It was sometime after midnight. Obi wasn't able to sleep, and so he had decided to talk a walk to calm down his mind. It was quiet in the castle with everyone asleep. It almost seemed like a completely different place from how it is during daytime. Staring out a window, he saw a sky full of stars. He could almost doze off right there, when a sound disturbed the silence of the night and caught his attention.
He heard footsteps that were slowly coming closer. He thought they came from one of the guards walking their usual routine. He tried not to pay too much attention to it, until he suddenly saw a person coming round the corridor. The first thing Obi noticed was red hair, on top of a familiar female's body that was slowly making her way towards him.
"Shirayuki! What are you doing here in the middle of the night Miss? Couldn't you sleep either?" He tried to show a smile, then forgot that it's too dark for her to be able to see it.
"Don't leave me…"
Uhm… What?! Obi didn't know what to think. Why would she randomly say that?
"Please, stay just a bit longer…"
Obi was flustered now, not to mention confused as well. What's going on? Shirayuki didn't say anything else and continued walking forward, seemingly not paying any attention to Obi, or to what she just said. He stood up and took a close look at her face. Her green eyes, half covered by the bangs of her hair, were barely open, and seemed to be staring into the distance behind him. Her red lips showed no sign of emotion whatsoever. He was so close to her face he could hear her slowly breathing. For some reason she didn't even mind him being so close though. It looked as if she…
"Zen!" Shirayuki said.
"Aaah, Zen, hello, how are you doing? Couldn't sleep either? I swear I was just talking to Shirayuki here…"
After first having performed half a pirouette out of shock and to quickly distance himself from the girl, he was relieved to see that no one was actually behind him, except for a dark, empty corridor. But she just called out Zen's name. Zen wasn't there. Then why did she-
He then heard her softly snoring. He sighed from relief. She must have been sleep walking while dreaming about the young prince. Her dull eyes staring into the distance, accompanied by her expressionless face confirmed it. Obi grabbed her hand, not without slightly blushing, and guided her through the castle back to her own quarters. Her door was open as well, someone could've just came in and steal some of her stuff. After having closed the door, he laid her on her bed and put the sheets over her, and then sat on the corner of her bed for some more minutes, making sure she wouldn't start walking off again on her own.
Shirayuki looks so cute, so innocent while she's asleep, Obi thought. Her face was lit by the light of the moon shining through the windows, reflecting a faint glow on her skin. He always sees her working so hard full with determination, but now she appeared so timid lying there without any signs of worry visible on her face. It makes you forget the daily hardships humans go through during their life. He wished he could stay there with her forever. Be with her forever, instead of Zen. But he knows that he doesn't have the right to interfere between what she and the prince have, and has accepted that. He's already happy enough that he has this moment for himself.
After some time Shirayuki had completely stopped moving and her breaths sounded regularly. Starting to feel tired again (Obi just yawned) he convinced himself that he could let her alone now and return to his own room. But before he did so, he came close to the girl, and very gentle pressed his lips against her forehead, trying not to wake her up. Then after having taken a step back, he whispered:
"Good night, Miss."
But just as he opened the door to leave her bedroom, he heard her answer back:
"Goodnight Obi."
He stood frozen. Counted to ten. His heart was beating louder than the voice counting in his head. He counted to twenty. He heard the girl's breathing were regular again. He counted to eighty-four. Was she conscious right then? Was she still sleeping? He didn't know, but he didn't know what he would do if anyone knew about this either. Being sure that she was asleep again, he left her quarters and finally returned at his own bed. The last thought he had that night was to pretend that this never happened. And then Obi also fell in a deep sleep.
Thank you for the positive reviews on my previous story! Some people wanted me to write another Shirayuki x Obi so here it is. Hope you liked it.
