The paper

Hi people! I'm posting this chapter early since the last chapter was posted late. Thank you for all the reviews, you guys rock! To xLiese Altairx I'm not sure if I'll be able to get her family to visit for a bit, since the next few chapters are all planned. But I'll try to get them to come in sometime, if I have to I'll make an extra chapter. Thank you, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

"You sure about this?"

"Yes, I am absolutely sure."

"I-I really don't know king Sinbad. What if someone finds out?"

"No one's going to find out Hakuei. Just do what I say, and everything is going to be okay."

"Well…alright. I suppose, as long as we keep it a secret."

"Good. On the count of three okay? One…"

"…two…"

"THREE!" An avalanche of files came tumbling down, covering Hakuei head to foot. Sinbad stood on his desk laughing while Hakuei had to pull herself out of the mess.

"Hey, that wasn't fair! We were supposed to puss the tower towards the window! You weren't supposed to drown me in paper!" Sinbad just smirked as she pushed everything away. A small paper fell down the back of her dress feeling as cold as ice and she started spinning trying to get it out. All that did was make Sinbad laugh even harder.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it. You really need to keep your guard up Hakuei." It annoyed her, him calling her something so informal, but she smiled and took his hand to pull herself up. What's wrong with this picture? They were supposed to be working. It was the middle of the day, Sinbad was supposed to be busy finishing important documents. Hakuei was supposed to be dealing with an argument the toran residents were having with the magnolia residents. Instead the two of them got bored and started playing games with paper. Paper airplanes, pyramids, drawing pictures, and their newest idea, making a tower and destroy it. They were having fun…until Jafar found them.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" both of them shot up to see Jafar staring at the scene in the doorway, open-mouthed. Hakuei jumped back and looked embarrassed, but Sinbad was used to his advisor finding him making messes in his office.

"Oh, hey Jafar. What's up?" Jafar wasn't at all amused. Fuming he walked into the room to survey the wreckage.

"These are all important documents! What were you thinking?" Hakuei bowed sheepishly.

"I-I'm sorry Jafar, we shouldn't have been playing." Than to Sinbad she whispered from behind her hand, "You said the door was locked! I told you we would be in trouble if anyone found out!" Sinbad just waved her worries off.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." It didn't look fine, with a fire starting to glow in his subordinates eyes. Hakuei took a quick step so that Sinbad was in front of her. She usually tried to defeat herself, but against Jafar…even she wasn't confident enough to go against him on her own. Sinbad was, but he might have been an idiot.

"These are official Sindrian documents! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get these? Some of these are due in a week! How do you plan on replacing these huh?" Hakuei, who understood how stressful handling a kingdom was, immediately felt guilty and began bowing again.

"I'm very, very sorry. Most of the papers are still salvageable," take away the ones that they drew on. "If I unfold them it should be fine. I don't think any of them got ripped."

"You don't need to do that," Sinbad reassured her. "Jafar, you worry too much! When have I ever let you down?"

"Shall I make a LIST?"

"Okay, fine, when have I ever let you down when it was really important?" To that Jafar had no response. "See? You know I can always get the papers done on time, even if I goof off a bit before I do." both Hakuei and Jafar turned and raised their eyebrows at him. A BIT? "Okay, a lot, but I will get it done! You can trust me Jafar, don't worry!" Jafar was worrying. He was worrying a whole lot. But like always, he gave out a sigh and the fire died down. He really couldn't stay mad at his king, or at Hakuei who looked so guilty she was about to go on her knees and beg. She was considering it, but don't tell anyone that.

"Well, at least the two of you are starting to get along more." at his observation Hakuei and Sinbad looked at each other. Sinbad grinned and Hakuei gave him a small smile before turning to clean up the mess. After Hakuei's birthday, the two of them seemed to have come to some kind of agreement. Sinbad tried to put aside whatever it was that he had against Hakuei, and she him. When the two of them got along, Hakuei was surprised to find that she really enjoyed his company. They had been somehow working together for the last few months with only a few arguments. Jafar was happy to see Sinbad having so much fun. He couldn't remember the last time he has seen his king look so happy and interested.

Actually, he could. But he didn't like thinking about it.

Before either of them could respond, Sharkkon burst into the throne room. "Hey guys, there is a southern creature out! Who gets to destroy it, can I do it?" Hakuei frowned, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Another one? Isn't that the third one this month?" Sinbad and Jafar glanced at each other. The mention of the increased number of southern creatures reminded them of the damage that had been caused to the shield. Yamuriha had gone to fix it a while ago, but it was taking her some time. But that wasn't what worried them. They could deal with the southern creatures easily. What they had a hard time dealing with was the fact that they had still not found a reason for the damage. While his advisor continued to worry Sinbad turned to Sharkkon to answer his question.

"Didn't you get to destroy the last one? Let someone else have a shot. Masrur hasn't defeated one in a long time."

"Yeah, that's because he's always trying to talk to that finalist girl from parthevia." Everyone looked up at that.

"Really? Who?" Sharkkon rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, he never gave me a name. It's not Morgianna I know. I told you this a long time ago! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" It took all of Sinbad's energy not to press on the information. What Masrur did in his personal life was up to him, and if he wanted him to know he would have come to him. But not meddling….was….so….HARD…

In an attempt to distract himself, he went back to the topic at hand. "Either way, it's not your turn. First we need to summon all the eight generals." At his words the three of them started on their way to gather everyone and head to the southern creature. As they did, Sinbad realized they weren't being followed. Turning he expected to see Hakuei behind him, but instead she was walking around in his office, picking up all of the papers sprayed on the floor. "Hakuei, come on. You can clean that up later."

She looked up and gave him a pleasant smile. "Oh don't worry about me Sinbad. I'd rather not be there since the…ah, the last time." Right. The last time Hakuei had been there to help them defeat one of the southern creatures, it had been Sharkkon and Yamu's turn. But when the two of them were trying to capture it, they got into a fight. When they attacked, Yamu accidently turned her water to heat magic, turning the liquid gross and steamy. So when Sharkkon sliced it open the jelly went spewing everywhere. Luckily, most of the citizens had backed away in time, but poor Hakuei had tried to get closer to see what would happen. In the end she had been covered head to toe in a red and purple liquid that smelled suspiciously like blood and bile. She hadn't eaten much that night.

Even Sinbad wasn't cruel enough to make her come after something like that. "Alright, but don't worry about cleaning too much. I can worry about it when I get back!" With that Sinbad turned and hurried away, leaving Hakuei to decide what to do with the mess. She really didn't mind cleaning up after others. She was used to it with all her siblings making such messes before, and this made her feel more useful in the country. Yes, she was part of the international relations, but at the same time there wasn't much for her to do on that part. She wanted to do something more to help out.

As she was cleaning up for a while, she found that she wasn't as alone as she had previously thought. "HAKUEI-CHAN!" Hakuei yelped when Pisti jumped out of the pile. She was so startled she fell on her back, making more of the papers go flying. Wincing in pain she pulled herself up and glared at the smiling Pisti.

"What are you doing Pisti? Aren't you supposed to be at the hunt?" the younger women shrugged as she used the papers to slip off of the desk as if it was a slide.

"Aren't you supposed to be to? I just got here five minutes ago and you didn't even notice!" Hakuei rolled her eyes as she grabbed the papers that had fallen and started straightening them again. Seeing she was being ignored she changed the topic of conversation. "What is all of this anyway?"

"Some of the official Sindrian documents. Sinbad and I messed them all up when we were…ah…"

"Making paper airplanes?" Pisti asked, holding one very battered one up. Hakuei tried to hide her shame. "But aw! You were playing with Sinbad! Does that mean the two of you are getting along more?" Wow, everyone seemed to be stuck on that. The two of them had been getting along for while, and just that day everyone was starting to notice?

"Yes, I suppose we are. But we have been for a long time now." Pisti frowned, wondering just how out of the loop she was. How much had she missed? Sinbad and Hakuei were getting along. Maybe Yamu and Sharkkon finally got together as well? Oh no, how could she miss such a thing! Hakuei was very confused when Pisti started running around in a panic, screaming something about, 'what's their couple name? It has to be yamukkon!' staying in that country would start to get to her eventually.

But as Pisti started running around too much, she began running into more of the papers. "Be careful Pisti, the papers!" Before she could stop herself, Pisti ran into the desk sending a pile of papers to the floor. Hakuei glared at her while she smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry." Hakuei sighed and the two of them worked to trying to pick up the papers. "Wow some of these drawings aren't bad! Is this one that Sinbad drew?" She held up a picture of a sea monster and Hakuei nodded. "Cool! Than how about…" She trailed off when she found a book. "Hey, what's this?" Hakuei looked over and caught her breath.

Pisti held up the brown leather book that Hakuei had found in the library months ago. It looked just the same, with the two circles on the front and covered in brown leather that had a few scratches and burn marks on it. Other than that though it was in perfect condition, with nothing but a ribbon holding it closed. "It's, um…it's that book I told you guys about." At first she looked confused, but that her eyes widened.

"Oh! I know, that one that was in the hidden room in the library!" Hakuei nodded, making Pisti frowned. "Huh. I wonder why it's so important." Curious, Pisti started to open the book.

"No Pisti, I can't read that! If I do, it will shock my bracelet!"

"But you really want to find out what's in it don't you?" Hakuei couldn't argue with that. "Than how about I read it to YOU? Then your bracelet won't shock you!" Hakuei tried to grab at the book, but Pisti jumped away. "Oh don't worry about Sinbad, I'm sure he won't mind if it's Me." after a few months Hakuei started to realize that the generals really thought that they could get away with anything in that country.

"Pisti, just give it back! I'm already in trouble with Jafar, I don't want Sinbad to be angry with me as well." Again she lunged at the smaller girl but she was too quick. She dodged out of her way and ran onto the desk. Next she tried to corner her but she was easily able to jump over her. "Pisti, please!"

"Alright, alright. Yeesh, such a spoil sport. Are you always so serious?" maybe, Hakuei thought but didn't say out loud. Just when Hakuei thought that she could relax, Pisti started untying the ribbon on the side of the book. "Just one little peak couldn't hurt."

"Pisti, no!" This time when Hakuei lunged at her she was able to grab the book, slamming it shut. But when she pulled it away, the ribbon fell open, and out of the book fell a small slip of paper. It fluttered in the air this way and that, until it landed face down on the desk. The two girls stared at the paper in silence. Both of their mouths had dropped open. They stared at the paper, to each other, and back to the paper again. It looked old, almost yellowing. The edges were crumpled and it had fold marks in it, but was well preserved. It was too small to be a complete piece of paper, but the glue on the back indicated that it was attached to one. Written on the back was two simple words. The princess.

"WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT?" Pisti dove for it but Hakuei was closer. She snatched the paper away and Pisti landed on the desk in pain. "Ow! That was mean!" she whimpered and rubbed her chin. "I think I broke something!" Hakuei didn't move. "It really hurts!" nothing. Her fake pain wasn't working on her.

"Come on, let me see it! Or at least tell me what it is!" Hakuei shook her head, sticking her tongue out at her as she slipped it back into the book carefully. Putting the book back on the desk she put herself in between her and the book.

"Nope! Besides, I can't read it, I told you that!" Pisti pouted and put her hands on her hips.

"Sure you can! It's not a part of the book when it falls out right?" Hakuei opened her mouth to argue, but slowly closed it. That was true. If it fell out, did that mean the bracelet wouldn't shock her? Would she be able to read it? "Come on Hakuei," Pisti slipped the paper out of the book folded up, than waved it in the air. "You know you want to." well of COURSE she did. That didn't mean that she was supposed to. Sinbad had been very defensive about that paper, she wasn't ready to get him angry again. She was just starting to see why people called him so carefree and funny. The two of them were becoming good friends! She didn't want to ruin that right away. But on the other hand, if they really were going to be friends, he shouldn't be hiding things like that from her.

And that was the absolutely perfect (NOT) time for Sinbad to return.

"Pisti, you can't run out on your duties," at the sound of his voice both girls jumped. Hakuei tried to get as far away from the book as possible while Pisti grabbed it, aiming to put it back where she had found it. Too late though, Sinbad returned with his regular grin on his face. "Ah, there you are! Come on, we need to prepare for the party…" his voice trailed off when he saw the book in her hands. When he saw it she yelped and hid it behind her back, her face turning bright red as if she had been caught with someone's underwear.

Trying to be normal she gave a big smile. "Oh hi Sin! Yeah yeah, I'll be out in a minute!" Sinbad's attention was not moved. He was focused on the book behind her back. Hakuei could practically see the wheels turning in his head, trying to decide his next move.

The one he made was a simple one. "...Where did you get that book?" Pisti quickly realized that she couldn't get out of it.

"Er, I found it on the table. Why, was it a secret? Gosh, for a king I'd think you'd be better at hiding your own secrets,"

"Did you open it?" though the question was directed at Pisti, Sinbad's eyes flickered to Hakuei. Oh come on, she hadn't even said anything!

"N-no," Pisti shook her head. "I wanted to, but it would shock Hakuei if I did so I kept it shut." That was one way of putting it. What happened to the whole, I can get away with anything in my country, attitude? Sinbad didn't look like he knew if he could trust her, but had no other choice.

Walking over he took the book from her hands, ignoring her protests. "That's good. I'll keep this to myself than." He put the book under his arm, and Hakuei watched the action with clenched fists. She was an idiot! She had the chance to try and find out at least what the one paper from the book held, and she let the opportunity go. He probably would make sure to hide it better after that. She might never see the book again! Once the book was back in his possession, he turned to Hakuei with the smile back on his face. "Anyway, come on Hakuei. You're going to have to hurry if you want to get everything done before the party tonight." With an inward sigh she allowed herself to be led by him out the door. Pisti watched the two of them go with a look of disappointment.

But as soon as they had left, her frown changed to an evil smile.

"Okay, you need to be very careful with that vial Hakuei." Yamu told her as she handed her a small bottle filled with purple liquid. It was…glowing?

Hakuei decided not to question it. "Don't worry, I'm sure I can handle it." Yamu looked a little nervous, but let it go. It was an experiment with mixing potassium chloride with various magical chemicals to see which one of them would be the most effective for battle and defensive strategies. Though Hakuei didn't know too much about chemistry, she was good at following orders, and Yamu couldn't' do it on her own.

"Next, we need to mix that with the potassium chloride," Yamu told her, pulling out a bowl filled with the white powder. "We need to make sure to only add a little bit. I'm not sure how reactive that material from the country of parthevia is. So to start off, only add a drop, alright?"

"Sure." Hakuei smiled at her. Holding the vial with two hands she steadied it over the bowl, slowly tipping it forward. Easy…easy…

"Careful," Yamu told her. "I have a magic Borg around me, but you're not protected." Thanks for the reminder Yamuriha. Gently, she tipped it over so just a little bit was falling out. The glowing purple liquid started to fall, just a bit…

"YAMU, HAKUEI!" and she dropped the whole thing in.

Like Yamu had said, she was protected. But Hakuei wasn't. At least it wasn't as explosive as Yamu had thought. Instead it just gave off a minor explosion, the ashes flying and covering Hakuei's face. She was covered in black. The only colour that could be seen was the white and blue of her eyes when she blinked. Yamu wanted to yell, but her face made up for her mistake. "Pfff!" She had a hard time trying to smother her laughter. Hakuei glared at her, but let it go. Even she had to admit it was funny.

Wiping her face she turned. The minute she did she wished that she hadn't. Her face turned pale when she saw Sinbad walking through the open doors. When he saw her whatever mood he had been in before vanished and a big grin spread across his face. "P-princess Hakuei, you look absolutely radiant." Hakuei rolled her eyes and tried to wipe the ashes away.

"Ha ha, very funny. I've heard better jokes from the stone statue in the garden." Sinbad laughed. Almost by instinct, he took a step closer so he was right in front of her. Pulling up his sleeve he wiped a portion away from her mouth.

"I'd be careful about what I got on that pretty mouth of yours." Automatically, Hakuei rolled her eyes. He was really trying to work on them getting along wasn't he? Maybe she should have specified that she wanted to get along as friends. When she saw he was still looking at her, she gave him a smug smirk.

"True. How would I be able to put you in your place without it?" Sinbad grinned so wide his teeth were showing.

"Sharp mouth. You talk like that to everyone?"

"Nope, just the special people." He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, does that make me one of the special ones?" It was Hakuei's turn to laugh.

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm just in a good mood."

"Because I walked in the room, right?"

"Now who's acting all high and mighty?"

"Um," Yamu cut in, starting to feel a little awkward. Only a few weeks ago they had started to get along, and now they were talking as if they had known each other for years. "If you two are done flirting, can someone help me clean these things up?" they both turned to face her and Hakuei was glad the ashes hid her blush.

"W-we were not flirting! It was just talking!" oh gosh, she hadn't meant to do that! She didn't even know how to flirt! Sinbad grinned but otherwise ignored her response.

"I'm sorry for messing up your experiment Yamu. I didn't realize that you two were still working." Yamu sighed and shook her head as Hakuei went to grab a towel and wipe of her face. She wouldn't be able to wear that dress for a while.

"What are you in here for Sinbad? I thought you still had a hangover from the party yesterday." Sinbad didn't even try to deny that. But when he remembered his goal being there his face darkened. Hakuei thought the last time she had seen him with that face was when she had been yelling at him.

"Right. Unfortunately, I need help finding something. I was wondering if anyone had seen it." Yamu frowned. Her king usually didn't come to her asking if she had found anything. She was too far away from wherever the documents that Jafar gave him were. The only reason he would come asking her was if he lost it when he was drunk, or he was really desperate to find it.

While wiping the dirt off of her ears, (that stuff was not going to come out of her hair) Hakuei spoke up. "It's going to be kind of hard for us to know what you're looking for unless you tell us." Sinbad smirked a bit at her tone, but it didn't last.

"It's a paper. Small, old, should be folded up. It was from a leather book that I have that's…well, let's just say I need it back. It's got some writing on the back that says, the princess." At the mention of it Hakuei froze. That paper that had fallen out of the book. It must not have stayed in when Pisti had put it back. But she couldn't tell him that. If she did he might start suspecting that she had been searching through his stuff again. Maybe he would think that she just wanted to be friends with him to get his guard down. "Have the two of you seen it anywhere?"

Yamu shook her head. "A piece of paper. Do you have any idea how hard it would be to find in a palace?" Sinbad gave a sheepish smile.

"I understand that. But I really need to find it." Yamu shook her head thinking it was hopeless. Hakuei blurted her response.

"Why?" both of them turned to her and she shuddered. She hadn't meant to speak out loud. "I-I mean, why is it so important? What's on it?" at her question Sinbad's eyes fluttered away from her, anywhere but direct eye contact. He was hiding something. Well duh. When wasn't he?

"It's…It's very important. It's important, but I can't tell you what's on it." Hakuei knew better than to continue. Yamu on the other hand put her hands on her hips.

"Well how are we supposed to know what it is if we don't know what's written on it?" Sinbad didn't answer, so she just gave him a sigh. "Well, from what you've told me no, I haven't seen it. I don't know if I have any magic that will help you find something so vague. Unless, you said it was in a book right? If I had the book than I-" she stopped when she saw the look in his eyes. He wasn't going to let her see whatever book it was. "Never mind." She crossed her arms and huffed. Hakuei really might have been on to something when she said he was hiding something.

Sinbad turned to Hakuei. Inwardly she gulped, but tried to hide her distress with a normal calm expression. "Anything from that book I'm not allowed to read. Even if I did see it the bracelet would probably lead me away." He nodded, remembering that, but still looked suspicious of her. He had a right to be. She had been the only one who had been curious about that strange book.

Annoyed, Sinbad gave them both a smile. "I see. Thank you ladies for your time. If you see it please tell me." Sinbad waved to both of them as he walked away. They waited for the door to close so that Yamu could give a sigh and shake her head, confused.

"That was weird. Sinbad's never come here looking for something. Never seen him so worried about some piece of paper." She shrugged and grabbed a broom to clean up. I wonder why I've never heard about it before. Sounds like it's really important. Wonder what's on it…Hey Hakuei, are you alright?" Hakuei didn't answer. Her eyes were trained on the door, watching the place that he had left. "Hakuei!" her shout brought her back to attention.

"O-oh, sorry Yamu! Um…I'm going to go and clean up all these ashes. I'll ah, be right back." Before Yamu could protest Hakuei had burst out the back door and was running through the garden, on search of Pisti. Maybe she knew where the paper was.

Eventually she found her in the garden. Pisti sat among a group of birds feeding them all bird seed and stroking their feathers. When she did stuff like that it became harder and harder for Hakuei to stop seeing her as a young child. How could you not make that mistake? The chubby cheeks added with the small body and joyful attitude all just screamed CHILD! At the sound of her footsteps Pisti looked up and smiled at her. "Hi Hakuei! Do you want to help me feed my birds? Sally here is a bit of a biter, but you can feed the other ones!"

Hakuei shook her head as she sat down next to her, the birds fluttered to get out of her way. "No thank you Pisti. I came here to talk to you about something important."

"How important," Pisti questioned, giving some more seeds to a raven. "Like, Sharkkon proposed to Yamu important, or Drakkon proposed to his wife important?" Hakuei gave her friend a strange look.

"Um…I'm pretty sure both of those would be important." This time Pisti shook her head, holding a finger up in protest.

"Not exactly. See, Drakkon and his wife are already married, so it's old news that he proposed to her. But Sharkkon and Yamu aren't even dating, so that would be HUGE news!" Pisti exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. But that's excitement, not importance, Hakuei debated in her head, but shook it off. She had too many things to worry about and that wasn't something she wanted to add to the list.

"Er, okay fine. Then it's…Masrur dancing at a party." It took Pisti a moment to process that information.

"Hm…that's pretty big I guess….unless he was drunk. Oh well, so what is it?" Pisti turned to Hakuei excitedly, making Hakuei wonder why she couldn't have just started listening in the first place instead of making her go through that.

"It's about that…that thing from yesterday." Pisti blinked in false innocence.

"What thing?" Hakuei glared at her. "Oh, THAT thing. Yeah, I remember it. What about it?" Hakuei hoped that they were really talking about the same thing.

"Where is it?" Pisti gaped at her and put a hand to her heart, faking offence.

"Hakuei! And to think, I thought that we were friends! Goodness, after all that we had been through, don't you trust me? I mean, I helped you pick out your nice cloths, decorate your room, I even helped you find the best hairdresser when you wanted to cut your hair! And now, after all that, you come to me accusing me of taking something that doesn't belong to me? Is this how you treat your friends back in Kou? Well I have news for you princess, down here we learn that we need to trust our friends!"

"King Sinbad is looking for it."

"Wow, what do you know, it was in my pocket the whole time!"

Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the small paper, folded into a smaller square. On the back were the incriminating words, the princess. Hakuei glared at her with her hands on her hips. "Aw, come on Hakuei-chan. You can't be that mad at me. He never asked about it before, and I was going to put it back! I'm doing you a favour!"

"You're not doing me a favour," Hakuei sputtered incredulously. "How are you doing me a favour? King Sinbad is running around the palace looking for this paper, and when push comes to shove, we both know that I am going to be his number one suspect!" She snatched the paper out of her fingers before Pisti could react.

"But he doesn't know I have it! I was going to put it back, honest!"

"Do you even know where the book is?"

"Hey, I didn't say it was a foolproof plan. I still have to work out the bugs!"

"One of the bugs being the king is looking for it, you are one of the only ones who he hasn't spoken to and he's not going to just believe it magically appeared in his book again?"

"Yeah, that stuff!" Pisti sighed and shook her head. "Honestly it's like you have no faith in me at all."

Well, she had a good reason. Hakuei shook her head, focusing on the paper in front of her. It was old, very old. Breaking a bit at the edges. She wondered if it was a poem, or a letter. Perhaps it was the deed to the island or something. The book had seemed like some kind of history novel to her. Curiously she fingered at the sides of the paper. Pisti took note of the action and grinned wildly. "Oooh, you want to see what's inside." Catching her breath she glared daggers at Pisti. If she was getting kicked of the island it was going to be because of something Pisti did, she knew it.

"What? No-well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't…interested." All that did was make Pisti's grin get even bigger.

"Then open it! Go ahead, I won't tell anyone! I haven't seen what's on the inside yet, you'd be the first one!" next to Sinbad of course. She opened her mouth to say no, but slowly shut it, her eyes shifting back to the paper. When Sinbad had taken the book last time, she remembered how foolish she felt for not taking advantage of the situation. Being put on the spot, her obvious answer was no. But she knew how much she would regret it in the future if she didn't. Besides, it was only one little piece of paper. How angry could Sinbad be at her for just taking a quick peek? All these excuses and more were starting to boil up inside of her. By then she knew that there was no point anymore. She was going to open it.

"Come on, the bracelet won't shock you if it isn't in the book!" Hakuei glanced at her warily. Than sighed in what she meant to sound like defeat, but instead it sounded like excitement.

"I suppose just one little peak couldn't hurt," she suggested, trying to sound nonchalant. Her aloof act didn't work when she hurried to slip the paper open. Pisti grinned and waited in suspense for the big unveil. Hakuei flipped over one side. Than another. Than the last one.

She stopped.

Pisti waited impatiently. She began tapping her foot. "Um…Hakuei? Can I see it?" Hakuei didn't respond. Her eyes were glued to the paper that she held in her hands, focusing on whatever was written on the other side. The younger general frowned and tried to edge around her to see what was on it. "What? I want to see it to! Come on, what's so shocking?" It must have been something big. Hakuei's mouth had fallen open and even her hands that had been shaking with excitement had stopped. In her head Pisti wondered what on earth it could have been. Must have been cool. Maybe a poem Sinbad had written for someone! Okay, that wasn't the first option. But something like that! "Hakueiiiiii,"

"…Where is Sinbad now?" her voice was slow, controlled. It scared Pisti a little bit. She had never heard her fried say something in a way that sounded so…menacing. Besides, why would she want to know that? They were holding the exact thing that they DIDN'T want him to see them with.

But Hakuei persisted on the question to Pisti shrugged. "I don't know. How should I, you were the one coming to me asking where he is."

"I need to go find him," Hakuei interrupted.

Pisti blinked at her. "What? Isn't he the guy we are trying to avoid? You know, because he's looking for that paper and he's probably going to be really mad at us? The same guy who can get us both in a lot of trouble? Ringing any bells?" but her friend was not responding at all. Her hands that had been frozen tightened, almost ripping the paper. "Hey, wait! I haven't seen it yet!" she tried to snatch the paper out of her hands but Hakuei held onto it tight. It was only then that Pisti saw the fire in her eyes.

Hakuei was over her shock. After she looked absolutely furious.

"I'm going to go find him," she told Pisti who gave and audible gulp. "We need to talk."

"King Sinbad? May I speak to you…Oh, I'm sorry Masrur, I didn't realize you were here." Masrur and Sinbad turned back to her through the mess of the room. In an attempt to try and find the paper that had been lost he had searched through the entire room. And since some of the furniture was really heavy, he requited Masrur to help. He was currently holding a giant throne in his left hand while Sinbad got up from looking underneath.

When Sinbad saw it was her he tried to act normal. "Ah, Hakuei. What can I do for you?" She tried to give a smile, but her mouth was frozen in a line. When Sinbad saw that he immediately knew something was wrong. How he was able to read her so easily, she didn't know. "Masrur, you can leave if you want. I don't think it's in here." Masrur shrugged and set the throne back in it's spot. Silently he walked past Hakuei, the two of them giving each other a polite head nod, then left the room. Sinbad moved so that he was sitting at his throne and leaned back in it, much more comfortable in his throne chair than anyone she had ever seen. Hakuei walked closer to him so that she was directly in front of him. He gave an easy smile, happy to see her. He wouldn't be for long.

"King Sinbad, what are you doing?" He sighed, kicking at the chair.

"I was looking for the paper that had fallen out of the book. I haven't found it anywhere!" he threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. He was desperate to find that paper. He needed it back! If he didn't, he didn't know,

"I have it." his heart stopped. That was the worst situation that he was too afraid of to even consider. Slowly, he turned to look her in the eye.

"…What?"

"It had slipped out of the book when Pisti had it and she gave it to me. When it fell out of the book I'm guessing that the bracelets command didn't apply to it." Sinbad didn't respond. He was going to have to have a talk with Pisti later. But that wasn't the main issue. Instead of looking embarrassed like she would have when knowing she did something wrong, she looked angry. Glaring at Sinbad like he was the criminal.

If she was looking like that, that meant she had seen what was on the paper.

Sitting up straighter Sinbad tried to look more in control than he actually was. It didn't faze her at all, and she reached into her pocket (A DRESS WITH A POCKET IS AWESOME!) to grab the paper. He watched her movements until she pulled the right paper out, and his heart lurched. It was the right one. Even from where he sat he could see the writing on the back. The princess written in someone else's handwriting. He hoped she hadn't figured out just who's handwriting it was. "You know, when I first saw the paper…or the book at least," Hakuei started, more to herself that to him. "I thought it was more of a book about Sindria's past. That maybe you were writing a book about the past of your country so that no one ever forgot it." holding the paper, now folded, in front of her face, she flipped it around a few times. As if to examine if it had any more hidden messages. "But then, why would you be so secretive about that? Your other books are all out in the open, not in some hidden room in the library. So than I thought it was some official documents, secrets about your country that you wrote down in case you needed to remember it. That was the idea I had been stuck on for the longest. But then I saw this," Hakuei snipped at him, holding the paper out further away from her. Sinbad said nothing, his eyes glued on her. He seemed to know that she wasn't done. He always knew. At least now she had a clue why.

"The paper when I first saw it, I thought it had some kind of writing on it," gingerly, she started tugging at the paper. She was going to unfold it. At his side Sinbad squeezed the armrests of his chair, but kept his mouth shut. "Maybe part of one of your stories, a poem or a letter to someone. But to be honest," she commented as she finally finished unfolding the paper. It was facing her, and she examined it. The more she looked at it the more her anger grew. Her hand that held it clenched it so tight Sinbad was afraid it was going to break. With a vengeance her eyes shot up and caught his, the two of them having their own stare-down. Turning the paper she held it out in front of her so that Sinbad had no choice but to look at it.

"I never thought that it was a drawing. Much less one of me." the drawing was done in pencil, old and starting to fade. But it was an amazing drawing all the less. It only showed her face, facing away from the artist and looking at someone else. It was a very accurate drawing, a perfect frame but very little shading. Not only was it very old though, it was from even before she had become a dungeon capturer. It showed her when she was around 10 years old, maybe older. Before she became a dungeon capturer, before she became a general. And before she became anything of political importance! At that time of her life, she wasn't that important. And her smile, it was so big. Bigger and brighter than it had been for a long time.

"Where did you get this drawing," Hakuei demanded, slamming the paper on the desk. Sinbad barely flinched at the action, angering her even more. "Why do you even have this drawing? We never met at this age, we were strangers! I don't even know how you got this drawing! How old were you when this drawing was made? 15? 16? How could you have even known about me? But more than that, why on earth do you even have a drawing of ME?" at the end Hakuei was so mad she had started screaming, and she had to stop to catch her breath. Sinbad remained emotionless the whole time, his face rested in the palm of his hand. Once he was sure she was done he covered his eyes, trying to decide what to do. Silently fuming she waited, annoyed at him for not showing some embarrassment or explanation or something. What right did he have to have that photo? Hakuei was so confused, she felt like everything was making less and less sense. How did he own that drawing? How did it exist? Why, where, when, who, how? It made no sense, none of it! Somehow he had gotten his hands on a drawing at a time when she was so young, so small so…

So vulnerable. That might have been what annoyed her about it the most. When she was ten she was still learning about the world, her brothers hadn't even died yet. She was innocent, she had no idea what was yet to come in her future. Her brother's deaths, many more deaths to come, al-thamen attacking, her mother's betrayal, the banker! She hated being vulnerable, looking weak in front of someone. Especially a stranger. What gave Sinbad the right to have a piece of a time that she wished she could completely erase her past? Just the thought that he knew about her that much made her insides tremble and her hands feel stiff. She had to know why. So that she could erase this whole thing from her memory. It had to disappear.

Without a word, Sinbad reached out with his free hand. He picked up the paper on his desk and held it up to his face. Her hands clenched the more he looked at it, just as absorbed in the photo as he was. How dare he? Stop looking at that photo! After what felt like forever, Sinbad's eyes shifted so that he could focus on her. When he opened his mouth, Hakuei had been expecting an explanation. She would demand it. But he didn't give her that.

"…Why does it matter so much?" she drew back, just a bit.

"Excuse me?"

"Does it matter that I have this drawing? It's just a drawing. Why would it matter to you so much?" her heart twisted in her chest. She couldn't give him the real reason. Part of her knew that he was just trying to divert the attention away from himself. But she couldn't think of a proper comeback.

"B-because you didn't know me! You shouldn't have had that photo from back then, when you weren't even,"

"It could be that," Sinbad suggested, his voice calm and controlled. His posture was relaxed, but he still didn't smile. It bugged her even more, how he could be so calm when she was furious with him. "Or perhaps it's because of how vulnerable you were at that age?" No, Hakuei's thoughts shouted at her. NO, how did he know that? I never told anyone what I thought about that age!

"How did you-"

"Am I right?" Sinbad demanded, making her bite back her words. "Do you hate being vulnerable that much Hakuei? That you would try and get rid of anything that reminds you of it?" her eyes went wide, and she took a hesitant step back. All of her energy slowly started to drain out of her when she realized she was the one under the microscope. How had she become the one under suspicion in this conversation? "Hakuei,"

"It's general Hakuei," she managed to get out. "Or princess Hakuei at least." Sinbad raised an eyebrow.

"Since when? You didn't care when I called you Hakuei before." In fact she had, but she didn't say anything about it because it was only a minor annoyance.

"That was before I found this drawing! This invasion into my privacy that you shouldn't even have!"

"Why not," Sinbad countered. "It's just a drawing. I could have picked it up by accident and forgotten to get rid of It." they both knew that explanation was flawed. If it were really an accident, he wouldn't have held onto it for so long, or have tried so hard to get it back. Again he diverted the attention away from him, focusing on her problems. "I'm just trying to be closer to you Hakuei. Aren't you the one who said you wanted us to get along?" Hakuei knew it wasn't about that. And the way that he said closer sent chills up her spine. He had that picture. Had he been planning this? It worried her that he seemed to always have a plan for what to do with her when she knew nothing about him. How did he know so much about her? Returning to old theories, she began to wonder if he might have been planning on using her against her country. She was not a tool. That was why she hated being vulnerable.

Without thinking she told him, "Well…well maybe I don't want that anymore!" for the first time Hakuei got a reaction out of him. His eyes sprung up and she could see the surprise in them.

"What?"

"Maybe I don't want to get closer to you," Hakuei fumed, crossing her arms. "Maybe I take it back?" it came out more like a question than a command. Sinbad shook his head, treating her as if she was a child who didn't understand anything. Yes, she was being childish, but the only reason she was acting like she didn't understand anything was because she really DIDN'T understand what was going on! He hadn't told her anything, and if he wanted her to behave better than he should have started explaining.

"You can't just call back a friendship Hakuei," Sinbad replied. He almost looked amused, the jerk. "That's like trying to force yourself not to have feelings. That's friendship for you," he told her with a smile. She hated the way that his words always came out. Smooth, as if he had practiced them. There was never any hesitation, and he always seemed to know the exact thing to say to get his way. Hakuei wished she had that same skill, but at the same time she didn't. She felt that often the best time to use it was when you had done something wrong, or to deceive someone. That was something she could live without.

"You know what a friendship is King Sinbad," Hakuei demanded, trying hard to sound authoritative. "A friendship is trust. Equal trust between the two people. This…our relationship," she gestured to the two of them swiftly. "We don't have that. We never had that, even when we did start to get along.'

'You've been lying to me Sinbad. You've been lying to me ever since I got to this country, for as long as I have been and will be here. Why can't you just answer my questions instead of avoiding them? It would make everything so much easier,"

"Easier," Sinbad almost yelled incredulously. "Easier for who? For you? It wouldn't be easier for me Hakuei, I can guarantee that."

"Why not," Hakuei accused him angrily. "What's so wrong with just telling me the truth? We can clear up this whole problem if you just were honest with me! What am I not understanding?"

Sinbad hissed at her, standing up from his chair. "I can't tell you that." Hakuei could feel her breathing get heavier and heavier the angrier she got. Calm down…calm… "Hakuei…" She was surprised to see the emotion on his face. Clear, open and full of a sorrow that she did not understand. A sorrow that somehow she caused. "There's just a lot that you don't understand."

"Then HELP me understand."

"NO," Sinbad insisted, angry. "I can't. Not yet." he leaned back in his chair, cutting off the conversation. Hakuei balled her hands into fists at her side. Spinning on her heel she stormed out like a child, slamming the doors shut behind her.

There is something wrong with him, she reasoned in her head. And for some reason I have something to do with it. I don't understand any of it. He's confusing, reckless, a liar and deceitful. But I have to know what he's keeping from me. Insane or not, whatever his problem is had caused me a lot of problems that I have to find out. I need to figure out what he's hiding from me. I need to discover Sinbad's secret.