A/N: I've made the decision to keep future chapters right around 1k, 2k, or 3k, with the occasional 5k should I get inspired. Until, expect faster updates because of such lengths :)

Side Note: I feel like the characters of this time period shouldn't use today's common curse words but I wouldn't know how else they would display displeasure without using such words. Especially if they have a vulgar disposition, for example, Grimmjow or Nnoritora. I want to keep this story line as immersive in the time period as I can but having little knowledge of it makes it hard. Research would help immensely if I knew what era this would be but sadly I don't. If I make any mistakes please don't hesitate to inform me, they should be relatively minor. As for the curse words, I'll use them.

Sleep, my love...tomorrow will always remain that.

Now awaken my love, what do you see?

Do you see my face?

Or do you see the sun?

—*—

The sun was high in the sky as the two men walked under its blazing attention. Starrk wanted to curse his body for naturally accumulating the sweat going down his face and landing on his exposed chest where it traveled further down until being absorbed into his yukata. He couldn't count on all of his fingers how many times that old geezer kept glancing his way, asking every now and again if he wanted some water out of his canteen to pour on himself. Did the guy even know how brazenly obvious he was being with his advances? And was he so blind to not catch his subtle denial to such advances? Why was he being subtle anyway? What did he care about this guy's feelings anyway?

Oh right. If it wasn't for this guy he wouldn't be getting paid.

"Dear kami. Such heat would kill any lesser man, but it seems as though it only serves to point out just how durable you really are." He croaked.

Starrk refused to look at him as they walked through the bustling streets of his hometown, disregarding the glances as they passed through, "These parts of the country sometimes get heat waves during the Spring. They'll pass later on in the month, but it's always best to get your dealings finished either before the afternoon hits or before the night is over."

"So I take it you're from here?" The man inquired.

Starrk paused, "You can say that."

A low whistled sounded, "So mysterious. You're the type to just come and go aren't you? Never really settling in one place for long hmm?"

"Aah." Whatever type that is. Starrk didn't know whether or not he should take offense to that statement either.

The old man chuckled, seeming to forget all about the oppressive heat, "You never did tell me your name, ah, then again I never told you my name either. It's Jigoku."

Starrk frowned. Who in their right mind would name their child that? His parents must've named him that for a reason and Starrk could only imagine the bullying the guy surely received when he was young because of it. Realizing he still hadn't offered up his name in return he hurried to respond in slight worry that the guy suspected him of judgement,

"Starrk."

"Starrk," the man almost purred while repeating it, "that's a unique one. Never heard it before."

And you wouldn't want to anyway, Starrk thought off-handedly. He was pretty sure his reputation alone would cause the man next to him, as smitten with the ex-mercenary as he was, to scurry along his way as if the devil was on his heels. Which was ironic considering his name was Jigoku.

An hour passed and Starrk knew instinctively they were leaving out of Iyo and crossing into the borders of its neighboring sister part, Yuna. He could understand why the man was delivering the timber now. Recently the place was starting to get more populated. The villages closer to the royal city outskirts were getting over-filled with more tourists than families at the thought of seeing a glimpse of this country's emperor, empress, or the Archduchess. Every passing year a bucket load of new people would travel way out here to see the royal faces, utterly ridiculous in Starrk's opinion. He hated royals and there were many others like him that hated them too. Those kinds of people didn't have any sort of soul and most of them were corrupt anyway. It was lucky enough that this part of the precinct was ruled by a rather docile King and he had the privilege of serving under him at one point.

"The orders coming in for timber is considerably large year after year. Business is booming and I plan to take full advantage of it!" The man exclaimed.

Speaking of business, maybe he should head towards the royal outskirts one of these days. It would be smart of him to remain where he was however considering the bounty on his head was impressively large, but hiding away because of that wouldn't get him any money and if those bounty hunters were smart they would lay off. The man next to him probably just blew in from the next town over and most likely hasn't seen anything about him yet. Starrk would like to keep that way. Then another idea popped into his mind. He really should consider heading towards the royal city outskirts anyway because no one would ever expect him to go there. His hatred for royalty wasn't known to just him and at least there he could figure out the tactics of royal guards that had to go through protocol unlike a bounty hunter that had nothing to lose.

He had so many questions going through his mind that needed answering, but then he decided who better to ask than the man next to him who's probably already been there, "Oi, Jigoku." he called his attention.

The man seemed overly pleased to hear his name roll off his lips and tongue, "Yes?"

"Have you ever been to the Royal City?" Starrk asked with more than a little twitch to his face.

He had traveled to the heart of the Royal City once before but that was a long time ago, and back then it was called Awai Toshi. It wasn't nearly as popular as it was now, and the emperor then ruled with an iron fist rather than a sort of playful one like the emperor now. If he could remember correctly the previous emperor was usurped by an officer of his that happened to be of royal blood himself and had gained enough of a following to help overthrow the tyrant and forcefully take the thrown. Those that helped him weren't without reward and were made part of his court. Most of those people were of royal lineage too, and Starrk had the slight suspicion that they had planned to do that for awhile. He didn't know how it was all being run now and the man next to him was the only insight he had.

The man looked over at him and blinked in confusion, "Have you never been? Surely everyone who lives in this part of the country has traveled there at least once. The excitement about the Archduchess is on everyone's tongue, albeit to the Archduke's dismay."

"Huh?" The Archduchess? Since when did the Emperor have a daughter? Or a son?!

He must've really fallen off the face of the Earth if the royals had already had heirs. Honestly Starrk had never paid any of the royal families any attention. There was once a time where he did recon and bodyguard work for one them, but his memory failed to remember their name. They were high up on the ladder of royal blood too, held a nice position on the thirteen seat court as well, but that was all so long ago and he doubted those same people remembered him anymore, probably even dead with the way his memory was heading.

While he was a mercenary there wasn't enough time nor relaxation to worry about the calm life of royal bloods. Every time he turned he was being attacked for one reason or another. Be that for the fame of bringing the last of his line to its knees (even though it didn't technically count considering he had abandoned his honor long ago), or take his beloved sword away from him and keep it as a trophy or sell it to the highest bidder.

"You didn't hear?" The man shook his head, "where have you been all this time? Living under a rock?"

Starrk shot him a look, "It matters not."

The man raised his hands up in defense, "Well. Anyway. Rumor has it that the Archduchess is past of age to marry someone of her court but is refusing to do so. If you look at the history of the Emperors and their lineage, an Archduchess couldn't even go seven full moons without being married off already to some no name King so one wonders why her parents are letting her get away with it. Anyway, the rumor continues to say that she really wants to marry a commoner, but I don't believe it. However, others do and that's why people of all shapes and sizes have traveled vast lands and seas to try her hand in marriage."

The ex-samurai's eyebrows shot up. He wasn't one for gossip nor politics but this seemed pretty far-fetched. If the Emperor was still as he remembered then there would be no way he would entertain such an idea, wouldn't even give the laughing matter a second thought. A commoner's blood taint the royal bloodline? Not likely. That had the same amount of chances of going through as Starrk and the old geezer somehow managing a one night stand with the assistance of alcohol.

"Fat chance." Starrk said with a flippant hand.

The man chuckled loudly, liking his easy response and dismissal of the opposite sex in light of his own desires, "In all honesty, no disrespect to the Duchess—ah fuck it, respect or none, no one would be able to stay married to her for long anyhow!" Cue howls of laughter at this point. He was so loud that even the ox seemed to take offense to such a crude noise by groaning loudly.

"Wouldn't stay?" Starrk inquired. He had no idea why he was so interested. Probably considering now that he didn't have to worry about the status of his life twenty-four seven he had the luxury of knowing about people who would forever be more well off than he.

The man sniffled, reining in his laughter with much effort, "Ah yes. I've been to the heart of the Royal City before, and let me tell you business is endless there, but anyhow, the city threw a sort of welcome back event that involved lots of booze, frivolous women, and free entertainment. This was all for the return of the Empress and the Archduchess from their success at making the neighboring precinct an ally of theirs before they had a chance to defect like they were planning to. They had that King swear to remain loyal to the Emperor and that very same day he did and the two beauties were back home in no time! The commoners and other royal families adore the imperial family, so I guess a celebration was in order."

A long, pregnant pause fell between them and the ex-mercenary grew annoyed, "And no one would endure the Archduchess's company because...?" He pointedly trailed off, also keeping in the back of his mind that the man called the two women beauties. This guy was a mess.

"Oh yeah! Right. So when the two beauties came back the gates parted for them and their small army came in first, making a path through the crowd so their horses had space. First was the Empress. Breathtaking as usual! Hair long and wavy like fire and icy blue eyes that could set any man's soul aflame with just one glance! She's got a body on her too! Not even her trademark pink cloak could hide such a dangerous thing. And she's got grace too, like an Empress should, but a heart of pure, molten gold! Everyone knows that she could sway the Emperor to do almost anything. Practically smiled at everyone there as women and men cried at the sight of her. Not too far behind her was the Archduchess, who cast an opposite reaction with the entrance she made. Her horse even seemed to intimidate people as big and black as it was. Her body is as sinful as her mother's, hair almost identical except without the waves but just as long and beautiful, and her face just as pretty and fair, she's also got eyes like her mother, but it's more gray in color if I say so myself. It could almost be silver, but they darken up when someone happens to anger her and often times she's angry than not. Her entourage, the Trifecta, a scary bunch I tell ya, entered behind her. They were all clad in their battle armor and had stormy faces, while the Archduchess's was alight with displeasure and rage. Such a sight isn't uncommon should you have a chance to look at her. She always has this sort of narrow in her eyes that makes her look displeased, but this was something different. There was hell fire in those eyes, and it's been rumored that she inflicts awful and terrible punishments upon those that displease her and surely someone that day died because of it. Whoever it was. It's common knowledge that without the gentleness of the Archduke there would be no one else to quell her fury. It's also said that he's the reason why she won't marry. It's known that the Archduke and the Archduchess are very close for siblings."

The thought of that almost made Starrk color with the forbidden aspect of it. A brother and sister? Unheard of.

"That wouldn't go without the Emperor's attention."

"I beg to differ," the man said with a slight lilt to his voice, "the Archduchess is said to have more power than her brother, and therefore able to move around more than he can. She could do a lot of things and have it kept under wraps in fear of her temper. Her brother is the only other person she listens to if not her father and it's quite often that the Empress sometimes refers to her as her wild child. It seems as though the Archduchess can get away with anything, even so far as not being married. I think that's reason enough for her to not keep a man. She's terrifying."

Starrk hummed in thought. Sure was a tricky predicament the imperial family was dealing with. For once he was thankful his birth wasn't so noble amongst the royals and he was glad that they were separated by two different worlds. Samurai and mercenaries alike don't tend to associate themselves with royal bloods and from personal experience Starrk knew why. It always ended bloody no matter what or whom was involved, even the best intentions could turn into a bloodbath and he more or less lived by that rule now.

Before he even realized it, the man had stopped his ox in front of decently sized establishment that was literally overrun with logs of all shapes and sizes laying around everywhere. The surname on the only things not made out of wood read Mokuzai and Starrk supposed it was a fitting name. Apparently the real work was suppose to start now behind the establishment, and the logs weren't going to move themselves from the cart the ox was tugging.

The man hopped off the beast, giving it a smack on its romp before beaming at the young man before him. There was a queer gleam in his eye that had Starrk squirming inwardly once again, this guy would never stop would he?

"Our goal for today is to take these logs, and half of the ones lying around and to chop them up into adequate sizes." He stated with a smile.

The ex-mercenary slightly twitched at the man's use of the word logs to describe the debranched trees laying around them. Some being the size of simple saplings and others full grown, thick adults. There were about twelve lying around and then another twelve or so in the cart.

"And we're supposed to chop all of this to adequate size?" he asked with obvious skepticism, "they aren't expecting all this to be done by the end of the day are they?"

The man frowned and shook his head, "No of course not! We aren't men with extraordinary abilities," he gave him a playfully suspicious look, "at least I'm not."

Starrk deadpanned and went to release the restraints holding the logs together on the back of the ox, grimacing a little once all of them more or less fell off and rolled their separate ways. They hadn't even started and he was releasing a sigh. If there wasn't money involved in this then there was no way in hell he would've been there.

Jigoku - Hell

Mokuzai - Wood or timber

Awai Toshi - Pale City (I guess)

Taikan-yo Hogyoku - Crowned Jewel

Six full moons should be roughly a year considering it's said that we get two for one month with the second being a Blue moon, and we get thirteen full moons in a year.