I wake up to my maid standing by my bed waiting with my breakfast "good morning princess hina" she says and sets the tray down in my lap once I sit up. "Once you finish we need to get you ready for the day miss" she says and walks over to my closet grabbing a few different dresses and taking them to my bathroom to draw a hot bath. I finish eating my breakfast and head to the bathroom and my maid helps me undress and step into my bath. "So what is in my agenda for today?" I ask as she pours the warm soapy water over my head and body she turns a grabs a soft sponge and some new fancy soaps my mother bought and gently starts washing my body "well miss your mother wants to meet with you after your bath and then you have your classes and tea with the princess from another kingdom" she says and she rinses my body and starts to wash my hair. After she finishes with my hair she helps me out of the tub and wraps my in a soft pink robe. While she dries my hair another maid walks in and helps me pick out a beautiful pink ball gown. I step into the skirt of the dress and then pull up the bodice and then a maid ties my corset while another braids my hair. Then they powder my face and apply some light blush to my cheeks. I then slip in some black flats and make my way down to the thrown room. My parents are waiting for me but something seems off, I can not put my finger on it. "Hina sweetie it's almost your sixteenth birthday you need to find a suitor soon, it is almost time for your coronation" my mother states and my father signals to the guards and they open the doors and in come five princes. " meet these young gentlemen taishiro toyomitsu..." I ignore everything else he says and focus on taishiro. He is not like the others, the others are slim and thin and have longer hair, he is chubby and his hair is sort of scraggly and short. But his eyes! Those beautiful golden eyes. "So who do you want to spend the day with sweetheart?" My father asks "taishiro! I want to spend the day with him!" Taishiro smiles and I take his hand and run to the garden with him. "S-so princess hina why did you pick me of all the suitors?" He asks nervously as we sit down at a small picnic table in the garden and a maid brings us some tea and cookies. I smile "I don't really know but there's something about you that caught my eye taishiro" he gives me a small nod as he tries to pick up the small delicate tea cup I'm his large hand and it slips between his fingers and lands on the ground shattering to pieces "I'm so sorry!" He exclaims and frantically tries to clean it up "in my castle the teacups are hand crafted much larger for me so I'm not used to these tiny tea cups princess hina" I simply smile and ruffle his hair as a maid comes by and cleans up the mess "taishiro it is completely fine it was only one tea cup we have thousands of more" I take his hand and guide him through the garden "wow princess your garden is beautiful!! The roses look absolutely gorgeous- like you" he says with a small smile and I cover my mouth with my hand as a blush creeps across my cheeks. "S-so taishiro what do you do for fun?" I ask and he smiles really big "well princess does your family by chance own any horses?" I nod and we make our way to the stables and he pulls a horse from a stall "woah you have a beautiful mare princess" he says as he runs his hand over the horses black and white speckled coat. "Well thank you, although I don't really ride horses, these are all my fathers" I say and taishiro goes and grabs a saddle and starts to put it on the horse "well princess have you ever rode one before" I shake my head no and then I feel a set of large hands grab my waist and hoist me upwards, next thing I know I'm on the saddle with taishiro and the horse has taken off towards the fields. "Slow down!!" I scream as taishiro forces the horse faster. "Just hold on princess!!" He says as the horse jumps over a small stream and comes to a stop. "And that's what I do for fun princess!" He says as I jump down "that wasn't fun!! We could've died!!" I exclaim and taishiro just laughs "princess I assure you I know what I am doing when I am on a horse" he says as he gently pats the horse's side. He sits down in the grass and flowers and I smile at him and wonder off picking flowers. I return to where taishiro is sitting and sit with him and start braiding the flowers into a small crown taishiro watches in awe but I pretend not to notice, once I finish I stand up and place the crown on his head and he smiles "thank you princess hina, it's beautiful I will cherish it forever" I giggle "taishiro it won't last forever" he picks me up and puts me back on the horse and then gets on behind me. He wraps one arm around my waist and grabs the reins with the other and takes me back to the castle just in time, my teacher had just made it to the castle and my mother was standing outside waiting. "Hello mother!!" I exclaim and jump down and rush over to her with the biggest smile. She does not seem happy with me. "You are late" I look down "it was my fault your highness. I took her away for our time together, don't punish her miss" taishiro says as he steps down off the horse. "Taishiro I'm disappointed in you, of all the suitors I thought you would be the one to have her back before she was needed at the castle" my mother says and smacks tai on the cheek. Tears start to well up in my eyes and I rush to my room. "Hello miss hina, ready to change into a different dress? That one has been soiled" my maid says and I just nod. She then changes me into a light blue sundress and then there's a knock on the door and my teacher walks in. A few days later after a few hours of lessons I make my way downstairs to the kitchen where I find taishiro talking with my chefs "oh hello princess we've made you some new dishes to try theyre traditional Japanese dishes this one I think you'll like it's called yakitori" he says as he hands me a plate, I take one bite and I'm in heaven! "This is so good!!" Taishiro smiles "your welcome princess yakitori is very popular where I'm from" he says and smiles with a small blush across his cheeks. I smile and take the food to my room. There is a knock on my door and I open it to see taishiro standing there holding a plate of cookies, cupcakes and other various pastries "care for a sweet snack?" He asks bashfully and holds out the plate, I giggle and pull him into my room. "Care to join me taishiro?" I giggle and he sits down on the floor with me and noticed my drawing. He stares in awe as he flips through the contents of my journal. "Princess these are amazing!!" I smile shyly and hide my face behind my hands "they aren't that good tai" I say, he shakes his head. "Hey tai? Why do you wanna marry me?" He looks shocked "princess as much as I would love to tell you I was sworn to secrecy" he says and looks down "I can tell you later tonight at the ceremony" he says with a small smile. We joke and play and draw all day till my maid comes into my room and shoos him out and proceeds to drag me to my bathroom and bathe me. "So miss hina which suitor are you going to choose?" She asks as she combs my hair out. I smile "I'm choosing taishiro toyomitsu he is the one!! I can feel it!! Out of all the suitors he's the one!!" I giggle and slip into a very big pink ball gown that reaches my ankles, my hair is pulled back and curled. My corset is then tied and my makeup is done. I put on my shoes and my crown is placed on my head. I take one last look in the mirror "I'm ready" I gently lift my dress and make my way down to the thrown room we're all the suitors are standing there all dressed in suits and ties. I look over and see taishiro and his tie matches my dress the exact same soft shade of pink. He has something in his hands too. I can't make it out but it looks like flowers. I quickly make my way to my thrown and my parents command the suitors to come forward "hina it is time, the suitors have written a speech for you, your to listen to them and then choose who you shall marry" my father states then motions for taishiro to come forward. "Princess hina, it has been an honor to be able to get to know you, I have seen how much of an amazing person you are hina, your beautiful and kind and compassionate and all together amazing hina, you make my heart flutter and to be completely honest well- a little nervous but that's only because I love you. I wanna spend the rest of my time with you. I wanna be the only one you love, well other than our future kids" he says and bows then hands my the bouquet of flowers he picked and moves back to his spot. As the other suitors commence with their speeches I don't pay them much attention I just stare at taishiro till my father calls me "hina who do you-" I hand him the flowers and run to taishiro and kiss him "I choose taishiro!!" I choose him!!!" I kiss him again and he wraps his arms around my waist lovingly and spins me around "princess" I put my fingers to his lips "it's just hina now taishiro" I giggle and kiss him again. The other suitors leave murmuring curses under their breath. "I can't believe you chose me hina" he smiles as we sway back and forth to the music "well of course I picked you tai, I love you" I say as I stand up on my tiptoes and kiss him. He smiles and we continue to dance and dance and dance till we can't dance any longer so we make our way to my bed room and tai pulls off his clothes and I change into my pajamas and we crawl into bed. It's not quite big enough for the both of us so I crawl on top of tai and lay my head on his chest and he wraps his arms around me and holds me close and we fall asleep just like this. The next morning I wake up and my maid has come by with breakfast ready, there's enough for the both of us. I wake up my fiancé and we eat breakfast together then we get dressed and head downstairs to talk with my parents about our wedding, on our way to the council hall we're stopped by one of the maids "princess hina you have to help me! The guards! They are trying to take my baby girl !" She says and tai runs down the hall towards the guards and I take the baby "run! We'll take care of her I promise!" I say as she runs out of the castle and into the village. I look down at the crying infant and gently rub her back soothingly as I walk back to my room. I sit on the bed patting the infants back and rocking slowly when tai walks into the room "let me sweetie" he says and takes the baby and lays her head on his chest to we're she can hear his heartbeat as he rocks her back and forth, soon the baby girl is out cold so he lays her on the bed and walks over to me "does she have a name?" I shake my head no and he sighs "how about we name her natsumi?" He asks, I smile "it's perfect for her" I say as we watch her roll around in her sleep. Me and tai go to leave and then we hear crying, tai rushes to natsumi and gently picks up her delicate frame. "Shh shh it's ok sweetheart I'm here" he says and rubs her back. It doesn't work, she keeps crying so I run downstairs and grab a maid and ask her to run and fetch some bottles from town and some milk from the kitchen and within minutes my items are in my room and I'm feeding her. "She's so small tai, what if something is wrong with her?" I ask worried. "She's probably just underweight honey, she'll be ok" he says and puts his hands on the small of my back and kisses natsumi's forehead. He takes natsumi from me and lays a piece of old cloth across his shoulder then lays her head on his shoulder and pats her back. "What are you doing? Is something wrong with natsumi?" He chuckles and shakes his head "no hina I'm just burping her" I nod and watch him closely, after she lets out a very small burp tai smiles and hands her to me. "How about we go bathe her?" He asks and I smile and take her to the bathroom and I fill the sink with lukewarm water like tai says and I undress her and set her in the sink and tai walks me through how to bathe her. "Hey tai? How come you know so much about babies?" I ask and he kisses my forehead "I had a lot of siblings that were younger than me and I watched the maids and nurses take care of them" he goes and grabs a small towel and helps me gently dry off natsumi and we take her back to our room and get her dressed, then my mother walks in " hina! Why were you and taishiro not at our meeting today!" I turn around and hold up a finger to my mouth and tai turns around holding natsumi "this is why your highness. We were put in charge of this child, our child" he says and steps beside me "this is our responsibility miss" he says and wraps an arm around me and pulls my closer. "With all due respect mother we've come to the conclusion to legally adopt her" I say and hand natsumi to tai. My mother gives us a look and walks off "I upset her" my head drops and I walk to my room. I sit in my room with natsumi playing with her and bonding with her and then there's a knock on the door "hm?.." I look over to the door and then set natsumi down and go and open the door "my queen" tai says with a bow. "I invite you to a royal date night" he says looking up. I smile and kiss him "I accept your highness" I say with a giggle and he picks me up and carries me to my closet. "Tonight's theme is pretty in pink m'lady" he says as he grabs a very big, puffy, pink ball gown and sets it in my arms. I quickly strip my clothes off and step into the gown. I spin around and I can see him smile as he adjusts his tie. " how do I look?" I ask shyly and he just smiles and kisses me "stunning darling" he says as he wraps his arms around me and spins me around. Natsumi starts crying and he rushes to her "shh it's ok princess, I'm here" he kisses her head. A maid takes natsumi from him and takes her to her room and tai comes to me and grabs my hand "let's go darling we have a royal night awaiting us" he says as he kisses the top of my head. And we walks downstairs to the ball room. As I walk in I see a table lined with cakes, pastries, and all kinds of traditional foods I haven't ate in years. "Tai-" "nope- shh no words, let's go dance love. Those is our night let's enjoy it" he says and guides me to the dance floor. He puts his hands on my hips and I wrap mine around him and lay my head on his chest and we sway and dance to the music. "Hina, ever since I met you I knew I wanted to marry you. Ever since we met at that meeting years ago when our kingdoms formed an alliance together. That one little conversation we had caused me to fall madly in love with you" he says as he twirls me