The Witch and the Knight

Chapter 3: Lost

Shinobu leaned back and laughed maniacally at his stupefied expression. He looked at her, trying to figure out what her aim was. She gave nothing away, only her signature smile.

"Kill you?" he asked hesitantly.

"My! Did you get attached to me Tomioka?" she teased as she tried to contain her laughter. Shinobu eventually stopped laughing but her smile was still plastered onto her face. "Anything for your king right?" He stared at her in silence, but didn't deny the fact that his loyalty was only for his king.

"How else will you save him? Did you really think a duel would convince me?" she taunted. "Think about it. I'm immortal. I can't lose a duel. You cut off my head when we met and you still lost." She was a monster in the fullest sense. Her vast storage of mana. An undying body. Capable familiars. There were not many people who could go against her much less kill her.

"Do you want to die?" Tomioka asked in a soft voice.

"Not particularly." she hummed as if this was a boring conversation.

"Then why?"

"Because, it's fun." Shinobu said in the Sun Kingdom's language to drive in the point. She turned around to head back into the cottage, leaving him kneeling in the grass behind her. "First lesson starts tomorrow in the library. In the meantime, help Kanae in the store." And with a snap of her fingers, she was gone, leaving a conflicted Tomioka behind.

-

When Shinobu entered the library the next day, she was surprised to see a sleeping Tomioka. His head was resting on the table as he snored softly, and on closer observation, Shinobu noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. Was he worrying all night about her proposal? Does he not want to kill her? She couldn't understand. He obviously didn't care about her when he chopped off her head the first day they met, so what was so different now? Because he knew her? Because he served her? She gave him the only solution to his problem and yet he didn't take it. Shinobu was absolutely stumped.

Sunlight streamed through the window, lighting up his long dark hair in a soft glow. He really was irritatingly good looking, she held back a giggle so she didn't wake him up. She sat down on the seat next to him and laid her head down on the table as well. As an immortal, she didn't need to sleep. But right here in the moment, she felt sleepy. Shinobu studied him like one of her plant specimen. High cheek bones. Long eyelashes. A strong jaw. The hair in front of his face swayed back and forth in time with his breathing. She stayed so still that she herself wasn't breathing. There was no need to stay silent, and she knew that she didn't care about him as anything else other than a servant. But, this moment felt as delicate as spun sugar and she was confused as to why she didn't want to break this silence. Perhaps it was because she hasn't seen a human so vulnerable and defenseless in so long. She lifted her head back up, perhaps she can let him sleep for a couple more minutes. When she did, however, she was face to face with Kanae in her bird form somehow with a smirk on her face.

Surprised, she jumped to her feet, knocking her knee to the table causing Tomioka to groan. His eyes opened slowly and he looked around as if to adjust. When he saw Shinobu and Kanae, he straightened his posture and blinked to chase away his tiredness.

"Good morning. I wasn't sure how to wake you up." Shinobu giggled to hopefully slow down her rapid heartbeat. She knew that Kanae was going to tease her about this later and the thought made her glare at Kanae. Kanae, to her credit, looked a little sheepish despite being a bird.

Tomioka, with his usual dense attitude, just dipped his head slightly in greeting. Silent as ever. Shinobu stood in front of the table opposite to Tomioka. She never had an apprentice, so she was slightly excited to teach someone.