Witch Hunt

Chapter 1

A peaceful day. The sky was bathed in nothing but its own beautiful blue, not a cloud in sight. The sun's rays shined down on the villagers as they bustled about, going about their day. It was a calm afternoon in the Kingdom of Beika.

Not really.

Blue eyes, sharp and intelligent, were buried beneath a large book. Delicate, long fingers flipped the page as he continued to drink in the text. He shuffled around on the branch he perched on, the tree's leaves blocked most of the sunlight and it made it difficult for him to read the words. The boy was too absorbed in finding a comfortable position to notice a figure clad in black approach the tree. Long, silver hair tied with a black ribbon flowed behind the man, olive green eyes zoned into the boy.

"Your majesty, enough of your games. You've been gone for too long."

The ice cold voice pierced into the boy, causing him to startle. Letting out a yell of surprise and fear, he jolted and felt the feeling of wood beneath his bottom disappear. He only realized a second later that he was falling. The ground was approximately 12 feet from where he was hiding. Blue eyes snapped shut as he braced himself for the pain he knew was going to come.

Strong arms enveloped his form, catching him before he could land on the forest floor. The boy stayed frozen for a few seconds, hesitantly looking up and into an unamused glare.

"Prince Shinichi, please refrain from falling off trees and almost injuring yourself. This is the fourth time.", the man droned, an obvious tone of annoyance laced his words as he gently helped Shinichi onto his feet.

The feeling of solid ground beneath his feet made Shinichi let out a sigh of relief. Although the voice of his father's advisor made him unconsciously stay on edge. "Sorry sorry, Gin, but you're the one who startled me."

Gin narrowed his eyes down at the prince, barely concealed anger directed towards him. "You shouldn't have ran away from the castle in the beginning, your highness."

Shinichi almost flinched as the older man practically spat at him. He felt a large, gloves hand grabbing onto his wrist tightly and couldn't help but gasp at the bruising grip. He wisely stayed silent though as Gin practically dragged him back down the dirt path.

The prince's thoughts began to wander the further Gin dragged him. In a month, nineteenth birthday would arrive. Which also meant that he had a week to choose a bride (or groom, thank god they weren't one of those small-minded kingdoms). If he were honest, he didn't mind. Shinichi as a child had already decided for Lady Ran of the Mouri household to become his wife.

Well, that was until they met a peasant girl named Sera Masumi and immediately, Ran and her clicked. Shinichi didn't feel bitter about it. In fact, he supported them all the way through. No, the problem was that now he had to find a person he had to marry by next week. A stranger was most likely, since he knew very few people. Princess Sonoko Suzuki of the Tokyo kingdom was already engaged with Sir Makoto of the Kyosomethong household (although even if she wasn't, he could never imagine being married to such a woman) and Sir Heiji of the Hattori family (god it felt weird addressing him formally-) was obviously in love with Lady Kazuha of the Toyoma household.

"-inichi. Prince Shinichi, your father is addressing you."

Blinking back into reality, said boy took a quick glance around the corridor and felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment. They were standing on the steps to his tower, King Yusaku Kudo of the Beika kingdom stood tall and proud by the tower's entrance, blocking their entrance.

"Shinichi, we need to talk. Again." Yusaku stated, his voice projected with obvious authority as his gaze firmly stayed on him.

Gin took it as his cue to leave, bowing respectfully to Yusaku. His hand had already released Shinichi's, but the ghost of his harsh grip made him shudder as the advisor walked past them and down the hallway, head held high and hands clasped behind his back.