A/N: Hello there wonderful people, Tiny again with the first chapter to a new story, my first attempt at writing a story set in ye olde times (think late 1700's, so pretty dresses and flintlock pistols and... yeah like Natsuki would ever been seen dead in a dress!) The idea came to me in a (please don't judge me) alcohol-induced dream and I thought after changing a few parts of it, I could actually make a ShizNat story out of it so... viola!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sunrise, asking them for Christmas didn't work but it's my birthday in a few weeks so I'll ask for them then!

Without Hesitation

Judgement Day

6,7,8 chimes... it must be time then, she thought as she opened her forest green eyes and raised her head to gaze at the stone walls that encircled her. 8 o'clock. Any minute now her jailer will walk down the concrete steps, the keys to the cells dangling from his belt, open up the iron door to her cell and escort her out of the building into the room where she would be told of her punishment. From there, who knew what would happen? She sure as hell didn't, but if she had to hazard a guess, she would have to assume her days were numbered. Her life cut short... too short.

But what a life the young girl had lived.

A familiar sound rang through the hallway leading to her cell. Keys... footsteps... my jailer is here then. The young girl took a deep breath as she stood up slowly from the concrete floor and dusted herself off before smoothing down her tattered and rugged prisoner's clothing as she waited for the door to slide open.

Tatsuhiko Zaycech was not a very imposing man, if anything he was far from it, however he had on many occasions proved to be an efficient jailer and Keeper of Keys for the Royal House of Artai and so he was a formidable foe if it ever came to it. He was young, a few years younger than the young woman he held in his care and the one he watched with curious eyes- how she looked so calm he had no idea. Maybe she had been slipped something to quell her nerves... but then again, no. She was a noble, born to rule and born to a family who ruled with an Iron fist, taught from the day she was born to feel no fear and to welcome death when it fell upon her.

Natsuki Kuga was a princess... a warrior.

Zaycech cleared his throat and with a twist of the key, the door was easily slid open "Princess, it is time. I will escort you now to the court." The young man said quickly and quietly as he bowed to the dark-haired woman. He tried to find any hint of emotion in her face, yet he could not. Whatever she was made of was truly strong stuff.

"Very well." Natsuki sighed softly as she glanced once more at the four stone walls that had been for the last few weeks her prison, and her home as Zaycech placed the handcuffs around her wrists. She had no idea whether she would see those walls again; however she sure wasn't going to miss them if she wouldn't.

The long walk to the Courts was spent mostly in silence, apart from the chains of the handcuffs hitting each other occasionally and Zaycech's futile attempts to make small talk with the young princess. For a moment, Natsuki considered whether it was worth it to attempt to strangle the young man with the chain from the handcuffs- it's not like she wasn't in enough trouble as it was- however she decided against and consigned herself to just imagining she could do it.

When the prisoner and her jailer reached the Courts- a superimposing building located in the centre of Artai's capital city Fuuka- Natsuki felt a bead of sweat trickle down her face. The fear had begun to set in and she felt her heart race erratically... what if this was the last day of her life? There was still so much more she had to do with her life, how could it all end now?

"Stop here, we'll wait for you to be announced and then we-"

"I know how the damn system works." Natsuki snapped impatiently as she balled her hands into fists. Perhaps she was a lot more nervous than she had anticipated, then again, she had a tendency to feel more apprehensive about something just minutes before it happened.

Suddenly a voice called out from behind the two huge oak doors that led into the courtroom where Natsuki waited nervously "Natsuki Kuga, come to court."

"I guess that's us then." Zaycech murmured to no-one as he signalled for Natsuki to follow him through the doors, where they were immediately flanked by two huge men who escorted the prisoner to the stand at the front of the room, whilst one guard pulled out the chair and motioned for Natsuki to sit. The stand was more like a table and it faced the back of the room where the witnesses, the jury, the judge and the ruling family would sit if they wished to. In front of Natsuki, there was a large semi-circular table where five, very old, thin and bony men sat. In the middle sat the judge with his elaborate robes of red and purple material.

To Natsuki's left sat the nobles of Artai and the higher-ups, the main players in Artai's military and her very own subordinates. And to her right, to her right sat her accuser, her enemy, her King and her brother, and he sat, watching with his ever present smile etched across his face. Perhaps it wouldn't be fair to say she had always hated her elder brother Reito, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to remember a time where the two of them had actually got along or hadn't tried to kill each other.

However there was one face in the crowd that Natsuki had been desperate to see, yet couldn't have felt more disappointed when she couldn't see it anywhere. When she couldn't see the face of the person she loved most in the world, the person she was willing to die for, Natsuki felt sick to her stomach with worry. Where is she? Where is Shizuru?

"State your name for the records please." Natsuki drew her attention away from the crowd at the sound of the judge's deep yet shaky voice.

"Natsuki Kuga, Princess and Joint Commander in Chief of the National Army of Artai." Natsuki spoke clearly and calmly and she allowed herself to smile slightly with pride- she wasn't about to show fear. Not now and certainly not ever.

"Natsuki Kuga, you stand here today in this court accused of the following crimes: Regicide, conspiracy to Regicide, treason and the attempted kidnap of our beloved Queen consort Shizuru Fujino. You entered a plea of guilty and we have found you to be so, therefore your punishment as agreed upon unanimously by this esteemed council-" Natsuki hung her head low and closed her viridian eyes as she waited for the Judge to decide her fate "- in accordance to our law is that you shall be executed tomorrow at dawn. The manner of which shall be by either being burned or beheaded at our King's pleasure."

Natsuki opened her eyes and straightened her back. She felt an odd feeling stirring in her stomach. Today would be her last day on this Earth and she had absolutely no idea what to make of it. Was she sad? Not particularly. She wasn't exactly doing leaps for joy at the verdict either. Maybe she was just... content? The young princess smiled slightly, causing murmurs of confusion amongst the crowd- the girl was just told she was going to be executed... yet why was she smiling?

"If you could indulge me, might I ask a question?" One of the elderly men beside the Judge was the one who spoke and so Natsuki focused her gaze on him "You may."

"Now you know you are going to die tomorrow, was your crime worth it?"

Natsuki's smile grew wider as she gently shook her head "Worth it? Probably not. But if I had the chance, I'd go back and do it all over again... without a second thought."

Yes, definitely without a second thought.

She had declined the offer of a priest to hear her last confession- she didn't feel the need when practically anyone with ears knew what had taken place. The betrayal of Princess Natsuki and the affair between her and her sister-in-law, the Queen was a hot topic even across the borders into the neighbouring countries. She didn't quite know how the public viewed it. Was she seen as a traitor? Was she seen as a romantic? That last thought made her chuckle slightly. For as long as she could remember, the very idea of talking to women made her freeze up and make her sweat in horror of having to do such a thing. Well, most women anyway.

The prospect of dying tomorrow brought to mind thoughts of her eldest brother. Haruki had been the heir to the throne and everyone- especially Natsuki- loved him and idolised him. The perfect young boy grew up to be the perfect young man, the jewel of the House of Kuga and the bond between the young prince and princess was seemingly unbreakable.

Yet, disaster fell upon the Royal House ten years ago when Natsuki was 15 and Haruki was only 23, on a diplomatic trip overseas. The ship the shining Prince had been travelling on had been besieged by pirates belonging from Artai's rival nation and eldest enemy Carlteya. The pirates took the prince captive and, even after the ransom had been paid, needlessly slaughtered the eldest son- tossing his lifeless corpse overboard. That was that day that the young 15 year old princess made a vow to herself and in her strongest voice declared to all those that could hear it, that she wouldn't rest until she could avenge her brother's death and take the life of the pirate that murdered her beloved brother.

She had been patient, and after two years had passed and the opportunity had arrived, she took her chance and pierced the pirate's cold heart in front of her own crew, fulfilling her vow. Artai had a new heir to the throne in Reito, the weaker, less popular second son and Natsuki at only 17 had a fierce reputation.

Natsuki sighed and hung her head low. Haruki would never have done what she did and although she wished every day that Haruki was alive, she couldn't help but think herself glad that he wasn't alive to see her there, rotting in that cell.

With now only less than twelve hours to live. She knew the look of disappointment on the young man's face would have been too hard to bear.

The young princess wiped a tear from her cheek and jumped up to her feet when she heard the door to her prison open and close behind her with an almighty clang.

"Who's there?" She called out, thanking the deities that her voice was strong and didn't quiver with emotion.

"It is me, Zaycech and a guest for you." Zaycech called out in response as he ferried his companion through the narrow corridor and stopped outside the disgraced princess' cell.

"Oh, I thought I wasn't allowed any visitors Zaycech."

Zaycech smiled and nodded, and then realised the princess wouldn't have seen the motion "Er yes well... I have been ordered to have you re-tell your accounts of what took place before your incarceration, just for the court's gratification. I have with me a clerk from the courts, one I'm sure you will be familiar with so when you're done, just call for me."

Natsuki frowned as she walked up to the door "One I'm familiar with? What the hell is this Zaycech?" she asked as she stood back and watched with her enchanting emerald eyes as a hooded figure walked into the middle of the cell.

Natsuki felt her heart leap for joy as she saw the familiar spectacles and charcoal grey hair of one of her most dearest of friends "Chie, what are you doing here?" she exclaimed with a smile as the boyish looking young woman pulled back her hood and removed her cloak.

"Just checking up on you Natsuki-kun. Gods it's good to see you." Chie beamed a smile at her friend as she pulled the princess into a short hug.

"Hmm, it's great to see a familiar face. Even if it's yours."

Chie chuckled and then sighed sadly as she studied her friend's face. The young princess laughed and smiled, but there was no real happiness in her laughs. She knew that although Natsuki- and the rest of the Kugas- were made of strong stuff which made their spirit near indestructible, but Natsuki, after everything she had been through, the wear and tear showed through clearly. It was good to see that the dark-haired princess hadn't gone insane like many prisoners did in these walls, but Chie knew that the fact that Natsuki was approaching her last hours of being alive was ripping the princess to shreds from the inside.

"Natsuki-kun, I'm happy to see you but... Zaycech spoke the truth about why I'm here. I'll need you to start from the beginning about what happened, I need you to tell me about Shizuru-joou and... and why you're here." Chie spoke softly and quietly. She noticed the wince from her friend as she heard that name from the clerk's lips and knew that the task that lay ahead of the young princess was not going to be easy.

"You know the story Chie. Practically everyone in the Seven kingdoms knows it... and their grandmothers" Natsuki clenched her jaw as she turned away from her friend.

"I know, but I'm only doing what I've been told. You refused a priest to hear your confession, this isn't a confession, this is your last chance, your only chance to tell the world what happened here."

Natsuki turned around "What's the point?" she yelled.

"What's the point in digging up the past when nothing that gets said or done will ever change it? Even if I tell you everything, even if the judges or that bastard my brother, reads my account I will still be a head shorter in the morning regardless." Natsuki took a deep breath and fell back onto her poor excuse for a bed, holding her head in her hands.

"You're right. It won't change anything... right now, but you know as well as I do that the King has enemies, least of all within this country and army." Chie crouched down in front of her friend and looked deep into the woman's eyes "He thinks he's untouchable. He thinks that once you're dead he is completely safe... your words will destroy him."

Chie smirked when she knew her words had struck a chord and the princess raised her head "If you want them to, of course."

Natsuki leaned back so her back hit the wall behind her and bit her lip as she thought through her options- as few and as equally impossible as they were. Bringing her brother to ruin and exacting some well deserved payback sounded good, originally that was the only thing she cared about for the first few days of her incarceration. The only thing that she wanted, what she craved, what she desired was to set her eyes upon Shizuru's face one last time. If she could see her love's face just one last time before she died, she would die a fulfilled and happy woman... but she knew that would never be allowed, why would her brother give her this small amount of satisfaction?

"Fine."

"Hmm?" Chie lifted her gaze from the floor to her friend.

"Where do you want me to start?" Natsuki asked as she saw the smile creep up on her friend's face. She knew that not only did Chie feel slightly smug over getting Natsuki to agree to do it, but she felt happy knowing that even if she was going to be dead, she was still going to be able to bring down her brother from the other side.

Chie stood up and walked to her bag which she had placed on the table. She pulled out the chair from it and sat down, arranging her materials to begin writing her friend's testament.

"The beginning... that's usually a good place to start right?" Chie smirked as she took the lid of her vial of ink, however as she turned her head to look at Natsuki, she felt a rather cold and unpleasant shiver run down her spine as she met Natsuki's glare. Chie gulped "Or you know... we could start from when you first met Shizuru-sama?"

Natsuki cocked a slender brow "Well this isn't exactly how I planned to spend the last day of my life... then again I didn't exactly plan on things being the way they are."

"Sorry about that, looks like you're stuck with me if it's any consolation." Chie offered a warm smile and Natsuki reciprocated it.

"Let's get to work shall we?"

One year before...

Natsuki gazed up at the bleak grey sky and shut her eyes as she felt a gust of wind breeze over her cheeks. She had come out to the palace gardens in search of some solitude, even if it meant just a few stolen moments alone with her thoughts. She had found a bench and laid herself upon it, gazing up at the sky as the world continued to spin around her. Just as she was feeling awash with relaxation, the sounds of feet hurriedly rushing around the gardens disturbed her respite. The young princess cursed as she opened her eyes and sat up, swinging her legs over and touching the ground.

"Ah there you are Natsuki-sama." The guard spoke through long and laboured breaths. Sakomisu was quite a portly man who sported a rather comically large head of frizzy hair and had been a guard at the palace ever since Natsuki could remember, although she could remember a time when the large man wasn't quite so... large in the stomach region.

"Is it possible to ever get a day off or at least a few minutes to myself?" The young woman sighed and Sakomisu smiled apologetically.

"You can't get a day off from being the daughter of a king I'm afraid."

"Hmm." Natsuki smoothed down her overcoat and frowned in confusion "Well? Is there a reason you ran all this way to disturb me or are you just feeling like being extra annoying today?"

"Ah yes sorry, your father has requested that you attend the meeting with the council right away."

Natsuki sighed and ran her hand through her midnight blue tresses as she ran out of the gardens and into the Palace, being extra careful to avoid running into a certain Miss Maria. The young princess' run turned into a brisk walk as she neared her father's quarters and she half-smiled at the young male secretary sitting outside her father's office.

"Good morning Princess. You're here to see your father aren't you?" The young man spoke in a soft voice as he smiled at the princess.

"You know it Kazuya. Can I go in?" Kazuya nodded and Natsuki gave the young man a curt nod in thanks before gripping both handles of the door and opened the two great doors. The room was full of advisors to her father and some of his military council. She walked into the centre of the room and on bended knee she bowed to her father, offering him a smile as he smiled back. King Haruto was a rather thin, frail man who, even in his military outfit with its many medals, didn't appear to be even half as mighty as he was in his youth. In truth, since the death of his first born son, the man seemed rather despondent and disinterested in many affairs of his kingdom. His only consolation- his only daughter Natsuki who had the beauty of her mother Saeko and the military prowess and charm of her father.

Haruto watched as his daughter crossed the room and perched herself on one of the worktops at the side of the room, behind the councillors and listened intently with her arms folded across her chest.

"So, now our Princess is here, I have received news from the court of Cardair regarding the Prince Reito's offer of marriage to the Queen's eldest daughter, Princess Shizuru."

At the sound of that familiar name from her father's lips, Natsuki's ears perked up in only mild interest. She wasn't surprised that her father had pushed for a marriage between her brother and the Princess of Cardair. Stories of the Princess' rumoured beauty was spread throughout the seven kingdoms and noble families all over the world pushed forward their sons in the hopes that she'd choose one to marry. The only problem was, she always turned them down... it was going to be interesting hearing what the response was this time.

"The Princess regretfully informs us that she has decided to refuse the Prince's offer of marriage; however she hopes that her decision will not harm the 'delicate and most valued friendship between our two countries'. Well- now that's a shame" the king sighed as he leaned back in his chair and studied the faces of those in the room. Many of the men in the room started to whisper to each other, some finding the Princess' refusal to be a great insult. However Natsuki remained silent as she tilted her head back and processed her father's words.

They didn't necessarily come as a shock, even though her brother was notoriously handsome and proved very popular with the women, but Princess Shizuru of Cardair proved to be incredibly stubborn and set in her ways- it was rather commendable.

Haruto had become tired of the grumblings and the mutterings of the men in the room and so he pushed back his chair and stood on his feet. Each man immediately rose to their feet.

"I know that this is not the news we wanted, but so be it for now. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to my daughter alone. Good day gentlemen."

Natsuki waited until each man had left the room before exhaling and walking over to her father's chair. Haruto smiled as Natsuki placed a hand on his shoulder and covered her small, delicate hand with his own rough and calloused one.

"'I hope this does not harm our most valued friendship' she writes. It's a damn good thing that her father isn't alive to see this mockery." Haruto grimaced in disgust as he handed the hand-written letter to his daughter, who took it and moved to sit on the chair in front of her father's desk.

"Really neat handwriting" Natsuki muttered to herself "Reito's not going to take this well, he'll expect us to do something about it."

Haruto nodded and smirked as he turned his attention to his daughter "Of course, Kuga men don't like to be refused... and we certainly don't like to let our women get the better of us."

Natsuki frowned at the comment but let it slide, sometimes her father forgot she was a daughter and not a son. Whilst other princesses had been taught those skills needed to be a good wife or a good mother, Natsuki was learning how to be a good, strong leader and a damn good soldier along with her brothers.

"You're thinking up something aren't you?" Natsuki met her father's eyes and shook her head slowly "What have you got up your sleeve old man?"

"Cardair will be the host of the Seven Kingdoms Tournament at the end of this month, we have our champions chosen however, what if one of them was to unexpectedly... pull out and another take his place?"

"Unexpectedly? And who is this warrior that would replace him?" Natsuki studied the growing smirk on Haruto's face and immediately knew the answer "You want me to replace him?"

Haruto nodded "Whilst you're in Cardair you'll have the opportunity to meet the Royal family and most likely, the Princess. Sing your brother's praises, convince her to marry Reito and bring her back with you. Win the tournament if you like but, if the girl still refuses by the end of the tournament, desperate measures may be needed. But you mustn't leave Cardair without her."

Natsuki frowned in confusion "Desperate measures? You're telling me to steal the Princess of Cardair?"

The king frowned and bit his lip as he leaned back "Yes, yes I am. Pick your most trusted men and women to accompany you; you'll be leaving at the end of the week for Cardair and for victory for the House of Kuga and Artai." Haruto finished with a grin.

Natsuki knew arguing against her father was futile and she had never once questioned her father's orders and so she accepted her father's decision.

"May I go now?" she asked curtly.

"You may, you may have the rest of the day to rest and prepare yourself. On Friday at dawn you are to catch the ship to Cardair. Good luck... bring us back that prize Natsuki, and that tournament trophy would be lovely as well."

Natsuki rolled her eyes at the poor attempt to bring humour to the situation "Yes Papa. I'll see you soon." With a quick bow, Natsuki spun on her heel, storming out of the office.

Elsewhere in the palace, servants were keeping themselves busy, rooms needed cleaning and there were always chores to be done, however at the sound of two large doors banging loudly against the walls sent chambermaids jumping in fright at such a loud noise.

"It looks like Natsuki-sama's meeting with the king didn't go so well, ne Nina-chan?" One brown haired and blue-eyed maid said to another as they both stopped in their task of making the young princess' bed to watch the woman throw herself onto the daybed.

"No, not really. Focus on the job Arika." The girl Nina whispered quietly as she tried hard to not look at Natsuki, however as she looked up at her friend she sighed sadly as she saw Arika was no longer at the opposite side to the bed, and was walking up to the Princess.

"Not today Arika... I'm not in the mood." Natsuki called out before the young servant girl could even speak- her eyes were closed but she knew who it was creeping up to her quietly.

"You know, Granny always said to me that a problem shared was a problem halved."

"Yeah well your Granny never let anyone else get a word in" Natsuki opened her eyes and sat upright "Sorry Arika, I'm just-"

Arika shook her head and smiled "Just not in the mood, I know."

"Sorry. Could you go send for Nao please? Tell her it's urgent and if she doesn't get her scrawny ass up here pronto I'll be using her as a target for target practice later on." Arika bowed and ran out of the room in search for the elusive redhead.

Natsuki wiped her tired eyes and yawned, today was seriously not her day and with any luck, it was about to get a lot worse, especially with Nao on her way up.

Natsuki chuckled when she saw her red-haired friend burst into the room, dragging along poor Arika behind her by the collar of her maid's uniform "Nao, you look rather hot and sweaty, are you alright?"

Nao let go of Arika "Am I alright? You're lucky I'm not killing you for what you just did to me."

"What did I do to you? I haven't seen you since yesterday."

"That blonde little thing that I've been trying to get into bed all week finally gave me the go ahead, it was on until this little ant came in and destroyed the mood!" Nao's frown deepened when Natsuki broke out in laughter.

"It's not funny." Nao shrieked as she rested her clenched fists of her hips.

Natsuki wiped a tear from her eye as the laughter eased "No no of course not. I'm very sorry for getting in the way Nao, honestly." With one stern look from the redhead, Natsuki felt herself unable to hold back the laughter, however when she thought back to why she had summoned Nao in the first place, her joyful mood quickly disappeared.

"Alright, so why am I here? I'm guessing you went to that meeting with your father then."

"Hmm, how did you know that?" Natsuki asked suspiciously as she sat back down on the daybed.

"Ah, not important. So what's going on?" Nao asked in a softer tone as her lime green eyes watched as Natsuki subconsciously rubbed the back of her neck- a nervous habit that Nao knew only all too well of.

"So guess what, I'm going to Cardair at the end of the week, Papa got a letter from the Princess refusing Reito's hand in marriage-"

"So that means you owe me a sovereign then." Nao smirked.

"-I was playing Devil's advocate, of course she was going to refuse him." Natsuki remarked as she dug into a pocket and tossed a gold sovereign at Nao who caught it effortlessly. When she had learned of her brother's proposal, she and the red-haired lieutenant had made a rather substantial bet over whether the Princess Shizuru would turn him down or not.

"Anyway... that couldn't have been a surprise for you. You knew she'd reject him, so what does your old man want you to go to Cardair for?"

"He wants me to go there for the Seven Kingdoms Tournament as a replacement for one of the participants, but whilst we're over there somehow I have to convince her that my brother is a good person to marry"

Nao scoffed "So basically you have to lie to her then?"

Natsuki sighed "Pretty much. I feel sorry for whatever woman ends up marrying him."

"Hell yeah." A thought crossed Nao's mind and she frowned "hang on a sec, the Tournament starts in three weeks, what happened to the three months respite period? You know, the one we were promised when we got back from Carlteya last week?"

"I don't know, he just wants this to be sorted out quickly before Reito can make a fuss or before she decides to marry some other Prince. When I win the tournament and all that's over with, I somehow have to convince the Princess to come back with us and if she doesn't, we basically kidnap her."

"You used a lot of 'we's in that sentence." Nao frowned as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I think I only used one Nao." Natsuki replied as she raised a brow.

"So you're expecting me to go too? Well you can forget it."

"Nao I need people I can trust and despite everything that you've ever done to me, like shooting me in the foot when I was seven, I for some reason trust you."

Nao chuckled, she had forgotten that little incident when they were children and Nao had got hold of one of her father's flintlock pistols. Both she and Natsuki got into a tug of war fight with the gun and Nao accidentally pulled the trigger, the Princess still bore the scar from the entrance and exit wound!

"You know that's really lame right?" Nao asked Natsuki who shrugged.

"Yeah I know, I would pull on your heartstrings if I wasn't so sure that you don't have a heart anyway."

"Fine I'll go. But I'm not going to have any fun... Cardair women are notoriously frigid" Nao sighed in defeat and tried to stop herself from lashing out and punching the smirk off Natsuki's face.

"There's a difference between being frigid and having standards Nao."

"Ooooh bitchy... doesn't that mean you have impeccably low standards yourself then?" Nao retorted, enjoying the way the smirk dropped from Natsuki's face. The two had dated when they were 15 and at a military academy in Aries however after a few months, Natsuki was forced to leave Aries after the death of her brother and it would be another two years before Nao would see Natsuki again.

Natsuki frowned, she didn't like to be reminded of her and Nao's past, especially when it reminded her of her brother.

"Whatever, can you just go pick out a group of twenty of our best and tell them to get ready to set sail on Friday."

Nao felt a small pang of regret as she saw the darkened expression on her friend's face. She had crossed the line and gone against every rule that they had when they split up all those years ago- never referring their past was the first rule.

"Yeah, no problem. So you're going to be seeing Shizuru-san again huh... I hope you don't mind if I give her a punch in the face for old times' sake."

Natsuki frowned and turned to glare at her snickering friend "Nao, you touch her and I cut off your hand alright?"

Nao stopped laughing and raised her hands in mock surrender "Fine, fine whatever. Although with the rumours of her beauty and with my good looks, I think keeping her hands off me might be a bigger problem."

Natsuki scoffed "You know you're starting to sound even more like Chie every day. And who knows what she really looks like, you know Cardair royals are banned from showing their faces until they marry." Natsuki lay back down on the day bed and rested her arm over her eyes.

"Yeah but, you've seen her haven't you?"

"Nao... would you kindly fuck off and do as you're ordered please?"

Nao kicked at the floor with her boot as she rolled her eyes "Fine, I'll get right on it. You want the usual gang right?"

Natsuki didn't say anything and kept her arm draped over her eyes and so Nao took her lack of an answer to be a simple 'yes'.

"Alright then, you know where I'll be if you need me... but if you send Antsy over, don't expect her to come back alive." Nao called out as she turned on her heel and made her way out of the rather large bedroom.

Natsuki sighed once she heard the door close behind the redhead. "Arika, Nina."

"Yes Natsuki-sama" The two spoke in unison.

"Could you help me with the packing please? You know I'm rather... shit at it." Natsuki offered the two girls a small lopsided grin.

"Thought you'd never ask Natsuki-sama."

Glistening blood-red eyes cautiously peaked through the gap in between the large stone wall and the wooden market stall on the path at the docks and when they caught sight of the large tall ship she knew had come all the way from Artai.

"Shizuru-sama we really should be heading back, your mother will have my neck for this." A young woman whispered as she gently pulled on the large dark red cloak of the hooded figure.

"Not yet Kaori-han, you go if you must and I'll follow you in a minute." Shizuru whispered over her shoulder to her young attendant, whilst never keeping her wine coloured eyes off the ship and the gangway leading from it to the stones of the berth. There was one person on that ship that she was so desperate to see that she had hardly slept the past week, the past week since she heard of this certain person's coming to her country.

The blonde-haired girl Kaori scoffed "Do you really think I'm leaving the heir to the throne on her own with all these sailors and... soldiers around? Why are there so many soldiers around here?" the girl added as an afterthought as she finally noticed just how many soldiers wearing the Cardair livery there were surrounding the one ship.

"Those are the King of Artai's champions, for the Tournament." Shizuru responded as her face lit up as she spotted the woman she'd been desperately and patiently waiting to see again for nearly ten years "Natsuki" she whispered under her breath.

The midnight-coloured hair, beautiful pale skin and- hopefully- the same breathtakingly stunning forest green eyes- the young princess looked pretty much exactly the same as she had all those years ago. However Shizuru smirked as she let her gaze drop from the young woman's face down to her body, noting how she'd filled out quite nicely in the chest region and her body was toned and muscular, yet still distinctively feminine.

Kaori gulped and shivered slightly at her mistress' answer- the people from Artai were notoriously brutal and obsessed with all things military. They were a tough lot and not a bunch of people you'd want to insult.

"Right, I think we should probably leave now." Kaori spoke in a sing-song voice as she tried to get the hooded Princess to move away from the wall and back to the palace.

Shizuru sighed softly as she followed Natsuki with her gaze until the young woman disappeared from her sight along with her entourage.

"Very well then Kaori-han. We'd best not make Mother worry." She turned and winked at her maid before, cautiously, the two made their way back to the palace through the back streets.

I've waited nearly ten years to see her again, I suppose one more day won't make much of a difference.

A/N: OK, so we've gathered that this isn't exactly the first time they've met each other yes?

I wrote this all in about three days and I've had a bit of free time on my hands lately so I may manage to squeeze out another chapter hopefully rather soon in between writing for BMS and maybe KMMA too. Also I know that the honorifics chop and change but I put them in and then I don't like them, so I take them out and then the names don't look right and then... screw it. Some are staying. Some aren't worth the effort of googling what's correct or not.

Please feel free to leave a review or drop me a PM if there are any questions, but mostly I hope you like this story :D

Until next time,

Tiny!