Seclusion | 孤独 | Obi

| fourteen |

The second you were out of the window, the knife was placed in the waistband of your loose pants and you were standing with your back against the wall, eyes watching every aspect of the inner castle. You kept to the shadows and once you made it to the gates, you were jogging around the corner to the other side of the large, concrete walls where you normally met your dark-haired friend. The spot was empty though, no sounds of loud snorting or bushes ruffling when you looked around desperately for him. For Kuro.

Kuro was nowhere to be scene and you didn't know where you had lost him. The events that had taken place earlier, when in pain and in distress, your body was in agony and hence the events after leaving Obi, Prince Zen and Shirayuki were all so blurry. You couldn't recall the places you'd gone nor what you did. It was all so foreign and frightening because now you were alone again.

"Shirayuki, are you alright?"

"Was it just me or did anyone else sense the specific hatred towards me?"

"Oh, be quiet Mitsuhide."

"Me? I-I'm.. alright, Zen.." Sadness, confusion...

"Obi."

"Yes, Master?"

"Go after her but make sur-"

"-she doesn't see me, you got it, Master."

The land beyond the castle was different now. The green of the trees and bushes weren't as peaceful anymore and the grass below your feet wasn't as appealing. There was something missing, an obvious something that wasn't around you eating from the ground. It was quiet around you and the silence was deafening, birds chirped and they all made different sounds.

There were different pitches and volumes of the birds calls and they called for your attention but once you rounded through the jungle, you found concrete under you and found yourself at the front of the castle.

"H-Hey, isn't that the girl..?"

"Hey! Stop! What're you doing here?" The dark-haired one answered strongly, his blade being held down in defense before you, "You said there were men after you! You tricked us!"

The blonde male stood straight beside the other guard of the front gate and you couldn't help a smirk take over your cheeks, "Of course those cowards wouldn't make themselves known by the castles guards.."

Your gaze was on nothing in particular, as if speaking aloud to yourself and it caused the guard; the serious one of the two with the darker hair, to raise a brow and wonder if he should report this or not.

"Who are you..?" You looked at him and then turned around with nothing to say, the eyepatch sat comfortably on your face whilst you still felt the tenderness of your skin all over your body.

Scratches were still present in the form of ugly scabs across your once smooth face, the hair on your head was smoother than before after you had been tended to by the residents of the castle and the raw skin around your wrists that had been lightly infected were now almost closed too, scabbing with the assurance of healing.

The road down from the castle was longer than you thought and the people in their stalls, boisterously yapping and conversing forced you to retreat around a building to climb the side of a nearby home. Barrels on the floor allowed you to grab a window sill that had been left open and it was enough for you to reach another, and then pull yourself to the roof. You made it up the wooden roof and saw the people on the ground, so many of them almost like the people in Tanbarun but they seemed a lot happier here. As if they were more selfless and appreciative of each other. It was an odd sight to see.

You'd never, ever imagine yourself becoming apart of them.

From building to building, you made it through the town only to find that your breathing was more ragged than expected. It wasn't like normal, when you could still inhale and exhale deeply after jumping from rooftop to rooftop but now it seemed as if you'd have to go easier on the roof hopping. Your stamina wasn't as great as before and you knew exactly the way to get better.

You'd have to look around first, to find the place you knew that had to exist here. If it existed in Tanbarun - which you knew, it did - then you knew it was here. It was inevitable. You searched deeper, looking down alleys and all sorts of buildings. Searching for the sketchy-looking people, the ones who only conversed with their 'type' of people. You looked for the dark places and the dirty people, lacking money and morals.

Your hunt took you to the forest, inside where men sat idly in a cave, a bunch of firewood in the middle of the circle they formed for the bonfire they'd start as the sun moved down the horizon. They had bags, dirty with scattered weapons on the floor beside them. Blunt swords and pieces of wood laid next to them as they conversed as if there wasn't a worry on their minds but they stopped; or one of them did, and he saw you.

You made yourself known from the tree you stood behind and approached them. You left a decent amount of distance between them as their was four of them. And one of you.

"What the hell? Get outta here, kid."

They were all looking at you now, skeptical as to why you'd be here watching them but one of them realised when he stood from the stone he sat on, facing you with a crooked grin, "Hey hey, hold on, you're that girl with the re~al pretty eyes, right?"

"Huh? That's her?"

Neither speaking nor moving, they began to approach you now as looked at you from head to toe, "I thought the beating you got last time was enough to make you learn ye lesson, girlie."

He cracked his knuckles in his fists, "But I guess not."