Your Love Frees Me

7, The Lie

Hey guys! As promised, to make up for the lack of personal drawings, here's a second chapter! Things heat up a little bit in this chapter! The 2 pictures above represent how Hana has dressed later in this chapter, and these beautiful photos do not belong to me! I pasted them together in paint, but that's all I did-- they were found separately on Pinterest.

"This was fun, we have to get away together more often," Shirayuki said, standing next to Hana and Zen as everyone else loaded the cart with ingredients; they had gone into town for breakfast and supplies earlier. Kiki nodded, "it had been far too long." "That should do it." Mitsuhide said, loading the last crate up. "Yeah, now it's back to the castle for more madness," Zen said with dread. "Look on the bright side. We'll soon be married," Shirayuki said, walking closer to him taking his hand into hers. Zen nodded, "this will all be worth it in the end, then," he smiled, touching his forehead to hers. "Well let's get going then, shall we?" Obi stated, going to Hana's side and placing his arm around her shoulders, "Hana," he gestured her towards his horse. Hana smiled up at him, following his lead.

"Well you sure don't waste any time, do you?" Obi asked, walking into the warm kitchen. "Oh no, how could I? This is such an important order, after all." Hana opened the oven, using her apron to pull out a large tray of beets from it, then proceeded to prick each one. "So it really is a beet cake, huh? It seems a little odd." Hana nodded, "yes, but it's really not much different from the concept of a carrot cake or a zucchini bread." "Yeah, I guess that is true." Obi said, thinking about it. "So is there anything I can do to help?" "Oh, no! Obi... I, I couldn't let you help me. I was the one hired for this job..." "Nonsense! I'm pretty handy in the kitchen myself, ya know." "Oh, is that right, Obi?" Hana giggled. "You seem to be a man of many talents." Hana began cubing butter. "Yeah, you could say that," he agreed, locating a butter knife and helping her. She smiled. This was nice, being this close to him in the kitchen, just the two of them together; everyone else in the kitchen kept to themselves, upon Hana's request.

"There, that should do it for today," Hana said, loading the the last tub of buttercream into the fridge, while Obi took care of the last of the beet purée. "Say, all this work has made me hungry; what say we go eat something?" Hana nodded, "yes, I am quite hungry, myself. But I think I may need a bath and change of clothes first," she said, removing her stained apron and looking down at the rest of herself. She was covered in ingredients. Obi chuckled. "You look cute to me," he said, walking over to her, picking a rag up off the table, and wiping away a bit of butter she had smeared onto her cheek. Hana blushed slightly, cupping her hands around his, giggling slightly, "regardless, I think I'll go freshen up." Obi smiled softly down at her. "Whatever you say, Hana," he said, tucking her hair away behind her ear. "I'll be waiting for you outside, then." "Alright, I'll try to be quick," Hana said, lowering his hand, and turning to walk out the door, butterflies in her stomach.

Obi settled onto a tree branch, not far from Hana's room, whittling away on a block of wood as he waited for her. "Obi?" Hana called, stepping outside, looking around for him. Obi looked down at her and smiled. He put away his block and knife, and jumped down to greet her. "Oh! There you are. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you almost like trees more than the ground." "Well you'd win that bet. Say, you look awfully nice!" Hana blushed; she had decided to wear a different change of clothes for the evening.

She wore a blush pink blouse with darker pink roses on it, a long-sleeved brown vest, a dark brown skirt, and brown leather boots that came up to her knees. She even wore her hair differently, most of it falling freely in loose, thick waves; she wore it partially braided down the back.

"Shall we go, then? It's not far," Obi said, holding his hand out, wanting so much for her to take it. Hana smiled, "yes, let's," she agreed, happily taking his hand, more butterflies floating around in her stomach. She looked up at him as they walked, hand in hand. She felt so warm. So happy. Before she had met him, or everyone, before coming here, it had been so long since she felt this genuinely happy.