While on her usual stroll, she caught Mitsuhide walking through the courtyard with his nose stuck in a book. Raising an eyebrow, Nanami greeted him from afar.
"Hello, Mitsuhide!"
"Huh?" He looked up from his book, coming to a stop upon seeing her. "Oh hey, Nana—whoa. What happened to you?" He inquired as she approached him.
"You say it in such a harsh tone. Do I look foolish?"
"What? No, sorry. That came out wrong. You look great. I dig the lighter colors. It's just a really sudden thing. Is there any reason you inverted your palette?"
"Yes..." She tampered with the brass bracelets on one of her wrists. "It was, um... how I was meant to look. I have the silver hair from my mother and the blue hair from my father. We all had the same eyes, but I inherited my mother's white horns."
"I see. If anything, I think it suits you well."
"Thank you, Mitsuhide."
He smiled, marking his place in the book.
"Is there anywhere in particular you were wandering off to?"
"Oh, no. I was just looking to greet everyone today."
"Interesting..." He raised a curious brow, and the smile that was painted on his lips changed into a bit of a smirk. There was a change in her; one he could quite evidently see. From where he was standing, Nanami appeared to be glowing in a brand new light. "Well, I was just off to see Zen in the training hall. Care to join me?"
"Sure."
And so, side by side as colleagues, they sauntered off to the training hall.
♡
The clacking of wooden swords echoed as the pairing approached the training hall. Zen and Obi were sparring one another as Kiki looked on.
"Hey, Obi?" Zen said through a clenched smile. "You wouldn't happen to be taking it easy on me, would you?" His voice was strained.
"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about, Master." A sly grin spread across his lips.
Suddenly, his amber eyes narrowed in the direction of the footsteps sounding down the corridor. Mitsuhide and a strange horned girl had just entered the hall. His mind tried to process who the girl was. As his vision finally settled on her better, he realized that there was only one person in the entire kingdom who had horns naturally grown in their skull.
That girl was Nanami.
His jaw dropped and he quickly lost interest and focus on the battle at hand. Swift and sure, Zen smacked the sword out of his hand. It slid across the floor, stopping just before the valkyrie. His nerves shook him back into his senses. Determined to finish the match, Zen swung his practice sword down at Obi. Acting quickly, he acrobatically flipped backwards, hopping from his hands back to his feet. In the whole ordeal, he'd disarmed the prince.
The match was over. They both panted; sweat dripping from their foreheads.
"Well fought as always, Obi. You seemed distracted, though. Something on your mind?"
"Yeah, actually. Her." He pointed at the Castanic, who'd bent over to pick up the practice weapon.
"Good morning." She greeted, making her way over to them. "That match was certainly exciting."
"Nanami?" Zen inquired. "Is that you?"
"Yes, it is."
"Interesting look on you. Is there a certain occasion for it?"
"No. I'm not quite sure what happened to my eyes, hair, and horns. All I know is that this was how I looked before..." She trailed off, finding that her mind remained stuck on the nightmare she'd seen last night. Left in suspense, Obi called her back to them.
"Before what?"
"Tragedy struck. I found out in my dreams that my village was destroyed, as the people were also slaughtered. A dark force invaded my home, Castanica, in search of a power of sorts. I don't know what it was or who it was that wanted it, but they wanted it very badly. I was the only one who survived the attack before Madame found me."
"So this goes beyond what you told me." Zen concluded.
"Yes. I...I had a family that was also taken from me at the time. I had to watch them die in front of me."
"Oh... wow, Nanami." Obi scratched the back of his head awkwardly as the rest of them beheld a look of surprise. "We're sorry to hear that." Analyzing the looks on their faces, the girl realized how she shifted the mood.
"Don't be! After all, I didn't come here to dull your mornings. I just came to say hello. I apologize for making the atmosphere more dreary."
Smiles crept onto their faces as Zen and Mitsuhide pat her on the shoulder.
"There's nothing to be sorry for." Mitsuhide beamed. "It's good to share your feelings every once in a while. It helps lighten a weight inside of you and makes it seem less of a burden."
"Really?" She sounded surprisingly innocent and oblivious. This earned wide eyes from the other four. They exchanged looks, ending their gaze with her in sight.
"Well... yeah." Obi scratched his head. "Talking helps. Sometimes it makes you feel better."
"I don't understand. Why would speaking with someone about your burdens make you feel better? Wouldn't that make you feel worse? And why would you want to share these burdens with someone else?"
"It's something to get used to." Kiki concluded.
"Miss Kiki, I've never heard you talk about your emotions." Obi said with a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Not much to say." Stoic as ever, she reflected his statement away.
"Humans are far beyond what I can comprehend."
"That's because everything is so literal to you." Zen placed a hand on Nanami's shoulder. "Emotions are a sensual thing. You feel them with your heart."
"How do you feel things with your heart? The purpose of the heart is to pump blood into your body." She scowled. But seeing the small smirks on their faces, she suddenly understood what they meant. "Oh. Well, I don't understand your way of feeling. It's too complex for me."
"Then... maybe we can show you." Obi suggested.
"Show me? How would you show me?"
"Yeah. How would we show her?" Mitsuhide further inquired.
"You can't tell me I'm the only genius around here." He chuckled. "We'll introduce you to your emotions. Happiness, excitement, surprise, affection. We'll make you feel them all."
"Interesting approach, yet surprisingly brilliant." Kiki commented. "It might work. That is, if we present it correctly."
"If Kiki's in, then I'm in." Zen showed a face of determination, which made the Castanic's eyes widen a bit. She'd never seen such confidence before. Soon, even Mitsuhide joined in and agreed to go along with it. All eyes were on her; kind smiles on each of their faces.
"So?" Obi nudged her. "Are you in?"
The girl bit her bottom lip, glazing her crystal blue eyes across each of their faces. These people, who she'd been enemies with not too long ago, were willing to help her experience life as a person; not an object nor a tool. A real, live person. There was a thought in the back of her mind, expressing how bothered she was by their want to help her. But they were being kind. Their kindness was more than anything she'd ever received in her entire life.
Releasing her now plump lip from her bite, she nodded her head.
"I'm in."