"What is that?"
"It sounds like..."
"A bell?"
...
"Harder!" The commander instructed as Akastsuki's wooden sword clashed with his.
It's been a couple of days since Zen along with Kiki, Obi and Mitsuhide left for Raxd fortress and Shirayuki went just north of there. Admittedly it was lonely having the only people she knew in the palace gone. Despite that she didn't let it bother her and put her all into training.
'Everyone's out working hard. I can't fall behind. I must be worthy of this new position Zen granted me.'
"Good that's enough. We'll resume tomorrow afternoon."
"But-" Akatsuki took a moment to catch her breath. "But I can keep going."
The commander gave her a faint smile.
"Easy now. As it is now you're not even supposed to be training. If you push yourself to hard then you'll never get better."
"Yes sir." Akatsuki said a bit disappointed.
He was right. After Akatsuki had taken the exam to become an imperial guard, she suffered a serious wound dealt to her by a bear. Not just that but as a drawback from going through days without her medication, her skin had been coated with nothing but bruises. Akatsuki was supposed to be in bed resting not practicing sword fighting.
"Now, go to pharmacist Garak."
"Yes sir." Akatsuki said once more and walked away.
On her way to the pharmacy Akatsuki noticed something odd. Although the change was slight it was noticeable. There were more maids that usual running around, and the guards seemed unusually focused. What was going on?
'Right now getting myself to the pharmacy is top priority, whatever is going on isn't of my concern.'
Just than an intense wave of discomfort hit her. Akatsuki would be lying if she said she wasn't in any pain right now. Ceasing all movement, she waited for the pain to stop. The redhead squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to keep tears from leaking from her eyes. She took deep breaths as she gently leaned onto the palace wall. Tears fell down her cheeks and Akatsuki cursed herself for it.
'Stop crying like a baby and pull yourself together.'
Akatsuki's vision began to blur and her knees felt weak. The floor was the only thing she could see and it seemed to be coming closer.
'Oh, I'm falling.'
Akatsuki was expecting to feel pain but instead a pair of strong arms caught her. Looking up at her savior the glare of the light made everything but his eyes blurry.
'There's only one person I know with those eyes.'
"Zen?" Akatsuki called.
The man was silent.
"When did you get-" After those words left her tongue she fell deeper into the arms of the blue eyed man that caught her.
"Are you alright?" The man asked her.
His voice was deep and smooth. There was a sense of familiarity Akatsuki couldn't shake.
"Yes I'm fine." Akatsuki assured, doing her very best to keep her voice calm and steady, however she failed miserably.
He said something but she couldn't make out what he was saying. As things went black she looked at the man who was now carrying her bridal style. Her leaf green eyes meet his sapphire blue ones for a brief moment. The blond hair was a clear contrast to Zen's snow white one.
"You're not... Zen..." Akatsuki mumbled.
As she leaned her head against the mans chest a name came to mind.
"...Izana... "
Hey y'all so this chapter turned out completely different from what I had planned. I finished rewriting chapter 2 so if you want you can check out the changes I made (although you don't have to). I just want to apologize for how long it took to make this chapter. My phone broke over the summer and I didn't get a new one until Monday. I'm truly sorry for the long wait especially since the chapter was so short but the next one will be longer. I'll see ya in the next chapter,
Nyah~