The leaves rustled against the wind as Obi zoomed past them, jumping from branch to branch with ease. His legs finding exactly where to land without his mind even having to think about it. Running through the trees, staying hidden, it was all apart of his nature. People had to die for it to become his nature...but he didn't regret it. He regretted that people would've had to die, that Shirayuki herself had almost died from it...but now these skills were giving him the chance to protect her again. Keep her safe.

He scowled slightly as he remembered that he let her slip from his hands. That if he had just insisted on going with her to meet her friend. If he had only been there with her...he could've prevented all of this.

A cracking sound ringing in Obi's ears brought him back to his senses. He jumped from that branch again, listening as it fell to the ground and plunged into the snow. He almost didn't make it that time. He had gotten distracted and had forgotten what was important. Because of that, he had almost gotten injured and if he had...then he wouldn't be much help to Shirayuki.

He had to keep going.

"Tell me where she is." Zen growled as he glowered down at the man sitting before him, his hands in chains that connected to the wall. The man was bruised and his hands blistered but he had no cuts on him. Not yet at least.

"I don't know." The man replied with a desperate voice, his eyes wide and panicky. He winced slightly when Zen raised his hand again, his sword sheathed for now and he hoped he wouldn't have to take it out but he wouldn't hesitate to. Not with Shirayuki on the line.

"Then why are you even here?" Zen asked, his tone harsh and full of venom but he didn't care. This man threatened Shirayuki.

"I'm a messenger." The man repeated himself again. It had already gone in a circle like this many times, Zen asked the same questions while the man gave him the same answers. Zen wasn't incapable of asking any other questions but he couldn't find enough time or enough room in his head to get new questions to ask the man. The same name roamed through his head each time, stopping him from thinking of anything else.

Truthfully, he didn't want to think about anything but Shirayuki but he would have to if he wanted to get her back.

"Your majesty..." A guard mumbled nervously from behind the white haired prince. Despite the fact that the guard had done nothing, Zen snapped his head back at him and glared towards the guard.

"What?" He hissed.

The guard visibly winced but continued one with what he as saying, "You might want to try...getting different information."

Zen held back a retort and looked back down at the man, his scowl still evident on his face. "Where do you meet?" He asked instead, his voice still as harsh as he took the guard's advice even though he had thought it already. The guard telling him to do it...kind of made him feel motivated to do it. In an odd way.

"We don't." The man answered with a slightly relieved expression at the change in questions.

"Excuse me?" Zen questioned with a growl.

"We don't meet." The man repeated himself, backing up a little at the growl before explaining, "I just walk around somewhere waving the letter around and I'm found."

"You're found?" Zen asked him, keeping the look on his face to continue intimidating him even though it was almost a bit.

"Yes. I'm found. It's exactly as I said. We have no meeting place, we're not stupid enough to arrange something like that." The man explained, his fingers twitching as his pinky clawed against the dirty steel of the chains around his wrists.

Zen nodded, his scowl still staying in place as thoughts ran through his head. Most of them were still of Shirayuki, of her face, her hair, her smile, it just made him feel warm inside. If she was here beside him, maybe he'd be able to stay calm, maybe still have his thoughts in place. But she wasn't beside him anymore and it was this man's fault.

"Sir..." The guard spoke up quietly, looking over at the prince, "Someone is here."

"Tell them to go away." Zen snapped.

The guard winced again but he kept going, earning a little respect from Zen as he did, "He says it's important."

"This is more important."

"Your majesty...he says a letter attached to an arrow was found in your bedroom."

Zen jerked his head up at the arrow part, glancing over at the guard and using his hand to gesture to let the man come in. The guard nodded and moved to the side, letting one of the palace messengers walk in formally. The man held a plate with a letter in it and kept his chin up a bit, pretending that he wasn't looking at the man in chains curiously.

As his eyes trailed along the letters, they slow widened in both rage and surprise. Barely even half way through, it was ripped into pieces again, but it was more than two. It was in five pieces, spread along the dirty floor. Zen's hands visibly twitched as he turned on his heel and headed out of the cell.

"Do not mention this to anyone but Kiki and Mitsuhide." Zen ordered the guard and messenger, not turning to look at them as he heard the footsteps of the messenger coming out of the cell as well.

"Understood, majesty." They said in unison.

Zen didn't reply as he left, his hand clutching onto his sword protectively. But not for the sword...

For his friends...

Obi didn't know where to go honestly. He had no path to follow, no leads, no one telling him where to go. He was just searching aimlessly, hoping for the best. But at least he had some sort of instinct for this stuff, since he was an assassin. He had an idea about where good kidnappers would go to hide. Away from the one they were ransoming too for one thing.

Yet... the kidnapper was there that night. The night his messenger came. He had no reason to protect him if he was just a messenger, messengers were easy to replace. So he definitely wasn't picked randomly. Maybe they were apart of a group.

Obi frowned as he thought of that, it was silly to have thought it was just one kidnapper. So far, it's been all groups that kidnapped her while he's been here. Going off alone wasn't the smartest idea either, especially if it was a giant group. Yet...standing around and waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the morning. Waiting...he didn't want to wait.

Not when Shirayuki was at stake.

She was special to him. Even if he couldn't be honest about his feelings, even if he knew that she obviously didn't feel the same way, she was special to him. And so was Zen. He wouldn't be a servant to just anyone obviously.

A smile tugged at his lips at the memory of the two. And to think...he would've willingly killed Shirayuki a month earlier. He doubted he would've ever looked back on it if he did. The times changed...in a good way he supposed. He was happier with the group. Happier than he could've been as an assassin at least.

Obi's eyes narrowed as he heard something behind him. It wouldn't have bothered him much if it didn't sound like something landing on a branch in the tree he was just in. Auspiciously, the man snapped his head back. His eyes widened at the figure behind him, it wasn't there a second ago. He barely even got to look at the figure before watching the stick with metal fly in the air, aiming straight for him.

He was fast, pulling out one of his throwing knives before the arrow even hit him. Obi knew he couldn't dodge this mid air, but he could at least fight back. Just as the sharp metal pierced into his shoulder, he hurled his knife. The aim was off, but it sliced the cheek of the kidnapper.

Obi held back a yell as he fell to the ground, his back smashing against the cold ground underneath him. The red liquid seeped from his shirt quickly, spreading along the grass until the blades themselves turned red. Obi watched as the kidnapper turned away and ran, only having been able to see their eyes since the rest of them was covered.

"Damn it..." He grunted as he continued to lay in a pool of his own blood with a stick of wood sticking out from his shoulder, not even a tiny part of the head was able to be seen, "Damn it...damn it...damn it..."