Akagami No Shirayukihime - Obi x (OC) The Visitor

Chapter 10 - Alice's Struggled Past

A/N - Hello kiddies~  How are you?  Good?  Good.  It's nice and stormy here so Ms. Writer is a bit jumpy so she decided to plug in headphones and write a bit as she does not fancy storms. x3  This is a summary of what Alice was like in the past and how her life played out as a crimsonette in this world.  It's not a happy-go-lucky life, go figure, but she made it through.  If it gets hard to follow, I don't blame you it gets confusing, so if any questions about it, ask away.  I just wanted to not put her past into detail, or else this would be 1) a hella long chapter and 2) would have a lot of dark themes in it. Sooo, I kept it pretty tame and brief.  Other than that, I hope you all enjoy what you can and I'll see you in the next chappie~

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Alice had fallen asleep that night with Obi's jacket still covering her torso, yet Obi's mind still wandered back to the old injuries she left visible on her legs. He wondered where she got them, what caused them, and just about her past in general. Yes, he hadn't shared his past with her either, but he wanted to know what she had gone through, as he called a few days back, when they first met in Izana's study, Mitsuhide mentioned something about 'getting out' of a place.

'Was she in jail? Is she a criminal? How dangerous is she, she couldn't be a threat could she?' Thoughts raced in his head, echoing against his skull, but that all seized as a light rapping was heard behind him at the door. Turning, he saw Mitsuhide standing in the doorway. She looked down at her as he walked to her side and brushed aside her bangs as her breaths were shallow and steady. Her face peaceful in the low moon.

"Say, Mister," Obi spoke up to Mitsuhide and he merely hummed in response, "what was Alice doing before she came here, or rather what is her past. You're her childhood friend right?" Mitsuhide visibly stiffened. He brought his hand away from Alice and turned to face the window as he peered out into the night air. He sighed and his shoulders slumped, he turned to Obi, his emotions serious and he proceeded to leave the room. Obi stayed where he was, afraid he struck a nerve, Mitsuhide was fairly terrifying when he needed to be.

"Well," Mitsuhide popped his head back in, startling Obi as he faced the teal-haired man, "you wanna know about Alice. Then follow me." Obi, cautiously got up from his seat next to Alice and glanced back her here before closing the door and leaving her behind. Mitsuhide lead Obi to his room, on the other side of the castle grounds, the entire walk there was silent, the echoing of their boots were the only noise between the two men. Once at his room, Mitsuhide sat in a chair he kept close to his window and Obi plopped himself down on his bed, crossing his legs. Mitsuhide sighed and looked at Obi.

"Obi, first off, why do you want to know? About her past I mean." Obi blinked, he didn't really know why he wanted to know, he just couldn't get those thoughts and images out of his head, and the curiosity scratched and kneaded at his head.

"I saw old scars on her legs and just got curious I suppose..." His response was quiet and shaky, like he wasn't sure if he worded it the way he had hoped, or just said something wrong. Mitsuhide merely smiled softly at him.

"It's okay, I was just curious. I'll still tell you, but you have to keep it to yourself. You can't even tell Alice I told you. I'm telling you of my own volition, understood. It's not to be repeated." Obi only nodded as he sat silently, waiting for Alice's story to unfold. "Alice.. She was kidnapped as a child." Obi's breath seemed to vanish at such a sentence. A single sentence, that was only a few words long took, every breath he held and sucked it out like a vacuum in space. "I was only 7 when it happened, so I don't remember everything clearly, it's a day I'd rather forget to be honest. She was 5, and she was alone. She had no family, they didn't want a girl with such unusual features to hang around, they believed it was a bad omen, and stood clear of it by leaving her to fend for herself. Even up to that point, she was independent, never have a childhood as she should've deserved and that she was never granted. People always found her hair and her eyes odd, however some found it worthy some money, yet no one acted on it, but one group. A group from a kingdom far off from here is Kou. This Empire held the son of the King, that little boy, my age heard of Alice, and wanted her, and the King did not refuse his son, nor this rare chance to have a gem in his courts. Her small village I recently visited was attacked, and she taken. I don't know what she underwent, but I know it was no-where near a 'civilized guest' treatment."

Mitsuhide explained how Alice was as a child, how she hide her injuries she got daily from the village folk, how she was teased by other children, how she was shunned and how the other day, she came to him and told him what happened to her over the 12 year gap she had not seen him. She explained how she was captured at 5, she explained how she escaped with scars and wounds at the age of 13. How she wandered and found Teto in the forest as she hid in fear of Kou. How she crossed border after border and came to her kingdom, where she was accepted and eventually became a part of, how she finally got a family that she knows loves her. Mitsuhide conveyed all her emotions and spilled them out on a platter to Obi, as he listened diligently to her past in his words.

Mitsuhide had finished and the two sat in silence for what felt like decades. Moments ticked on as Obi stared down as his palms, analyzing her life, and her strength, her odd moments of independance and no relying on anyone. It's because she never learned how to depend on others, how to fight with a partner, how to smile at someone and know they wouldn't hurt her. He clenched his fist and spoke.

"Alice really is a strong girl isn't she.." Mitsuhide hummed at his statement and silently urged him to go on. "She went through all that trauma, and she's still able to joke and smile freely, like she's lived a life of happiness for her 17 years on this planet. I don't think, if it was me, I couldn't find the strength to smile, or rather, I wouldn't want to anymore."

Mitsuhide only got up and pat Obi's shoulder. Obi looked to him and Mitsuhide smiled. "Let's go and get some sleep for the night. We can spend the day with Alice tomorrow. Until then, don't let what happened her get to you. She's a different girl than what she was then. All that matters is that she's here now." Obi nodded and hopped off his bed and left his room, strolling to his own. Entering his own, private room, he realized it had been a few days since he slept alone by himself without Alice at his side, and once again, that dull pain in his chest throbbed and he fell onto his bed, burying his face in his comforter. He scoffed on how attached he'd become of her and with that swirling in his head, he eventually faded into the night, his breaths lost in the midnight air.