitement... Exactly, that's what it is,' she decided, but the fluttering feeling in her heart didn't subside and she guessed it had nothing to do with her current situation. It wasn't the first time she felt this way either....

Obi sat on a branch and rested his forehead on his palms. He had been sitting like that for some time, which had already earned him some snappy comments from Prince Zen and Prince Raji. He could understand their frustration, but that was just his approach to things, he could think best this. Personally, it was unclear to him how the wild running around in and around the castle was going to lead to anything, anyway. Whoever had kidnapped Shirayuki would certainly not hide her in a bush in the castle garden. He laughed bitterly. Shirayuki... His mind wandered back to the night before, when they had arrived in Tanbarun. She had looked so happy despite the exhausting journey, beaming at him with red cheeks ('surely from joy,' he had thought) as he took her arm to help her out of the carriage. Her words echoed in his ears. "I am really looking forward to tomorrow, Obi, it will be quite an eventful day." He dug his fingernails into his scalp. The glow of her eyes outshone even the dazzling red of her hair, highlighted all the more by the hair ornament he had given her. It made him so happy when she wore it. The glittering pendants, the flower on the orange gemstone... Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the light blue color strip of Popo fluttering back and forth above his head. Gemstone... Obi slowly lowered his hands. Then, suddenly, he jumped down from the branch to the ground and ran as fast as he could towards the castle.