Soukoku OneShots

The Princess and The Mercenary *1*

"Joy is filling our kingdom these days and this is all thanks to your upcoming wedding, Princess Chuuya ..." Higuchi had a warm smile as she adjusted the princess's dress then slowly backed away when she finished and took some sheets with her. Before going out, she hurriedly added :"Ah ! They said we will be celebrating it for a whole week, isn't that great ? Your wedding won't be forgotten for a long time ."

Chuuya slowly went to sit on the chair beside the window then glanced at the blonde girl and gave her a soft smile :"Thank you, Higuchi ..." the girl didn't even notice the other's saddened eyes as she gave back a warm smile then went out to finish her work leaving Chuuya all alone inside that huge room beside that huge window. "I wonder if it worked ..." he didn't even fully thought of this when he heard a loud sound coming from the castle's garden, he fastly opened the window and glanced down and the sight sure made him cry, his hope ... his last hope was gone now.

He already tried to run away from the castle but never succeeded, his last hope was Tachihara, one of the guards who swore him loyalty. He promised he would help him but here he was caught by the other guards and probably will be executed for betrayal. "How did they even find out ..." the ginger thought as he laid on the bed crying, he had no other way to escape his cruel fate. His pain didn't end yet as his mother, the queen Kouyou suddenly emerged inside his room.

The ginger fastly stood up and wipped his tears then bowed down to greet her only to feel his mother's palm on his cheek as she angrily slapped him :"Unbelievable ! When will you ever be a little responsible ?! You even went to flirt with a guard to get his help ! No princess acts this way, Chuuya ! Really unbelievable !" Chuuya tried his best not to cry, he knew this would only make his mother more furious, he kept his eyes down shamefully as he still thought of how they found out till he noticed Higuchi standing beside the door and staring at him and she sure didn't seem as the Higuchi he knew.

"I trusted you ..." he thought as he remembered how many times she helped him to escape but always fail for some reason in the end, it wasn't that hard to guess that she was the one telling his mother each time he tried to run away. He felt sad, betrayed, disappointed in himself "Guess i should just give up ..." he thought as he was pulled into his mother's embrace who softly whispered "You're getting married with the next king of the biggest kingdom around, Chuuya ... how can you not want this ? You are the luckiest and you will even save all your kingdom by marrying him, you know how our kingdom is getting weaker after each day, if we don't make them our allies, it will be the end of all what your ancestors lost their lives for ..." she pulled away and had both her son's hands in hers as she stared at his blue eyes :"You are the princess of this kingdom, Chuuya ... this is your duty so be responsible and only focus on preparing yourself for your wedding next week ."

"I will, mother ..." there wasn't even sadness in the ginger's tone, it actually was ... empty, empty of any feelings, he already got enough of this to even care at this point. His mother noticed but knew there was no use to talk about it, she was already convinced that by getting her son married to Prince Fyodor- or sacrificing him actually, she would save her kingdom from getting absorbed by the powerful kingdoms surrounding it and falling apart.

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Later on, poor Chuuya was even forced to witness Tachihara's execution ... he made with the poor guard a life time promise, that they would live together once they leave the castle. Instead, the miserable guard only got such a cruel death. The ginger cried for being so weak, for making promises so lightly that they ended up costing the guard his life. At the sight of the other's corpse, he decided that no, there was no need for more sacrifices ... he will just give himself up to his cruel fate and live on with Tachihara's death on his consciousness for the rest of his life.