Author's Note:

Hello and welcome to chapter three. This one features some interaction between young Hinata and Corrin, as well as a little bit of Kaze at the end. Thank you those who've shown their support of this fic and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Meeting Corrin

Hinata peered around the corner of the door, curious about the strange woman who'd appeared in Hoshido.

The palace had been buzzing recently with the news of the sudden discovery and return of the lost princess, Corrin, and he was certain that this woman was said princess, however, he was nervous about meeting her.

Living in the palace as he had, he was well aware of the story of her kidnapping by Nohr and subsequent disappearance. Ryoma had mentioned her once or twice but beyond the basic facts, he knew little about her. Things weren't helped by the fact people had been muttering suspiciously about her, they feared she could be a Nohrian spy and he could sort of understand their concerns.

Regardless, he wanted to meet her for himself.

With the rest of the Royals basically being his surrogate family, Corrin was kind of something like his sister, in a roundabout way. As such, he really wanted to get to know her, but with Ryoma, Sakura and Hinoka jubilant and glad of her return, while Takumi remained suspicious, he felt slightly nervous. He held deep respect for Ryoma but the prince always seemed more of a teacher-like figure whereas Takumi was closer to an older brother, as such he really took heed of what the younger prince said and if Takumi was suspicious, surely there was a good reason.

At the moment though, Corrin seemed more bewildered than anything else, examining everything with a fascinated curiosity. She would peer closely at pictures of the Royal Family, her face frowning as if trying to remember something about each one before moving onto the next one.

Suddenly, she turned towards him and he gulped. Technically speaking, he wasn't really doing anything wrong, but it was pretty rude to be watching someone like that, and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. However, instead of being offended (or even a little creeped out), the princess smiled, "Hello."

He hastily bowed, stuttering out a reply, "Err…hello…Milady."

She seemed to giggle before crouching down to his eye-level, "And who are you?"

He'd been asked this question several times by visitors to the palace, sometimes it was with a disdainful tone through an upturned nose, other times it was with a patronising 'you're a child so I must speak to you in an overly-friendly way' tone. Corrin, however, didn't use either one, instead she genuinely sounded like she was just curious.

Hinata found himself responding, "I'm Hinata," He puffed himself up a bit, "I'm training to be Lord Takumi's retainer."

Usually when he said this, the other person would give the 'I'm humouring you' laugh, and then say, 'Of course you are' in the 'I don't believe you but you're a kid, so I'll just pretend I do' tone. Occasionally, the person would openly scoff and say, 'you shouldn't tell fibs' or 'don't be silly boy', before walking away shaking their heads.

Once again, Corrin did neither, instead, she genuinely smiled, "I see, that's why you're here in the palace." She spotted something and frowned in interest, "Is that a sword you're carrying?"

He grinned proudly and patted the katana at his hip, "Yeah."

The katana had been a gift from Takumi a couple of weeks ago and was specially designed to suit his current size and strength. Skilled as he was, a full-sized blade was currently too large and unwieldy for him and he couldn't wear it at his side without it constantly tripping him up. While he wasn't marching into battle, he was accompanying Takumi on minor scouts and trips through Hoshido and it paid to be prepared to fight. Each member of the Royal Family had mentioned at some point that they felt more at ease when he had a proper blade to defend himself and Ryoma had said it was also vital to train with a real weapon, not just a training one. Initially, he had used a full-sized katana, but after a scouting trip he'd joined a couple of retainers on, Saizo had pointed out the issues with it and his current one had been made.

It had been one of the proudest days of his young life when Takumi handed it to him. To most it was simply a practical gift, but to Hinata, it was confirmation that his place was not superficial, but an actual role and responsibility. It gave him a sense of definite belonging.

Corrin's smile grew at his obvious pride, "Well it certainly suits you."

"Lady Corrin."

A foreign voice entered the conversation and both of them glanced towards the door to find a servant waiting there. The woman bowed, "The Queen wishes to see you in the gardens Milady." She gave Hinata a quick look of disdain, "I do hope this boy isn't causing you any trouble."

Corrin didn't seem to pick up on the woman's dislike for Hinata, "No at all, he was just telling me about how he's training to be Takumi's retainer."

The servant's face twisted slightly as she concealed a sneer, "I'm sure he was."

The princess smiled gratefully, "Thank you, I'll head for the gardens immediately." She smiled down at Hinata, "I guess I'll see you later Hinata."

He grinned, "See you later."

With a nod, Corrin left for the gardens, once she was gone, the servant woman glowered at him, "You shouldn't get so familiar with the Royal Family boy, it does not become your station."

Hinata resisted the urge to roll his eyes, he'd heard this same speech from this woman and a couple of other senior servants several times before. Most of the palace staff liked having him around but there were one or two who held similar views to the few stuffy nobles and they insisted on trying to tell him to not get so 'familiar' with the royals. Of course, it was actually far too late for that now and even if he considered trying to distance himself, the Royal Family wouldn't let him.

Instead of explaining this, he simply smiled, "I don't see how my interaction with Lady Corrin was wrong. The other retainers talk casually with the Royal Family all the time."

The woman sneered, "But you are not a retainer."

She smirked as if she'd somehow scored a winning blow but Hinata impudently stuck his tongue out at her, causing her to puff herself up in offence, "How dare you!"

He simply smiled, annoying her even more, and she spun on her heel and stormed off, after pulling some more faces at her retreating back, Hinata smirked. While deliberately riling up the people who didn't like him wasn't smart, he knew nothing would come of it. The woman didn't have the authority to discipline him herself, instead, she was to take any complaints about him to Takumi. However, doing so would mean explaining what had happened and that ran the risk of revealing how she'd spoken to him, while the prince would certainly be unimpressed with his actions, he'd be equally unimpressed with the servant's, therefore, reporting it would only cause problems for her as well. It wasn't helped by the fact that one particularly 'high and mighty' senior servant had 'disciplined' Hinata for his closeness to the Royal Family, the event had quickly been discovered by the retainers and the Royal family, resulting in serious repercussions for the servant. In fact, it was kind of a miracle the man had survived considering he'd made even Sakura angry (something no one wished to see again) and the incident had tempered the thoughts of other, similar thinking individuals.

Satisfied he'd won the slight clash of wills, he grinned and turned, just to find Kaze stood behind him. His smile instantly vanished as he realised the ninja had likely witnessed the whole thing and was probably about to get him in trouble.

The man looked at him impassively, "Deliberately upsetting others is not a suitable way for a retainer to act, regardless of how they feel about you."

Hinata ducked his head guiltily, "I know but…"

"Remember that your actions reflect on Prince Takumi as well."

Hinata ducked his head even lower and the ninja sighed, "That being said, the way she spoke to you wasn't acceptable either, so I understand why you did what you did but still, keep in mind that you are training to be a retainer."

He then smiled, "Just be glad Prince Ryoma didn't see it."

The boy blanched, if the oldest prince had been there, he would've received a far longer and stricter lecture, though such a thing was likely if the ninja told the prince what happened. He looked to Kaze pleadingly, "Please don't tell him."

The man's eyes twinkled as he seemingly considered it before answering, "Well…I suppose I don't need to mention it to him if you promise to show respect to others, even if they don't always show it to you."

The thought of Ryoma's possible lecture in his mind, the boy quickly leapt on his once chance of avoiding it, "I promise, I'll do my best to show them more respect."

Kaze studied him closely, checking he meant his words, then smiled once more, "Very well, but I will hold you to that."

"Thank you Kaze!"

The ninja simply nodded, "Your welcome." He briefly eyed the boy's clothes, "Now then, Princess Corrin is due to be presented before the kingdom later today and Princess Sakura has made it very clear you're going to be there. You might want to get changed and freshen up before she finds you."

Hinata shuddered slightly, the youngest princess would certainly act if she believed his state of attire and tidiness didn't meet her expectations, an experience that was really not fun.

Seeing it, Kaze smiled mischievously, "She's currently looking for you in the training grounds, I would suggest going via the east wing to reach your quarters without meeting her."

Instantly, Hinata sprinted off in the suggested direction, calling briefly back behind him, "Thanks Kaze!"

The ninja simply smiled and shook his head.

PS-So a rather amicable start to Corrin and Hinata's relationship. If anyone has any suggestions for this fic then feel free to include them in any reviews or PMs, I'll consider suggestions for all three paths of the game.