Chapter 1

Leon's grin says it all. His fingers glide the rook across the mahogany chess board with seasoned confidence, "Check-mate."

I frown up at him, laying my elbows on the table. I let one of my arms relax, resulting in the startling smack as my hand comes down on the table. The metallic pieces wobbled. "Damn you." I mutter.

"Easy there," he chides, "maybe you'll have better luck next time." He reaches over and ruffles a hand through my platinum hair. In return, I glare at him, We both no that this isn't a case of luck. "Come on now, don't be a sore loser," a boyish grin appears on his face as he tilts his head to the side, "You're not a child anymore." His blonde bangs casts a dancing shadow in his irises.

"Pfff, yeah, whatever," I say jokingly as I smack away the hand he has in my hair. "In anycase, have you managed to beat Takumi at Shogi yet?"

His dark eyes turn dull, "Don't talk to me about him." He says coldly.

"Soooo, I take that as a 'no' then." I say, twisting a strand of my shoulder length hair around my index finger. Should I tell him that I have beat him? I can't help but smirk at the idea.

"No, Take it as, 'I don't want to talk about him with you.'" He fires back, catching me off guard.

I shrug, and look towards the nearby window, distracted by the radiant sunlight catching on the dust that floated aimlessly around my room. "We're on the same team now, we should all try to get along…" I hear myself speak, though I can't feel the words come out. Astral plane, huh? The sunlight is so bright… It's nothing like how it was growing up in Nohr.

Suddenly, his hand is around my wrist. The hair curled on my finger spins around. "You don't understand the gravity of the situation you're heading, do you?" his eyes pierce mine, snapping me from my daze. "Yes we're allies at the end of the day…" he shakes his head, "but throughout the day, Nohr and Hoshido still see each other as enemies."

I nod solemnly. "Don't take me as a fool. I know tensions are high within our army." I pause, unsure of how to continue, "But nobody's trust has been misplaced in me… I'll prove it. I just hope all of you can find trust in one another too."

The grip he has on my arm loosens, and a soft smile spreads on his lips. "It's not that I doubt you… Though it's hard to believe I'm following such a sheltered and inexperienced leader. I never thought I'd serve you over Father or Marx." He scoffs, shaking his head "I can't believe Marx follows your orders."

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" I get up to rain a fleet of punches on his shoulders that unphase him. "You ought to listen to your older sister!" I say, berating him.

He continues ignoring me as he stands up from his seat at the small table, and grabs his overcoat from the coat hanger. He's got that smug face painted on- the one that signals his victory.

"Hey, wait! You can't leave like that!" I say tripping over myself to catch up to him at the door, "Not before you wipe that damn smirk off your pretty boy face!" I had wound up to give him a good shove, but I slipped on… I gotta clean my room... I fell forwards as my toes caught in the fabric of the dirty shirt discarded on the ground.

He caught hold of my wrist preventing my faceplant on the wooden floorboards. "You should really clean up your room, Kamui."

I stand upright quickly, "Haven't you heard a mess is a sign of a genius?" I say, scowling.

"I'll be sure to send Jakob up." He says, with a sly smile.

"Don't you dare!-"

He cut me off, closing the door behind him.

"So Milady, you and the young lord have been getting along?" Jakob asks, as he hands me a cup of coffee. From the smell alone, I can tell it's been brewed perfectly. I take a sip. Perfect indeed.

That jerk, he did make Jakob come up. I looked around my sparkly clean and neat room. "Well… You know how Leon and I have always been." I say in response

"At each other's throats?" He asks, raising a silver eyebrow.

I grimace at the harshness of reality. The coffee suddenly tastes a bit bitter. "Umm… Yeah… In a way, I guess that's what it is."

"Well, you're both young. You, nineteen and him, eighteen, so it's to be expected that you bicker now and again." He shrugs as he clears away the empty dessert tray from the table in front of me. His deep violet eyes flicker to meet mine.

"What is it?" I ask as he continues to stare. I look away, feeling as though my flaming irises may extinguish his purple ones.

I could feel his eyes shift back to the crumbs on the plate he was clearing, "No, it's nothing Milady, but was there something distasteful about the coffee? You were looking as though you might gag."

"No, no!" I say, my eyes widening, "Not at all! It's perfect as always!"

"I could brew another pot-" he says, turning hastily toward the kitchenette.

"No, that's not necessary Jakob!" I say hurriedly. He shifts on his feet, unsure of whether to believe me. "Really, it wasn't that that was bothering me."

"Ah, then… Would it be too prying of me to ask what was?" He nears standing beside the table.

"You don't have to be so formal with me." I remind him, knowing that regardless, he would never let himself slip casually into conversation no matter how many times I assured him it was alright. "You can sit, if you'd like." I say gesturing to the chair across from me.

"Was it too nosy of me…"

"No, I'll tell you." I say.

"Does our army trust you?" He asks puzzled. "Of course they do- they must, otherwise we would have been destroyed from the inside out before we even reached the true battlefield. That much is evident, Milady."

"Do they trust each other?" I follow, Leon's words still etched into my mind.

He hums to himself as he thinks, "That may be a different story- it's still early since we've united; allegiances will naturally lie with country and kin. Needless to say, I'm confident there are many like me in this army who have discarded such a bond for the importance of following what's truly righteous. For some it's what's righteous that leads them to find you, and for others… For me, it's the opposite- it's you, that leads me to what's right."

I hide the blush that surely crept to my cheeks behind a hand. "Sometimes, you really know what to say." I smile up at him. "I really appreciate that."

I tried to pull the covers up over my face, as the fake-morning-astral-plane-light drifted through my window. There's a battle to be prepared for. I reminded myself. Still, my hands gripping the sheets, refused to cooperate as they continued to tug at the quilted comforter. Why won't the stupid things, come-

THWAP, the comforter didn't budge, but my hands sure did. I ended up giving myself a good whack in the face. If I wasn't awake before, I was now.

I was immediately startled by the scoff of another human inside my room. "How'd you get in?" I question Takumi, who's sitting cross-legged at the foot of my bed. That explains why my comforter gained weight.

He's still giggling away, pointing a finger at me and saying how funny it was to see me punch myself awake. When he finally gains some of his composure he answers, "Your door doesn't have a lock in the first place- I just let myself in."

"Why?-" I ask, "Wait, hold up, how long have you been sitting there?"

"Since 6, don't you remember promising me you were going to be more dedicated to practicing with the bow?"

"Takumi, it's 9." I say looking at the clock on the wall.

"So what?" He says, and from his tone, I know he could care less what time it was. "Let's get going, you're three hours late to practice."

I mutter under my breath, trying to burrow deeper into the covers. "What's it to be late, if you're only waiting on me anyways?"

"Don't say that, you're looking at the best archer in all of Hoshido- you should take your opportunity to be trained by one of the greats more seriously." He says arrogantly.

"You sound like Leon." I mutter, through the layers of blankets. That was a mistake. But the only insult I knew would have any effect at all.

To be continued...? Maybe? Let me know what you guys think! I really wrote this on a whim, so I'm not sure which direction it'll end up taking XD Thank you for reading!