To Protect Dragons

9. hand

I was awaken by a smiling Reo tapping on my shoulder. "Good Morning Kana, it's time to head out." I stretched yawning as Reo helped me to my feet. I looked over and noticed that Kazuto was staring at me, I looked away suddenly feeling embarrassed. I had released a lot of my anger on him last night that I had been keeping bundled up inside. Unexpectedly however, he didn't raise his voice or get mad, he just.. walked away.

"Good Morning Eun-ji," "Kazuto." Eun-ji just nodded at me like usually but this time Kazuto said something unexpected. He actually acknowledged that I spoke.

"Good Morning Princess." He said.

Even Eun-ji had made a shocked facial expression for just a half a second, before returning to her facade of nonchalantness. We all started to walk where the horses were but as we approached the horses my face dropped.

"No no no no no!" I quickly scanned the area. My horse was gone.

"I tied him up so tightly last night!" I covered my face with my hands embarrassed that I had proposed this idea, yet I was already the one who was slowing us down.

"Just great." I had heard Eun-ji say under her breath. Quickly Reo was the one to comfort me.

I peeked through my fingers peering at Reo. His hands were on my wrists trying to move them out of my face. "It's okay Kana you can-"

"You're riding with me." Kazuto deadpanned. He was already mounted on his horse. Reo raised his eyebrows and Eun-ji looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.

I wasn't sure what to say, one minute he hated me and the next he was offering for me to ride with him on his horse. I looked at Reo questioningly but he seemed to be holding a stern gaze at Kazuto.

I tried to lift up the mood a little bit because it seemed that it had turned very serious very fast. This was a good sign to me though, hopefully the prince was opening up to me a little bit more.

"Maybe if we pass a village somewhere I can try and buy one." I said walking towards Kazuto and his giant horse. Suddenly I remembered that this horse only let's Kazuto ride it.

I stopped and rubbed the back of my neck, "are you sure that I can ride with you?" I said motioning to his horse already giving me a death glare.

He reached out his hand for me to grab, "As long as I'm on him you will be fine."

"Well I guess I wanted to ride this horse originally right?" I said laughing as I grabbed his hand. He pulled my up so I was now sitting behind him. The horse stomped his foot briefly but then quickly settled down. Eun-ji was already 20 paces ahead of us at this time. I had a feeling she did not like me that very much.

Reo glanced at me worried as if to ask me if I was okay. I smiled and nodded at him but his expression was hard. This was the first time that I had seen Reo come close to not looking like his happy go lucky self.

As we continued walking I couldn't help but notice the tattoo that was peaking out of kazuto's uniform. I poked it, "you have a tattoo?"

"It's a tattoo of the royal family that all of the men must get."

"What is it?" I asked curiously because I could only see a small portion of the tattoo.

"Why are you so curious princess?"

"Well first of all, you are from here on out not to call me princess anymore but by my name. I told you formalities make me uncomfortable, my people don't even call me princess back home." I sighed, "Secondly I am curious because I am trying to get to know you, ya know, the thing where people meet so they talk to get to know each other?" I said sarcastically.

"You are something aren't you." I slipped slightly and he grabbed my hand putting it on his waist. "Hold on if you think you're going to fall. I won't bite." It could have been my imagination once again, but I could have sworn I saw the slightest smirk appear on the corner of his lips.

Reo who was riding in front of us turned around to look at me. I smiled and waved at him with my free hand. I smiled even bigger when he grinned back at me. His usual demeanor was back.

After walking for a few minutes I noticed something on the ground. I smacked Kazuto's back lightly, "Stop stop!" He halted and turned to look at me as I hopped off the horse. On the ground was a bleeding fox cub.

Reo and Eun-ji were quick to come up behind us as Reo jumped off his horse running to me.

"Kana are you okay?" He said worriedly. He then stopped as he finally realized the fox on the ground.

Princess do we really have time for this?" I heard Eun-ji say. I could tell she didn't think favorably of me no matter what I did.

I approached the fox slowly and it tried to run away from me but howled in pain. "My mother once told me to never turn a blind eye to another's pain, even if it's your worst enemy." I turned back towards the fox and inched a little bit closer.

"It's okay i'm not going to hurt you." I reached into my bag suddenly remembering the Eedland flower I had purchased when I first arrived in the kingdom along with a piece of bread. "This won't heal it but it will help with the pain." I tore off a petal from it and stuck it back into my bag. I placed the petal onto the bread and reached out to the fox. It looked nervous but it quickly smelt the bread and took a bite. As it reached for the next bite it bite into my finger on accident. I gasped and dropped the bread cursing under my breath.

"Kana!" Reo grabbed my hand. It was bleeding, but it wasn't anything too serious. "It's just a scratch." I said.

He held my hand tightly and pulled out a bandage from his pocket. He wrapped my finger carefully. "You should really be more careful." I could tell he was more concerned than angry.

"Thank you" I said blushing slightly turning my head away because I had noticed that he was still grasping my hand and our faces were extremely close to each other. I noticed Kazuto looked tense and he was staring right where Reo's hands gripped my own. I quickly cleared my throat and took a step back.

Reo sighed smiling, "I think you are too kind for your own good."

I walked back towards kazuto's horse. "I think you all underestimate me. One of these nights we will have a little sparring match what do you say? I will unveil my true strength." I said wiggling my eyebrows at Reo. He laughed as he mounted his horse.

"I would be honored to witness that." Kazuto glared at me and grabbed my wrist lightly when hoisting me up. As everyone continued walking I felt awkward silence between myself and Kazuto. Before I could say anything he tenderly grabbed my wrist and pulled it in front of him. Since I was behind him I was now pressed against his back. He gently inspected my hand. I hadn't expected this kind of side from the cold blooded prince. He released them.

"Don't let me see you get hurt again."

"I can handle a little rough around the edges here and there. I may not be a military commander but i'm not a frail princess." I said trying to lighten his mood but he didn't seem to be amused.

My hand tingled slightly where the prince had just held it. I held it closer to my chest. What was I doing?