Snow White with the Red Hair: The Valkyrie

Her Colors

While on her usual stroll, she caught Mitsuhide walking through the courtyard with his nose stuck in a book. Raising an eyebrow, Nanami greeted him from afar.

"Hello, Mitsuhide!"

"Huh?" He looked up from his book, coming to a stop upon seeing her. "Oh hey, Nana—whoa. What happened to you?" He inquired as she approached him.

"You say it in such a harsh tone. Do I look foolish?"

"What? No, sorry. That came out wrong. You look great. I dig the lighter colors. It's just a really sudden thing. Is there any reason you inverted your palette?"

"Yes..." She tampered with the brass bracelets on one of her wrists. "It was, um... how I was meant to look. I have the silver hair from my mother and the blue hair from my father. We all had the same eyes, but I inherited my mother's white horns."

"I see. If anything, I think it suits you well."

"Thank you, Mitsuhide."

He smiled, marking his place in the book.

"Is there anywhere in particular you were wandering off to?"

"Oh, no. I was just looking to greet everyone today."

"Interesting..." He raised a curious brow, and the smile that was painted on his lips changed into a bit of a smirk. There was a change in her; one he could quite evidently see. From where he was standing, Nanami appeared to be glowing in a brand new light. "Well, I was just off to see Zen in the training hall. Care to join me?"

"Sure."

And so, side by side as colleagues, they sauntered off to the training hall.

♡

The clacking of wooden swords echoed as the pairing approached the training hall. Zen and Obi were sparring one another as Kiki looked on.

"Hey, Obi?" Zen said through a clenched smile. "You wouldn't happen to be taking it easy on me, would you?" His voice was strained.

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about, Master." A sly grin spread across his lips.

Suddenly, his amber eyes narrowed in the direction of the footsteps sounding down the corridor. Mitsuhide and a strange horned girl had just entered the hall. His mind tried to process who the girl was. As his vision finally settled on her better, he realized that there was only one person in the entire kingdom who had horns naturally grown in their skull.

That girl was Nanami.

His jaw dropped and he quickly lost interest and focus on the battle at hand. Swift and sure, Zen smacked the sword out of his hand. It slid across the floor, stopping just before the valkyrie. His nerves shook him back into his senses. Determined to finish the match, Zen swung his practice sword down at Obi. Acting quickly, he acrobatically flipped backwards, hopping from his hands back to his feet. In the whole ordeal, he'd disarmed the prince.

The match was over. They both panted; sweat dripping from their foreheads.

"Well fought as always, Obi. You seemed distracted, though. Something on your mind?"