𝔽𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕪𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓮

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Maids, butlers, and guardsmen roamed the estate, racing to perform their duties. Kitoka Ketsuro smiled as she admired the view of the garden and the ponds full of living souls. She stood atop the balcony that overlooked it all. It was her favorite thing to do during dull days like this. As the sun reached high noon, Kitoka walked back inside the manor, ready for lunch. The hallways were quiet. The sunlight filled the room, lighting up the marble statues and the glossy floor. Whispers of the maids and the clicking of the butlers' shoes were the only sounds that filled the hallway. Kitoka felt at peace.

"The King will be very pleased with your decision." She heard as she stepped past her brother's office. She took steps back and peered inside the room, wondering what was going on. "It was a pleasure doing business with the King." Her brother, Hakeem Ketsuro, stated as he shook the hand of a man with the uniform of a Sunagakure advisor. Kitoka tried to get a better look at the paper that Hakeem had just signed, but she couldn't make out any of the words. She hoped that the idea that popped inside her head wasn't accurate, but the way Hakeem looked like he was going to regret the decision he had just made almost confirmed her suspicions. He's signing off control of their province...

She backed away and turned around quickly, causing her to bump into a statue and knock it to the floor. She didn't care if it broke as she picked the skirt of her dress up and quickly walked away from the door of Hakeem's office. "Toka!" Hakeem's voice echoed through the hallway in an attempt to stop her. She just kept speedwalking to her room. "Lunch is to be provided in my quarters." She informed her assistant as she walked past her. The door to Kitoka's sleeping quarters slammed closed before she sighed and rested her head against the door. She slid down and sat on the floor, stopping herself from crying.

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"Please, cheer up, Toka"

Kitoka was forced out of her thoughts at the sound of Niyah's voice. Her eyes were drawn away from the green scenery to Niyah's smile and Hakeem's posture. "You look like a rock when you don't smile," Hakeem muttered quietly. Niyah nudged her husband to get him to not damn Kitoka's mood any more than it was, but it was too late. "Oh? Well, I can't help it when I am being suffocated in this complicated dress." Kitoka said with all the irritation of a stressed-out war general. This irritation seemed to rub off on Hakeem as well. "And the fact that I am being sent off to marry a man I do not love, let alone have met!" She continued, her tone getting angrier by the second.

"But I guess I shouldn't be too mad because my feelings are always overlooked." She finished as she leaned back into her seat. "Your feelings are not always overlooked!" Hakeem yelled. The two women could feel his irritation and annoyance. "Oh really?!" Kitoka asked, raising her voice to the same level. "Then why is it that when it comes to the big decisions in my life, I'm always left out of them?!" "Okay, let's all calm down-" Niyah was cut off by Hakeem. "You weren't old enough to make those decisions!"

Niyah sighed as the two continued to go back and forth, but soon enough, she snapped at the both of them. "Both of you, shut up!!" She shouted loud enough to make Hakeem and Kitoka look at her. "Kitoka, I know that you want to be able to make your own decisions in life and we should've consulted you on how you felt about certain things. I know you don't want to do this, but we don't have a choice in the matter..." Niyah said as she placed her hand on Kitoka's cheek in a motherly and comforting way.

"And you," Niyah's voice got more stern yet her expression held a smirk. "You need to communicate with your sister better." She says as she pinches his cheek. "Ow! Ow, ow, ow! I get it!!" Hakeem said as he tried to get his fiance to stop pinching his cheek. Niyah smiled as she let go and went back into a ladylike posture. Hakeem rubbed his cheek to get rid of the pain burning in his cheek. He then sighed and looked at Kitoka with a saddened expression.